A pack and a couple boxes

I still haven't bought any retail since covid, and while I like what I've seen of the 2024 Topps flagship design, I haven't been compelled to go out and buy any. But thankfully I still get the thrill of new-to-me cards with a little help from my blogger buds.

Actually CardBoredom was a new one for me, under my radar for these past few months. But it's a really well done site/blog. I've been going back to read David's old stuff and interested to see what's next from him.

I had read about David's attempts at replicating a wax pack, and was thrilled to receive one after he reached out about wanting to send me a few cards I'd probably like. The wrapper looks familiar and in fact it's a riff on the 1972 Topps wrapper.

Personalized and everything! Not pictured, but yep, there's even a stick of gum.

And here's what I pulled:

A pack of 1972 Topps high numbers for my setbuild! These are all from the toughest 6th series. I've never ripped a real pack of '72 Topps (several packs of '82 Topps from my LCS back in the early 90s is the closest I've come), so it's pretty incredible to get a simulation such as this. Big thanks, David!

Thanks to this pack, I'm up to 88.94% complete, with 88 cards left to check off.

(a band called The 88)

I think I'm rounding third with this set, not too far away from coming home. That high-number series is a bear, though. Pretty incredible to get this many at once, and from a #RAK mailing no less.

Thanks again to CardBoredom for the awesome surprise!

-  - ---o

The same day I received that pack of '72s in the mail, Padrographs Rod stopped by my house with a couple boxes of cards for me. It was a good day! Let's take a quick look at some highlights.

Smelling like goats over here, lol. Some of the biggest names you could hope to pull from Goodwin Champions.

Lovely ladies are always nice to see when thumbing through cards.

Looks like Juan Soto will go down as a great player who had a brief layover in San Diego during his HOF career, joining the likes of Rickey Henderson, Mike Piazza, Greg Maddux, and Willie McCovey. Oh well, glad he suited up for my favorite team, however fleeting. Still probably my favorite active player or at least high up on that theoretical list.

Here are some other dudes I like/collect who are currently still with the Padres. Hope those big contracts work out. (I could die happy with just one damn championship in my lifetime. I wouldn't say no to a dynasty, but really, just one is fine.)

Thank you, Rod! Always very much appreciated.

BTW, Rod, expect to see a new vehicle in the driveway next time to stop by. Everyone is fine, thankfully, but my wife had a collision on Presidents Day, and crumbled up the hood of our trusty old Mariner just barely to the point of it getting "totaled" by insurance. We're buying a new Subaru Crosstrek. I generally have a negative impression of Subarus, but that's just because I seemed to get cut off by Outbacks all the time back when I had a nasty daily commute. I haven't driven the new car yet as I write this, but I will have by the time you're reading.

-  - --o

Late addition to the post.

The last time I won a contest on Twitter, it was actually named Twitter still. I don't "RT" stuff much, and as such I don't enter many giveaways there. But Mashing Dingers ran one where all you had to do was like the tweet to win a random lot of sportscards, so I clicked the heart icon and next thing you know I won. Mashing Dingers seems like a good dude. We had even chatted a couple/few years back about him writing a guest post on Baseball Card Breakdown, but he got cold feet. (I suppose I have a blanket offer out there to any cool hobby folks who want to write a random interesting blog post but don't want to start their own blog just for one thing they want to talk about one time.. yeah, feel free to get in touch with me about writing a guest post. Lord knows I don't make blogging a top priority for myself these days, so I could use occasional help keeping the cobwebs away.)

Anyways, took a while to get the cards (giveaway was back in mid December), but they were fun to go through.

I'm not a big collector of basketball or soccer, but I don't mind sprinkling some diversity in my collection here and there, such as in a lot of random winnings like this. Cool to check out the crazy designs with various shine/sparkle stuff I haven't seen in-hand before.

Of course the highlights for me were the baseball cards included. I think it was seeing the powder blue Killebrew in the tweet that made me throw my name in the hat for the giveaway. A bunch of rookies and some shine here also. I think that's my first card of Jasson Dominguez.. I'll be curious to see how he performs after he heals up. Also hoping former Padres prospect CJ Abrams puts up some good numbers.

Alright, calling the post good here. Oh, yeah, the new car handles well, btw, though I kinda miss being higher up after so many years with the SUV.. moved up from San Diego in that car, so I guess I'm a little sentimental about it, but it was about time to move on from it anyways, so it's all good. Gotta go pick up the dog from daycare now. Thanks for reading.

Welcome to San Diego, Juan Soto!

Padres beat L.A.! :) Here's an old draft of mine from August when San Diego acquired Juan Soto.

Oh man, what a banner day for this lifelong Padres fan! We got Juan Soto.

He's become my favorite active player in recent years, so I'm pretty thrilled about it. I have dreams dancing in my eyes that he ends up spending the bulk of his Hall of Fame career in San Diego and leads the team on a dynastic run of success.

Of course, as a lifelong Padres fan, I'm just assuming it'll end in heartbreak, but I can still enjoy the ride. And who knows.. that Padres could win the World Series one of these years if things go their way.. right?

Here are my 4 best Juan Soto cards to show off in celebration.

2018 Topps Now #235 Juan Soto /6815

Topps released many different Juan Soto rookie cards in 2018 but this was the first! to hit the market. I pre-ordered this Topps Now card on eBay for $4.95 shipped on the first day it was available. Let's hope in time it becomes the "iconic rookie card" he's known for. lol

2018 Bowman - Chrome Prospects - Mega Box Mojo Refractor #BCP52 - Juan Soto

Can't remember if I pulled this one myself or snagged it at a card show. Nice shiny "Bowman rookie" (though no RC logo, being part of the prospect portion of the set).

2019 Bowman Sterling - Sterling Retrospect Autographs - Blue Refractor #SRA-JS Juan Soto #/25

This will stand as my only Juan Soto autograph acquired during his stint in Washington. Got a solid deal on this back in 2019 via eBay. I'll have to eventually add one with him in a Padres uni if I can.

2018 Topps Mini - #US300 Juan Soto

Funny enough, I don't have a base Juan Soto 2018 Topps Update rookie #300, but I do have it in mini form. The stated print run of this on demand set from Topps was 150. ....Oh my, did I read that right?! Yep, just a one hundred and fifty of these li'l Soto RCs out there. Goes without saying that I am very, very happy to own this card! (Still hope to get it in its slightly larger base card form someday too.)

So there are my best Juan Soto cards as of the big trade.

Again, welcome to San Diego, Juan Soto... and Go Padres!

Kerry Cards

Unfortunately covid kinda put the kibosh on in-person card swaps downtown with fellow Portlander Kerry of the blog Cards on Cards, but there's still the handy USPS to help us out (in exchange for a reasonable fee). 

Several terrific highlights in this latest crosstown package, but I gotta give the shiny Juan Soto relic top billing. I've got a respectable little Soto PC, but I think this is the first swatch linked to him in my collection.

The shine continues on this trio of players who were pretty hot a year or two ago but seemed to cool off this year. Still welcomed in my collection!

Some "free card friday" picks here. The last batch of cards I got from Kerry included several of those Tatis inserts, but I still needed this pair (There are 30 total of these things, geez).

Three additions to my Damian Lillard collection, plus a slick Chrome Hammer and a dilemma of which PC the Phillies card goes to.

I called dibs on these Victory cards from another Free Card offering a while back.

The '90 Donruss lot was a pleasant surprise. Now there's a sentence that very few people have ever said! LOL, but no, I mean it.. would love to put this set to bed before the 30th anniversary year ends. Time's running out for that, but as for base cards, I'm now down to just the Chris Bosio DK (#20) and #276 Paul Kilgus. I think I only had a couple of the MVP inserts before Kerry hooked me up with most of them. I've got 7 more of those left on my wantlist, plus one more Yaz puzzle piece (19+20+21), and all dozen of the Grand Slammers. It's funny, I have the Smoltz MVP error picturing Tom Glavine that I pulled myself way back when, but don't think I ever had the corrected version before this.

Another "junk" set that I've been trying to complete for the past couple years after receiving a starter lot. Still a handful of '88 Fleer left on my wants, but the end's in sight. Nice bunch here including a Caminiti rookie.

I finished '79 Topps recently, but these upgrades are appreciated to help sharpen up my set a bit.

My Xander Bogaerts PC got a surprise boost with an oversized box topper and Chrome parallel, both from 2020 Stadium Club. What a shot of him getting loose on the field before game two of the 2019 MLB London Series against the Yankees at West Ham London Stadium.

I happened to have a spare frame handy, so I've framed the big one up for now.

Big thanks, Kerry! Eclectic mix of good stuff. I'll get a return over to you soon.

A visit from the Easter Roddy

Padrographs Rod dropped a couple boxes of cards on my doorstep the other morning, and in the absence of an Easter basket this year (yes, my mother-in-law still does the Easter basket thing for her grown kids), I saved checking them out until this Easter morning. Let's take a look at some highlights.

Some of these I claimed from Free Stuff Days giveaways Rod has been cranking out on his blog. And some of them are cards that were offered up but went unclaimed. I'm very happy to have any such leftovers dumped on me, with plenty of them finding a home in my collection.

This Juan Soto parallel might be my favorite card of the lot (though the "March 26, 2020" Opening Day date listed can't help but make you sad). He's a fun kid to watch and among my top favorite current guys to collect.

More hot young talent in the game itching to get back on the field and show what they got.

Here's my first in-hand look at 2020 Donruss. Don't hate it, but doubt I'll search out more.

Some more shiny and/or Chrome stuff.

Nice group of beautiful women for that minicollection of mine.

More non-baseball stuff. Anybody need a DMC? That NCIS relic probably should have been included in the previous photo (never watched the show, but dig the cute goth look she's got going on). I've never messed with Pokemon, but hey, I'll hang onto that Dark Vileplume in the interest of "diversifying" my card collection a bit.

Some more baseball keepers for me.

A few older guys I PC.

Yep, plenty of cards found their way onto my Keepers stack.

Thanks a bunch, Rod! I'm very lucky to have local trading buddies like you and Kerry. Hopefully the USPS doesn't get killed off by this wretched administration (the concern is growing!) because that would really be a kick in the crotch for the hobby (I complain about the post office as much as the next guy, but if it went away, that would reeeeally suck!), but at least if that does happen, well, there will still be the possibility for local handoffs.


Oh, and I take back what I said at the top of this post.. turns out we did get an Easter basket this year.

My mother-in-law is a great lady. Some tasty stuff here.

Happy Easter and thanks for reading!

Rod Rams Cool Cards into my Collection

A few days ago I posted about at a ton of great cards Zippy dropped on me, now it's time to tackle the other big card gifting I was on the receiving end of in January, this one handed to me in person by Padrographs Rod at the latest card show. February's card show is coming up this weekend, so I'd better get this post finished now before I fall further behind!

Plus I've got a motherload of (MST3K) cards scheduled to be delivered to the office on today that I'm very excited about. (Like "the pinnacle of my collecting life is nigh" levels of excited.) Update: it's in-hand! Will wait until tonight to bust it open.

Though my posting frequency has been down so far this year, between the monthly card show, Kenny, Rod, and online purchases, it's already been a very plentiful year for cards. They've been coming in faster than I can get them sorted and filed away, as often is the case, making me feel like I'm barely keeping afloat in a flood of cardboard. But I love cards so I suppose it's a good problem to have. Reminds me of that one simpsons gag...

Yes, I have too many cards, and yes, I want more.

[I'm not buying any 2020 Topps Series 1, at least, but keep me in mind if you pull any Lux, Tatis, Soto, or photo variations with powder blue Expos unis.]

But onto the cards from Rod! Again, there are a lot of them, so this post is going to be mostly like this.. photos of stacks of cards with some highlights on top and maybe some quick commentary from me. I believe most of these cards are from teams Rod was looking to clear out of his trade box (that went unclaimed in his pleas to find takers). So, as I would be digging through the cards, there'd be a cache of a hundred or so Orioles cards, for example, followed by maybe a hundred Rangers, etc. Maybe a third of the cards were "keepers" for me, with the other two-thirds headed toward my trade box.. perhaps to be one day thinned out on someone else, repeating the cycle.

Oh man, there were a lot of Astros cards in there, presenting me with a dilemma. I (used to?) collect several current Astros, but after all the cheating ugliness, they've quietly been removed from my wantlist. I guess I'll wait and see how the season plays out before I decide to officially break up these PCs or perhaps forgive-n-forget. I guess they're sorta paused for now. If cards fall into my lap like this, I'll sort them into PCs, but I'm not going to actively work to build them. (Hey JediJeff, that doesn't mean you're off the hook for that Correa relic you've owed me since 2018.. lol)

AL ROY Yordan Alvarez seems to have gotten through the scandal relatively unscathed since he wasn't around until his call-up last June. But if he falters to start the season, expect to see his card prices nosedive. Still though, excited to find these two.

And howbout the Polar Bear himself? I previously only had a card or two of Pete Alonso in my collection, so I'm very happy to score this RC lot of the reigning NL ROY. Seems like a good dude.. I should probably officially add his name to my list of guys I collect.

The Young Stud train keeps rolling with this terrific bunch of Juan Soto cards. This probably doubles my Childish Bambino PC. Love it!

Some unopened packs! I'll probably leave that 1987 cello hanger as-is and file it away with my Hendu PC.

Nick Margevicius is a guy Rod specifically collects, so I've got to give even extra thanks to him for gifting me this one. He knew this particular auto would be a hit with me...

Christmas Card!

Some great misc. stuff here. A few old cards that I'll need to check against my vintage wantlists.
That 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Card (Dwight Gooden) appears to be a new set I need to add to my umbrella collecting goal of early 90s black gold. Seems to be a 30-card box set that also has Dufex and promo variations of all 30 cards (rare/expensive).
The Garbage Pail Kids are from a set focusing on musicians, so that's kinda cool. Maybe I can work them into my music blog at some point.
The Sandlot sneaks into the action with a still-sealed set anniversary cards plus a few Archives inserts. Sweet!

Many autographs!

Many Hall of Famers.

Bunches of Beltre plus some other fan favorites.

There was a decent chunk of wrestling cards, mostly of the female variety. Lots of lovely ladies here, with my Alexa Bliss PC in particular getting several nice additions.

And some more cards I found interesting.

Wow, some more Juan Soto cards I missed before. Very cool.

And we'll close it out with this. Any old Beavers baseball would be kinda neat to get, but what makes this one even better...

It glows in the dark!! Awesome.
Now I've got both a glowing bat and ball.. just need a glowing glove and I'll be all set for some midnight baseball! :)

Rod, you're the best! I'm forever in your debt. As always please let me know if I can ever help you out with any cards, customs, or photoshop work. Thanks again!