If all good things must come to an end, then that's something I can live with... because it makes me appreciate those things a wee bit more.
The perfect example is the advent calendar Ryan sent me last month. Advent calendars have a built-in end date. So today, we'll see what goodies he put together for me for Day 19 through Day 25.
We left off with blaster box of 2022 Topps Series 2 baseball. We'll kick off this post with another blaster box...
December 19th
2023 Topps Athletes Unlimited Blaster Box
Based on their website, it's a network of professional sports leagues made up of elite women softball, volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse players. This should be an interesting break, but I might sit on this box until I can figure out who I'm looking for.
December 20th
The unopened box streak continues...
2022/23 Topps NBL Hobby Box
December 21st
The box streak might have come to an end... but the foreign sports league trend continues with twenty-one packs of 2022 Epoch JLPGA cards:
2022 Epoch JLPGA Top Singles #22
December 22nd
Ryan wasn't sure if I collected Garbage Pail Kids cards.
But in 2012, I purchased a collection at a card show for under $100 and it included complete sets of Series 2,3,5,6,7,8,9, and 10. Plus a partial set of Series 4 that was only missing 5 cards.
Although I haven't purchased any of the newer products, I look forward to opening up the 2022 Topps Chrome GPK Series 5 hanger box in hopes of finding some cool refractors.
As for the micro figures, I already popped those open:
Each of them came with tiny variations of the original cards:
Super tiny... but super nostalgic and super duper cool.
2021 Topps GPK Micro Figures Cards #3b
2021 Topps GPK Micro Figures Cards #10a
December 23rd
Next up are the first packs I opened in 2024:
2023 Topps Big League Baseball
Ripped these open on January 2nd and pulled these:
It was nice to pull a Tatis base card, but this was my favorite pull:
2023 Topps Big League Roll Call Wildstyle #RC-13
The 24th present was this box of 2022 Topps Chrome NPB:
The actual box was a little damaged... but the cards were just fine:
2022 Topps Chrome NPB 1958 Gold Refractor #58-20 (#'d 37/50)
As much as I enjoy collecting NPB cards, I don't really know much about their players. This is one of the exceptions. The card show dealer with those Godzilla cards told me about him and his ability to hit the long ball. The only problem is if he does eventually play in the MLB, it won't be for several years. I guess the waiting game begins now.
December 25th
Many of you know that I'm a huge Beastie Boys fan, so this is quite the Christmas present. I've never seen this before, but I love that it combines my interest in the group and my heritage.
It's printed on glossy poster paper with the following measurements: 7.125" x 10.125". Not exactly sure how these were distributed, but Ryan thinks these were passed out at their concert in Osaka back in 1999. If so... that's pretty flippin' awesome.
Japanese Beastie Boys Hello Nasty Advertisement
Not 100% sure how I'm going to display it... but this is way too cool to be tucked away in a binder somewhere. I'll figure out something.
Holy smokes. That was a ton of fun. But like I stated at the start of the post... all good things must come to an end. As bloggers, we're constantly reminded by the extreme generosity passed around our community of collectors. This custom built advent calendar is just another reminder.
Thank you Ryan for putting this together for me. I truly appreciate the time, effort, and money you put into such a generous care package. Looking forward to getting together soon and catching up.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
9 comments:
Very cool, and very generous. Thanks for sharing all the goodies you got. The Athletes Unlimited is interesting.
It was a pleasure looking at the package Ryan sent you. Absolutely fantastic.
I may have to do something like this next year to myself
Oh cool, that Munetaka Murakami card is definitely a good pull! He set the single season home run record for Japanese nationals with 56 in 2022 (not the NPB record though, which is 60 by Wladimir Balentien) and he had an absolutely monster year.
Last year though he tapered off quite a bit. He was in the WBC in the lineup next to Ohtani but didn't do so great, and he "only" hit 31 home runs which had fans a bit disappointed (his team the Swallows also went from winning the pennant in 2022 to finishing second to last in 2023).
Definitely a guy to watch though, he'll probably end up in MLB after the 2025 season.
I actually opened a few packs of the NBL product looking for cards of Antonius Cleveland. He's the most famous player from the school I attended for undergrad and appeared briefly in the NBA before going overseas. It's actually a fun product for college basketball people, some good names who washed out of the NBA, but were very good prior to.
I have enjoyed reading the posts with the Advent Calendar. Many great gifts for sure. I really like that Francisco Lindor insert from Big League Baseball. I have not seen that card before.
It definitely was fun to put together. Given that we are moving to Japan this year, your 2024 calendar should be even more fun to put together. Cheers buddy!
the angels in order - i think it's great that card companies are going out of their way to put out cards of female athletes. for years, we had to rely on sports illustrated for kids.
johnnys trading spot - looking forward to opening up the box you sent me a few months ago. plus there are at least two pwes from you that are sitting on my desk.
matt - you should. it's a very cool idea.
sean - sure hope he bounces back in 2024. it'll help stir up the hype for him coming to mlb in 2026.
the snorting bull - thanks for the info. didn't realize it was guys who already made the nba and are now overseas. i was hoping the nbl was more of a minor league for the nba.
ohiotim - i didn't really spend a lot of time looking at that lindor before sliding it into my binder collection. interesting to see him in his street clothes.
sumomenkoman - lol. hope you and your wife have fun living in japan. can't wait to hear the stories about sumo card finds over there.
The Beasties advertisement is just beyond cool! It's also one of those items where you think "where did he even find such a thing?".
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