The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Merry Christmas!

Christmas taught me a lot when I was growing up.

It taught me you don't need a lot to be happy.

It also taught me to take care of my stuff.

And it taught me to appreciate the small things.

Every year when I was a kid, it was the same ole, same ole story at Christmas, a pair of socks or underwear, a notebook since I liked to write and then maybe a toy I wanted or at least an off brand of it. You know the kind of stuff you would appreciate as an adult.

No big video game machines. No bikes. No Ghostbusters firehouse. No TMNT sewer.

So I learned to appreciate what I did get, use it to it's best ability and treat it well. I didn't run over my toys with my bike. I didn't tie a rocket to them like Sid from Toy Story.  I didn't feed them to my dogs like my neighbors kids. I played with them normally, gave them normal play wear and stored them nicely.

That has actually carried over to today with my card collecting. I don't have the vintage Mantle rookies. The big time prospect autographs. The Hall Of Fame patch card autos that are low numbered. I have what I have and I appreciate every piece of cardboard like it's as valuable as those things. Big or small like I said.

Like this Giants Pro Set Christmas card I got from @card_a_holic. This card isn't worth a whole lot, but to me it is. It was an extra in our trade from awhile back and it was something I hadn't seen and needed for my Giants PC. I waited this long to show it off and held back.

I didn't get much into Pro Set when I was a kid collecting mostly because it was from older sets before I joined the hobby. But, later in my teens I did grab some cards and learned to enjoy everything Pro Set had to offer. Especially it's oddball and rare error cards.

I don't expect anything under the tree this year, it's something I have become accustomed to as an adult, but what I do expect is to have family time and that's something no gift can replace.

I hope everyone out there reading this has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday. However you celebrate it. Hopefully you all will find something under the tree and treasure it whether it's big or small. Take time today with family or friends and make memories that will last a lifetime. Grab that cup of eggnog and sip it and simply feel good about it. Give time or gifts to those less fortunate. Enjoy the food and all else that the holidays bring.

And finally, Happy Birthday Jesus!

Pillars Of The Game

Bloggers Note: this post was typed up back in September so I am just getting it published now. Who knows how far or how far not the Giants or players featured in this post have come

The NY Giants season is still young, but it appears this young team may have a bright future. How far down that road is the bright future? I don't know. I just know the pieces appear to be in place for it.

In the meantime, I will collect the future before it hits full power.

Darius Slayton has shown signs of life and for some reason for me has shown that maybe I should start a PC of him. Of course I always worry about PCing newer players not knowing how long they will be on the team or in the league for. Hence Rueben Randle and Andre Williams.

Thanks to my friend @JGfan24ever for grabbing this beaut (besides the 00 jersey) for me from @ACFCARDS1.

 Here is my best Slayton to date, a green ink, green parallel /50 I recently got in a trade with @card_a_holic who busted a box of 2019 Spectra for his birthday which I think was a box intended for me as three of the hits were for me. And they literally were thanks to this trade.

This was another one of those hits, Michael Strahan Pillars Of The Game.

And the final hit I fell absolutely head over heels for. /15 Pink Pillars Of The Game Lawrence Taylor. The only sad part about this card is the fact it's a player worn jersey. Really? Really? Player worn? I don't know why we don't have more Game Worn jerseys in this hobby.

Rookies I somewhat understand as they hadn't hit the field yet, but maybe at least get their preseason game worn ones. But Legends of the game such as LT should be Game Worn.

A big thanks goes out to @card_a_holic for another successful trade. I look forward to our next!

Episode 17:Giving Me The Edge

Today marks the 17th episode of this blog and the finale of my trade with @card_a_holic

Today I am showing off some really sweet Collectors Edge inserts I saved for this trade finale.

First up, some EdgeTech green. There were 37 cards in the set and in a variety of different 1995 Collectors Edge products to find them.

Pretty simple design, a green bulls eye background with a player in the forefront

There were also super sick parallels of these to find as well. Doesn't seem the odds really are any different then finding the base version but I prefer these much more.

They have a Prism shine foil to them

Three great players as well.

I know I always talk about building sets of these and the parallels would be awesome to, but 37 cards is pretty deep. I may have to think about it first. They look great though.

Thanks for the trade Brian. I look forward to next time!

Episode 16:Refractors From 1998

More goodies from my trade with @card_a_holic reveals some awesome Topps Chrome refractors!

Back in the 90's, things were much easier when it came to refractors. We only had one and the one only fell 1:12 packs or two per box. None of this every  pack thing.

The cards were also easy defined by an R on the back somewhere depending on the year letting us know it was one.

Let's check out the four he passed along,

Jocquez Green

Shannon Sharpe

Jason Sehorn, which I didn't even have for my Giants PC

 

and my man Mark Brunell

Believe me, there were points I considered chasing these as a set but not only would it be impossible, but expensive. One can dream though right?

I am building the 1998 Topps Chrome base set though. One of the bigger cards I have left to get is the Randy Moss so if you see one you know who to contact.

Thanks for these Brian!

Episode 15:I Have An SSD!

Back in 1998, Playoff released it's Absolute SSD product and I fell madly in love. The only problem at the time, was that Peyton Manning was clearing off shelves of the product by his popularity and I was only able to grab a few packs.

Years later, @card_a_holic made me reminded me how badly I want to build this base set as well. So with 200 overall to find including Peyton and Randy, it won't be an easy task. Much like my 1998 Topps Chrome chase.

But, I am set to do it and know I have some hobby friends who would help along the way.

Let's check out these sweet cards. We don't get base sets this cool anymore.

These have a weird foil texture covering the card, features the solo player and has an acetate inset of them. Up close these look a lot cooler than they do on here.

Irv Smith

Isaac Bruce

Marc Edwards

Only four to help towards my base but better than none!

He even had an insert from the set. These fell 1:19 packs at the time.

Mark Brunell for that PC.I liked when the Jags wore their dark unis.

 

Slash the Slasher Stewart.

Wonder if I should chase this set to? Why not just chase all of this high quality cardboard from this era??

Thanks to Brian for the set help!

Episode 14:Going Die Cut

Cool looking die cuts? Yep. Nice inserts? Yup. Not cardboard? Yup.

Collectors Edge was all of the above. They had the edge as I would call it.

In my latest additions from @card_a_holic I was able to add some cool looking inserts from Collectors Edge starting with todays.

These are 1995 Collectors Edge Instant Replay EdgeTech Die Cuts. There is almost a complete set from what he sent but I still have a few more to go.

I don't remember these at all, but I liked the design and thought "hey, why not and why not try to finish the set at this point?"

There were 12 in all to collect. I assume by their value these weren't particularly hard pulls back then.

Tim Brown. The design is simply a helmet die cut that features the team color on the helmet while the rest is blue.

Marshall, Marshall, Marshall

William Floyd

Dan the Man!

Deion

 

Steve Young

Set is a little 49ers heavy, but they had a great team and a Super Bowl winning one the previous year so it makes sense.

Thanks for these Brian!

Episode 13:LaserView

Upper Deck to me was the king of holograms, no doubt about that, but there was also Pinnacle who liked to use the innovation within some of their products as well.

For instance, today's product from 1996, Laserview. This product was a lot of fun not only for it's base cards, but it included autographs that everyone was chasing in Pinnacle Inscriptions.

The base cards were pretty simple. Black border, focused player and a holographic image of the player doing a play or movement as you tipped the card.

This is a set I am chasing slowly and thanks to my buddy@card_a_holic I was able to knock a few more down.

Steve Young

Steve Young subset

 

Steve Young insert. I hadn't seen one of these before.

Three base knocked down is better than none. I need to update my numbers to see where I am at. It's a short base set of 40 cards but I still had a ways to go.

Thanks for the set help Brian!

Episode 8: Mark Brunell Came Home

Well, here we go again with more cards from my trade with @card_a_holic.

Another one of my favorite 90's QB's was a lefty with legs. Nope not talking about you Steve Young, even though I was a fan, I am talking about you Mark Brunell.

Mark Brunell started out with the Green Bay Packers as a 5th round pick behind the great Brett Favre on the depth chart. Obviously he had no shot at going any further than that.

 

 

My first two rookie of him.

And here he is saying good bye to the Packers in 1995 when the Jags made the franchises first ever trade letting go a 3rd and a 5th to bring home their QB stud.

Brunell was selected to the Pro Bowl three times, in 1997, 1998, and 2000 and awarded the Pro Bowl MVP in the 1997 game, Jaguars also won an AFC Central Division title and became the first NFL expansion team to make the playoffs three times in its first four seasons of play. He also led them to the AFC Championship game in 1996 when they lost to the Patriots which made me upset. However they did beat the mighty Bills and Bronocs in the playoffs that year which was quite the upsets.

I think I became a fan of his because of his play and the fact he played for the Jaguars which I really liked uniform of.

Let's check out some cards now shall we?

I am not sure what my total for Brunell cards are now, will have to update sometime. But, thanks to Brian for many new additions.

For me, Mark will always be a Jag. He did play for the Redskins, Jets and Saints after leaving but I don't think of him for any of them even though he did get his Super Bowl ring backing up Drew Brees. But, he also holds many of the Jags records and is in their Hall Of Fame. No surprise there. They may never have a QB do what he did for that franchise including you Nick Foles.

Episode 7: Time To Just Look

Let's take a moment out today, just to look at a few more 90's inserts and parallels I got in my trade with @card_a_holic shall we? These don't need words. They just need eyes.

 

 

I don't know about you, but I feel great after looking at those. Makes for a great way to start off the day!

Let me know which insert was your favorite in comments!