Thursday, June 7, 2018

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES! Part 16:1997 Skybox Impact Boss

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a want list. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

Can't believe we are at post 16 in this series. Once again, we will take a look at another football set but I do promise other sports do exist in this series but football was my main and still is collecting sport. Today we take a glance at an insert from Skybox Impact in 1997 that was the BOSS.
At 1:6 packs in 1997 Skybox Impact, you could find these super colorful embossed inserts.  The 20 card set had both rookies and veterans in it. So far my only haves are the three rookies, so I have a long ways to go. 

I am not sure what caught my attention or still catches my attention about these, but something does. It's not something I would have been into today as much but being apart of my cardboard history and the embossing kinda gets me, I am on the chase for the rest!

My current haves are,
1,5,and 20
How many of you remember or collected these? 

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

May Fantasy Baseball Winners!

Another month of baseball is done and so isn't another month of my Fantasy Baseball promo is as well. This month's winners-going forward til the playoffs as well-were determined by the highest winning percentage for the month of May which went five weeks because of how it was placed.

So a big congrats goes out to...

SCC LEAGUE 1: Bottom Feeders
SCC LEAGUE 2: No Crying In Baseball

No Crying in Baseball had the bigger winning percentage jump between the two so they will get first choice of prize.

No Crying In Baseball please choose between the Duvall autograph or the card sorting tray (no cards).

    

  

Both winners please email me your addresses to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com. No Crying In Baseball please give me your selection of prize in that email as well and Bottom Feeders will get the other one.

I will have the prizes for June posted soon. Please also thank Topps and BCW Supplies for their generosity.

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES Part 15:1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

One of my first big pulls in the hobby was this Marshall Faulk 1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars card. It was the most elegant card I had ever seen at that time. So a couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to land the Favre in a box break and I was like, I gotta have the rest now.

These weren't the easiest pulls back in 1995 falling at 1:37 packs in packs of Ultra. Which is why I thought this was the greatest card pull ever at the time. 

The cards themselves are space themed and printed on acetate. They look so impressive in person.

Keep in mind that these also had a really tough Gold Medallion parallel to find as well. Those ones I am not seeking currently. I just want a base insert set of these for now. And yes, they must all match no intermixing base and gold medallion parallels.

There are only 9 cards in the set to chase and I have 2 of them. The others shouldn't be too expensive so hoping some trading buddies can hunt down the last 7.

My current haves are,

5 and 6

How many of you remember or collected these?

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

REVIEW:2018 Topps Premier League Platinum

I am not sure if I missed the memo on this product or just didn't pay attention, but I am glad I didn't miss out.

Now introducing the latest product line for the Premier League with Platinum and it's pretty exciting especially if you collect the sport.

Let's see what a box break of it entitles.

In every HOBBY box of 2018 Topps Premier League Platinum has 2 mini boxes. Each mini box has six packs of eight cards. Each mini box has 1 autograph each and one hobby master box overall has 2 autographs and one relic.

The base set features all 20 teams with each team having 5 cards each building up a 100 card base set. The cards are printed on a finest-plastic type card stock that gives them an extra added appeal. Each card also has a rainbow glisten to it.


 
There is also a master set to build as well in the product. The base cards make up the first 100 in the set. Then come the short prints that fall at their own rates.

Global Stars make up card #s 101-140 in the master set and fall 1:4 packs.

New Signings make up cards 141-160 in the master set and fall 1:4 packs.


And finally Icons falls 1:6 packs and makes up cards 160-180 in the set.
 

This wouldn't be a shiny set if it didn't have parallels.  I pulled three purple New Signing ones in my break. These are all numbered to 50
 

Other parallels to find are,
• Green  /99
• Orange /25
• Red  /10
• Holographic Foil 1/1

Before I move onto the hits, I will admit I already fell in love with the product up to this point, but the thing was I also discovered a tad of a problem as well. I am not sure if this will happen to the base or not, but all three of my parallel hits had the coating peeling off from them on the back of the card. I worry about what this may mean using this type of technology on the cards and how storing them will affect them. Hopefully this was just a glitch for these cards and not all will turn out this way.
 
Okay, enough with the bad news, let's move onto the hits! 

My first one was this relic of Harry Kane. Not too shabby of a pull and I like the design.


My first autograph find was Tomer Hemed who plays for the club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Israel national team.


My second autograph find had some boomsauce in it with Aaron Ramsey who plays for Arsenal and the Wales national team. He has also taken home some awards.
  

Both relic and autograph hits have the same parallels which are
• Green – /100
• Orange  /25
• Red /10
• FoilFractor  1/1

And to see the overall checklist for this product, you can find it here:

OVERALL THOUGHTS.......
I was pretty impressed with the overall look of this product. With only 100 base cards in the base set it wouldn't be too hard to build especially with boxes coming with 96 cards per. Even though you still have to account for the hits and parallels.

The only disappointing part I found in the product was the damaged cards. Just hoping that rest of the base don't "curl" like that.  

The checklist of signers for the product is pretty solid as well. Don't believe me, just check out the checklist I linked above.

I also think the price point is decent for the product and the hits provided.

Thanks goes out to Topps for providing this box for me to break, show the hits to you and to review. Some of the hits in today's break will be used for a variety of contests so you can reap the benefits of Topps providing me this box to break. Please give them a thank you for doing this so we can continue to do this. Also, check them out on all social media sites and on their website which you can find HERE for all of your MLB, MLS, Walking Dead, and more needs. 

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES Part 14:1995 Score Red Siege Parallel

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

We take a look back to 1995 at the Red Siege parallel from Score. It's simply just the base Score cards, which I liked by the way, and tossed with red foil over the top with the words Red Siege on the back. Pretty simple, but I likey!


Falling only at 1:3 packs, this parallel set makes an already good looking base set even better. I have never once thought about pulling together a base set, but I think this one may be affordable enough to do so. However, I have only 6 of the 275 card set so please check those nickel and dime bins for me!!

My current haves are,
24,137,176,249, 219,273,

How many of you remember or collected these? 

Monday, June 4, 2018

The Low Budget Collector Part 5:Hobby Project

If you are a low budget collector like myself, you will find yourself having those moments where any form of funds is unavailable. Even the shipping ones.

These moments can sometimes drag you down almost to the point of wanting to quit the hobby. Believe me, I have been there so I know how you feel when you get there as well.

What I have found to be soothing in those times, is enjoying what I already have. There is always some form of sorting to do. I created projects for myself in the last couple of years that helped me bypass those feelings of wanting to quit. It's really, really hard not to add something new, but sometimes is nice just to enjoy what you already enjoyed once.

The two projects I tackled were long ones. This doesn't mean you have to do a long project if you know hobby funds is coming up, just find a small project or base it on the time you expect your next round of funds. Or you could start a big one and work on it during those fund-less times. That's what I did with my first project. My second one was more of covering a longer distance of months.

My first project I took ALL of my boxes and took out my partial sets and sorted them all by team for four sports. Then had to sort all of the non sport by number.


This project was a year long one. It felt so great to have that one done.

My second year project was fixing all of my binders. Sorting some by team, sorting others by shinyness, sorting some by my favorites that I want sets of, so on and so forth.
 

That was a few month project.

There are actually a few more sub-projects I want to get done with the binders but I am currently holding out til my next gap of needed downtime. I know there will be.

I hope Part 5 of this will help you in some way today to keep on collecting no matter the circumstance. This is the point of these posts and even though some may be obvious like this one, it will hopefully still get you in the right direction without wanting to quit the hobby. I am also hoping it may give you a new way to save money and collect.

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Nuttin' But The Yankee Hits Part 2

Part 2 of my Yankee hits PC is a bit stronger than the first part.

We kick it off with the Rocket. At one time this card was my most favorite card in my Yankees PC. I was a huge Clemens fan in the 90's and when the Yankees made a move for him, I was so excited. I used to pretend I was him in the backyard with my buddies when we played baseball. He was the ace of my staff. Then I found out he was part of the 'roid generation and Roger is no longer a favorite in my collection.

A couple of sweet Giambi relics including a base swatch from the Ex line. Giambi falls under the same feelings I had for Clemens.

I never felt Bernie Williams ever got enough respect for what he did for the Yankees in the league. I always respected him and enjoyed watching him play. These are my only two relics I have of him including once again another one of those base relics I pulled in a box. I just also realized I didn't post my autograph of him for this series. Oh well, another time.

This card was actually a pretty tough pull back in the day when I pulled it. The International Connection Piece Of The Actions were much tougher than the base versions which is why this Posada had some added value to it. But, that's not why I liked it. It's my one and only Jorge hit in my collection.

A couple of young Yanks who never quite panned out. Romine is a TTM I got from Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders.

I know a lot find the Topps Holiday boxes another money grab, but I think it's a cool designed fun product. I like plain swatch relics a whole lot more on this design. Here is my only one like this with Pineda.

Another one of my favorite Yankees was Soriano. I wished he could have stayed instead of having been traded off for A-roid. This is my only hit of him in a Yankees uni. I only consider my Yankees PC hits of players in pinstripes only.

Drew Henson. Only good at college sports even though he tried both NFL and MLB. Still a cool card with a guy who did two sports.

And the best Mickey Mantle card I have in my PC. Isn't that sad. I don't own a single vintage card or real hit of the Yankee great.
 

Part 2 isn't the end of this Yankees hit showcase. Two more parts to go!

Saturday, June 2, 2018

REVIEW:2018 Topps MLS+CONTEST!

Another fun soccer release just recently hit the market again and it's been a stand-by for all MLS collectors over the years.

The product usually has a solid checklist and some nice looking hits. The inserts usually also take a nostalgic trip to Topps past and that's always an added fun bonus.

So what does the 2018 offering look like, well, let's see and also find ourselves a contest!


Each box of 2018 Topps MLS has 24 Packs of 8 Cards Per Pack. Even though the box says 24 packs per box of 8 packs per box. Minor printing error. There are also 2 Autograph Cards and 1 Memorabilia Card Per Box and boxes run $70ish. 3 hits for that price isn't too shabby in today's collecting.

The Base Card Set is 200 Cards with all the big MLS names. The design is simple but looks good with a diagonal down the side with a team logo. I wonder if this is what 2019 baseball flagship will look like?? I wouldn't mind if it was, how about you guys?

There are also two subsets in the product including 24 Under 24 that captures all of the upcoming soccer studs


And Team Cards that celebrate the teams in MLS.
 

I didn't see any rookies in this years product unless I missed them or they weren't marked with a rookie logo. I will look further into this.

As with most Topps products, there are also Sp base card variations. These fall 1:51 packs. Basically 1:2.5 boxes and there are 14 to find. I haven't yet found info on how to determine an Sp from a base. Usually it's based on code but I didn't discover any numbers in my search.

Now onto parallels.

Another standby with this product and most Topps products are parallels. My box only showed one color and that was blue. These fell 1:8 packs and are numbered to 99. Kinda like the more limited numbered cards.
     

    Other parallels to find in the base set include,
    • Orange /25
    • Red /10
    • Black 1/1.
    Time to take a look at the inserts. This is usually one of my favorite parts of this product due to the nostalgia.
     
    ALL INSERTS INCLUDE ORANGE, RED AND BLACK PARALLELS. 

    If you liked the 1988 baseball card design, well, Topps brought it back for Soccer with it's Throwback Topps Insert 1:6 packs. There are 17 cards in this set to collect and I think it looks better in soccer because of the photography choices you can have.

    All-Star Insert also brings us back and falls 1:4 Packs. There are 22 cards in the set and I dig it.


    Multi-Dimensional Insert falls 1:6 packs and reminds me of Topps Fire. There are 17 cards to collect.
     
    Now onto the hits.

    Jumbo Relics fall 1:34 Packs or one per box anyways. There are 35 of these cards to collect.


    Base Autographs fall 1:16 packs with 55 signers to collect.


    The Base Autographs also have parallels and my find was this Blue Parallel that fell 1:111 Packs. Blues are numbered to 50.
      

    Other parallels for these are, Orange /25, Red /10, and Black 1/1.

    OTHER HITS NOT FOUND IN THIS BREAK INCLUDE,
    • Base Image Variation
    • Autographed Jumbo Relics
    • Crests of Honor Relics
    • All-Stars Autographs
    • Multi-Dimensional Autographs
    • Multi-Dimensional Autographs 
    And to see the overall checklist for this product, you can find it here:
    https://www.topps.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018-Topps-MLS-CL.pdf

    OVERALL THOUGHTS.......

    I have given this product a review the last three years and have always enjoyed it. The base set is simple and this years I liked even more because it was a different design than baseball. I also like the fact the base card image variations are tougher to find at 1:51 so you won't land one or even two per box. It will take a couple boxes or more to get one.

    The retro appeal to the inserts brings a ton of nostalgia. I like that approach and it's one they have taken the last few years for inserts in the product. I look forward to seeing what 2019 brings for inserts.

    The hits were not great in this break, but there are some really nice ones to find in the overall product. The autograph jumbo relics can reveal some impressive swatches. Go ahead an search for yourself if you don't believe me on eBay or on the Topps website.

    CONTEST!

    To win this card above with some bonus cards, please read and follow the instructions
    1. MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT OR HAVE SHIPPING IN THE U.S. Sorry, I do appreciate all of my readers but shipping costs are a little haywire and my spending cash is way down to ship. I need to be reasonable where I ship.
    2. This card is numbered to 50, in order to win, please give me what the card is numbered to out of 50 along with your thoughts on the product IN COMMENTS. MUST DO BOTH STEPS TO COUNT.
    3. Person who is closest to the number WITHOUT going over will win the card(s). Also as long as they left their thoughts on the product.
    4. Be aware that this prize WILL BE SHIPPED PWE
    5. Sport Card Collectors blog, it's blogger Matt, and Topps ARE NOT responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged mail once it's left my hands. I will ship it safely, it's up to USPS to deliver it that way.
    6. Time on shipping prizes varies as we all have busy lives and can only get to things when we can. But you will get your prize. 
    7. Contest winner will have 72 hours after the winner announcement to claim or it goes back into the prize pot.
    8. Make sure to thank Topps for their generosity!
    9. Contest starts today and will end on June 8th 2018. Winner will be announced shortly after.
    10. Once you enter this contest below, you agree to all terms above.
    Thanks goes out to Topps for providing this box for me to break, show the hits to you and to review. Some of the hits in today's break will be used for a variety of contests so you can reap the benefits of Topps providing me this box to break. Please give them a thank you for doing this so we can continue to do this. Also, check them out on all social media sites and on their website which you can find HERE for all of your MLB, MLS, Walking Dead, and more needs. 

      Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES Part 13:1995 Fleer NFL Prospects

      Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

      Yes, we head back to 1995 Fleer for Part 13 of this series and more football. Don't worry, there are other sports to but the main beef of my needs will be football. Today's insert line captures the rookies of 1995 in a Saved By The Bell design.

       


      1995 had a few good prospects, but many turned out to be bums. Other's I liked just because they grew on me like Kerry Collins. I felt I liked him more than the Giants pick Wheatley that year.

      This 20 card set fell 1:4 packs back in 1995. The front as a gloss and not gloss texture. The background is rough while the player and the writing is glossy. I think these look awesome but not all will agree with that statement especially coming from 1995 Fleer.

      My current haves are,

      2,3,4,5,6,7,13,15,16,19,20

      I have some, but still have a ways to go and will need help doing so!
      How many of you remember or collected these? 

      Friday, June 1, 2018

      Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 12:1995 Fleer Gridirion Leaders

      Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

      Today's needs come from every bloggers love/hate product, 1995 Fleer. Which by the way I am on the love end of it.

      With it's groovy checkerboard design, this 10 card set was found in 1995 Fleer at a rate of 1:4 packs. As you can tell, I bought a ton of 1995 Fleer and only am missing four cards from this set now.

      My current haves are,

      1,2,3,8,9,10

      How many of you remember or collected these?