School trumps sports cards... especially at the start of the school year. There just aren't enough hours in the day. So if you see a blog post published here during the work week, there's a pretty good chance I wrote the post over the weekend and scheduled it.
Not this one. Today we're celebrating a special occasion. It's Chris The Collector's 10th Anniversary... which he celebrated by busting open boxes and building special gift packages for supporters of his blog. I was fortunate to be one of the recipients.
The padded envelope he sent included several team bags stuffed with cards and packs. It took me just under two hours to sort and scan, so without further ado...
Let's start things off with a nice stack of A's cards:
As you can see, he sent me singles from each of the first three sets in the product line. As much as I love these cards, the Rickey Henderson 1955 Rails and Sails insert is my favorite card in the lot.
2010 Sportkings Series D #180
I was also excited to see this uncirculated Gwynn card. Technically I already own this card, but this particular copy is still in the original top loader pulled from the pack. In other words... I'm considering this to be a variation and keeping it.
He also sent me some nice shiny cards for my two favorite football team collections:
He also sent me a four pack of Japanese baseball players, including the very popular Munetaka Murakami:
I don't write about them often, but for decades the Los Angeles Lakers were my favorite basketball team. This guy was a big reason I became a fan:
1981-82 Topps #20
Kareem would go on to play eight more seasons with the Lakers and score over 12,000 more points than depicted on the back of this trading card:
This is arguably the coolest card in his anniversary package. It's kind of hard to see, but this card has a wax stain on the front. Back in the 80's, I would have been bummed to pull this card out of a pack. Four decades later, I consider it to be an under-appreciated parallel.
Speaking of parallels, check out this color-matched Elway for my Stanford PC:
2024 Prizm Draft Picks Ruby Wave #37
And here's my latest addition to my Ray Lewis PC:
2025 Donruss Optic Light It Up #17
He also tossed in a pair of Joe Montana cards:
2009 Topps National Chicle Mini #C46
2024 Topps Chrome 1974 Refractor #74TF-18
These may or may not have been intended for my students, but both went into the Montana section of my hall of fame binder.
Rounding out the gift package were three unopened packs. The first two will be added to my rainy day pack stash:
1991 Stadium Club 2nd Series Pack
2025 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Hobby Pack
Back in 1991, this Stadium Club pack would have been a very hot commodity... as collectors were ripping into them in hopes of pulling Jeff Bagwell or Phil Plantier rookie cards. Today... the 2025 Chrome Platinum Anniversary is the much hotter product.
Chris also included this 1986 Topps rack pack:
1986 Topps Rack Pack
And after reading Jim's post this morning, I realized that I accidentally left out some left-handed pitchers. Sorry about that Chris. Don't have time to scan them before getting ready for work, so I'll show them off on Sunday with the Garvey.
Until then...
Happy anniversary Chris! And thank you for this very generous giveaway. Although I think it's sad that you made the decision to retire from collecting cards at the end of the year... I understand that we all must make big decisions that are best for ourselves and our families. I'm glad that you plan on keeping your blog alive... as I always look forward to reading the different series you written.
Happy Friday and sayonara!
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