MMMB: Landing Some Juniors

Every week, I host a sales thread on Twitter for those who do that kinda thing and @kemptribe joined in with a lot of Griffeys that caught my attention. But, without hobby funds, I always jump to asking if trading was an option which it was. Not everyone goes for trading when I ask, but I will say that about 85% do which is why it's never a bad thing to ask.

I just needed some new Griffeys in my life. If only I could update my PC numbers on here at some point.

Our trade even went further than Griffey as there was also some Giants cards I needed as well. A red Score Epix and Illusions Saquon. I really like the Illusions base card design.

Eli Manning Ring Of Honor. I miss Topps football and these inserts. I have about 10 of these cards of Eli overall between chrome and base and I don't ever plan on letting them go.

 

Our trade also helped me add a couple of RJ Barretts.

Thanks to @kemptribe for the trade! Hope we can do this again.

RJ's Cardboard:2019-2020 Prizm Draft Blue Prizm

 

Shiny, Duke blue and an upcoming star all sums up this card.

It amazes me the huge difference in both value and price when it comes to Prizm Draft vs Prizm. You can land cards of top players in Prizm Draft for next to nothing in comparison to Prizm.

You would think with as popular as college sports are that they would be a driving value but it's really about the pro uniforms.

That's okay as I can land cards like this easier and thanks to @CardPocalaypseNC for helping me do so.

RJ's Cardboard:2019-2020 Prizm Emergent

 

 

Prizm is one of the toughest products to land top rookies out of, so when I was able to land this insert via trade with @CardpocalypseNC I was excited.

The card itself is pretty dull which is typical for any insert from Prizm unless its a parallel. Those cards can be pretty stunning depending on the type of parallel.

Thanks Tim for the trade!

RJ's Cardboard:2019-2020 Panini Chronicles Prestige

 

The latest RJ Barrett to my collection comes via trade with Dion's Autograph Collection blog.

Panini Chronicles is a product with multiple brands involved that builds up one huge set. I haven't really taken much of a look at the product to see how many times RJ's name pops up in it but I am sure he probably has at least 5 or 6 cards in the base set along with all of the parallels to each one.

I am just happy to land what I can from it however I can. I do like this Prestige one for the sole fact of the photography alone.

A Gem Mint Of A Trade Mail Day

I recently discovered a pile of valuable soccer cards in my collection I didn't even know I had until I saw that the sport has been trending hot in the hobby. So I checked in with a few guys, mainly @CardpocalypseNC about who I should be looking for and he told me.

So I sent him some pics on what I had of those players and he claimed a few to trade for but it still left me with some really big ones to trade off. Only one way to get rid of those, off to Twitter!

It took me a few days to receive any interest, one guy was interested but didn't have anything I really wanted, but the second guy, being a fellow blogger had a few things I wanted so I jumped on in a deal.

So for the second time, The Bucs Stop Here and I made a trade, a much bigger trade this time around.

It was also a very fast one.

My new PC Patrick Mahomes took off with a few newbies. I think I would had traded for these regardless of player. These pinks rock.

 

Another Mahomes pink here. This time the base card version.

Then came a base and insert of Mahomes from 2019 Prestige.

I moved on to Florial of the Yankees for my rookie PC. I might have possibly been able to land an autograph of his in a deal with the first guy, but weighing my options I don't like to take a shot at "possibilities" of players. I prefer set in stone players.

Patrick Ewing, Knicks or not, I really liked Panini's Crusades. Send em my way!

My House...in the middle of the street. Our house, my house, or RJ Barretts house. It's all good. This is a new card for my Barrett PC.

And the big centerpiece of the mail day, a PSA 10 Gleyber Torres Update Rookie. I have been a fan and collector of Gleyber since he came to the Yankees. Just hoping he continues to play like he has and maybe hits those Trout type popularity with a card like this. It's all about Topps Update in baseball as the key rookies. I now have three Gleybers but this one by far is the best.

I was a little hesitant at first to trade for the Update Gleyber because I already had two other Update Gleybers and had hoped for a Hall Of Fame autograph or two or a nice non sport auto for my PC I needed with the soccer cards, but I went with the deal anyways just because I like Gleyber.

Thanks to The Bucs Stop Here for another great trade. I hope we can do this again down the road as I am sure I have other Pirates kicking around that need to make a stop...at your house...not here.

If you haven't made a trade with him, go do so. Fair as they come to trading and ships fast!

Say Hey To The Mail Day

I have been having fun working on a few smaller sorting projects and have been using some of the cards for fun tweets on Twitter.

When I posted a lot of Max Scherzer rookie cards, @thesayheykid95 saw the tweet and inquired about if I was selling the cards. I said I don't sell, but I would be down for a trade, so we did a trade. Our first. First trades are always tough because you really want to having everything go right so you will have a new trader to your circle.

And this one went that great. I got my mail day, he got his, and no hiccups.

 

My mail day landed me this Aaron Judge Optic rookie. I regret letting go of a good portion of my Judge PC about a year ago and have been very snail slow adding some of those back. Judge, Gleyber and Jeter are my Yankee PC's at this point.

 

2020 has opened me back up to collecting a lot more basketball cards and RJ Barrett is one of those big new PC's I have accomplished. I am still lacking an autograph of him which would be a key piece to my collection hopefully at some point.

Thanks to @thesayheykid95 for the trade and hope we can do more down the road!

RJ's Cardboard:A Cheap Mixed Lot

I love a good deal.

Once in awhile I will stumble upon one and win an auction with seconds left.

Today's lot, I won for $1.04. Yes, you read that right. Plus $3 shipping but for under $5 to grab this lot I think is a heck of a deal.

 A mixed group of Knickerbockers including my boy Patrick Ewing. Who I consider the greatest Knick of All-Time though I know they have had some great ones.

RJ Barrett winter Hoops Tribute

Donruss Rated Rookie and Great X-Pectations

 Arriving Now which is a new PC card I didn't have before.

And we finish it up with a solid Kurt Thomas auto. Thomas played 8 seasons for the Knicks, including quite when I used to watch basketball more die-hard. He was a defensive stud.

I am glad to add some more Barretts to the PC, not sure how many I am up to now, but it was also great to add the few extra cards that came in the lot especially the Thomas auto. That's a nice looking card and he has a solid signature.

Til next time!

RJ's Cardboard:2019-2020 NBA Hoops Ugly Sweater

I know, I know.

Manufactured relic..worn by the player and not in the game....blah blah blah.

Now that we got that out of the way, I am excitingly here to show you the latest add to my RJ Barrett PC. The single relic version of the ugly sweater.

I knew once I had the dual relic in hand, I had to grab the single relic to go along with it. I am still quite surprised how low these go for. Well, not the one that features him and Zion. I won't ever be able to add that one. But, overall these cards are cheap fun.

 

Look at all those colors!

And for once the player is wearing the actual relic on the card we got swatches from.

I think Barrett is featured on a couple other of these as well. If I can find them cheap, well, I will add them. If not, I am happy with the two I got.

What is your guys thoughts on relics like this?

RJ's Cardboard:Another Lot Find

And we are back for the 4th edition of RJ's Cardboard. I haven't been grabbing too much RJ recently, just a few here and there so I don't know how long this series will go on for but we at least have some to look at.

My most recent was a lot under $10 that had some impressive cards in it.

I didn't have the Class of 2019 or We Got Next cards yet so they were great adds.

I really only needed one of these, but hey, what's three anyways

More Hoops rookies.

Another Prizm rookie! Can't believe it was in this lot!!

Revolution rookie. Didn't have one of those and they look spectacular!

Die Cut Superstar insert

Fireworks insert from Prizm

And that was all from one lot!

The next lot had a pair of Origins rookies including an Sp. Pretty sure I landed these for like $7.

I really like what Panini does with Origins. Always sharp.

Another 16 cards added to the PC in this post. Not sure where my PC stands at this point but will update it here sometime.

Cut To The Chase

Now that I have been showing off my RJ Barrett PC, I think it's time I cut to the chase about an incident I had along the way.

When a seller cut the price of a RJ Barrett Prizm rookie card, which is his clear cut rookie card to have, I decided to cut the rug and jump on it.

A few days later, the package arrived, I wanted to cut loose and open it. However, the seller taped up the package really tight and didn't cut corners on doing so. The only option was to use scissors carefully to cut it open.

So I proceeded to do so....very slowly just to make sure I didn't....wait that part of the...oh no..that wasn't envelope...I think I just cut in to the card.

I pulled the card out of the envelope after carefully cutting through the rest of the envelope and it revealed I had fresh cut the card. The seller never put it in a toploader or in a team bag but yet shipped it in a bubbler that way. I almost cut the cheese after seeing it knowing I threw my little bit of hobby funds I have down the drain.

I wouldn't have damaged the card if the seller didn't cut corners on their shipping and put it in a lousy top loader so I wouldn't have cut into it.

I wanted so badly to message them and tell them of their short cut, but I cut the cord and decided just to cut my losses and find another one.

Which I did and didn't get it from a cut rate seller.

Even though I had to pay a little bit more, it was worth it to get one that was actually safe from being damaged. This time I actually made a clean cut on the envelope and was able to hold the card in mint condition.

Let me know if you have ever had a situation like this before in comments. I would be curious if it was a cut above my experience.

RJ's Cardboard:Catching Up On Many Part 2

Welcome back to another week of RJ's Cardboard. Ready for more fun? Let's check it out boys and girls!

All Americans from Prizm Draft with two Pink Pulsar parallels

More Prizm Draft this time with a blue and pink pulsar base parallels. Those pink pulsars look spectacular!

Rainbow chase? Nah. Just trying to get what I can. Chasing a rainbow of a top player is impossible to do with the outrageous costs. But, so far I have base, silver, pink pulsar, green and orange. Could be a couple more on the way as well.

Contenders Lottery Ticket. I really like the look of these with the sparkles, the design as a Lottery Ticket and the Knicks logo that is hidden in the background

Certified Blue. It's not numbered, but hey.

The essential to any NBA collection, a players Prizm rookie. Now if I could only trade for a silver....

Prizm jersey card. My first relic of him.

Then came this. Say what you want about Panini, but these Ugly Sweater relics are the best looking things since sliced bread with melted butter.  The relics are colorful and pop off the cardboard. I landed this one pretty cheap which is still impressive for a top draft pick. I want more of these for sure!

This isn't all of my Barrett's yet. More are on their way but I will save those for another day. $25 A Week challenge returns next week with some brand new finds so stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, if you have any RJ's for trade, let me know!

RJ's Cardboard:Catching Up On Many Part 1

Hey guys!
Sorry for another week without $25 A Week Challenge and next week will be the same. I hope to bring it back the following week. For once in my hobby lifetime, I have had a focus on my collecting and been knocking important things down that I am actually collecting and not going off the beaten path. Hence, the delay in that segment.

For some reason or another my focus has been on RJ Barrett instead. Like I said, I caught some weird strain of the Panini Virus and have no reason to have.

I haven't collected basketball cards, other than 90's ones, in many, many years but I am hooked on trading/grabbing cards of RJ.

I can't narrow down my reasons for collecting him out of nowhere other than he played for Duke and now plays for the Knicks who drafted him third overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. Both teams I no longer watch,but still root on. Of course you can't ever find a Knicks game on TV to begin with anymore. But, if they did, I would probably actually watch them just to watch RJ play. The Knicks haven't been the same team or organization I used to watch. They are a complete mess.

RJ started out the basketball season hot but then had an ankle injury and was out for a little while. Which in the hobby translates to him being under-the-radar now especially with guys like Zion and Morant being the hobby driven leaders for basketball cards this year. Of course Coby White has also come on strong as of recent to.

So far Barrett in the NBA has averaged 14.3 (as of typing this) points per game. Which isn't shabby by any means and has shown higher numbers in a few of those games. Yeah, I am a stat checker instead of game watcher.

My Barrett PC came out of nowhere and now I have close to 40 cards overall. Not even sure how that happened. But, here is a first glance gallery at some of them. Part 2 of this has my better ones in it. I will say though ahead of time I don't have a rookie autograph, still looking to trade for one.

Here is Part 1 of my collection so far,

2 NBA Hoops rookies. My first one came from @CardpocalypseNC

Yellow Dollar Tree parallel and the holiday parallel

Tribute Holiday parallel. Still need the regular version

Absolute retail rookie

Emergent insert from Prizm

Prizm Draft rookies

More of those. This product gets no respect to it's much popular older brother product in NBA Prizm. But, same goes for football as well.

And his Optic rookie. This is the only Optic card I own as I posted before, there was no Optic here.

That's it for gallery numero-uno.

I will have plenty more to show in weeks to come along with a big gallery again next week with my favorites so far. I am not sure if RJ's Cardboard will become a series regular on here or not, we will see.

Thanks for checking it out and have a great Saturday!