PACK WARS: EPISODE TWO

Star Wars, Pack Wars whatever. Just picture the opening scroll through of me rambling and the words coming across the big screen. That alone should get you interested.

Welcome back to another Pack Wars. Today, we pair up two more NFL products.

VS 

It's the crazy $15+ Value Pack war battle. Remember when these were $10 and under? Those were the days.

Let's check out Prestige first,

A PC card! Needed the Saquon Prestige base.

My 2 Sunburst parallels, nothing to brag about. And yes, Dion, I set aside the Raven one :)

Another PC card in JPP and the ever so dominant Derrick Henry

My four rookies, nobody I have heard of.

Next up, Elite.

My pack was loaded with base card talent. Joe Montana, Tom Brady were among the group.

Tom Brady Spellbound Pink.

John Elway pink

And last card, the only rookie from the pack is a Kyle Trask Sp photo variation pink.

I think there seems to be an obvious winner here. But, do I let PC cards do the talking or a pack that had more punch? I will let you decide in comments.

Cardboard Catch Up

 

If you had read the title of this post too quickly, you may have read Cardboard Ketchup. Which sounds like a unique marketing idea whether it's putting cards in ketchup bottles (think cards in cans like Pinnacle Inside) or making homemade ketchup with the labels to the bottles as iconic cards of the past but that's not what this post is about.

I know you have a sad look on your face right now but hey, I am still showing off some cards so that's gotta make things better, right?

This summer I went from having nothing to post about to way too much to post about and not enough time to do so. I have upped my trading a little bit, had some surprise mail days and even a RAK or two. Today's post is showing off a couple of free cardboard mailings I had.

The first mail day comes from @NamathSeaver who was nice enough to pass along the Oakley you saw above and these two new Allan Houston cards for my PC.

 

I haven't added to this PC in quite some time after my funds left out of the door like an angry woman and slammed it shut behind their exit. So it was nice to add a couple and now I really need to update my PC on TCDB of Houston.

Thanks to Gary for the mail day!

The next mail day is courtesy of @nekbone860 who joined in on my newly added RAK Friday on Twitter. You just list what your PC is, people will respond and send you a mail day for free. All that is asked of you is if you get a mail day for you to pick someone else to forward it on to.

@nekbone860 hit up a variety of different PC's for me,

I

With 90's inserts, non sport and NY Giants.

Thanks to @nekbone860 for the mail day. Hope you enjoy the one I sent you as well.

I still have much to post about and hopefully at some point here I can get caught up again.

The Better Experience

*coffee grounds in my coffee this morning, 2020 summed up in one cup. Guess I will have to brew another. In the meantime, let's talk about a real nice surprise Clark. Sorry inner Christmas Vacation coming out. I will cut it out with the early morning cheesy jokes and get onto a seriously good mail day*

 

The jury is still out on Trading Card Database for me, but, I recently had a very positive moment from the site that may give me some light about giving the website a second chance.

On my Set Help post for 1995 Fleer Prospects, I had a comment from Trading Card Database member jimetal7212 who said he had a couple of the cards for my set chase and just to contact him with my address. I was both caught by surprise, excitement and questioning it since I didn't remember ever having any interactions with him.

 

 (Steve Walsh understood my feelings)

 

But, I gave him my info and he sent me two cards for that set and so much more.

 

(if these don't scream 90's not sure what does)

 

Jack Jackson and Rob Johnson were the cards I needed for the 1995 Fleer NFL Prospects set. This is a set I am ever so creeping towards and only am 4 cards away out of the 20.

*takes a sip, gets excited to show off the rest of the mail day*

Not only did he send those two, but also sent a bunch more set help,

1995 Ultra Achievement

 

 

  

 1995 Pinnacle

 

 

 1995 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion

 1995 Score Red Siege (I believe I am halfway there to this one)

 

1994 Fleer Pro Visions

 

I was blown away! Never had any interaction with this person but they took note of my bad experience on the TCDB website to make it better. Imagine if rest of the world did this in the hobby or in real life. What a world we could live in.

 

*drinking a fresh hot cup of coffee makes this post even better* 

 

That's the kind of experience I kept hearing others talk/blog about when it comes to using TCDB. It surely wasn't like my first time there. I guess it is like real life. You just have to meet the right people. Or even maybe like a cup of coffee. Sometimes there is some coffee with creamer and other cups with straight up cup grounds in it like my first experience.

With this moment that had me feeling like this I may go back again give the website another try to see if I can have other good experiences.

 

Maybe the more good people like jimetal7212 I meet, my circle can grow from there. Who knows, I think the most important thing is they've got to accept and take a chance on me and also realize I won't be posting any trade bait or doing collections. Like the meme that I see go around on Facebook all of the time, "Ain't nobody got time for that", I simply don't have the time to add in thousands of cards. I am a "what do you collect and let me see what I have type of trader" and do all of my cataloging on blogs which this one will be fully updated with soon.

Thank you again jimetal7212 for being a positive light in the darkness I felt on that website or in coffee terms, thanks for being the creamer and making my cup brighter.

*breakfast time with the next cup, coffee blogger out*

The Better Experience

*coffee grounds in my coffee this morning, 2020 summed up in one cup. Guess I will have to brew another. In the meantime, let's talk about a real nice surprise Clark. Sorry inner Christmas Vacation coming out. I will cut it out with the early morning cheesy jokes and get onto a seriously good mail day*

 

The jury is still out on Trading Card Database for me, but, I recently had a very positive moment from the site that may give me some light about giving the website a second chance.

On my Set Help post for 1995 Fleer Prospects, I had a comment from Trading Card Database member jimetal7212 who said he had a couple of the cards for my set chase and just to contact him with my address. I was both caught by surprise, excitement and questioning it since I didn't remember ever having any interactions with him.

 

 (Steve Walsh understood my feelings)

 

But, I gave him my info and he sent the two cards and more along when the mail day arrived.

 

(if these don't scream 90's not sure what does)

 

Jack Jackson and Rob Johnson fill in two of my set needs for the 1995 Fleer NFL Prospects and I am slowly creeping towards this 20 card set as I am only 4 away!

Not only did he send those two, but also sent a bunch more set help,

1995 Ultra Achievement

 

 

  

 1995 Pinnacle

 

 

 1995 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion

 1995 Score Red Siege (I believe I am halfway there to this one)

 

1994 Fleer Pro Visions

 

I was blown away! Never had any interaction with this person but they took note of my bad experience to make it better. Imagine if rest of the world did this in the hobby or in real life. What a world we could live in.

 

*drinking a fresh hot cup of coffee makes this post even better* 

 

That's the kind of experience I kept hearing others talk/blog about when it comes to using TCDB. It surely wasn't like my first time there. I guess it is like real life. You just have to meet the right people. Or even maybe like a cup of coffee. Sometimes there is some coffee with creamer and other cups with straight up cup grounds in it like my first experience.

With this moment that had me feeling like this I may go back again give the website another try to see if I can have other good experiences.

 

Maybe the more good people like jimetal7212 I meet, my circle can grow from there. Who knows. I think the biggest thing is they have got to accept and take a chance on me but also realize I won't be posting any trade bait or doing collections. Like the meme that I see go around on Facebook all of the time, "Ain't nobody got time for that", I simply don't have the time to add in thousands of cards. I am a "what do you collect and let me see what I have type of trader" and do all of my cataloging on here which isn't up to date too often. I will need to add these new set adds to the blog soon.

Thank you again jimetal7212 for being a positive light in the darkness I felt on that website or in coffee terms, thanks for being the creamer and making my cup brighter.

*breakfast time with the next cup, coffee blogger out*

Tales From The Card Show Part 3: The Spx Surprise

(I have told this story before on Sport Card Collectors but today's version is a tad bit more in-depth and with a bonus story)

It was a new month and time for another new card show. With each one I found myself digging myself deeper into the hobby. I think it helped being surrounded by many other hobbyists. 

As I walked around the show from dealer to dealer looking for new additions, I kept hearing these great things about this new product called Upper Deck Spx and how everyone had to get their hands onto it. 

There was so much excitement because of its design, rare inserts and the possibility of pulling autographs of Joe Montana and Dan Marino. I kept hearing about it so much that my father and I took a break from looming around and went over to the hobby shop dealer, the guy also ran the show, to see of he had a pack or two we could grab.

There was roughly only a third of a box left so I knew I had to buy some then or I would probably miss out. Then I looked at the price tag of $6.99 per pack and knew this product must mean business and I also knew couldn't afford too many if we expected to buy anything else at the show. You see $6.99 per pack was a lot back then especially for only 1 card.

I began to reach into the box when my best friend Brian's uncle Tim came over to show me his stack of cards he had already bought from the box. They were some great looking cards that only made me want them more so I grabbed the top two packs.

I paid for the packs and handed one to my father and kept one for myself while Tim stayed to watch us open. The pack my father opened yielded him a Emmitt Smith base card and my pack had this Barry Sanders base card in it:

Overall, I felt pretty good about this purchase. I just wished I could have bought more. They just looked so good.

So as my father and I were heading back to where we left off, I turned around to wave goodbye to Tim as I watched him reach into the Spx box again. Something told me to wait and see what he got, but I just wanted to get back to the show before I headed back to spend what we had left for money.

Just as we were closing in on the next dealers table, I all of a sudden felt a quietness over the show.  Dealers from other tables and fellow collectors at the show started to head towards Tim at the main dealers table, so my father and I did the same.

As we approached him I could see him holding an Spx wrapper backwards and the dealer handing him a toploader and penny sleeve. I managed my way through a few collectors and could see him holding in his possession a........STINKING JOE MONTANA SPX UPPER DECK TRIBUTE AUTOGRAPHED CARD!!!!!


 I could only stare with my jaw dropped then immediately wondered what might have been. What would have happened had I not wanted to buy anything else and just picked up another pack or two? Would that have been mine? Could have that been mine? OH MAN! I can't believe it! What a card! I congratulated Tim and continued on with the show holding in possession a Barry Sanders card that would always make think back to that moment and what could have been.

So to this day, every time I stumble upon this card when sorting, it brings me back to that moment. The time I almost could have pulled a Joe Montana autograph. I then wonder how many other collectors have been through something like this. If you have, please share. I will try to hold back my tears as I hope you did for me.

(Lucky for me I was able to trade for one of these 3 years ago but it would have been much more epic to had pulled it back then)

Grady M Mail Day Part 7/7: GRAND FINALE! HOFer's RCs!

In what can be called, the Grand Finale of all Grand Finales, this portion of my mail day was mind blowing. However, I will say that I did know about this part as we worked out a trade for it. The rest of the mail day was unknown as he always sends a bunch of goodies.

Let's see what we got in this finale.

I really wanted a Dan Marino rookie, this is what he had available. I was still excited to have a card from his rookie year, but still need to knock Dan's rookie off my list. Nice card none-the-less.

I will say that I didn't know about this however, a Fleer 90's All-Stars set. Pretty cool!

My boy Phil! Can't go wrong adding another rookie of his!

Yup, your eyes are seeing this right. A 1986-1987 Fleer rookie of Knicks great Patrick Ewing. Now, the card isn't in mint shape with some rough corners up top, but the fact that I have the card and a card from that iconic set was enough for me.

And another one I have wanted off my list. The card looks really mint except a small stain from gum that was in the pack. But, to me, this is still a rookie off my list. It's mint enough to me.

And you can never go wrong with a Joe Montana rookie. The top corners are a bit rough, but hey, it's stinkin Joe Montana! This card isn't going anywhere.

In the the grandest of finales, no mail day gets better than this. There is also no argument on how great of a guy Grady is. I am glad to have met him on Sport Card Collectors Facebook page.

Thanks again Grady for this one-of-a-kind mail day and all that it brought. I will be hitting you back soon and look forward to even more of this in the future :)