A Panini Redemption

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 13, 2013

I rode home today in the pouring rain and was extremely unprepared for the down pour. By the time I got home I was covered in dirty road rain. That kind of dirt that cars kick up and gets all over your clothes, socks, shoes and backpack. I did have a sweet mud mohawk on my butt and a thick layer of mud coated on my pastey white legs. I was freezing and I was tired…the only thing I really wanted to do was clean up and get ready for the Spurs game. As i typically do first thing, i went to check the mail…and saw a yellow bubble mailer! Suddenly i feel great and excited to see what it has to offer…It’s a Panini Redemption and This one only took 119 days! That less than 4 months!

YAY! Sarcasm!

This redemption is of Joe Adams from the Carolina Panthers, Colbey, numbered 28/49 with a decent sticker auto and a portion of his jersey used at the Rookie Premier with the NFLPA. I like that they mention where the jersey came from, maybe this isn’t a new thing, but it’s the first time I noticed it. The scan doesn’t really do the card justice as it is crazy shiny and reflective, cats love these sorts of things. Leaf Limited was one of those small but spendy box breaks that I jumped on this year. I was quite impressed with the high quality of cards and player selections. This is just another example of a great card.

Redemptions can be a pain as many bloggers have mentioned, but when they come in unexpectedly and make your cold grey day sunny they are wonderful.

Road Trip Packs III – The end of the Trilogy.

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 4, 2013

The second day of driving was great, we finally got out of Texas. Anyone that has had to drive from one end of Texas to another knows that this takes a total commitment in patience and perserverance…long stretches of nothingness and not a whole lot of beauty along the way unless you like the color brown.

Our second stop was Montrose, Colorado which didn’t have a Wal Mart or Target close by and frankly I was really exhausted from the day of driving…so I didn’t pick anything up that night. Our third day of driving took us through the remainder of Colorado, Utah and we stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho. I’ve never been to Utah or Idaho and would definitely love to go back for a visit sometime and see all the beautiful rock formations and landscapes…that will be a road trip for the future and a great way to have some family time during the summer. By the way, if anyone has stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho I would love to know more about the town. It seemed like a really great place as we sort of passed through. The gorge with the waterfalls was quite amazing…and the golf courses looked like they would be great to play.

Enough about non card things. After we checked in I located the nearest Wal Mart and strolled in around 11:30 and picked up a couple more packs of Topps Archives Football and some Archives Baseball.

Archives is doing some tall boys for the baseball version and this guy is becoming a very very special player. Not the best photo ever of him, but the card design is cool and classic. Glad to see Miggy get his career and hopefully his life straight after the DUI a couple of years ago…always room for redemption.

Pablo is way too big, like scary big. When his career winds down, he’s going to have some serious health issues with his ballooning weight. Look at that guy busting the bottom button loose…and that face! Obesity in America is a serious thing and seriously needs to be addressed. I hope the Giants are hooking this kid up with a nutritionist and a 24 hour personal trainer. That much weight is bad for the joints and not to mention his heart. Let’s get fit America!

The Griff card is pretty amazing. Look into those youthful eyes. So much hope and promise in that young face. Griffey was never one of my favorite players, but I always loved the way he played. Now living in the Northwest, his importance to the game and the way he played is magnified, especially with the constant PED issues the MLB has had the past several years. I LOVE THIS CARD.

I also LOVE THIS CARD. I would have been happy with the die cut…but now i get a transparent “stained glass” card! I guess these cards were issued at a time when I wasn’t collecting so therefore I have no recollection of them…but they are awesome. Love that Topps has included them in the set this year.

Now for the Football version of Archives. The first card out of the pack was this Adrian Peterson in the 1985 Topps version. I’ve said many times here that this is one of my all time favorite sets, along with the 1986 Topps baseball…it’s probably the black border thing and the superfonts. AP came back nicely from his ACL tear, here’s hoping RG3 can do the same…or better! – HTTR!

I also pulled this Arian Foster. Loved that two of the prominent running backs were in the ’85 Topps version.

There was also this nice looking Gronk mini card. Wonder if he still hangs out with BiBi?

Last up. This little gem. A Cornelius Bennett auto. The autograph is pretty sweet and you can never go wrong with an autograph from a great NFL Linebacker that played in 4 Super Bowls.

Road Trip Packs II

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 3, 2013

The next pack along the road was actually a blaster of 2013 Leaf Draft from Wal-Mart. Purchased at 12:30am. This was actually the first group of cards I purchased on the trip and were picked up on a midnight run for ‘snacks’…plus I was really curious what type of Wal-Martians I could find around 1am on a Friday night…and just like the box of cards, the Wal-Martians were just ok.

This is a product I buy a few packs of each year in hopes of getting the Redskins draft picks…the value of these cards is minimal and the quality of them is about the same, but if you like a specific college or NFL team, it’s nice to get the players first (or last) card depending on your perspective. I’ve never picked up a blaster box of these guys before, so I’m not sure if this is typical, but the package came with 2 autographs in top loaders and placed in a team bag. I thought that was pretty cool. No need to open any packs to see what your hits were. They were just there! I also thought it was pretty cool that Leaf managed to package them so nicely to keep them in as close to mint condition as possible.

The first auto was Markus Wheaton. A receiver from Oregon State who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round. Not a bad auto considering what else I could have pulled.

The second auto was of Sean Porter, whom quite ironically is from Schertz, Texas and went to Samuel Clemens. The box of cards was purchased in little ol’ Schertz, Texas. Porter is an A&M product and played Linebacker during his four year career. He was drafted in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Next up are the Redskins players.

Jordan Reed TE – 3rd round from Florida. Early reports from the couple of practices he participated in were really high on this kid. It sounds like he can become a big time playmaker at Tight End and hopefully compliment Fred Davis for years to come.

Brandon Jenkins DE – 5th round from Florida State. When healthy, he was pretty much a beast at FSU and could have gone much earlier had he indeed been healthy. If Jenkins is able to rebound, he should be a nice compliment to Orakpo and Kerrigan next year and hopefully the next 5 years.

Jawan Jamison RB – 7th round from Rutgers. Mike Shanahan has a way of hitting on running backs. Here’s hoping Jamison can be another one. He too was injured but has a huge upside…but injuries tend to derail the greatest of athletes, especially if they limit opportunities in practice and games.

Although the cards were not that impressive, I was pretty happy with what i pulled. If anyone out there has a desire to trade for the autos, please let me know…could be nice for a Bengals or Steelers collector!

Box Break: 2013 Bowman

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 1, 2013

Bowman is one of those in between sets for me. Do I buy packs? A box and build the set? Pull my favorites out and part ways with the rest of them?

I’m not a prospector, but I love to pull some of the great rookies that I read about.

I don’t put together too many sets, but I love to buy packs and sometimes a box of cards that I enjoy openings packs of.

I like inserts, but too many of them become overwhelming.

Bowman has a way of providing a response to each of these contradictions in my collecting habits. When Topps brought back the Bowman cards in 1989, my friend Alex and I were all in. The cards were weird and big and didn’t fit well anywhere, but they were cool and had a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Griff was the man in 1989 and his rookie cards were something every kid in America that collected cards wanted. I had them all, and loved the oversized Bowman version (after the Upper Deck version of course…) Although the cards weren’t that great. The photography was a little grainy at times and the overall design was weak…plus the stat on the back were quite confusing and took some getting used to. Either way I was going to collect this set…and all other versions that would come out in the future. That was, until 1992 rolled around. The card quality became significantly better and the rookie class was pretty stellar at the time (I still have my Raul Mondesi in a screw down holder, iknowright!). 1992 was also the time I began to realize I can’t collect everything…because I couldn’t afford it. So I never completed the set and ended up getting rid of my other sets from the previous years.

Fast forward to the future that is today. The card quality has improved exponentially and in relation to the other stuff that’s being issued, Bowman is quite affordable. I’ve purchased a box of these the past three years and took a bigger step this year and bought the jumbo pack box from Dave and Adam’s card world. Here is my review.

Card Design – 3 of 5

The overall design of the cards is quite simple, which I love.

No extra weird things going on here, just some simple graphics and all the basic information you need on a baseball card. I do like the subtle variation on the front of the card that differentiates the Bowman Prospects from the Major Leaguers. Bowman also carried this through as they do on the back of the card with the numbering and color of the card stock.

Photography – 3 of 5

The photographs are your typical action photos mixed in with awkwardly posed for photos of young men in uniforms. There are a lot of beards and facial hair in general around the world these days and the major league baseball franchise is no different. I’m thinking Panini needs to do a facial hair card set. Maybe Josh Reddick get the coveted #1 card?

Hits – 4 of 5

Like I said before, I’m no prospector. I simply don’t have the patience or wherewithal to invest in people I don’t know and Bowman counts on people doing this. That’s what makes this set so wonderful though. If you do pull a great auto of a young talented player or a refractor you have a nice piece of cardboard. If you don’t, well, you have something shiny to look at i guess. Another thing with the hits is that you have to wait a couple of years for these guys to pan out and get a year or two under their belts. Just because you are a top 100 prospect doesn’t mean you are going to be a star in the bigs. All that said, It’s nice to get the ‘First Bowman card’ of a potential star.

Another thing that i really enjoy about the Bowman cards and the young stars is the names of these kids. Damn.

Review

Bowman is always fun to open and the cards are always a very solid quality. I’m not sure if I will buy a jumbo box next year unless i plan to start building the sets again…but getting 32 cards in a pack is pretty cool.

The overall look and feel of the cards is great, nothing to complain about here, plus the price is right with Bowman, especially for what you get.

Mini’s are cool.

So are Flags…

and blue or maybe purple cards?

$13 BB Brett Gerritse Blue Refractor 60:250$ and who doesn’t love them some autographs!

$13 BB Yordano Ventura Refractor Auto 79:500$

Box Break: 2012 Panini Playbook

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 14, 2013

Panini Playbook

This is something i have never thought of buying in the past and will not buy in the future. For me, this was a high risk, low reward box and something that i bought because i got whipped up in the Panini hype machine and my pursuit of pulling an RG3 auto from a box. As you will see, that did not happen. With all that negative energy out, these cards are pretty cool and it’s difficult to have any kind of criticism of the cards themselves. They are quite beautiful and definitely pieces of art…for the cardboard connoisseur.

As you may know, Playoff gives you 4 cards in a box with some autos and some jersey cards. You always see the great 1/1’s on the websites out there, but I never actually pull them myself. I do love the booklet card idea and had hoped to pull any kind of Redskin card… instead i got a freakin’ Cowboy. A very young and talented cowboy no less…but a Dallas Cowboy.

The other booklet card i pulled was a guy that i strongly remember from Hard Knocks that barely made the team and seemed lost quite a bit. Michael Egnew. He played in two games last year and put up some goose eggs. I wonder if he even ran the right routes? It’s kind of crappy that this is the box ‘hit’. A guy that will probably be out of the NFL in a year or two. No disrespect to Mr. Egnew, but Panini should do a better job of making these box hit booklet cards of guys that will have some type of impact in the NFL. I realize they don’t have crystal balls, but if they did, it would be awesome…crystal balls. If i pulled a single card of Egnew, I would have been cool with that, but not the booklet.

The next two autos were of the Bears Rookie Brandon Hardin…

…and Casey Hayward from the Green Bay Packers. Casey had a pretty good rookie season with the Packers, picking of 6 passes. Seems like the kind of guy you want to keep an eye out for in the future…would love to have received a booklet auto of THIS GUY!

After re-reading this post, it sounds really negative an filled with varying levels of disappointment. That’s not totally the case. I knew what i was getting in to. It was a gamble and in all honesty it was a fun gamble that i enjoyed taking part in. I probably won’t buy another box of these in the future, but I really do like the look and feel of them.

A Rookie Redemption Auto comes home

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 11, 2013

I finally got one of my redemptions from Panini.

It only took 167 days and it was this beauty, Dontari Poe. I know, I know…you all want a piece of this cardboard. Well he is definitely available for trade and at the very least he will find himself on ebay in the next few months. I was getting a little inpatient with the redemption and just like Cardboard Conundrum was hoping i could swing another auto, so i emailed Panini about getting a Redskins auto or…really…anything. I just wanted my redemption redeemed. Within a week, this guy showed up in my mailbox.

This card brings a lot in to focus for me. It exemplifies the problem with higher end packs and boxes. This was my big hit last November in a box of Prime Signatures that i purchased from The Sports Room. I opened the pack in front of Rick and he could see the disappointment on my face when i not only pulled a redemption auto, but i pulled Dontari Poe. A Defensive Tackle with the Kansas City Chiefs, who at the moment is most known for practically kissing Roger Goodell on draft day.

Rick looked at me and said “wasn’t really worth it, now was it…” Disappointment happens when you purchase these kinds of products more than excitement, at least in my experience. It was still fun to open though.

Getting back to Poe, he has the potential to become the next great DT in the NFL. As far as collecting goes though, DT’s don’t typically get you excited or draw major demand.

PLUS, he wears #92, the same number Big Fat Albert Haynesworth wore…and all Redsksins fans can feel my pain when they see the gif below from the Monday night massacre against Philly and Vick. Jackass.

A Hog Auto, B-Mitch and Lachey!

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 15, 2013

I don’t typically buy non certified autos since you can never really verify them…plus they tend to be sloppy and not something i’ve been excited about in the past. One table at the Mall 205 show last weekend has a few Redskin autos that I turned down last month, but couldn’t resist this time around. The dealer, Greg, had about 20 of these cards and was more than happy to sell all of them to me. I resisted and purchased the three i liked the most.

Jim Lachey wasn’t really part of the Hogs glory days, but could have easily been a part of their dominance. He would have fit in nicely with Jacoby, Butz, May, Bostic and Starke and may have won another Super Bowl or two. Jim was a part of the Super Bowl XXVI winning team.

Russ Grimm took WAAAY TOO LONG to get in to the Hall of Fame. Offensive Linemen really haven’t gotten the respect they deserve historically. A lot of the reason for this is due to the anonymity with which they play and they don’t have ‘stats’. They do all of the grunt work and protecting the QB and RB, but the guys behind them get all the glory. It’s not fair, but neither is life.

Brian Mitchell is a guy that should be in the Hall of Fame. Only one other player in the history of the NFL has more all purpose yards than him, Jerry Rice. Yet, he is nowhere close to getting in. Not sure why his value to the NFL, Redskins and his return dominance is overlooked by so many. I guess Special Teams is also overlooked. Devin Hester and Josh Cribbs are doing everything they can to change that.

These are the first autos for me from these players and i’m pretty happy with the purchase. All three set me back $10, so i can’t really complain…PLUS, they are all on card autos and not the dreaded stickers. Pieces like these are nice to add to my Redskin collection and are just cool little pieces of history for me.

A Goal has been reached

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 4, 2013

I am finally able to cross off a collecting goal of mine for 2013.

An on card short print autographed card of the Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III has been obtained by me…and it’s quite beautiful.

I have been looking online at Ebay, COMC and Collector’s Revolution for a good deal on a RGIII on card auto and wasn’t too happy with paying what most of the cards were selling for. Some of them were way out of this guys price range and some were ridiculously priced for a chunk of cardboard. There were quite a few decent priced cards, but they were sticker autos which i was trying to avoid.

How did i get this card you ask? Well, as i’ve mentioned in the past, i’ve been selling off some old personal items like books and CD’s, using that money to purchase cards this year. With each transaction i made, i would put aside a little extra so when i found a nice card i liked i could jump on it. So i did last week. It’s not a perfect card by any means as most of these thicker and darker cards tend to be, but i absolutely LOVE the photo and design of the Inception cards. Not to mention the on card ink! This is always a huge plus for my collector’s eye. The card is also a short print Green variation numbered to 50.

I am happy to have this in my collection, now i’ve been debating whether or not to get it graded. I have never been someone to get a card graded and honestly feel like that’s one of the many things destroying this hobby…but if it preserves my card and can turn it in to a future investment, it might be worth it.

Thoughts?

Box Break: 2012 Topps Magic Football

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 27, 2013

A busted box of Topps Magic Football has been sitting on my stack of cards for some time now just waiting to get judged, and now is the time.

Magic was something that i got into (cards, not tricks) a couple of years ago on a whim at Target during a deodorant shopping event. I saw a blaster box just sitting there and thought it would be a cool purchase and was hooked from that point on. I loved the retro look and the college unis on simple borders. Loved it so much so that i ended up buy a few more boxes from Target but never completing the set or buying any hobby packs. The following year, 2010 i wanted to pick up a hobby box to see if i still had a crush on these pieces of cardboard and sure enough, the love was there. I loved the photography and simple borders as well as the card stock. Although i do love shiny cards, i am a sucker for matte finish stuff that is done well. Again, i bought a bunch of cards, but couldn’t be bothered with completing the set…just wanted the few Redskins and any hits i could pull. Now, in 2011, it got a little tricky…and extremely annoying. Magic had become a set that i was tuned in to on when it would be dropping and where i could pick up some good packs. BUT, as Topps likes to do sometimes, they changed the rules, moved the goal posts and upset this collector. The only way to get a box of Magic was to purchase them from their online store and pay their exorbitant shipping fees, which was about the same price as the box itself if i remember correctly. SCREW THAT, no thanks. I was able to pick up a few singles from COMC and ebay but no packs, since they weren’t really issuing those this year. I never really found out why Topps decided this was a good idea, but would love to hear the reasoning if someone can help?

After the previous years experience, i had pretty much forgotten about the Magic cards and moved on with my life as we do with Topps at times. Until, i saw they were going to be releasing a new set and boxes that you can purchase at a store…holy crap! You mean i can buy cards from a store and not online only? Normally i wouldn’t be so snotty about this, as i am totally cool with purchasing online, i just don’t want my only options to be online purchases. Takes away from the fun of busting packs on a Wednesday afternoon after work.

So here is my take on the 2012 version of Topps Magic.

Card Design: 4 of 5

In keeping with the simple style, Topps has again followed through with the same KISS theme. Minimal information is on the front, but you get the basics; name, position, conference, team helmet, and a whole bunch of stars that make no sense to me. The banners blends in nicely with the border and unfolds to reveal the critical information like a scroll with an oversized shield.

The backs are nice and include some fun little facts with the Magical Memoranda. You don’t get your typical stats, but they tend to highlight some important information and single game stats for your FYI. As usual, nice card stock and the lovely matte finish. The matte finish is nice in a world of glossy cards. They have become the rarity in the hobby for the most part, save for the vintage inspired sets.

Photography: 5 of 5

The thing that i am most drawn to this set about is the photography. They have HDR’d the crap out of the photos and really over processed them, but i think it works well for these and tends to give the players a greater level of detail and grit. My wife is a photographer and she tends to stay away from over processing as it always looks…you guessed it, over processed. When you are doing family portraits or architectural photography it can become a distraction, but for professional athletes it works well.

Look at the intensity in those eyes!

Hits: 4 of 5

The hits with this brand are minimal, which is fine with me. I believe collectors get too hot and heavy about the hits. If that is your thing, this set isn’t for you. If you are OK with getting a nice auto or two than you may be happy with Magic. I ended up pulling 2 autographs and a redemption card. So, it’s not just Panini that is slapping me with redemption cards, Topps does it too. I’ve stated my thoughts on the redemption card here before and thought about it a little more. Still don’t like it, but maybe it’s not that bad…assuming you actually get the card. There have been times when i forgot about my redemption cards and come home to a manilla envelope. It’s like a little slice of cardboard heaven when you get one you weren’t really expecting.

There are a couple of subsets in the cards as well. Nothing to exciting. As a matter of fact, i must say that the Charismatic Combos is not only a weak insert, but a terrible name. Charismatic Combos, christ that’s terrible.

The ultra mini cards are cool, but a little too mini for my man hands. If i don’t get these in some penny sleeves quick they will have rounded corners.

There are also the Supernatural Stars, which are not that existential or starry either galactically or professionally.

Magic also has the Magical Moments inserts which makes sense, because it’s Magic. Drew Brees is on a 3 Mile Island. Cute.

I do like the Enchantment cards, especially the one that i pulled…big smiley face for the RG3.

There were also these other good looking young running backs that have some nice upside to their careers.

One of the autos i pulled was a Kaepernick. The HDR affect does his tats some serious justice although his auto is crazy sloppy. An odd thing about this card is the photoshop flub with his hands. It looks like the photo editor cloned his left hand over the football…kind of a crappy job for a big time player. Let’s try harder next time Mr. Topps Photoshop editor.

Review

Overall, i do like these cards a lot. They are simple and clean and the photos are nice. It’s a basic card and the price point isn’t too excessive for what you get. I haven’t decided if i am going to build the set, i did manage to get quite a bit of unique cards and minimal doubles, so i will see how i feel about it. I do hope that Topps issues these cards again next year and does not do the online only thing.

Here are a couple of the Redskins cards i pulled from the box. Funny that they decided to include Jabar Gaffney since he wasn’t on the team this year and he is wearing RG3’s number. Technically, there are two Redskin cards with a player wearing number 10.

Topps Magic, I like you.

Heritage Box Break Update

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 24, 2013

So I finished breaking the boxes of Heritage last night while watching ESPN’s 30 for 30 on Jimmy V and the 1983 NC State team. If you haven’t watched it yet, you really should. I’m one of those people that can’t get in to much of what ESPN does and haven’t watched Sportscenter since Olbermann was pushed out. I feel like their programming is only slightly above MTV these days. The guys at Grantland and Bill Simmons have done a phenomenal job on the 30 for 30 series though and i never miss an episode, including the shorts on the Grantland site. Opening packs of cards and watching sports on TV way past your bedtime is a little treat for me these days. Our 6 month old boy is really moving around a lot these days and requires a ton of attention and love during the daytime hours. I have no problem doing, but it’s nice to have a break at night. PLUS i have an amazing wife who gives our son tons of love and unfortunately is tasked with the onerous responsibility of getting him to sleep at night.

As i mentioned in the initial review post of this years Heritage, i am a big fan of this set and love putting it together each year. In the past couple of years, Heritage has fallen out of favor due overproduction and too many SP’s which makes getting the base cards somewhat easy but difficult to complete the whole set. The boxes i opened were pretty nice and i noticed quite a bit of SP’s that i may post in the future, but i wanted to show off the hits that really caught my eye. I’ve heard that Heritage was going to add more autograph hits this year and i was lucky enough to pull 4 in the boxes i had. Not only did i get 4 cards, but i got a good haul of quality players. Nothing jaw dropping, but nice cards no less.

And there they are…

The first one is David Freese, and he looks as if he is about to get his DMV photo taken.

Next, Mr. Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks. When i was looking at graduate schools i was trying to decide between the University of Oregon and Arizona State. This was around the time the D’backs won the World Series and i thought it would be great to live in a major league city, but just couldn’t deal with living in a dessert since i grew up in hot, humid San Antonio for so many years. So i chose Oregon. Had i chosen ASU, i would probably be a D’backs fan and be super excited about this card. But, i am only excited. He is one of the young up and coming stars and could be a big home run guy in the future.

Next was Lance Lynn. My second Cardinal. Honestly, i would have missed this card were it not for the hand numbered 43/64 in the top right. The red ink auto pretty much disappears into his glove and with my color deficiencies, i can barely make out the Topps Certified Autograph Issue on the name stripe at the bottom. This could have been done better Topps.

The last autograph is pretty awesome. Maury Wills. The auto is nice and placed in a great spot on the card. You can tell this was done by a professional, someone who has signed a million autos in his lifetime. This autograph is actually a long time coming for me. I believe in 1989 i went to a show in Austin, TX where he was supposed to be signing autographs for a small fee. This was around the same time when i was doing the through the mail autos and thought it would be great to get a veteran player added to my collection…but he never showed up. I was pretty upset, not Sheldon Cooper vs. Wil Wheaton upset, but upset no less. I had an 8×10 and baseball all ready for him to sign. I never found out why he didn’t show up, but attempted to mail the baseball to him a few months later and never recieved anything. Chalked to experience up as a failure and moved on with my life. Now we have come full circle.

The next few cards are the annual jersey cards from the Clubhouse Collection series. There were significantly less cards that i pulled than in years past. Which i am ok with as these cards seem to be uninspired and a little boring. Here’s hoping Topps does something different with these next year and maybe does larger swatches or better photos? I don’t know, but something different would be great.