Thursday, February 6, 2025

Takin' Some Shorts (Prints)


Cardinals and Heritage needs, including a stupidly elusive card. 
 
The latest (well, as of November) mailer from the one and only Night Owl Cards was heavy on some harder to get cards from a certain set that I collect. Before we get into that, however, it's to give the Cardinals some due. I don't know who invented the X-Fractor, but that particular shiny Chrome design still amuses and delights all these many years later. Chrome was the first and easiest thing for me to make fun of when I started collecting cards again almost twenty years ago, but it didn't take me long to get suckered into liking these, at least when they suit my team collecting interest.


I ended my quest to collect all things Allen & Ginter with the 2022 set, but that didn't stop me from buying a couple of blasters of the most recent product. They make decent trade bait, after all. This year's design is fine, but it's not at all what drew me to A&G in the first place. This black bordered Ozzie Smith mini isn't a bad look, but it's just not Ginter to me. (I am still collecting those sets from 2006-2022, by the way. I rarely give up on anything, to a fault.)


This one is a regular bordered mini, with the A&G logo thing on the back. You'll just have to imagine what it looks like, or do a Google search or something.


This is one of those cards that I could have sworn I owned at least five copies of, but apparently I did not. The 2009 Bowman design was pretty far away from what Bowman sets look like these days. I mean, these had black borders. Black! Can you imagine?


This is certainly an oddball, which means I totally love it. It comes from some sort of Willie Mays Story set from 1983, which means it was probably pretty far off of my radar. I don't usually comb through checklists of sets that feature a player that isn't from the team that I follow, so this was a really cool find.


Topps did a boneheaded thing (can you imagine?!) with the 2024 Heritage set, where they decided to make the first 100 cards of the set short printed instead of the usual last 100 cards. Well, almost. There's a Nathan Eovaldi card in the first 100 that is actually not short printed (but is often listed as such), while Leody Taveras (card #407) is actually short printed. The most annoying thing is that this is typically one of the most expensive cards in the whole set. My theory is that this card isn't any more rare than the other 99 SPs and just received extra attention from people who couldn't fill that hole in their base set, but the current (low) population of the card on sites like COMC would suggest otherwise.


Night Owl ended up having a bunch of extra Heritage SPs to trade off, as he is the '75 guy and ended up with a lot of extras in set build, so I was more than happy to be one of the lucky recipients of a pile of these pesky cards. Short printed cards from newer Heritage sets are still pretty affordable (Leody Taveras notwithstanding), so I am tempted to fully put this thing away before time gets away from me. Alas, almost immediately after I put what I have of this set into a reasonably sized binder, I heard the ugly rumors that a High Number series is still forthcoming. If that does come to fruition, at least it should be cheap!

Friday, January 24, 2025

Contest Results (and More)


The results are in! And... let's also check out some Cards cards.

The big football contest is in the books. The winner is none other than Ginko-5, who will win a blaster box of the new Topps Series 1 set plus some extra. Coming in at a close second place is Elliptical Man, with Pete L rounding things out in third place. Meanwhile, the worst place "prize" is heading to Dean K.

It was a fun, but bloated season, with a first-ever twelve team playoff that only really produced a couple of really interesting games. Unfortunately, the Ducks were on the wrong side of one of the numerous blowouts and found their undefeated season go up into flames before making it to the semifinals, which is certainly a possibility when a single loss can end it all. I'm sure more changes are on the way eventually, but at least it was better than the BCS, I guess?

 

If you're here for the cards, well, we've got some cards. Cardinals cards, to be exact. This latest batch comes from a bunch of Nachos Grande Discord group breaks. Masyn Winn is at the front of the line of the next generation of Cardinals stars, so I'm quite glad to see a few more cards of his heading straight into my collection.


I've never been a big fan of the velocity/laser parallel design that Panini rolls out frequently as it looks really busy. The pink and red border doesn't look so bad on a Cardinals card, though. This one is essentially a parallel of a parallel, numbered to just 79 copies.


Brendan Donovan is another one of my newer Cardinals faves. He's probably never going to lead the league in any major statistical categories, but he can play almost any defensive position well, is a smart base runner and is an extremely tough player to get out at the plate.


Foil Filagree! It figures that just as soon as I stopped collecting the Allen & Ginter sets (I still want all those goodies from 2006-2022), they finally came up with a flashy parallel that I actually really like. I'll just keep these for my team collection, though. I saw that they brought these back for the 2024 set as well.


Here's some more Masyn content. This is of the die-cut variety. I'm hoping someone eventually comes up with a good nickname for him, because it feels a little clunky to call him Winn or Masyn.


As you can probably guess, this one is a numbered purple parallel of the same card. I probably didn't have any 2024 Topps Finest cards before this, so I think I did well snagging these two insert cards.


Wacha Wacha Wacha!


My scan doesn't do it justice, but this is a silver/holo parallel of the Optic parallel from the 2024 (Panini) Donruss set. A parallel of a copy of a knockoff. I'm hoping Panini pulls even a slightly better design out of their collective hat for 2025, because this one was truly dull. Even having a full league sanctioned license in the NFL didn't really do it any favors.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest. Next up is... well, you know what it is! It's just weeks away!

Monday, January 20, 2025

Canadian Football and a Big Contest Update

 

Who will win the annual college football contest? Plus, cards! 
 
We're getting really close to kickoff in the final college football game of the longest season of our lifetimes. Who is going to take this one? More importantly: who is going to win the big Cards on Cards contest? It looks like the top prize is down to two competitors, based on their total points accumulated and the maximum amount of points still left on the table: Ginko-5 and EternalSigh (Elliptical Man). I won't be watching the game because I don't really want to watch either team win, but I will tune in later to check out the final standings.

On an unrelated note: cards! Actually, I received cards and a really nice signed 8x10 photo back in late November from Sportscards From The Dollar Store. This package sneaked in right before the big Canada Post strike that threw mail deliveries between Canada and USA in all sorts of upheaval during the busiest time of the year.

The signed photo is of Oregon Ducks QB Vernon Adams Jr., who is shown with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, meaning that this must have been taken during the 2017 season. I really don't have a lot of stuff like this, so it was a really nice addition to my collection. 


Of course, this package wasn't all Canadian American pro footballers (not to be confused with Canadian-American pro footballers, as Adams is from California.) Brian Westbrook is not Canadian and was not a CFL player, of course, but he does wear green! This is one of my first looks at the Topps Composite set, their apparent answer to Panini Chronicles.


I've actually been spending all day watching pro basketball and ignoring the real world. Here's a pro basketball player that I collect. Chris Duarte hasn't yet seen a ton of action with the Bulls, his third team in four seasons.


Speaking of not seeing much action, Jusuf Nurkic might be on his way out of the league after being removed from the starting lineup in Phoenix, a steep fall for someone who was essentially moved in exchange for Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara. (Of course, there were other factors and players involved, but this was mostly what Phoenix got out of it, give or take a Grayson Allen and a couple of guys who aren't there anymore.) While people have been trying to run Ayton out of town since as soon as he arrived, Camara looks like a keeper to say the least.


Here's another Duarte card. I like that this is from the hobby release of Select. Too many times, people have traded me the retail versions of these cards when I already have them. (Those ones are blue.)


Payton Pritchard, one of the greatest high school players to ever come out of the state of Oregon, has taken on a much more consistent role for the defending champion Celtics. Boston is never going to be my favorite team, but seeing Pritchard do well there is a good enough reason for me to not to change the channel when they're on.


Josh Huff is another Duck who also became an Eagle.


I swear that I have about 100 different versions of this card with its unnecessarily closely cropped photo, and yet I didn't have this gold one apparently! I've made some good progress in collecting the various gold Cardinals parallels that Topps has put out in the last 24 years in their flagship sets.


I might not be the biggest hockey fan, but I definitely know who Keith Tkachuk is! This is a really fun looking jersey card from Pacific of all companies. Tkachuk spent the bulk of the last decade of his career with the St. Louis Blues and now has two sons in the league.

Thanks again to buckstorecards and everyone who entered the contests this year!

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Surprise Visit from the DK

 

...no, not the Donkey Kong. 
 
A few months back, I got a surprise knock on the door from local area not-blogger The Diamond King, who dropped off an incredibly generous selection of Cardinals goodies. I had included my childhood (H)akeem Olajuwon rookie in a mailer sent his way sometime in the past year or so, but certainly wasn't expecting anything in return. We're lucky to have a semi-monthly card show in the area where I suspect at least some of these cards were procured from, and it reminds me that I wanted to make a concerted effort to go to more shows this year (I've already missed the first one.)


Heritage seems like it has such a high print run these days, so I'm always taken aback when I run across a variation like this B&W Arenado, as I never seem to pull stuff like this out of packs anymore. It seems increasingly likely that Arenado will be around for at least the first half of the year with St. Louis now, but I wonder if this card marks his final All-Star appearance with anyone.


The goofy, AI-"enhanced" 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary whatever is the gift that keeps on giving, apparently. They really went nuts with the parallels on these. This one is numbered to just 25. Carlson still hasn't caught on with anyone for the coming season as far as I can tell.


Here's another one of the wacky parallels. This one with the free flowing hair of Ted Simmons is numbered to 75.


This Bud Smith card has an imprint with the National Sports Convention logo on it and is numbered 2 out of 5. Rare stuff here! I've always wondered how "official" some of the past cards with stamps from card conventions on them are, but they've mostly been treated as such by the major publications and databases I suppose.


Angel Rondon may have only had a cup of coffee with the Cardinals, but he still makes for a nice looking autographed card. Of course, almost anyone would look good on an Inception card like this.


Daniel Ponce de Leon was once seen as a key cog in the Cardinals stable of pitchers, but he had some tough breaks along the way including a much publicized scary head injury. When standing next to a comparable Topps high end card, Panini's unlicensed warts are pretty visible, though this does contain a nice chunky patch-looking thing in it.


We're back to the AI set here with a more normal parallel pattern. I think this is gold? This will look nice in my Waino collection and is numbered to just 50.


The red ice(?) sky on Lou Brock's card makes this one a bit apocalyptic looking. It's numbered to 100.


Last, but certainly not least, is this pretty slick looking bat card from the 2019 Topps Tier One set. I can't believe it's already been six years since the Cards brought in Goldy. I hope he does well with the Yankees. The Cardinals are really going to miss his defense at 1B more than anything at this point.

If you've got some time, I'd definitely suggest checking out The Diamond King's blog especially if it's been awhile. It looks like he's been generously giving out some impressive stuff, so I'm sure he'd love to get hooked up with something of his own interest.

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Good Luck Ducks: Rose Bowl Playoff Time

 

After a long wait, the Ducks finally get their shot at some playoff action against a familiar foe.

Oregon rolled through their season as the only undefeated FBS team, winners of thirteen games including their first crack at a B1G championship. They defeated three playoff teams along the way — 25% of the field! And yet, many are predicting the Ohio State Buckeyes to win today.


There’s not a lick of this that makes sense, with the idea that Ohio State has somehow “leveled up” since the last meeting in October, despite the fact that they recently faced defeat at the hands of the rival Michigan Wolverines… at home no less! Sure, they are the defending champions, but the win over the Buckeyes just barely gave Michigan a winning record this season. Can Ohio State be better than Oregon while also not being good enough to beat Michigan four times in a row? Both things can be true, some might say.

The Ducks enter the Rose Bowl (the stadium — it’s weird to call whatever this game is the actual “Rose Bowl” game) with most of their team intact after the initial transfer window period. There aren’t a lot of opt-outs with teams that have national championship aspirations.

Notes and such:
  • Oregon is more or less back to the throwback uniform look they started the season with, along with a few tweaks as you would expect in a game of this magnitude.
  • Do they have any history at all? It’s still a 9-2 edge for the Buckeyes after the close Ducks win earlier this season.
  • Dillon Gabriel season review: It was really good! It’s tough to win a trophy when you’re competing against a guy that excels on both sides of the ball and rarely takes a play off.
Game time is 2:00 PM PST on ESPN and many other Disney-owned channels where you can usually find sports. Go Ducks!

Sunday, December 22, 2024

'Tis the Season for Trades and Contest Updates


Recapping a mega card package and an embarrassing contest update. And yes, it's about that time! 
 
Before I get into the cards (probably why you're here) from Too Many Verlanders, it's time to fess up to a major blunder. I always spend time whining about people who enter my contests and fail to complete certain requirements, especially filling out their entire brackets or actually filling out their game predictions. Well, guess what? That was me this year. While the college football contest doesn't require you to lock in all of your picks before the first game starts like the basketball one does, apparently I screwed something up because none of my picks actually saved. I also didn't bother to go and check on this until the better part of a week had passed since the contest began. Fortunately, it really doesn't matter what my picks actually are because I'm the one hosting the thing, but I still feel very stupid about it. It also means I have basically zero rooting interest in any of these football games outside of the ones that are legitimately important to me (i.e. the Duck-based ones.)

In any case, with a week down and twelve games already completed, Ginko-5 is currently at the top of the table, although many others are in very close pursuit in looking at everyone's maximum possible points. Everyone's records look really good right now, which makes it all the more embarrassing that I'm not really taking part this year. Although it's still fairly early, it already seems likely that this could come down to the championship game about a month from now.


It's high time to check out some cards. Dennis sent over a bunch of stuff from a bunch of sports teams that I follow, and I made no real attempt to organize these by squad or player. First up is a "gold minted" parallel of The Yadier Molina from the dearly departed Topps Fire brand (okay, well, maybe just "departed".)


The Honeyman was a recent Cardinals draft pick (2023), and his name is very close to Honeypot, which makes me chuckle.


I'm still getting used to the whole idea of current college players having trading cards (aside from the stuff they used to give away for free for people heading into the stadium back in the day), but I definitely like it. I've never bought fully into collecting NFL cards, but I could see myself buying blasters of college football cards if they ever came up with a decent set at an affordable price point. (Sage brand cards are too dollar store for me, and the Topps stuff seems too expensive... it would be nice to have a middle ground.)


A.J. Brown could just about put the whole Eagles squad on his back and drag them to the Super Bowl as long as they could find someone who would consistently throw it to him.


Speaking of that guy, well, it really sucks that Jalen Hurts got hurt today. I hope he will be back soon, but it's hard to tell with concussions. Yikes.


Here's Hurts again, apparently scoring on Brown's former team.


Rookie year Smitty!


This is a very classy Matt Carpenter jersey card. I hope that Carpenter's 2024 season isn't his last in MLB. I know that the Cards are not into spending money anymore with dwindling attendance in a league that is now basically just a few major market teams and a couple dozen bottom feeders, but I would love to see him hanging around the clubhouse in some capacity. There's no way he wouldn't take a minimum salary deal, right?


I know that this group of cards is kind of all over the place and not very well organized. This card is... well, I'm not really sure what this is. It's not a jersey swatch or anything, but it claims to be an "official 2004 NBA Draft Ticket" which is... what is that, exactly? Is it supposed to be a cut up piece of an actual paper ticket that someone would have used to gain entry to the draft, which was probably free? And it does say "VIP" on it, which is kind of fancy. Anyway, Sebastian Telfair always seemed like the floor as far as what Scoot Henderson could be, and I'm hoping he will greatly surpass those fears. He could definitely use a better head coach right about now, because Chauncey Billups is dreadful to put it mildly.


Baseball had Sweet Spot, which made Sweet Shot Upper Deck's NBA equivalent. A signature on a basketball swatch definitely pops.


Dennis sent me two of these David Kopp Bowman signatures. This one is the refractor version. I didn't scan the base version, but it looks remarkably similar. Kopp topped out his playing career at AAA, but he's spent most of this decade as a coach at the University of Florida.


It's our second Pauly D jersey card of the post. This one has a much more interesting design than the rather plain white looking "full-sized" relics of past Allen & Ginter sets. It also comes with a Victory Blue jersey bit.


I didn't buy a lot of 1992 Score packs, but I do remember how difficult it was to get any of these The Franchise inserts. I believe this is the last one of these Musial inserts I needed for the set. To be fair, I apparently didn't buy much of anything from the 1992 season. It was a weird downturn in my early collecting days. I came back briefly in force the following year as the 1993 Upper Deck set was amazing and had all kinds of cool inserts to drool over. And then I stopped for more than a decade.


He wasn't an Eagle for long, and I doubt there are a lot of T.O. jerseys floating around the Philly area, but for a short time it all came together with Owens and McNabb and all of the great talent around them. Until it stopped.


This is one of the more interesting additions to my Randall Cunningham collection, as he appears here (Milhouse voice: "in pog form!") with future Eagle Ricky Watters.


I wouldn't say I slept on 2023 Allen & Ginter, but I made a definite call not to collect it. That doesn't stop me from admiring the game-used memorabilia designs.


This isn't even a card, but it's a really cool mini Cardinals pennant! It has found a home in my home office space.


I remember these fancy looking Legends Memorabilia books (or magazines? book-a-zines?) kicking around the old card shops and malls back in the day. There were also those Ballstreet magazine things that came with cards like these that you were supposed to cut out as well. They were all just as unlicensed as the janky bootleg cards old dudes would try to sell you for a buck or five, like the ones with Bo Jackson or Bart Simpson, or Bo Jackson with Bart Simpson. These just looked more legit because they were fancier and shinier and printed on more expensive paper, I guess. In any case, I love this. Some jerk would have probably charged me at least $5 for this in Portland in my teens, which could have bought me lunch at Wendy's twice!


I haven't tried Googling Legends at all because it seems unsearchable, but I suspect that this brand was also affiliated with a mall store we had in the suburbs of the same name. It's also very possible that someone else had an idea to call a mall store with sports memorabilia "Legends" because it's a pretty common word applied to sports stars of a certain stature.


We're winding down here, but not before we check out the two largest card things in the package. Sidney Wicks was one of the leading scorers of the first era of the Trail Blazers franchise, essentially passing the baton off the Bill Walton who led the team to their first title. He was before my time, of course, but made the All-Star team four times despite never making the playoffs. Typically there's a very anti-non-playoff team bias when it comes to selecting players for these honors now.

The last thing to show off in this impressive collection is another Legends thing. It's not one of their cut-out standard sized cards, though, but a postcard of Stan the Man. I love stuff like this, and if anyone out there has something weird or non-standard that you think might suit my interests, feel free to fire away.

Happy Holidays everyone! Don't forget to make your picks!