Owed Thanks

The month of December was a crazy mail day time for me. I planned some of it that way while many others were surprises. I knew I wasn't going to be getting any cardboard for Christmas so wanted to make sure I had something to open and nailed it!

Today's post is 50/50 in terms of surprise and a known mail day. 

Up first, I gotta say thanks to Billy over at Cardboard History for sending me these pages. I was in desperate need of them and he was just looking to ditch them. Thank you! I have already sadly used all of them to catch up.

For the surprise part of this post, man, I was bombarded with a flat rate box by Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders with some reading material and some cards.

First up, some NY Yankees Tuff Stuff reading. I actually don't remember any of these covers or reading any of these. This should be fun. I didn't buy a lot of Tuff Stuff back in the 90's because most collectors used Beckett for they pricing calling card. Even though I preferred Tuff Stuff pricing layout since they priced all base cards and their values were a bit higher

Speaking of Beckett, a couple of throwback mags, also two I haven't read, and a couple of Sports Illustrated as well.

This Mantle Beckett I do remember reading and owning at one point, but no longer. It's from one of my favorite years in the hobby in 1995 so I look forward to flipping through these pages. There was also a Topps magazine in the mix as well. I never bought one of these but I did buy an Upper Deck one once that had a special Lebron James rookie card cover once, I wonder where that is in my house lol.

Sport Collectors Digest. Never read a single one and look forward to checking them out. My father used to read Baseball Weekly and would hand me the copies once he was done. I think we had the Dimaggio at one point but that got lost in a move. Welcome back old friend.

If that wasn't enough of a surprise, Dennis also tucked some cards into the side of the box he had sent.

Here are some guys that capture the glory years of Giants football. Back when they used to win. I hope they look at these type of guys this year in the draft and free agency. The Rodney I had, but I am always welcomed to any Rodneys regardless.

Shiny Jacobs and a numbered Shockey. Guess I never bought any of that Upper Deck brand.

There were even some Yankees tossed my way. Most of which I didn't have which is really the surprising part. Dig the Mantles and the Jackson.

Speaking of digging a Mantle, look at this amazing photograph on this Fleer card. Does it get any classier than this? Fleer did such a great job picking images for their products and this one is probably now my most favorite Mantle card I own.

Man, seeing cards like this Mantle reminds me how much I miss Upper Deck in the MLB industry. Not that Topps hasn't done a good job, but Upper Deck brought something to the industry as well.

Then on top of those cards above, he hid some more in the mix I didn't see til I dug it all out of the box. Tons of new Jeters for that growing PC. I should have well over 300 cards of him now. A lot of favorites from the 90's mixed in as well.

And on top of all of that generosity, he snuck some hits into the bottom.

Super Bowl 46 hero Mario Manningham Spx football patch. I totally loved this product and busted three boxes of it back then. Wasn't cheap but I have always had a heart for Spx.

Mr. Wilson! Out of all of the David Wilson hits I own, this wasn't one of them. Love the design and shine. However seeing this card and the previous one makes me sad with those two no longer in the NFL market. I still think the NFL market would be so much more exciting with competition.

And finally, a mind blowing 1/1 plate of Brandon Jacobs from Elite. Only my second NY Giants printing plate.

 

I was left speechless in the end. It was like digging through a treasure chest with lots of jewels.

A big thanks goes out to Dennis for this amazing mail day. I have a stack ready to send back to you when I get the chance.

How many of you read Tuff Stuff or Sports Collectors Digest back in the day?