Lords Of The Diamond

 

For a few months now, @Jake1725 and myself have been working on and off on a trade and knocking out the details on it. I knew in the end we would work it out like we always do, its just sometimes it takes a little longer to do so.

I didn't know completely what I was getting on my end from Jake and on his end was the same from me. All I know is kicking it off with this beautiful Lords Of The Diamond Ken Griffey Jr is a heck of a start.

Wanna feel older? This was Topps 55th anniversary design. We are now in Year 70....Also, remember when we used to be able to spot a gold parallel from Topps easier?

Juan's gone the right way. If you know Donruss 90 and this card, you will get that.

Another new Griffey Jr! Big Fly Zone, he definitely sent plenty of balls that way.

The Franchise Big Hurt

Alex Rodriguez

Three more new Griffey Jr's. I like the Drawing Power insert but the photography on Big Shots takes the medal here.

Five-Tool Talent A-Rod. His sixth tool was cheating the game.

Revolution always came out with a nice base card design, I believe this is my first taste of the 1998 baseball.

I hate to admit it, I like Stick Ums

Randy Johnson Proview. Except this is the gold version I have never seen before.

Some fun 90's chromed inserts

Upper Deck MVP had some nice cards despite being on the same level as Collectors Choice as a brand and cost. These Swing Times also are foiled.

Super Tools. Revert to the comment above about MVP

Some shiny Topps inserts. I wished Topps would do more of these and not so much bland like today's

Bonds Home Run cards. Not sure how many of these should count

Up next, I know it's Collectors Choice and that these Star Quests fell one-per-pack, but these were probably the most eye-pleasers of this group of cards for me.

The blue ones/one star are the easiest to find falling one-per-pack

The green falls 1:8 packs. A tad tougher than the blue level

The Red level falls 1:23 packs.

Almost a complete rainbow of Clemens, just lacking the Gold. That one is really tough to find and numbered to 100. I tried to look on eBay for one just for kicks and didn't see one.

Thanks to Jake for another terrific trade and looking forward to more.

Freshly Perked:Oooops, I Forgot

Its been close to a month now since I received today's dual mail day threat and I am ashamed that I hadn't shared this or thanked those who sent them yet.

The first mail day came from the great Cards On Cards who had mailed out my freebie claims on one of his Friday giveaways. I have no idea who any of these guys are but saw the shine so grabbed them.

(actually this one wasn't just for the shine, it was for the Nationals part that I have a trading buddy who would enjoy it)

Thanks again Cards On Cards!

 

My next mail day came from @Jake1725 who is unloading his Aaron Judge PC as he is no longer collecting him. Since Jude is one of the only three Yankees I collect, I looked through to see what he had and three caught my eye.

 

Blue parallel. It's so shiny.

What I haven't mentioned yet, I gave up collecting Aaron Judge last year at some point and traded away all of my Judge cards to him. Some of the ones he is moving on from are ones that were once in my collection. I wished I could had grabbed back the Topps Chrome purple and pink refractor rookie cards I had but those went elsewhere. However, I was able to snag back two I hated to lose in the first place.

 

Players Weekend Manu Relic

 

Stadium Club Instavision that was a case hit pull I pulled myself. These are more impressive in person compared to the picture I took for this post.

I went from not getting any cards in the mail to getting an onslaught at times where it's been really hard to keep up and being able to post other segments that are not mail day related. So if you haven't seen your mail day from me being posted yet, just remember it's somewhere in que and I will get to it.

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict: Rescue 911

"911, Do You Have An  Emergency?"
"Yes, I am in need of my toilet plunging!"
"We will be right there."

This was just some of the fun my friends and I had once at Brian's annual birthday party sleepover. Yes, we were extremely immature kids but we had fun. We just couldn't go to sleep that night and spent most of the night coming up with emergencies. And no, we didn't actually call 911 to do these. They were reenactments while we were lying on the floor in our sleeping bags.

We were basing our 911 adventures thanks to a new hit show that arrived on CBS, that show,

Rescue 911 was a docu-drama that premiered in 1989 and ran til 1996. The show was a huge hit because it had arrived around the time 911 was being fully implemented. The show actually helped save lives as well though it wasn't the shows intention. I believe well over 300 lives were saved in the shows run.

"911, what's your emergency?"
"Matt farted and our friends are passed out. Please hurry."
"Oh my, we will arrive soon!"

The show was hosted by the legendary William Shatner who most knew from his time on Star Trek. For me, he was the 911 host. I wasn't much of a Trek guy back then. I was more into Star Wars and Dr. Who when it came to science fiction.

However, since those days I have watched Shatner on a few other shows I really enjoyed such as Bleep My Dad Says, wished that hadn't been canceled and Better Late Than Never when he and three other old guys traveled the world experiencing all that it had to offer. That was really enjoyable to see the four guys personalities come together. Once again, too bad that was canceled. Of course since then as well I have tuned into some older Star Trek too.

"911, what's your emergency?"
"Jason Vorhees is right outside our window! Please come sssssssssssssssssssssss"
"Sir, sir...Sir....."

So that led me to wanting a Shatner autograph. Especially with the 911 memories of that one night. Thanks to @Jake1725, I was able to land one.

He doesn't have the greatest autograph, but it's still his. It appears his autograph has gone off over the years. I really wished Leaf would put add a picture of the actors signing these on the back of the cards. I always worry about fakes in today's collecting world. But, from looking at his autographs, I am pretty sure it is authentic.

This was a huge add to my non sport PC. Not something I would have collected in my youth but now chasing.

There was news of a Rescue 911 revival with Shatner as host back in 2018, but I never saw if it was just a rumor or still a work in progress. I think it would be fun to watch once again and especially in today's day and times where kids do a whole lot more stupid stuff than get their tongue stuck in the freezer. That was as real episode by the way. I can only imagine the respondents response to some.

"Rescue 911 what's your emergency?"
"I ate a Tide Pod!"
"Sounds like you need to go back to school."

"Rescue 911, what's your emergency?"
"Uh well, I did something that was lit. I lit myself on fire and have some cool burn marks on my arms. It was lit, but it hurts. At least I got a YouTube video of it. It's gonna be lit!!"
*hangs up phone*

Thanks to Jake for bringing back the memories and here is hoping the rumor was true. Bring back Rescue 911!

"Rescue 911 what's your emergency?"
"My friend stuck his finger in his nose and it's stuck!"
"We will be there to assist soon. Do you know if there was green goo?"
"Lots!"
"We will hurry on our way!"

Hollywood Prospecting

One of the things the last few years I have found most thrilling about collecting celebrity autographs is the fact they don't have fluctuating values. It's not like they going to get hurt acting then be out for a season or be a top pick in a movie and completely disappoint. Well, I guess you could say that but they will be back again on top next time.

Not that value completely matters to me but it's nice to know if, IF, that day ever comes and you need to sell, that celebrity items stay pretty much level on what they are worth unlike sports cards. Overall to me though, value doesn't matter.

It's about the memories made by the cardboard, the person on it or the person I may had done the trade with.

My latest addition to my non sport PC has a couple of those things.

One thing, @Jake1725 has been really good to me. Both as a friend and as a trader. I have found some really great traders who will go above and beyond for me such as Jake.

Second thing, I don't quite remember what I was searching for, but somehow I found out that John Travolta had an autograph card and I knew at that moment, it was a goal to get one.

Well, because of Jake and the magic of trading, here it is! Such a beauty despite his not great signature!

Numbered 4/5 even on the back.

I watched John in quite a few films such as The Look Who's Talking trio, Face Off (one of my favorite films), Ladder 49, Wild Hogs (a great underrated film) and Old Dogs that was quite hilarious just to name a few. And before you ask, no I wasn't really a Grease or Saturday Night Fever fan. I know that may offend some.

A big thanks to Jake for landing currently the biggest autograph card I have in my non sports PC. Will there be another big add to it coming down the road? Time can only tell.

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Let's Get Dangerous Part 3

Daring duck of mystery,
Champion of right,
Swoops down from the shadows!
Darkwing owns the night!

Darkwing owns the night and now owns my collection of Darkwing Duck items.

I sometimes wish I am Drake Mallard an average everyday guy who turns into the Daring Duck of mystery by night. Well, maybe not a duck so much. Maybe I am a regular guy who turns into a nostalgic blogger by night? You think that counts at all? Nostalgia Guy (to the tune of Darkwing Duck)? Does that sound good at all?

When I am talking about Darkwing owning my collection of his items, I am not talking about the DVD sets I own of both seasons.

 

Is it because I am showing off one of the coolest DVD covers to one of the seasons disks? Nope.

Is it because I remember to rewind my third Darkwing Duck VHS set every time without the sticker reminding me to be kind and do so?

Nope. Even though it is nice not having to rewind it when I try to watch it.

It's because of this that my buddy @Jake1725 was able to snag for me.

 

YES, YES, YES! Eat gas evil doers! The biggest piece to my Darkwing Duck collection yet! The man himself with all of the pieces and in working order. So rad!

If you watch this video, it will show you how Darkwing operates. Simply it's just a button on his back that makes his hat pop up.

I had Darkwing Duck as a kid. However, my sister broke his hat mechanism and my duck wasn't ever the same. My mother tried to fix him by using a lighter and melting the hat back on but that was a total fail and made Darkwing look more like Negaduck. The hat also just fell off a few hours later as well. She didn't have a hot glue gun so thought by melting it back on it would work.

Darkwing marks number three I own now from my childhood. I am still short two more that I had personally in Launchpad and Steelbeek, and I am hopeful I will land those two as well. Darkwing has been sitting in my drafts since February and I am just bringing out his reveal now. I can say though as of this typing I have no more sequels planned for Darkwing on here unless I can add more.

I would also to add the rest of the set to. Might as well get the ones I didn't have as a kid to.

So for now, the city of St.Canard can rest in piece, til the next time.

Parts Of My Past

The readers will come.

They'll come on here for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll click on the link to here, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive here as innocent as children, longing for the past.

As you all have noticed today, something has changed on Sport Card Collectors. Well, formally Sport Card Collectors.

For years I have mentioned a name change for the blog but never actually pulled the trigger to do so, but today, the day after my seven year blog anniversary on here, that day has finally come. Not only is there a name change, but theme as well.

Back in December, I came to the realization I was coming into writers block for the current theme on Sport Card Collectors. I also realized you pair writers block with the fact that I wouldn't always have mail days or reviews to keep me going every day, I had to do some serious thinking on how I would continue on and keep it interesting for myself. The end result, well, I realized I needed to dig into my past to post in the present. Hence, the blog name.

So along with reviews from current products and the occasional newer card mail day posts (if it's something huge or related to the new theme I am hauling in then it goes on here but the rest will be on Twitter), I will be taking a trip back to the 90's when I first started collecting like never before. Not only will I discuss cards from that era of my collecting, but late 80's-90's Toys, music, TV Shows, Movies, and other memories from my past which some could be very funny and possibly a tad embarrassing. They will also blend in with a theme of those things as well. I am not sure if I will be able to post these daily, but I will see how much work will be put into each post from each memory I recover. I want these new posts going forward to be perfect.

I plan on using The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict series name to do the new posts going forward since that name seems to be popular among readers. However, it is an improved version of that series or at least I believe so.

Their hobby memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces

I already had the theme ready to go a long time ago, but the blog name was the hardest part. So I went brainstorming with @Jake1725 who was one of a very few select people I told about my major plan. I wanted this to be a shocking surprise to everyone of my readers.

Jake and I threw thoughts and ideas back and forth for the name of this blog for a few weeks. Some stood out more than others while some fell flat or were completely fun ridiculous. In the end, I had it narrowed down to two names that I thought were fitting for what I was trying to do. The first one, All That And A Box Of Cards was pretty catchy and based off from some 90's slang. However, when Jake pitched a line Part Of Our Past from the movie Field Of Dreams from the big speech given by James Earl Jones it caught on. I gave that line a quick change to Parts Of My Past and it seemed fitting for what my idea was.

As you can also tell I used the speech to theme my post for today.

I hope everyone enjoys the new content going forward. I will be spewing out many memories or those that I can still gather together from a multitude of growing up fun and each story is a part of my past and shows how I got here today.

This blog, this hobby, it's apart of my past. It reminds me of all that once was good, and it could be again.

Ohhhhhhhh, the readers will come. Readers will most definitely come.

Tradin' With Jake Again

Another trade is in the books for me and @Jake1725. This one was one of our smaller ones, but it still provided some nice boom.

Yankee rookie cards of Bird and Frazer,

Servino rookies, 

My man DJ!

Andjuar who I still need an autograph of.

DiDi rookie. Think I only had one other so glad to add this one.

 

There were some new Aaron Judge cards as well but I guess my blog didn't want to upload the photo so I will just say there are three new ones.

Cool Dr.Strange trio relic for my non sport PC.

And finally a beautiful Rodney Hampton Atomic Refractor from 1996 Bowman's Best. It was the last one I needed for my rainbow and it wasn't an easy one to find. Glad I finally nailed it down.

A big thanks goes out to @Jake1725 for another great trade and I am sure we have many more to go.

Who You Gonna Call? A COMPLETE SET!

Just in time for Halloween today, I finally get to unveil my other big completed project for 2018. I have officially completed the entire Cryptozoic Ghostbusters autograph set!

This set took me a few years to do and it definitely wouldn't have been possible without some major help from friends. Thank you @Jake1725,Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown, My Wife, the late George Nadeau who held a contest that I won to add it and his support, @90sNicheFBcard and

Wes who helped locate and acquire this last piece I was missing in this Michael Ensign who seemed to have disappeared right when I was at the very end. But, nobody gets by Wes!

 

Here is a up-close look to most of the other set in case you haven't seen them on here before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

    

 

 

 

I couldn't believe that I finished the Psych seasons 1-4 autograph set this year and then to top it off with another autograph set. Stunning.

Now that this is complete, it's time to chase down the Film-Cel cards, sketch cards , slime cards (my next set goal), and the patch cards.

Thanks again for everyone who helped me out with this project. I couldn't have done it without you!