Christmas Gift from William! Woah!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, as you saw in the last post, William already did a good enough job helping my dad out with those 2 awesome pickups, in the Jackson auto and the quad Yankee relic, but he couldn't hold back in wanting to do more for me! So he sent me a bunch of loose Yankees mixed cards, along with one huge Christmas gift. And when I say huge, I mean huge! Take a look at some of the stuff he's sent me lately:

These actually came in a package he sent me before the Christmas gift, but I never got around to post them. Pathetic, right? Yeah, believe me, I know. I love adding any new Mattingly cards to my collection, and I needed all of the cards on the bottom row because I've been far too lazy to go out and buy any Bowman Chrome and Topps Lineage. 

Also, he sent me a few nice Cano cards I didn't have yet. Each card is chrome: his 2011 Bowman Chrome; 2011 Topps Finest base cards; and his 2011 Topps Chrome refractor parallel! All 3 cards are very nicely designed, but still they don't seem to have the kind of pop that cards had for me a few years ago. This card sure did though...

I don't even know where to start on this one! This dual bat card is just insanely incredible! From the set I'm attempting to put together, William got me the Lou Gehrig card out of the set! LOU GEHRIG! Not only is this a huge set wantlist helper, but man this is something I've always wanted to add to my collection! Gehrig is one of my favorite old Yankee players even though he was often overshadowed by Babe Ruth. It's hard for anyone to argue; however; who the best 1st baseman of all time is, and it's clearly the man on the card right above this paragraph.

Dude. You didn't have to do this. This is way too much! Thank you so much William! You're as classy as it gets and it's hard to find better friends than you out there. When I one day finish this set off, I'm going to think of you for the big help you gave me in the process of the set. It means a lot.

See Ya!

Merry Christmas Everyone! 3 Sweet Gifts to Share!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I know, it's been forever and a half years since I had any activity on this site whatsoever. But it's Christmas, so I decided to find the time to wish all of you a happy holidays! Another year has gone by and I'm still so fortunate at the love I've received from all of my friends in the hobby, and that no matter where life takes me, I'll always have you guys as a strong childhood memory. Hopefully I'll be able to continue on sharing with you all the journey through my card collection growth (yes, it's not dead, just the blog), but things are going to be a lot slower on here than ever before. I hope you all understand that, but I do want to try and throw a post out there every few days, or maybe once a week. We'll see.

However, getting back to the Christmas spirit of things, I received 3 card related gifts this Christmas morning from my parents, and I wanted to show them to you all! According to them, they couldn't have found the right ones without the great help of one of my best friends, and fellow blog-mate William, who actually bought 2 of these cards for my parents at his recent card show in Raleigh, NC! William also sent me a Christmas package last week that will NEED to be posted soon, because it was simply incredible. To say the least, well, he's a heck of a guy and I'm so glad to consider him my friend! Anyways, getting to the cards, well, we'll start with the guy who always wants to be first...

Out of 1995 Upper Deck, it's none other than an on card autograph of "Mr. October", Reggie Jackson! This is part of one of the first certified autograph sets ever produced, and it just looks incredible! Attached with the card is a separate COA that has a matching code on it with the code on the back side of the card. Reggie was among the top 5 overall in guys I wanted an autograph of, and to be able to knock one of, and it being a card of this caliber is just too awesome!

Card number 2 was purchased by my mom on eBay! She changed her password to shoo me away from getting into the account, and boy do I miss buying things for myself! However, she did a great job choosing which card to knock off the Tier One relic set, in Ty Cobb! The Georgia Peach himself! Cobb is the oldest subject in the checklist, and the card has a piece of his very own bat! Talk about awesome! Sure, it's numbered pretty high (/399), but nonetheless, it's a card I would have never thought I would own! However, I think the last one is pretty darn good also...

From 2009 UD SPX, check this quad relic out! Not only is it the newest addition to my growing Robinson Cano PC, but it also features jersey relics worn by Derek Jeter; Jorge Posada; and um... Joe DiMaggio? Anybody know him? Someone told me he happened to get a hit in 56 straight games... he must be pretty good. Kidding aside, this card even beats out my Berra/Jeter/Posada/Cano quad relic I already had, and it's the first nice DiMaggio card I've gotten yet! Pretty darn sweet!

So, first of all, thanks SO much Mom and Dad for buying these for me! They're going to be 3 cornerstones of the collection, and I'll be proud to show them off one day! Also, again, thanks William for having such good taste in Yankees cards! Your post is coming soon man, but you know how much this means to me.

Merry Christmas Everyone! See Ya!

A New Set Idea! First 3 Out of the Way!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So recently I've dug my head into yet another set, but this one, unlike the 1961 Topps Set, is a modern day product. I am going to attempt the 2011 Topps Tier One "Top Shelf" relic set! Each card I am attempting to pick up is numbered out of 399 and features one piece of game used memorabilia from some of the best players the game has ever seen, to players that could get to that level at some point! There are 50 cards in the set, and due to the higher numbering, even some of the all time legends in the set's cards are selling dirt cheap! So, I was able to buy 3 of the cards recently, and they all came in within the past few days! Take a look:

The first card I bought was the bat card belonging to "Stan The Man", Stan Musial! I didn't have any memorabilia cards of Musial until this card came in, and I'm glad I do now. It would take an awful lot of money to finish off the trifecta and pick up a rookie card of his, so I probably shouldn't consider a Musial trifecta anytime soon! But the card cost about $12 and I feel like I did well on the price!

Relic number 2 is of current Giants ace Tim Lincecum! Lincecum has been one of my favorite pitchers in baseball over the past few years, and a lot of that respect came from having him in fantasy baseball last year, even though it wasn't his best year. It was all good though, because Verlander did most of the work in my rotation! Anyway, this one was numbered 394 of 399, and it's a piece of his jersey. A lot of the cards in this set have bat relics, which is okay, but I do sort of wish some of the older cards had some wool in them!  

The final card is an absolute beauty, even for a Red Sox card! It's the Jimmie Foxx bat relic! I literally probably had under 10 cards of Foxx in my entire collection, but this one certainly is a step up from anything else of his that I own. The bat piece in the card probably is the oldest piece of game used memorabilia I own, as Foxx played mostly through the 20's, 30's, and 40's! Fortunately, this set also contains a lot more old memorabilia, in Cobb, Sisler, Speaker, Hornsby, Ruth, and Gehrig, so I'm going to have my hands full! And oh by the way, I don't mean to brag but this card cost me $8.

So, 3 down, 47 to go! This set is absolutely beautiful, and when it's complete I will cherish it to say the very least! So, if anyone has any of these cards, for trade or for sale, please consider shooting me an email and letting me know if you want to try and work something out! Thanks everyone!

See Ya!

A Wonderful Hall of Fame Autograph Surprise from JP's Sports!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, about a month ago in the Long Island National card show, JP's Sports organized a large 1986 Mets World Series reunion show, featuring about 32 Mets players, plus Ralph Kiner and Bill Buckner. While most of the players are often attainable, one player lately hasn't been so attainable. Over the past year, he's suffered through a severe case of brain cancer, and has scared the baseball world with his survival chances. Fortunately, he is somehow recovering from the awful disease, and was doing well enough to sign at the show. Unfortunately, he cancelled about a week before the show, because while he was doing well, he wasn't ready to go to the signing. At that point, my card was off in the mail order, so it was too late.

Somehow, a week ago I received a special surprise in the mail...

It looks like the mail order items were able to be signed by "The Kid", Gary Carter! And, while it does have a little bit of a smearing issue, it sure does look great! You can tell Carter's signature is a little shaky but I'm so lucky and fortunate I was able to pick this one up for the collection! It was worth every penny for sure!

Before I go I want to wish Mr. Carter the best of luck on his battle with cancer. Cancer is the devil, and I really hope someday soon a cure will be discovered. Watching someone suffer with it is depressing and gives you images in your head you will never forget. 

Also, a big thank you to my good friends at JP's Sports and Rock Solid Promotions for the help getting this autograph! See Ya!

Triple Threads Addition to the PC!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, I hope everyone had themselves a nice Thanksgiving, filled with amazing food and some good football! Now we're on the road to Christmas, and it should be a nice way to cap off 2011. Anyways, getting back to what I normally do here, let's have a look at the most recent card I spent my money on off of eBay!

I saw this card with a few minutes left a couple weeks ago, and I knew immediately it would fit nicely into the collection. Out of 2011 Topps Triple Threads, this is a triple relic card numbered out of 36, featuring jersey relics from Boston's Jon Lester, New York's CC Sabathia, and Tampa Bay's David Price. All 3 of them are considered one of the top two pitchers on their respective teams, and they all play in the AL East, as shown by what the relics spell out. It's a really nice card to look at in person, as Triple Threads never fails to disappoint in appearance. I picked it up not only for my Yankees collection, but also because I like Price a lot as well. As for Lester, well, I respect him more than most Red Sox, but still, he's a Red Sox player. 

Anyways, I got the card for around $10 and I'm glad I purchased it to add to the collection! If you were a fan of either of these teams, would you buy the card even though it also features relic pieces from a rival team? 

See Ya!

Trade with James!

Hey everyone, Drew back here. Boy has it been a while. Getting back to the old form though, here is some mail I've been meaning to post for a while, courtesy of a loyal reader of mine named James. James contacted me recently asking about a possible trade, and I loved the offer and he sent me the cards a few weeks ago! Check them out:

We start with a few of the 1980 Topps Yankees cards he sent me. I've always liked the 1980 Topps set. Why? Absolutely no idea. But some of the photos, like on the Guidry, Randolph, and White cards, are very nice. It's a set that I probably will do at some point or another, but you know how slow and lazy I am. 

Next were a few more mixed 80's cards. I like the 1980 Guidry/J.R. Richard League Leaders card a lot. I read up on Richard one time, because he was on almost every league leader card for pitchers for a certain time span, yet nobody ever talks about him. He was unbelievable for a few years in the 1970's, but after that he had a stroke which basically caused his career to end. Following that he invested in unsuccessful businesses, got divorced multiple times, and went completely broke. He was actually homeless at one point. He now is a minister and has rose up from nothing again. His story is really interesting. 

Next were a whole bunch of 70's goodness! Oh, and the 1964 Topps Yankees "Young Aces" card featuring Al Downing and Jim Bouton! Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the 1974 Bucky Dent is a rookie card, and I also really like the Goose Gossage card from that year. And nothing is better than a few Hall of Famers in Kaline, Frank Robinson, and Bob Gibson!

Getting more modern; here are a few cards from the recent years. My favorite is definitely the Heritage card celebrating Ruth hitting 60 home runs. To me, besides Maris' 61 home run season, that season for Ruth is definitely the 2nd best year ever for a power hitter. 

The final card is pretty darn sweet, and was the main part of our trade. Out of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee, here is a triple relic of Derek Jeter; Robinson Cano; and Jorge Posada! Three of my favorite Yankees on one card? How sweet is that? The Jeter piece has a pinstripe, while the other two relics are from away jerseys. This is a card that isn't seen often, and when it's been on eBay it has held a little bit of value. Overall, I'm really glad to add this card not only to the growing Cano collection, but for the Yankees collection in general!

So thanks so much for the trade James, I really appreciate it! Alright everyone, in case I don't have anything up tomorrow I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! See Ya!

Cano Collection Heating Up!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, today started off extremely rough, with some very sad news regarding my family. However, while I have a little time to kill, lets take a look at some of my newest additions to my Robinson Cano collection!

Out of the new Topps Update series, I picked up this All Star game workout relic of his. Cano put on a clinic in the Home Run Derby this past season, and as soon as I saw that this card existed, I needed to grab a piece  of his jersey. I'm not quite sure when he wore this jersey but if its part of the jersey hes wearing in the picture on the card, well, that would be pretty sweet! I bought this one off of the bay a week or so ago, and I love the design of it for sure. For only a couple bucks, why not?

The second of my two recent pickups came courtesy of the good guys over at the Sports Card Haven! They get one box of majority of the newest products, and Ryan (pinetarsports on YouTube) breaks them live on video. I watch most of the breaks, and sometimes they pull some nice stuff. The catch is that they give away the best card in every box they open on the website, and all you have to do is leave a comment with a short review of the product they opened. Well, after they used some randomization tool, I ended up walking home a winner of the 2011 Allen & Ginter contest! And my prize you ask?

Just a bat card of my favorite player to collect. No big deal! Kidding aside, I love winning contests, they're great for the community and I like to support most of the people that run their own contests here and there. The best feeling is when you win something cool, and this certainly qualifies, as it adds yet another relic to my growing Cano PC! So, thank you so much to the guys at Sports Card Haven, I really appreciate it!

FYI, my contest should be coming within the next week, I've just been very busy and stressed out so I haven't gotten a chance to start it up yet!

See Ya!

A Few Recent eBay Purchases!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Dang, the last couple weeks have been awful on here, I haven't had time for anything! But I'm glad to be back here for now, because I have a couple of recent additions I'd like to show you all! Take a look:

First off, I have to say that I absolutely love the look of 2011 Topps Marquee! This here is a rookie autograph card from that very product of Rays phenom rookie Jeremy Hellickson. You all know my love for some of the Rays that came through the farm system around here in New York, such as Longoria; Shields; Hellickson; and even Josh Hamilton in his short minor league stint with the Devil Rays. This card was at a fairly low price, and for what I figured, a great price for one of his rookie autographs. It's on card, numbered out of 185, and I think it just looks incredible in person! 

Of course, many of the big offseason awards have started to be announced, and that means that this guy could come home with some hardware soon. Hellickson's great rookie season (13-10 W-L, 2.95 ERA, 117 Strikeouts) may give him a chance at taking home the AL Rookie of the Year award! I feel like the biggest 3 contenders for that award are him, as well as Royals' Eric Hosmer and my beloved Yankees' Ivan Nova. I'd be happy for either Hellickson or Nova, because either way they rank pretty high on my favorite players list!

The second and final pickup to show and tell for today is this 2011 Topps Triple Threads Unity autographed relic card of 2011 Silver Slugger winner Aramis Ramirez! This card was dirt cheap, only at a couple bucks, and for the year he gave me in fantasy baseball, I owed him a quick little $4-5 dollar pickup. I never really was a big fan of his, because he always seemed so injury prone and overrated. Well, he certainly proved me wrong in 2011, batting .306 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI. At this point I would take him over the ridiculously over expensive Alex Rodriguez, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. Maybe the Yankees should've put an ounce of thought in before they signed him to a 10 year contract.

Triple Threads has always been a nice looking product to me, although some people may disagree. Sure, it's very similar year in and year out, but with the new addition of the addition autograph and autographed-relic in these "Unity" designs makes for a cool chase. Plus, there are 3 different photo variations for each player in the checklist, which can be put together to make the Unity part complete. Although it's a sticker autograph, it's really shiny and just looks great in general. Nice job, Topps!

So, hopefully this will put me back on the blogging map, but we'll see! See Ya!

The Most Recent Package from William!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yes, I'm still alive. Laziness is definitely the worst disease for a writer, especially a writer stuck in school all day. Yippee! Anyways, continuing on my attempt at catching up, here are some cards William recently sent me for my Yankees collection, to go along with 2 new ball cubes he sent me for some of my non protected autographed baseballs!

First were some base cards of some of the newer releases, in Chrome, Lineage, Pro Debut, and Update. Fortunately, he's kept me up to date this year, with a few Yankees cards thrown in here and there from most of Topps' releases. I haven't bought close to anything pack/box wise this year, so I really can't say much about Topps this year. I do like the feel of the 2011 Chrome product though, CC being the first one I've gotten from the set thus far.

Next were a few mixed Yankees, including 2 of the 2011 Topps 60 players, Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada. The Mattingly and Jeter cards are part of the 60 Years of Topps set, and the Jeter is an original back. I could definitely use some of these cards to fill holes in my Yankees need lists!

He also had more inserts for me, including a gold parallel of the Curtis Granderson 2011 card! In fact, he has now sent me that card and Granderson's diamond parallel card, so he's certainly helping my little chase for Granderson cards! Who knows what his chances at MVP are, but he'll certainly finish in the top 5 in votes when its all said and done. Also, some of my favorite cards of the package were the three Kimball Champions minis of Gehrig, Berra, and Mattingly. I love the look of these cards, and if I was to be crazy enough to collect any of the insert sets from this year, that would be the one I'd do.

The final piece of the package was this sweet 2011 Topps Robinson Cano relic card, to join my growing personal collection of the reigning Home Run Derby Champion! Speaking of the derby, stay tuned really soon to see another recent pickup that has to do with Cano's big night! Anyways, this card really just looks great. I like how the jerseys are matching and the photo chosen is perfect for the card. It says he led the league in hits from 2005 to 2010 for a second baseman. Really? How much more do you need to narrow down stats just to see how they can fit Robby in the checklist! Go Topps!

So, thanks so much dude as always, you're the best! I'll have some stuff for you coming soon in a mailbox near you! (Hopefully it's your mailbox and not your neighbors) Anyways, See Ya!

Some Unexpected Amazing Pickups from Dad!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, about last week, Dad found a few deals at an antique shop. He came home with 5 cards, and I'll let them do most of the talking, because well, they are some pretty darn good ones to have!

First was this 1988 Topps Willie Randolph autographed card! Of course, this is an IP autograph pickup, and I don't know how legitimate this one is, but it looks good and the autograph looks sweet on the card! I don't have too much of Randolph other than my signed baseball of his, so it's cool to add this one to the collection!

Second was this 2003 Topps "Blue Chips" Brandon Phillips rookie card autograph! Phillips was one of my most wanted autographs of MLB's current second basemen, only behind Rickie Weeks in terms of who I don't have yet. Phillips has definitely been one of the best second basemen in the league for a few years now, and last year he posted a .300 batting average with 18 home runs and 82 RBI. I would take that in a second baseman anyday, but fortunately enough my Yankees have even better with Robinson Cano!

Well, it started off good, which I means it could only go down! From 2007 Bowman Heritage, here's a Carl Crawford black parallel autograph numbered to only 52! Crawford sure did have a disappointing year in Boston, but boy was he good for my fantasy team two years ago when I went on to win the championship! I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for my 2010 2nd round fantasy pick, but I sure wish he never signed with Boston! Regardless of that this card is pretty sweet looking, and while I probably will end up hanging onto it, I'll certainly take offers for it in exchange for any Yankees autos you're willing to lose!

So now we're down to the final two. Let me tell you it sure was difficult to choose which one to write about first, but I guess I had to save the autograph I didn't have yet for last! Both cards book for close to $100 if not more, and are certainly huge additions to my overflowing population of cards in my basement! 

We start with the Ripken boys! Out of the 2005 Donruss Signature Series product, this dual autograph of Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken is a beautiful card, and it definitely made my day! Cal is one of my favorite players in the Hall of Fame, just because he's just so classy and memorable, and will always be perhaps the biggest class act to ever play the game. The fact that he stayed and signed an autograph for every fan after the Orioles' games was remarkable and unheard of in the sports world filled with money and greed. I do have Ripken's autograph in his children's book I picked up off of Barnes & Noble, but this one is just a really sweet card in general. I didn't have a Bill Ripken autograph, but I'll always know him for his awesome 1989 Fleer card, and not for his mediocre career as a player and analyst on MLB Network. 

The final card, is a very classy card as well, out of the 2006 Upper Deck Reflections product. It's a dual autograph of perhaps the best father-son combo in baseball history, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.! I have always wanted to pick up an autograph of Junior Griffey, as he's by far one of the greatest players of our generation. It was great getting to see him play, even though I wasn't really around much during the good times of his career. He retired with 630 home runs, all of which had not been surrounded by the questions of steroid use that majority of the players of his time used to get an edge. Sure, we may never know if or not Griffey did use the roids', but I highly doubt he did. Dad also recently got me an autograph of Griffey Sr. pictured in a Yankees uniform, so it's kind of cool to have one as a Red too. Upper Deck designed this card really well and it just is great looking in person, numbered only 26 of 99!

Thanks so much Dad, seriously I appreciate this so much. High school can really be a drag sometimes but its you and so many of my other great friends that know how to put a smile on my face!

See Ya!

Mail from Ryan!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, it's catch up time now for me here, as I certainly have my share of stuff to post for now. As a blogger, you need to enjoy these moments while they last, because it sure does suck when you can't think about what to write about! Today, I'm gonna share with you guys what my good friend Ryan sent me a few weeks ago. Ryan and I have been talking on and off for a little while now, and he's definitely an awesome guy. I feel bad because I haven't found the time to hit him back yet for this package but I most certainly will in the coming days! For now, here's a look at my end of the deal:

First off were some mixed Yankees cards Ryan generously threw in, my favorite of course being the 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle card. Not too bad for a toss in! Okay, it's just a Topps insert guys, you all know I'd be worshiping the ground Ryan walks over if he actually sent me a real 56' Mantle! However I did need the insert so it's all good. I have to say, that Phil Hughes Gypsy Queen "Future Stars" card looks pretty sweet too.

To be totally honest, I didn't and still have absolutely no idea what these cut outs are. On one side of each of the 3 cut outs, there's a Yankee player (Griffey Sr., Murcer, Mayberry), and on the opposite side there are photos of Dave Kingman, Willie Wilson, and Mike Schmidt. They look cool with the facsimile autographs for sure, and the photographs used are pretty nice! If anyone could identify what these are I'd greatly appreciate it.

Well... I like the design at least! Kidding aside, here's a 2000 Pacific Prism AJ Burnett rookie card! AJ hasn't fared all that well in New York, and yes I do admit to be part of the growing clan that wants him out of the Bronx, but throughout his career he has had some of the best stuff in the game, although he's had some difficulty finding out how to use it. Hopefully next season he will!

Finally, the only part of the trade I knew I was getting all along were these 2 cards for my 1961 Topps set of Ray Semproch and Chet Nichols! With these 2 cards, I am now officially 400 cards away from completing the set! Oh joy! Both cards, particularly the Semproch, have some damage but I really don't care right now because they fill a spot in the set that can be improved on at any time in the future!

Well thank you Ryan for the set help and other goodies! I promise to have your stuff out very soon!

See Ya!

TTM #78- Yankee Legend!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, this is a very delayed post, but the day after we got back from the show, well, I got a pretty nice through the mail success, the first one in a long time!

My jaw dropped when I opened the SASE on the kitchen table containing the autograph of one of my personal favorite Yankees players of all time, Don Mattingly! Don appeared to have caught up on his Spring Training letter stash following the season, as I've seen many collectors end up with an autograph from "The Hitman" lately. Who knows if the autographs are actually his or not, but while they do have slight differences from his certified autographs, maybe he changed it up a little bit?

All in all I have to say the custom looks great, and I'm so glad I took a shot in the dark with one of my Spring Training attempts! I haven't sent any TTM's since June but I certainly plan on doing some new requests in the near future!

So Thanks Mr. Mattingly for adding a new autograph to my personal collection of yours!

See Ya!

2011 TriStar OBAK Football Box Break! Future Contest Coming Soon?

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, just recently I got an email from my good old friends at TriStar asking if I was interested in reviewing their newest football product, Obak! I gladly accepted the offer and Dad and I broke open a fresh box of the product two weeks ago or so. As promised, here is my review:

Base Cards: 103 (7 Doubles)

Well, in case any of you didn't realize, this Obak product offers a ton of variety. You can find cards of people involved in any way with football. First off are the players. Going back as far as Sammy Baugh and going as modern as the all time NFL points leader Morten Anderson, it offers a vast timeline of football history. But not only that, but the set also features a card of Vince Lombardi in his playing days, and even cards of the people who invented certain plays and equipment, as well as famous team owners and Hall of Famers. One thing I also love about the set is the inclusion of former US Presidents, majority of them even in their football uniforms back before their presidencies. Pretty cool!

The design is simple, but I like how the photo is cut out and put on a random design in the background. It offers a neat look back at some of footballs greatest memories. By the way, I also pulled 3 cards with a gray back variation: Jack Chevigny, Johnny Poe, and Eddie Lebaron. I'm not sure what the distinction of those are, but I guess they're kind of cool. 

Box Topper: Emlen Tunnell/Charles Follis /25

The connection between these 2 players is that Tunnell was the 1st African American inducted into Canton, while Follis was the 1st African American to ever play football. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of this design, as it is kind of boring to be honest, but it still serves as a cool part of the set. Plus, it's very limited, numbered only out of 25!

 
Minis: 23

I feel like minis have came a long way the past years. They started off as a cool concept, and at this point they serve as a "ughhhh another pointless parallel". Some people love them. I don't love them but I don't hate them either. I really think it would be cool if they did an Obak set in just mini form, like the original Obak cards. I feel like a product should be either all standard sized or all mini sized, because it just adds a lot to chase after. 

One thing I do like about the minis here is that the mini set is much smaller than the base set. At only 25 cards, I'm only 2 cards away from the entire set already! When you buy multiple boxes, it gives you plenty of duplicates, but if you're doing a one box break it's nice to knock off a lot of the cards without having to chase them around.

Green Base Parallel: 2 (Tunnell/Anderson)

TriStar did a much better job with the overwhelming amounts of parallels in this product. Last time I reviewed a box for them, it was a box of Obak baseball, there are an extreme amount of parallels in the box. This time around, I pulled about 6 in total, 2 being these green cards numbered out of 25 each! Not too bad at all. 

The last parallel was again a green parallel, this being a mini numbered to 25 of Earl Campbell! Not bad to have a card of one of the top running backs of all time with a low serial number and a nice design. 

On to the autographs! The first of the four promised autos was one of Charlie Ward, numbered 22 out of 50. Ward was a very skilled athlete, and was drafted by the Brewers in the 1993 MLB draft, followed by the Yankees in 1994. Also, he was a great tennis player, having played in the Arthur Ashe Amateur Tournament in 1994. But, his two sports he'll be remembered for most were basketball and football. While he went on to have a decent NBA career with the Knicks, Spurs, and Rockets, he shined in college football, winning the 1993 Heisman trophy. Definitely a neat autograph to own of a very good athlete!

Autographer number 2 was of another former Heisman Trophy winner, Andre Ware. Ware, along with Ward, is in the College Football Hall of Fame after his successful college career with Houston. He had a very rough NFL career, but will be widely remembered for his successful college career. He currently works for the Houston Texans radio broadcast team. 

The third ottograph just happened to be of the legendary number "00", Hall of Famer Jim Otto! Otto was one of the best centers of all time, making 9 AFL All Star selections and 3 Pro Bowls! He played his entire career with Oakland, and he was one of only 20 players to play every season the AFL league existed. The Sporting News ranked him as the 78th greatest football player of all time! 

And well, the last autograph was a bit of a surprise!

It was a 1/1 cut autograph of former Chiefs head coach and Hall of Famer Hank Stram! Stram led Kansas City (which was also the Dallas Texans at one point during the period) to 3 AFL Championship wins, as well as a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl IV! His career coaching record put him at a 57.5% percentage, and he is considered one of the best coaches in football history!

This is my 1st cut autograph in my collection, and while I know I'm going to give away a majority of the content from the box in a contest coming very soon, this one very well may stay here with me. All in all, I'm a big fan of this product! I think it has a very neat checklist and perception, and for that I give TriStar a strong A on this product!

Thank you so much to my good friends that work with TriStar and allowed me this opportunity! Stay tuned for a chance to win many of the cards from this box!

See Ya!

October 1st White Plains Card Show Recap! Part 6!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, there was one thing that hadn't been posted yet that I thought deserved it's own little special post! Well, a lot of you know about Dad and I's hot streaks in the past, winning the door prizes at the shows. I mean, between Mike, Dad, and I now, we've won them 5 times. We haven't cheated, but we've just gotten an extreme amount of luck. Just before we met our Jets players, we heard that a certain Joe won the first door prize! Dad took off out of the line, claimed it and came back with time to spare! Check it out:

Yep, we won an autographed bat by Don Larsen, with the perfect game inscription! At first thought, I wondered, why the heck did they want Larsen to sign a bat, I mean, he was a pitcher after all! But then, I remembered that maybe while he wasn't known for his bat, there was no DH rule when he pitched in the 50's and 60's, meaning that he did have to hit every fifth day. And actually, after having talked to William about it, and after him doing a little research, it turns out Larsen was a career .242 hitter, with 14 career home runs! Not too bad for a pitcher! He batted .306 in 49 total at bats in 1958, clubbing 4 home runs!

Of course, the point of the piece was not to emphasize Larsen's decent hitting career but to just have a nice piece signed by a Yankees great! I'm not disappointed with this whatsoever, and I'm glad because it came with JSA Authentication and a bat tube. This is my 1st of hopefully many more signed bats to come, and I guess it's a pretty darn good start for a Yankee fan like myself!

All in all, this card show lived up to the hype I had for weeks, about meeting some former great football players, and to have a good time. Thanks so much again to Dad for taking me and treating me all day as usual, and for my good friend Matt too for coming along and checking out the hobby from our angle!

See Ya!