In My Spare Time

In my spare time, I have been able to put more focus on collecting than ever before.

• I am completely caught up on sorting, it helps that I don't have much coming in and not boxes/packs to break.
• I have done a couple PWE trades and was finally able to hit some people back I had been waiting to do
• I am considering re-doing my entire collection from binders to all boxes (would need supplies first)
• I pulled off a couple of bigger trades, risked going to post office doing so, and landed two great cards for my collection (more on those soon)
• Cut down on some set needs for a few sets including m 2019 Optic football chase.

Speaking of that chase, I got in a couple more mail days that came with set help.

@ENSportsCards1 passed along these six just because. Thanks again man!

Then @BoSox1978 sent these needs along. Much appreciated!

I have also been blessed by a few bloggers who are hosting Free Card days and this one recently came in from Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary who passed along a couple of cards.

I can never turn down a rookie card, especially a Young Gun I don't have

And this Stephen Piscotty autograph rookie was also staring at me in the face for my rookie PC.

Thanks Brian!

While I am at it, also in my spare time I have revived my NY Giants PC blog in Snagging Cardboard (blog name change may come). I will be posting most of my incoming NY Giants cards over there with a few exceptions of ones I have already put posts together here for. So if you have sent me any NY Giants recently and wonder why they are not being posted here, well, you will need to follow that blog to see my posts. Also, please add that one to your blogrolls if you haven't yet!

And while you are at it, Cards Over Coffee is a new blog I started not too long ago and will hopefully have some posts soon. It originally was a blog unlike this one, then I switched it to a 90's blog, and now I am going back to the original plan I had for that blog. Those posts will be ones I take more time on and hopefully give you guys something fun to read. It's not like this one which I still hope you enjoy. Please go give that one a follow and add it to your blogrolls as well.

Thanks again to the guys above for the mail days. If you haven't followed them on Twitter yet or checked out Brian's blog, please do so.

Now I am curious, what have you done in your extra spare time (assuming you have had some)

Multiple Mail Days Keeps The Blog Chugging

With everything going on in the world, the hobby is the one safe place we have. The hobby is that friend that sits beside you and gives you a pat on the shoulder when you need one. The hobby has a bunch of great collectors who are there for you when you need them. The hobby doesn't need to stay 6 ft away from you or wear a mask. It's always right there when you need to turn to it.

I have spent more time actually collecting recently than ever before. I have spent a lot of time self reflecting on what I want to or should be collecting for myself while trying not to fall into the hole of "buying the next best thing".

And this has been a huge help. I have been more focused on finishing up projects more than ever and not moving from thing to thing.

One of my projects I would like to tie up is my 2019 Panini Optic football set. I haven't tackled a "new" set in almost five years as I prefer things in the past more. But, I ended up with a bunch of it in my lap and said hey, let's do this. So I have been trying to finish it up.

A little while ago on Twitter I was fortunate that two followers saw my tweet for help on my set chase.

 

Up first, a trade with @PattonCards who had a few of the key rookies I was missing such as Sanders, White and Grier. Thanks again for the trade!

And then a RAK from @SportsNerd34 who passed along four needs. Thanks man!

My other project, sticking with collecting Kerry Collins cards. I have had my doubts some days, but I keep pushing on through and picking up needs.

 @asalek77 saw that I was looking for Collins cards on the weekly Sunday giveaway thread and passed along these two Pinnacle Mint cards. As everyone knows, I always have had a crush on those cards and coins combo. Thanks for passing these along!

Up next, another mail day from Rod over at Padrographs. He had three cards up for grabs one day for my PC so I luckily was able to land em.

 1993 Classic Best Derek Jeter who is one of three Yankees I collect anymore, once again focus. Didn't have this one so claimed it.

 One of the greats, plus hologram plus 90's, sign me up! Focus.

And something about this Puckett told me to add it. I do have a small collection of Puckett cards so I will add it to that. Okay, went off focus for a tad, but that's okay.

Thanks again Rod!

Being focused and getting a few mail days in has helped keep this blog flowing for now. I could run out of posts at some point once things completely dry up for me but we will see what I do when that happens. Thanks to some advice from a fellow blogger, I won't be doing filler posts so let's hope something keeps coming in.

Thanks again to everyone I mentioned above. I appreciate it truly and thanks for keeping me on task as well.

Nuttin But The Hits:2017 Panini Optic Football Blaster

I can't remember the last time I was able to buy and open something retail. It has been so, so long that I had forgotten about what I liked. It took me about ten minutes to decide which blaster I should choose and in the end, I chose Optic. I do regret my decision after, but hey, can't go back now and who knows when I can buy another retail box.

Let's see how it went.

In each $20 blaster of 2017 Panini Optic football are 24 cards with a few of those cards being pink parallels. That's it. Normally I am one for more but this time I went shiny. There is also one rookie relic per box as well.

I don't have much for 2017 football and am missing good parts of the top rookies in the class which is saddening. So I was hoping for any of the big names in here and was lucky enough to find at least one. 

I only pulled one NY Giant from my break and it was Brandon Marshall. New PC material is never bad so I can't complain about this card.

A couple of Rated Rookies. Joe Williams I seem to find often.

Landry and Reddick Prizms.A couple of cool flashy inserts with Freeman and Ross.

The promised pink parallels in the break. Both are pretty solid players but too bad Foster isn't a bit smarter off the field.

And the best pull of the box, one of the top rookies from the class in McCaffrey. With Stewart now gone out of Carolina, he could be the full time back next year.

Well that's the end of the blaster. I wished I had gone with a Panini blaster instead which has a lot more cards and could have landed me some of the other rookies I need like Watson, Fournette, and a few others.

Passing It Along

My buddy @JGfan24ever is very generous like I have said on here many, many times. He is always sending me surprise gifts and we also do on and off trades as well. He is very easy to trade with which is another plus.

Today's post is both a gift and a trade one.

Michael recently messaged me and told me that a lot of Panini Optic cards he had won would be heading my way. No complaints from me on that of course.

The cards arrived roughly a week later and here is what he passed along,

The first group has some good NFL players in base card form. Flacco I can't figure out, guy looks to be the next superstar after a big Super Bowl win and ever since he has been flopping. Murray has put up a couple decent seasons since going to the Titans. Luck is one of the better QBs in the league if he can just stay healthy and Winston is consistently putting up big numbers but doesn't get the recognition.

The next group has some shiny items. Howard had a big season for the Bears and of course this group also has the legendary Peyton Manning.

Up next a group of rookies. The biggest of the group is Corey Davis. He was pretty impressive in the playoffs vs the Patriots catching a pretty sweet ball for a TD. It may be a sign of things to come as he works up a repertoire with Mariota.

 

That was it for the Panini Optic lot he passed along as a gift. Now onto our trade.

I can't remember how long that he has been trying to sell this Marvel Now autograph, but it has been months and months. So I finally inquired again about the card and we pulled off a very fast trade for it. I like the oddballs for my non sport PC as well.

 

Valeria Richards is the daughter of Doctor Doom and the Invisible Woman in the Marvel Universe. Card is signed by the artist, Mark Bagley, who has a pretty unique signature.

Thanks goes out to Michael once again for his generosity and for being a great friend and trader.

MT, A Redemption Mail Day

A few months ago I busted a box of 2016 Panini Optic and pulled a redemption as my autograph hit...just my luck. But, I don't mind redemptions personally. Usually I mark 4 months on them when I redeem them so I can exchange them later on for NY Giants cards I actually want.

To my surprise, the Michael Thomas autograph I pulled from Optic came just a month later. Not a bad looking card and is an on-card auto. However, he has a terrible signature.

 

I am not going to complain about this one actually showing up however. This guy showed some spots of talent last year and with Brees down a top WR, this guy could be ready for super star status.