Random Cardboard:1996 Score Artists Proof Marc Newfield

Random Cardboard:1996 Pinnacle Artists Proof Albert Belle

Random Cardboard:1996 Pinnacle SlugFest Eddie Murray

Random Cardboard:1996 Pinnacle Christie Brinkley Collection Sandy Alomar

Random Cardboard:1997 Score Artists Proof Carl Everett

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.

Christmas 2021

It's Christmas time again.....

My favorite holiday has finally arrived! It's time to spend the day with family, watch movies, drink cocoa and soak in the spirit of Christmas.

I also wanted to take a moment out to say Happy Birthday to Jesus.  He is the reason for the season.

Now to show off my latest Christmas card adds. I enjoy cards that feature Santa, Topps and Bowman Holiday Sp's or parallels, Santa hat swatches or good-looking relic cards that feature Christmas. 

I can't quite remember now who I made this trade with to land these since it was awhile ago, but this trade was nailed.

Aquino with a scarf

The infamous Candy Cane bat by Machado

Josh Bell with Mittens that look like boxing gloves

Jersey relics with plenty of Christmas cheer

 

and my favorite relics of the season, Rookie Sweaters. I collected the entire 2020 set except 4 duals I need to finish up. I believe I have close to 10 for 2021 but at this point I have no plans on collecting the set. I would accept any I didn't have though.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

Cardboard Review:2020 Bowman Draft Sapphire Edition

There are some releases that I never see or ever have thought about opening, but one I have been curious by and haven't had the chance to open is any of the sapphire releases.

Recently, I had a chance to open a box. Let's check it out,

In every box of 2020 Bowman Draft Sapphire comes with 32 cards. The only guarantee in every box is 2 parallels and each box goes for.....$400. The 2019 edition was $35 per. The 2020 version started out at $70. But now the Covid edition is $400.

BASE:

There are 200 base cards in the set.

The one card I wanted from the set, I landed.

Here are the other bigger names I found,

Outside of these guys, my box was loaded with catchers and especially.....pitchers.

PARALLELS

The following parallels can be found,

Yellow /99, Green /50, Orange /25, Aqua /20, Gold /15, Purple /10, Red /5, Padparadscha 1/1.

Green /50

 

Yellow /99

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Well....at a $35 price point, I would say I did decent. At a $400 price point, well, not so much.

As for the cards themselves, holy smokes this is a beautiful product!!! These cards are quite stunning in person and even the light box cannot completely catch their magic.

Your thoughts on this product are welcomed below!

Cardboard Review:2021 Topps Chrome Ben Baller

I didn't adventure into Round 1 of the Ben Baller collab with Topps experience but wondered how it actually was and dived into Round 2.

The cards are basically Topps Chrome with a Ben Baller chain on the Topps Chrome logo with a little bit of a diamond background on the cards. The other difference, there are no autograph guarantees.

Each box of 2021 Topps Chrome Ben Baller has 24 packs of 4 cards. This is the same setup as the basic Topps Chrome. Each box come with 5 parallels, a random chance at autographs and run about $255 per.

BASE:

 

The base set is 219 cards built up of rookies and veterans. As I stated above, the only difference in the base cards is the Ben Baller chain logo and the diamond background effect.

PARALLELS:

You can find the following parallels, much less than basic Chrome, in Ben Baller Chrome

Green /99, Blue /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Rose Gold /10, Red /5 , and SuperFractor 1/1.

Here is what I found,

Green /99

Gold /50

Blue /75

INSERTS:

Inserts can have the following parallels,

Green /99, Blue /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Rose Gold /10, Red /5 and SuperFractor 1/1

Ben's Diamond Die Cuts falls 1:24 packs and has 15 cards to collect.

Icy falls 1:24 packs. There are 10 to collect in this set.

And then comes the infamous 1986 Topps...these will never end!!!!!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Ugh, this was not that exciting of a rip. I found many packs just with base veterans and no shine. It's probably one of the very few times you will hear me say that Topps Chrome was not exciting.

When it comes to value, that's an ugly word here as well. There isn't much to brag about and the rookies I did pull, were guys I hadn't heard of or were pitchers. None of the top rookies were found.

So for this blogger, I will stick to my regular chrome and all of today's cards are available for trade besides a couple Tigers that were claimed on Twitter.

You're thoughts are welcomed on this product in comments!

Random Cardboard:1997 Score Heart Of The Order Bernie Williams

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2021 Topps Chrome Allen Ginter

 I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE me some Chrome. Chrome it all I say!

When I first discovered that Topps had chromed my favorite Topps product, I was super stoked. I do wish this was also in retail form, not that we would probably find any of the shelves anyways, but I am happy just to open some.

Let's see how I did.

Every box of 2021 Topps Chrome Allen Ginter comes with 18 packs of 4 cards. Similar to basic chrome. There is no guaranteed hits as autographs are one-per-case. Each box should have 18 minis, 6 base refractors and 7 inserts. Boxes are around $120.

BASE:

The base card set is built up of 300 cards and includes veterans, legends and non-sport figures.

PARALLELS

Refractor, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, X-Fractor, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Base Refractor

Blue /150

Orange /25

Gold /50

Mini's

All base minis come as refractors but have the following parallels,

Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5 and SuperFractor 1/1.

Base minis.

Gold /50

INSERTS:

World Leaders. There are 25 cards to find in the set and falls 1:6 packs.

Mini Rookie Design Variations fall 1:9 packs and there is 20 cards to collect.

World's Largest falls 1:9 packs and has 23 cards to collect.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

No hits to be found in my break. It wasn't quite as much fun as regular chrome but I still enjoyed it. I do wish there was some form of hits to be discovered whether that be relic or auto per. I just felt something was a little lacking.

Money wise, well, for $120, as you can see it was a rough break.

My favorite card find was the Bobby Moynihan and probably best card of the box was the mini Hayes.

Leave me your thoughts overall in comments!

Christmas Card 21

 

Christmas Card 20

It's The Most Busiest Time Of The Year

Good morning!

 

 

This is what I got to wake up to this morning. The sunrise on one side of my house and the moon going down on the other. I think it looks cooler with the fresh 8 inches of snow we recently got on Saturday.

What a crazy time it has been this month. I haven't even had a minute to sit down and actually type up a new post on here. Most of the content you see is at least a week or two old but at least there is something on here for you to read. I am not sure, other than today, when I will be getting a fresh new post up on here or any other blog if I chose to do so.

Besides family, I have been dealing with some fun health issues as well. I have had dizziness for two weeks which the doctors are chalking up to be a sinus infection that still hasn't quite turned the corner yet. I also found out upon getting some bloodwork that my A1C has jumped up to 6.4 which basically makes me a borderline diabetic with a it being just .1 below. Diabetes runs in my family so this is no surprise, but I am doing all I can to take the precautionary steps to not push it to the .1 higher. I have cut back on eating and bumped up the steps a little more losing 5 pounds last week. But I know not to let that get to my head as I will lose track of my goal.

As for mail day posts, I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo backed up on them. So, I must apologize to those who haven't seen a thank you from me yet on here. 

 

Here's a small preview of cards I have to go through, this is just from today. I also have some PWE's and a package from Wes I have been sitting on for awhile. So much to sort, so much to post. As I was discussing with Dennis from Too Many Verlanders blog this morning, I probably have content just with Christmas for all of 2022.

And I also have many of you I meant to send cards out to before Christmas, maybe after Christmas there will be time.

I hope everyone is doing well and hope to see more blog posts from those of you who blog. It still feels like the blogosphere is a dying space. If you know of any new blogs I can add to my blogroll or have one yourself I don't have, leave that in comments below. I always try to find time to read blogs at least, there is always a bathroom break :)

Have a great Monday. Yes, that can be a thing.

Matt

Christmas Card 19

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!!!

Christmas Card 18

Christmas Card 17

Cardboard Review:2021 Topps Chrome Black

Another chromed product, I won't complain. Everyone knows I am a fan of Chrome though I am sure many of you won't care to see another.

Once again, this is another product that went under my radar that I didn't even know was out until it arrived.

So let's check it out together shall we?

Every box of 2021 Topps Chrome Black comes with 4 cards. 2 base, 1 refractor and 1 encased autograph. Boxes run $125.

BASE:

I like the fact the base has a different design than the regular chrome. There are 100 cards in the base set including veterans and rookies.

PARALLELS:

You can find the following parallels,

Refractor /199, Purple /150, Green /99, Green Atomic /99, Blue /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Magenta /10, Red /5, and Supefractor 1/1.

Base Refractor. You can barely see the shine. That's the only problem I have with it.

HITS:

You can find about 143 different autographs or so in Topps Chrome Black including players/stars from today and yesterday.

 

And I pulled a pitcher and a rookie pitcher at that. Everyone already knows my thoughts on that.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Money wise, ouch. It's a big risk for 4 cards but there are some opportunities as well if you have the luck.

Design wise, I was happy with. I was a little disappointed with my refractor though. You really have to catch the right lighting to see it, otherwise it looks like a base card.

Thoughts on today's rip and/or the product is welcomed in comments!