Wishful Thinking

We exactly one week away from kicking off the NY Giants 2021 NFL season, well there are other teams playing to but that's not what this blogger is focused on.

The Giants ended their preseason at 0-3 but that doesn't give a good indication on how the season will go as backups played a majority of those games. The starters only got to play in the final game for one half.

I have wishful thinking that this season will be a better one. A winning season that us Giants fan really need. My biggest wishful thinking is that the new Giants WR acquisition Kenny Golladay can stay healthy and turn Daniel Jones career around just like the player on the card I am showing off today did for a future HOF Giants QB.

 

Plaxico Burress made huge contributions in Eli Manning's sophomore NFL year by racking up 1214 yards and 7 touchdowns. He only continued to have great chemistry with Eli for the following three seasons after and helped lift the Giants to a Super Bowl victory in 2008 over the undefeated Patriots. Plax was overly dominant in the playoffs that year and not even the top corners in the league could shut him and Eli down.

Today's card is /25 and I snagged off from eBay for $10. The parallel color of blue, swatch and picture used for Burress simply made this card stand out and was a must have for my collection.

I know I am not alone in counting down until the NFL kicks off this Thursday, but let's hear in comments who you will be rooting on this NFL season whether it's a player or team or both.

Rodney's Cardboard:2018 Panini Legacy Magenta Plate 1/1

Dennis from Too Many Verlanders blog fame was a huge help to me recently when a 1/1 Rodney Hampton popped up I desperately, yes we can call it that even for just a piece of cardboard, needed.

I didn't have the funds to pick up said Hampton so he put in a helping hand and we made a trade. Dennis is cool like that.

Said card, a 2018 Legacy Magenta Printing Plate 1/1, was in his hands pretty fast and he passed it along to me not much longer after.

This is my second Printing Plate from Legacy of my boy Rodney.

I don't know how many plates there are overall to chase but I believe its probably close to four.

I know I said I was going to show off a new Hampton that popped up in a new product this week, but I will save that for next week. I wanted to say thanks to Dennis again first.

I do wished that rest of the 1/1's I need for Legacy would make an appearance, all three are autograph parallels. But patience is best in situations like this.

Surprises Shep'd To Me

It was an ordinary day in the neighborhood. The sun was in full force. The heat was making me sweat while the slight breeze was trying it's best to help.

I was walking my to the mail box, usually empty of packages in the past month, but this time had an envelope from an address I didn't recognize. Or did I? I swore I had seen that address before but who was it? And who sent me something I wasn't expecting. Was it the heat getting to me? Was I seeing things?

As soon as I walked back to my house carrying the one envelope in my mail box, feeling like I was going to melt, I figured out who it was. It was @BigShep79 and I bet he sent me more Rodney's.

For the first time I was right. Don't tell my wife I was right for once.

Even though none of these Rodney's were new to me, I actually have been hoarding all of my dupes as well. Guess that what makes me a Super Collector. At this point in my Rodney collecting, it's really hard to send me any new without checking my checklist ahead of time.

Let's check em out:

 

This last one will go apart of my 100 Score rookie project. Closing in on 60 of them.

Thanks to @BigShep79 for the mail day. Always appreciate surprise Rodney's in the mail box.

Rodney's Cardboard:2019 Panini Legacy Cyan Plate 1/1

Well, well, well, will you look at this.

My buddy Wes hit me up with a sick Rodney.

I hadn't seen any plates for the "newer" products Rodney was in until recently when this one Wes grabbed for me showed up and then another a couple weeks later, which I didn't grab. It popped up at a bad time and was gone within what felt like five minutes. FIVE MINUTES. I want to know who I am competing with but that doesn't make me happy. It was probably because it was listed so cheap.

Anyways for better news.

This is a Cyan 1/1 plate from 2019 Legacy football

Front

Back

The other plate I saw that went in five minutes was a Legacy plate as well. Kicking myself for not at least trying to make an offer on it and locking it up so I wouldn't lose out on it. Big mistake by myself. Hopefully it will pop up again at some point.

Thanks again for the help Wes!

And what do you guys think about printing plates?

Rodney's Cardboard:2019 Panini Legacy Base Blue Parallel

My Panini Legacy Rodney Hamptons, except 1/1's that have yet to pop up, are officially in hand now thanks to the latest mailing from @CardpocalypseNC which included the one more final piece.

I will begin to show off what I have for each section, base/chrome/autographed over the next few weeks for Rodney's Cardboard so make sure you are sitting when they get posted. Too much greatness to show.

For now, I will show off which card Tim sent to help fill in the final gap.

These blue parallels fell randomly in packs and are numbered to 50. I am not even sure if I have seen another one pop up after this one got posted.

 

Card backs are the same.

I see that Panini is bringing back Legacy again for 2020 so I am curious if Rodney will be on that checklist or any checklist for 2020. The last two years I have had at least one product of Rodney's to chase and think I will need something to interest me in 2020 football cards. The Giants are most likely drafting a defensive player or offensive lineman which doesn't translate to excitement for me so my focus will be on collecting other rookies from the class but once I have gotten a few, the excitement will fade back to 2018 and 2019 stuff.

Thanks again for the trade Tim and snagging this Hampton piece for me. Appreciate it!

I hope everyone has a great Sunday and stay tuned for the next few Sunday's for more Rodney awesomeness!

The End Is Near?

2019 has been a roller coaster ride on this blog. The beginning of the year, my blog was thriving with views and comments and I even did a name change for awhile. Then about the middle of the year things started to dip, views were slightly dropping and comments started to not appear as often.I decided at that point to change the name back to Sport Card Collectors without making the announcement and things were good again for another couple weeks.

Well, that didn't last long.

The last three months, views have continued to dip. Comments are slim to none and I spend a lot of days contemplating not moving forward with the blog. I am not talking about fifty views down or one comment down, the views are hundreds down and comments are four to five less. This is significant and so significant that I haven't seen these numbers since my first year of blogging.

It makes me question why I am doing this. Makes me ask why continue on and when I am almost at my breaking point of blog retirement, something pulls me back in. Whether it's bringing back some older segments to see if that helps revive things or trying something new such as the $25 A Week challenge (which is my favorite post to write right now) or getting contacted out of the blue by a longtime reader thanking me for my hobby positivity and then going as far as sending me a package which is what happened recently.

@DennysSportsCards has been a long time reader, Twitter follower, Fantasy football opponent and friend. And out of the blue last week messaged me for my address and said he wanted to send a thank you along. He really didn't have to, but being the nice guy he is, he did.

Check out what he sent,

Julian Love autograph. I am not sure why the Giants haven't pushed this guy more onto the field with as bad as their secondary has been. At this point, try anything. I don't expect half of them to be back next year.

My boy of the past, Rodney!

My boy of now, Saquon. I am not usually one for posed photos but I do dig this Saquon one.

 

Wayne Gallman Contenders autograph. I love Gallman as a change of pace back but he has got to improve on his signature, so much white space.

And just like that, @DennysSportsCards pulled me back in longer. Not just because of the mail day, but because of the appreciation alone. It showed me that I am still making an impact of some kind that numbers can't show.

Thanks Dennis for the mail day. I enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks for reading as well and giving me a reason to write.

CAPTION THIS CARD!

More than two years ago, I put up a segment allowing you to put a caption on some cards with creative photos. Well, it's back. So give it your best and try to outdo and outwit my captions.

So I challenge you to give this one a caption.....

Leave a caption below for this card. Please keep it free of language and clean please for our younger audience  

Mine would be....

"One Giant Leap"

Comin' In Hot:On The Defensive

I recently pulled off a good sized trade with fellow NY Giants fan @Seth_Murphy8. He had a stack of Giants I was very interested in having. It was such a good sized trade that it takes two parts for me to post it. Stay tuned for the offensive part next week.

So we worked out a pretty fast trade and I got to bring home some much needs for my Giants PC as I still don't have much going into the 2019 season.

Julian Love Panini Black

Red Parallel for Absolute of Love

My first autographs of him. I like his siganture

And another one.

The X-Man! He has made an impact on this defense so far. I look forward to see how much more he does. By the way, first autograph of him.

Baker had a rough start to the year but seems to be figuring things out. Hopefully he will be a CB one next year.

My second Dre auto. His auto isn't as pretty as Loves.

The Giants received Jabril Peppers and the 17th pick in the draft for Odell Beckham Jr. So far, despite how it sounded unfair at the time, it has been rewarding. Peppers has upped his game and the Giants used that pick to grab Dexter Lawrence who has been a menace up front. As for Odell, well, he isn't having the greatest time in Cleveland. Seems like the Giants won that trade.

More Lawrence.

Some Lawrence autos

and another with some parallels from Panini Black.

Well that does it for today's defensive shut down.The second part of this mail day coming up soon!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Panini Legacy Football

Panini Legacy this year took place of Panini Classics football as a new release. It basically feels the same but has some new touches to it.

This product has been out for awhile now, but this is my first break of it or the first time I have put my hands onto it other than Rodney Hamptons I have picked up.

So I was curious how it was to break a box, so let's check it out.

In every box of 2019 Panini Legacy football you will find 16 packs of 8 cards each. Ignore the fact my Panini box came crushed. I was worried about the cards but all seemed fine. Each box comes with two autographs which is one more hit than what Classics normally offered. Boxes have dropped some, but still sit at $85.

BASE CARDS:

The base set is a simple border design with full colored action photo in the middle. It's actually not a bad design and like I have said, it has a Classics feel to it with less gloss.

There are 200 are in the base set. Built up of veterans,

Legends. This is where you find Hampton

and rookies. Each level comes in a pack and all have their own unique design. I actually like the Legends design best of the three. Rookies appear in their college uniforms as this was an early release as I said.

PARALLELS:

There are ton of parallels to find in this product. TONS. I think I counted 22 for Rodney Hampton which is insane and by the way I have narrowed my Hamptons down to 3.

There is both paper parallels for the players and a chromed (Premium as they call it) parallel as well. That's why there is so many. Here is the breakdown of the overall look of parallels,

PARALLEL CARDS: Red /299, Orange /199, Yellow /165, Green /100, Blue /50, Indigo /25, Violet /10,and  Black 1/1.

PREMIUM EDITION PARALLELS: Base, Silver, Ruby /100, Sapphire /50, Bronze /35, Gold /25, Diamond /10, and Platinum 1/1.

Red /299 of Dak who wants $40 million a year as a QB.....

 

Hall Of Famer Ed Reed that's numbered to 199

Green /100. Hopefully Gurley comes back this year, I have some sweet cards of him

Blue /50. I bet Dennis comments on this card.

This is a premium chrome parallel

Rookie ones

And this is a Sapphire parallel. Did I mention this is also my homeboy Daniel Jones?! These are numbered to 50.

INSERTS:

Inserts have the following parallels, Green /100, Blue /50, Indigo /25, and Black 1/1.

Lasting Legacies. All of those players that left a mark on the game. There are 20 cards to collect in the set

For The Ages  Those top performances from last season with 20 cards to collect (need the Saquon)

Timeless Talents has 20 cards to collect

Record Book has 30 cards to collect including a Saquon I need

Fan Favorites has 10 cards to collect

HITS:

My box didn't provide much boom. I pulled a Michael Bennett auto, who is a long time veteran that has played for many teams but mainly Seattle

and 49ers second round pick Deebo Samuel who has shown some flashes so far. Simple signature he has too.

Other hits not found in my box include

• Futures Dual Patch Autographs
• Futures Ink Combos
• Rookies Premium Penmanship

OVERALL:Not a great break, but can't fully say much til the regular season starts. Deebo could be a hidden gem among all of the other rookies I found.

I do like the fact that Panini included players on both the base set and autograph checklist that you don't see everyday anymore including Rodney Hampton. That's a plus in my book.

The overall appeal of the product isn't too shabby, I just wished I was more of a college football guy. It's the only thing that really doesn't excite me about it. If this was a later season release it would be much more exciting.

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. They also SHIP ALL CARDS! Get what you pay for!

Please thank Panini America and Tracy Hackler for providing this box for me to review to giveaway some of the hits ON TWITTER!! Please follow them on all social media sites and visit their website for all your card needs, HERE.

Rodney's Cardboard:2019 Panini Legacy Yellow Parallel

Hello!

We are tuning in to another new Rodney's Cardboard episode!

This time I am showing off one of 20 cards in Panini Legacy I needed to chase. This one is the yellow parallel.

These are numbered to 165.

The back is no different than the base.

Rodney's Cardboard:2019 Legacy Gold Autograph

I know a lot of collectors seem to think box breakers are in it for the money most of the time, but not all are. There is at least one I know of who is into breaking because of the hobby. That guy is Ben over at Midwest Box Breaks.

I don't need to even tell you this myself. Ask around. His reputation is known for a guy who likes to help others in the hobby. It's probably why he has survived in the land of so many breakers and just celebrated one year in the biz. He has a group of guys on an app called Discord that's a great group, he slashes prices for newbies, tosses in extras, donates cards, simply gives stuff away and recently was a middle man in a trade I made with one of his customers. He let me know who pulled a Rodney Hampton, then connected us and it worked out great.

@AngelEyez2469 and I pulled off an easy, fast trade for the Hampton I needed. Unlike the last guy who was trying to trade me a Legacy Hampton autograph and claimed he would be easy to trade with. He wasn't. He valued Rodney way up and it just didn't work out which is fine because this one did and the one he had can be found on eBay for much cheaper.

So without further ado, here is the Rodney Hampton Panini Legacy gold parallel auto!

The base card looks great, but these foil/prizm cards look amazing!

The back shows it's numbered to 50.

Ben was also the one who still had the card when we completed the trade so it came right from him. Not only did he send that card, but threw in this cool inflatable for my Giants collection. It's going right on the shelf.

A big thanks to Ben and AngelEyez for the trade.

If you haven't checked out Midwest Box Breaks yet, please do. Very trusted and cares about the customer. See what they have available for breaks, HERE.