Ripping Some Racing Cards

Has there ever been a product from a sport you don't necessarily collect that you've really wanted to get? That's the way it is for me with the 2017 Donruss racing cards. Now, I'm not an avid NASCAR watcher but I do watch a race from time to time, mainly the big ones like Daytona and what not. When Panini announced last year that they were getting into the NASCAR card business, I'll admit, I was a bit curious. I read some reviews of their initial offerings and the cards looked good but it wasn't anything to really draw me in to getting a pack or two. However, when I saw the preview and details for Donruss racing, I'll admit I was intrigued. Then, I saw two breaks over on the Sport Card Collectors blog and that sealed the deal, I had to get some packs for myself, which is what I did on my most recent card shop visit.

Here's the base design. It harkens back to the 1990 Donruss baseball cards with the name titled and written in script. Not only are there Monster Energy Series (aka Sprint Cup Series) drivers in the set, there are also drivers from the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series.

Here's some of the horizontal base driver cards. This is the only real negative on this set for me and the picture is horizontal but the name and nameplate are vertical. The photos are pretty nice though, especially the Kyle Busch card with the flag in the background.

The nice thing about this is that it's more that just pictures of drivers on cards in the base set. There are cards that show off the particular cards with a split screen type of effect for the standard design and an alternate design. This gives a casual watcher (like me!) an idea of what the car looks like for a particular driver.

There are also cards featuring the pit crews of certain drivers. That's pretty cool if you ask me as it gives the crews some recognition.

As is the case with Donruss, the inserts are plentiful. I'm not sure if these would be considered "cracked ice" or not but regardless, they are really nice, especially the Richard Petty card.

Another one of the insert sets are 84 Donruss throwbacks. Don't believe me that they're throwbacks? Just have a look at Kyle Petty's hair.

Here are the rest of the inserts I pulled. It's nice that Panini did Race Kings cards much like they do Diamond Kings for baseball, Court Kings for basketball, etc. Opening these packs was a nice change of pace and really left me wanting more. It's always nice to crack open some packs of cards of something new and I must say I'm definitely a fan of this product.

2014-15 Panini NHL Stickers

I'm not much of a sticker person to be honest but a bunch of these packs were thrown in as a free gift from the same Dave & Adam's order that produced the Ghostbusters and Donruss boxes. There were eight packs taped together. I'm only going to open one pack here so this will be short and I probably won't have much to say about these.

Eberle was probably the best thing I got out of this pack. There's something about the western Canada teams I like, mainly because they're mired in relative obscurity since NBC doesn't carry their games. This must be some sort of insert or parallel, not really sure. Regardless, it'll go in my hockey binder.

Nothing exciting in the remainder of the pack with these cards. The players I know I kept and the rest went to my son so he can start a collection of them. I've saved the remaining packs for him as he really liked getting the stickers so it's a reward he earns when he's good. Overall, I wouldn't have gotten these but seeing as they were a free gift, I won't complain too much. 

Card Show Report Pt. 1: A Sampling of 2016

For a Father's Day present, my wife let me have my choice of card shows to go to. There were three happening in June, one on June 4th at the Wright State Nutter Center, and two on Father's Day weekend itself, with a small show at a local card shop on that Saturday and a large 75-table show the next day in a northern suburb of Cincinnati. I weighed all options.

I've been to the Nutter Center show before and while not big, it's not small either and I know what to expect, especially since the layout is pretty spacious. The show at the card shop I've been meaning to go to every time they have one but I'm not one to enjoy people crammed in a tiny space sorting through mounds of cards which I imagine it to be. Speaking of lots of people, the large show isn't my style and it's big wheelers and dealers with tons of tables in a large hotel ballroom. In the end, I opted to go back to the Nutter Center show as it's quiet, spread out, and relaxed ... exactly my style.

While the pickings were pretty slim and dime and quarter boxes seemed to be non-existent at most tables, I was able to find a number of good things by doing some digging. Enough, in fact, to break up my findings through four posts. For this portion, I took a page out of Dimebox Nick's playbook and picked up 2016 singles on the cheap in the bargain bins.

I grabbed a bunch of 2016 Series 1, Gypsy Queen, and a handful of Archives singles from one dealer who had boxes and boxes of 2016 base cards for a dime a piece. The person next to him had loads of singles from Diamond Kings and across the gym, another person had loads of Archives singles.

Diamond Kings

I'll start with Diamond Kings as it's the only Panini product I found singles of. Only one person had these so I cleaned up with them. You'll see a trend on some of these products where I gravitated to the older retired stars than current players and that's especially true with this. The thing for me with Diamond Kings is that you feel like you're getting a high end product but not at a high-end price. Sure, the packs themselves are about $7 each and that's just above what all of these cost in one deal.

Nothing but legends on this page. I think it's really cool that not only are the usual suspects included like Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby, but there are others like Frank Chance and Harry Breechen who get little to no cardboard love from Topps. The only downside is that since Panini can't use team names, I have no idea if Hornsby is in a Cardinals uniform or Browns uniform. If I had to guess, I'd say Browns.

Because the backs are important too, these are equally as great. Sure, it's the same photo but there's also a brief bio, which is helpful for those who might not be as familiar with those from baseball's early days

I grabbed the Henie Groh card simply because it was a Reds card. Jake Daubert I grabbed because he played for the Reds on the 1919 World Series team and had a pretty solid career with both the Reds and Dodgers. The thing I really like about seeing dead ball stars on these cards is the fact that Panini doesn't need to airbrush out team logos on uniforms. 

Some more old timers and handful of current players. Lamb has really struggled in the Reds rotation as of late and may risk losing his spot once Homer Bailey comes back from the DL. Waldrop has been a handy player off the bench when needed. However, I consider the fact that I got Nap Lajoie, Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, and Kyle Schwarber cards without getting taken to the cleaners a really nice bonus.

The last page of Diamond Kings and some really awesome inserts! Both of these black insert sets are absolutely gorgeous but my favorite has to be the Nap Lajoie card. You may also notice that there's another Frank Chance base card. No, I didn't scan it twice, I accidentally bought two copies. Oh well, I can think of a few Cubs collectors that could use it. 

Gypsy Queen

I generally don't buy packs and boxes of Gypsy Queen just because it's out of my budget. Sure, I might grab a few packs here and there if I have extra cash and I feel like splurging on some packs at $5.99 each but otherwise I'll just pick up the cards I like. I really enjoyed last year's design and wasn't too thrilled when I saw this years cards. However, the more I saw it, the more I liked it. All of these cards cost exactly a dime a piece.

First page up and it's all Reds. I believe this is the Reds team set (minus short prints which I'll get to in a minute) and I'm pretty have I got all of these for under a buck. The cards with Votto, Mesoraco, and Bruce in the red jersey just absolutely pop.

I also grabbed current players that I like along with a few Indians cards I found in the box as well. I had to grab the Ichiro since he's probably going to hit 3,000 hits this year. 

A few more card from the Gypsy Queen dime box. I still dig getting Todd Frazier stuff and I find it super odd still to see him in a White Sox uniform.

This was the only card I bought out of a display case the whole show and I snagged it for a mere $2. The picture on this card is just great and you can't really go wrong with a Johnny Bench card for two bucks.

Flagship/Series 1

When the details of Series 1 along with the card design was released last fall, I got pretty excited as it looked like Topps was at least thinking out of the box in terms of design. When these were released however, it wasn't received well at all by most. I personally don't mind the design, it stands out and I'll be able to pick it out unlike 2013 and 2014 which are very, very similar and I still can't tell apart unless I look at the backs.

There were a ton of commons that I thumbed through but I did manage to find some gems, especially the Noah Syndergaard and Kris Bryant cards which I thought would have been quickly snatched up by someone. 

The middle row of this I call the "fun row" just because of how entertaining these cards are. The Royal World Series victory photo, Huston Street getting doused by water, and the Orioles being generally overjoyed. Not to be forgotten either is the Johnny Cueto card with him celebrating. Good for him to get a ring in Kansas City last year.

Archives

Now the star of the show ... Archives. Much like Gypsy Queen, I avoid buying packs and boxes of Archives because the last few years Topps jacked up the price with the Major League cards and Will Ferrell cards in the product. This year it's Bull Durham which seems to have brought the price down to earth somewhat. The movie does nothing for me so I didn't bother with any of the cards from that part of it. I grabbed a few of these from the dime box guy and the rest from another person across the gym who had loads of singles. I think I spent about $7 combined from both vendors on these and there are a lot!

I'm sure by now everyone has seen some of these cards multiple times on multiple blogs but cards like Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Andres Galarraga haven't gotten much love from the cardsphere. The 1991 style cards pretty much steal the show here.

I saw the Gaylord Perry card on someone's blog right before this show and my first thought was "I've got to have that!". I love the old school 70s Indians logo coupled with the red uniform. It's a beautiful card. Not to be outdone, Satchel Paige peering over at someone while next to a brick wall just spells trouble.

No 1991s on this page but one thing to notice, especially on the 1953 style cards, is the difference in logos. Use the Tony Perez and the Billy Hamilton card as examples and you'll see what I mean. It's the little things that make some of these cards that much better.

Get ready for a plethora of 1991 style cards as this page and the next page are nothing but that. I didn't scan the back of either these or the 1979 cards but everyone knows they have full stats on the back. That's really awesome and reminds me that Eddie Mathews had a cameo for the Astros or that Andre Dawson played for the Marlins. Again, the little things. By the way, look how vibrant the Carlos Gonzalez card is!

The photography on these makes me wish they would do stuff like this for Heritage instead of dull posed shots on pretty much every card. Again, the old school logos for the old school players is awesome.

The final four Archives cards. Really cool to get Peraza in a Reds uniform finally.

That's it for the first part of the card show report. Settle in, there's lot more good stuff to come!

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.

You've Got Mail #21: Off Hiatus Baseball

I'm so far behind on trade packages it's not even funny. The amount of Super Trader packages that keep arriving, along with a handful of other non-Super Trader packs, have my mailbox waving the white flag of surrender. That being said, I'll be doing my best this month to catch up on said packages and some other things I need to get posted up. I can think of no better way to start off than with a package from everyone's favorite attorney, Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball that arrived sometime in late February ... I think.

These are from the Donruss factory set that Tony broke and sent out to all the Super Traders. The Votto Diamond King card is super nice and the Bench really hides the fact that Panini doesn't have the MLB license. However, my favorites have to be the Billy Hamilton and Tucker Barnhart RCs. Hamilton could be a great lead-off guy but right now he couldn't hit sand if he fell off a camel. Barnhart has proven to be a solid back-up catcher and stepped up big time splitting starting duties with Brayan Pena last year when Mesoraco was out.

I really like the Cooperstown line and the set might be something I chase down eventually, but I have other things I'm focused on first. The Johnny Bench card is from some line called Spectrum and on the back, it states it's for "promotional purposes only". Other bloggers have correctly identified these cards and I can't quite remember what they are called.

Contenders was probably one of the best baseball related things that Panini put out last year and I hope they continue it again this year. These Larkin cards are super nice. I really dig the design and the  fact that these look super expensive, but they are somewhat affordable, especially if you happen to stumble across a blaster.

Of course, no package from Tony would be complete without a slew of oddballs. First, a nice batch of 1990 Pacific Legends cards. Hey, Tony remembered I collect Indians cards as well! Good on you, friend!

Kellogg's cards! Yes! A few Len Barkers, one Toby Harrah, and Andre Thornton. Kellogg's cards are probably the most fun oddballs that you can get. I hope that one day we get cards in cereal boxes again.

Speaking of cards in cereal boxes, here's a Tony Perez Kellogg's Corn Flakes card. While it didn't scan all that great, you'll just have to believe me that it looks better in person.

Here's a good batch of reprints that were thrown in. I know I'll never be able to own the real versions of these cards so these will work just fine. I think my favorite here has to be Bucky Walters in the top left. He's got this devilish grin on his face just as he's about to obliterate the opposition.

THIS! You can never go wrong with vintage and this 1957 Topps Don Mossi was my favorite card of the batch. My vintage collection is lacking in 1950s and 1960s cards and this is a great addition.

Thanks for the great cards Tony! I'm slowly building a Brewers stack to send back your way. Just promise me you won't take any legal action since I'm taking forever to send a return!

Awesomeness From 2016 Donruss!

First off, Happy Opening Day to everyone! Today is the day where baseball games start to matter and the game we all love is with us every single until the World Series concludes in late October.

Now then, on my last visit to the card shop (detailed here), I picked up a few packs of some of the early 2016 releases. I've shown what I got from the four Topps Series 1 packs and it wasn't anything all that great. Donruss though, they brought it this year. Sure the design looks very similar to the last few years but each pack I opened contained at least one cool thing. 

First off the base cards. The absence of team names and logos doesn't really bother me as most of the pictures hide that fact. The design is very basic but at least the backgrounds aren't blurred and smoky like Series 1. I also like the fact there are legends mixed in with the current players, the Cal Ripken card above is a good example.

One thing Panini started doing last year with Donruss was having cards harkening back to past releases. Last year it was 1981, this year it's 1982. The Escobar card is really cool and I'm guessing that picture was taken right after the Royals won the Series.

Something else Panini threw in with Donruss this year is Team USA inserts. I'm not too familiar with either of these guys but it is pretty cool to cards like this in a release.

Now it's time to get to the good stuff. First, there's the 1982 pink parallel of Zack Greinke, which is pretty cool. Next, this Ichiro is just sweet. It's serial numbered and has a nice refractor-ish shine to it. I would have been happy with just these if they were the only two neat cards I pulled out of the packs but that was not to be.

Boom, Maikel Franco jersey card. It think this is some sort of parallel version as well as it's numbered to 150. Ok, cool, a jersey card. I'll take that.

Wait, another jersey card? This time it's Nomar Mazara from the Promising Pros line. I'm a fan of this concept as it's featuring nice big swatches from up and coming players. Two jersey cards is completely unexpected as I never have that kind of luck from packs.

What's this? A Rated Rookie manu-relic of Rob Refsnyder? Ok, that's pretty cool. This one is numbered to 999 and has a really cool die-cut design to it.

After opening these four packs, Donruss is so far my favorite product of 2016 as you at least get something neat in every pack. I'll definitely by buying more of this.

Now, time to sit back and watch some baseball!