Summer Of Wes Card #67

Would You Rather...

Growing up, I knew all about the big three, no I am not talking about LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. I am talking about the big three Nightly News anchors in Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather.

At the time, I didn't truly appreciate the work they put in when I was in my youth, but looking back on it, I have now come to appreciate what they did for the news in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's bringing us a lot of what we don't see today.

All three were dedicated to their work and it showed.

Out of the Big Three, only Dan Rather remains in the news world as Brokaw retired and Jennings passed away. Rather has been apart of some form of news for almost 70 years of his life now and between The Big Three, Rather was the one I grew up seeing on television the most as my parents always watched the CBS Evening News. He also did some corresponding for 48 Hours and 60 Minutes.

When I saw @rickklein post that Dan Rather had some rather unique relics in 2019 Allen And Ginter, I felt obligated to grab them. This has been a trend with my collecting in 2018 and 2019 with grabbing pieces of my past.

Upon doing some minor research, I found out that Dan Rather had base card, mini, parallels, autograph and two different relics in the product. These were relics that I haven't ever seen used before in the product, so that was a bonus for me.

 

The first one features a piece of typed document by Rather and this one I liked a lot with so many words visualized in the relic including the word "groundbreaking", which is a common catchphrase thrown out there by newscasters.

The second relic that Rather has in Allen and Ginter is one of his handwritten notes. This to me is two hits in one as you could say it was a form of autograph as well. However, a lot of the cuts on these notes are not many words and more of a few scribbles. But, hey, can't be easy to cut up a handwritten document. I found the best version of it I could.

The handwritten note relic was the one that Rick Klein shared to his followers as a piece of history he picked up for himself and was the one that guided me to pick the two different versions up.

So if you had wanted to pick up one of these relics, which would you rather have? The typed up document? The handwritten piece of history? Or would you be like me and go for the home run with both?

Either way is a win in my book. I still hope to pick up the autograph when the opportunity strikes.

REVIEW:2018 Topps UFC Knockout

Topps UFC Knockout with Knock You Out with it's plentiful hits. There are 8 hits overall to find in a box which is crazy.

So let's check it out and see how this years version compares to last years.

Every box of 2018 Topps UFC Knockout there is 4 packs per box, 10 cards per pack. Each box will come with 4 Autographs or Autograph Relics, 4 Relics and 8 Base Parallels. Each box costs around $129 which isn't bad for the amount of hits you are provided in every box.

The base card set is simply designed. No border and has a bottom name line. Colorful fighter in the forefront and black and white in the background. There are 100 cards to collect in the base set with all of the biggest names in UFC.

Parallels are plentiful with each box coming with 8 parallels. Green are /199

While Blue are /99.

 

There is also Red /8 and Gold 1/1 to be found for parallels as well.

These are not numbered, but are very tough to find with only a limited number of 100 of each card produced in the 10 card set. Not sure what the odds are either but I can't imagine they are very easy. This is Knockouts lone insert line.

 

Let's check out the hits and try not to get pounded.

Parallels for the hits include, Blue /50, Purple /25, Red /8, and Gold 1/1.

Stipe Miocic mat relic from Knockout Relics

Donald Cerrone fighter relic.

Tier One designed relic and a eBay 1/1 with the 99/99, here is Conor McGregor

Tony Ferguson Fighter Used Fight Mat relic. Purple parallel. As you can tell, it's easy to define a parallel.

My first autographs.  Derrick Lewis is a green parallel and Colby Covington.

Next hit is this Rnada Markos autograph relic card.

And my final hit is this Robbie Lawler autograph dual relic card. I really like the look of this one.

Other hits not found in my box include,

• AKA Ink
• Bitter Rivals Dual Autographed Relic Books
• Tier One Autographs
• Tier One Fight Glove Autograph Relics
• Dual Autographed Tier One Relic Books
• UFC Champion Autograph Relic Books

OVERALL: Lots and lots of punches being thrown in these boxes. Numbered hits, lots of hits, numbered parallels, parallel hits and so on. Knockout lives up to its name. If you are a UFC fan, you see what this product has to offer for the most part but it also has ton of book cards. There are also autographs from all of the big names out there and since I didn't pull them, you can!

Please take a minute out to thank Topps for providing the box to review. Some of the cards you see above will be included in the Fantasy Baseball contest! Follow Topps on all social media sites and check out their website HERE for cards and more!  

Kicking Off November With A Win

November kicked off great for me as I found out I was one of two winners in the #SmokeBreaks 1k follower contest hosted by @footballcrdonly.

The prizes was a variety of relics and autographs among numbered cards as well. I saw some Giants in there and that really got me excited. It's about the only thing with that I can use the words Giants and excitement together this season.

Up first, some bonus cards he tossed in. Nice rookie lot and a few shiny items.

 

Among the bonus items, a pink refractor of Ellsbury and a Porzingas rookie card. I only have one of his so I was pretty happy to add that.

 

Now onto the main course.

Some #GiantsPride in Victor Cruz Crown Royale /99 and a Sterling Shepard rookie card.

 

Some former #GiantsPride in Keith Rivers. Didn't have one of his autographs.

 

A nice looking Select relic of Tre Mason. I really like the yellow swatch.

 

And to finish the mail day a variety of relics and autographs including another for my non sport PC.

 

 

A big thanks goes out to @footballcrdonly for the sweet mail day. If your not following him yet or checked out his breaks yet, please do.

Thoughts on my mail day are welcomed in comments.

REVIEW:2017 Topps Allen And Ginter Baseball

Quirky is one word that comes to mind when I think about Allen and Ginter. But, it's that quirkiness that what attracts me to it.

From baseball to iconic names in other sports and non sports to fish to trees to wonders of the world. Allen and Ginter has it all and comes together beautifully.

Last year I hit a sick dual autograph patch booklet, how did this year pan out, well, read on!

 

Every box of 2017 Allen and Ginter baseball comes with 24 Packs and 8 Cards Per Pack. There will be a mixture of three hits from autographs to rip cards to memorabilia cards.

They also come with a boxloader:

 

Boxes are currently running $115. 

Here was my boxloader card. These look kinda cool

 

There are also Allen & Ginter Boxloader Autograph, Allen & Ginter Boxloader Autographed Relic, and Allen & Ginter Boxloader Cut Signature.

Now onto the inner parts of the product.

The base set is 300 cards deep. There are also 50 Sp cards that fall 1:2 packs making up the 350 card master set.

The design is pretty simple and sticks to the norm for Allen and Ginter. It's main focus is the person on the card along with some added artsy color.

The base set is a mixture of stars past, present, and future along with some fun ones as well including

Harriet Tubman, baseball announcers and a panda.

Key rookies in the base set are, Aaron Judge, Andrew Benintendi, Alex Bregman, Yoan Moncada, Dansby Swanson, Manny Margot, Yulieski Gurriel, David Dahl, Ryon Healy, Carson Fulmer, Amir Garrett, Hunter Renfroe, and Trey Mancini. I pulled some of them but didn't pull any of the key rookies besides Swanson.

There are two base card parallels that are tough to find as well. Hot Box Parallel that are only found in Ginter hot boxes and Glossy Parallel that is Printed on glossy stock and numbered 1 of 1.

Now onto the inserts which there are plenty.

Mini's go wild and you find one per pack.

The minis have parallels of Allen & Ginter that falls 1:5 Packs which I showed the back here mixed in.

And Allen & Ginter Black-Bordered  that falls 1:10 Packs. Did pretty well with the two I found in my box.

 

There is also, Allen & Ginter No Number and Allen & Ginter Brooklyn Back minis that are numbered to 25.

There are mini inserts to find as well including,

World's Dudes, Bust a Move! (which you don't wanna see me do the hula), Required Reading, Magicians & Illusionists and Constellations that I have heard glow in the dark. My box didn't have one.

Full size inserts include the following,

What a Day!

World's Fair

Revolutionary Battles

(didn't find the name for these)

Sport Fish & Fishing Lures

And more of the Rediscover Topps inserts. I find these are a bit odd to find in this product. I think they should stay with Flagship, Update, Heritage type products. They didn't feel like they fit in here.

There are a ton of fun hits in Ginter. From sports to non sport idols there should be something for everyone.

My first find was a relic of Noah Sydergaard.

My second is cool and quirky. This is one of my favorite parts of Ginter.

And my final hit was this amazing looking Mini Framed relic Mattingly with a pinstripe.

 

 Other hits not found in my box are,  
Allen & Ginter RIP Cards (I still have always wanted one of these but no such luck so far),

Allen & Ginter Double RIP Cards. Here is what can be found in the rip cards:

Allen & Ginter Artist Original Cards numbered 1/1, Allen & Ginter Mini Exclusive Cards, Allen & Ginter Mini Metal Exclusive Cards Numbered to 3, Allen & Ginter Mini Wood Exclusive Cards Numbered 1 of 1.

 Allen & Ginter Framed Gems & Ancient Fossils (so cool!!!!), Allen & Ginter Framed Fictional Figures Relics, Allen & Ginter Autographed Relic Book Cards, Allen & Ginter Dual Autographed Relic Book Cards, Allen & Ginter Framed Mini Autograph Cards, Allen & Ginter Framed Originals

and Cut Signatures.

OVERALL: I was a little disappointed I didn't pull an autograph or rip card. Finding three relics for my hits was not the best. However, the framed one does look extremely nice. I know it's supposed to be a mix of the three but I think three relics is not a good find for box that costs over $100. I think if two are relics the third should be an autograph or rip card. Or maybe it just needs to go to two hits and one and one. Not sure.

But, I was once again happy with the design and the possible finds. Those Ancient Fossil cards look amazing from what I see. 

I will leave you with this, if you enjoyed Ginter before, you will enjoy Ginter again.

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the MLB Pick Em promotion.  Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.