Cardboard Kindness

I have a couple mail days from bloggers that I need to post.  One that's old and sorely needs a post.  The other is a fresh package.

Let's start with a package from Nachos Grande as part of his "Season of Giving."  He sent over a flat rate box full of Mariners cards.  There were so many cards, many of which I have never seen.  I'll highlight a few of my favorites.

1999 UD Choice

It's always nice to add more Griffey cards to the collection.  I haven't heard of Choice before but I'm guessing it's an offspring of Collector's Choice.  

1997 Collector's Choice

Normally I'd be loathe to highlight a card with Alex Rodriguez.   Although given my recent Padres fandom I'm happy to see Tony Gwynn.  I like this League Leaders card as it features the AL and NL player side-by-side.  Back before interleague play it always seemed like such a big deal to see AL and NL players together.

2003 Fleer Box Score

Another new set for me.  This set features a notable box score on the back for each player.  Edgar's box score was from the 1990 season when he had a two home run game.  From a historical perspective this could be a fun set to put together.

I don't understand this card.  The Mariners are listed as the team.  Yet, Johnson is pictured in an Astros uniform.  He was traded to the Astros *after* playing for the Mariners so why wouldn't Upper Deck list the Astros as the team if they are going to feature him in an Astros uniform?  

2012 Bowman

For whatever reason, I've enjoyed putting together the base Bowman set more than I have Flagship.  Maybe it's because prospects are sprinkled into the insert sets.  Plus, the colored parallels have looked a lot better than the Flagship design the past couple years.

1994 Bowman's Best

I'm highlighting this card just for the fact of seeing Johnny Damon as a skinny, clean faced kid in a Royals uniform.  That's not the image I have of him in my mind.  He just looks so funny.

Thank you again Nachos Grande!

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Next up is a recent trade package from P-town Tom of Waiting 'til Next Year...

Here are the cards I was expecting too get, 2013 Panini USA Champions. This puts me under 10 left on the base set. I opened up a box last year chasing a Kris Bryant auto on the cheap (no such luck) and ended about a dozen cards short of the set.  I can't leave a set unfinished when I am so close. 

Tom, being the stand up guy that he is, also sent along quite a few more cards. Thanks Tom! He said that he didnt know how the junk wax cards slipped into the package but as you'll see there was certainly some non junker cards!

2017 Panini Chronicles

A purple rookie parallel of Guillermo Heredia from the weirdly overpriced Chronicles. A blaster box contained a whopping 20 cards. I feel like Panini is always providing terrible value in their retail products. I don't care about hits but give me more cards damnit! These are not $1 cards.

2017 Topps Gallery

I looked down upon Gallery as I thought a lot of the drawings were bad. This Seager card looks alright though. I only wish the cards were printed on canvas stock. That would have piqued my interest a little more.

2016 Topps High Tek

If Mitch Haniger had not had his face busted open last season requiring plastic surgery, he could have been the Mariners' best player behind Cruz. Given the Mariners injury luck he will probably go down to an injury at some point this season.

I believe this is my first look at High Tek in hand.  These cards are kinda neat with the crazy background and translucent card stock.  I'll have to keep my eye out for more.  

2015 Bowman's Best

This card is thick.  Unnecessarily thick.  It's 138 pt.  There is probably some backstory here I don't understand.

1970 Topps

Vintage! Wow! It's of the short lived Seattle Pilots.  I did not previously have any cards from 1970 Topps so this is an excellent addition.

Thank you again Tom! I am blown away by your generosity.  And believe it not I even appreciate the junk wax you sent along. 

That wraps this post for today.  A lot of cards to sort through that will keep me busy!  Thanks for tuning in.

Trading With a King

After showing off a very small part of the haul I won from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, I found a trade partner in Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History.  I happily sent him a lot of cards and I was happily surprised to see the stack of cards he sent back.

Billy has been the #1 contributor to my SuperSonics collection and this trade was no exception.  The cards span across all sort of sets and include a handful of other teams as well.  I'll highlight a few of my favorites.

1972-73 Topps

This card has the honor of becoming my oldest basketball card.  Considering that Topps did not start putting out basketball sets on a regular basis until 1969-70, this is a cool feat.

2014-15 Panini Threads / 2013-14 Hoops

Combining old school photos with new school cards.  These photos pop on new card stock as compared to how they would look on say a 90-91 card.  

2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Debut

I was first turned on to this set thanks Tony L. at Off Hiatus after he sent me a graded Andrew Bogut rookie card.  These cards still look sharp.  Radmanovic was fun to watch as he wasn't afraid to throw up a 3-point shot.  This card would mark the last time we would see Radmanovic in a Sonics uniform. He was traded the Clippers mid-season.  

1990-91 Hopps

Rookie of the Reign Man! Enough said!

2004-05 Topps Total

A mascot card of the high-flying Sasquatch.  I'm biased but I think the Squatch is one of the best mascots out there.  He plays on a local urban legend, he doesn't look overly fake, and he can DUNK!

2000-01 Topps Chrome

Finally, I get my first card of Patrick Ewing in a Sonics uniform.  The Sonics had been in decline a few years before Ewing arrived.  This move reeked of a "ehh, fuck it" type move. Ewing had no business playing for the Sonics, let alone the in the NBA.  Unsurprisingly, he only lasted one season with the Sonics.

By the way, this card is purple.  This whole set is purple.  WHY?

2007-08 Topps - Rookie Set

Durant rookie! Many basketball fans resent Durant for the way he left the Thunder and taking the "easy way" to a ring by joining the Warriors.  I say to hell with those fans. The Thunder didn't deserve Durant. I look forward to Durant returning to the Sonics when they eventually return (yeah right).

1996 Upper Deck Slam Dunk Series

SLAM DUNK SERIES?? 1996-97 COLLECTOR'S CHOICE DESIGN?? I can 100% say I have NEVER seen this card before!  WHERE? WHEN? HOW?? I am a huge fan of 1996-97 Collector's Choice so my mouth was agape when I saw in this the trade stack.  

According to Trading Card Database user Billy Kingsley, this set was issued with Nestle chocolate bars.  I haven't cross-checked every card but the photos appear to be different from the base set.

I'm looking on eBay right this instance and I see this complete set 40-card set for $12 shipped. Yup, that's an instant buy for me.

There were many, many more cards but these are a small sampling of my favorites.  Thanks Billy for all the excellent cards!

Trading with Condition Sensitive

This year I've opened only one current hobby box.  The usual suspect would be Topps but the Flagship design didn't interest me.  Other Topps boxes are overpriced thanks to the Aaron Judge gold rush.  None of the other set designs have grabbed me either.

What was the lucky box, then? It was 2016-17 Panini Presitge. I previously posted about this set, remarking how I enjoyed the cards.  Even after opening a box, I'm still a lot of cards short of the base set.

I saw Rosenort at Condition Sensitive post about opening some packs of Prestige and decided to see if I could chip away at my want list.

Is JR Smith copying Nik Satuskas or is Stauskas copying Smith? The world may never known.

I miss the old Raptors with their cartoon logo and purple uniforms.  I can understand why they would change away from it though.

The always elusive rookie cards. Diamond Stone saw a measly 7 games of playing time. Marquese Chriss saw far heavier playing time. He played in 82 games averaging 21 minutes per game. He's clearly the better rookie out of this trade.

Thanks for the trade, Rosenort!

Bo Knows Baseball, Bo Knows Trades

Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! recently acquired a huge lot of cards and graciously listed the sets, offering to comb through the cards for people.  Not only that but he offered up a little game afterwards for a chance at even more cards.

Before I jump into the package, I want to give a shout out for Blue Tape and Pull Tab Awareness Week.  You can head over to Gavin's blog to read all about it.  Bo's trade came nicely packaged in a hard plastic container, so no complaints from me!

With the procedural matters out of the way, let's see what Bo found for my set want lists!

Here we have a selection of 2016 Bowman base. I know people typically pay no attention to the base set in Bowman but when I first got back into the hobby last year I didn't realize prospects were the main focus.  I like the designs of the cards so I'm working towards this modest 150 card set.  

I've slowly been working on series two of 2015 Topps and I am still about 100 cards away.  I'm in no rush to finish this set as these cards will likely be in high supply for some time.

2013 Panini USA Baseball Champions.  Last year I opened a cheap box of this set chasing Kris Bryant autos.  I came away with no major hits, unfortunately.  I did come close to a complete base set, minus the short prints at the end of the checklist, so I'd like to finish it mainly for that reason.

Back again we come to 2008 Topps, this time the Chrome set.  Not much to say about these!

A gold foil parallel from 2008 Topps.  The gold foil parallel isn't the most exciting.  Neither is Rick Van den hurk.

The last card in the trade was Edgaaaar Martinez from 2016 Stadium Club.  Loved by all of Seattle, here we see him in action as the Mariners' hitting coach.  Hopefully soon we will see him in the Hall of Fame.

This set of 1990 Topps Traded was not part of my wish list but as part of Bo's game.  As a set collector I can really appreciate getting any complete set, even if it was not a set I was after.  Notable rookies in this set include Wazzu star John Olerud, overhyped Kevin Maas, David Justice, Todd Hundley, and current Mariners TV color commentator Mike Blowers.

Thanks for the excellent trade, Bo!  I'm working on a return pack and hope to get that out to you soon!

Trading on the Trading Card Database

In addition to being an excellent cataloging website, the trading feature on the Trading Card Database makes it even better.  Trades are simple to initiate and process.  I've completed almost 20 trades and it's been a great way to pick up cards while clearing out duplicates.

My latest trade comes courtesy of user herkojerko

This first set of cards is a small collection of Mariners from 1996 Collector's Choice.  The year depicted on the cards, 1995, was a special year for the Mariners.  That year the Mariners would see their first division title and their first post-season trip since their 1977 inception.

They also won their first post-season series in dramatic fashion with a play that is revered as "The Double."  The ALDS was tied 2 games a piece.  The Mariners saw themselves down 5-4 in the bottom of the 11th against the hated Yankees.  Edgar Martinez was at bat with two runners aboard. Edgar smacked a double down the left field line scoring both runners, which included Griffey scoring the winning run.

That's why the two ALDS cards above are great to have in my collection.  Until the Mariners with the World Series, that will be the greatest moment in Mariners history.

Top - Updates and Highlights
Middle - Opening Day
Bottom - Chrome

Herkojerko must be a Phillies fan because he sent me a smattering of Phillies from 2008 Topps.  If I had a collecting goal for this year it would definitely be to finish the main 2008 Topps sets.  I already have a factory set of flagship but I would like to have a hand collated set as well.  In addition to the main set, I do need all of the other sets.

Carlos Ruiz (middle right) is actually with the Mariners now, serving as a backup to Mike Zunino. Ruiz has worn #51 all through his career but it looks like he has taken on #52 for this season.  Why the number change?  #51 has been worn by Randy Johnson and Ichiro.  Although the number is not retired yet and can technically be worn, my guess/hope is that he switched numbers out of respect to those two fabulous Mariners players.

That number will certainly be retired once both Johnson and Ichiro are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Bumping Into Cards

One of my wife's friends is visiting from out of town this week on a business trip so we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant.  Everything was going swimmingly.  We were all catching up and eating good food.

About three-quarters of the way through our dinner, the restaurant started filling up with smoke. There wasn't a fire but the kitchen had badly burned some food.  I could never figure out what caused the smoke but I suspect it was a pizza in their oven that burned.  No matter the food, the smoke would not dissipate.  My eyes were burning and my chest felt heavy.

Worst of all?  There was nary an apology over the smoke storm they created and it was obviously affecting other patrons as well.  If their restaurant could not even handle smoke from the kitchen, I question whether the place could safely manage a fire.  Needless to say, I won't eat there again.

I could not run out of that restaurant fast enough to get fresh air.  It felt so nice to be able to breathe again and find relief.

Speaking of running, today's post highlights a trade I made with Trevor at Bump and Run Football Card Blog.   He posted on my blog indicating he had a few 2008 Topps Football to trade.  I can't turn down an opportunity to collect more 2008 Topps so we settled on a nice trade.  As the name implies, Trevor posts mainly about football so our trade focused on football cards.  You can see what I sent him over on his blog.

Getting the 2008 Topps out of the way, I received a few football set needs.  Trevor also included some baseball as a bonus! I haven't checked whether I needed them or not but either way the gesture is appreciated!

2016 Classics is a set I've really enjoyed this year with the retro look.  Both of these rookies were signed by the Seahawks with only Alex Collins making it on the roster.  He's had limited playing time so far this year.

During my previous look at Prestige I remarked that outside of the Seahawks, I wouldn't be collecting any more Prestige.  Well here comes Prestige again, thankfully with only Seahawks.  The two rainbow foil cards are Extra Points parallels.  

This year Lynch's absence is glaringly obvious.  The Seahawks' run game just hasn't been the same. Thomas Rawls, the heir to Lynch's throne, has been injured for most of the year.  Hopefully, he will provide a spark to the anemic run game.   

The last set features a nice mix of new and old Seahawks cards.  I didn't become a Seahawks fan until I moved out west from New England so some names aren't familiar, like Vann McElroy and Kelvin. Other older players like Jon Kitna, Darrell Jackson and Bennie Blades are names I immediately recognize. The Blades and Jackson cards have writing throughout the background that shows up slightly on the scans.  It's a cool looking effect in person.  Out of the four modern Seahawks players, coincidentally all four were part of the Super Bowl winning team.  

This was a great trade with some set needs and PC needs completed.  I look forward to trading with Trevor again!

No Purchase Necessary

I've been sick since Thursday and I'm starting to feel better now that I've had plenty of rest but I wanted to highlight today's today mail day.  Today I received my first ever "No Purchase Necessary" card.

If you aren't aware, on every package of cards is a list of insert/parallel cards and for Topps products, the odds of receiving those cards.  By law, the trading card companies are required to offer the purchaser a chance to win those cards.  The same rules apply to other products that give you the chance to win something by buying a certain product.

To date, I've submitted 17 entries for NPN cards.  I do not keep track of when the drawings occur because I'd rather be surprised instead of checking my mail after the drawing occurs.  So it's possible that out of the 17 entries  not all of them have had their drawings.

With all that said, what did I win??

A base card of 2016 Bowman.  Even though it is just a base card, at least Topps protected the card well.  A toploader, penny sleeve, and sticker are likely worth more than the card itself.  This was a base card I needed so I can't be too disappointed.  Rather than breaking out the card, I think I'll keep it secured as a memento for my first NPN win.

EDIT:
I wanted to add that even if you don't buy new packs of cards there is a great website that tracks most of the NPN entries.  Head over to NPN Cards to find out all the details for how to enter.

A SuperSonic trade day

With the Sonics back in the news, it's only fitting that I finally get around to posting about a trade I made with Billy over at Cardboard History.

Due to the partial fault of my own and partial fault of sellers on Sportlots, I ended with multiples of Stickums 2 Base cards from 96-97 Collector's Choice.  I didn't due to my due diligence prior to purchase to make sure the cards were correctly sorted and neither did the sellers.  Only after I was I looking at scans on TCDB did I realize my mistake.

The cards were cheap so I didn't want to run the expense of mailing them back for refunds.  Rather, I thought I could turn them into a trade.  Fortunately, I was able to make a trade with Billy for some Supersonics.  He even sent a few more than I asked for! Thanks!

I'm not going to bury the lead.  Here is the highlight of the trade: a Kevin Durant rookie card! This is actually from the 07-08 Topps Rookie insert but a great card to have either way.

It was bad enough that the Sonics were swept out of town by the backstabbing Clay Bennett but Seattle had only a brief glimpse of a likely Hall of Famer.  I know everyone and their brother in Oklahoma were mad at Durant when he left the Thunder but I couldn't have been happier.  I can finally root for Durant again.

2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Debut

This set name is a misnomer as not all of the cards in the sets are of rookies.  None of these Sonics players were rookies at the time.  I still like the look of the cards so I'm willing to overlook the discrepancy.  Now that I have Collector's Choice under wraps, I'm considering adding this set to my active set want list.

Up above I mentioned that the Sonics were in the news again but it's not the team that is in the news, it's the proposed stadium.

Back a few years ago, an investor named Chris Hansen pledged to build a basketball arena in Seattle and bring back the Sonics. Woohoo!  Hansen, who grew up in Seattle, should know that this city does not like to make decisions quickly.  His plan was to build an arena near all the other Seattle stadiums using $200 million in bonds backed by the city.

The Seattle City Council wasn't quite sure if it liked the idea but eventually entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that basically said they would issue the bonds.  The major caveat was that Hansen had to secure a team first.  The NBA won't even talk expansion prior an arena plan is in place and Sacramento managed to hold onto their team despite a rocky future at one point.

This last week, Hansen unleashed a new plan: he would pay for the entire stadium himself.  No public money would be necessary.  All he wants is for the City to give him part of a public street is necessary for the arena and in return Hansen will pay about $20 million for a transportation project that the City needs to be funded.  This is a game changer.

The biggest opponents of the new arena are the Port of Seattle ("too much traffic interfering with our freight!") and the Mariners ("it will depress our attendance more than the on the field action!").  If this deal doesn't happen, it will ultimately be due to the Port convincing the City Council that "thousands" of jobs will be lost.  Personally, I think it's mere puffery by the Port.

There's one more wrinkle to the Hansen arena plan.  But before I mention that, I want to remark that above is a Shawn Kemp rookie card! The Reign Man! I love it.

Back to the Stadium, one would think that with the news of Hansen's new plan, the City would be ecstatic. Not quite.  A few days after the news, Seattle mayor Ed Murray announced that the City would soon be accepting Requests for Proposals to develop the Key Arena into a multipurpose facility that could handle NBA or NHL teams.

This is mind boggling for several reasons.  First, the Key Arena is owned by the City of Seattle.  To renovate the Key so that it could handle the NBA will cost somewhere between $200-$300 million. That's $200-$300 million in public money.  Hansen is building an arena at $0 cost to the public.

Second, the Key is located in a transportation abyss.  The bus service to the Key is less than adequate. Hansen's proposed arena is currently served by light rail and multiple, branching bus stops.  The Key has very limited public parking nearby.  The opposite is true of the proposed Sonics arena.  Lastly, the road service to and around the Key is tight.  Traffic leaving a new Sonics arena could take any number of roads out of there.  

Whenever and wherever we get a new Sonics arena, at least I'll have these Sonics cards.  

Are you ready for some football?

The quest to complete 2008 Topps flagship across all sports continues with another trade with Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life.  He sent me a message indicating that he had found a small batch of 2008 football and asked if I was interested in a trade.  Of course I was so I scrounged up cards from a couple Topps sets from this year.

Starting with the rookies, it's no surprise that only one of these players is a current NFL player. According to the NFL, the average career length for a rookie who starts the season on the roster is 6 years.  Only one of these players had at least 6 years of playing time.  Can you guess which one?

I'll give you hint, it's not Colt Brennan who never played a snap in a regular season game.  

Kevin Smith had a productive rookie season with 8 TDs and 976 yards rushing.  That was Smith's best season and he was out of the league after the 2012 season.  

Allen Patrick bounced around several practice squads but could never land a spot with a team.

Devin Thomas is the only Super Bowl champion on the list.  He was a member of the 2011 New York Giants.  Thomas was a major contributor on special teams.  

Lastly, Kentwan Balmer played only three NFL seasons.  He played his last full season in 2010 with none other than the Seattle Seahawks.  

That leaves only one man: Jacob Tamme.  Drafted in the fourth round, Tamme has had a good career as a tight end.  He's played in one Super Bowl, losing to the Seahawks in a route, 43-8.  He currently plays for the Atlanta Falcons, who coincidentally, are playing the Seahawks on Sunday.  

Only one Seahawks card in the package and it's one I already have.  However, I don't mind getting dupes of cards in my PC.  

Tarvaris Jackson would fit nicely in a former Seahawks binder, should I ever start one.  He was a serviceable backup.

The three running backs at the top of the scan were all great players so it's nice to get those cards.

My 2008 Topps football collection slowly grows but it will get there eventually!

A Monster Trade Package

Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! posted a comment on my blog asking if I wanted some 2008 Topps Baseball.  I love the design of 2008 Topps and I had only a few from this set so I was absolutely interested.  After some e-mailing back and forth we were able to settle on a trade. Fortunately he needed a lot of base cards from sets within the past couple years so I was able to offload a lot of duplicates.

A whole lot of cards

The trade package arrived on Monday.  As I write this on Tuesday night, I have a big interview on Wednesday I should be prepping for but I'm too excited about this trade.  I went from own 9 cards in the set to a whopping 374, for a net of 365 cards!

I have not written about this set for this blog, mainly owing to the fact that I had only 9 cards. However, I did write a review for TCDB before I started this blog.  (As a side note, I hope to get back to fuller set reviews as I did enjoy that).  I'm going to toss up the review up below: