Is It Ever A Bad Day When Griffey Jr Is In The Mail?

Over the past few weeks, I have been accumulating a few mail days containing my favorite baseball player of all-time.

Now it's time to open it up and show them off!

We kick it off with a banger, well, what I consider one. This duo card is under $3, I was kind of surprised I didn't already have this insert.

Of course, my favorite insert adds of Griffey come from the 90's obviously. This one I got as a RAK from a fellow Twitter friend. A lot of mid 90's inserts from Score were prety slick and underrated.

Another one from the 90's. This is one of those fun Sporflix lenticulars that shows one player at one angle and another player at another. I am not sure what the comparison is for Ruben Rivera is here but he was no Griffey that's for sure.

And since I began the post with a banger, I will end it with an even bigger banger. This is a 2000 Finest refractor featuring Griffey holding his jersey after his shocking trade to the Reds. But I also knew that meant a whole new buttload of Griffey cards in a whole new jersey to chase.

The Finest one I hadn't ever acquired, not even the base which is still a need at the time of the trade. If my memory serves me well, all of his first Reds base cards at the time were Beckett level hot and all valued at $10+ for a base card which in itself was crazy at the time. My first one was the Upper Deck Ovation one which was on Becketts Hot List for a little while.

The trade though is still shocking to me after spending his career with Seattle and being the center of that franchise. Especially since Griffey was such a Super Star and being trading superstars wasn't really a thing at the time. Unlike now, seems like LeBron tries every year for a new team. I still think the Reds won that deal in the end despite the injuries Griffey had once he played for them. Sadly, being a Red may had led to those injuries that impacted the rest of his career. 

I have always wondered what would have happened if he had stayed in Seattle and signed the contract extension instead of getting the trade to be closer to family. Would have the injuries happened? How many homeruns would he have? What other record-breaking things would he had done? (all without roids by the way for those Bonds fans)

Many questions and many mysteries that will never be solved.

The only thing I know is that it's never a bad day when a Griffey is in the mail.

Player HITlights:Danny Kanell

The Giants QB carousel in the 90's was close to in comparison to the Cleveland Browns one. After P:hil Simms retired, it took quite some time and some QB's to fill Simms shoes.

One of those attempts was with a 4th round QB from the 1996 NFL Draft.

Danny Kanell made his debut same year he was drafted and became the starter the following season leading the Giants to the NFC East title but losing in the playoffs by one point to the Vikings. He followed up that up with another season where he started but led the Giants to a 3-7 record before getting benched in favor of Kent Graham who finished up the season and led the Giants to a .500 record.

The following year the Giants signed Kerry Collins and cut Kanell to use his cap space to help with Collin's contract. Kanell found himself with the Falcons as a backup and spent a season there before taking a year off football to play baseball for the Brewers minor league system. 

He was not only drafted by the Giants, but had been drafted by the Yankees as well Baseball was a sport he was drafted by the Yankees in the 25th round but chose to go the NFL route instead. He had always dreamed of being a Yankee. I mean who hasn't?

 

I have two hits of Kanell, one is this sadly fading Bowman's Best autograph from 1997

And the other is this TTM or IP autograph I acquired from a fellow blogger.

I need to find a new replacement that's company authenticated.

Kanell finished his NFL career with 5,129 yards with 31 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.

Filling In Days

This week is the last full week of posts I have planned for this blog right now. Next week I have my usual segments of Autograph Of The Week, Kerry's Cardboard and Rodney's Cardboard but other than that, my blog has open slots without any thoughts yet on how to fill them.

With Covid-19 playing a role in all of this, I may have to get very creative and possibly lazy about filling in days. However I promise no Caption This and Random Card fill ins.

Luckily, a few days ago to fill in today's spot, I got a mail day from Rod over at Padrographs.who is giving cards away left and right. It's been a lot of fun despite my bad timing on checking it out late every time-Still kicking myself for showing up late for the Abby NCIS relic and Sean Harmon auto I really wanted-but I have been fortunate to claim a few cards.

This time I was able to target a couple of 90's cards he had posted. I had no rhyme or reason to claim other than the fact they are from my favorite time of collecting.

This is a 1996 Bowman Best Cut Insert of Andruw Jones. Who doesn't love a good die cut?

And this is a 1996 Finest Silver

 of Mike Piazza. These were uncommons inside of the base set. Meaning they were a tad harder to find than the others. I have always liked 90s Finest especially unpeeled ones.

Next up is this 90's Disney promo pack. I have no plans to open it as I find it cooler sealed. I have no idea overall these cards look like or are other than the top card, but I like it any way for my non sport PC.

Big thanks to Rod for running these daily giveaways. I look forward to that everyday right now and it's very inspiring to see (and takes mind off of the world). I may start to join in on the fun of doing these down the road like many other bloggers have (Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary and The Collector) because of what Jon over at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts started.

But, it will be a little while until I can get stuff together and some more stamps to do so.

Kerry Collins Of The Week Part 2

A new week full of Kerry Collins bliss!

Let's check out this weeks adds....

 

1997 Bowmans Best uncut proof refractor Kerry Collins/Michael Irvin

 

2004 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror White

1995 Upper Deck Sp Championships die cut

2002 Prestige Connections dual relic with Amani Toomer

And the big whammer of the week.....2002 Score Originals Buyback autograph of his 1995 Score rookie. I really loved this card. Only 100 made of it as well.

Well, a short week of adds, but believe me, next week will have many, many more!

Players Of My Past #1: Allan Houston

Here is another new segment I have created on here. These will be players I grew up watching or enjoying in the 90's. Along with a short discussion about the player, I will feature my Top 5 favorite 90's card of each one. The posts will cover all four major sports.

ALLLLLAAANN HOUUUUUUUUUUUSSSTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That name rang loud and proud in my childhood growing up. The NY Knicks were the greatest, can't say that now, and I spent every Saturday they came on NBC watching them as a die hard fan.

When I wasn't playing football or baseball outside with friends or myself, I spent time shooting hoops on my garage makeshift backboard and hoop. Besides trying to channel my inner John Starks, I was always Allan Houston. He was my favorite Knick at the time.

And having a favorite player means I have favorite cards of them from the 90's and here they are,

I always liked this Stadium Club design. So crisp and clear.

Jammin! Great photograph and another favorite Stadium Club design I enjoyed. I am sure this moment on the court had me standing up and screaming.

Upper Deck cards always had a special place in my heart. This had to make the list.

Houston drives the lane....yes! He does it again!

 

And I chose this card simply because of it's 90's appeal. It literally screams 90's.

Allan Houston was signed by the Knicks in 1996 via Free Agency. He spent nine seasons with the team and was known for his three point shooting. Something I worked hard on and was good at as well. Knee injuries started to plague Houston in the 2000's and he was forced to retire after consecutive seasons of injuries with it.

I didn't get to watch the last few seasons of his career as the NBA started to bore me after the turn of the century, the game started to change,and the Knicks devastating loss to the Spurs in the finals in 1999 didn't help me either.

In Allan Houston's career, he averaged 17 points almost 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

In the last few years, I decided I wanted to chase autographs of the Knicks team I grew up watching with Starks, Houston, Oakley, Johnson and Ewing. So far I have Houston knocked down thanks to my buddy Shane and that was honestly the first one I wanted so I was pretty happy with that.

REVIEW:2018 Bowman's Best

Bowman's Bestwas a very popular 90's that Topps brought back to life again. Just like a few others they did as well. Seems to be just as popular now.

I have seen some big time pulls on Twitter which I am jealous of. Will my box provide the boom those did? Let's check it out!

 

Every hobby box of 2018 Bowman's Best comes with 2 mini boxes. Each mini box comes with two autographs and 1 Atomic refractor per hobby box as well. Boxes run around $120.

 

The base set has an abstract design in the background. There are 99 cards in the base card set with veterans

 

and top rookies from the 2018 season.

 

There is also a 29 card set of Top Prospects. This guy right here is getting tons of hype. Can he be the next big thing? All of the big names can be found in the checklist.

 

Just like with any chromed product, refractors floweth out. There were multiple refractors in every pack. I was pretty happy to pull my first and probably only Cutch Yankees uniformed card. Especially in refractor form. Top Prospects also were found in refractor form as well.

 

There are gold parallels as well numbered to 50. Mejia looks like he will be a solid player for San Diego.

 

And Atomic refractors that aren't numbered but do fall one per. These look super cool.

Your overall look at parallels are, Refractor, Atomic, Purple /250, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /10, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Inserts are up next and include the following parallels, Atomic (2 per case), Gold /50, and SuperFractor 1/1.

 

Inserts look great in Bowman's Best. But, just like with my last break of Chrome Premier League, I miss the days there was just a base card version than a parallel one.

 

Great Scott! Someone took Marty back in time and grabbed the 1998 Bowman Best Performers design. Great looking cards. 40 young caliber stars to collect in the set.

Neophyte Sensations has 10 cards to collect. I pulled Devers who I thought would be Rookie Of The Year last year but instead disappointed me lol

 

Early Indications has more of the young upcoming stars and has 30 cards to collect.

 

I found one of those two per case hit pulls here with atomic.

Now onto the autographs. As for big hits, well, I didn't find them. All were Best of 2018 Autographs which have the following parallels, Refractor, Green /99, Gold /50, Atomic /25, Red /10, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 

Luzardo was originally drafted by the Nationals who later on traded him to the A's for Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle. He was one of the top rated prospects and looks to be on the mend from Tommy John Surgery.

 

Hankins was drafted 35th overall by the Indians in the 2018 draft.

 

Liberatore was selected 16th overall by the Rays in the 2018 draft. Pitching is a need there after they traded away top talent at that positions the last few years. He seems to have much potential.

 

Robert left Cuba to play baseball in America and signed with the White Sox. He looked impressive for the DSL White Sox and even made a Spring Training debut where he hit a grand slam. Will be interesting to see how 2019 goes for him and where he will be.

This Robert was by far the best of the group, but that's in my opinion. Everyone knows how I feel about pitcher autographs. It's like pulling offensive lineman or defensive ones in football. Not a lot of thrill to me even though those positions are very important to their sport.

Other hits not found in my box but could be in yours include,

• 1998 Best Performers Autographs
• Dual Autographs
• Early Indications Autographs
• Neophyte Sensations Autographs
• Power Producers Autographs

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, I love the look of the overall product that's for sure. The autographs are nice on card too and despite them being pitchers, the overall hit pictures wasn't bad with top picks. It's a tad risky for the price as with any product not knowing what you will land. I think a mini box break wouldn't be too bad if you can find an LCS or online retailer who would sell one that way.

I think another method if you can't afford a box or mini box, jump in on a box break and I strongly recommend using Midwest Box Breaks for your breaking needs. They are always hitting the big pulls so if they are breaking this, you could put yourself in a good spot.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to GIVEAWAYS! Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well. 

Why Did You Buy That?

Do you ever wonder what eBay sellers think when you buy cards they most likely never expected to sell?

I picture them lighting up a cigar and sitting back with a drink and laughing to themselves. "Can't believe someone actually bought that card. Who collects that? hahaha"

Other times I picture them ringing a Wall Street bell. "WE DID IT!!!!"

Than other times, "Why would you pay that when you could have owned a Mike Trout rookie card for that price." *insert evil laugh*

I expect them to do a lot of those celebrations when I purchase off eBay. So many cards I bet they have had listed for years and years with no interest and suddenly I arrive.

Like this latest Rodney Hampton mail day which is the first part of my eBay gift card usage I told you guys about awhile back.

Well I do. I collect for fun and that's my reasoning for buying what I buy.

The fun thing about collecting a guy nobody else does is the fact you can get some steals as well.

Like this $1 shipped refractor from Bowman's Best.

 

Or this extremely rare Members Only Parallel of the Nightmares insert that I snagged for $3.

 

How about this for .50? Very shiny too.

Then I found a guy who has a bunch of oddballs and rare type Hamptons that I made an offer on and explained that I was probably the only Hampton collector on the planet. He happily obliged to my offers. So you know he must have had these for awhile and just wanted them gone.

Rare miscut 1995 Finest refractor,

A factory set only limited Members Only parallel of this Stadium Club Bowman's Best insert.

You can barely tell its a parallel til you look really closely on the right of Rodney.

The same seller also had this Bowman's Best Mirror Image I needed to complete my trifecta from that year. Once again, offer accepted.

I look forward to getting my next eBay gift card to use and to surprise a few more sellers with my purchases. 

How about you guys? Do you buy any cards that would surprise a seller? Let me know what that is and what their reactions may be. Also let me know if you sell cards on eBay what your reaction is when you sell a card that you thought would never leave.