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.

Single Card Mail Day:2018 Origins Rookie Patches Saquon Barkley

I pulled off a trade on Twitter this past week with @DarkCards66 who showed off a Saquon Barkley rookie patch card I really wanted.

And before you ask, yes, I am still taking in Saquon Barkley cards despite the trade rumors. I am 50/50 on how I feel about moving him. I see his injury history, the cap space need but I also see his ceiling as well. I feel with a better offensive line maybe that 2018 Saquon will return.

Regardless, I will continue to take Saquon cards....as long as they feature him in Giants blue if he happens to be traded.

  

White patch relic from Origins. I really like the mix of team colors on this card.

I know the title says Single Card Mail Day, but @DarkCards66 also tossed in a bonus because he is a great guy, and I didn't want to leave it out of this post.

Illusions Clear Shots from 2021 Illusions.

Thanks again for the trade and the bonus @DarkCards66.

Thoughts on Saquon Barkley's possible trade or the cards today welcomed in comments!

Rodney's Cardboard:2021 Panini XR Summit Patch /5

2021 was probably the most Hampton cards I have to chase in sometime. Especially since Painin figured out that they can make him wear a player-worn jersey.

There are 7 relics alone in Panini XR for me to chase with two being 1/1's.

My recent add from the set is the lowest numbered one I own so far, the Green /5.

The card is green in the background and features my first ever Patch swatch of Rodney.

 

Back of the card features some actual writing and not just a guarantee which is what I am always up for.

Thanks to my buddy Shane from Cheap Wax Wednesday fame for the help with this one.

All that remains to be chased now for me is both of the 1/1's. One of which is listed on eBay but at an outrageous price. So far it has dropped from $500 to $150 but I think $60 to $100 range is more fair.

Thoughts on this latest add welcomed in comments.

Random Card Of The Day:2012 Rookies And Stars Crusade Prime Patch David Wilson

Looks Out Of Place

There was a time I would win contest after contest after contest, now I am lucky enough just to enter them.

Keep in mind also that I only enter contests that pertain to my collection. So you won't see my enter a contest for a Walker Buehler rookie card. First of all, not a Dodgers fan and second of all, I despise cards of pitchers.

However, contests for unopened product, decent rookie cards, Giants cards, non sport anything or break spots I will enter.

So when I saw @Sportscardnati1 was hosting a contest for a $50 gift card to One Of One Card Shop and that it was the final chance to enter, I took it.

Next day, I won.

I was a bit surprised to had won but was excited to had as well. So excited that I immediately spent the money and got myself two spots in a 2 box break of Gold Standard.

The Giants and Jaguars were my selection for those breaks. I know the Jags were a bit odd of a choice but it was because they had a shot a Brunell autographs so I said why not.

The Jags landed me nothing, but the Giants landed me this Daniel Jones beauty. The only odd thing I find about this card is the relic choice.

There are four plain swatches and one pretty sick shoe/glove swatch maybe? Is it just me or does it seem out of place? For me, it should be either half nice swatches/half regular or all nice or all plain. This just seems odd to see one nice relic and rest plain.

Maybe it's just me or maybe it's just my OCD.

Let me know your thoughts on a card like this.

And big thanks to One Of One Card Shop and @Sportscardnati1 for the mail day and contest! Go give them both a Twitter follow

Play That Sweet Jazz

 

The NY Giants Free Agency started out a little slow with just the signing of Devonte Booker who will be used primarily as a backup to Saquon Barkley.

It wasn't quite what Dave Gettleman said he planned to do in signing Leonard Williams long term and finding Daniel Jones some actual weapons.

Then came this week.

The Gmen signed LW to a long term deal, then grabbed TE Kyle Rudolph (wished I had kept his autograph now), speedster WR John Ross (autograph above I knew I had kept for a reason) and their biggest rumored weapon and now dream come true, Kenny G. 

And no, it's not the popular smooth jazz saxophonist.

Kenny G, otherwise known as Kenny Golladay, was the top wide receiver in this years Free Agent class.

He had 183 catches and 21 touchdowns in four seasons in Detroit. When on the field, only played 16 games once, he is one of the best young receivers in the game. Both height and great hands is exactly what this team needs.

I am hoping that he will help bring the 31st ranked Giants offense to the next level. Play that Stephon Diggs to Josh Allen role that turned Allen's third season into a MVP run.

So hope is on the horizon in NY. The pieces are falling into place, now can they just finish filling in the rest and put it all together.

Cardboard Review:2020 Panini Origins Football

When Panini first released Origins, honestly, I was not a fan. I wasn't really into the artsy looking football cards as I am a fan of action photography. I want to see the game and I want to see it displayed on a little piece of cardboard.

As years have gone on with more releases of Origins, I have added some singles through trading and my view of the product has changed. I haven't been giving the product its due just because I couldn't see past the lack of photography.  But, holding the cards in hand made me realize that maybe not every product needs the action photography. Maybe there is more to these artsy-type cards and I have been missing out. Maybe these cards are beautiful after all. Maybe, just maybe, I was I falling for Origins.

Today's post marks  the first time I have ever opened a box of Panini Origins football. So I am hopeful this box pans out.

Only one way to tell, let's take a rip.

Every box of 2020 Panini Origins football comes with 7 NFL Trading Cards. Those 7 cards will come as 2 base, 2 parallels and 3 hits including one patch autograph or multi-signed card. Boxes, like everything else in 2020, rose to an alarming $350 roughly. I will let you do the math on how much each card in this box should be worth.

BASE:

There are 90 cards in the base set. The design features team themed color backgrounds and a player in the forefront. I am really digging the Daniel Jones one of course.

Following the base set, are subset cards called Origin Stories which makes up cards 91-100 and features top players from the past and present.

PARALLELS

There are Red /299, Orange /175, Blue /99, Silver /79, Turquoise /25, Purple FOTL /17, Gold /10, Green /5, Pink FOTL /3, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

I pulled two red parallels that you can tell by the background color behind the player. Each of these cards are numbered to 299.

HITS:

This Joshua Kelley relic is pure sweetness. It's a gold parallel /10 of a Rookie Jumbo Jersey.

The next card I pulled was this Darrynton Evans Rookie Autograph. Typical rookie auto that is messy and short, but it is on-card. It does feature one of my hobby pet peeves though with the 00 on his jersey. That's how you tell this was an early product release before rookies were assigned numbers.

The final card was quite a doozy...

A Joe Burrow Autograph 3-color patch red parallel /99! Holy smokes! Top pull of 2020 by a mile.

These Autograph Patch cards follow the Origins Stories in the base set and start at card 101 which by coincidence is this Joe Burrow. These make up the final 41 cards in the base set and gives you an overall 142 to chase.

Fun box break from start to finish. Quick one as well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was a solid box break. Can't guarantee that every box will be this good as I have seen some exciting breaks and some hide the box from your wife ones.

Most 2020 products have been a gamble with high prices and less cards, so if you are going out of your way to afford one. Consider Origins.

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK

Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Inserts N/A

Parallels ⭐⭐

Hits ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Value  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Panini Phoenix Football

It's amazing to me how fast this 2019 football season has gone. Felt like it was already yesterday when I first suited up in Giants blue jersey and hat and screamed at my television and now we are only weeks away from the playoffs.

As the football season winds down, so doesn't the NFL releases which puts me at a very sad place knowing my team isn't going to make the playoffs and knowing how much I love football cards.

One of the latest releases by Panini is 2019 Phoenix. Which is a product that has been around a few years now and one I rather like. I mean, who doesn't want another chrome-type product in their life?

I have yet to have much success with it, but hopefully this time? Let's check out how my break went below!

In every box of 2019 Phoenix football there are 12 packs with 5 cards per pack. You will also find 2 autographs and one memorabilia card per box as well. Boxes have dropped some in price and you can now find them roughly at $115.

BASE CARDS

 

The base cards are printed on chrome technology and are team color focused and single player focused. There are 200 cards in the base set split up between 100 veterans and 100 rookies.

 

The rookie card design is just a tad different than the base.

PARALLELS

Here is an overall view of the parallels in Phoenix
Silver, Color Burst, Fire Burst , Red /299, Pink /199, Purple /149, Orange /99, Yellow /75, Blue /35, Green /25, Black /10, Gold 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

 Silver. It seems today collectors are chasing the basic silver parallels more than colored ones

 Pink /199

 Color Bust which fall one per box

 Purple /149

 Red /299

 Orange /99

 Yellow /75

INSERTS
Insert cards have the following parallels, Red /299, Pink /199, Purple /149, Orange /99, Yellow /75, Blue /35, Green /25, Black /10, and Gold 1/1.

 Adrenaline Rush

 QB Visoin

 QB Vision Purple of my boy Daniel jones! /149

 Comeback

 Rookie Rising....there he is again!

 Catching Fire

Catching Fire parallels. Moss is a red /299 and Fitz is a pink /199

HITS

I love the inclusion of legends of the game and this card sparkles like no other, however, I don't like player worn jersey material. Such a great looking card too!!

 The Michael Egnew of 2019, Hunter Refrow gets pulled often

Not a bad find here despite his very poor autograph showing. K'neal Harry has big time potential with the leagues best QB throwing to him.

Other hits not found in my box but could be in yours includes,

• Rookie Autographs
• Retired Signatures
• Rising Rookie Material Signature
• Veteran Autograph
• Dual Patch Autographs
• Triple Patch Autographs
• RPS Memorabilia
• RPS Jumbo Memorabilia
• Veteran Materials

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Solid effort again in this product. I didn't hit it too big once again but at least the Harry is a decent pull. I would like to see the veterans in this product have more game used stuff and not so much player worn stuff. The inserts were a tad bland for my liking as I feel they need to be upgraded some for next years edition.

Box price isn't terrible for three hits and some potential big ones. I like the addition of Veteran and Retired signatures as there are some great names on the list. I suggest at least getting yourself into a box break of this product if nothing else.

Wanna use a breaker, I strongly recommend using Midwest Box Breaks for your breaking needs. They are always hitting the big pulls so if they are breaking this, you could put yourself in a good spot. They also SHIP ALL CARDS! Get what you pay for!

SAVE 10% on your next break with Midwest!! Just use code SCCBLOG to do so. Don't miss out on those big hits any longer! Code ends at the end of the year!

Please thank Panini America and Tracy Hackler for providing this box for me to review to giveaway some of the hits in a BIG CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY coming up soon!!! Please follow them on all social media sites and visit their website for all your card needs, HERE.

Almost Time For Some FOOTBALL!

The last month or so I have thrown myself out there more for trading. Usually I shy away but with my hobby budget usually eaten up by shipping costs per month for contests and trades, I have turned to trading more to help with my cardboard addiction. See what I did there. Yeah, I tossed in the new blog.

Anyways, @GundersonNathan was posting pictures of cards so I inquired about what NY Giants cards he had. I am getting loaded up and prepped for the upcoming season that kicks off tomorrow in Dallas. I CAN'T WAIT.  I know many of you are still into baseball season, especially in the blogging world where it's dominated by baseball fanatics, but I am much, much more into football than I am baseball. I am one of the very few football card bloggers out there.

@GundersonNathan quickly sent me some pictures of his Giant offerings, much faster than I returned my offerings for him, and we worked out a deal pretty fast. I am always glad when a trade works out so quickly. It can be a grueling pain sometimes to keep searching and searching for stuff for someone to be happy.

He mailed his cards right out and I am much delayed on shipping my return. It's been tough getting around after I had my surgery so I am behind on shipping prizes and trade materials.

I received this package last Saturday but because I am so far behind on blogging, you will see some posts a year old on here in the next few months, I am just getting to posting this. So let's take a look at what he sent.

Some nice looking inserts and base to kick us off. Most I don't have shockingly.

 

A few more base including who may be the best safety in football in Landon Collins.

 

A new numbered Dre for that PC.

 

Can't tell you how much I love this addition. Red,White, and Blue Prizm parallel of Victor Cruz. The parallel colors happen to be of America and of the Gmen. You know, America's Team. I just feel bad for Cruz. I thought he played well for the Bears and now he is a free agent as of my typing this. Could be the end for him.

 

There were even some hits included in this package.

David Wilson who I would have loved to seen more of on the field. He may have been one great weapon if it hadn't been for the career ending injury.

 

Another new Dre for my PC. I am not heavily collecting him anymore but I will add some pieces when I can. His career is pretty much in the drain as well.

 

And to close it out, one awesome patch card of Eli Manning /25. This is a guy whose career isn't down the drain.

 

 

A big thanks goes out to @GundersonNathan for the trade and for getting my mind wrapped around football for tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed your return package and hoping we can work out more deals down the road.

A Super Patch

Super Bowl 42 is a game that I will never forget. The undefeated Patriots who barely took down my team in Week 17 to go 16-0 was facing my team once again but this time on the leagues biggest stage. Of course all experts, including myself, was thinking they would run the table. But, what they didn't know was that this was a very special unit. A team that surprised three other teams in the playoffs to get there and an ending to a game like no other.

I remember sitting there late 4th quarter. 3rd down and Eli has a million Patriot players around him. I had my head towards the floor waiting for the inevitable sack. However, for some odd reason, it was taking a bit longer so I looked up to see Eli scrambling around and then just tossing the ball up in the air for grabs. "There it goes, another Eli interception" I yelled out loud with my father, mother and wife by my side.

Then something incredible happened, a NY Giant jumped up between two Patriot defenders and pinned the ball to his helmet using incredible strength as the Patriot player, Rodney Harrison, was trying to pry it away.

Then the rest was history, a few more short passes before Eli tosses it up to a wide open Plaxico Burress. I had tears of joy stream down my face and I bolted out my door in the middle of winter wearing only my pajamas and celebrated in the snow. It was amazing.

I will never forget that image of the helmet catch or the game.

So when I can pick up a piece of that game, I will do it. I hadn't ever heard of these Post Season patches from Topps but they look great even for a Manu patch. I even bid $8 to snag it. Not something I normally do either. But, I desperately wanted it and as it goes in the hobby, if you truly want something, sometimes you just gotta pay.

NYG PC Spotlight 26:2012 Panini Gridiron Gridiron Gems Rookie Jumbo 2-Color Patch

 

Rueben Randle

Patch Card #d  8/49

Card # 329