Variety = Spice of Life

It's no secret.  I like seeing team logos on my cards.  But, who the heck needs team logos when you're dealing with animals, politicians, planets, professional eaters, and individual sports like surfing, tennis, and golf?

That's exactly what you'll get when you dive into a box of Goodwin Champions.

Okay... so there are a few guys like Lebron James, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan who play or played on teams.  However they're definitely in the minority.  So if you're looking for baseball, basketball, football, and hockey cards... then there are probably better options for you out there.

On the other hand... if you're a collector who appreciates variety... then this product rivals Allen and Ginter.

Last week, Mario over at Wax Heaven generously sent me a box of 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions and it didn't take long for me to rip through the twenty packs.

Upper Deck guarantees an average of three hits per box, which range from autographs, memorabilia cards, manufactured relics, to Wonders of the Universe lenticular cards.

As a guy who appreciates the "hits", I figured I'd kick things off with the three that I pulled:

2017 UD Goodwin Champions Goudey Memorabilia #GM-TF

This is a great looking memorabilia card, but I've never heard of Mr. Fritz.  According to the ATP World Tour, he's currently ranked #68 in men's singles.  He's only twenty years old, so maybe he'll end up being the next Roger Federer.

2017 UD Goodwin Champions Dual Premium Memorabilia #M2-MH

Now I've definitely heard of this guy.  He's currently the undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion who was supposed to fight last night at UFC 226.  Unfortunately due to health concerns he was pulled from the card earlier in the week.

Holloway was born in Waianae, which is where my father spent part of his childhood.  This card will make a sweet addition to my Hawaii PC.

2017 UD Goodwin Champions Wonders of the Universe #U-10

I'm a huge fan of lenticular cards and the idea of having cards featuring planets and other celestial objects is pretty cool.  However... I think of this as more of an insert card, than a "hit".

Neptune is considered a tier one "hit", which is the most common.  Although these were inserted into only 1:64 packs, which makes it a fairly tough pull.  Maybe that's why Upper Deck considers them "hits".

Moving along to the base set.  There are 150 cards in the 2017 Goodwin Champions set, which is broken down into three 50 card groups:  portraits (#1 - #50), landscapes (#51 - #100), and black and white SP's (#101 - #150).

I pulled 39 portraits...

39 landscapes...

And 5 black and white SP's.

Collation was perfect!  No duplicates.

Overall... I really love the look of the base card set which is why I've decided to try to complete the 100 card portrait and landscape set.

Here's a closer look at two of my favorite base cards:

2017 Goodwin Champions #1

U.S. President trading cards are cool!  And this particular design is one of the coolest.  I'm just bummed that Upper Deck chose to only create cards for the first nine U.S. Presidents.  I would have loved to have seen a President Reagan or a President Obama card.

2017 Goodwin Champions #71

One of the 2017 Goodwin Champions subsets is animals and they're fantastic.  This particular card was hands down my favorite card in the box.  Yes.  That includes the Holloway.  It's simply breathtakingly beautiful.

The last twelve cards from the box were inserts and parallels.  Here are the five Goudey inserts I pulled:

These five cards are actually three different Goudey sets:  presidents (1:22 packs), animals (1:13 packs), and the "everyone" else set (1:8 packs).

The remaining seven cards were mini parallels:

Regular Minis (1:4 Packs)

Black and White Minis (Randomly Inserted)

Canvas Mini (Randomly Inserted)

Tall blondes aren't usually my cup of tea, but after looking Ms. Bouchard up on Google... I've gotta admit that she's very easy on the eyes.

Well there you have it: 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions.  Overall I was very impressed with the overall look of the cards... especially the U.S. Presidents and animal subsets.  Variety is truly the spice of life.  

What about you?

Are you a Goodwin Champions kind of collector?

Once again... a huge thank you to Mario a.k.a Wax Heaven for hooking me up with this very generous gift.  It definitely helped brighten up my week.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

On May 14th, I challenged myself to walk 10,000 steps every day for 56 straight days (sort of as a tribute to Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak).

2003 UD Play Ball The Yankee Clipper: 1941 Streak #S-56

Today was Day #56.  It wasn't easy.  There were a few days I considered giving up, but I'm so grateful that I didn't.

Will the streak continue?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  It should continue for at least the next five days.  However next Saturday, I might just be like Wally Pipp and take the day off.

League of Legends

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of a legend is a famous or important person who is known for doing something extremely well.

When I started my blog back in 2010, it was blogs like Night Owl Cards, 30 Year Old  Cardboard, Stale Gum, Sports Card Uncensored, Cardboard Junkie, The Baseball Card Blog, and Wax Heaven that were my inspiration.

All of these guys are card blogging legends that have paved the way for hundreds of other awesome card blogs.  I remember thinking it was so cool seeing my blog's name on some of their blogrolls.

This might sound a little sad... or "needy", but... at the time it gave me a sense of "accomplishment".

Anyways... seeing my name on their blogrolls is one thing.  However receiving a care package from one of them was like seeing my favorite player tip their hat after making eye contact with me.  It totally made my day.

Last week, Mario Alejandro who runs Wax Heaven reached out to me and told me he had a package of cards with my name on it.

A few days later this 2017 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions box arrived in my mailbox:

Year in and year out, this product never seems to disappoint.  Yesterday I kicked off my three day weekend by coming home and tearing into this box.  I'll share the results either tomorrow or Sunday.

In the meantime... thank you so much Mario!  I'm not only talking about this overly generous box of cards.  Wax Heaven helped fill in the missing pieces when I returned to the hobby back in 2007.  Your product reviews, hobby news, and entertaining posts were truly invaluable.

It's great to see that you're back on the keyboard and I look forward to reading and commenting on future posts.  I know that you don't expect anything in return... but you can expect to see a stack of Canseco's in your mailbox in the near future.

As for the rest of my readers and fellow bloggers...

Who are some of your blogging inspirations?

Happy Friday and sayonara!

All Autograph Team: Vol. 7 (Team USA Alumni)

At the end of May, I thought I had wrapped up my All Autograph Team series with my Archives Fan Favorites autographs.  Then out of nowhere, the idea for another team popped into my head this past weekend.

However before I reveal my 7th All Autograph Team, I wanna give Kenny (over at Torren' Up Cards) credit for being the inspiration for this post.  Back in April he asked collectors to build a team with different autographs from our collections.

In honor of America's 242nd birthday, I decided to create one consisting of Team USA Baseball alumni.

This particular team will be using the following guidelines:

#1:  All autographs will be on-card, pack pulled autographs.

#2:  None of these autographs have made appearances on any of my other All Autograph Teams.

#3:  This team will consist of the standard starting nine, a designated hitter, a starting pitcher, and a reliever.

Now that we've established the rules, let's get to the cards...

Catcher:  Buster Posey (2004/2017)

2013 Five Star Autographs #FSBA-BP

First Baseman:  Will Clark (1984)

2013 Five Star Autographs #FSBA-WC

Second Baseman:  Paul Molitor (1973)

2013 Five Star Autographs #FSBA-PMO

Shortstop:  Derek Jeter (2006/2009)

1997 Bowman's Best Autograph #82

Third Baseman:  Chipper Jones (2006/2009)

1998 Bowman's Best Autograph #5

Left Fielder:  Giancarlo Stanton (2013/2017)

2013 Five Star Autographs #FSBA-GS

Center Fielder:  Ken Griffey Jr. (2006)

2007 UD Masterpieces 5x7 Box Topper Auto #MP-2

Right Fielder:  Dave Winfield (1973)

2007 UD Sweet Spot Classic Legendary Auto #SPS-DW

Designated Hitter:  Frank Thomas (1987)

2002 UD Sweet Spot Signatures #FT

Starting Pitcher:  Clayton Kershaw (2005)

2009 Topps 206 Framed Mini Auto #FMA-22

Relief Pitcher:  John Smoltz (1985)

2013 Five Star Autographs #FSBA-JS

If you're wondering why almost half of this team is composed of 2013 Five Star autographs... it's because that's one of my favorite sets in recent years.  I've purchased twenty to twenty-five of the signatures from that set and it just so happened that five of them were Team USA alumni.

I realize that I'm missing some big names like Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, and Mike Trout.  Unfortunately... I either don't own their signatures... or in the case of KB... the autograph I do have isn't on-card.

Well that's it for today.  I hope everyone is enjoying a safe and enjoyable 4th of July with their friends and family.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

All About Perspective

Sports cards play a huge role in my life.  They allow me to support my favorite athletes and sports teams.  Socially they help me reach out to other collectors who share a similar interest.  Sorting and organizing cards provide an outlet for my OCD issues.  And as crazy as this may sound... collecting helps put time and dates of personal events into perspective.

I've never really been good with dates.  Years seem to blend together faster than ever.  But sports cards help remind me of certain events on my personal timeline and today I'll be documenting one of them.

A few weeks ago, my district gave me a certificate recognizing my 20 years of service.  I started reminiscing and thinking about my rookie year as a teacher and just how far I've grown professionally.  Eventually my mind wandered and I started thinking about athletes who made their professional debuts the same year as me.

Obviously hundreds of professional athletes made their debuts in 1998, so to keep things reasonable, I'm going to focus on three popular athletes who are still active in their careers.

According to Baseball Reference, 208 different players made their MLB debuts in 1998.  Twenty-six of them were MLB all-stars.  Three have a shot at Cooperstown.  But only one guy is still playing.

That guy is...

1997 Bowman Chrome #182

Beltre kicked off his MLB career about two months before I began my public school teaching career.  On June 24th, 1998...  he started at third base in front of over 40,000 people at Dodger Stadium.  That evening he ripped a double off of Angel's ace Chuck Finley during the bottom of the 2nd inning and drove in Paul Konerko in his first MLB at-bat.

Now in his 21st season, he's still entertaining fans and driving in teammates.

Out of all of the NFL and NHL players I found who made their professional debut in 1998, none are still actively playing in either league.  However... there might be some undrafted kicker or punter in the NFL that I don't know about.

This shouldn't be too big of a surprise.  Both of these sports tend to be more physical than baseball and basketball, which presumably wears down the body faster.

Speaking of basketball... there are only two NBA players who debuted during the 1998 season and are planning to return this fall to play in their 21st seasons.

1998/99 SPx Finite #219

1998/99 Topps Chrome #199

The 1998 NBA Lockout delayed their debuts, but eventually both of these guys took the court on February 5th, 1999.

Dirk scored two points and dished out four assists against the Seattle SuperSonics, while VC's light burned slightly brighter against the Boston Celtics scoring sixteen points against fellow rookie Paul Pierce.

I haven't followed basketball in years, but after checking out their career statistics on Basketball Reference, both guys will probably become hall of famers.

Well that's it for now.  In terms of sheer longevity, I still have a ways to go to catch some all-time greats like Nolan Ryan who played an astounding twenty-seven seasons in the MLB or Gordie Howe who played twenty-six seasons in the NHL and six additional seasons in the WHA.  But as long as I stay healthy, I don't think it should be a problem.

Most of these guys got paid to do what they love.  I'm lucky enough to be able to say the same thing.

Happy Monday and sayonara!