Two racing legends add to the chase

It's actually one person that added cards via a trade, but the screen name was quite interesting if you're a racing fan.  A big thanks to Rusty (TCDB ID: rustypetty) for putting a big dent into a couple football set want lists with this trade.

2018 Panini Prestige was my punishment.  Yes, I decided to put it together before looking at the set breakdown; not figuring out that there were 100 SPs out of the 300 card set taught me a valuable lesson in collecting modern sets, look before you leap.

These 8 knock my want list down to 42 cards, just 6 of them are part of the base set.  Ugh, 36 SPs, there are some big names among that list and it may take me some time to finish this off, but this set will be part of the next wave of sets to be completed.

This was the big part of the trade, 32 cards from the Donruss 2019 set.  This will also be part of the next group of sets to be finished, as this is down to 60 cards.  Similar to 2018 Prestige, this set has just 1 card remaining that isn't a rookie card.  That's right, 59 RCs to go....yikes!

To finish off the trade, I received 4 cards from my WR collections, mostly of T.Y. Hilton.

It was funny, when I looked at the 2018 Absolute card in the lower right corner, something just didn't seem right.  The guy was too tall and too slender to be T.Y. Hilton.  Sure enough, the photos both front and back are of Donte Moncrief, another Indianapolis WR.  In this age where everything is scrutinized with a fine tooth comb, it's surprising that this card got through the quality check process at Panini.

A big thanks to Rusty for knocking down these want lists, it is appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Oh my, there's how many left?

I probably went a little over a week without receiving or making a trade offer on the TCDB.  Not sure what to make of all that's going on right now.  Hard to think of a word that described how I felt.  Worried?  Not really good, because I know that times have changed.  Bored?  No, that's not it, I've totally been enjoying my hobby over the past year.

While writing this first paragraph, the word I was looking for came to mind.   Understanding.  I get that people might not have cards first on their minds, or even want to head to the post office or come within 50 feet of one.  I've also been worried about making offers, because you just don't know what people are thinking on the other end, even regular trade partners (although a couple of my regulars have hit me up in the past few days, more on that in upcoming posts).

Within the past 6 days, I've actually received 8 trade offers, 7 of the PWE variety, which I think works much better in these uncertain times, because if you have a supply of stamps on hand (I keep quite a few now, including the extra ounce 15 cent stamps) and a lot of envelopes (office supply junkie here), you don't have to interact with anyone.  All 8 trades were dropped in the mailbox in front of my P.O. more than 50 feet from the door.

The first trade came in today, with new trade partner Matt.  A nice exchange of 2019 Donruss football was made, and my end knocked off 19 cards from my want list...

No SPs or anything, which is fine, but there's still some decent names on the scans, past and present.  Looking through these quickly made me decide to look over the checklist, and doing that I noticed there's not really a whole lot of commons in the set, which is cool.  But then I looked at my want list and realized that I have 107 cards still to go to complete the 350 card set.

You've got to be kidding me!  Thought I was much closer than that to finishing the set.  Thinking back, I really didn't buy a whole lot of packs when the set came out last year, and I still see some product on the racks when I hit Target.  Wondering if I shouldn't pick up a pack or 2 here and there to try and get closer.

Nope....I'll wait and try and trade for the rest.   Thank you for the trade Matt, cards are really appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Trade Week: tenlbpain

We're already half way through trade week and it seems like just a blur.  I'm sure that my liver is working overtime to keep up with the extra alcohol intake that is sure to be happening.

This I believe is my third trade with Nick, and it happened quite quickly as I had notice he had listed some Donruss 2019 FB for trade.  I've found very few trade partners for football on the TCDB site, which for me has been quite surprising.

I do like this set and hope to complete it in the not too distant future, but with the (lack of) speed in which this is happening, I might have to dip into my pocket to finish this up, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case.  I still need 126 out of the 350 card set, so if anyone has any extra cards floating around out there, please check out my want list on the TCDB.

The bigger part of the trade was the hockey portion, specifically a 30 card dent into the 2015-16 OPC set.

It was interesting as I scanned the cards how many players since that year have either moved on to other teams or are out of the NHL already.  Dougie Hamilton has been traded twice already since he started his career in Boston.

Matt Moulson's career hit the brakes when he moved from the Islanders to Buffalo.  It was almost as if the sticks he took with him didn't have any goals in them.  I had no idea he signed as a free agent with the Capitals this past summer, but I haven't seen or heard from him since the season began so I guess that he didn't make the club.

My goodness I had no idea that Nick Bonino was a Canuck!  One season was all it was though, as he left for Pittsburgh for the 15-16 season, and became part of one of the most famous goal calls ever made in the playoffs for his goal against the Sharks.

Last up, I snagged one of the few Mitch Marner cards I have in that PC, the 2019-20 MVP short print.  His cards are going to be crazy expensive because of the crest he wears, so anything I can grab trade wise will be a bonus.

Thank you Nick for the great trade, the cards are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Football season is upon us

Last year I decided to dip my toe in the waters again and try to build one football set.   Prestige might not have been the wisest choice, as I think I've only recieved a couple of small trades to advance that set closer to completion.

This year, I decided to go a bit more low level and started on the 2019 Donruss football set, which resembles it's baseball cousin.

Had to scan a card with Mitchell on it

Love the look of the base set, like how the stripes near the team logo are the team's colors.  The base set is also manageable at 350 cards, with the RCs numbered from 251-300 and the Rated Rookies from 301-350. 

I bought a couple of the retail yellow hanger boxes, the ones that contain a jersey card inside, and I didn't do too badly.

Within a week of getting this card, Clowney has already been traded to the Seahawks to bolster their defensive line. 

There's also a ton of inserts and parallels, like most sets these days.  I have a few of the red press proofs and a few of the blues as well...

What's nice for guys like me who enjoy modern product but don't go totally insane over it, is that Donruss made the variations easy to spot...

The card numbers have the letter "V" below them.  Makes it a lot easier for novices such as me....

I haven't opened everything that I plan to open for Donruss football, as I have my hurricane stash ready, and that includes one of the 30 card packs that have the blue parallels inside.  If and when we get hit, I'm going to start posting a few packs here and there to pass the time....

Stay tuned...
 
Thanks for reading!

Robert

Try A Pack #17: 2019 Donruss

Haven't seen a whole lot of these on the blogs, but I kind of like this years Donruss.  Yes, it still doesn't have any logos, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.  But it's not very expensive and it's loaded with parallels, which after a few packs I kind of think there are benefits and drawbacks to the parallel insanity.

What I do like is this:

Like that Donruss used the '85 design for the young players

The base set has both black and white bordered cards.  Different, and I like the look.   If anything, maybe a bit too busy on the diagonal stripes on the white bordered portion, but the black looks really sharp (as it always does when used by card companies). 

The retail fat packs contain one holo red and one vector parallel in each:

The vector parallel scanned better than I thought it would, because I had a little trouble seeing the design if I had the card tilted a certain way.  The holo red parallels scan quite flat, they actually have a foil shine on them and they look good in hand.

Quite a few of the big names in the set have variations, as evidenced by Juan Soto above.   I also pulled a Walker Buehler with his twitter handle on the front (@buehlersdayoff).  In my opinion, these may have run their course as they've been done in the past. 

In my first pack, I pulled a Signature Series card as well...

I haven't had much luck for the longest time pulling any jersey or autograph cards out of any retail packs, so seeing this in the first pack was a welcome sight.  I've yet to see Caleb Ferguson pitch, but just looking at his stats over his first season + 2 weeks it looks as if the Dodgers have another solid young player to add to the group of under age 25 players that form a nice chunk of their 25 man roster.

Not bad from what I've seen so far, not sure if I'll try and build the set yet but the first few packs were a fun rip.

Thanks for reading!

Robert