Variety is the Spice of Life

Two more days until Christmas and my head still hurts every time I cough.  The good news is my appetite has returned and my throat doesn't sting as much when I swallow.  Hopefully I'll be close to 100% by the time Santa arrives and delivers his presents.

Speaking of presents... Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent a rock solid holiday care package that contained three bricks of cards which hit a variety of my collections.  I had a lot of fun sifting through them and adding new cards to my binders.  It's funny.  Sorting isn't too bad as long as you stay on top of it.

2008 Topps Chrome Refractor #102

2003 Fleer Double Header #229-230

Anyways... there's lots of stuff to show off... so let's get to it.  The first brick contained a bunch of Japanese baseball players ranging from Iwakuma to Nomo to Suzuki.

The next brick contained a bunch of individual guys I collect from a variety of sports:

2000 Upper Deck Hit Brigade #H2

2002 Fleer Tradition Diamond Tributes #2DT

2019 Leather and Lumber Bat Control #BP-5

2014 Prestige Behind the Jersey Numbers #4

2000 Fleer Tradition #331

2004 Donruss Stat Line Career #173

2007 Topps Hit Parade #HP20

1999-00 Upper Deck Jamboree #J1

1999-00 Upper Deck Jamboree #J8

He even included some San Francisco 49er cards for my students:

2007 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor #TC90

1998 Crown Royale Pillars of the Game #21

The 49ers have officially replaced the Golden State Warriors as the most popular Bay Area team.  It's crazy how many students have traded in their Curry and Durant jerseys for Garoppolo and Bosa jerseys.

The final brick contained the "hits":

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom Memorabilia #TSP-22

2007 SPx Young Star Signatures #YS-HA

2006 Bowman Sterling #BS-JRh

2016 Panini Contenders Draft Picks College Ticket #141

2008-09 UD Ice Glacial Graphs #GG-DS

I honestly can't remember the last time I added an autograph to my Stanford Cardinals or Devin Setoguchi collections.

2016 Score Veteran Helmets #12

And rounding out the care package were these two beautiful cards of Tyler Ervin:

2016 Panini Gala Cinematic Rookie Signatures #CRS-TE

2016 Panini Clear Vision Signatures #10

If you're wondering why Dennis sent me autographs of this Houston Texans running back... it's because he's a fellow SJSU Spartan.  The last Spartan I actually kept tabs on was James Jones a few years ago.  But now that Ervin is  with the Green Bay Packers, it looks like I'll be checking on him as well.

Thanks Dennis for this very generous holiday care package!  Can't remember the last time I wrote about so many of my collections in one post.  I hope you and your family have a safe holiday season.  I'll get something out to you in January to kick off 2020.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Just My Luck

It's just my luck.  Holiday break is finally here and my body has decided it's the perfect time to get sick.  I shouldn't be surprised, because it's happened before.  In fact it seems like this happens about every other year.

Anyways... I was originally going to write about a care package that Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent earlier this week, but I just don't have the energy right now.  My head hurts and I'm going to try to hit the sack early tonight.

But before I do, here's the second half of my recent Target purchase.  Last Saturday, I wrote about how I used a 20% off coupon to pick up a 2019 Topps baseball factory set.  In addition to that set, I also used the coupon to pick up three PS4 games:

Death Stranding

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Target was running a special on their video games: buy two games, get one free.  Tack on the 20% coupon and my 5% Red Card discount and the total was less than $100.

I wasn't planning on opening these up until 2020, but if I'm gonna be bedridden the next few days... maybe I'll throw one of these into my PS4 to pass the time.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Blog Inspired Purchase

This post is about a blog inspired purchase I made a few days ago.  For the past two years, Mario over at The Baseball Card Blog (formerly Wax Heaven) has been on a mission to track down Mike Cramer.  If you're not familiar with Mr. Cramer, he's the guy who started Pacific Trading Cards.  Yeah... the same company that produced baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer cards back in the day.

I could paraphrase everything that Mario wrote, but you're better off clicking on the link above if you're interested in learning more about him.

Today's post is about a purchase I made after reading Mario's post:

1975 Circle K Phoenix Giants #26 Michael Cramer

What you're looking at is Mr. Cramer's lone trading card.  As soon as I saw it, I wanted a copy for my Cheap Cool Cards binder.  He looks like he's straight out of a 70's rock band with that hair as he's holding up what looks to be a 1948 Leaf Babe Ruth, a 1954 Bowman Ted Williams, and a 1951 Topps Connie Mack All-Stars Standup of Jimmy Collins.

Here's a look at the back:

In addition to starting up Pacific Trading Cards, it looks like he also formed the Arizona Sports Collectors Association.  The back also states that back in the mid 70's, Cramer had already accumulated nearly 500,000 cards.  I wonder if he held onto his collection and how long his club lasted.

Anyways... getting back to the card.  I actually picked up four copies, because the eBay dealer offered combined shipping and a discount if you purchased multiple copies.  So if you're interested in owning a copy for your collection, just leave a comment saying so down below.  I've reserved one for SumoMenkoMan, but the other two are up for grabs.  If more than two people are interested, I'll randomize the names.

It's not super valuable, but it's a cool card for anyone out there who enjoyed Pacific Trading Cards back in the 90's.

Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the company back then.  I thought the excessive gold foil was gaudy.  However I've started to appreciate their cards the past few years.  Here is one of my favorite inserts they released:

2000 Pacific Ornaments #17

I actually used this ornament to decorate my tree a few years ago.  You can click here to see it.

If laser cuts are your thing, check out this insert:

1999 Aurora On Deck Laser Cuts #16

It's kind of hard to see in the scan, but the Padres logo has been cut out with the laser.  And rounding out this post is my favorite Pacific cards is my Tony Gwynn Cramer's Choice box topper:

1999 Pacific Crown Royale Cramer's Choice Award #9

What about you...

Are you a fan of the stuff Mike Cramer and his company produced back in the day?  Do you have any favorites?

Do you want one of my extra Mike Cramer cards?

Looking forward to reading your responses.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

The $200 Collection

Back in September, my buddy, Ben, sold me a box filled with 98 manufactured patches, memorabilia cards, and autographs for $200.  There weren't any $100 cards included in the collection, but there were plenty of $10 to $25 cards.   And 80% were hall of famers, while the remainder of the group were hall of very good guys and fan favorites.  This definitely ranks up there as one of the best bargains I've purchased in recent years.

Today I figured I'd show off the stuff I scanned and immediately entered into my collection.

2013 Topps Update Record Holder Rings #RHR-RH

2014 Topps Class Rings #CR-14

2003 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game #FG-123

I'm not sure if you've ever taken a look at this set's checklist, but it's a monster.  There were 150 cards with each one featuring six different versions.  That's 900 cards!

And just in case you forgot... here's what a quality game-used jersey card certificate of authenticity looks like:

Okay... moving along.  Here's one of my least favorite manufactured patch sets of all-time:

2010 Topps Update Manufactured Commemorative Patch #MCP126

I'm not one of those collectors who hate on manufactured patches, but this card just doesn't seem finished.  But it's a new Reggie for my Oakland A's collection.

Here's an even nicer Reggie:

2008 Triple Threads Relics Emerald #TTR-99

Here's a really cool addition to my Montreal Expos PC:

2012 Triple Threads Flashback Relics #TTFR-23

This is actually the back of the card.  The front features Gary Carter with the New York Mets:

Who doesn't appreciate The Kid?

Next up are some of my player collection additions and one of my favorite cards in the purchase was this Ichiro:

2010 Topps 206 Silk Mini Cycle Framed #NNO

I've always appreciated the framed silk parallels that Topps produced.  They look good and are limited enough to keep collectors interested in them.

Of course Topps would rather produce commemorative patches instead...

2010 Topps Manufactured Commemorative Patch #MCP-49

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well designed commemorative patch, but there's just way too much wasted space on this card.  Oh well.  It's still a new card for my Ichiro collection.

Let's go ahead and get the rest of the manufactured patches out of the way...

2009 Topps Legends of the Game Manufactured Patch #LPR-67

2013 Topps MVP Award Winners Commemorative Relics #MVP-JR

These two Jackie Robinson manufactured relics are on opposite sides of the spectrum.  The MVP Award pin relic is 10x nicer than the patch card with gray space surrounding it.

Here's the lone Frank Thomas in the purchase:

2016 Gypsy Queen Mini Relics #GMR-FT

We'll never know if this splinter was from The Big Hurt's bat... or from a 2x4 Topps had laying around... but the bottom line is I like the look of these frame relics.

2015 Topps Triple Threads Relic Combos #TTRC-MSJ

Three first ballot hall of famers on one card.  Not too shabby.  This one went straight into my Greg Maddux PC.

Whoever originally sold this collection to Ben sure opened up a lot of Triple Threads.  I'm not a fan of the sticker autographs, but the relic cards are quite lovely.

As for the rest of the stuff, I'm not sure if I'll go and scan the bulk of it.  I might do a summary post and highlight my favorite five or something like that.  If not, I'm sure you'll see singles pop up here and there in future posts.

Well that's all I have for now.  Here's your question of the day:

What are your thoughts on manufactured relics produced by Topps?  Any favorites?

Although I was pretty tough on the bulk of the manufactured relics in this post, I don't hate them.  They have a place in my collection.  When done correctly, I'll actually go out of my way to purchase them if they're cheap.

2013 Topps Manufactured Rookie Card Patch #RCP-14

My favorites were the 2013 Topps Rookie Card Manufactured Patches.  I completed that set back in 2014.  If you're bored, you can click here to see it.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!