Nuttin But The Hits:1996 Pinnacle Football Hobby Box

The late 90's. Is there truly any better time in the hobby?

The variety, the brands, the innovations, the value.

It's all in there.

For me there is also a bonus, the memories. This was and always will be my best time in the hobby. Nothing will ever change that.

So when I pulled off my last trade with Project Pedro blog I got the opportunity to take a trip back down memory lane with some packs/box breaks from my past. I loved every aspect of our trade, but these breaks were truly what hit me the hardest and what I enjoyed the most. With every pack I busted a smile can be seen for miles across my face and the next chance to open the next pack brought me joy like no other.

There will be multiple breaks coming up on here. So get ready to take a trip back in time!

Today. let's go back to 1996 shall we? That's the year I was currently starting to post about for Origins Of A Cardboard Addict blog. I had thought about busting these boxes over there, but instead I decided to keep them here and maybe this will be the future site of that blog as well and will continue my story of collecting here.

Even though it felt like only yesterday, when you actually think that 1996 was 22 Years ago, it starts to add some grey hair to your head if you grew up in that era. Which I am so glad I did looking at today's era both in the real world and in the collecting world. In the collecting world, we had marvelous Pinnacle. In 1996 it released another impressive brand with it's flagship football cards. I already had fallen madly in love with the 1995 version so when I saw it on the shelves it was a no-brainer to try.

Each box of 1996 Pinnacle football has 24 packs of 10 cards each. You can find rookie cards of Eddie George, Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Mike Alstott, Derrick Mayes, Tim Biakabutuka, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Stephen Davis, Eric Moulds, Tony Banks, Terry Glenn and many others!

When you open up the box you will find a paper envelope with a box topper inside. It is a Private stock parallel. I thought I did pretty decent finding a Faulk.

  

When it comes to the base, they look like....well....I am not going to show you today. I have an individual post for that for a reason. You will be amazed I promise and that will be the next upcoming break post for my series from Project Pedro Blog.

So let's jump right to the hits!

Trophy Collection parallels fall 1:5 packs. I found five of them in my break. Gotta love some dufex. There are also Artists Proof parallels that fell 1:48 but not so much luck for that for me.

 

 

321 are fun die cuts of a players jersey and a player in the forefront fall 1:24 packs or one per box. I really dig the design. Wished it had been a better player, but either way, still a nice touch for my 90's insert PC.

 

The box really promoted the insert Double Disguise that fall 1:18 packs. They are similar it appears to Mystery Finest. However, I have yet to get myself to peel them. It's a double sided, double protective coating card. I can say however, I can see a G through one side which leads me to believe that one side or maybe just the card in general is a Packer and possibly Brett Favre.

  

The only other hit I could have found was but didn't was the epic Team Pinnacle that fell 1:90.

I felt I did pretty solid with the box break and maybe even better if I decide to unpeel the card. But, when I do breaks like this it has nothing to do with value to me. So if Edgar Bennett is unpeeled, I am fine with that as well. These kind of breaks are for fun. And yes, fun still exists in this hobby and we all just have to reach down within and find it. Cards weren't always about money and value, they were collected for fun once. Something I still do to this day.

CONTEST ATTACHED! I will be giving away a few KEY rookie cards from this break via PWE. Please read this carefully to be considered in the drawing!

1. Must be a U.S. resident or have a U.S. shipping address. Sorry but I can't afford to ship outside the U.S.
2. I will be pinning this tweet to my Twitter, YOU MUST RT it on Twitter or you can share this on my Facebook page to be entered.
3. I will be tweeting out the cards you can win and the instructions to as well.
4. Comment below-this is very important step-that you have done so.
5. You are in to win! Winner will be announced in a few days so make sure you RT AND COMMENT BELOW!

Some Things Need To Be Bought Twice

There are some things in life that you simply can't replace.

Like these ageless artifacts from my football playing years. A flat high school practice football along with my practice jersey-with a tear down it's side seam-from Pop Warner. These are items that I don't want inflated or seam sewed or ever want replaced with new ones They are a rare piece of my history and nostalgic memories.

 

However, a damaged rare card on the other hand, I had to recently re-buy again.

Last summer I discussed buying this rare 1997 Stadium Club Monday Night Football redemption card for $5 and that I was happy to add it thinking if others knew how tough these were for that price they would be scooped up fast.

Well, sadly during my re-sorting project, I had left it on the floor and stepped on it giving it a slight bend. 

Unlike the flat football or tear down my practice jersey, this really bothered me. But, I didn't really want to fork out money to buy another either as I saw the seller still had one. I would rather keep what I had and deal with it and use the last $5 I had left on my eBay gift card from an early Christmas gift on something else. As you all know, I like to make every dollar stretch.

A week passed, I hadn't spent my last $5 and I continued to have my hobby OCD eat away at me. So I took it to Twitter to ask opinions on what I should do.

The responses were, buy it again. I had a feeling they were gonna say that.

So I swallowed my pride and knew what I had to do even though it ate me up inside knowing that I caused the damage to it, had to spend $5 I could have gotten other Hampton or PC pieces with and re-bought the card. It gave me a mixed bag of feelings. Both joy and disappointment.

So here it is again, this time in mint condition, and this time put away out of harms way.

 

 

And I know I better make sure that nothing ever happens to this card again. There were only three listed ever on eBay. I bought the two $5 ones, the last one is listed at $60 and was one I have watched for 3 years with the price remaining the same. That one would be a very costly mistake.

Have you guys ever been through this with having to re-buy a card? Let me know in comments!

Binders Reorganization Update #3

Last year it was the Super Box Attack that took me a year to do. A few weekends ago I started digging into my biggest hobby project in since then and one that may take even longer....The Great Binder Reorganization!

I showed you part 1 of my reorganization of football inserts, football rookie inserts and rookie cards that took me a couple of weeks to do. Part 2 I showed off sorting baseball inserts. Part 3 should have been showing off my baseball rookie card progress, but I had to take a break from it. It's by far the toughest and longest part of my sort. I am closing in on finishing it, but I had to jump to doing basketball rookies in the meantime.

So today's post is all about the basketball rookie cards.

I only had a few binders to sort through so I knew it wouldn't take me long but give me enough of a break from sorting baseball rookies by team. Originally I had always sorted my basketball by rookies by tossing them into a binder, but no more! It was too hard to find players when they are not being sorted by team so that's exactly what I did.

Along with doing the sorting, I uncovered some gems in the process which I was pretty excited about. I was also able to pull out some cards for my Sets Of My Childhood chase.

Here is one of the gems I found, a Russ Westbrook rookie. I found this and the parallel.

Then came some tremendous Prizm finds I had long forgotten about. 

Draymond Green,

Isiah Thomas,

Kawhi Leonard. This card last year was hot, hot hot!! I believe it is still on the Top 20 hot list in a Beckett.

And then this bad boy.

 

Other than feeling more organized, part of the fun with doing this project is uncovering gems like these and finding other cards that brought back many memories. Some cards I can tell you where I bought them, busted them, who I was with, and maybe more depending on the card.

More updates on the completion of the baseball rookie card stage to come. I am hoping the next post in this series will be an update about that.

There is still so much to go in this project. Because what gets taken out, still has to go back in!

Player Profile 3: Paul Konerko

Player Profile is a series that breaks down players I have pulled from my collection and designated as a player collection. These are mostly stars from the past and present and only include base cards and inserts. Hits and rookie cards are not counted. Some players I pulled because I was a fan of their game, others are obvious because of their play. Some players I actually look for cards of in packs while others get just placed in these boxes. This series will break down how many cards I have of the player, what my Top 5 favorite cards are of the player and why I pulled the player for a player collection.

This series will also cover all four sports I collect. 

Player By The Numbers For Paul Konerko: 55 Different Cards.

Paul Konerko was a very underrated player in my opinion especially in the hobby. A guy who went about his business without a lot of recognition for doing so. Sometimes those are the guys I like the most which is another reason I like Rodney Hampton so much.

Paul quietly was a 6x All-Star, won a World Series in 2005 and was the ALCS MVP that year as well. He also won the Roberto Clemente award in 2014 before calling it quits at the end of that season as well. He was also a captain and leader of that team as well from 2006-2014.

So here are my Top 5 favorite cards for Paul.

#5. Most of us only remember his time for the White Sox, but Paul did play for the Reds for a short time as well. I like having a variety of cards for one player if they played on multiple teams. Paul got traded from the Reds to the White Sox and the rest was history after.

#4 I just enjoyed the photography angle of him getting someone out on base.

#3 speaking of photography, Upper Deck had to make this list as I assume they will with any of my Player Profiles. There isn't much to say about this photo as I think it speaks for itself.

 

#2. Paul also played for the Dodgers who were the team that drafted him before he got traded to the Reds. I chose this card as number two mainly because of the nice design from Omega, but slightly because it features the team he originated from.

 

And finally card #1 is this Donruss Studio base from 2005 This design was pretty well done. Paul's stance and the city in the backdrop looks pretty cool. Card also has a "White Sox" tint to it.

Paul has been well celebrated by the White Sox since his retirement. They retired his number, built a statue of him and celebrated his Game 2 World Series grand slam in their 25th celebration of their stadium.

Which Paul Konerko card above to you like the most and which card do you own is your favorite of his? Let me know in comments!

Face 2 Face

Football has always been my passion. I grew up collecting it, watching it, been to a couple of games of it

 

and even played it for five years split between high school and Pop Warner.

Football has brought both joyful moments for me like when I got my first NY Giants jersey from my best friend,

And has also brought me some bad memories like my senior year in high school when I tore my right ACL in the fourth game of the season. It's a moment I will never forget.

When it comes to football cards, that brings me joy even if the card features a saddening moment.

Today's acquisition is just that.

When I saw this card featuring facemask swatches, I knew I had to have it. I was a huge fan of Kerry Collins-especially his time for the Giants-for his entire career and Ray Lewis is a Hall Of Famer. So I made a $2 offer and the seller gladly accepted and I snatched this up around Christmas time. That was a pretty good deal knowing the rest of these were listing for much more than that. There are other Giants in the set I will need at some point.

After purchasing the card, I started to think more about it and those deep down hurt emotions from Super Bowl 35 started to surface. The game where Ray Lewis and that vaunted Baltimore defense trampled my Giants to a 5 turnover, 152 total yard, 34-7 thrashing.

Kerry Collins to Ray Lewis was a big connection in the game. Lewis knocked down many passes from Collins and caused disruption throughtout. I was starting to think they were teammates and had to close my eyes every time Kerry went to throw.

I quickly started thinking positive about the past two Super Bowl visits and pushed those deep sad emotions from Super Bowl 35 game back down and started to enjoy the card again as a card.

Another cool thing about this card was the back and seeing the helmets they got the swatches from,

 

I miss the days of seeing the actual memorabilia. I think a lot more of this in today's collecting would help collectors feel better about the relics they pull in packs and lead to less questioning if they are authentic.

It's sometimes funny how a card can bring back some good and bad memories just by seeing the players or the actual photo scene on a card. What's one of your greatest or saddest moments that cardboard has brought back to life for you?

Guess The Autograph #2

Before I announce the latest Guess The Autograph, let's reveal the last one I posted....

Yup. Jermaine Gresham. One of you at least had it right and some knew it was Bengals.

Now onto the next which I hope gets a better turnout than the first.

Guess the autograph is as easy as it goes. I will throw up an autograph "swatch" and you guys have to simply guess whose autograph it is. There are no prizes involved, it's just for fun to test your autograph knowledge and give you bragging rights.

The autographs will spread across multiple sports and non sports so it should be fun to see the challenge it presents and see how many of you can correctly guess it. If you really want to take it a step further, try guessing the brand of card as well.

I will reveal the "answer card" and the autograph in the next post of this series.

So here is the next autograph to this series,

 

Can you guess it? Good luck. Unless you have been to the rockies, you may not know this name.

Let me know in comments!

The Past, The Present, And The Future!

The final part of my trade mail day with @90sNicheFBCard is simply a hits gallery with many different Giants from The Past, The Present and The Future!

So let's get this party started!

Paul Perkins didn't seem to live up to the hype last year as Darkwa and Gallman seemed to provide the Giants more on the ground than Perkins could even provide. He actually ended up fourth on the depth chart at one point and played special teams. Jerrel I don't think the Giants gave enough time to. He could have done so much more and showed spots of big time talent when he got out there.

Odighizuwa had off the field issues and was gone. Which is sad because he had an upside. Of course, no bigger upside than Odell Beckham Jr. If he comes back completely healthy next year, I think defenses better watch out. He will want revenge.

Another Perkins. I do like the design and the swatches on this one. His auto could use some work.

The star of the defense. Landon Collins was the only Giants Pro Bowler in 2017 and is continuing to impress me. I am so glad that the Giants moved up and snagged him. He will continue to have a bright future down the road.

Speaking of Pro Bowlers, this guy was certainly a snub. I don't worry too much about this yet, he will definitely prove them wrong next year. Just gotta work on his hands a little more as he had a few key drops in 2017 but also made some incredible plays.

Davis Webb. Why, oh why won't the Giants give you a shot. I loaded up on his autographs in preparation that he was the next QB for them. So far, it's sounding like a 2nd overall pick of a QB which means Webb could drop to third on depth or be cut. This could be some serious untapped talent waiting. Either way, I now own this beaut.

Another Odell memorabilia card. I still don't have much for him in terms of memorabilia cards.

Absolutely love this card. Nice swatch and Shockey was the man.

Michael Cox, well, was a Giant too long. I would guess they didn't like his signature.

Janoris had a rough 2017. He was exposed a few times and even looked to had given up on plays especially in the game vs the 49ers. I still think that all stemmed from Coach Mcapoop. I think we see the real Janoris shutdown corner Jenkins in 2018.

Only my second memorabilia card of the great LT. This one is a VS with Jim Kelly who was a great QB who simply couldn't win the big game. I think a Joe Theismann vs LT dual relic card would have been quite interesting one for those of us who remember that game.

I know this isn't a hit, but it's not an easy Rodney Hampton card to have and I am glad to have it off from the checklist. It's the oldest Rodney Hampton card out there. Now I just need to locate the 1989 Police card and I will have most of the early stuff he has.

And speaking of tough Rodney cards, I spotted this co-signer auto I needed on eBay and Bryan was great enough to snag it for me. I am currently only missing one more in my search of Rodney.

This co-signer is with the great Herschel Walker who once played a short time for the Giants.

And if all of that wasn't enough, he also sent along some custom made card standees. I will have to take some pictures for another day with them in use. But I will say he did one great job.

 

A big thanks goes out to @90sNicheFBCard for yet another epic trade. I look forward to our next trade.

The Shepard Tends The Black Gold

Onto Part 2 of my trade mail day from @90sNicheFBCard.

Today's is a lot of Sterling Shepard and some beautiful Black Gold cards.

Sterling put up his best numbers yet for the Giants in 2017 stepping in as the teams leading Wide Out. I believe the best numbers went to Evan Engram but that's because Sterling was hurt for a few weeks.

The Giants are expecting a lot more from Shepard in his third season which is coming up in 2018. And boy do I hope so after adding more and more of his cards in 2017.

Monumental Memorabilia is one big swatch. Really awesome.

 

One sick cool trippy Draft Picks autograph

.

Not sure why they considered him a Modern Day Hero after his first year, but I like the full color photo used on this memorabilia card.

Now onto some really nice Black Gold adds. Mainly Sterling Shepard.

The combo of Giants blue against the Black Gold design and gold signature makes the Sizeable Signature card like look like no other. So, so happy to add that one.

A couple of cards with multiple memorabilia pieces. The Rookie Tetrad even has Michael Thomas who had a big year for the Saints. The Gold Prospecting has a football swatch.

And to finish it all up. a no Shepard card but a sick Black Gold one featuring Odell and Andre Williams rookie years. A nice Team Symbols card. Panini puts out a ton of products, but none are even close to as elegant as Black Gold.

 

Two parts of my mail day one with one more left to go. That one is just one massive hit-fest and is being posted tomorrow.

Thoughts on today's mail day welcomed in comments!