Better Bump and Run to the Contest!

Trevor has signed up... have you? 

The contest of the year (at least until the next one) is back, and there's still a few more days left to sign up. Follow the link for the details and check it out!

Trevor of Bump and Run sent over a PWE awhile back, so I figured this was as good of a time as any to show off some of the cards. That is, after all, what I tend to do here.

Along with the green bordered Harrison Bader parallel from this year's Gypsy Queen, I also picked up one of those fancy blue Opening Day parallels of staff ace Jack Flaherty. Please continue sending me all your Flaherty cards, various denizens of the internet. I appreciate them!

For some reason I still haven't wrapped up the Topps Big League team set, but this base card of Cafecito put me one step closer.

Thanks again, and don't forget to sign up! If making all of those picks is too daunting, don't forget that there's a side quest which just involves predicting one thing. One thing! You can do it.

Birds of a Feather

They flock together. Just ask @forgotaboutblay -

Mega Michigan fan (and Detroit Tigers, don't forget!) Dennis of Too Many Manninghams/Verlanders may have outdone himself this time. In this latest (let's just pretend it's recent) package was a nearly constant parade of autographed cards, something I'm still trying to adjust to now that it's been a couple of months. There were quite a few Ducks alums in the batch, and these usually get held over for a future "Good Luck Ducks" post. Since we're getting closer to year-end, I thought I'd do a blowout on these and show off all the scans that I made so I can start fresh next season. (I did hold out one card from this stellar package for the Rose Bowl.)

Josh Huff was a great all-purpose player (i.e. he was really fast) in his time with the Ducks, and it was cool to see him suit up for my pro team of choice. He got into some legal trouble in recent years, but is still playing professionally... just not in the NFL any longer.

Jeremiah Johnson is always going to remind me of the late '00s college football video game franchises that sadly no longer exist. He played second fiddle to Jonathan Stewart for quite awhile, but he was really good in his way. Since people are actually seriously talking about opening up compensation for college athletes now, I suppose we could eventually see licensed college sports video games become a thing again... maybe?

LaMichael James! I just wish the 49ers didn't instinctively make me feel like throwing up my dinner.

I don't remember James wearing #17 at any point, especially considering that it's more of a wide receiver number. Is this some other guy?

This is a very intricately designed card. It's actually hollow in the middle, apparently. I should probably have more of these, even if (non-college) football isn't really my thing.

I don't really want to talk about what's happened with Mariota and his pro team at this point, so let's check out this really cool die cut insert that features him as a Duck. I was never a huge fan of the feathers on the helmet (uniforms are one of the only places where I turn into a traditionalist), but this card makes them look good. This is a sneaky candidate for my favorite card of the package, despite the fact that it's one of the few that isn't numbered, signed or embedded with some piece of a thing.

Rolls Royce! I wish there was an NFL Red Zone type channel that catered specifically to players from my college of choice, because I just don't care that much about the actual games. (I say this, and yet I'll probably watch my share of playoff games anyway.)

And with this Jack Clark Starting Lineup card, we are officially done with football (for this post, anyway.) Is everyone okay with that? Do you even think this is a baseball card blog anymore?

Here's one for the more-bang-for-the-buck Panini Leather & Lumber set. They sold blasters of this stuff which only contained something like 10 cards for the normal $19.99 price. For this reason, I am going to covet the base cards I need, like this one of Matt Carpenter.

I hadn't seen any gold minis from the 2016 Gypsy Queen set before, but there's always a first time for anything. With Marcell Ozuna's imminent departure, the Cards could certainly use a guy like Piscotty again.

Shiny Waino?! Is it really Christmas? (No, it --was-- October.) This is great, though.

Finally, we swing back to that same Panini Leather & Lumber set, with what Panini came up with as a suitable replacement for those old Upper Deck Sweet Swatch autographs that always used to fade into oblivion. Hopefully Panini got these guys to sign these chunks of baseballs with better pens... or maybe these aren't really baseball chunks at all. In any case, these look really cool (despite the lack of licensing and tiny photo) and I hope to track down more like this soon.

Black Friday Cards

Free cards, more or less. 

I don't usually go all out on Black Friday (or Wednesday, or whenever it is now.) I usually look around to see if there's anything I actually need in case there's a nice deal on it. In the past couple of years, when November finally hit, I actually bought a new TV and more recently a PS4. This isn't really the norm for me.

For 2019, I wasn't really in need of anything significant, but I did know I hadn't bought any cards in awhile. I decided to make a couple of smaller orders from Panini and Topps. It was only today that the first order (Panini) showed up. I'd been intrigued by their "free" Black Friday packs for awhile, but this was the first year I actually bit. You get a free pack for every qualifying purchase, and there were a few retail blasters that they were selling that would earn you a pack. Unfortunately, by the time I actually remembered to go place my order, the basketball stuff I was looking at was gone. I ended up going with a couple of Donruss Optic baseball blasters instead, which netted me two Black Friday packs.

Each pack contains two cards, and one of the packs was thin. The other was decidedly not thin. The thin pack led off with this "Rookies" Vlad Jr. card. I've been pulling Vlad Jr. cards left and right this year, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but I'm not entirely convinced he's going to be a world beater. Something about a guy that doesn't really have a defensive position is concerning (see also: Alvarez, Yordan.) I should probably try to sell off the stuff I've pulled of his, or at least find a suitable trading partner.

The other card in the thin pack was a /25 card of the soccer legend Ronaldo. Even Homer Simpson knows who he is. I should also mention at this point that the packs you could choose from were something like "football" and "non-football". Of course, I chose non-football.

So how did I end up with this? I guess the "non-football" packs really meant "multi-sport", which includes college football. Barkley is the would-be star running back with the New York Giants now, but is pictured here in his college uniform. This was also what gave the fat pack its fatness, with a ridiculously huge (probably totally real) jersey swatch. It's numbered to 50.

Card two from the second pack is a parallel (/99) of the base set. Yes, there's actually a 40 card base set, but your chances of actually pulling a base card seem to not be so great. I wish I had scanned this a little better. I also wish I had pulled a Damian Lillard instead of a Kings player. Such is life when you are dealing with two card packs.

There's more to this story, however! Over the summer, I ended up with some "Panini Points", which apparently is some sort of thing they slip into boxes from time to time. Mine was in one of those Leather & Lumber blasters where you only really get a few cards. I had seen complaints online about this rewards system, mostly due to having to pay shipping on some cards that may not be worth much more than the cost of shipping. Well, the way to beat the system is to have these thrown in with an order you're already making. I picked up this pretty stellar on-card autograph of former Blazers star Cliff(ord) Robinson from a set that came out about 5 years ago for basically nothing.

I also picked up this /99 rookie jersey card of one Meyers Leonard. Meyers was formerly tied with Damian Lillard as the longest tenured Blazer, but that tenure ran out after last season as he was dealt to Miami. Even though it's not my style to start snatching up cards of Blazers who have recently moved on elsewhere, I realized that I'm always going to have a soft spot for the players on the recent team that went to the Western Conference Finals this past spring. I might not be as sentimental about them as I am with those players of the Finals teams back in the early '90s, but it was a fun season nonetheless.

And what of those Donruss Optic blasters, you say? Well, aside from a 150th Anniversary Mookie Betts parallel that will certainly find a home somewhere else, there wasn't much to talk about there.

Reader Bob Strikes Again

More intriguing Redbirds stuff from over the years. 

A few weeks back I wrote about a package of stuff from a first-time trade partner who stumbled across this blog once upon a time. On the heels of receiving that package was another one with some more great Cardinals cards to add to my collection.

Steve Carlton's early days with St. Louis were long before my time, so I appreciate it when I come across a card of Lefty that I don't have where he's wearing the Birds on the Bat.

Here's J.D. Drew on a numbered card from back in 2003, which was in turning flashing back to his days as a rookie in the late '90s. Now that it's some sixteen years later, the whole flashback thing seems a bit silly.

In a better example of a flashback, here's one from one of those Fleer Greats sets that I love. This is the one from 2004 that has a raised frame border. The cards look great, even if most of the ones I've seen have some chipping on the edges.

I mostly ignored this Sportflics release from 1986 (Decade Greats) because it was the first year I was collecting, and I was also still in grade school. The last thing I wanted to care about was a bunch of old ghosts in black & white shots. Now, of course, I find the history fascinating and want these all (well, just Cardinals) in my collection.

Thanks again for the great stuff from Bob!

Contest Time! College Bowl Pick 'Em #11

Pick the games for free and win some cool prizes! 

For the eleventh straight year, I am running a free contest with prizes headed to the best prognosticators of (mostly) meaningless college football games. Past winners include Adam from Thoughts on Sox (2009-10), Mark from Stats on the Back (2010-11), AJ from The Lost Collector (2011-12), Royal Dan (2013), The Prowling Cat (2014), Jeff from One Man's Junk (Wax) (2015), Matt of Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits (2016), MrHaverkamp (2017), Anaconda37 (2018) and last year's winner Trevor of Bump and Run.

If you want to skip all the blah blah blah and just get to the free stuff, go to the bottom of the post for the sign-up link and make sure you submit picks for every game. I switched things up a bit with the prizes this year. There's even a separate contest for the non-ESPN people which is as simple as predicting a score for a simple game!

If you've participated in the past, this should work more or less the same as previous years, but it will be hosted over on ESPN.com. I will be sending out invitations via ESPN's automated system if I happen to have your email address (which as mentioned previously, may not be the case.) If you don't get an email invite, follow the manual procedure at the bottom of this post (and if all else fails, send me an email and I will try to help you out.) For the rest of you, here are the rules and prize details:

• First place will receive: a 2020 Topps Series 1 blaster OR suitable equivalent (subject to availability)... as well as a small plastic pouch of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc.
• Second place will receive: a brand new pair of men's crew baseball themed socks from Sock It to Me, and a Priority Mail padded envelope full of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc. Sock It to Me is a local (to me) retailer and I happen to own a pair of these socks for myself and like them. You can check them out here if you're curious.
• Third place (new this year!) will receive: a brand new pair of men's crew baseball themed socks from Sock It to Me (see above for details). I will also probably toss in a few cards from whatever happens to be lying around on my desk.
• The Worst Place winner will receive: whatever I feel like sending you. This is probably also going to involve whatever happens to be lying around on my desk and probably (not?) an old pair of dirty socks?

Here are some rules you should really read (important stuff in bold):

• Participants must sign up through the official ESPN link. Unfortunately, this means that you must have an ESPN account. I know this is a deal breaker for some, but I am not fancy enough to figure out a good system on my own that wouldn't require more time than I allot to this project.
• Promote this contest! No, that doesn't mean you need to "follow" my blog, nor does it mean that you'll gain any competitive advantage by posting about this contest. I just want to see a lot of people participate, and will be willing to award more prizes if there are more participants.
• Points are scored according to the Confidence System. This basically means that while you are predicting which team wins which bowl game, you will also be responsible for ranking how confident you are in each pick. The higher you rank those games, the more points you'll get when they win and prove that you're totally right and deserve all the I-told-you-so's in the world.
• Email me your contest information after you sign up. You can't assume that I will automatically recognize your contest entry name. Since many of you have my email address but some of you don't, if you're in the latter you can also email me at [my blog name]@gmail.com. That's not my primary address but I will definitely see it.
• You can change your picks at any time, so long as your pick is made before the official start time (usually the TV broadcast time) of each game. This is what ESPN calls a "rolling lock" time.
• Don't be a jerk and lose on purpose just to try and claim a prize. There are many, many of us who are bad enough at picking these without extra help.

Click here to sign up, and click on the 'Play Now For Free' link! It's free! First timers are very welcome.

Group ID: 249897

Password: quackquackquack

DEADLINE: There's a deadline of Friday, December 20th at 5:00 PM PST (I think it was actually 11:00 AM, oops) to at least get your first pick in. That's the start time of the first bowl game.

But wait... there's more! Available to all entrants as well as non-entrants who don't want to use ESPN, there's a bonus contest:

Leave a comment here predicting the final score and winning team of the BELK BOWL before the Belking officially begins (the game is on the 31st) and win a retail fat pack of 2020 Topps Series 1. Whoever is closest gets it. Belk on, Belkers!

Good Luck Ducks: The Pac-12 Championship

Oregon returns to the Pac-12 Championship game, this time in a spoiler role. 

The Ducks did little to shake off the offensive malaise or inspire a lot of confidence last week, just keeping their rival Beavers within arm's reach of an upset victory, even with a first time starting QB pressed into emergency duty. With Pac-12 South champ Utah sitting at #5 in the playoff rankings, it's easy to look at them as the team Oregon could have been had they beaten the Sun Devils two weeks ago. Utah is certainly the best team the Ducks have faced this season... unless Oregon wins tonight, which is why sports and especially college football are kind of silly.

Utah has been good on both sides of the ball this season. That balance is something the Ducks could use a lot of tonight. Injuries have taken their toll as they always do, and Justin Herbert again looks like he's trying to be an ace quarterback with no ace targets. Still, the great players always seem to find a way to make the most out of the least. After a dud of a game in his final home appearance, we may see tonight what Herbert can do in the toughest of circumstances. With nearly a month to go before the bowl game (and the chance to get healthier), this is likely to be the season defining game. In the postseason. Semantics, I know.

It's not all doom and gloom for the green and yellow, however. There's been clear season-to-season improvement under Mario Cristobal, and should he stick around awhile, that could bring even brighter things in the future.

• The Last Game: The Ducks continued their Civil War dominance of late with their 11th win in the last 12 tries, lackluster as it was.
• Know Your Opponent: The Utes fanbase actually seems impressed by the Ducks offense, which maybe means I've been a bit too harsh.
• The Unis!: Nothing but nightmare green. That means a nightmare for their opponents, right?
• Mario Cristobal's "Crystal Ball" prediction: "We feel that we have a really good plan. It’ll be round-the-clock work, like it needs to be." Outlook not so good.

• Luke Skyywalker's Crystal Balls say: Luke loves when his teams win championships, like his beloved Miami Heat. You know what I'm saying?

Game time is 5:00 PST on ABC. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Molly McGrath are on the call. Go Ducks!

Tons o' Card Fun

A high volume exchange of needed cards. 

As part of a surge of trades this year, I had the opportunity to send card to (and receive from) people I'd never traded with before. The biggest one of these I'd done in quite some time was worked out with Mike of A Life Shaped by Baseball. Mike's player collections are numerous and far reaching, so if you've got some extra cards I'd encourage you to check out his blog.

I have to say that when I get such a large volume of cards in the mail, I often struggle to choose some things to share here. I decided to go with a slightly different format than usual, in hopes that I can sneak in a few more pictures of cards on a time budget.

The Cardinals are going to be a bit slighted here, as Mike sent stuff from all corners of my interests. I really liked this nearly borderless Sweet Spot design from 2003 (might be new to me?) and the gold framed Gallery cards are always welcome. I decided to throw in a Bowman's Best card because, as mentioned recently, they always scan so well for me.

Here's a few baseball cards from the non-Cardinals section of my collection. Rookie year Carp, a gold parallel to match Jimmy's golden hair, and that wonderful idea that Upper Deck had to actually date their photos are on display here.

We're in the thick of basketball season now, and the Blazers are trying to remember how to be a good team. Here's a few cards from some eras where they were actually a good team. Brian Grant's card is a "silver signature" parallel.

Here are some Ducks alums in their pro uniforms. Miller was best known in his earlier Falcons uniform, Graziani took over at QB for Danny O'Neil while I was still in school, and Cota was from my own college days as well.

Here are more basketball guys. Sheed's card is very bootleg looking. The Drexler Z-Force is terrible in many ways ("Zupermen", that uniform...) but I have nothing bad to say about the former Duck Terrell Brandon or his card.

Randall Cunningham gets his own trio to himself, with the legendary Randy Moss worming his way into my card collection.

Mike also set over a bunch of set needs from the past two decades. Nice! The middle card is a late career Shawon Dunston.

The Eagles may have gotten the short shrift here, but this card is awesome and shiny and features that really good Eagles uniform and not their very unremarkable one that they've been running out there for years and years.