Are You Ready for Some Football?

Maybe.  Maybe not.  Seems like baseball card posts receive at least twice as many views as non-baseball card related posts.  That's why I typically stick to writing about baseball cards.

However.... I have enjoyed collecting a variety of sports since the late 80's/early 90's.  And over the past few months... several people have donated some football cards to my collection.  I figured I'd kick off the 2022 NFL season with a bunch of them today...

Let's start off with this gorgeous looking Favre insert:

2020 Panini Mosaic Old School Mosaic #OS15

Not a fan of Panini MLB cards... but if I ever find a blaster of Panini Mosaic football on Target's website or store shelves, I'll be adding it to my cart.  I'm actually tempted to build this shiny stained glass looking set.

John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me that card... along with these other Mosaic parallels:

2020 Panini Mosaic Reactive Blue #283

2020 Panini Mosaic Camo Pink #292

2020 Panini Mosaic Reactive Green #294

None of these scans do these parallels any justice.  These are essentially Panini's version of refractors and when the light hits them, they shine.  Yup.  Call me a fan.

Here are a bunch of other football parallels and inserts John sent my way:

2021 Panini Prizm Draft Picks Orange Ice Prizm #12

Goff is Cal's all-time passing leader... and it's not even close.  This is a nice addition to that PC.

Love me some acetate...

2020 Panini Illusions Clear Shots #13

Marino was one of my favorite quarterbacks back in the 80's and 90's.  Shame he never won a Super Bowl.

2020 Panini Illusions Living Legends #LL12

The 49ers on the other hand... won a bunch during that era.  I couldn't stand them when I was a kid.  Still don't.   But Rice is one of only a handful of 49ers I enjoy collecting.  Doubt I have ever mentioned it on this blog, but I actually have a small PC of his.

2020 Select Purple Prizm Die-Cut #118

Although... I disliked him as much as the team he played for.  Over the years I've grown to admire him and his contributions to the sport and was happy to slide this into the Montana section of my football insert binder.

And here are three new cards for my Ray Lewis and Ed Reed PC's...

2020 Panini Phoenix Fire Forged #2

2020 Panini Select Unbreakable #U14

2019 Panini Illusions Living Legends #LL-ER

Thank you John for sending me all of those football inserts and parallels.  My football collection thanks you too.

Next up are some Prizm cards... which seem to be one of the most popular football products out there.  Greg over at Crocodile Sports Cards sent me the entire Seattle Seahawks team set over the summer:

This team set is loaded with familiar names... and I love the inclusion of guys like Bosworth and Alexander.  I also like that it fits perfectly into a 9-pocket page.

He also sent me a new single for the Ed Reed PC:

2020 Panini Prizm #46

And rounding out this football card post are two "mask" cards sent by Woody over at CCW a while back:

2021 Donruss #29

2021 Donruss #155

Both of these are photo variants.  More importantly these two are arguably the two best players on my two favorite football teams:  the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers.

I've been pretty spoiled as a football fan as both franchises have had a taste of success over the past decade or so.  But the Seattle Seahawks will be lucky to win five games this year.  I'd be very happy with one win over the San Francisco 49ers.

As for the Green Bay Packers... anything less than a trip to the playoffs will be a disappointment.  The loss of Davante hurt, but my expectations for the Packers haven't been this high in years.  Hopefully high expectations doesn't lead to heartache.

Thank you John, Greg, and Woody for these generous contributions to my football cards collection.  I actually have one more football card post that's in the process of being written.  I'm going to try and hammer that out and publish it this weekend.  Here's a hint... with the help of some bloggers I've reached a very cool milestone on my hobby timeline.  Stay tuned.

And for all of those baseball cards fans... I should be back to writing posts for you in the upcoming weeks.

Happy Thursday 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!

TWiB: An Interesting Interview, Soaring Prices, and a Nice Display Piece

This is the calm before the storm.  A three day weekend before the last week of the first semester.  Next week will be a little crazy for me as I'll be working on grades and preparing for my next group of students.  The goal is to recharge the batteries today and tomorrow... lesson plan on Monday.  We'll see how well I'm able to stick to those plans.

As for cards... I just made a really cool purchase yesterday.  Hopefully it'll arrive next week and share it on the blog.  It pretty much sucked up my entire hobby budget for the month of January... but the purchase completed a set I'm excited to cross off the list.  Stay tuned.

Okay, let's focus on other collectors around the blogosphere in This Week in Blogging...

#1:  Two First Names

Tony Burbs added a new autograph to his Cubs All-Time Roster Collection and shared an awesome Mystery Science Theater 3000 quote on his Wrigley Field Roster Jenga this week:  "Never trust a man with two first names."

1981 Topps Coca-Cola Phillies #3

2006 Bowman Chrome Refractor #112

Jason Adam was the name of the Cub.  I had never heard of the guy, but the card was truly gorgeous.  Anyway... the post inspired me to dig through my collection and find some players I collect with two first names.

1973 Kellogg's #36

1981 Kellogg's #13

Steve Carlton and Frank Thomas are obvious picks.  Joe Rudi was a key member of The Swingin' A's.  As for Parker... Collecting Cutch blogged about him earlier in the week, so I added him to this post in his honor.

#2:  Behind the Scenes

When it comes to history... Bo knows.  He apparently knows card photographers too, because he recently wrote about an interview he had with Lou Sauritch who was one of Fleer's original photographers and shared it on his blog:  Baseball Cards Come to Life!.

In the interview, Mr. Sauritch tells the story behind this famous Tim Flannery card:

1988 Fleer #582

I won't spoil the surprise... click on the link above and read about it for yourself.  He also shares some inside info on the process of how a photograph turns into a baseball card... as well as a few interesting stories about some popular athletes among collectors.  My favorite involved Juan Benenguer:

1987 Topps #303

According to Mr. Sauritch, he noticed the word "a$$ho1e" written under the brim of Juan's cap in one of his photographs.  He asked Juan about it the next time they met and he said "Yeah, when Roger Craig comes to take me out, I flip the hat up at him”.

I'm not sure if this was the photograph he was referring to, but there is something written under the brim of his cap.

#3:  History Buff

I'm a huge fan of history.  That's why I was excited to see Paul write a post about the completion of the first transcontinental railroad over on his blog: Card Boarded.  In the post he shares a card from the 2009 Topps American Heritage set:

2009 Topps American Heritage

If you're not familiar with this set, it's loaded with historical figures ranging from politicians to civil rights leaders to entertainers.

That same year, Topps released another set that was very, very similar called Topps Heritage American Heroes Edition:

2009 Topps Heritage American Heroes Edition

Both sets utilize past Topps baseball card designs.

I'm just not sure why Topps didn't combine these two products and turn it into one large set... or spread this out over two years.  Regardless... both are really cool sets for anyone who has an interest in Americana or U.S. history.

#4:  He's Back

Beckett's Ryan Cracknell created a list of twelve legendary Tiger Woods cards.  I only own two of them.

2001 Upper Deck Golf #1

One of them is his 2001 Upper Deck rookie card... which according to Cracknell... is probably his most iconic card.

It's also readily available.  Upper Deck produced a ton of this stuff.  That's why I was blown away when I saw that raw copies of this card are currently selling in the $45 to $80 range.  There have been several copies that have sold for more than that.

I picked up a 12 box (retail) case of 2001 Upper Deck Golf back in 2010 for $119.95.  Right now these boxes are selling for over $200 each.  This is insane!  And I love it.

As for my other Tiger, it was part of one of my greatest flea market finds (remember those?).  If you're interested... click here.

#5:  This Makes More Sense than Tiger

On Tuesday, Sean over at Getting Back into Baseball Cards....in Japan blogged about the sale of a 1975-76 Calbee set which went for about $8,500.  If that sounds like a lot of money for a 70's set... you should know that it contains 1,472 cards and there are only two known completed sets out there.

1975 Calbee #1315

Two years ago, Sean sent me a pair of cards from this set... and one of them was the legendary Sadaharu Oh.  It's one of my favorite Japanese baseball cards in the collection.

#6:  Card Shows & Hip Hop

If you like card shows and The Notorious B.I.G.... then I encourage you to check out Cardboard Hogs post from earlier in the week.  He creatively used one of Biggie's songs to help him summarize his recent trip to a card show.

I won't provide any spoilers.  Instead I'll use this space to show off one of my all-time favorite hip hop albums:

The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die (1994)

As well as show off one of my last card show purchases:

2013 UD Ultimate Collection Ultimate Patch #UJ-JR

I purchased this card off of my buddy the weekend before California went into a lockdown back in March of last year.

This card is a perfect example of why it's important to read the fine print on "patch" cards.  Was this patch part of a jersey worn by Jerry Rice?  Yup.  Was the jersey used in a game?  Nope.  Jerry wore it specifically so Upper Deck could chop it up and use it in this card.  No wonder my buddy sold this (and another card) for $10.

#7:  The House that Jack Built

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures #SPV-TG

Rebel Coyote wrote a post on Wednesday that reminded me that the demolition of Jack Murphy Stadium has begun.

1984 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

1985 Mother's Cookies Padres #28

I'm pretty sure I've attended a few Padres games at The Murph... but the only one I remember specifically took place on a road trips down to Tijuana with my buddy back in the 90's.

#8:  Go Pack Go!

2015 Panini Stickers #316

John Sharp asked his readers who they were rooting for in the playoffs.  He also wanted to know what's the last football card we purchased.

I'm obviously rooting for the Green Bay Packers.  And this Aaron Rodgers is one of the football cards I picked up in my latest online dime box purchase.  Okay... technically it's a sticker and not a card.  But if it's good enough for Trading CARD Database... it's good enough for me.

#9:  A Great Display Piece

1985 Donruss Puzzle

I'll wrap up another This Week in Blogging post with a project that Daniel over at It's like having my very own Card Shop is currently working on.  He's in the process of reorganizing his card room and found a frame that will display the old school Donruss puzzles.

1987 Donruss Puzzle

This is something I considered doing myself... but we both ran into the same issue: lack of wall space.  However after seeing how his Yogi Berra turned out... I might have to pick up one of these frames and make some room.  If I did... I'd either go with Lou Gehrig or Roberto Clemente.

What about you...

Do you have a favorite Donruss puzzle?

Do you have any favorite athletes with two first names?

Did you ever buy into the Tiger Woods hype?

When was the last card show you attended?

That's it for now.  I hope all of you enjoy your holiday weekend.  Stay safe.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!