Another Step Closer

My collecting focus has been much better than it used to be. 

I have been able to finish up some sets, knock down some want list cards and keep with my main PC's of NY Giants and Non-Sports.

Which is a huge improvement from where I was. I think not having much money has helped me put my focus on things that matter most to my collection.

 

My recent mail day was this 1996 Topps Turf Warriors Dan Marino which brings me another step closer to this set. I have for the most part knocked down all of the key players in the set now.

It's a fun set with a felt background and player in the forefront. These fell 1:36 packs in 1996 Topps.

But, finding the other needs hasn't been easy so far.

I am hopeful I can complete this still, but it may take some patience.

Dream Team

1995-1999 put out some of the greatest looking cards ever in the history of the hobby. Take me back to when the cards were amazing.

No, these cards aren't flipper material, nor do they hold a lot of money value, but they do hold a lot of memory value and that is where the big money is at for me.

Out of all of the 1996 Score packs I ripped; I was never ever fortunate enough to land a Dream Team insert. They were not easy to find at 1:72 packs making it one in every two or three boxes.

The 10-card set had fallen out of my memory until I was looking up random card sets on Burbank Sportcards where I spotted some of these. And not only did I spot some of them, I grabbed some.

 

If you look closely behind all of the shine, I try not to look too far behind it, you will see a team/city tie in behind each player. 

I have a Barry Sanders on the way which will put me roughly halfway through the set, so maybe this one won't be too hard to accomplish.

Thoughts on the players or the set welcomed in comments!

Please remember, at Burbank Sportcards Beckett Marketplace , you can save 10% by using code 15Burbank at checkout. Shipping is also free on orders of $50 or more. The more you buy, the more you save and the more you won't have to pay shipping on.

Let's Talk About Sets Volume 51:1997 Pinnacle Inscriptions

With only 50 cards in the base set, this one shouldn't be too hard to chase. What I enjoy most about this base set is all of the dufex technology.

 

This set would bring back a lot of memories to complete.

I remember the gas station owner I used to buy cards from, was my hobby shop, set aside an entire box of the product for me to grab a pack or two at a time when I could afford to. On top of that, he also gave 10% off the entire box.

With these 12 adds from Burbank Sportscards Beckett Marketplace (also saved 10% by using code 15Burbank which I suggest you try as well), I am creeping towards the set.

MMMB:Mail Day's Galore To Kick Off The New Year!

 

2020 has officially ended, what does that mean for this blog, some changes.

As you have already seen, I changed the face of this blog, name, added some new segments and updated a Top 15 Want List on the left side. I feel this is the best this blog has looked in years and plan to keep it this way. I do hope that you all like it as much as I do.

Today's post is a new segment that I am using to recap all of my mail days instead of doing a few cards at a time per day. It's called Monday Morning Mail Bag or in short, MMMB.

First up, my winnings from The View From The Third Floor who held some Halloween giveaways and I have been slacking in posting of my wonderful prize winning.

My PWE was loaded full of big names of the NFL, most of which I use in my by-player boxes I sort out.

These cards will pad those collections nicely. And no, these aren't the real cards, they are reprints but great looking reprints.

Thanks goes out to The View From The Third Floor for the giveaway and great mail day!

Up next, I have been doing so many PWE trades that I ate through a book+ of stamps for on Twitter.

This trade mail day was from Matt's Cards on Twitter. Great guy and easy to trade with. My favorite card was this Harry Carson from this trade. Cool design and relic.  I didn't have memorabilia card of him before so this is all new to me!

Thanks for the trade Matt's Cards!

My next trade had a bonus surprise card in it.

 

First up a Danny Dimes rookie year card I didn't have along with a Ximines rookie and Nate Solder Xtra points parallel.

Followed by an Aaron Judge parallel from Stadium Club

Miguel Andujar who I wished had more opportunities with the Yanks.

And Garrett Cooper. Not a name I am familiar with, but I also don't watch baseball as much as I used to either.

The surprise of the package was this Ozzie Newsome relic that will tie in really well with the autograph of him I landed in a Mega Box of Prestige I opened. I have been trying to tie together a relic and autograph of each Hall Of Famer autograph I have. It's a fun challenge. Some I only have the relic for so far such as Tom Brady who may be the most elusive autograph I need and most likely will never land.

 

Big thanks for the surprise @33CardShop and hope we can trade again!

The final card, an Evan Engram rookie auto "patch" I landed from @anthonyscards

I really like the look of these, well other than the small patch circle. I think a square would have looked better. But overall, solid design and I made sure not to drop it. Sorry, Evan that was a low blow for a Pro Bowl player. (once again I will never get how he made it)

Thanks goes out to @anthonyscards for the trade.

Hope everyone enjoyed this weeks mail day recap, more to come next Monday!

Set Help:1995 Skybox Impact Countdown To Impact

 

1995 Skybox Impact Countdown To Impact HAVES
1,2,5,6,7,9,10,12

THIS IS A MUST WANT TO COMPLETE!!!!! 

Have any to help me out or willing to pick some up to trade to me? Let me know!

Breakin' Wax:1995 Pro Line Classic Series 2

Pro Line was a great 90's product that had autographs and top notch photography.

One of my favorite products of 1995, there are many, was their Series 1 Pro Line Classic.

So when I saw a Pro Line Classic Series 2, I was pretty excited.

However, it was a much different product. Instead of autographs, it focused on Phone Cards. Collectible Phone Cards was where it was at in 1995.

So let's check out my next box break thanks to via Shane over at Project Pedro Blog

Every box of 1995 Pro Line Classic was numbered, cause you don't want over production. Every box had 18 packs with 6 cards per pack. Each pack came with one of those "money makers" Prepaid Phone Cards.

The base set looked much different in Series 2 than 1. The photography was still there, but the bottom of the had an added shine to it. The cards were also more susceptible to damage.

Here's a few of my favorite base cards from the 100 card set,

Dave probably throwing to the other team here

Love the background of the Giants endzone

Bretts down and dirty!

Dan busting a move

There was some fun inserts however in this product.

Images Preview Card fell 1:18 packs. Back in the 90's you would sometimes find an insert as a preview of an upcoming product. That Images product was pretty cool by the way with it's etched aweomeness.

Printers Proof on a hot top rookie!! Well, back in 1995. No odds given.

Phone Cards. These fall one per pack for the $1 ones. Odds get tougher the more they are worth.

$2 phone cards fell 1:6 packs

And this $5 one fell 1:18 packs. Not too shabby of a player either

And it's also numbered to 3577. Kind of an odd number to be numbered to, but I will take it.

Gary Vee also had a 90's magazine,

 

Sorry, that was a Gary Vee joke if he had a magazine in the 90's. This is what I was saying earlier about how hot Phone Cards were and why Pro Line was pushing them so hard.

This was a fun break, not very costly either. I was hoping to land a couple of the cool inserts but no such luck here. It is what it is but the Emmitt Smith was a good find.

Any of you collect Phone Cards in the 90's?

Truly Madly Deeply Pinnacle

They'll Be Your Dream, They'll Be Your Wish, They'll Be Your Fantasy.....

Those words come to mind when I break a box of any Pinnacle product. Pinnacle simply knew how to get to my heart and had some of the most creative minds in the industry other than Upper Deck at the time.

They created some unique parallels, inserts, ways of packaging and products nobody else would have thought about trying. One of their biggest things was their connection with the NFL's Quarterback club.

Other than being a fun Super Nintendo video game, though I have always preferred Madden more, the NFL QB club featured some of the best player in the NFL at the time. Pinnacle used those players in fun subsets, inserts and even created a product on them.

I want to stand with you on the Pinnacle of a mountain

1995 Pinnacle QB Club Collection was a product that only featured players from the NFL QB Club. Each box came with 24 packs and each pack was loaded with 12 cards. There was also multiple inserts to chase as well. Boxes can be found pretty cheap right now with this one running at $12.

The basics of the product is a 261-card base set with members of the NFL Quarterback Club having nine cards each. NINE CARDS EACH. Which if you do the math, which I just had to on my calculator, that means the base set is basically 29 players.

I remember opening some of these packs as a kid. At the time, it was fun to find some of your favorite players in every pack and trading your dupes with your friends on recess. Which I honestly did. I remember trading a few Troy Aikmans for some Dave Browns, what a time to be alive that was.

However, it was a much different feeling opening this product as an adult. How dull was it finding the same players pack after pack. The only thing that kept me excited was seeing the great photography Pinnacle used as they did an excellent job of using creative photos for this set.

Oh can you see it baby?

I also enjoyed the design of the base set with full bleed photography and gold foil touch with names. I do wished they had used the full name on the front of the base set. The subsets were also themed and designed well.

Not sure who Jerry is calling, maybe he is getting a call from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

Junior had the look and fierce play of one of the greatest Linebackers ever

This reminds me of the Giants defense trying to tackle the past few years. Something tells me Barry broke out of this.

Sweat...baby sweat...baby...

He is checking in with Ace!

The true meaning of "talk to the hand"

This base card could have gone either way, whether it was Jerry or Steve

One thing I always found kinda odd but cool that Pinnacle did, was catch players not at their greatest moments. Dan is obviously being sacked here and this isn't the first time I have seen Pinnacle use images like that. Not a big play for Dan, but still makes him the center point of this card.

 

Pro Bowl. Back when the game meant a little more than flag football. There is even a Cleveland Brown in it. Definitely a different time of football. Sorry Browns fans.

 

X and O's was one of the subsets in the product. The chalkboard look is always fun to see.

Look at the photography on these Defining Moment subset cards especially the Michael Irvin one. Absolutely stunning.

You don't have to close your eyes
'Cause it's standing right before you.

My first insert find was this Arms Race of Randall Cunning ham. Kinda boring design. These fell 1:18 packs

 

FINALLY! Some Pinnacle Dufex! I am not sure why they didn't make Trophy Collection parallels to the base set to spice it up some. These Aerial Assaults fell 1:36 packs.

 

And my final hit was a Pin Redemption of Randall Cunningham which felt more like a piece of paper. These fall 1:24 packs and are redemption cards for Pins of the featured player.

 

According to this paper insert you found in every pack, I am 24 years short of being able to get my Cunningham pin.

Honestly, I would have kept the redemption card most likely. I am sure I actually did back in those days because I was young and probably didn't know any better.

I want to open these forever.
Until the sky falls down on me

(today's lyric re-writes come based off the song Truly Madly Deeply which was released by Savage Garden in 1997. Go give it a listen)