Toney And Salsa

A couple of weeks ago, I had three solid football numbered cards up for trade on Twitter looking for something for my collection in return. I was looking for Big Blue or non-sport.

It took a few days, and a few offers before one of the cards caught someone's eye and before what they had in return caught my eye.

@flickavic, a Washington Commanders fan (feels weird writing that out for the first time), saw my 2021 Illusions King Of Cards /149 red of Sean Taylor and knew he had to have it for his Washington collection. He also knew he had to get rid of some of his Giants cards since they were a hated rival which was a win/win both of us.

The three Kadarius Toney's in this trade I already have multiple copies of, but I was okay with that.

Base Card from Prizm Draft

Crusade subset from Prizm Draft

Score rookie

Becuase this final card was the one I had my eye on the most.

 

2014 Topps Triple Theads Patch relic /36 to the words of SALSA of Victor Cruz. The L is the actual patch swatch on the card while the rest is plain jersey. If anyone remembers Cruz, Salsa was the dance he would perform in the endzone after every touchdown he scored. 

I always thought the relics that were designed like this were the best instead of a square. I can't wait to see what Fanatics does with Topps football when the time comes and if they bring back a brand like TTT.

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

Thoughts on my mail day welcomed in comments.

Toney And Salsa

A couple of weeks ago, I had three solid football numbered cards up for trade on Twitter looking for something for my collection in return. I was looking for Big Blue or non-sport.

It took a few days, and a few offers before one of the cards caught someone's eye and before what they had in return caught my eye.

@flickavic, a Washington Commanders fan (feels weird writing that out for the first time), saw my 2021 Illusions King Of Cards /149 red of Sean Taylor and knew he had to have it for his Washington collection. He also knew he had to get rid of some of his Giants cards since they were a hated rival which was a win/win both of us.

The three Kadarius Toney's in this trade I already have multiple copies of, but I was okay with that.

Base Card from Prizm Draft

Crusade subset from Prizm Draft

Score rookie

Becuase this final card was the one I had my eye on the most.

 

2014 Topps Triple Theads Patch relic /36 to the words of SALSA of Victor Cruz. The L is the actual patch swatch on the card while the rest is plain jersey. If anyone remembers Cruz, Salsa was the dance he would perform in the endzone after every touchdown he scored. 

I always thought the relics that were designed like this were the best instead of a square. I can't wait to see what Fanatics does with Topps football when the time comes and if they bring back a brand like TTT.

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

Thoughts on my mail day welcomed in comments.

Getting Me Ready For Free Agency

Football season never truly ends.

'Nor does my collecting of it. I don't switch sports in my brain ever. Football is always on top no matter what time of year it is and it feels like the season never ends whether its on cardboard or just in general.

After the Super Bowl, there is Franchise Tags, releases, NFL Draft Combine (since I don't watch any college football this is where I get to check out the rookies), and then Free Agency, The Draft, OTA's, Training Camp, Preseason, then the season. There really is not downtime which is great.

Nothing gets me more excited than free agency and this year the Giants have loaded pockets and there are some great free agents to grab.

My dream scenario is the Giants landing, Jadeveon Clowney or Yannick Ngakoue, Byron Jones, Justin Simmons and some free agent OT. Anything is an upgrade. Not sure who they have their eyes on, but we have many holes to fill before the draft so let's fill 'em!

Getting me more pumped for the Free Agency that is only a few days away, is getting mail days with Giants in them. I received a few recently but one by Fuji from The Chronicles Of Fuji caught me by surprise as I wasn't expecting it.

So I set his mail day aside while I opened up others first. Surprises are the best mail days so I always save them for last.

There was a great variety of cards in the package. A Victor Cruz Bowman Chrome refractor which looks as sharp as a knife up close. I wished Topps was still in the football game.

A Rookie Facemasks that caught my eye seeing one of the Facemasks was missing. Still a great card regardless and in the PC.

New addition to the Rueben Randle PC. His autograph is so, so awful but I still enjoying cards of him.

Ron Dayne. I like it when companies get creative with the jersey card placement when it's not just a simple square. There was this one from Fleer and then

This Dayne from Upper Deck

and finally this one from Upper Deck. Come on Panini pay attention!

Davis Webb and

Kyle Lauletta I loaded up on. I thought either guy was the next QB for the Giants and I was ready for them to take flight. I didn't want to pay outrageous prices when they became the starting QB in NY. Well, neither survived the cut and now play elsewhere. But, once a Giant, always a Giant.

One Giant who rises above the rest for me, sorry Rodney you take second, is Eli Manning. I will take any and all Eli Mannings. My Eli is PC has surpassed the 600 mark but with thousands of Eli's to chase, I still have plenty of wiggle room to add. I prefer to trade for numbered, relic or autograph stuff as base I have to pick up on my own as a lot of it could be dupes.  Fuji grabbed a great one here.

And then this Super Bowl Heroes insert from Super Bowl 42. Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I enjoy collecting any Super Bowl 42 and 46 cards.

Thanks to Fuji for the great surprise. I have a few things that have been set aside for you for awhile now I should probably finally get out along with some other bloggers I need to hit up as well.

A Christmas Breakdown

Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown blog surprised me recently with a Christmas gift laden PWE.

As always, he nailed it in finding me cards I didn't have for my Giants PC which isn't very easy.

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas from Gavin without a cool custom to go along with the cards. I don't know how he does it but he can take a basic card and make it worthy.

Victor Cruz refractor. I wished he could had stayed healthy and stayed with the Giants at the end of his career.

Tim Carter didn't make it very long with the Giants, but I still collect him. I always liked the design of Topps Pristine but could never afford it.

I remember this photo like it was yesterday. Odell catching a slant from Eli Manning and taking it to the house, over 60 yards, for a game winning comeback touchdown vs the Ravens.

Majestic Eli Manning. Take that anyway you want.

Giants will need to make a big decision on Engram soon. Injury prone potential based player in his final rookie contract year. Will be interesting to see what they do. I would like him to come back as he has a ton of talent but needs to stay healthy. Would only take him back at a reduced price though.

Engram is also an "eBay 1/1"

Well, that does it.

Almost...

Found a perfect spot on my tree for the card ornament.

Thanks again Gavin for the mail day and hopefully we can make more trades in 2020.

NYG PC Spotlight 128:2012 LImited Victor Cruz

 

Victor Cruz

Base Card

Card number 65

Card #d 11/399

I should also mention that this card and the rest I will be posting this week and last week are brought to by Wes. Wes, the man who sends the big ole heat mail days!

KICK OFF NOTE! NYG PC Spotlight 85:2012 Topps Triple Threads Gold Victor Cruz

By now the kickoff has begun!!! There are still more cards to come but I am focused on the game. Readers of this blog either will love or hate what I did today but please don't unfollow yet. This is not a daily occurrence. Just a fun combination of my favorite season along with cardboard. Can't go wrong with showing off passion.

Let's go Giants!

 

Victor Cruz

Parallel

Card #d 17/99

Card Number 7

I should also mention that this card and the rest I will be posting this week and last week are brought to by Wes. Wes, the man who sends the big ole heat mail days!

NYG PC Spotlight 97:2014 Panini Contenders Playoff Ticket Victor Cruz

 

Victor Cruz

Parallel

Card #d 94/199

Card number 48

I should also mention that this card and the rest I will be posting this week and last week are brought to by Wes. Wes, the man who sends the big ole heat mail days!

Mr. Jones And Barkley

Mr. Jones and Barkley...tell each other the football plays and get criticized by the NY Media, Jones is throwing to you but he actually throwing to Barkley. Jones doesn't want to be Bob Griese, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone a bit more funky.......

Yes, my inner Counting Crows came out today for my latest mail day.

First up, @SwantonSportsCards,

he was posting a sale and had a Daniel Jones 2019 Legacy Premium card up for sale and since I am not usually able to buy, I went trade style which luckily for me he happily obliged.

He also uncovered a Luminance rookie as well I didn't have.

Thanks to @SwantonSportsCards for the trade. Really hope we can do this again!

Up next, my first ever trade with @TimothyTmaciag who saw me tweet out some trade bait for some Barkley or Daniel Jones cards. So far up to my typing of this has been the only one to claim a card to trade for.

Here is what he passed along,

Select rookie card.

Select silver Prizm Premier Level. Love the look!

And then threw in two freebies!

Amani Toomer Bowman Chrome rookie refractor

And this super sweet rookie I didn't have of Victor Cruz that is

numbered 7/10!! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

Thanks goes out to Timothy on this easy trade. Hope we can do more down the road.

As for the rest of you, check out my trade bait I have been posting on Twitter and lets make some PWE trades already!!

Breakdown Cardboard On Vacation

For the first time in two years, I was able to go on vacation.  It was a much needed one.

My sister in law rented a cabin on a lake about an hour from where I live and we spent this whole week there. Just before I headed out to leave on the trip, I stopped by my mail box where a pwe from Gavin was waiting for me.

Instead of turning around and bringing the envelope home, I decided it would be fun to have it with me so that I could do a Blog On Location instead. A fun aspect I have never done before.

The cards inside were great, but the cards were greater. All new to me! That's tough to do when my NY Giants collection is so deep.

Evan Engram red prizm parallel. Such a great looking card all around and I tried to have the sun capture it's magic while Evan decided to take a look out over the lake.

 Turkey Red rookie card of Sinorice Moss

 Victor

Juan gone

Hakeem Nicks Topps Platinum refractor decided to take a relaxing sit on the swing that resides on the deck overlooking the lake

Well, Eli and Phil both decided to take turns in the sun. Trying to get their tans after Phil passed the torch off. I truly miss the days when most inserts were numbered. Made them feel more worthy.

And Odell trying his hand at N64 which I hadn't ever played til now. Kobe Bryant's in NBA Courtside was the only game offering but still was fun.

It was a fun packed week of eating great food, relaxation, talking cardboard with a few Twitter peeps in my downtime and even went to a fun Christmas themed park for a day where I decorated Gingerbread men and rode some rides. Well, nothing special as I have motion sickness but it was still a good time.

Hope everyone else enjoyed their week and thanks to Gavin for another solid mail day.

Pieces Of My Future #6: Cruuuzin' For Free

I am a terrible person.

Well, I hope my buddy @tmcbmatt over at Bubba's Sports Cards doesn't think that and can forgive me for losing his mail day among my other blog drafts on here.

But, here it is and a thank you is to come.

@tmcbmatt and myself have traded and he was the one who graciously mailed me huge box of Rodney Hampton's for free I previously posted about on here. He is a great overall dude to follow, loves to trade and to surprise other collectors.

When we had done our last trade, I saw a Victor Cruz autograph in the mix for a possible card for a future trade. After seeing him pull off a trade with a fellow Giants fan, I wanted to make sure that Cruz was still waiting there for me.

The conversation was a simple one.

"I hope you set aside that Cruz auto for me down the road for a trade :)"
He immediately responds, "If you want it....it's yours!" "Send me your address."

*Falls off from chair from shock.*

This dude is uncanny.

Within a few days, this beauty arrived. Even showcases Cruz's touchdown against the Patriots in
Super Bowl 46. Anytime you can combine a Super Bowl card, Patriots players losing and a favorite player from the Giants, that's a winning card.

I also failed to mention in all of that hype, it's numbered 5/5.

This marks my fourth Victor Cruz autograph in my collection. So far this is my best one but someday I really want to get that 2010 Donruss rookie autograph of him. That's been one of my top cards I have wanted of him.

Huge thanks goes out to Bubba's Sports Cards. I know I owe you a thanks for this even though you don't ever expect anything in return. I am keeping my eyes out for you and payback will come at some point. Thanks man!

Cards From All Around

Today's post is a mixed bag of mail days that came in a variety of ways. Some I knew about, some I knew where they came from and one was just a mystery.

Let's check out all of the cards below.

 

Jason over at Hoarding Cardboard (love that blog name it's my second favorite to Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts) held a 12 Days Of Giving contest again this year and I held out for a prize that caught my PC eye most. Why would I enter otherwise? Better to leave those cards for others who could use them. Anyways, Day 12 there was a NY Giants relic of Paul Perkins I didn't have up for grabs donated by the TradingCardDB.Com member above so I entered and failed to win.

 

Surprisingly this arrived at my doorstep not much longer after as Trevor from Bump and Run Football Card Blog  graciously forwarded the prize onto me. Thanks again Trevor!I will have to update my numbers on here to see how many Perkins I have now.

The next mail day is my continuation from @Brent3323.

 

I realized that after I posted yesterday's post I forgot to add this beautiful Victor Cruz into the post. The card looks so great I didn't want to miss posting it in general.

 

Brent also sent me rookies of guys I was seeking this year in Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield. Baker had a great season and was QB a Browns team that has been desperate at that position, but I still hope Barkley wins OROY. Look at what he did behind the Giants oline.

 

So, so pretty.

 

My first relic of Lamar. Now need to land that autograph!

 

James Conner autograph plus it's Contenders, yeah, I like it. Always been a big fan of Contenders no matter the sport.

 

And finally, a wantlist item achieved!! O.J. Simpson rookie! Now I just need a Walter Payton somehow...

A big thanks to Brent for yet another great trade! I look forward to our next!

Next mail day I got a small eBay Gift Card for Christmas and used it to it's full potential. I don't go out and grab one card, which would have been the case had I wanted some Barkley, so instead I went out and used it the best I could.

  

Tyrone Wheatley has been on my Giants need radar for some time and I was able to snag this one for less than $5 so it was a big time win. Especially when others are listed for $20 on there. This is a 1999 Skybox Autographics card so it fits my 90's PC as well.

And the final card from today will end up on Unsolved Mysteries. I know who sold the card, just don't know who bought it for me.

Boom! Another Giants autograph off my NY Giants list! Ottis Anderson one of the Giants RB greats. Thanks to whomever bought me this card and for @Ericwyant1 for shipping it. Unless you are the one that just sent me the card and thanks to you for that. Like I said, I am left clueless with no evidence.

I know I said I was cutting back on mail day posts, but to be honest, til I can come up with other creative content, this week is full of them. There is some greatness to see however including how I spent the rest of my gift card.