Retail Repack Adventures #15

So last Sunday morning I was minding my own business watching TV and then, out of nowhere, boom, the power goes out. Most times, when my power goes out, it's only out for a few minutes and then comes back. Not this time. I reported the outage and got a text update back saying the estimated time for restoration is two hours from when I reported it (so roughly noon). I figured what better way to keep myself occupied than by organizing some cards and tearing into a repack.

Since the power was out, I had to take pictures of everything using my phone. While I've never been all that great at taking pictures of cards, I think I found a good way to do it. I took pictures for some other posts coming up soon and they turned out well enough that I might have a new preferred way to show off cards as scanning can be rather tedious, especially when there's a lot to do, and it means I have to hole up in the bedroom away from everyone. Anyway, I digress. Here's the contents of the repack and it looks oddly familiar, packs and all, as if it was a clone from the previous repack. There's two packs of the TeenyMates, two of the Panini Draft Picks, a Babe Ruth pack, and 2016 Topps Heritage, plus a 50-card bonanza.

First up, the TeenyMates packs. I looked over the back of the packs before opening and it mentioned glow in the dark figures. So guess what came out of the very first pack? Yep, a glow in the dark figure which I'll admit is pretty cool. I kinda like these little dudes but let's see what else is contained within.

Now the highlights from the 50-card mini box. Much like the other box, it started off with a Toys R' Us purple parallel, this time of Aroldis Chapman. Also, bonus points for the throwback uniform. 

A few 2016 Topps Red Sox cards of David Ortiz and David Price from the team set. 

And a few randoms from the mass of 89 Topps that made up about a third of the box. I'll admit, it was kind of neat getting a card of Terry Francona when he was playing for the Indians, long before he was managing them. Also, check out Oddibe's custom warmup jacket.

The contents of the two packs of the Panini Draft Picks. I'll keep exactly two of these, Nick Howard and Justus Sheffield. The rest will find their way into either the trade box or Goodwill donation bag. I didn't bother with the Babe Ruth pack as it has been set aside, unopened, for a new home.

Finally, the 9-card Heritage pack. The best card here is the Rod Carew flashbacks insert but the most colorful is definitely the Erick Aybar card.

This repack definitely felt like a dud, the same exact packs as the last repack, only a handful of redeeming cards from the 50-card mini box, but the TeenyMates figures were pretty cool at least. As for the power outage, it turns out it was caused by a squirrel that somehow found it's way into a relay box.

You've Got Mail #29: Bob Walk the Plank

This will be brief as Matt from BWTP hit my mailbox with three cards of awesome last month.

First, this Aroldis Chapman Topps Tribute card. I really like the design on this with the jersey in the shape of a diamond. I'm not sure what type of uniform Chapman has on in the picture but I think it might be one of those uniforms from a Military Appreciation Day or something like that.

Next, this really cool Devin Mesoraco autographed card. It really sucks that Mesoraco is out for the year for the second straight year but Tucker Barnhart has proved to be a more that suitable replacement. I met Mesoraco once at the Reds Caravan during the offseason and he's a really nice dude.

Finally, this really cool Edd Roush Panini card. Look at the serial number ... it's numbered 2/5 which is awesome! I really love old timers on cards like this and this is probably one of my favorites in my collection now.

Matt, thanks a lot for the cards! I'm sorry that the PWE I sent you back in March got lost in the mail. I just sent you a nice package full of Pirates and Penguins. Hopefully that makes it to you in good time.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was yesterday which means lot of fun! My mom stopped by and we all went out for lunch at one of my favorite places, Paxton's Grill, in Loveland.

As an appetizer, we got their pretzel nuggets with homemade queso sauce. These are always a great decision.

The main course for me was the "Big Paxton" which is a 10-oz burger topped with bacon, american cheese, and swiss cheese on a kaiser bun. The waffle fries that come on the side are amazing, better even than Chik-Fil-A.

After lunch, we came back home and I tore into the blogger packages that had come in over the past few weeks. In the interest of space, I'll feature my favorites. First up, a nice batch from Angus at Dawg Day Cards ...

This was my favorite out of Angus's Christmas card. It's an Anthony Munoz scratch and win card from McDonald's in 1986. 

This batch of commemorative Wayne Gretzky cards was really cool too. Judging by the back of them, it looks like they are some sort of oddballs from Kraft. Angus also threw in some Bengals stickers and a couple other random cards for a nice PWE.

Next up, a package from Julie of A Cracked Bat that I thought got lost in the mail! She contacted me the day before Thanksgiving offering up some of Reds throwbacks from the Update set and sent along a nice assortment of Reds!

These are the Update throwback cards that sparked this whole thing. Since the Reds don't do a whole lot of throwback days, these have to be from the game last April celebrating the 1990 World Series team.

Tony Perez cards are always welcome!

These two are absolutely beautiful cards. Triple Threads is a product that is always out of my budget so these are the first cards I've ever gotten from that particular product.

Diamond Kings are my favorite cards from 2015 and these framed parallels are just another reason why. These cards have great artwork and I'm completely fine with the fact that Panini can't use team names and logos.

Next up, a package from Tony at Off Hiatus Baseball who contacted me via Twitter about sending me a few things.

 

These are a few of the oddballs that were included. The Mathews card is from Circle K (and I had zero clue that gas stations had cards) and the Vic Davalillo coin is from the 1960s.

There were also a bunch of Indians cards from 1984 Topps that will help out with my set build. Any extras will go towards my Indians collection. Yes, I collect Indians cards as well as Reds cards now.

Being the Brewers fan that he is, Tony included some Brewers from both 1980 Topps and 1982 Donruss, both being sets I'm working on. 

Last, but not least, is a package all the way from France, courtesy of Kevin at The Card Papoy!

First up, this Aroldis Chapman memorabilia card which I was not expecting at all but was completely welcome.

I always dig mid 90s releases and these are really cool.

Kevin also sent a ton of 1994 Upper Deck cards, which is one of my favorite sets from the mid 90s. Some highlights from the stack are below.

A big thank you to Angus, Julie, Tony, and Kevin for sending these and making my birthday that much better! Hope everyone has a great Christmas week!

Bengals and Stingers and ... Other Stuff!

I had some extra cash a few weeks ago but I didn't have time to make a trek 45 minutes up the road to my favorite card shop. So instead, I picked up a few items from my COMC want list. My budget was $25 (including shipping), here's what I procured ...

 Two 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA Cincinnati Stingers Cards

I finally got my hands on some Cincinnati Stingers cards and not only that, they're late 70s O-Pee-Chee cards, which absolutely no one has around here (believe me, I've asked). These are the best ones I could get for my budget and a good way to get my Stingers collection off to a nice start. My goal is to buy some Stingers cards every COMC order and eventually get all of them as this will accomplish two things ... 1) I'll have a bunch of Stingers cards and 2) I'll have a bunch of vintage hockey cards.

2011 Timeless Treasures Changing Stripes Materials Boomer Esiason

So far I've been pretty selective in purchasing cards for my football collection as I really don't want it to get watered down. This card is not only a dual jersey, but has both a piece of a Bengals jersey and a Jets jersey on it, the two teams that everyone remember Boomer Esiason playing for.

2014 Panini National Treasures Team Trios - A.J. Green/Andy Dalton/Giovani Bernard

THIS!! I couldn't believe this card fit into my budget! Not only is it #'d out of 99, it's three different styles of pieces of three of the top guys right now on the Bengals. Definitely a good find here.

2014-15 Upper Deck Ice Martin Brodeur 

As I've stated before, one of my collecting goals is to acquire all Martin Brodeur cards with him as a member of the Blues. This was the main card I wanted for my collection, and pretty much the only reason I've been wanting to buy packs of UD Ice, however I don't want to spend $15 on a pack. Thinking I'll just buy singles then.

2012 Gridiron Rookie Gridiron Gems Combo Materials Mohamed Sanu

Pretty nice card of Mohamed Sanu here, one that would probably be expensive if I bought it at the flea market or local card show. Double jerseys are always nice and this will display nice next to the triple jersey I mentioned above.

Other Stuff!

To cap off my order, I picked a random assortment of stuff, some UFC (Duke is a distant cousin of mine and Gracie won 3 of the first 4 UFC tournaments), some wrestling (Tazz was always a favorite of mine in the original ECW), an Aroldis Chapman numbered out of 299, a 1986 Boomer Esiason, and Oscar Robertson as a member of the long departed Cincinnati Royals even though I don't collect much basketball. 

I'd say this was a pretty successful order and once some more extra cash arrives, I'll pick up a few more things.