The Last Start

 

The day was December 15th 2019. The NY Giants were playing at home against the Miami Dolphins and their starting QB Daniel Jones was out with an injury. So in came their backup quarterback....Eli Manning. It feels weird even typing Eli as a backup. 

The situation was what it was as the Giants needed to see what they had in Jones before the season ended and the feel was Eli was in his last season anyways. I also think it was good to have someone like Eli coach Jones up while he was still there.

Eli went on that day with 20-for-28 passing, 283 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in a 36-20 win, which also snapped the Giants 9 game losing streak. I was not happy that I wasn't able to watch the game as the Patriots played on CBS instead, but at least the Pats game ended early so I could watch the very emotional ending at Metlife.

The chants Eli ruled the day as Manning was chanted before the first snap and his last and most of the 4th quarter. You could tell and feel the emotion across Eli's face every time he exited the field especially at the end of the game. Even at home I started chanting for Eli and felt emotional myself watching the quarterback who led my Giants to two Super Bowls victories over the hated Patriots exit the field for the final time as a NY Giants starting quarterback. The two Super Bowl wins were my first two wins I got to see as I wasn't into football back when the Giants won their first two.

 

When I found out that Panini had created one of the on-demand cards to commemorate Eli's last start I had to have it. I paid a little more than I usually do for a card like that but it was worth it to me. Looks like the price may have been a little more with only 86 made.

CAPTION THIS CARD!!

 

Let's give this card a clean caption shall we?

Here is mine,

"The slide tells the Story"

Post yours in comments!

MMMB:RAK Had More Than I Expected

 

A few Friday's ago, I started a Want/Need thread on Twitter to help out collectors looking for specific cards. On that thread also, others can pipe in if they have said card you are looking for and try to trade, sell or RAK it to you.

It's a fun concept that led to a lot of collectors getting what they wanted in some form or another.

At the time, I was looking for Topps Update rookies of Kyle Lewis and Randy Arozarena since I couldn't find any Topps Update locally and needed both for my rookie card collection.

That's when @JrNoble1 jumped in and said he would RAK them to me.

Before this, I don't recall having any prior conversations with him so it's always a surprise when new followers come out of nowhere to help. The hobby community is full of great people like this.

The mail day arrived a few days later with a nice stack of cards including the two I needed,

 

And so much more! 

I was surprised and excited to see what else was sent.

The other cards he sent covered the other big rookies from Update that I was stoked about,

Gavin Lux

Aristides Aquino

and then there was a small stack of Giants cards too. Wow!

Very cool! Always dig having Prizm parallels of Giants.

Big thanks to @JrNoble1 for the superb surprise-filled mail day. I really appreciate it and glad we now have daily interactions.

Almost As Good

  

Back in 1996, Zenith was released and had what I considered to be one of the best looking inserts of its time in Z-Team. The acetate-rainbow card with black Z and colored player picture really stands out especially up close. Another one of those you need to see in hand and not on here kind of card.

I was fortunate at the time to had pack pulled one of Emmitt Smith at the really tough odds of 1:72 or in other teams, 1:3 boxes. That memory has stayed with me since and last year I sought out to complete the entire 18-card set which I was able to do.

While I was chasing that set, Panini decided to bring back the iconic Zenith brand and also the Z-Team insert.

The design of the product was basically a flashback to its 90's predecessors taking designs from 95,96 and 97 Zenith football.

The Z-Team insert for the product took that 1996 Z-Team design I was such a huge fan of an added a new upgrade to it. I couldn't wait to see one in hand.

I went to see the checklist for the product and saw a NY Giant was actually on it unlike 1996 and knew I had to find a way to land one. The only problem, you combine the cost of Zenith football box, the fact these are the only insert in the product and the base versions are limited to 50, these are not easy to find.

Fortunately for me, one was on bid and I still had some gift card left over from Christmas so I took the chance and went for it.....$12 later....and it was mine.

The version I landed though was not the base /50, it was the Gold /10.

The Giant on the checklist was no other than Saquon Barkley. Design of the card is similar to that one of 1996 but with a new touch. The card isn't acetate, however it has a thick cardstock. The rainbow shine is still there but it's all over the card and there is more touches of gold foil on it. The numbering is hard to see as it blends in with his shoe.

The back of the card is basically the same as the front but with writing.

Panini did a pretty solid job with this card and I would say it's almost as good as the original.

The next card I need in this set is the Saquon base card which seem to be a little steep for me so it will be awhile before that happens.

Rodney's Cardboard:1997 Pacific Invincible Copper

 

Another Sunday, another Rodney.

Today's Rodney is made possible by @CardpocalypseNC in our last trade.

Pacific Revolution was an attractive product with a foil based card and an acetate head embedded into the bottom of it. These type of cards always look better in person then on here.

They also offered an assortment of parallels falling at different odds. Today's parallel, Copper, fell 2:37 packs. Which was how Pacific did their inserts and parallels instead of 1 in something. The only difference in this card from the base is the copper colored foil embedded on the front and on the name.

 

Back of the card is no different.

And that does it today for Rodney. Thanks again to Tim for helping me add this one and more Rodney to come next week!

I Didn't Have It!

 

I kept seeing these 2008 Topps Chrome Super Bowl 42 Eli Manning subset card come across my eBay window shopping feed when I was looking him up and I thought to myself, pretty sure I have this.

But, as all collectors should, I double checked and didn't have it. I had the regular Topps version.

This is the problem I am facing when I don't have a checklist ready of the Eli Manning cards I have. I am having to dig out the binder every time and it's a pain. It's probably time I start to put my Eli cards on TCDB so I know what I have already and it may be a tad easier to check. I prefer to have my own excel checklist to go along with the others I have since it's easier to scroll through and less time consuming.

Oh well. I will get to it at some point. For now I will just dig through the binder and see what I have.

The assumption you must have made by now was that I grabbed that 2008 Topps Chrome Eli Manning Super Bowl 42 subset card, as long as you haven't already skipped over my gibberish to see it, if you didn't cheat you would be right. Not only did I grab it, but I also grabbed a couple parallels of it as well.

 

The back of the card gives the stats of Super Bowl 42 of each player. This Super Bowl meant a lot to me so I try to grab a variety of different cards to celebrate it when I can.

2008 Topps Chrome had its fair share of parallels such as Red, Blue, Superfractor, Refractor, Xfactor, Copper and Gold uncirculated refractors. 

I am not sure they made all of the cards including the subsets in all refractor versions or just the base cards, but these two parallels were the only ones I could find of the subset card.

Regular Refractor

 

Xfactor

Here are all three of them together

If there are other parallels to this collection, I will hopefully find and add them later on as my chase for Eli Manning cards I don't have rages on. Right now, I am just happy with what I have added.

The Week In Pictures: Foodworthy!

This weeks pictures are brought to you by the letter F, as in Food yo!

Kicking it off with this early birthday present my wife got me...a pizza oven. Now my birthday isn't until March but when you see a deal and can't hide something this size in the house you just have to give it as an early gift. It's not a huge oven, only 13 inch pizzas, but it does an amazing job and even somebody like me who isn't tech saavy can run it.

 

Somewhere under the pile of tortilla chips is my salad. The only way I can eat salad is extra cheese, extra meat, and these tortillas or croutons.

 

My wife surprised me with a delicious breakfast as well this week. Veggie Omelet, homemade white toast and bacon. SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD.

 

I tried to make a new recipe from a Facebook ad known as Olive Garden Cheesy Chicken Noodles. It turned out okay but was extremely salty from the ingredients. Guess that's how you tell it's from a restaurant ;)

To end the week, I tried a baked "fried" pickle recipe with the coating being Cool Ranch Doritos. Turned out really good. Whoever would have thought Doritos and Pickles?

I hope to have made you hungry this week as I made myself hungry again. Thanks for stopping in and more pictures to come next week!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2020 Stadium Club Chrome Baseball (A SUPER SURPRISE)

2020 Stadium Club Chrome is a new, but old product, as it was in the 90's for a very short period. It appears they are finally understanding collectors love of chromed items as they have now in 2020 put chrome on Stadium Club, Allen and Ginter (really wanted to open some of this) and even came out with a second round of Topps Chrome and called it Topps Chrome Black.

I guess if chroming things works, stick with it!

Every hobby box of 2020 Stadium Club Chrome baseball comes with 14 packs per box with 6 cards per pack. Each box also comes with one autograph and boxes currently are running $135 each.

BASE:

The base card design is the same as Stadium Club except it has a nice layer of chrome on it. Up close, these look superb when you have that photography and open non border design as well. I actually liked it more than Topps Chrome which says a lot for me who is a die-hard "chromie". It's like a groupie but for Topps Chrome.

The base set is a pretty big sized one at 400 cards, which is really large for any chrome products and includes veterans, legends like Wagner above

And Al Kaline,

Randy Johnson

And the Key rookies like Randy Arozarena.

PARALLELS:

When I saw another chrome product, I expected a year long list of parallels like all the other products. The good news is, there isn't a lot of parallels to seek out. You can find Base Refractor, X-Fractor, Wave, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

 

My base refractor pulls. The cards look great alone but with refractor power its ups the ante

Orange refractor. Took me the longest time to figure this out. The refractor part isn't what is orange, it's in the Stadium Club Chrome name that gives it away. This is /25.

And for the first time in my collecting career.....

 

Can't see it on the front that well unless your vision is awesome....

but I pulled my first EVER SUPERFRACTOR!!!!! This is only the second SuperFractor I have. You better believe I screamed like a little girl getting a pony. I do wished though it was more aimed towards my collecting but I still plan to chase the rainbow regardless. Because once you have the 1/1 nailed, it only gets easier from there I have been told.

INSERTS

Inserts have the following parallels to search for in Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Emperors Of The Zone has 25 cards in the set and has all of the top pitchers in the game.

And the always exciting and included Beam Team. These fall 1:4 packs and have 25 players to collect.

 

And finally, Power Zone. There are 25 of these to collect as well.

HITS:

 

I only know this name because of my buddy Jake but Mauricio Dubon is my autograph. Not a household name...yet.

The autographs are on-card at least and the checklist is a mix of players both top notch and not so much. There are parallels of Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1 to find 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.

The super was really exciting but I really enjoyed this break. Stadium Club Chrome I hope continues to be a yearly release. I definitely want more!

Speaking of wanting more, there are a few cards I am specifically looking for in the product I may need help landing,

• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor Ken Griffey Jr
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome X-Factor Ken Griffey Jr
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome base Ken Griffey Jr
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Inserts Ken Griffey Jr
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome base Derek Jeter 
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor Derek Jeter
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome X-Factor Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Orange Refractor Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Wave Refractor Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Gold Refractor Kyle Schwarber
• 2020 Stadium Club Chrome Red Refractor Kyle Schwarber

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK
Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inserts ⭐⭐⭐
Parallels ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hits ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Value ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Breakin' With Cardboard Collections

 

I recently saw a break on Twitter that Cardboard Collections, @flywheels, was hosting with a box of 1996 Sportflix baseball and wanted in. 

Only problem, there wasn't many teams left to get in on. So as a Yankees fan (Mariners fan just to land some Griffeys) I sinned and grabbed the Red Sox in the break.

I can feel you all shaming me now.

But, I did it to score some Mo Vaughns despite the team, I always liked watching the big dude hit. And it was also a brand in my favorite time to collect which was the biggest draw.

Let's see how I did.

Roger Clemens. I really liked Roger and would always pretend to be him when I was pitching in backyard baseball against my friend Brian. Then came the steroid talk and he was no longer my favorite pitcher.

 

I ended up with 2 of these UC3 subset cards of Vaughn, I like the 3D appeal which is hard to capture in a blog post.

John Valentin

Mo Vaughn flexing on his card.

Jose Roidseco. I always forget how many teams he bounced around to and always forget he even played for the Red Sox. I associate him more with the Rays than I do the Red Sox.

Overall for the cost, that was fun and I landed a couple of cards for my players collection.

Cardboard Collections is always hosting these affordable break spots for a variety of fun products. If you haven't tried it out yet, please do and check it out HERE for new breaks. And no, this wasn't sponsored this is just speaking the truth. Though I would be more than happy to have Cardboard Collections as my break sponsor. *hint* *hint*

CARDBOARD REVIEW:3200 Ct. BCW Card Bin

 

A beaten up old two-row shoe box has been what I have been storing my Rodney Hampton collection in for awhile now, which is only the better/rare cards as the rest are in a binder.

It was time for an upgrade and what better upgrade then a new product offered by BCW Supplies.

The BCW 3200 Card Bin is an upgraded version of their monster boxes and instead of being made out of cardboard, it's made out of very durable plastic.

These bins also have dual locks on top so if they were to tip over (and as long as you remember to lock it when you are done) the cards won't spill out of the box and onto the floor. I have experienced this way too much with the cardboard versions. WAY TOO MANY.

Inside there is a lot of space, I thought about hiding in there myself but then there wouldn't have been room for Rodney so I stayed out. The box has four rows and each row comes 

with a partician that is moveable throughout the bin if you have more cards of one player, team or set than another.. You can buy extra particians if you need them on the BCW website or just by clicking HERE.

And here is the final project. Luckily for me since it holds so much it only took half of the bin to store my Rodney Hamptons. The rows are wide enough to hold toploaders, magnetics, and deck boxes. 

The other half of the bin I plan to store my better Eli Manning cards in. Maybe get an Eli bin all alone at some point as these bins are stackable which is really handy for those like me that don't have much room for storage. This is just as handy as the card sorting trays to me so I hope to get a few more of these down the road for a variety of my projects.

You can find your own 3200 Ct. BCW Card Bin by going HERE. I will mention ahead of time that there may be some wait on these from what I see, but get your order in now anyways if this is something that interests you.

Let me know your thoughts in comments!