Bubbling Up

The latest in a long line of excellent trade packages from Too Many Verlanders.

The year already feels like it's slipping away from me, so I know that it's well beyond time that I finish up some posts about trades I've received in 2025. I really don't want to head in 2026 talking about something I got, like, last summer. Since the vast majority of what I add to my collection has been coming from TCDB for the past few years, the bubble mailers full of surprise goodies have been something to savor. This particular one came over from TMV back in June, when things were finally starting to heat up here in Portland. Of course, we're now well into November and I've been looking for breaks in the gloomy weather all week to just to have a few moments to sweep a bunch of leaves off of my deck.

Anyway... cards! David Freese cards! While Randy Arozarena's 2020 playoff Babe Ruth act wrecked a lot of Freese's postseason records, he was pushed down the lists a bit more by some prolific players this year.

Vintage Blazers?! Nice! I am fairly certain that a bunch of these are going to end up being upgrades over what I already owned when I finally crack open the Blazers binders again.

A Bol Bol rookie rookie? I'll always take these! He may not have spent more than a blink at UO, but I'll always be fascinated by him.

It's a 20 year old parallel of a Hall of Fame Cardinals player? You can't knock that.

Three Blazers, er, legends all signed this slab of wood, or so the scan would have you think. They actually signed clear stickers that were affixed to this wood-like card-shaped object. I did like Jarrett Jack for a time, but he was made expendable when Brandon Roy came around.

Dion Jordan seems to have a ton of "hit" cards from his rookie year, or at least I seem to own a disproportionate amount of them. I will never mind this as he will always remind me of the tremendously fun Marcus Mariota era.

I think Jalen Reagor was supposed to be a speedly slot receiver type when he came to the NFL out of TCU, but he didn't seem to progress beyond a third option to pass two and made some costly errors on the field in his two seasons in Philly. It looks like he is out of the league now. I kind of like the design on this relic card, however, or at least the placement of the Eagles logo.

There's that man again (and his signature!) 

Jordan Matthews played more football for the Eagles than Reagor. However, after being a heavy target early in his career, he eventually became more of a guy you call up on the phone when you run out of healthy players.

The early 2010s will always be a special time for me and watching Oregon football, even though Chip Kelly is kind of a turd. Kenjon Barner was a huge part of that, and it was fun to hear him join the broadcast during a Ducks game earlier this year.

Jimmy Baseball! Now that he's been off the air for a full season, it's easier to enjoy his baseball cards and playing career.

Arik Armstead is with the Jaguars these days, and has certainly come along way from his days at Oregon when he was a two-sport player (football AND basketball... both kinds!)

The last one up is certainly the most special one, at least for me. As I continue to contemplate how I want to spend my card budget dollars, I know that excellent cards of the Wizard need to take precedent over any random blasters I decide to buy on a whim.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Fuskies

It's number 7 versus number 8 in a game that's received increased national attention. 

 

The Oregon/Washington rivalry is an interesting one in that it's usually been lopsided. Of course, there were the early days where Washington's national stature and outsized resources made the series more of a David vs. Goliath style matchup, which made the Kenny Wheaton game all the more satisfying for an up and coming Ducks program. Later, there were many, many consecutive years (Huskies fans, tell me how many!) where Washington suffered defeat at the hands of Mighty Oregon. And then, of course, Justin Herbert's first start came at the wrong end of a 70-to-something beatdown. It feels fairly rare when these teams have met on even ground, but that's apparently where we find things this afternoon in Seattle.

Another interesting aspect to this game and the series as a whole is that the two schools enter the B1G next year, hand in hand, as they are locked in to playing each other every year at the end of their respective schedules. Gone are the Civil War game (I still call it that) and the Apple Cup. In place is the big Oregon/Washington showdown, a fairly nasty rivalry without a name or a lengthy list of close games. I don't think it's the worst option going forward in the new, even more money grubbing college football future, but it doesn't really matter what I think anyway.

Bo Nix and Michael Something Jr. are two big time QBs in a conference (for now) stocked well with big time QBs. It's as if the Pac-12 conference ("Conference of Champions!" -- Bill Walton) gods decided to assemble this talented group specifically for its last hurrah. Of course, both sides are well-stocked with talent beyond the guys taking the snaps, as you would expect for teams ranked so high. This could all prove to be a very close, nail-biting affair, but if it holds true to the series as a whole, it could very well be a giant victory for one of these schools.

Notes and other things:

• I normally put a lot of stock in teams heading into a tough game after a bye week, but it turns out that Washington also had last week off. Another thing to consider: I am not into gambling at all, so I wouldn't take my predictions with any morsel of seriousness.
• Where Are They Headed? Well, we covered this already, but the B1G awaits Washington, bonded in football life with their webfooted bros. Ew.
• Ducks Ranking This Week: 8 (AP). They moved up one spot heading into the bye week, and then held their position after Texas and Oklahoma sort of flip-flopped.
• Bo Nix Heisman Watch: Much as the teams themselves, the winner of this game likely takes a sizeable lead in the Heisman race. There are a bunch of other candidates out there, however, including some other transfer dude in the Pac-12.
• Game time is 12:30 PDT on ABC in Seattle. Go Ducks!

Football Upstages Everything

Baseball cards take a back seat in this @forgotaboutblay hobby delivery. 

 

As jokes continue to swirl around the internet about the length of a certain professional football quarterback's retirement (it wasn't long), I thought I'd show off some stuff from another stellar batch of cards from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders fame. A good chunk of my football (Ducks, mostly) collection has been supplied by Dennis, so like how the long awaited opening of Spring Training ended up taking a backseat to the news of a certain former Michigan QB deciding to... whatever the opposite of hanging up your cleats is... the football cards are going to throw themselves fully in front of the baseball stuff for now.

First up, the Arik Armstead card from Panini National Treasures is an instant favorite. The design is pretty nice, but it's the throwback uniforms that really seal it for me.

This color parallel ends up clashing a bit with the Oregon uniforms, but there are a lot of colors that clash with their uniforms. (At times, their own uniforms have clashed with themselves.)

Speaking of Ducks uniforms, I actually really liked their jerseys from the Dennis Dixon era. It was easy to call out the crosshair pattern on the shoulders, but I kind of liked it!

Here's another look. This is from a Press Pass jersey card. Is Press Pass still a thing? I haven't a lot of college draft cards since Marcus Mariota turned pro, aside from the odd Panini Prizm thing.

DeMarco Murray won't be the most fondly remembered Philadelphia Eagles player, but the Donruss Dominator inserts look pretty nice.

Flipping over to basketball for a bit, this Panini Totally Certified design always annoyed me. It's great to have a large place for the player to sign, but they've cropped so much of the photo that it makes for a bit of an ugly card. The reason they did this, I imagine, is because they're using college photos due to the longer lead time needed to have these signed on-card. Totally Certified seems to have been banished to the Panini attic for now (it doesn't even appear in Chronicles), while the regular Certified brand lives on.

It's back to football here with an extra shiny Prizm Draft auto.

Here's one last football card before we let the baseball guys have a bit of fun. I did hold back a few of the huge stack of signed cards for a future Ducks post, as I tend to do.

If you're strictly a baseball fan and are still reading this-- thank you! Mid-'90s Score parallels/inserts are a favorite of mine, as they don't seem to be too expensive and yet I still seem to need a ton of them.

Dennis sent a healthy stack of 1996 Flair cards, which offer a high end look in an era of overproduction. They are fancy, but not all that expensive anymore.

Imagine returning to collecting baseball cards after more than a decade off and finding out that someone really made baseball cards like this. Well, that's exactly what happened to me. I found a lot of things  about card collecting (Chrome, in particular) to be really eye-rolling when I first got back into it, but this is the right kind of silliness.

This pair of Press Proof parallels from 1997 Donruss claim a print run of just 2000. That doesn't seem like a lot by today's standards, but I bet it would be a huge ordeal to put together a whole set of these.

Lastly, Topps Finest cards are always appreciated here. Two of these gems from 1994 are refractors. I bet you can guess which ones.

Good Luck Ducks: Stay Safe and Healthy

 

Filling the void with help from @forgotaboutblay and more. 

In the original timeline, the Oregon Ducks would be facing off in their first game of the season against North Dakota State today. Instead of posting a scan of a cool Ducks card and writing a few words about the new season and the new quarterback and what have you, I'm just going to show off all the cards I was holding back for the season that won't be. I'm also going to show off a bunch of Ducks stuff I got more recently from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders

In fact, for these first four cards, I'm not entirely sure who sent them since they were sitting in an unmarked stack specifically for this series. Dennis and Doug (buckstorecards) are the primary outside contributors to my Ducks collection, so chances are these could have come from either of them.

It's raining autographs! See, I was hanging on to some good stuff here.

This is probably a good time to mention that I won't be watching any college football this season. I was all for canceling all sports in 2020, but I still have kept an eye or two on the teams I follow in other sports. College sports, however... I just can't watch young, presumably health unpaid athletes risk so much for so little. The decision to play shouldn't even be in their hands, honestly. The Pac-12 season is still a no go at this point, which makes not watching even easier for someone like me, but I'm going to continue to act as if the sport doesn't presently exist for the time being.

Next up is the stuff from Dennis. Arik Armstead's signature is pretty simple, you guys.

More Byron Marshall. Here he is on a nice looking blue parallel of his Prizm Draft card.

¡1 of 1 ALERT! I never expect anyone to drop a printing plate on me, but here it is! Something I've realized while accumulating Ducks cards is that Dion Jordan has a lot of football cards. This is from the 2013 Panini Black set. It's also signed, because what else are you going to do with a printing plate? Print more cards?!

The autographs just keep rolling in. This time Jordan's in a Ducks jersey instead of one of those pro ones, but Press Pass was careful to crop the logos out.

Here's one of the most recent Ducks cards that I own, and it's a doozy. Leaf is one of the more mysterious companies out there making cards, so as a result I don't own much of their stuff. They seem to specialize in prospect sets and creepy cards of 16 year old baseball kids. This is one of the nicest looking things that (current era) Leaf has done as far as I've seen, though.

LMJ is wondering where his ink is.

We'll end things here with Ifo, one of my all-time favorite Ducks.

The rest of Dennis's bubble mailer (non-Ducks edition) will be featured next time. In the meantime, if you want to make me slightly less sad about the state of college football (and the country in general), here's a link to my Ducks page in case you have something you are able to contribute.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Friday Night Lights

Oregon hosts Colorado on a late Friday night. 

Are the Ducks officially a defensive juggernaut? Some of the stuff they're doing on the field hasn't been seen in this conference since the '90s. Oregon didn't get any points on the board until the third quarter last game, something that hadn't happened in about fifteen seasons, but panic was minimal. The defense was holding down their opponent. The offense did what they needed, and victory was assured.

Oregon also saw the return of no less than three receivers last week, all making their season debuts (if not their Duck debuts). Justin Herbert had no shortage of targets to throw to, but a conscious decision to (re)establish the run probably kept the overall numbers down a bit. (Cal's defense was also a factor.)

Next up is the better-than-expected Colorado Buffaloes in a night game on a short week. The Buffs are led by senior quarterback Steven Montez, who notched his first victory as a freshman against Oregon in Autzen back in 2016. It wasn't a good time for the Ducks, but it was glorious for the redshirt freshman. Montez is the Pac-12's second leading passer in the current season, which means he'll likely provide the strongest test to date for the Ducks secondary. (They've faced two backup QBs so far.)

• The Last Game: The Ducks ran the ball a lot, forgot how to take of the ball, and then figured out in the third quarter to overtake Cal in a predictably low scoring affair.
• Know Your Opponent: Steven Montez is still dreaming of 2016.
• The Unis!: Yellow yellow yellow. You can't miss 'em!
• Mario Cristobal's "Crystal Ball" prediction: "We saw a lot of progress and we expect to build on that." Outlook good.

• Luke Skyywalker's Crystal Balls say: Colorado was one of the first states to legalize weed for "fun" purposes. Get that weave out!

Game time is 7:00 PDT on FS1. Joe Davis, Brock Huard and Bruce Feldman are on the call. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks: Las Vegas Bowl

Oregon's improvement is rewarded with a Las Vegas Bowl appearance (and a head coach desertion).

After a disastrous 2016 season that saw the Ducks go 4-8, continuing an ugly slide that began the season before, the athletic department chose to go with an outside hire. He was an up-and-comer, someone who had seen his programs through significant improvement at every level. That outside hire, of course, is an opportunistic prick who bolted at the first chance he could, considering a 7-5 season as a job well done, I guess. That outside hire was given free range to hire his own coaching staff, as is usually the case with these things. Many players with significant talent were successfully recruited. And while that outside hire is somewhere else now, the Ducks are left to pick up the pieces.

Oregon moves on with, for now, most of their assistant coaches in tact. Mario Cristobal was given the title of interim head coach for the upcoming bowl game, and later made the permanent hire. Most of the players sound happy. Most of the recruits seem happy. The rest of the coaches are here, for today, at least. Personally, I really would rather watch the Ducks play football and not hear about recruits at all, but that might just be me.

The Ducks have a football game today, in December, and still have coaches that are familiar with the players and the plays. That's a good thing. There was actually a lot to like about this season if you memory wipe that period of time when Justin Herbert wasn't the starting quarterback because the sporting life is cruel or whatever.

Oregon has a date with Boise State this afternoon, which of all of the lower tier bowl outcomes, this is honestly a pretty good one. No matter the season, I expect that Boise State is going to give you an exciting game. There's also some bad blood between the fanbases sparked in part by some sort of on field incident, for whatever that's worth. The all-Northwest match should be fun, if nothing else. The Broncos come in at 10-3, ranked, as winners of the Mountain West title. Oregon, meanwhile, benefited from two Pac-12 teams making it to New Year's Six games, allowing them to move up a notch to a more important game. The smart money would be on Boise State winning, but the Ducks have been an offensive juggernaut with Justin Herbert healthy and on the field, which he will be today. (To be fair, Oregon is actually favored by a touchdown.)

Vegas Links:

• Justin Herbert is a 2018 Heisman candidate, assuming the Ducks can win enough games to stay in the conversation.
• More good news after Oregon dealt with the bad news? Jalen Jelks, one of the bright spots on defense this season with NFL draft potential, is planning to return for his senior year.
• Two key members of the Broncos offense could be back on the field, which may spell trouble for Jim Leavitt's revamped defense. (Please don't be Jim LEAVE-itt.)
• Where Are They Now? Byron Hout is now an assistant coach at Montana State. Hopefully none of his players have punched him.
• Jim Leavitt Status Alert: Drinking Pepsi and hopefully not returning any calls from America's Wang
• Know Your Opponent: Bronco Nation apparently thinks Justin Herbert is a wizard. That's fine with me.
• The Unis!: Green with chrome helmets. Flashy, but not too flashy?

This will be the 31st bowl game in Oregon Ducks history. The 2015 Rose Bowl was the sweetest plum.

Game time is 12:30 PM PST. Broadcast channel is ABC. Your scheduled broadcasters are Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit and Molly McGrath. Go Ducks!

#DONE

Putting to bed a set I started collecting (in my head) ever since I was a child. 

With the help of a generous blogger and trading partner, Dennis of Too Many Verlanders/Manninghams, I finally am able to put down a set I've admired since I could barely grasp what baseball cards were. A lot of people find the 1985 Fleer baseball set to be ugly or boring, but to me it was one of the first idealistic looks at what baseball cards could be, outside of the venerable The Topps Company. With team color-coded borders, SuperStarSpecials and plenty o' stats on the back, I always wanted a complete set of this stuff. The various rookie cards made it a bit outside of my meager budget for much of my collecting youth, but not many of those rookies (Clemens aside, I guess?) held their value over the years. More than once, I could have snagged a more or less complete hand collated set at a card show for a bargain price, but I decided to put it all together the old fashioned way. I bought some packs (okay, not too many) and put a want list online, occasionally whittling away at it throughout the years. Now, it's done and all slapped away in a binder. I couldn't be happier about it.

Dennis likely was sweating out the MLB trade deadline today, which passed without a trade of his (current) blog namesake. He did find some time to send me a bunch of Cardinals cards that I needed. I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I used to really like the Topps gold bordered parallel cards. They don't look so great anymore, though.

This may look like a simple base card from the 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings set, but the logo is shiny and reflective and the card itself is numbered to 100. This set is one of the best examples of what people complain about when they talk about modern sets having endless numbers of parallels that are barely distinguishable from each other. And while I agree that it's all pretty silly, I really like these cards. They sort of feel like vinyl.

Speaking of the best things from the '00s, Fleer Greats are... great! Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got. I received another half dozen or so cards of the Wizard for my collection. I've temporarily lost track of how many unique Ozzies I own thanks to the demise of Zistle, but I'm (slowly) working on replacing my online checklist outlet.

Speaking of endless parallels. What was Topps thinking with this Co-Signers stuff? It didn't last, of course.

I don't have many slabbed cards, but since I'm guessing the only way to get this Tyler Johnson silver parallel from 2003 was in uncirculated form, I'll leave this in its cardboard prison for now.

More Edmonds, because... why not?

It certainly wouldn't be a "Too Many" package without a great crop of Ducks cards, and Dennis certainly didn't disappoint on that end. I usually save most of these for the college football Saturdays, but there were so many great cards to be had that I couldn't hold everything back.

Prior to receiving this, my collection of baseball cards in Ducks uniforms was comprised entirely of anything I pulled in that Panini Oregon Ducks Collegiate blaster from awhile back. Cleavinger was a 3rd round pick a couple years ago and was just dealt from the Orioles to the Phillies before the trade deadline. He's been playing at the AA level this year.

They were never my favorite, but I was a defender of the Ducks tire tread or steel grating or whatever the hell uniform look from the late '00s. In recent years, the team has strayed further and further from their primary colors, which is why it was actually refreshing to hear new head coach Willie Taggart announce plans to scale it back and stick to a more basic look.

Yeah, it's uh... a signed card of a shirtless Ducks football legend. Those fringe draft picks/prospects card companies are super weird. I don't actually collect a lot of football cards, but when I do I'm continually surprised at how willing people are to buy cards of players doing everything but actually playing their sport.

Finally, I have to say that I was really happy to get a Max Unger card. Unger plays positions that are generally overlooked when the card companies are setting out to print up some cards. Even though he's been to the Pro Bowl, won a ring and has been a league mainstay since he entered the league, I would be willing to bet that he doesn't have many cards out there.