Serial Saturday #35: 50 in the rearview mirror

Never did I think that I would hit the 50 card mark for my #'d/99 project so quickly, but here I am!  I hit the mother load with 8 cards on my last twitter purchase for this set; I was actually going to post these last Saturday, but I never got around to writing anything that day.  There's a nice mix among the 8 cards I'm about to show, football, basketball and baseball.

Love the powder blue uniform on Melvin Gordon of the Chargers, I certainly wouldn't be upset if they went to these full time instead of the darker blues.  This is from the 2018 Panini Classics set, #'d 78/99

I don't know much about today's basketball players, so I'm kind of learning on the fly when picking up cards to fill this set.  Andre Drummond is nicknamed "the Big Penguin", maybe not the greatest moniker if you're a basketball player (assuming that it's for his running style), but his numbers on the court seem pretty solid.  Andre's averaging 17 pts and 15 rebounds per game so far this year.

Tony Allen is another player that I couldn't have said anything knowledgable about before writing this post, but it appears that his career finished up a couple of seasons ago.  13 years in the league as what appears to me as a starter for about half of the games he appeared in, averaging just over 8 points a game for his career.

Next up we have J.J. Hickson whose NBA career ended in the 2015-16 season,  He started just under 60% of the games he appeared in, and averaged 9.5 pts per game for the 5 teams he played for.

Both of these cards were from the 15-16 Hoops set, Artist Proof parallels.  Both scanned really well, the shine really pops on the scan, just as if you're tilting it in your hands.

The last four cards are all baseball, and I'm saving the best player for last...

All 3 of these cards are from the 2016 Diamond Kings baseball set, more Artist Proof parallels.  They're all recognizable names as well, which is great, and all of them were just a buck apiece.  I've been kind of a semi fan of Matt Carpenter, mostly for his hitting.  I like that he doesn't use batting gloves, and he reminds me of how Albert Pujols was for the Cardinals in the early stages of his career, playing multiple positions.  Carpenter's average has been sliding for the past couple of seasons, but has had some good power numbers to make up for it.

Last up is a hall of famer, and a card that hit the budget ceiling of $2.50.  Loved when I saw this Rod Carew card up for sale, and I especially like the '58 design front and back.

#'d 55/99, and I believe that each card in this order had their own unique serial #.  Has me thinking that I might just see if eventually I can fill all the #'s from 1-99 for this little collection.

These 8 cards bring the collection up to 52 cards, almost 6 pages worth.  I do have a couple of more in my COMC cart, so in a few weeks when they start shipping again, we'll be in the mid 50's.   No rush right now though, as the world is on a bit of a pause....

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert