Inbound and Down #26: Sportscards from the dollar store, pt. 1

Doug is always great for sending envelopes unsolicited.  This latest package that came my way was full of all kinds of cards that I hadn't seen before.

Almost the entire Jays team set from 2017 Archives.   All that's missing is the Troy Tulowitzki.  It wouldn't surprise me if I already have the Tulo somewhere.  

Maple Leafs are always welcome, especially cards from recent sets.  I don't think I've ever seen, let alone bought a pack of Champs.  I'm going to have to see if I can find a few more of those to add to my collection.  The 2017-18 OPC cards are really growing on me, and I'm positive that I'll add that set to my want list before too long.  The packs dried up really fast here locally.

The rest of the pack was loaded with goalie cards for the frankenset.  Almost 40 of them in fact.   There were a couple of pairs of duplicates (for a couple of other posts), and a couple of numbers I already have as well. 

Quite a few of the cards filled out some of the holes in the first 100 numbers...

The Cam Ward in the upper left corner becomes the #1 card in the set.  I believe that the Jake Patterson card (middle row left) is the first junior player as part of the set; I've always loved the London Knights jersey and their colors (same as my high school).  I am also fond of the Ben Bishop card; his glow in the dark designs are fantastic (though I don't know if the Kings design was glow in the dark).

Great pads on Manny Fernandez

Another pair of Champs cards in the center row just enhance my enjoyment of that design.  The Jacob Markstrom is from last year's OPC set, which I didn't find one pack of at the local big box stores.  The Roberto Luongo is from his first go around with the Panthers, more than a decade ago.  I'm loving the variety of years and sets that this frankenset has been gaining so far.  A rough count shows I'm just a little over a quarter of the way through the set, and by the time I add all the cards Doug sent, the 30% mark will be by the books.

I'll show the rest of Doug's envelope of goalies tomorrow; a couple of pages worth should be good for another post. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Try a Pack #3: 2017 Topps Archives

I actually bought this pack a couple of weeks ago, but just hadn't got around to posting about it.  Until now.  Opening this pack reminded me of why I never collected this set.

It just didn't impress me. 

At least I can add Josh Donaldson to my Jays collection.  We did this set 8 years ago I believe for Heritage.  At least some people did, I only bought a few packs from that set back in the day.

A card of the MLBPA director?  Not sure why that's there.  I like the '82 design, it's one of the many sets I have want lists up on the blog for.  Good to see a different photo of Pops on a card.

I was beginning to think that '92 was the design for all players retired until I saw the deGrom card.  Not a bad group of players on here though, a pair of 3000 hit guys and the once single season home run champ.  Bob Lemon spent his entire career as an Indian, and it would be interesting to think of what kind of win total he would have had if he didn't serve in the military for 3 years before his career started.  The most amazing stat for me is Lemon completed 20 or more games in a season 7 times, including 28 of them in 1952.  Rubber arm indeed.

I pulled two inserts, both representing the state of Texas.  The 58 Bazooka of Nolan Ryan is a cool looking card, and I'm sure that there's someone out there that can use it.  Alex Bregman wears #2 for the Astros.  I took a quick look to see the history of the #2 in Houston, and was very surprised to see that Nellie Fox wore it in 1964-65, then it wasn't worn again until 1987!  That's a long time for a team not to use a number.

This pack was a reminder of why I don't colelct Archives.  Yes, it's a great way to revisit past sets, but for me Heritage does that job much better.  

Sometimes you just need to buy a pack to remind you of the reason you don't collect something.

Thanks for reading, Robert