The 2024 Blogger National

The National Sports Collectors Convention is a bucket list item that I hope cross off one of these years.  Unfortunately there are a few roadblocks that I've mentioned in the past.  Until then... I'm content with attending local card shows and flea markets.

Plus there is Matt's annual blog bat-around:  The Blogger National 2024.

If you're not familiar with The Blogger National, it's an opportunity for bloggers who aren't attending the show to connect with each other by showing off some of our favorite (or coolest) cards or sharing a recent mail day.

I'm still in the process of catching up on (not so) recent mail days, so I'm gonna show off some of my favorite cards from a COMC haul from 2023 and a Reader X care package from earlier in the year.

Let's start of with the my favorite athlete of all-time:

2023 Archives 1957 Topps Hit Stars #57HS-5

Xavier sent me a few different Gwynns, but this is the one that stood out to me.  It features the 1957 Topps Hit Stars design that featured entertainers from the era.  I recently purchased a card from the set, because it was one of my mom's favorite singers.

Here are a few other favorites from his care package:

2022 Archives #305

Love this photo of Ohtani!  Wasn't familiar with the set design, but apparently it's from the 1954 Topps Scoops which focused on major events in world history.

2023 Topps Chrome Refractor #97

Last season, I was so stoked to see a Fuji playing for the A's.  His career in Oakland didn't last long... as he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles after only a few months.  That being said... I'm excited to add new (especially A's) cards of him to the collection.

It's sad that the Oakland A's will play their final game at the Oakland Coliseum exactly two months from now.  Next season... if I want to attend an MLB game, it'll have to be at Oracle Park:

2023 Allen & Ginter Only In... #OI-24

I should have posted this card back in May when I went there to see a Giants game with my cousin from Hawaii.  Unfortunately... I dropped the ball and didn't see this card until this week.

Time to switch gears and change sports.  Xavier's care packages contain cards for a bunch of my collections, including basketball.  He sent me a lot of Steph Curry and other Warriors cards for my students.  Plus a nice stack of Los Angeles Lakers for me.

Here's one featuring my childhood favorite:

1992-93 Archives #41

I absolutely love this card!  It's so cool to see Byron featured on my favorite 80's baseball card design.  Outside of adding a Kobe card here and there... I haven't given my Lakers PC a lot of love the past decade or so.  Maybe I need to start chasing down Byron cards and give him his own binder on the shelf.

The final Xavier card of the post features a really cool insert card of Joe Pavelski:

2014-15 Ultra Buckets #BB-24

Earlier in the week, Pavs announced his retirement after eighteen seasons in the NHL.  Thirteen of those seasons were with the San Jose Sharks.  During his tenure the Sharks made the playoffs twelve times and Pavelski slowly climbed up the franchise leader board in almost every statistical category.

Staying with The Big Pavelski... but switching to a COMC mail day that goes back to early 2023... here's a minor league card of him:

2006-07 Choice AHL Top Prospects #49

Thanks for all of the awesome memories Little Joe!  Enjoy your retirement.

Next up, Big Joe:

2010-11 Pinnacle City Lights Materials #70

Cityscape cards are awesome!  But they're extra special when they feature your hometown.  Behind Thornton you get a glimpse of downtown San Jose.

And one more Shark I purchased on COMC:

1994-95 Finest Refractor #159

Once upon a time, Jeff Friesen was my favorite San Jose Shark.  If you don't follow hockey, you probably aren't familiar with him... but there was a time when he was #2 on the Sharks all-time scoring list.

Rounding out this blog bat-around is this cool coin card:

1997 Fleer Super Bowl XXXI Commemorative #NNO

I purchased this card off of COMC back in 2021 before hearing about the whole welfare scandal.

I'm a big fan of 90's cardboard ingenuity.  Fleer went through a phase where they embedded coins into special inserts.  This one celebrated Favre and the Green Bay Packers victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.

The bottom line is Favre might not be cool, but this card is.  And so is this blog bat-around.

Thank you Matt for kicking it off.  Thank you Xavier for the cool cards you sent me (back in January).  And thank you to everyone else who took the time to read this super long post.

Happy Friday and sayonara!