Rodney's Cardboard:2018 Illusions Exclusive Ink Rainbow

It's the last Rodney post of December, as I don't have any others to post as of now. There may be one for 2022, but things are slowing down in the Rodney search as no new ones have popped up and no new products have included him. I will have to find a new post for Sundays possibly.

For now though, let's just soak in today's Rodney's Cardboard.

I was finally able to finish up a three year chase for Panini's Elusive Ink. The final card I needed was the purple 1/1.

Here they all are as happy as can be as a family again.

I do like this rainbow a little more than the 2020 version as this one pops with more color, but being able to complete any rainbow is a likeable feat.

Until next time, hopefully more needed Rodney's pop up soon.

Rodney's Cardboard:2020 Select Chase

Just like with next weeks post, I just wanted to update and show off a couple rainbow look-ins.

 

Here is my 2020 Select chase (minus the other green /5 because that arrived after I had this picture on here)

Just two 1/1's will finish up this bad boy. So far though, no sign of either.

When I do land them, I will be sure to post them and take a new picture of them all.

If any of you see them, PLEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY!!!

Rodney's Cardboard:2020 Illusions Mirage Purple Autograph 1/1

Impressed is the word I would best describe how fast I put this rainbow together.

Usually it takes  years to build a rainbow with the 1/1 always being the last to chase, however, this one only took less than a year to build. I was impressed so many opened up Illusions with the price tag and only one auto.

The final piece I needed was of course the 1/1 which is this one,

Still the best card backs Panini has done for Rodney autographs.

 

Here is the rainbow completed. You really can't tell much of a difference in the cards other than a slight foil color change on the word Mirage.

The final 2 Rodney's Cardboard of 2021 will be two more rainbow chases. Stay tuned!

Rodney's Cardboard:It's ALL Here!

 

I have been doing posts on Rodney Hampton for the past three years and I think it's finally time to show off everything in one post of my Super PC.

I have already shared these once on Twitter, but figured a lot of you don't have Twitter so why not do it on here as well.

So here we go,

(uncut sheet)

(this binder has all of my non rare Rodneys')

(Rares)

(Oddballs)

And there you have it. At least for now. I have a good amount in trade coming still as well and will need to do an update post at some point in the future as well.

9 Year Blogversary

Can't believe that 9 years ago today, I started blogging. Sometimes it only feels like yesterday and other times it feels like I have been on here my entire life. You feel me other bloggers?

Year 9 was bad for this blog. My daily views were down, my comments were way down in which I blamed a lot of it on Covid. Because the year did kick off great and then by March things started to fall. I also lost a couple of sponsors as well with two different circumstances though neither had to do with Covid.

I was actually at the breaking point of retiring this blog, I even did a post on that, which still isn't out of the question for this year. It takes a lot of work to run a daily blog the way I do it. Even though my posts are usually short and sweet, there is a lot that still goes into it. Taking pictures, uploading five at a time from phone to email, downloading those from my email with my slower than death internet, then having to upload them into the blog takes a good almost hour process if not more some days. Then taking the time to research, find the right people to tag or link, and making sure I can get all of that done daily is extremely tough. I was more dedicated to doing that three years ago but day by day on here I feel myself slipping some. I don't want to get done blogging by any means, but need to find an easier system that fits me. I was hoping the blogger app on my phone was going to be the difference maker but that no longer allows you to upload photos straight from your phone into the blog like it used to unless you want to upload one photo at a time. 

I am hoping to continue on here, but don't be surprised if things change down the road.

Now onto something more positive as always with this yearly post, I would also like to thank some people who have contributed greatly to this blog in year 9.

Thank you to Tracy Hackler and the Panini crew for their continued support of nine years with providing prizes with reviews. They have been there since the beginning!

Thank you to BCW Supplies as well with providing prizes for contests and their support over 9 years.

A thank you goes out to Topps , though not much around in 2020 because of Covid, is expecting to make a great return on here in 2021 where we will be doing giveaways all year.

And a thank you to newbie, Burbank Sport Cards. Save 10% on your orders on their Beckett site by using code 15Burbank at checkout and free shipping over $50.

Make sure to check all of the companies above out and give them a follow on all social media sites and let them know the many thanks for the support of this blog. Also, go buy their products ;)

I would like to also toss in that not all cards in the past nine years that have been given away on here and Twitter have come from companies. A lot has come from my own personal breaks/collection as well and cards that I have picked up specifically to be given away. I just love to make others happy and to grow the hobby anyway I can. The card companies help with what I started myself.

I have had many highlights that I am very proud of among the nine years as a blogger, including being named a 3-time Panini Player Of The Day Blog Champion (2 years co-winner), receiving a tremendous UDRAK (Upper Deck Random Acts Of Kindness) for all that I give back to the hobby, and finishing second out of hundreds of blogs for the 2014 Blog Of The Year in the Bip Award and finishing second place in The #HasAVote #BestBlogger Hobby All-Star Award On CollectorSaurus Site. I finally won a Blog Of The Year contest beating out many great ones in 2017 claiming the first ever Best Sport Collecting Blog award from GoGTS Live/ Beckett #Fatpacks. Not to mention being contacted by Pawn Stars to help spread the word on them. That alone was pretty awesome.

I have also had a 4200+ view day on here as well, which far exceeds my average of now 600 but even this number has gone up double since last year. Another proud moment is also never missing ONE SINGLE POST DAY on here in 9 years even after some tough health years. I have totaled to close to 5200 consecutive published posts without missing a single day and feel I have accomplished a lot for something I did on a whim. Take that Cal Ripken!

Now let's take a look at Year 9 numbers by comparison to other years. It's tradition.

Here is the breakdown:

Year One, Sport Card Collectors blog had 68,169 overall views. 695 Twitter Followers and 118 Facebook LIKES.

Year Two, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 205,240 overall views, 2,206 Followers on Twitter and 147 Facebook LIKES.

Year Three, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 340,841 overall views, 3,576 Followers on Twitter and 159 Facebook LIKES.

Year Four, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 483,217 overall views, 4,494 Followers on Twitter and 431 Facebook LIKES.

Year Five, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 679,331 overall views. 5,325 Twitter Followers and 541 Facebook LIKES.

Year Six, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 952,540 overall views. 6,272 Twitter Followers and 627 Facebook LIKES.

Year Seven, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,268,414 overall views. 7,120 Twitter Followers and 815 Facebook LIKES.

Year Eight, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,595,972 overall views. 8,353 Twitter Followers and 1291 Facebook LIKES before I ended the page. 

Year Nine, Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies grew to 1,814,262 overall views.  9,763 Twitter Followers and 780 Instagram Followers

For the first time in SCC , well MWBOH, history, the numbers were significantly down from the previous year. SIGNIFICANTLY. It's really depressing to see as the blog usually continues to grow on a yearly basis. The only growth this year was on Twitter and of course my newly installed Instagram account. But, it was expected in what I already knew was a down year.

Time to get back to something more positive.

I want to thank the other sport card bloggers who added me to their blogroll this past year and that I have added to my trading circle. I hope to add more blogs to my blogroll and I hope others will add me to theirs in this next upcoming year. It's a very nice community to be apart of and one that I hope to get to know more of and be more apart of this year.

I wanted to also take a minute to thank all of the new traders I have added in 2020. All of you helped support my hobby addiction in another year I couldn't afford to do much in. Thank you.

Finally, I also wanted to give an extra shout out to my top trading buddies Shane over at Project Pedro Blog and Bryan over at 90's Niche Football Card Blog , @CardpocalypseNC, Dions Autograph Blog and of course top reader and friend that is always overly generous and a good guy, Grady M. I truly appreciate what you guys helped me with over the years and especially 2020. My collection wouldn't have many of it's great pieces without you guys.

I also wanted to give Wes from formerly the JBF blog, formerly the Area 40 blog and formerly known as the symbol his own paragraph here again. Once again, the daily talks, check-ins, cards and friendship is beyond appreciated.

In closing, I wanted to thank you guys, the readers. If it wasn't for you, why bother posting. Thanks for reading and checking out Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies. I hope you find what I post interesting, inspiring, fun and informational as that was my aim when I started up this blog.

What to expect in Year 10....well, lets just hope for some growth so I can continue posting on here.

Thanks for reading and thanks again to all who have contributed to the growth of this blog the last nine years.

Rodneys Cardboard:1996 Crown Royale Silver

The second year of the crown die cut fun brought forth another round of fun die cuts, inserts and parallels.

There isn't many Crown Royale cards I need of Rodney, but the ones that I do are the parallels.

This past Christmas I was...to say the least, bombarded by a man called Wes.

Surprises became surprises with surprises within surprises. Try saying that five times fast.

In the surprises were some long sought after Rodney Hampton cards I needed including today's 1996 Crown Royale Silver.

These silvers, were randomly inserted in retail packs only at a rate of four in 25. The only difference from this than the base is the obvious silver foil instead of the gold.

  

Back of the card remains the same.

Thanks to Wes for the Rodney help. There will be a few more that Wes sent along coming up in future Rodney's Cardboard so stay tuned.