This Guy Would Be In My Starting Lineup

The main course of a trade between Shane over at Project Pedro blog and myself usually has some meatworthy Ken Griffey Jr cards and sometimes items. Even though most of the time I avoid adding items since I don't have the space in the mancave anymore since I moved it's location.

But every time Shane pulls a Griffey in his Cheap Wax breaks, I immediately get dibs. Well for most of the cards. I think Shane has a couple he pulled in his breaks I have been trying to pry away for years. Some day they will come to their rightful owner :)

In the meantime, this trade added well over 120 NEW Ken Griffey Jr cards to my collection. Yes, 120.

I won't be showcasing all of the good ones off, there were many, but I did choose some to show off. Why not more you may ask, well, that's because my main project in 2019 will be my Griffey PC. I have been slacking on it for years and it's time I finally give it some love like I did my Rodney Hampton PC. That may take me awhile but it will feel so worth it to me.

So let's take a look at what I am showing off with this one,

Starting lineup that Shane had lying around. I said, why not. Years ago I traded away all of my Griffey figures to make room. I kind of regret it. I still also need to chase down the Rodney Hampton ones so if any of you see them anywhere, please snag both for me!

Such a cool card I hadn't seen up close. Now I own it.

Bat swatch. I wasn't ever a fan of Upper Deck "branding" the swatches though. Kind of ruins it I think.

And finally, an awesome stamp card. I would sometimes rather see one of these cool things than a white relic swatch.

There is still one more part to this mail day I am showing off and that one will be some nice additions to my non sport PC.

Shane's Box Of Madness

This was kind of an off year for me and @ShaneSalmonson over at Project Pedro Blog. We always pull off multiple big trades a year but this year for some reason or another, dragged out a year long trade. Yes, year long.

But, we finally got the deal done and mailed our pieces out.

My end just arrived roughly a week ago and  it was packed nicely and packed full.

Shane even threw in some supplies. Awesome!

I won't be breaking down the entire box as I am working on multiple sorting projects going into 2019 and I will touch base on those soon. But, I will showcase some key cards from this massive mail day and show others as I go along with my sorting projects.

First up, Shane was lucky and went to this years National which is still a dream of mine to do. The Panini pack contains my boy Saquon! Not sure if I will open it to take him out or not.

For years Shane has been trying to unload all of his basketball cards and I have taken a few with each mail day. This time I grabbed his stack of Allan Houston cards who was one of my favorite Knicks in the 90's. The other two, Patrick Ewing and John Starks.

Here are a few highlights from this stack,

(one of my favorites)

And one more card I wanted was this rookie of Tim Duncan. Loved this set.

Well, this is just the beginning of a few pieces from this mail day I will be showing off. More soon!

Nuttin But The Hits:1997 Bowman's Best Football Hobby Box Break (sick break!)

The late 90's. Is there truly any better time in the hobby?

The variety, the brands, the innovations, the value.

It's all in there.

For me there is also a bonus, the memories. This was and always will be my best time in the hobby. Nothing will ever change that.

So when I pulled off my last trade with Project Pedro blog I got the opportunity to take a trip back down memory lane with some packs/box breaks from my past. I loved every aspect of our trade, but these breaks were truly what hit me the hardest and what I enjoyed the most. With every pack I busted a smile can be seen for miles across my face and the next chance to open the next pack brought me joy like no other.

There will be multiple breaks coming up on here. So get ready to take a trip back in time!

Today. let's go back to 1997 shall we? That's the year after I was currently starting to post about for Origins Of A Cardboard Addict blog. I had thought about busting these boxes over there, but instead I decided to keep them here and maybe this will be the future site of that blog as well and will continue my story of collecting here. 

Okay, Bowman's Best. One great looking product that included refractors. I was sold in the 90's but packs costed a ton that I couldn't afford a lot of it. Flash forward 20 years and here I was finally opening up a box of it.

Each box comes with 24 packs with 6 cards per pack. The base cards looked like this and have 125 cards in the base set. I fell short of that in my box break and will be seeking it in my Sets Of My Childhood chase,

The Rookies in the set looked similar except a touch of silver on the edges. Key rookies were Jake Plummer, Warrick Dunn, and Tony Gonzalez. At least when you open a box of retro wax, you know which prospects made it already as opposed to today's stuff you open.

Now onto my awesome pulls from this box

Two named refractors in Jake Plummer and John Elway. These fall 1:12 packs.

Then I got the promised atomic refractor that falls 1:24 packs, but it was Jerry stinkin Rice!! Followed up in the next pack with another atomic this time of all-time great Reggie White!!!!

That wasn't even the end of the break. Following those was this Best Cuts, 1:24 packs of Jerry Rice then a Best Cuts refractor 1:48 packs of Mark Brunell!

 

Can you feel the heat?!!

Man do I miss the hobby days of the 90's. Products today don't even touch this stuff.

This was the final break of my trade with Project Pedro blog. A HUGE thanks goes out to him for allowing me to do a trade like this and take me back in time. I really hope we can do this again. If you haven't checked out Project Pedro Blog, please do so. He is expanding his segments on top of the already popular Cheap Wax Wednesday.

I am also going to do a giveaway from this break on Twitter so make sure you are following me there!

Nuttin But The Hits:1996 Pinnacle Mint Football 16-Pack Break

The late 90's. Is there truly any better time in the hobby?

The variety, the brands, the innovations, the value.

It's all in there.

For me there is also a bonus, the memories. This was and always will be my best time in the hobby. Nothing will ever change that.

So when I pulled off my last trade with Project Pedro blog I got the opportunity to take a trip back down memory lane with some packs/box breaks from my past. I loved every aspect of our trade, but these breaks were truly what hit me the hardest and what I enjoyed the most. With every pack I busted a smile can be seen for miles across my face and the next chance to open the next pack brought me joy like no other.

There will be multiple breaks coming up on here and all that remains are football ones. Football season never ends.

Today's break takes me back. I remember when Pinnacle Mint first hit the shelves and how brilliant of an idea I thought it was and still think it was with the combination of two hobbies. However, when it came to other collectors, most were split on how they felt. Some were excited. Some didn't care. I think most weren't fans which is why the line only made it a couple of years. But, it was hobby innovation and something I always reflect upon when I think about what the late 90's brought to the hobby. There were some very intelligent individuals running the card companies and marketing back then. They knew how to target, innovate and keep kids interested in the hobby. I don't feel like this kind of innovation exists today. Feel like we are in a rut.

Anyways, enough with that. Let's get onto breaking this box.

Each pack of 1996 Pinnacle Mint football came with three cards, one with a hole in the middle-to insert a coin if you pleased-and two coins in a plastic holder. Both cards and coins had parallels as well. You could be even lucky enough to even find a redemption card for a 24kt gold coin. I was never that fortunate even after busting many packs of football and baseball of the product. But, I did pull a gold coin once from the baseball version of Manny Ramirez. Those weren't easy pulls but sadly I traded it off years ago. I regret doing so. Maybe I can hunt one down someday.

The base cards were simple but looked cool. The Kosar is actually a gold parallel. I think those fell 1:4 packs. The bronze Stewart is the base.

Here is a Dave Brown I didn't have. Bet many collectors wouldn't hold onto this guy like me. But, if you look closely, Rodney Hampton exists in this photo as well....

The biggest problem I had with this break was the cards all stuck together. Many were damaged because of that. It was something I hadn't experienced in some time breaking older wax.

Here were all of the coins I found. Many of the big stars like Marino, Young, Rice, Sanders and even some multiples of those guys. The base coins were made of brass with a players imprinted face. There are 30 in the set to collect. After busting this, I am considering that to be a set chase.

I didn't find any gold redemption cards, silver, nickel, gold but I did pull a 1:48 gold plated coin of the GOAT Barry Sanders. I put it side by side with the brass. You can see the obvious difference.

 

Not a bad overall break other than the cards being damaged. I was pretty happy with everything but that. The Sanders was a nice surprise.

Will we ever see another product like this again? Probably not. But at least I was there to experience it when it first came out and had this opportunity to do it all over again.

Nuttin But The Hits:1996 Pinnacle Football Hobby Box

The late 90's. Is there truly any better time in the hobby?

The variety, the brands, the innovations, the value.

It's all in there.

For me there is also a bonus, the memories. This was and always will be my best time in the hobby. Nothing will ever change that.

So when I pulled off my last trade with Project Pedro blog I got the opportunity to take a trip back down memory lane with some packs/box breaks from my past. I loved every aspect of our trade, but these breaks were truly what hit me the hardest and what I enjoyed the most. With every pack I busted a smile can be seen for miles across my face and the next chance to open the next pack brought me joy like no other.

There will be multiple breaks coming up on here. So get ready to take a trip back in time!

Today. let's go back to 1996 shall we? That's the year I was currently starting to post about for Origins Of A Cardboard Addict blog. I had thought about busting these boxes over there, but instead I decided to keep them here and maybe this will be the future site of that blog as well and will continue my story of collecting here.

Even though it felt like only yesterday, when you actually think that 1996 was 22 Years ago, it starts to add some grey hair to your head if you grew up in that era. Which I am so glad I did looking at today's era both in the real world and in the collecting world. In the collecting world, we had marvelous Pinnacle. In 1996 it released another impressive brand with it's flagship football cards. I already had fallen madly in love with the 1995 version so when I saw it on the shelves it was a no-brainer to try.

Each box of 1996 Pinnacle football has 24 packs of 10 cards each. You can find rookie cards of Eddie George, Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Mike Alstott, Derrick Mayes, Tim Biakabutuka, Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Stephen Davis, Eric Moulds, Tony Banks, Terry Glenn and many others!

When you open up the box you will find a paper envelope with a box topper inside. It is a Private stock parallel. I thought I did pretty decent finding a Faulk.

  

When it comes to the base, they look like....well....I am not going to show you today. I have an individual post for that for a reason. You will be amazed I promise and that will be the next upcoming break post for my series from Project Pedro Blog.

So let's jump right to the hits!

Trophy Collection parallels fall 1:5 packs. I found five of them in my break. Gotta love some dufex. There are also Artists Proof parallels that fell 1:48 but not so much luck for that for me.

 

 

321 are fun die cuts of a players jersey and a player in the forefront fall 1:24 packs or one per box. I really dig the design. Wished it had been a better player, but either way, still a nice touch for my 90's insert PC.

 

The box really promoted the insert Double Disguise that fall 1:18 packs. They are similar it appears to Mystery Finest. However, I have yet to get myself to peel them. It's a double sided, double protective coating card. I can say however, I can see a G through one side which leads me to believe that one side or maybe just the card in general is a Packer and possibly Brett Favre.

  

The only other hit I could have found was but didn't was the epic Team Pinnacle that fell 1:90.

I felt I did pretty solid with the box break and maybe even better if I decide to unpeel the card. But, when I do breaks like this it has nothing to do with value to me. So if Edgar Bennett is unpeeled, I am fine with that as well. These kind of breaks are for fun. And yes, fun still exists in this hobby and we all just have to reach down within and find it. Cards weren't always about money and value, they were collected for fun once. Something I still do to this day.

CONTEST ATTACHED! I will be giving away a few KEY rookie cards from this break via PWE. Please read this carefully to be considered in the drawing!

1. Must be a U.S. resident or have a U.S. shipping address. Sorry but I can't afford to ship outside the U.S.
2. I will be pinning this tweet to my Twitter, YOU MUST RT it on Twitter or you can share this on my Facebook page to be entered.
3. I will be tweeting out the cards you can win and the instructions to as well.
4. Comment below-this is very important step-that you have done so.
5. You are in to win! Winner will be announced in a few days so make sure you RT AND COMMENT BELOW!

Living The Americana Dream Part 1:The Inserts

In my latest trade with the great Shane from Project Pedro Blog, I was able to trade for some boxes from him from the Black Friday sale on Dacardworld.

I could have chosen baseball, football, basketball, hockey or any other sport. But what did I end up with? Well, three boxes of 2015 Panini Americana.

My love of non sport cards continues to grow and my love of this product has as well. The price of a box being around $25 and under along with four hits is so enticing you just can't ignore it. The checklist of autographs and wardrobe relics you could hit has a good mix of superstars and people you may not know as well but it was enough to entice me to want more.

Over the next few days I will break down the hits of each box I opened. Today's post I combined all of the inserts from all three boxes to showcase them. And before you ask, yes I am trying to build the base set and all of the insert sets including the blue parallels. I will update my Set tab with needs as I go along in putting them together.

For now, just enjoy the gallery of the inserts I found in three boxes.

Winners Circle Die Cuts:

 

Winners Circle dual

 

On The Tube featuring stars and some I haven't ever heard of:

 

Lots of big names here for Silver Legends. Sadly I ended up with a couple dupes.

 

Same goes for the Silver Legends Duals

 

More On The Tube but this time it features legends of Hollywood.

 

It took me awhile to see that these are actually two sets not one. There are silver singles and silver albums. Makes my chase just a bit more.

 

The blue parallels just look spectacular. But, I have a good amount of dupes of these as well. However I was able to add some key ones like James Earl Jones and Roger Moore.

 

 

I will try to update my needs on all of these by the weekend I hope.

 

Tomorrow kicks off Box #1 so come back to see the hits!

Feeling Like A Kid Again

Last week I had posted about my most recent trade with Shane over at Project Pedro blog and I had mentioned that he helped me acquire some boxes from Black Friday in our trade so I would have something to open on Christmas Day since I wasn't expecting anything.

Now it's time to reveal my choices.

When I opened up Shane's trade box, it took me back to 1980something, yeah I kinda stole that line from The Goldbergs since I can't remember what year this photo was, when I opened up this truck.You can't really see the joy across my face, I hate photos being taken, but it was there. I felt like a child should at Christmas time and that's exactly the way I felt opening up Shane's package.

It wasn't only opening up the box that brought out my childhood all over again, it was the contents. And by childhood I don't mean that blank-stare kid in the photo, I am talking about my younger collecting years.

And this was one of the first major products I really got into.1995 Pinnacle football. It had all of the fixings to draw attention. Great base card design, dufex technology and some great photography. This was a 36 pack lot that came with a few surprises.

 

1996 Pinnacle Mint football. Yes, the coin and card combo that only I could appreciate. This came as a 16 pack lot as I was trying to chase down some silver and gold like I did in my younger years.

1996 Donruss football. This is a much different Donruss line than the one we see today. So much better in the 90's. Wasn't everything? Especially in the hobby.

1997 Donruss football. My father and I busted this to chase down Warrick Dunn and Jake Plummer rookies. I did pull those as well along with some other cool stuff.

1997 Bowman's Best football. This is all about refractor chasing!Shiny stuff is just as important as a child as it is as an adult. This was by far the best box of the 90's group.

There were also some packs of 1998-1999 Fleer Brilliants basketball I was insert chasing in and parallel searching.

And finally, some boxes of 2015 Panini Americana. That didn't tie into my childhood theme other than the fact it could have some autographs and relics from people I may have watched. It was mainly because I totally love that product.

The 90's boxes however brought me back to a great time in the hobby for me. It made me realize all over again how much I prefer opening up those packs than packs of today. Every pack I felt that giddy magic rush looking forward to the contents of that pack and the next. The toughest part was when the break was over. I was left hanging for more and if I had the funds, more would have been purchased. 

So I couldn't just let that magic end quite yet. As I busted I realized how much more fun I was having with the products and it also made me realize I wanted to chase so much more. That's the moment I have decided to do a Sets Of My Childhood chase. Where I am seeking all of the sets from my childhood I enjoyed the most. This expands upon my already search for Spx and Ex ones I am currently doing. I have included the products above and so, so much more you will find out as my slow reveal goes on. My hope is that this great hobby community can help me in my chase and trade me items if they find any at home or card shows, etc.

For now, I have included some of the sets I am chasing so far under this SET tab. I will further expand and separate that to a separate Sets Of My Childhood tab when I have more things put together and narrowed down.

These exciting box break above will be up throughout the year. Make sure you watch out for them and stay tuned for more Sets Of My Childhood chase updates as well.

Friendships In The Hobby

Having friendships in the hobby is one of the most vital parts. Friends near or far give you someone to discuss your hobby with, someone to trade with, someone to help you out when you need that set number or a card to fill in some kind of gap, someone who will give you that yes or no buying opinion on an item and someone just to talk to when you need an ear.

When I first discovered the internet part of the hobby in 2011 late 2012 I didn't have an hobby friends and it took a little while for me to find my place for those. It was like my wife and I's first puppies when they met. They didn't know each other but overtime grew a friendship like no other.

We took this cute picture of them in our nieces toy Lamborgini and it's one of my most treasured ones of them. They have long passed since.

I feel like I have met many great friends and collectors over the past seven years online but one that I have become really good friends with messaging on a daily basis since my internet beginning is Shane over at Project Pedro Blog. Despite our team differences, we are always up for a good sports debate, card talk or discussions in general.

We are also always on the lookout to help each others PC's out. This is especially true for Shane.

Towards the end of 2017 we once again pulled off one of our big trades. We pretty much save up a few months worth of items and then did a big bonanza. It's a lot of fun and we always do a fair trade and it's been this way since we became Twitter friends in 2012.

The first part of my mail day are oversized cards. Some of his least favorite types of cards and he knows I am willing to take them off his hands. These are from the National and each are numbered.

Here are a few more oversized cards including Shaq and Aaron

Another one this time with an iconic Finest design

Some box toppers from Heritage

and finally a really cool film swatch card of Shaq. I couldn't say no to a unique card.

Another thing I have learned about Shane in our friendship is he is not a non sports fan. Over the years he has been sorting and sending me all of his. This is a bunch of Allen And Ginter over an amount of years he found recently and sent. Some Sp's in here as well.

Also like I said earlier, he is always on the lookout for my PC. The biggest thing he has helped me with is narrowing down my Griffey needs. Every Wednesday he posts a Cheap Wax Wednesday break, these are box breaks of baseball and football under $50, and always pulls out the Griffeys for me when he pulls them. Pretty cool that I get first dibs.

I like the Lumber Company. Always been a fan of that insert in the 90's.

These Documentary base cards are annoying as anything. The same picture can be found on multiple different documented base cards. Really lame and lazy. That's not something I say too often with Upper Deck products.

There are so many Griffey gaps that even a checklist is a huge gain. I also really dig the Summit product. Not sure why it didn't continue past 1996.

The Fleer Gamers baseball design was one of my favorites of the early-mid 2000's. I also really liked Ovation.

Here's a really cool numbered insert he pulled from his 1996 Summit break called Ball Parks. There weren't many Ball Parks that Griffey couldn't sit on and hit a home run at. I am sure most pitchers see Griffey this size when they faced him at the plate.

This is a parallel from Topps Stars. Any numbered cards I can get knocked off is a big key.

  

Hologram and Griffey along with a cool Certificate Of Authenticity with his face on it, give me all day long!

 

Golden Jr! Shane found this at his LCS for me. Very cool!

  

Then came this oversized numbered Junior I hadn't ever seen before he snagged at a card show for me.

And then this set that included Griffey. I didn't reveal him yet as I plan on this set as a future box break where I will reveal more of the players within.

and to end it, he snagged this off of eBay for me. Great throwback design bat relic.

Now we can move onto some other odds and ends and these aren't even the end of the trade.

Eli refractor and a rookie I didn't have from Press Pass that's a National Trading Cards Day one.

Some odds and ends from the National.

A really cool promo card set from Collectors Edge still sealed.

A Skip Bayless autograph he pulled from Archives. Yes I know the guy is annoying and yes I know I am probably the only person who wants a card like this. But, I enjoy the oddballs.

And to finish up this part of the mail day, he grabbed two really rare Rodney Hampton cards for me.

First is my second plate of him.

Second is this Leaf Signature autograph (which is also oversized if you haven't seen them). It's not the normal version however. This one is the 1st Down Marker parallel that is really tough to find. Only the first 100 cards are stamped with this stamp and are signed in blue ink instead of black. I always loved how Rodney ignored signing the spot he was supposed to and signed his crotch.

And I will say that this wasn't the end of our trade. Being the great dude he is and knowing how bad my budget was, he also helped me grab some boxes when they went on sale for Black Friday and included those in as apart of our trade. It was the only stuff I got to open around Christmas so it meant a lot. I will be posting these breaks as the year goes on.

A big thanks goes out to Shane for the trade. If you guys haven't checked out his Cheap Wax Wednesday segment please do. He is also starting up some new series soon.

I am looking forward to our next big trade but am also looking forward to continuing on our great friendship for years to come.