Sunday Funday PWE Round-Up

Catching up with chunky cards from @sanjosefuji and more! 

 

I don't even want to get into how far behind I've fallen in card stuff here or what led to this situation. Let's just look at some cards! The first bunch came over from The Chronicles of Fuji. Fuji managed to cram a sweet stack of memorabilia cards and relics into a small envelope way back when, and I'm excited to finally show them off to you all.

Oooh, even Joey Heisman thinks these cards are pretty sweet!

Of course, Harrington only finished in 4th place in 2001, but he and his school managed to raise his profile enough that he went on to a decently sized (but not terribly successful) NFL career.

Here's a blast from the past -- it's Josh McRoberts, or McBob as he was affectionately known during his short time around here in Portland. This is one of those neat looking letter patches that I own so few of. It's even autographed! It's just a manufactured patch, of course, but it definitely resembles the lettering on the Blazers jerseys at the time during the Adidas days.

The Blazers hits just keep on coming. This signed sticker auto comes from decorated Spanish star Sergio Rodriguez, who spent the latter half of the '00s in the NBA before resurfacing stateside for a season about six years ago. He's still playing professionally these days.

Zach Collins is the NBA's only living and breathing vampire (that we know of.) He's currently a key member of the Spurs after starting his career with Portland.

I think we all know this guy, for better or for worse. There's kind of a strange cut-out for the jersey piece on this card to go along with the wood theme.

Ha is still apparently the only player from South Korea to play in the NBA, which is kind of a cool distinction as he otherwise didn't have much of an impact on the league. He tantalized with his size, but I don't know that the league had as much structure in place twenty years ago to develop raw talent that they do now.

I really liked Gary Trent Jr. while he was with the Blazers and it felt like his trade to Toronto was the beginning of the team's downward slide, even if we didn't know it at the time.

Next up, we have some goodies from long time PWE trader (and Dodger fan) gcrl. A couple of the online exclusive Topps Mini cards were on offer, including this insert from the 2017 set.

This one is even more special as it's numbered to just 25. Ponce de Leon has bounced around a few organizations after his last appears with St. Louis, but he hasn't resurfaced in the big leagues yet.

I also snagged some Allen & Ginter set filling needs from gcrl, including a couple of base cards and this Randy Johnson insert. Will we see a normal late summer release for this year's Allen & Ginter set? I haven't checked the calendars in a bit because my budget for cards has dropped off dramatically of late.

Here's a few more inserts from last year's Ginter set. I kind of want to burn the card at the top.

Lastly, I claimed a few random set fillers from The Angels, In Order back in the winter. (Yeah, it's been awhile!) Those Royals jerseys definitely scream early '00s to me.

The 2014 Topps Heritage New Age Performers design is one of my least favorites. It squishes the player photo over to the side unnecessarily. I get how they were trying to make this look like it should with with the 1965 Topps theme, but it doesn't work for me.

I also claimed this slightly smaller ("mini"...ish) parallel card of Mike Sweeney from the 2005 Bowman Heritage set. I've managed to add some Bowman Heritage cards to my meager set builds since I started trading on TCDB, but that area could still use plenty of work.

Thanks again to everyone who has sent me envelopes of all sizes!

Another Contest Update and a Quick Trade Post

Don't forget to make your picks for the championship game! 

Well, it was quite a New Year's weekend in the college football ranks. Unfortunately, I spent the entire big day traveling, so I didn't see either of the playoff games. I'm a bit bummed that Oklahoma did not win, even though Baker Mayfield is kind of insufferable. I was hoping to have someone to root for in the title game, as Erin's family has OU ties and I basically can't stand the SEC.

As we stand now, it's down to three competitors for the top contest prize: Anaconda37, redemptioncousin and Mr. Haverkamp. Meanwhile, the sadness prize is a toss-up between defgav and ketchupman36. (If Gavin takes this, his prize could conceivably be a lukewarm Subway sandwich...)

Meanwhile, Trevor from the Bump and Run Football Card Blog is sitting in the middle of the pack in the contest, and I figured this was as good of a time as any to show off some cards he sent me.

Here's rookie year B-Roy, wearing the last actually good red Blazers jersey. As much as I disliked the redesigned red jerseys the Blazers wore in the Adidas era as recently as last season, this year's Nike reds are just murder on the eyeballs.

I have little recollection of LeGarrette Blount as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, for whatever reason, despite a stellar rookie season. This card is apparently part of some sort of Topps redemption promo, but it's great because I don't feel like I have a ton of rookie year Blount cards in my Ducks collection.

Speaking of Ducks, Marcus Mariota has a big playoff game today. He's taken his lumps this year, but I am hoping he finds a way to get it done. (I also kind of like the Chiefs, and wish that the few NFL teams I actually don't hate wouldn't find a way to have to play each other in an elimination game, but I don't make the rules.)

Despite being my so-called favorite pro team, I haven't talked much about the Eagles remarkable season this year. It was, admittedly, a huge bummer to lose Carson Wentz to an ACL injury just as the MVP trophy was being prepped for engraving. Oh well. The Eagles are usually good, and they certainly aren't the Browns, but I am hoping they will make it back to the Super Bowl at some point even if this isn't their year. Malcolm Jenkins has been a huge part of their on field success, so it was cool to get this holofoil card of his.

Like many posts around here, I'll end this with a Yadi - who is walking in a winter wonderland.

This Is Cool

I went online shopping. 

I'm really bad at showing off my online purchases, but then I came across this classic card from the 1980-81 Topps NBA set that just needed to be shown. Kobe Bryant's father and Kareem on the same card! This is a cool card. But of course, I just snagged this (and a bunch of others) from COMC for the man on the far right, one Calvin Natt. Natt was one of the Blazers leading scorers when I was a child until he was dealt in a controversial 5-for-1 trade that brought Kiki Vandeweghe to Portland. Natt was popular, Fat Lever was popular, Wayne Cooper was popular... hell, if you put on a Blazers jersey, you were popular. That's just how it worked. Clyde Drexler would soon emerge as the franchise star for the next decade, so the trade is mostly just a footnote at this point.

More cards! These are mostly of the Blazers variety, because I've been working on organizing this particular part of my collection lately. I think now is probably the time to start picking up Brandon Roy stuff on the cheap. Roy's #7 is unofficially retired by the team as far as I can tell, and if there was any justice in the world he would have played long enough to have it be an official retirement.

I don't know this dude, but that's a cool pose.

I guess this is kind of, sort of the hoops equivalent of Diamond Kings. Maybe that's what Panini was going for here.

I couldn't afford the Stadium Club Beam Team inserts as a kid, and one of the best things about shopping as an adult is finding that sort of stuff that was just out of reach in your youth.

While perusing Blazers cards of yesteryear, I'm discovering some of the oddball releases I missed out on back in the day. I'm pretty sure if any SkyBox so-called prototypes had been available at any local card shows way back when, the Blazers cards would have been priced at something like $50. This definitely set me back less than a buck.

Obligatory Dame card! He's been tearing it up lately as the team makes a late push for the last playoff spot. This is the Prizm version of his Prizm card, which is kind of like a Refractor with a redundant name.

They aren't the most attractive things in the world, but I really like these insert cards in the 2016-17 Hoops set, documenting last season's playoffs all across the league. Last season's Most Improved Player has improved again in 2016-17.

A Cardinal?! Baseball? How did this get in there? Actually, I'm quite sure I bought this by mistake. O'Neill has been out of pro ball for a year or two now. This is numbered to 75, though.

Theo Ratliff blocked a whole bunch of shots upon arriving from Atlanta in the early part of last decade. I found him to be an interesting inclusion in a somewhat recent (2013-14) set. It was a cheap certified autograph from a guy whose cards I don't have too many of.

More 1990-91 SkyBox weirdness. I don't remember these minis at all, but they are roughly the size of those old Topps Cracker Jack baseball cards from around the same time period and were apparently available through some Canadian food snack package.

Dave Twardzik was the starting point guard on the Blazers sole championship team and his number is hanging in the rafters at the (formerly known as) Rose Garden just across from the arena where said championship was one. This card is from a current season release. I really like that Panini has a diverse selection of retired players in their products, unlike a certain company with a certain exclusive baseball card license.

With any chance I get to buy cards from COMC, I make sure to pick up at least one old Star card. They are expensive, and it's getting next to impossible to find anything I need that sells for less than $1 -- my usual threshold for buying single cards.

Finally, here's a Waino Topps rookie card. I didn't even own it. I don't even own the Chrome version of this. What is wrong with me? Still, I thought it best to go out on a baseball note. Opening Day/Night/Whatever is less than a week away!

Supersized Supertrade!

The want lists take a beating again thanks to @sanjosefuji and some huge goods from two sports. 

After complaining for years about having no A's fans to trade with, I unloaded a pallet full of Oakland-based cards on a couple of people this summer, with Supertrader Fuji taking a healthy share. While I'm not sure a ton of it will fit in his collection, I am hoping it was at least an interesting lot to sort through. Meanwhile, he responded in kind with a ton of Cardinals needs -- and a few non-Cardinals surprises.

Any time you can add an Edmonds to my collection, it's a huge occasion. This is one of those classy sets that Fleer put out, probably as a one-off, that looks better than a lot of the junk we've been seeing recently.

This year's Stadium Club set ain't no junk (nor joke), however. Here you get a small Randal with one L against a large backdrop. The Arch, Coca-Cola, and absolutely no signs of any adult beverages.

I don't recall ever seeing any cards from this set, which appears to be one of Topps' 50 year tributes they put together in 2001. They Chrome'd up the "entire" 2016 (Series One and Series Two) set this year, but it would be interesting if they randomly chromed up a set from the '80s for no real reason.

Fuji sent a lot of Cards cards from the 2014 Topps Museum Collection set, which was really nice because I'm sure these packs (or boxes or whatever) are way out of my price range ordinarily.

Ah yes, Jose Oquendo. This was one of the many failed attempts at melding baseball cards and card games into one sort of thing. Topps is still forcing these ideas on people today, only they are people with smartphones. (Also known as just phones.)

Also nice? This Topps Traded set rookie card of current Cardinals broadcaster Ricky Horton. I believe I'm down to just needing one of the Cardinals from the 1984 Topps Traded set if I'm not mistaken. Yes, I still need cards from the '80s.

Aside from that glorious end of 2013, Michael Wacha hasn't quite made it as a star yet. He's had some struggles with injuries, one of those things pitchers like to struggle with.

I'd never seen this USA Baseball card of Kolten Wong, who is listed as an OF/C on the back. This card came out a year before he was drafted by the Cardinals, but Topps must have had some sort of rights to make cards of players on Team USA before they actually turn pro. I don't understand how these things work. I am pretty sure that the Cardinals told Wong to donate his catcher's gear to a good cause when they drafted him, because of this guy...

Yadi!

Fuji also sent some glorious Blazer memorabilia cards, like this one of fallen hero Brandon Roy. Well, he's not actually "fallen", he just can't play basketball anymore because his knee turned to dust.

The artist also known as McBob wasn't a Blazer long, but while he was he was that 12th guy off the bench that people would cheer for.

Travis Outlaw had some good years with the Blazers after being drafted out of high school and developing into a stretch four, before that terminology came into wide use.

I love throwback jerseys. I love throwbacks in basketball. I wish the Blazers would use them more, but they've gone to more of a fauxback jersey in recent years instead. It still looks good, sans sleeves of course.

SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED! And we have reached our final destination.