It's Been so Long Since I Received This Trade Package, His Blog Has a New Name

You can probably guess who this trade package is from. The 'Waiting Till Next Year' blog is now 'Eamus Catuli!'. I reached out to Tom about a Freddie Freeman card from National Baseball card day last Fall. I received a package that had much more than the one Freeman a short time later. This post is much more delayed than it should be, but I'm still glad to be able to recap Tom's package and to congratulate him on the Cubs World Series win!

Here is the card that started the conversation. Glad to have this one in my binder. It have to say it actually resembles a past Upper Deck base set. I hope Topps continues with this promotion. Even though I don't have a local card shop close by, the generosity of collectors is what brought this one to my collection.

Not just one Freeman, but two, showed up in this package. I'm starting to go back and fill in cards from previous years for Freddie and this is one less card I need to track down. 

Believe it or not I have a decent sized Randall Simon collection. I enjoyed seeing him play at AAA Richmond in my childhood, a common theme for former Braves in my collection. It kind of tailed off when he was involved in this sausage incident.

Maybe Randall has been in my collector doghouse long enough. I think this one is my first rookie card of his.

I once got an in-person autograph from Scott Thorman at a AAA game. He never achieved much success at the big league level, though he displayed good power in the minors while manning first base. This is the first card outside of that autographed card that goes into my collection.

What an awesome card of the two-time Braves all-star shortstop on what looks like attempting to turn a double-play, could be wrong. Any Flair card of a team I collect is a good one. Really enjoyed opening mid-90s Flair packs. In fact a few years ago I opened a box of 1994-95 Flair basketball and broke it down here. Blauser's last year with the Braves was Atlanta's first season playing at Turner Field.

Also included in this package were a number of prospect cards, the best of which was this refractor of third-baseman Austin Riley.  The 19 year-old hit .271 with 20 home runs and 80 RBIs for class-A Rome this past season. He's rated the 13th best prospect in the loaded Braves farm system. Last year he was in the top 10.

What would a trade package full of Braves be without a few Chippers? These are the first Braves in my collection from both of these brands, 1999 Upper Deck Century Legends and 1999 SP Authentic.

And what's one Jones without the other? The card on the right, an insert from 1999 Upper Deck Series 2, reminds me of graph paper. Unique insert set and cool design.

I have the box set for 1993 Upper Deck, but my 6 year-old self took the cards out and I'm sure it's no longer a complete set. 

Two more cards to add to the Klesko collection, which is still my largest of any baseball player collection. These two were new to me, and the Metal Universe brand ranks among my favorites.

Awesome card of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's home run record. A gold moment indeed.

So many cards in this package that I had to pick my favorites to share. Thank you again Tom! I'm setting aside Cubs to form a new stack to send your way at some point down the road.

First Pack of Hockey Cards

I picked up NHL 16 for the playstation on clearance last week and managed to get a few games in. What fun that is. It flashed me back to playing on the original playstation. For NHL 97 my team of choice was the Flyers, scoring goals at will with Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, the 'Legion of Doom'. But I was only 11 years old then. I've never gotten into following hockey over the years for whatever reason, but that's changing.

So my first hockey pack ever ends up being 2016-17 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey. It's been awhile since I've opened an Upper Deck pack at all, with Panini having the exclusive basketball license and Topps for baseball.

The first game I played on the PS4 was while waiting for the rest of the game to download. It was a matchup between the two league finalists from the year prior, the Blackhawks and Lightning. Guess what two of the first few cards in my first pack of hockey cards were?

Glad to pull two guys I know right off the bat. Filppula it appears has been traded to the Flyers for Mark Streit who is on an expiring contract. Stamkos has been on the Lightning his entire NHL career. My kind of player! 

A few goalies from the pack. I always enjoy seeing the designs on the masks these guys wear. Looking forward to finding some insert sets that feature these. Craig Anderson is 2nd in the NHL in save percentage. 

Speaking of inserts and goalies, the lone parallel/insert in this pack. Apparently the Young Guns are the chase cards in these packs and I didn't pull any of those, but I have a feeling I'll have more opportunities. Again, awesome mask with Jets for the Winnipeg goaltender.

Here's the allocation by team for my 32 card pack:

Boston Bruins (3) - 266 Torey Krug, 267 David Backes, 268 Dominic Moore

Calgary Flames (2) - 279 Sean Monahan, 283 Michael Ferland

Carolina Hurricanes (1) - 285 Victor Rask

Chicago Blackhawks (1) - 293 Richard Panik

Colorado Avalanche (1) - 296 Joe Colborne

Detroit Red Wings (1) - 315 Petr Mrazek

Florida Panthers (3) - 333 Nick Bjugstad, 334 James Reimer, 335 Keith Yandle

Montreal Canadians (1) - 349 Carey Price

New Jersey Devils (1) - 364 John Moore

New York Rangers (1) - 376 Oscar Lindberg

Ottawa Senators (2) - 385 Craig Anderson, 386 Zack Smith

Philadelphia Flyers (3) - 390 Michael Raffl, 391 Scott Laughton, 392 Matt Read

Pittsburgh Penguins (2) - 393 Chris Kunitz, 397 Olli Maatta

Phoenix Coyotes (3) - 259 Alex Goligoski, 260 Radim Vrbata, 263 Luke Schenn

San Jose Sharks (1) - 404 Joonas Donskoi

St. Louis Blues (2) - 410 Colton Parayko, 413 Neil Yakupov

Tampa Bay Lightning (2) - 416 Steven Stamkos, 418 Valtteri Filppula

Winnipeg Jets (1) - Canvas C209 Connor Hellebuyck

I left one card out. I've always been a team collector and player collector. I've picked a team to follow and a team to collect. I've taken a few trips here over the last couple years and enjoyed the city. There's reason #1. Reason #2 is I think the logo, team name, and where the logo comes from is just too cool. And lastly the color scheme closely resembles my favorite NBA team, the Indiana Pacers. 

I pulled one card for this team.

I'm collecting the Nashville Predators. They have a relatively short NHL history which I actually like. Their team logo is based on a saber-toothed cat that's been extinct for 10,000 years. The idea came from a partial skeleton found in downtown Nashville in 1971 during construction of a bank building, per Wikipedia.

I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but I'm looking forward to adding cards of the Preds to my wantlist and starting a hockey collection, following the NHL season and a Predator playoff run, and most of all interacting with hockey card bloggers and collectors. I watched the Predators beat the Edmonton Oilers the other night and had a blast. Hopefully more to come soon!

First Baseball Pack of 2017

2017 Topps is here! At this point everyone's posted their take on the new set. No matter your opinion on the design, it is great to have fresh packs to break open. My wife was nice enough to grab a blaster for me over the weekend after we made some unsuccessful trips in previous days. Here's what I pulled from my first baseball pack of the new year.

First Card:

Alex Bregman #341

I've seen a few others who've had this as their first card. Could definitely do worse than the #1 pick in the 2015 draft.

First Atlanta Brave Card:

Arodys Vizcaino #300

Viz will be back as a key part of the bullpen in 2017. Started off as the closer last year before getting hurt. He pitched in 43 games for the Braves in 2016.

First Parallel Card:

Alex Reyes Vintage Stock #103 /99

These cards are nice and thick and have the Topps logo in the corner. A nice parallel to pull. Can't they make the whole set out of this stock? I guess that's what Heritage is for.

First Insert Card:

Kenley Jansen MLB Awards #RLY-2

I like the design of this set. The color scheme is modified based on the team of the player, which is nice. Isn't always a given.

The rest...

Steven Souza Jr #10

Adam Wainwright #221

Francisco Lindor Jackie Robinson Day #JRD-6

This insert I didn't care for. The Jackie Robinson theme is nice, but the rest of the card doesn't fit the theme.

Chicago Cubs #206

Carlos Santana #121

Rajai Davis #239

A solid first pack. two inserts, a parallel and a Brave. Cleveland Indians fans would have been glad to open this pack, with three cards.

Will recap the rest of the blaster in a future post.

Stack from Cards On Cards Hits Every Part of Collection

Back in September, Kerry from Cards on Cards sent me a large stack of cards that hit just about every part of my wantlist and player collections, including a bunch of Indiana Pacer cards that fit nicely into my basketball collection, which I am starting to get back into and document here. While I opened the package from Kerry back in the Fall, life dictated that I am just getting around to sharing it now. More on that soon. What a stack of cards it is! And below are just the highlights!

I love getting new cards of Cesar Izturis. While I mainly followed him when he was playing for the Dodgers, he ended up on a number of different teams in his career, and these are the first post-Dodgers Izturis cards that go into my binder. Known for his work in the field, these two cards from 2012 Topps Update and 2008 Upper Deck show him at work there.

The Andruw Jones is from another one of the Ultra sets that I'm a big fan of. Will look to pick up the other Braves to complete a team set.

I wonder if we'll have any cards in Pizza products this year? These are the first two that go into my binder. I did open a few packs of these but didn't hit any of my guys. I'm still looking for the Freeman and then I'll have the ones I want.

  

Can't go wrong with a Heritage insert of one of my favorite players. Already a 3-time All-Star at age 24, what a career Manny could have if this level of play continues.

A trio of Ripken inserts. Almost any Ripken card is going to be new to me, so every package with Cal is like Christmas morning. Really digging the Gypsy Queen N174 insert. Would be a pretty set to display in a binder. The third card is from 2012 Panini Triple Play and is a neat design despite any logos. The second card from 1994 Stadium Club is so cool, I had to research to find out more about it.

Here is the card back. This is a Dugout Dirt insert from 1994 Stadium Club. All aboard the Ripken Express! This has to be one of my favorite cards, and especially card backs. Look out Lou Gehrig!

Yoan Moncada's time with the local Greenville Drive was fun and I'm glad I made it out to a game to see him play. Dirt was kept, player t-shirts were sold, there was lots of excitement around the team when he came to town. Even though he's since been traded to the White Sox in the deal for Chris Sale, I'm still glad to have cards of former Drive players in my collection. 

A trio of cards from the best pitcher in baseball? (Actually 4, an Opening Day card like the one in the middle was also included). Can't beat that. Right? Well it keeps getting better. Particularly like this Power Players insert from 2014 Topps, by the way.

Lastly we have a trio of Mookie cards that weren't already on my have list. Mookie has three cards from The Future is Now insert set from 2014 Topps, and now I can cross this one off.

Another Mookie from 2014 Topps, this time from the Update set showing his MLB Debut. I love cards like these. Nice shot of Yankee Stadium in the background. Mookie went 1-3 with a walk, a hit, and a run scored. His first hit was a single to center in the top of the 4th inning.

Last card I'm showing- I thought this was a base card from 2015 Topps...

Turns out it is a Boston Red Sox version of the card. So I can cross that off my list as well! This stack of cards was full of surprises.

Thanks again Kerry- I've got a stack of Trail Blazers to send your way soon!

Diving Catch Tops This Stadium Club Stack

While I'm still missing a few Braves from 2016 Stadium Club, I'm off to a good start.

Love these Braves uniforms. This is the second card of Ender with the stars on the Braves script on the front of the jersey. The other is 2016 Gypsy Queen. Anyone seen any other cards with this uniform?

Speaking of Ender Inciarte, I hope he's in the team's long-term plans. He's been fun to watch in center field this season. I know the Braves suddenly have too many outfielders with Mallex Smith in the mix next year and the newly acquired Kemp. I also know the Braves are trying to extract as much value from every player, but please hold on to Ender!

Speaking of getting value, the Braves were able to unload Aybar on the Tigers, essentially in return for a catching prospect. This is fine with me as we get a first look at Dansby Swanson in Atlanta.

Nice angle on this card of the Mad Dog. 

Julio returned from the disabled list the other night for a tough assignment against the Nationals. He has a potentially better match-up against the Diamondbacks this week to get back on track.

Unique shot of Freeman here going after a foul ball. 

And the best of the bunch of course is not a Brave. It seems more and more likely that Mookie will get good consideration for the AL MVP. He and Altuve seem to be the front-runners.

The two best photos here are the horizontal shots. This tends to be the case for these sets in general, from what I've seen.

What is your favorite card from 2016 Stadium Club?

Andruw Jones and 'The Catch'

Thursday night the Braves gave away an Andruw Jones 'The Catch' bobblehead, referencing an off the wall catch Andruw made against Astros in 1999. He robbed Bill Spiers with this grab. 

Here's the bobblehead, and even though I couldn't make it to the game, I may try to pick one of these up on ebay. Too cool.

Sadly I've shown off my only Andruw Jones at the wall cards in a previous post, and my Andruw Jones wall relic card in another. I'm sure no one minds seeing them again.

Maybe my favorite Andruw Jones card, from 1999 Ultra. What a shot there with Andruw on top of the wall.

Piece of the wall. Can't beat unique relics like this. You could definitely argue for Andruw being in the Hall of Fame, in addition to the Wall of Fame.

And now for some cards I haven't shown before on this blog. 1998 Collector's Choice was the first full box of baseball cards I opened. I've still got a ton of these in a box somewhere, along with many of the Starquest inserts. 

I never played MLB Showdown, but seems like something I would have enjoyed. I am definitely a stats guy and I also enjoy card and board games. 

There's a Sports Illustrated Kids card of Jones jumping at the wall which would have fit perfectly into this post. I'll have to add that one to my wantlist.

I have several Braves from this Upper Deck Vintage set. Need to see how else I am missing so I can complete a team set.

I've talked about how much I like 2005 Ultra baseball before. This Andruw is one of my favorites. Great sliding shot here. He had four straight seasons of stealing 20+ bases early in his career but didn't accomplish this past his fifth major league season. 2004 was the lone year in a five year stretch where he wasn't an all-star. He followed it up with his best offensive season in 2005 though, with 51 home runs and 128 RBIs, finishing as the runner-up for the NL MVP, behind Albert Pujols.

Watching the Braves and Nationals last night, Chip Carey and Joe Simpson talked about how they might have underappreciated Andruw Jones during his time in Atlanta. He provided gold glove level defense for most of his career and averaged 30+ home runs a year for a ten year period. They mentioned this stat in particular, and that he was overlooked because hitting 30 home runs wasn't as big a deal during that stretch. I would have to agree.

Topps Series 2 Stack

Anyone else having trouble keeping up with all the recent sets? The Braves are on a winning streak and I wanted to pick up my first cards of some of the current players.

Adonis Garcia has come on strong in July, raising his batting average by over 30 points to about .270. During the month he had a 10 game hitting streak and 9 multi-hit games. 

Arodys Vizcaino started the year as the closer, registering 10 saves with limited opportunities, but struggled a bit before going on the DL mid-July. He struggled Thursday night in his return.

Beckham hit well through May before going on the DL, but he hasn't hit well since returning in early July, hitting just 9 for 68 from July 15th through August 8th. 

The Braves traded Bud Norris to the Dodgers after Norris strung together five solid starts.

This is probably my favorite card in this group of base cards. Peterson has become one of my favorite players on the squad this season. Jace has really bounced back after a demotion to the minors in May.

Marksberry's pitched 3.1 innings for the Braves this season and is currently on the DL. He's spent most of his time this season in AAA Gwinnett. He has a solid era there of 2.45 in 28 appearances. The Braves could use some bullpen help. The last few games the games have gotten out of hand once the starters have left the game.

I'm optimistic that Folty will be a strong member of the rotation for awhile. A theme I've noticed is when he doesn't get a strike call or has some bad luck he can let his frustration impact his game. But he's got the talent to be a good starter. 

Tyler Flowers has also been a surprise for me this year with above average hitting and ok defense. While none of the catchers on the team are the long-term solution, they have been fine to bridge the gap to... well we don't know who yet. This is the base version and the rainbow parallel.

A.J. has struggled offensively, but he's not the only one on this Braves team who has. 

I appreciate series 2 and update series about as much as series 1.  It's one of the few sets to get cards of some of these guys. Bring on more sets with longer checklists!

I picked up some inserts but will talk about those in a future post.