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.

Rodney's Cardboard:2024 Finest Black Refractor Autograph /25

(Previously posted on Big Blue Cardboard. All Rodney's Cardboard posts from here on out will be cross-posted)

It's Sunday and it's time for a new Rodney's Cardboard.

This is actually one of my newest Rodney adds in the mail.

I have about five of the refractor autographs I need from the 2024 Finest set for Rodney. This is the second lowest numbered one I have in the run, I also have a red /5.

I actually like this one more than the red because I think the blue against the black background looks solid. More than the red does.

There are still 6 more to go in the run also including another black one which is still /25 but has like a square type of shape background.

Right now, as I type this, there are no more needs listed so hopefully some will pop up soon. I missed out on the /10 oil spill parallel which stinks, but there are still nine others that may pop up. It's when you miss a 1/1 that is the real kick.

Come back next week for another NEW Rodney's Cardboard! Have a great Sunday!

Rodney's Cardboard:1995 Topps Mystery Refractor With Rare Peel

Happy Sunday to you all!

Who wants to check out the latest Rodney Hampton card addition to my super PC?

You do!! Well, that's good because here it is!

Today's card is a bit of a rare one. You don't find these too often if not at all.

In 1995, Topps included Mystery Finest and Mystery Finest Refractors in their flagship product. With these being a Mystery card, you didn't normally get to see the card or player until you peel off the black covering.

However, my latest Rodney find, it doesn't have the usual black peeling you would find on those cards. Instead, it has the usual Finest Do Not Peel covering. It's a rare unique card and I have no intention of peeling it off. 

 

The back of the card is the same along with the front image and refractor. It's just got the Do Not Peel instead of the black covering which makes this one a one of a kind.

This may be one of the most unique and nicest looking oddballs in my Rodney collection and I am not sure if there will ever be another oddball that will top it.

This card arrived to me at Christmas time thanks to my friend Wes, formally of Area40 blog who found it.

Let me know your thoughts on the card in comments and if you have ever seen one before.

Hope you have had a great day!

2021 Finest Baseball Winner Announced!

 

 

Only 15 of you entered this latest giveaway but one had to come out on top.....

CONGRATS TO\

FUJI!!

FUJI, please email me your address at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com and I will get that out to you soon.

Everyone else, stay tuned for a card box giveaway coming up on Saturday!

GIVEAWAY! WIN THESE TOPPS FINEST CARDS!

This contest is simple,

1. Have a U.S. Address (I appreciate all readers but can't afford to ship outside the country)

2. Comment below in this post your favorite Topps release up to this point and why

3. SHARE ON TWITTER OR YOUR BLOG FOR AN ADDITIONAL ENTRY. Comment you have done so on Twitter (I will check) and comment with your blog link if you did so.

4. RANDOM winner will be announced in ONE week in comments below.

5. Winner will receive all cards in picture from my Finest break Here:

6. Thanking Topps and Emily from Topps is appreciated:)

Good luck everyone!

Kerry's Cardboard:1998 Finest No Protector Refractor

To Peel Or Not To Peel, that is the question.

Except in 1998.

Finest came with two versions of their Topps Finest in 1998. Say hello to cards with Protector and No Protector. How will my OCD deal with that, well, it would have to deal.

I never once peeled off a peel from a Finest card. Couldn't do it. Now Topps included peeled versions already in packs as a parallel and even gave them a refractor parallel.

The No Protector regular versions fell 1:2 packs while the refractor versions like todays card fell 1:24 packs.

The cool thing about these cards is the back is as shiny as the front.

This Collins went up for bid auction and went so cheap that even I could afford it.

I need the other versions of the 1998 base as this is my start, hopefully will be able to knock those down soon.

Rodney's Cardboard:1996 Finest Gold Refractor

It's that day of the week again, a day I show off the latest Rodney Hampton addition!

Today's was a long awaited card that once I saw, I grabbed.

1996 was a great year for Topps Finest with its multi leveled base cards and refractor parallels. One card I have been wanting and wasn't sure I was ever going to find was the Gold refractor since they are so rare. I tried to research how hard these were, but couldn't find the exact details and  my mind is shady to remember such facts from over 24 years ago. I once knew it.

Either way, it's a very tough pull.

One finally popped up on COMC via eBay and I wasn't going to let it sit there for the taken. Instead, I took it.

I couldn't quite capture it's golden refractoryness

Backside of the card tells us it's a rare card level just for the gold aspect. That's not even adding on the fact it's a refractor.

This also finishes up my 1996 Finest needs.

The more Rodney's I find, the closer I am to getting them all. I keep seeing my Google Sheet being covered in yellow, which  makes me happy but sad at the same time knowing probably at some point I could have them all and that's it. Or it could narrow me down to just 1/1's I may never find and that could be it.

But, at least I have plenty of other PC's to pass the time.

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's Cardboard:Dennis Sent These

Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders blog fame, found me some SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCKK Kerry Collins in my last mail day. I am not even sure how he ran into these, but I was so stoked that he had.

Since I am behind again on Kerry Collins, I thought I would sum up the new additions from Dennis all in this post.

 

This Mirror Image 1st round draft pick usually falls 1:4 packs as a base, but being a refractor, it is 1:36 packs.

One of the best looking Kerry Collins rookies out there! This is the sweet refractor version. I can't find odds on these so not sure how hard they were to pull.

Next up, Trophy Collection. Wooooooooooooo. These fell 1:4 packs. I never get sick of seeing Dufex.

And finally, who doesn't appreciate some Sportflix in their lives. This is the Artist Proof fell at a tough 1:36 packs. These are so tough that I am still missing the Rodney Hampton one for 1994 or 1995.

Thanks to Dennis for grabbing me these when he spotted them. Much, much appreciated!!

Go check out ARPSmith's blog while you are at it for a pretty sweet mail day and easy contest to enter! Find it here:
http://arpsmith44.blogspot.com/2020/04/some-giant-facebook-pick-ups-and-contest.html

Kerry's Cardboard:Catching Up Gallery

There are so, so many Kerry Collins cards I am behind on and they just keep getting stacked up, so let's just take a look at a bunch of different ones in this post I have added the last few months. I have saved some of the cooler ones for separate Kerry's Cardboard posts.

So let's take a look at a lengthy post of Collins cards.

 

1995 Finest Kerry Collins. This is by far his coolest rookie card. There are some other great ones, but this one takes the cake.

1996 Scoreboard Touchdown Performers

1997 Totally Certified. Still need the blue and gold. The gold was really expensive for Rodney Hampton so I can only imagine what Collins would be. Them only being numbered to 30 makes it harder.

1995 Playoff Draft Pick

1995 Absolute Rookie Kickoff. Acetate and die cut, yesssssssssss

Pig Pals insert of Collins and Strahan.

1996 Scoreboard Foundations

2009 Donruss Threads

2006 Topps

1996 Skybox Impact

1995 Pacific Crystal I believe

1995 Rookies and Stars silver

2003 Donruss Classics

1997 Pacific Smash Mouth Xtra

 

1997 Pacific Invincible Pop Ups

1997 Topps Chrome

1995 Pacific Pride Of The NFL

1999 Bowman

Well that does it for this weeks recap. I may do more of these recaps down the road and just post the cool cards as the separate ones. Not that some of these weren't cool and all but some definitely stand out more than others.

Hope you enjoyed another week of Kerry's Cardboard and see ya next time!