My Prize From Cardboard History

One of my favorite blogs, even though I don't comment as much as I should on it, is written by Billy over at Cardboard History.

Watching the way he works with his collection and how in-depth scans, keeps tracks everything from players, the total numbers and the overall, you guessed it, Cardboard History of his collection is phenomenal. There isn't another blogger like that in the 300+ of us out there. I wished I could do half of what he does with his collection.

In the past month or so, Cardboard History celebrated it's blog anniversary and Billy had promised a prize to a winner. What none of us didn't know was that he was handing prizes out to all of us who commented on that post. Pretty cool.

I didn't know what to expect as my prize and it showed up at my door not long ago and it was right up my alley.

Anfernee Hardaway 4-Sport. Nothing wrong with a little Penny.

Steph was a great player in the 90's, I never mind adding another Steph rookie to the collection from 1996-1997 Topps. A buddy of mine who used to collect went in hard on collecting Steph back then. I even was able to trade a small stack of Marbury in exchange for a Tom Brady Fleer Ultra rookie. That also had to do with the fact he hated Tom so much he just wanted him gone.

And the third card he sent was a rookie of Antonio McDyess. What I wouldn't do to have Collectors Choice back again. It was a solid product for it's price point.

Billy also knows my love of football and sent along this Absolute Memorabilia rack pack from 2018.

Let's take a look at some of the key finds. There were other good base cards in it as well, sadly no Giants.

David Williams rookie

Durham Smythe rookie

Austin Proehl rookie

Aaron Rodgers base. The base cards are bold to the eye for sure.

Bradley Chubb Introductions insert. Really liked the shine and design of it. Too bad it hadn't been Saquon or Lamar.

Finally another insert, Late Game Heroes. Nice card. I like the design, photography and shine.

Thanks for the mail day Billy and keep doing what you are doing over at Cardboard History. I always look forward to the next post. If any of you reading this haven't checked out his blog, do so and make yourself jealous of all of his wonderful work.

One Million

This week, specifically Tuesday,was a big day for Sport Card Collectors. Going into year 6 of this blogging thing, I have finally tackled the major milestone of 1 million views. Please insert the Dr.Evil voice when you read those final three words. I actually said it in that voice with pinky to mouth to my wife as I spun around in my desk chair while typing up the next days article.

It's nothing compared to some blogs out there, yes I am talking about you Night Owl, but I am pretty proud of myself in reaching that milestone. Not something I had ever expected. Now onto 2 million! That I didn't say in the voice because it just wouldn't sound right.

I was just going to do a quick post updating the big milestone, but then a mail day from Billy over at Cardboard History arrived and figured I should get that posted sooner than later. I think all of us bloggers know how easy it can be to fall behind with posting a mail day thank you.

Billy had contacted me over the weekend about some football cards he wanted to pass on and obviously not going to turn those down. A couple days later, man he is quick at shipping, he not only sent those, but also a couple surprises as well.

Let's take a look.

Some guys from the 90's I remember watching including a George Teague rookie I didn't have. A couple of these guys in Dishman and Tuggle didn't quite get the respect they should have. They were decent players. But, that's what happens with a lot of guys sometimes on lesser popular teams.

 

Morten Anderson kicked in the league forever and ever. Sometimes it felt as if he had kicked since the NFL was created. He was very durable and reliable.

 

Surprisingly, I didn't have this Keith Hamilton. That doesn't happen too often when it comes to my Giants PC. There was a Melvin Ingram insert rookie card. He is a beast that I was hoping the Giants would find a way to trade for him to use as a JPP replacement since Ingram's contract is up soon with SD but so far no move. In this group as well is Drew Brees and Matt Ryan a couple of great QB's in the same division.

 

Then came the two surprises!

Sets Of My Childhood needs for my Spx Holoview Heroes set chase. Other than Ex2000 and Ex2001, there is no greater looking sets than Upper Deck's late 90's Spx products.

First is Warriors Joe Smith

 

Next was one of my favorite Raptors in the 90's, Damon Stoudamire.

 

 

Two more off that set needs list that I need to update soon. If you have any help for my sets, you can check out my needs here, https://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/p/sets-of-my-childhood.html

 

A thanks goes out to Billy for the mail day. I hope to have a return one heading your way soon.

I also wanted to thank all of you readers once again who come back and read my daily ramblings.

Owed Thanks

The month of December was a crazy mail day time for me. I planned some of it that way while many others were surprises. I knew I wasn't going to be getting any cardboard for Christmas so wanted to make sure I had something to open and nailed it!

Today's post is 50/50 in terms of surprise and a known mail day. 

Up first, I gotta say thanks to Billy over at Cardboard History for sending me these pages. I was in desperate need of them and he was just looking to ditch them. Thank you! I have already sadly used all of them to catch up.

For the surprise part of this post, man, I was bombarded with a flat rate box by Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders with some reading material and some cards.

First up, some NY Yankees Tuff Stuff reading. I actually don't remember any of these covers or reading any of these. This should be fun. I didn't buy a lot of Tuff Stuff back in the 90's because most collectors used Beckett for they pricing calling card. Even though I preferred Tuff Stuff pricing layout since they priced all base cards and their values were a bit higher

Speaking of Beckett, a couple of throwback mags, also two I haven't read, and a couple of Sports Illustrated as well.

This Mantle Beckett I do remember reading and owning at one point, but no longer. It's from one of my favorite years in the hobby in 1995 so I look forward to flipping through these pages. There was also a Topps magazine in the mix as well. I never bought one of these but I did buy an Upper Deck one once that had a special Lebron James rookie card cover once, I wonder where that is in my house lol.

Sport Collectors Digest. Never read a single one and look forward to checking them out. My father used to read Baseball Weekly and would hand me the copies once he was done. I think we had the Dimaggio at one point but that got lost in a move. Welcome back old friend.

If that wasn't enough of a surprise, Dennis also tucked some cards into the side of the box he had sent.

Here are some guys that capture the glory years of Giants football. Back when they used to win. I hope they look at these type of guys this year in the draft and free agency. The Rodney I had, but I am always welcomed to any Rodneys regardless.

Shiny Jacobs and a numbered Shockey. Guess I never bought any of that Upper Deck brand.

There were even some Yankees tossed my way. Most of which I didn't have which is really the surprising part. Dig the Mantles and the Jackson.

Speaking of digging a Mantle, look at this amazing photograph on this Fleer card. Does it get any classier than this? Fleer did such a great job picking images for their products and this one is probably now my most favorite Mantle card I own.

Man, seeing cards like this Mantle reminds me how much I miss Upper Deck in the MLB industry. Not that Topps hasn't done a good job, but Upper Deck brought something to the industry as well.

Then on top of those cards above, he hid some more in the mix I didn't see til I dug it all out of the box. Tons of new Jeters for that growing PC. I should have well over 300 cards of him now. A lot of favorites from the 90's mixed in as well.

And on top of all of that generosity, he snuck some hits into the bottom.

Super Bowl 46 hero Mario Manningham Spx football patch. I totally loved this product and busted three boxes of it back then. Wasn't cheap but I have always had a heart for Spx.

Mr. Wilson! Out of all of the David Wilson hits I own, this wasn't one of them. Love the design and shine. However seeing this card and the previous one makes me sad with those two no longer in the NFL market. I still think the NFL market would be so much more exciting with competition.

And finally, a mind blowing 1/1 plate of Brandon Jacobs from Elite. Only my second NY Giants printing plate.

 

I was left speechless in the end. It was like digging through a treasure chest with lots of jewels.

A big thanks goes out to Dennis for this amazing mail day. I have a stack ready to send back to you when I get the chance.

How many of you read Tuff Stuff or Sports Collectors Digest back in the day?