A Short Break from Baseball

The 2024 NFL Draft is finally over.  No.  I didn't watch it, but I did keep an eye on who the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers drafted.

Let's face it.  As much as I love baseball (my favorite sport)... neither of my teams are doing well.  In fact, I've been following the A's and Padres more closely this year than last year... and neither have winning records.

That's why today is a good day to take a short break from baseball and focus on some football cards and memorabilia that a few fellow bloggers sent my way.

Let's start off with this cool postcard featuring my all-time favorite football player:

Rod over at Padrographs included this in his latest care package.  At first I thought that it was signed on the front.  But while trying to figure out the history behind this postcard... I discovered it's a facsimile signature.

There's also another facsimile on the back:

It's printed on the left side with the Bible verse.  Steve did sign his first name when he responded to Rod's question.

At one point, I climbed into the #1 spot in the TCDB rankings among Largent collectors.  I've slid back down to #3 and was hoping this postcard would help me out.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on their site.  No worries... it's still a cool collectible for my collection.

I received another Largent autograph from another Pacific Northwest blogger:

1997 Upper Deck NFL Legends Autograph #AL-8

Kevin (aka The Diamond King) included this with some Japanese MLB cards (that I'll show off in another post).  The signature is a tad bit faded, but if you look closely you can see he signed it across his legs.

I actually have a copy of this card for my Largent collection, but this card is a huge addition to my Damaged Card PC.

Next up are some Seahawks and Packers rookies and inserts from Woody over at Sports Card Forum:

I don't open up a lot of football, so it's nice to add rookie cards of guys like Boye Mafe and newer inserts of Brett Favre:

2022 Donruss Press Proof Blue #368

2022 Score First Ballot #FB-BF

Woody also tossed in this sweet rookie card of Kam Chancellor:

2012 Topps #157

I've always been a huge fan of hard hitting safeties... and Bam Bam is one of my all-time favorites.  A member of the Legion of Boom, he was selected to the Pro Bowl four times in his first eight seasons.  Sadly his career was cut short with a severe neck injury.  However it's only a matter of time before he becomes a member of the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor.

Moving along, let's check out this jersey of the #2 pick in the 1993 NFL Draft that Chris, The Collector sent me last year:

Before Russell Wilson wore #3 for the Hawks... Mirer did.  Although he's remembered by many fans as being a bust, I'll proudly wear this jersey during the season.  I'm sure there will be a ton of kids who are scratching their heads wondering who this guy is.  But it'll give some of my coworkers a chance to reminisce (and probably laugh).

Chris also sent me some cards... including this rookie card of Seattle's leading rusher the past two seasons:

2022 Panini Chronicles #PA-13

And some cool San Jose Sharks cards:

2018-19 UD MVP NHL Player Credentials Access #NHL-JP

2021-22 OPC Platinum Red Surge #298

Don't really have enough new Sharks to justify it's own post... so I figured I'd lump it into this one.  Sadly... I haven't been following the San Jose Sharks as closely as I did when Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Joe Pavelski were teammates.

In fact there are only a handful of guys I can name on the current Sharks roster... and William Eklund is one of them.

Let's wrap things up with two more football items: 

1993 CARDZ Team NFL The Flintstones Set

The first is a complete set of Flintstone NFL cards from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Last Christmas I found a partial set of these in my office.  I started purchasing singles on Sportlots, but now it looks like I don't have to anymore.

I'm sitting on a bunch of cards that need to be scanned from Johnny.  He sent me several care packages dating back to last year that I'm still organizing.  Not going to be able to fit them into today's post, but I will wrap things up with a baseball card he sent me that's related to the gridiron:

2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP151

I know the Broncos and their fans wish they could forget Russell's tenure in Denver... but I'm still a fan of him.  There was part of me that was secretly hoping he'd be traded back to Seattle this past off season.  Hopefully he can lead the Steelers past the Wild Card round this upcoming season.  If he does... I'll quietly root for him unless he ends up facing his old team or the Packers in the Super Bowl.

Hope at least a few people out there appreciate this football post as much as I appreciate the bloggers who sent me these cards and collectibles.

Thank you Rod, Kevin, Woody, Chris, and John!  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Very Bright and Blue Monday

Mondays suck.  Maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic, but it's definitely my least favorite day of the week.  Let's brighten things up with some happy music to kick off the work week...

This song is so cheerful and merry.  It never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Winning card related contests also has the ability to turn a frown upside down and within a four week span, I happened to win two of them.

Every January, Collector's Crack holds his Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web contest.  This year CaptKirk42 won the grand prize... and I walked away with the door prize.  Luck was definitely on my side... as there were fifty-two names entered into the randomizer.  After three randomizations... my name wound up on top.  He sent me two large stacks of Seattle Seahawks cards.  Here are a few of my favorites...

2013 Panini Crown Royale #82

2015 Panini Prestige Captains Collection #18

2013 Topps Legends in the Making #LM-ML

2010 Topps Chrome X-Fractor #C53

On Saturday, I wrote about how it's going to be tough watching the Seahawks play this year as they rebuild.  Luckily... we'll always have Super Bowl XLVIII.  All four of these guys contributed to the win that day.

Eight years earlier... before Russell Wilson and the Legion of Boom brought the city of Seattle a title, the Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL.

2004 SPx Spectrum #110 (#'d 04/25)

2003 Bowman's Best #101

Both of these Marcuses played in that game and both were first round picks by Seattle.  Unfortunately Tubbs' career was derailed by injuries.  But Trufant played ten seasons for the Hawks and was a Pro Bowler in 2007.

The final two cards I want to share features two players who weren't on either of those Super Bowl teams, but they were fan favorites...

1997 PROflick FlickBall #16

I'm pretty sure this is the first PROflick card I've owned.  I will never get tired of adding interesting oddball stuff like this to my collection.

But my favorite card of this prize package was this Chris Warren...

1995 Pacific Triple Folders #13

It's hard to see from this scan, but it's actually a tiny folder that when laid flat... opens up to reveal this:

This card is just another example of why the 90's were so cool.

The second prize package I won is from Matt over at Sport Card Collectors... who happens to be a fellow collector who appreciates awesome cards like that Chris Warren.  However instead of winning cards from the 90's, his contest involved some super shiny cards from his 2021 Finest box break.

After seeing the original post, I was crossing my fingers and hoping to add this card to my collection:

2021 Finest Autographs #FA-JT

As many of you know... I love collecting autographs and this is my first hard signed card of Realmuto.

The prize package also included this rookie card autograph of Brailyn Marquez:

2021 Finest Orange Refractor Autograph #FA-BM (#'d 08/25)

I wasn't familiar with this guy.  But now that I have a signed rookie card numbered to 25, I guess I'll be quietly rooting for him moving forward.

Matt's box was a Marquez hot box, because he also pulled a blue refractor:

2021 Finest Sky Blue Refractor #37 (#'d 128/300)

2021 Finest Purple Aqua Vapor Refractor #98 (#'d 239/250)

2021 Finest Blue Refractor #82 (#'d 037/150)

I decided to show off all three blue refractors included in the prize package at the same time.  At first glance, you might think these are all from the same set, but actually they are three different shades of blue.

The last card in the prize package was this base refractor of the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year:

2021 Finest Refractor #64

If you want a shot at winning cards like these, then I encourage you to head over to Matt's blog.  He's sponsored by Topps and routinely writes reviews on many of their latest products and hosts giveaways from these breaks.

If football cards are more your style, then head over to Cynical Buddha's blog where he hosts his annual Super Bowl contest.

Thank you Matt and Cynical Buddha for hosting both of these contests!  Thinking about these contest wins will definitely brighten my Monday.

Everyone else... just replay the Mr. Blue Sky video and hopefully your Monday will be as bright as mine.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

The Price Was Right

Don't worry.  The Chronicles of Fuji isn't turning into a football card blog.  I realize there have been a lot of posts lately focused on football, but this one should tie up some loose ends so I I can get back to writing about baseball.

One of the loose ends were some dollar box cards I purchased at the Serramonte Mall Sports Cards, Toys & Collectibles Show that took place earlier in the month...

1997 Skybox Autographics #NNO

1997 Skybox Autographics #NNO

First up are a pair of on-card autographs for my Bay Area PC.  Neither of these guys had long or memorable NFL careers, but I do remember Pat Barnes.  Brian Manning?  Never heard of him.

2004 Playoff Honors Game Day Souvenirs #GS-1

Ahman Green is the Green Bay Packers' career rushing leader.  He also has the second most rushing touchdowns in franchise history behind hall of fame running back, Jim Taylor.

2014 Topps Valor Jumbo Relic #VJR-EL

Eddie Lacy rushed for over 1,100 yards in each of his first two seasons with the Green Bay Packers and won the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2013.  Injuries hampered the rest of his time with the Packers.  Haven't heard his name in years, but this is a pretty cool looking relic card for a buck.

2018 Donruss Optic Rookie Threads #RT-RP

Rashaad Penny wrapped up the 2021 season with three monster games.  Not sure he'll be back with the Seahawks, but I'm hoping he (and Russell) will be in the Hawks huddle in 2022.

By the way... the title of this post stems from a post over at cards as i see them last week.  Jim mentioned that he finds most relic cards these days irrelevant.  I think most collectors feel like him, but I commented that I'm still intrigued by them if the price is right.  In the case of these three memorabilia cards, they were.

The second half of this post are highlights from 4 PWE's I received from Elliptical Man over the course of a few weeks.  Two of them were for two separate NFL Playoff contests he held over on his blog, The View from the Third Floor.  I'm guessing the other two were just generous mailings.  If I'm mistaken Elliptical Man, please let me know in the comment section down below.

Let's start off with some football he sent my way...

1983 Topps #389

If you're sensing a little déjà vu, it's because I showed off another 1983 Topps Steve Largent in a post a week ago.  I'm totally okay with receiving duplicates when it involves Topps base cards of my favorite players... and this was hands down the coolest card out of the four PWE's.

Here are four other cool Seattle Seahawks cards Elliptical Man sent my way:

I grew up rooting for Dave Krieg during the 80's.  Did you know he connected with Steve Largent for 46 touchdown passes?  Krieg was the quarterback who threw the most touchdown passes to Largent... and Largent was the receiver who caught the most touchdown passes from Krieg.

The Topps base card of Beast Mode was much appreciated.  I may or may not eventually get to him one day for the Topps Base Card Run Project.  And I'll gladly provide a loving home for any unwanted Russell Wilson cards... even if there's a chance he's not with the Seahawks next season.

Up next are some Green Bay Packers...

2011 Topps #247

This card commemorates the Green Bay Packer's last Super Bowl Championship and features a WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt cameo.  Ahhh... good times.

Charles Woodson is arguably one of my favorite defensive players of all-time.  I've never created a list, but he's up there in the Top 5.  The 2011 Topps base card of Rodgers is awesome... for the same reasons I sited for the Beast Mode card.  And just like Russell Wilson, I will never turn down Aaron Rodgers cards.

Okay baseball fans... thank you for your patience.  Elliptical Man also sent me four cards for my Japanese PC:

And he hit a grand slam, because I needed all four of these cards.  Not going to lie... usually when I receive cards of Japanese MLB players, I'd say 50% end up going into my duplicate box.  Not this time.  All four made it into the binders.

By the way... if there's anyone out there who also collects Japanese baseball players, please comment down below.  I have hundreds of duplicates that I'd love to pay it forward.

Last but not least were some cards for my Damaged Card PC.  Let's start with the card that made it into the binder:

1983 Donruss #4

It's hard to tell from the scan, but this card is pretty mangled.  Here's another view:

I'm pretty picky about which cards make it into the binder, but ultimately this card made it in because of my love for 80's Diamond Kings and hall of famers.

The other card that caught my eye was this Maury Wills:

1972 Topps #438

This card is very off-centered and has a printing mark running down the middle of the card, but I decided it fit my vintage binder better than the Damaged Card PC.

The back of the card is interesting, because I was expecting to see a blurb on Wills or one of those Topps advertisements.  Instead it talks about Graig Nettles and his single season record for double plays turned as a third baseman (which still stands to this day).

After doing some research (with the help of COMC and Baseballcardpedia), I discovered that 11 of the 12 In-Action cards from 1972 Topps Series #4 feature these highlights from the 1971 season.  The lone exception is card #444 Ken Henderson which has an advertisement for the Series 5 & 6 puzzle backs.

Thank you Elliptical Man!  Not only for sending me these cards, but for always taking a few minutes out of your day to comment on my posts.

February Break is over... and it's back into the classroom again.  Happy Monday and sayonara!