$25 A Week Challenge Week 13:90's And Today

Another week is over and you know what that means, another week of additions for a value under $25.

First up, I found these 90's jersey cards. What's interesting about these, they are called team threads but have no specific player wearing them, no word if they are game used.

From my research after the purchases, they have a replica jersey swatch embedded that is not game used or even worn by the player. Must be where some of the companies today got their idea from for player worn jerseys.

  

First up, Eddie George I grabbed for $2 shipping

Up next, Kauffman for $1.25 plus .99 shipping

And then a Davis for $5 plus .99 shipping. I originally thought about doing a set up until I found out they are not game worn. I should had known by the price. I will say though, incredible design and good size swatches especially on these 1998 ones of Kauffman and Davis. They should do these designs for companies today.

I needed this Daniel Jones rookie so for $3 plus $2.90 shipped for an Optic, I will take that.

And then I grabbed this Dwayne Haskins Prizm for my Prizm rookies for $5. Haskins showed some life down the stretch and took control as the Redskins QB. Should be a good year 2.

Overall this week, I went under $25 again with $21.13.

What will I pick up next week, only time will tell. You just never know what you will see me find.

Kerry's Cardboard:2009 Topps Chrome Refractor

Last post in this series, I posted about a 2009 Bowman Chrome refractor I got for my Kerry Collins PC not to be confused with today's addition.

You see, Panini isn't the only company that likes to recycle their photos as Topps did as well. At least for these two Kerry Collins cards.

 

Here's a look at the 2009 Bowman Chrome refractor Collins again

 

Here's the 2009 Topps Chrome version

 

Here they are side by side

Same photo, just Kerry showing off less leg.

 

Here's the back of the 2009 Topps Chrome refractor with the infamous words refractor on the back.

These refractors fell 1:3 packs in 2009 Topps Chrome football boxes.

I grabbed this for $1, so not a bad deal!

I Subjected Myself To A Red Sox Card

Free Stuff Friday has become a great idea in the blogosphere started by Jon that Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary has recently joined in on as well. I may at a later date join in as well once I get some stamps.

I claimed a few cards from Jon's second post and claimed one from Brian's that may surprise you.

Being a Yankees fan and Red Sox hater, the last card you would suspect me to claim from a free Friday thread would be a Red Sox card.

Well, I did.

One thing to keep in mind on this claim of Michael Chavis is that I collect rookie cards as well from any team and any sport despite my hatred of some teams. Ugh.... Red Sox.

Brian also evened the envelope out and surprised me with a few Yankees

Tyler Austin rookie. I had considered doing a PC of him, up until they left him to the Twins. That was the end of that idea.

I didn't have this Mo. He definitely was a decades best if not the best closer of all time.

And my first look at a Yellow parallel. So didn't have this Tanaka. I like the stare down on this card. Topps did a great job with the photos this year for Series 1. My only knack, is the parallels and how they are done. Wished they had a better way of showing them off other than a small color swatch on the side. Maybe have made the whole card yellow.  Just me.

Thanks goes out to Brian for the freebies, much appreciated!

Swingin' For A Win

@WCoastScouting on his Twitter bio states that he is a "former baseball scout and VP of baseball agency representing professional players" but what it doesn't state is how beyond generous he is.

Every day it feels like he is handing out autographed baseballs, broken bats or both with a lot of big names mixed in.

I have been wanting for months to win one of his broken bats since I don't own a single piece of game used memorabilia and thought it would be a great add to the man cave.

Well, after months and grueling months of not winning, I finally saw my name on the big stage and I got to take home one of his broken bats.

It arrived on Monday.

 

Here she is in all it's beauty. I had this in my hand within a couple of days. Let's take a closer look at it.

 Player name, model, you can see where a few balls

 Players grip

 

where the bat broke

Player Info:Jonathan Sierra is a minor league RF in the Cubs system who signed as international free agent in August of 2015.. He hasn't put up the biggest stats yet in minors, but is still raw at age 21.

Pretty cool piece huh?

 I can't wait to get something to protect this with and put it on my shelf.

Thanks to @WCoastScouting for the bat and if you aren't following him yet on Twitter, you are definitely missing out. His generosity is inspiring!

Speaking of generosity, I myself will be having a giveaway coming up on Sunday so stay tuned for that!

Legends Of New York

Unpopular opinion....I like Joe Buck.

So, so many of you complain about him, but when I hear him call a game, it brings me back to a glorious moment in my life.

That moment, Super Bowl 42.

The game that will forever be my favorite Super Bowl. David (Tyree) vs Goliath. The 18-0 Patriots who beat the Giants in the regular season finale to go undefeated, came into the Super Bowl just walking all over the people while the Giants found a way to the Big Game.

Then they found a way to win it.

With 1:15 left in the game, Giants down by 4 needing a touchdown and needing five yards on third down, Eli dropped back, avoids being sacked a few times, somehow stays on his feet and just whips the ball up there for the taken. There was multiple Patriots in the middle of the field and somehow, someway, some special teams WR named David Tyree jumped up in the middle of them, caught the ball, held the ball against him helmet with the great Rodney Harrison trying to pry it away and brought the ball safely down to the ground without dropping it.

I could play that over and over again in my mind.

Four plays later, Eli tossed up a beauty to a wide open Plaxico Burress for the Giants game winning touchdown.

18-1 Patriots....18-1.

This years Plates and Patches product has a Legends subset card of David Tyree who made that heroic play that led to a Giants win (and of course the play is pictured on the card). There is a series of colored parallels that I have considered chasing along with this one.

It wasn't just the play that made that game memorable. Beating the hated Patriots and watching the game with my father which I hadn't done in over 20 years made that game one that I will always remember. Even when I get too old to remember anything else.

That game meant more to me than the one the same two teams played four years later.

Where this guy, Mario Manningham, somehow kept his feet in-bounds by a fraction of an inch with two defenders around him for a gain of 38 yards in Super Bowl 46 that set up Giants momentum as they went for a Game Winning drive.I must also note the throw by Eli was superb. It was only where Manningham had a chance at it. Both catch and throw on that play was memorable.

The Manningham autograph to commemorate Super Bowl 46 is also in this years Plates and Patches product. Both cards were graciously sent to me by my friend Valley Of Cards unexpectedly.

Big thanks to him for these two additions to my Giants PC. If you haven't checked out him yet, please do so. He has some great stuff for sale at great prices on both his eBay shops and his website. Find them all here, website, eBay store 1 and eBay store 2.

What's The Letter Of The Day?

Clap Clap What's The Letter...What's The Letter Of The Day?!..Clap Clap 

Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders blog was my Cookie Monster/Elmo a few months ago by sending me a Letter Of The Day with the letter Y in the name Barkley.

If you don't get my reference, Sesame Street started a segment back in 2002 featuring Cookie Monster where they feature a Letter Of The Day.

Pretty simple idea.

Which by the way, Sesame Street is one weird show compared to what I watched growing up. Once again, it makes me glad to have grown up when I did and once again reminds us why we don't change things.

That can be said for the hobby as well.

Getting back on topic, Dennis passed along in his last mail day a 2019 Elite Spellbound letter Y which was part of the last name Barkley in the set. You know, Saquon Barkley. I had looked at doing the entire nameplate before but couldn't justify pulling the trigger. Thanks to Dennis, I felt like I had to and it was so rewarding.

Every week, I was able to grab a new letter or two cheap and built the green nameplate. There are other colored nameplates to the set but they are numbered and priced much higher than this retail counterpart.

Ain't she a beaut?

After completion, I wanted a way to display such a piece instead of tucking it away inside of the Barkley box. That's when my Twitter buddy @90sNicheFBCard came to mind who has made me some really sweet card stands in the past. So I checked with him and he was more than happy to help.

He passed these along in his most recent mail day that I will tackle next week on here. (thanks again for these Bryan)

And here they are beautifully displayed. Just wished my camera had captured them a little better. But, hey, you get the point.

I haven't decided where I am going to display them quite yet. Either on my desk or on my bookshelf.

This was a fun project to tackle, but is just second place to real nameplate. I have always wanted to build an autograph letter or just plain letterman nameplate of a Giants player. Hopefully someday I can do that to . For now, I will just enjoy this sweet little hobby victory.

Clearing My Mind,Blogs And PC

If you haven't noticed in the past month and a half, I have put in a least-than-satisfactory effort on here in terms of blogging. If I was in graded school, I would have gotten a LS or 1 on my report card.

There was a lot of Sets Talk and Caption This posts and a bunch of other crud I just threw in as day fillers to pass the time. I should had just left the days blank.

I was in a massive blogpression.

The stats fell, the comments weren't there, I felt it was becoming too sponsored on here and I was in a writers block with no direction and simply just didn't want to look at this blog. I couldn't however just let the blog fall by the wayside either, so I plugged in some filler posts until I could figure out what to do.

A month and a half later of letting my mind rest, I found myself thinking it was time for a return. A return by creating a new blog called Diary Of A Collector. I thought by starting a new blog I could spark myself to continue on blogging which it did, but it sparked me back to here. Not there.

I am not sure why a weeks worth of posts on there got me motivated to come back here, but it did. And to me, that's what really matters. I needed to be back on here, this is my baby and my baby needed to be tended to.

So as of this weekend, I am back on here. Back to where I started and feel good about going forward. I have overcome that bump in the road and will have new, better content moving forward. Even though you will see the occasional Caption This just to use up my drafts.

As for Diary Of A Collector, sorry for those of you I sent over there to follow it (and for Jon who was helping me out by spreading the word) as I have officially deleted it. I have also deleted two other blogs that have been sitting stale for awhile in Snagging Cardboard (my Giants PC one that lost its appeal once Odell left) and Now That's Some High Quality Cardboard so I can just put my focus onto here.

It's sort of that new start I was looking for you could say.

While I also have your attention, I should also update my PC on here. And yes, I have added some basketball PC players now.

(RED MEANS NEW PC from my last update)
BASEBALL:
Ken Griffey Jr
Aaron Judge
Gleyber Torres

FOOTBALL:
NY Giants (any and all)
Eli Manning
Rodney Hampton
Kerry Collins

Other small side PC's
Fred Taylor
Jake Plummer
Mark Brunell
Terrell Davis

BASKETBALL
Michael Jordan
RJ Barrett

• Rookie Cards From Any Sport Of Anyone
• Celebrity Hits and Autographs
• 1995-1999 inserts
• All of my sets that need help filling. 
• I do have a Want List of rookie cards and autographs I need, but those are under my specific want list.

There you have it folks. A bit more condensed down then it used to be. So if you can help me in any of those areas, drop me an email or DM on Twitter and we can work something out!

There were a lot of ups and downs to start the year when it comes to blogging and it doesn't mean there won't be more down the road, but right now I am in a good place when it comes to being back on here. I guess what I needed was that short vacation from burnout.

Stay tuned for some fun posts and incredible mail days.

(I should also mention I am also going to start to up my Twitter ante by posting some content on there that is fun but un-needed on here such as Caption This, Guess That Autograph, etc so make sure to follow me there!)

Rodney's Cardboard:1997 Action Packed 10 Extra Points Card

Do you ever just see a card you need for your PC but you really don't want to waste the money on it?

I have been there.

My problem is, I did spend the money on it. At least this time.

A few months ago an 1997 Action Packed 100 Extra Points card popped and I say, boy that's gotta be the ugliest Rodney Hampton card I need. It's a redemption and someone wants $35 for it. Yikes. I guess I will let that one slide.

A few months later, I wished I had grabbed it as I may never see it again after 10 Extra Points popped up for $7 and I grabbed it.

The card is as ugly as cards get as it's a redemption card, but these are extremely rare and just glad to have it.

 

I can't find any information on these such as odds, etc. I can only see what the back of the card tells me. But, one is to assume, these weren't every pack. I have only ever seen one copy of each Hampton ever listed. I just hope that 100 Extra Points comes back at some point even though I doubt I would pour the $35 into it still.

Have any of you ever regretted passing on a card just because of it's appearance?

$25 A Week Challenge Week 12:Giants And Prospecting

Yes it's back, back again, $25 a week, chaaaa-llla-enge. Yes, it's back, yes, it's back.

This weeks grabs were really random, just like my thoughts a lot of times, as these listings  just popped up and caught my attention like a pretty girl.

Let's see what my mind was thinking,

I posted the Kerry Collins pickup from this set already, but there are other Giants in this set and being a fan of Super Bowl sets, more about the ones when they win, I grabbed this one and

 

this one for a buck combined. Can't go wrong with that for the Giants PC.

Daniel Jones is the future and I believe in him. Though at times I second guess myself because he is still so young and fresh and Eli was so reliable. But, looking at last season Jones had many bright spots and you could tell Eli's time was closing in the few times he played. I will just miss Eli as well.

Saquon Barkley 2019 silver Optic. I was looking up Saquon cards ending soon and this one had .99 and no bids on it. Well, guess who won it with one bid and .99 cent. That's right, this guy. Saquon again proved to be unbelievable when he came back from injury and still pulled off a 1,000 yard season. I expect so much more next season when he is fully healthy.

I have noticed the last couple of years that Panini Prizm is the "It" factor for football rookie cards much like Topps Chrome was in the 90's. So you know what, I did some "prospecting" and grabbed a few players cheap before I couldn't grab them anymore.

Mercole Hardman played really well in his first year with the Chiefs. He 538 receiving yards, and made the Pro Bowl as a returner with 871 yards. He also had 7 total touchdowns and got to  hoist the Lombardi.

N'Keal Harry is going to eventually be Tom Brady's go-to guy and yes I say Tom returns to the Patriots next season. 6 foot 4 Harry didn't show much on the field last season, mostly because he was injured til November, but showed some signs when he was on the field. Better to grab him up now!

And my final pickup, I watched this Mark Brunell autograph on eBay because it was cheap to begin with. But, when I landed it for $1.75 with an offer I made and $3.99 shipping, it was an absolute yes. It fits both my 90's PC and my Mark Brunell one.

All of these were picked up for less than $15, so you can tell I was bargain hunting and bargain winning.

That left me with $10 leftover this week.  Sometimes you just don't spend it all and isn't always bad thing.

CAPTION THIS CARD!

I challenge you to give this card a caption.....

Leave a caption below for this card. Please keep it free of language and clean please for our younger audience  

Mine would be....

"And the beginning to a fifty year career started here."

Kerry's Cardboard:2009 Bowman Chrome Refractor

When I go digging for Kerry Collins cards I want to add, I always look for the shiny, the most interesting ones that pop out that I need right then and there.

With Kerry's big checklist, there is plenty of those to chase. It's then the point of whether they are affordable or not.If they are with my small budget, I grab them. If they are not, well, they will sit til I can someday grab them. However, it has costed me some good ones that way.

One of my main searches is for Kerry is those beautiful 90's inserts, then I jump to anything refractors.

This week, I couldn't find anything within the budget for the 90's insert range, so I found this 2009 Bowman Chrome refractor for $1. Perfect fit for my budget.

The card front looks real sharp with the dark grainy appeal especially with the touch of rainbow.

 

Card back. Not a lot of stats but a nice write up makes up for that. I must also point out the word

The odds of these refractors are 4 per box. With 18 packs per box, they roughly fell 1:4 to 1:5ish.

The same day I grabbed this Collins refractor, I also grabbed another Collins refractor that will wait til next week.

Chasing Lamar:2018 Classics Football Blaster Box #2

Well, here we go. We are ripping blaster box number two of 2018 Classics football. How will I do this time? Will Lamar finally be found? Let's check it out!

So let's get this going!

I found a two blaster box lot for $26 on eBay. That's $13 a box. Box one wasn't a bad rip so I expected about the same in box two.

 Not a bad way to kick it off. Bradley Chubb Blue Back /175 which will go into my buddy Tim's, @CardpocalypseNC,  pile for trade if he needs it.

 Who?

 Huh? You play?

 For a minute there I thought I had Superman, but nope. Not sure what role Deon Cain plays.

 This was always quite the clash!

 Once again no comment on Kareem

Cam didn't play any beautiful music this season especially on my Fantasy Team. It was all Jameis Int Winston.

And the final card, the hit, is a Carson Wentz. Not too shabby and once again the solid design.

Well, that does it for me. I am no longer wasting money on blasters when I could have been building sets or adding Rodney Hampton/Kerry Collins. I think between the four rips I have learned my lesson that it's better to stick with what you like and not follow the flow of the hobby. Remember that after you see all of these.