June and July Mail Roundup

At this rate, this blog is amounting to monthly "Mail Roundup" posts, which will have to do for now. Life is getting very busy, and I'm starting to learn how much free time I was granted during my quarantine-life. Life is back to normal (for now) and it really has been tough to sit down and write.

It's still better than the blog dying all together.  I think writers in the blogging community put a lot of pressure on themselves to write consistently and often. Two years ago I made the commitment to write one post a month, and I've more or less stayed true to that, and frankly it's something I'm proud of. 

The other good news is, while I'm having a hard time getting in front of the computer to write, I'm still collecting at a decent pace and I'm making it a point to carve out time for my hobbies, and I've had some fun maildays that are worth showing off here. And, since I missed a post in June, I'm back to round up two months worth of card mail.

Bryan Reynolds - 2020 Topps Chrome

(L) Sepia

(R) Negative

Some exciting news, I've decided to chase after the 2020 Topps Chrome Bryan Reynolds rainbow, and I've gotten off to a nice start. I did the same for Reynold's 2019 Topps Chrome Rookie Card (and since that post, I landed the super), and I'm still one card away from wrapping up that rainbow. 

It's been about a year since the release of 2020 Topps Chrome, and I certainly did not help myself by waiting. I haven't seen anything lower than the gold #/50 listed on eBay or COMC. Aside from two Pirates collectors who each have one of the Orange #/25, there is no trace of anything out there that I need. At this point I'll just hope that a big breaker does a 100 case break of 2020 Topps Chrome and maybe some of these will surface...

Until then, here's what I've got so far:

(L) X-Fractor

(C) Prism Refractor

(R) Refractor

(L) Blue #/299

(C) Purple #/199

(R) Pink

(L) Gold Wave #/50

(R) Green Wave #/99

The best part about building this rainbow: Bryan Reynolds cards are pretty dang affordable. Don't forget that this dude was the starting Center Fielder  for the National League All-Star team this year. 

Some more Buccos:

Nick Gonzales - 2020 Bowman Draft Refractor

I'll wager that you'll see a lot more of Nick Gonzales on this blog in the future. Since last posted about him in May, he has moved from the #32 prospect in baseball to #29.  This is my second copy of this card, and I'll likely grab a few more. He has been playing this season in High-A, and I imagine we'll see him rise through the ranks quickly next year. 

Travis Swaggerty - 2018 Bowman Draft Gold Refactor #/50

Another top prospect in the Pirates system, Travis Swaggerty. Excited to pick up my first gold refractor of his. 

Elijah Hughes - 2020 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Autograph #89

Elijah Hughes - 2020 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Autograph Variation #89 

Grabbed a two autos from Elijah Hughes, one of the best Syracuse guards in recent memory. These were a few bucks apiece. Both cards are #89 on the checklist, so one of these is a variation but I honestly don't know which is which. 

A few more hoops cards:

(L) LeBron James - 2009-10 Panini "The Franchise" Insert, Artist Proof #/199

(R) Kobe Bryant - 2009-10 Panini Artist Proof #/199

The two cards above actually came as a lot, and therefore I think I got a fair deal on them. Lots are typically not advised for sellers hoping to maximize profit, so I feel good about snagging these as a package.

(L) Kobe Bryant - 2018-19 NBA Hoops Silver #/199

(C) LeBron James 2016-17 NBA Hoops Silver #/99

(R) LeBron James 2017-18 NBA Hoops Silver #/199

In the May Mail Roundup, I talked about how I'm hoarding LeBron serial numbered cards. I'm doing the same with Kobe. There's not a specific strategy behind this. Both of these guys are legends, and some day I'd love to have a box full of short printed cards of two of the best players of all time. Maybe it will bring back great memories. Maybe it will pay for my kid's tuition. Who knows. 

That's it for this month. It was another great month of card mail. Thanks for following along.

Box Break and Review: 2019-20 Panini NBA Hoops Premium Stock Hybrid Box

The Pirates are not a good baseball team right now. They're fully committing to a rebuild and I'm OK with it. They're trading away their major league talent for very young prospects, so there's not a ton for me to chase in the baseball world. Couple that with the fact that the card market staying red hot, and it's caused me to spend most of January "hobby time" selling as opposed to buying cards. 

As my cards funds have built up, I wanted to treat myself. In a shameless effort to continue milking the 2019 rookie class, Panini decided to re-release 2019-20 NBA Hoops during the 2020-21 season with a new product called NBA Hoops Premium Stock. It's NBA Hoops as we know it with two changes: New photography, and a chrome finish.

I'm a sucker for chrome, and NBA Hoops is one of my favorite basketball products. I had my eye a box of this for a while, and was excited to get a decent-enough price on Blowout to pull the trigger on a "Hybrid" box, aka, a Hobby Box.

Each Hybrid box only contains 24 cards. There are no guaranteed autos, which is unusual for a hobby box, but Hoops has never been an autograph-centric product. In this instance I'm totally OK with it. A guaranteed auto would jack up the price, and there's a 99% chance I'd pull a no-name.

One thing I love about the Hybrid boxes is that all of the cards are Flash parallels, pictured above. They pop off the card a little more than the standard chrome and have a rainbow refractor glean to them, along with the north-south striping. These are your "base cards" for a Hybrid box, but they are not true base cards. The true base cards exist in the retail products and have more a standard chrome finish. Think: Topps Chrome.

Here's an example of the standard chrome from eBay:

Here are all of my veteran base cards:

Getting just 24 cards isn't ideal, but the fact that that all cards are guaranteed to be Flash parallels is cool. No one too notable here except SGA.

While we're looking at the veteran base cards, I'll take the time to point out a major printing flaw that unfortunately made an appearance in my box. See the image above, and notice the lines that I circled in red. Those thick solid lines on the border of these four cards are not supposed to be there. They're so well centered in the middle of the card that at first glance, they almost look as if they're part of the design. Sadly, they are not.

To be fair, I was warned about these flaws prior to purchasing. I saw some pictures on Twitter that showed some of the print flaws. I got the box anyway and figured "It won't happen to me!" And of course it did. Live and learn.

Here we see the Flash Red parallels. Cool to pull a Knick, would be better to pull a Knick that plays more than 0.0 minutes per game.

This one is my favorite of the three Reds. The Tribute cards are part of the base set, but have a nice throwback design. Sweet picture of Iverson.

I pulled one Green Flash parallel, which is numbered to /99. 

I also pulled a Purple Flash parallel, numbered to /35. I'm excited that it's a rookie. Quinndary Weatherspoon certainly wouldn't be my first choice for a short printed rookie, but I'll gladly take it. The Spurs have done a fantastic job of developing young players lately - Keldon John and Lonnie Walker come to mind - so this could be a good card to stash away.

Each box promises two Silvers. Both of mine were vets.

Here are my rookies. Kabengele and Schofield are still waiting to see some real minutes. Alexander-Walker has worked his way into the Pelicans rotation and has been a solid role player for them this season.

The Wizards suck, but one of their bright spots is their young forward, Rui Hachimura. He's awesome and this is a sweet card.

This one definitely felt good. Zion is undoubtedly one of the guys you want to see when opening a 2019-20 basketball product, and this card alone makes the break worth it for me. For a while, hitting a Zion meant the card went straight to eBay to help reimburse your box/pack purchase. Selling this on eBay today would earn me back about 25-30% of my purchase price, and that's not worth it to me. I think we're transitioning into "hold" territory with Zion. 

And you know why it's best to hold? Because Zion isn't the hot new thing anymore. He's not a prospect. Therefore the value of his cards is declining. The hilarious part is, the dude is actually panning out. Remember all that hype around him? Well, it's actually happening!! The hype was real! He's 19th in the league in PPG, 30th in RPG, and 9th in FG% - in what is essentially his first full season. Better yet, he's been fully healthy and hasn't any injury concerns. He has a real chance to be an All-Star this year.

But, he's not a rookie anymore! He's not the next big thing! So no one cares about him anymore. I think I'll hang onto this one for a while.

Each box promises one Rookie Photo Variation per box, which is an enticing offer since the rookie class is so loaded. Here's mine. Doumbouya hasn't seen a ton of minutes for Detroit but at least he's a consistent part of their bench rotation. Detroit is bad - very bad - so I hope they'll give him a bigger role and to see what they have in him. 

REVIEW:

Overall Design: The Hoops design is always clean, and this year is no different. The new photography and chrome finish only add to the appeal for me, and I really love the Flash parallels.

The Hits: No guaranteed autographs or memorabilia products. Hits will come in the form of short printed parallels. You could also make an argument that the top rookies are hits. With a good amount of color and a loaded rookie class, there's plenty to chase here.

Positives: Card design, checklist, array of parallels. 

Negatives: Potential printing lines on cards, no guaranteed hits, recycled product/money grab by Panini.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10. This is a really fun product. There's no question that Panini is "pulling a Topps" here, if you will, by slapping a new card stock on an existing product. I'm not upset about it. In this case, they took a product I already love and made it better. I was leaning towards a rating of 9 out of 10, but the print lines are definitely a real problem and seem to be relatively common. That earned a half point deduction. Otherwise, there aren't any major drawbacks. It's not a perfect product, but it's pretty awesome. It's definitely expensive, but compared to other 2019-20 basketball products it's actually pretty affordable. Grab it if you have the means.

Thanks for reading!

7 Day Trading Card Challenge: Day Four

Today's subject: Favorite basketball card in my collection

I collect basketball nearly as much as I do baseball so there were plenty of options here. After narrowing it down to a few finalists, this will take the cake:

Kobe Bryant – 2008-09 Topps 

In my mind, I always think of this card as the “Kobe/LeBron card” and I often forget that it’s actually just Kobe’s base card, not an insert. The card is number 24 in the set which is a really cool touch. Topps assigned card numbers based on jersey number on many occasions in this set. Allen Iverson has card #3, Carmelo has #15, Dirk #41, and so on.  I’m not sure if that’s unique to this set, of if that’s a trend that Topps uses often.

A few months back I purchased a whole box of 2008-09 Topps basketball. I had a few “hopes” with the purchase, and my primary desire was to pull this card (I dedicated a whole post to the box break if you're curious).

The photograph on this card is perfect. I may be looking too deep, but I like to think this is a symbolic “passing of the torch.” The ball represents the most dominant player in the NBA and LeBron is reaching to take that moniker from Kobe. 

I’m simply in love with this card. It might be a pipe deam but I'd love to get my hands on the chrome version of this card as well as the gold parallel numbered to 2009. Some day…

7 Day Trading Card Challenge: Day One

When browsing the Blogosphere yesterday, I came across a fun idea from Tim at Cardpocalypse. 

I'll do my best to pump these out as quickly as possible but seven posts in seven days will be a stretch  for me so I'll be going at my own pace. The good news is I've already picked out a card for each post!

Today's Challenge: Favorite card acquired during quarantine

Like so many of us I've been really active with collecting over the past two months. Picking just one card out of the many that I've acquired was a challenge. I'm going with the "flavor of the week" approach here: I purchased this card about a week ago and it's been setting out on my desk for me to look at since - which is a funny little habit I have when it comes to cards. When I buy a card that I really love, I let it sit on my desk for a few weeks before putting away in storage. I don't display my collection anywhere in the house so this my way of giving my favorite cards some admiration. Most PC pickups go straight into storage and only the luck ones make it on the desk.

Stephen Curry - 2019-20 Donruss Optic Holo Parallel

There's been a total hysteria around basketball cardboard this season, and buying basketball packs or boxes is basically an afterthought. Donruss Optic is probably the second "hottest" product offering during basketball season. The big chase was for rookies of course - but pricing inflated across the board, especially LeBron. Then came The Last Dance and MJ cards blew up. During all the madness (which is still going) I've felt that Steph Curry has really flown under the radar. A year or two ago, Steph was that dude. An ankle injury knocked him out for essentially the entire 19-20 season, and the Warriors were the worst team in the NBA (worse than the Knicks!) so Steph was absent from headlines.

I'm not a Warriors fan and I'm not necessarily a Steph Curry fan. Just wanted to add a cool card to my collection. For the price of a blaster, I've a got a sweet parallel of one of the NBA's top five players. 

Thanks to Tim for the idea. 

Hobby Box Break: 2008-09 Topps Basketball (Mamba Tribute)

This is my first basketball-related post since the passing of Kobe Bryant, so let me start by expressing my sadness. Like all basketball fans, Kobe meant a lot to me. Kobe was basketball. I grew up with Jordan, then Kobe, and now LeBron. Rest in peace Kobe, Gianna, and the others that lost their lives on Sunday.

Like many collectors, I began to sort through my collection, looking for Kobe cards that to remember him by. It also reminded that there's one Kobe card that has been on my mental wantlist for some time: Kobe Bryant, #24 from 2008-09 Topps Basketball. Prices for this particular card skyrocketed, of course - but I still felt like there was no better time to honor Kobe and try to add this card to my collection. 

I did some research and learned that 2008-09 Topps Hobby boxes are actually somewhat affordable. They contain 36 packs of 10 cards - so the odds were in my favor to pull the exact card I wanted. I jumped on the DaCardWorld and they had just one box in stock, so it seemed meant to be.

There are some really awesome cards in this box - dig in for a minute and enjoy the ride with me.

Upon opening the box, I was greeted with the sticker below. On the back of the sticker, it says to stick it your set once it's complete. That's a cool little touch that definitely became lost in collecting sometime between then and now.

To showcase the base design, I'll use my favorite Knicks pull out of the box. I'm a huge fan of this design, which will look familiar if you collected Topps baseball in 2008. When Topps had the basketball license, they would use the same design for both basketball and baseball flagship. I think the design works a little better for basketball.

Check out the text on the names above. It's hard to see, but the text is gold foil. I pulled about 32 of these, so they fall just about one per pack. Duncan and Carter are two of the best that I pulled. How about the photo of Vince Carter!

Possibly the most prized rookie in the class, Russell Westbrook. 

This could possibly be the greatest LeBron James base card ever printed. I mean, wow. What a beauty. Capturing what is likely the most iconic pregame ritual in sports. I was hoping to pull this card, so I was over the moon to see this show up.

There aren't a ton of inserts in this set which I really like. I'm a big fan of parallels but overloading inserts can be a real turnoff for me. I think these are technically variations, not inserts. I recognize this design as Topps 1958-59 which has shown up recently as a throwback design in Topps baseball products.

I pulled four gold parallels - which, in typical Topps fashion are numbered to the year of the set, so in this case #/2008. They commemorate 51 years of collecting across the top of the picture. These are the better of two of the four gold pulls. 

Each box guarantees one autograph or memorabilia card, and here's my hit. When you're promised either a relic OR an autograph, you can basically bet the house that you're getting a jersey card. I was almost entirely certain that I'd be taking away a Martell Webster jersey patch or something similar. To pull an autograph from a proven vet is a BIG win. Nowadays, Agent Zero is more familiar to me as an outrageous yet hilarious social media personality (if you've haven't checked him out yet, do it), but not long ago he was prolific scorer in the league.

The mojo keeps coming! How about this guy? Kenynon Martin magenta printing plate. 1/1. You never expect to pull something this rare and I'll certainly take it. 

I really liked K-Mart back in his New Jersey Nets days with Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, Kerry Kittles, and so on. I'm not exactly sure what to do with his card aside from stash it away as a really unique piece of my basketball collection.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I came across this guy. A classic "rip" card. I didn't know this set had rip cards until coming across this, so I dove in and did some research. Because this set is over 10 years old there's really not a lot of information out there. I learned that the rip cards are case hits, and I was able to find a couple YouTube videos that show actual rips. From what I can tell, the miniature cards inside are just like an Allen & Ginter mini. It doesn't appear that they're ever autographed or serial numbered, so the play might be keep it unripped. But, what's the fun in that. You might say I'm pretty "torn" on what do with it...

And for the grand finale: The reason I bought the box in the first place. I was lucky to pull this card in my first few packs, so the rest of the box was house money for me.

 Card #24, for number 24. This card... it speaks for itself. This card is about more than just Kobe. The imagery and symbolism is outstanding. 

How's this for symbolism: The year is 2008. In the picture, the basketball represents the best player in the NBA. Kobe is stretching to keep that title from LeBron, and LeBron is reaching for it. It's just out of reach. Someday LeBron might take that ball from Kobe. But not today.

If the perfect sports card exists, this is it.

Mamba forever.

Retail Review: 2013-14 Panini Titanium Box

When I heard about this product, I must admit that it intrigued me. I love to collect basketball cards, but I rarely buy retail. My retail budget is usually allotted for baseball. However, the guarantee of two rookie relics is a very compelling sell. When I stumbled across this box at Target over the weekend, I couldn't resist.

One problem that I have with this product is the lack of cards. If I'm paying 20 bucks, I'd like some base cards- Even if it gets me two relics. Above is the wimpy 5-card pack. On to the cards:

Here are the first two base cards. I like the design, particularly the fact the player's name dominates the text-portion of the card. Panini has a habit of enlarging their own logos and diminishing the players name....

As such. I really dislike when Panini does this. Next card:

I know very little about this man. The back of the card says he's 7'0 and went to Kansas, which can be said for what seems like a dozen NBA players. He was a second rounder, so I've got to assume he's over in Lithuania or some other Euro league by now. This card happens to be numbered 001/149, which means its AN EBAY 1/1!!!! This should fetch me millions!

I was excited to see some orange and blue in the pack, knowing it probably THJ. As a New Yorker, I'm subjected to constant coverage and meaningless banter regarding the Knickerbockers. Couple that with the fact that Knicks fans are terribly obnoxious, and you've got a recipe for maximum annoyance. 

So yeah, I'm not a huge Knicks fan. With that said, Tim Hardaway Jr. is one of the very few Knicks I can tolerate. If there's a young player that can ignite some hustle and head the Knicks in a direction where it's not just all about Melo, it might be this guy. I wish him the best. I'll be stashing this away with my PC cards.

Lastly, my second memorabilia card. I remember when Antetokounmpo was drafted, and the Bucks took some serious criticism for the pick. The "Greek Freak" as he is sometimes called was considered to be incredibly raw but equally athletic.

He's beginning to quiet the critics. Giannis had a very impressive rookie year, putting up solid numbers for the NBA's worst team. He's young, talented, and from what I've heard, a fan favorite. For these reasons, his cards have become pretty desirable among NBA collectors. It's numbered to only 85 which gives it a very limited print run, so there's a good chance I'll try to use it to refund my purchase. 

My Review? I'd say that this a a fun product. You're only getting 5 cards which is a bummer, but at least two of them are relics. The relics are all numbered, which is a huge plus for me. It was also great to pull a base card that was numbered. 

The guarantee of two memorabilia cards is an exciting concept. especially for only $20. There is also a hobby version of Titanum, which I know stirred some controversy from collectors who fear that this type of retail product undermines LCS's and hobbyists. I can't argue with that.

Basketball card fans: If you've got an extra $20, there are worse ways to spend it.

Thanks for reading.

It's My Lucky Day!

A couple weeks back, the guys over at Sports Card Collectors held a contest prior to the NLCS. The rules were simple: Choose the winner of the series and the number of games it will take them to do so. It was the day after the Cardinals beat my Buccos in game 5 of the NLDS, and I had to give it to the Redbirds. They looked like a great baseball team, and I liked them to go on and defeat the Dodgers. I entered the contest and took the Cards in 6. What a guess that turned out to be! 

I was one of six bloggers who took the Cards to win in six, and I was lucky enough to be chosen as the winner from the randomizer!

Here's a picture of all the goodies:

Pretty cool stuff! I always buy BCW products, but it's nice to get some for free, of course. Aside of the booklet cases, these are all supplies that I use frequently, so it was a very practical win for me. 

If you don't follow the Sports Card Collectors collectors, you're really missing out. They hold some really fun contests, and there's always awesome prizes. I received my package in less than a week of winning too. If you're interested in purchasing the highest quality card protection, head straight to BCW's website.


As always, thanks for reading!

2012-13 Panini Crusade Hobby Box Break and Review

With my latest box purchase, I decided to keep my streak of buying 2012-13 Panini Basketball products. I promise, I'll review something else soon. This is one those "high(er) end" products, so you're basically just buying a box of hits. 

6 packs, 5 cards per pack. 3 Autos, 3 Memorabilia Cards, at hit per pack.

The box:

Shinnnyyyyyyy. 

The shininess can seen by the reflection of my hands/phone. I'm a card collector, not a photographer.

The base cards. Very nice cards. Panini makes it very clear that this is a CRUSADE card. Not sure how I feel about that huge banner. I do like the gold font.

Knight Court Insert. These come one per box. Very similar to the base. They seem to have little value on the secondary market.

Here are the first three Prizms that I pulled. These are the regular Prizms, and are really gorgeous cards. That Andrew Bynum on the left, whom I managed to decapitate with my lamp. He's accompanied by Nick Young and Marcin Gortat.

These are my other three Prizms, rounding out the total of six per box. These come in variety of Parallels: Red & Gold /99, Purple & Gold /49, Green & Gold /25, Gold /10 and Black 1/1.

 At the far right is Jared Sullinger, he fits in with his buddies above. In the middle is Draymond Green, Red & Gold /99. To the far left is Rasheed Wallace, Gold /10.

I'm not high on Green. I loved him in college but he lacks NBA size. The 'Sheed Gold card is a great pull. Very rare and very attractive card.

Here are the jersey cards, all appearing on inserts. The Paul Pierce card is awesome, I love the green swatch. Thomas Robinson has the skills to be a beast, but his character issues seem to outweigh his abilities. I'm not too familiar with Rick Mahorn but another nice jersey.

The three autos. At left, Festus Ezeli. Center, Buck Williams, Right, Quincy Acy. Nothing too impressive here. I love Ezeli's story, but not his NBA potential. Quincy Acy is in the D-League, I'm assuming he'll be overseas soon. Buck Williams was a fun player to watch, I'd say he's the highlight here.

REVIEW

Overall Design: The base cards are nice. The picture is sharp as ever with exceptional contrast. As I've said with previous 2012-13 Panini Products, I'm not a fan of how they throw a huge "PANINI" on the front of the card. It's over-branding. Beyond the base set, the other cards are excellent, especially the Prizms. Some of the nicest cards I've ever seen.

Box contents: There's only 30 cards per pack, so it would take some hunting to complete the base set. It's only 100 cards though, so do-able. The fact that each pack contains a hit is exciting. The Prizms are definitely the highlight of this set. The Prizm checklist is massive 300 cards, with all sorts of names mixed in- past, current, and future.

The Hits: It's definitely possible to hit the jackpot with this product. The Prizm cards are a hot ticket right now. The variety of parallel colors generates excitement, especially the Gold cards and Black cards. If you search the Gold Parallels on eBay, many sellers are asking over $100 for guys that aren't even big names. The black cards are obviously the big prize. The J.J. Redick Black 1/1 is listed for over $400 dollars on eBay, to put it in perspective. Yes, J.J. Redick.

Positives: Design, prominence of short prints, Prizm technology, players from various generations, number of hits guaranteed hits (6), chance for 1/1

Negatives: Autos are stickers, small number of total cards

Rating: 8 out of 10. This is a fun product. It has the high-end feel, but for right around 100 bucks, it's affordable high-end. Also a great way to get your hands on Prizm cards without actually buying a box of Panini Prizm.

As always, thanks for reading and please feel free to comment!