Not the who's next I am use to

Highlight:

Only about 200 cards left in the Santa Lot, and yes another new insert. The Next In Line insert set doesn't go far in design from the base set design for 2006-07 Upper Deck Victory. Ièd say Vanek was a pretty good pick given his career since 2006-07.

The rest
Keepers:


Traders:


Wow - lots going on here. Obviously a bunch more 2007-08 Topps 1957-58 variation insert set cards. A few of them are new, the set is actually down to only two cards, though one is a certain King LeBron. I did have to add the Durant to the list of items below.

The additional 2006-07 McD checklist hockey card also means another completed McD checklist insert set, so now up to 4 of those from the Santa Lot.

So all in all, a pretty productive day for only getting two new cards that I am keeping.

Through 12740 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	206	27
Inserts / Var Kept	386	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2489	368
Doubles/Sell	2328	280	2270	3298	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	184	5	233	222

Never too late for another accomplishment

Before I get to the accomplishment that actually happened, a big update on my goal for the year of trading away 5,000 cards. I have a box going out today with just over 800 cards which brings the total cards traded up to 4,436, a 600 count box shy of reaching the goal. With plenty of time left, I think I should reach the goal before the end of the summer, and might get as high as 7,000 by the end of the year depending on how the fall goes.

This was going to be the highlight, but given there was nothing for me to keep, it was no competition at all.

Highlight:

So, I only needed one of these copies to get the complete base set, but instead got these three instead. Awesome knocking off a complete set again as it has been a while from the Santa Lot. Now the question is - does anyone want this 135 card complete set (including the  checklist cards as well) as I would be more than happy to trade it away.

The rest
Traders:


The 2007-08 Topps variation cards would have otherwise highlighted today as both the cards were needed for the insert set.

Was disappointed I didn't need the 2008-09 Masterpieces Hawerchuk card, but so be it - same with the McDs.

Through 12720 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	206	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2488	368
Doubles/Sell	2327	280	2267	3294	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	182	4	226	222

All and nothing

This is about as good as it gets in a 15 pack of wrestling cards - not only needing them all, but being able to get half being inserts, when they were supposed to be all base.


When talking about important wrestlers of the last 20 years, here are two of them. Great careers in the ring, and obviously The Rock now being one of the big box office draws in movies, while Triple H is now positioned to take over a large part of WWE in the future (which would leave it in good hands), and already having massive success with some of his projects like NXT.

As for the rest of the cards...

2011 Topps base, which I have only a couple of otherwise, and some later Topps cards including the Road To Wrestlemania set, and best, I am happy to get a KO card, and another Bayley - especially for the moment pictured as I remember watching it and being happy for her success and the horsewomen moment.

So 15 cards, and 15 great ones at that makes for a good day.

Half and half

It's the weekend, so what better than some wrestling cards to take a look at. Another 15 pack - which ended up being only 14 cards (mistakes happen). This is the first pack to be duplicate heavy with half being dupes...


So what did I get that were new additions?

I miss Jack Tunney. Sure he was just a figurehead for TV purposes and making a stipulation, suspension, or other announcement, but unlike today when the authority of the day is on TV constantly and completely involved in story lines, Tunney appeared what felt like, only a couple times a year, so it meant something special when it happened.

Also - 2008 Topps Chrome Heritage III - nice couple cards there. I still remember being freaked out as a kid watching the Ultimate Warrior being haunted by Papa Shango.

The rest of the pack...

Some more 2016 Topps Slam Attax cards which I will gladly take - too bad there were so many dupes in the pack, but can't win them all.

Reserved Leaf

Highlights:

Yesterday there was a Gold Reserve card, but do one better today getting a Leaf. Berard was a bad situation which turned out fairly well. It was unfortunate that as a Leaf, he lost an eye in a graphic incident in March 2000. It was unfortunate he couldn't come back with Toronto, but amazing he came back to play a number of seasons, including initially with the Islanders.

Would have been nice to see what he could be like at 100% - accordingly to a couple articles in the last couple years, Berard feels he played around 70% for the rest of his career versus what he was at before hand.

The rest
Keepers:

Another bunch of 2008-09 O Pee Chee to add to the set (knocking off about another 1% of the base set - always cool).

Traders:


If I get hockey traders, will always take more McDonald's dupes.

Through 12700 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	206	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2488	368
Doubles/Sell	2325	280	2258	3291	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	179	4	223	222

A Reserved Rookie

Highlight:

Here is a rookie the card company actually got right. At this point, Blake only had one game under his belt, but he went on to a career lasting over a decade. 5 teams over that time, including a stint in Toronto.

The rest
Keepers:

The only other keeper for today happens to be for 2008-09 O Pee Chee which we have seen a lot of lately.

Traders:


I was hoping with the bunch of 2007-08 Topps that the last base card needed would show up,. but no luck on this day. There is another Kobe which I am sure will not last long until I find it a new home...

Through 12680 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	204	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2480	368
Doubles/Sell	2319	280	2258	3291	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	175	4	223	222

Not new but still blue

Highlights:

With the end in sight - looks like about three weeks of Santa Lot left - I am still happy getting dupes of cards I already have (especially McD ones). This is the third McCabe McD pick up, but solid cards like this - I'd have no problem with having 10.

Which reminds me, just because a card may not seem to be on my want list, if you have Jays or Leaf cards, I would take dupes of what I already have, no problem!

The rest
Keepers:

A triple diamond card - Datsyukian card if ever there were one.

Traders:

Sweet to get another handful of the 1957-58 variation cards, though only Shaq was a need for the set. At this point, I don't think I will be seeing the full set as LeBron is one of those that is MIA, and with only a few weeks of cards left, I presume if it was there, it may have been removed from the lot before I got it, but I will know for sure in a few weeks.



Through 12660 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	204	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2478	368
Doubles/Sell	2318	280	2243	3289	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	175	4	223	222

Adding over 1%

Large sets can be a fun chase, and O Pee Chee hockey is the pinnacle of it. O Pee Chee hockey was regularly 600 - 800 cards a year (in many, but not all cases). Back when you could buy a box and could get a third of the set, or more, this was pretty cool and fun to chase. I find it harder to want to get into such sets when you only get a fifth of the base set in a box.

Well, the good with the Santa Lot has been, getting about 50% of an 800 card set in 2008-09 O Pee Chee, and today, just 1% added by itself.

Highlights:


A nice bunch - though Boris didn't pan out from this rookie card as he played in only 80 games over three seasons with Atlanta.


The rest
Traders:


Neither of the 1957-58 Topps variation cards was needed to complete this unwanted set, but c'est la vie.

Through 12640 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	203	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2475	368
Doubles/Sell	2308	280	2242	3289	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	175	4	218	222

Ultra awesome

Highlight:

Today, a bunch of Ultra cards to look at, with a gold medallion to start.

The rest
Keepers:

Here are the rest. I don't mind the set, but that is a lot of skaters in similar poses with only the Vanek card even showing other skaters in the shot.

Traders:



That's all for today - so a quick in and out of the 20 I guess.

Through 12620 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	203	27
Inserts / Var Kept	385	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2464	368
Doubles/Sell	2301	280	2242	3289	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	175	4	216	222

Am I too late on 2018 Opening Day?

So for the price of just under $5 I picked up one of these at Walmart a while ago...

Yeah, not easy to read given it sits off the scanner bed, but it is 3 packs of Opening Day 2018 plus an exclusive Toronto Blue Jays card.

I figured for less than $5 I am at least getting one unopened pack for the collection, plus the Toronto Blue Jays "exclusive" card, so if nothing else comes of it, still alright overall.

So, the Toronto card...

I hadn't really looked at it before hand, but apparently each of the Toronto Blue Jays cards comes in this parallel Maple Leaf design. An interesting cross between baseball and nationalism with the Maple Leaf background design. So, with this one, I have 4 more I need to get!

Since I am keeping one pack, that leaves two to open, so let's seer if I get anything awesome...

Pack 1:

A pretty strong first pack with the insert of Cano being the highlight. I think enough has been said about the wave emblem and design - it's not far off recent years so people who like base Topps continue to, and those who don't, well, don't.

Can we have an entire set like the Before Opening Day insert set? That would be awesome.

Pack 2:

Sweet - the Josh Donaldson is an excellent bonus. As for the Opening Day insert - I really wish the pic was pulled out a bit to show more of the stadium, but that is because I love a good stadium card.

So overall, a decent enough little buy. Nothing unexpected, but an additional Jays card makes this overall a win for me!

Odd place to find packs

Not a long post today, but an interesting point to bring up if people were not aware, but first, a couple 401 Games pick ups from my favourite Toronto game store (heck, probably favorite Canadian one at that). The timing showing this is sadly perfect as 401gamrs is moving from the current location (which is 15 minutes from my work) a ways up Yonge street which would now be 30 minutes to get to including a subway ride.

I will probably now keep myself to one purchase from them a year, and make it big enough to get the free shipping. I should have gone up one last time yesterday, but that was when I found out online, and hadn't known about so didn't really have the time to go.




Nothing too significant about either f these, but I needed the most recent releases (April and June this year) to keep up the collection.

Now here are the interesting ones. I was with the kids at Indigo as they each had gift cards to use there, and what did I end up seeing, but some hockey card packs. There were a couple of recent packs regularly priced, some Maple Leaf Centennial  and O Pee Chee packs, but there were also these...

Unpackaged...


At $1.50 each, I jumped at picking up one of each as I know I needed both packs, and likely wouldn't see packs from 10 years ago again so easily. I probably should have picked up a few more Artifact packs given how much I like them, but I didn't want to go crazy.

Good news is the Artifact pack either has a dummy card or a hit in it, but not sure which (given it is retail, likely a dummy, but what can you do).

The moral of the story, you never know just where you may find something collectible - even the local big box book store!

One away

Highlight:

This White is the second for me, which is great since I think the set is one that will go on my "to be completed" list, so a second copy is a need for the Toronto team binders.

The rest
Keepers:

I am not one for the Heroes and Prospects set, but with the Santa Lot almost done, it has been interesting to see that, of the cards I got from this set, almost all would be "before their NHL debut" cards. The ones that didn't quite make it to the NHL, just not seen in what I went through. I gather it was just for whatever criteria, whoever put these cards together, must have had.

Traders:


Hello Chris Wilcox. With his 2007-08 Topps card, I am left with only one base card still needed (card 129) for the complete set. I don't think it is one I got and traded away - at least I am pretty sure, and short of going back over all my past blogs to check, I am going with that assumption for now. The Dudley is also nice, though not one that was missing from what I have, so no movement on that insert set.

Through 12600 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	203	27
Inserts / Var Kept	383	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2456	368
Doubles/Sell	2298	280	2235	3289	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	175	4	216	222

Flashbacks

More recent cards of players from yesteryear will always have a good chance to get into my good books. I can't say always as some are just too much of a cash grab type idea (though cynically, I could say all cards are really just a cash grab).

Today we get a couple nice addition to sets we have seen before that hit on this note very well.

Highlights:

It is a shame I have only a dozen of the 90 cards in the 2005 Legenday Cuts base set. We could complain at the lack of photo, and use of similar colours which may not be the most energetic, but darn it, I really like this set. I think it does well to make it feel like a more recent set (not trying to simply be just like a vintage set) and properly pay tribute to past stars.

As for 2008-09 Masterpieces - I have said enough on that set - just so pretty and done so well.

The rest
Keepers:

Never a shame to continue to 2008-09 O Pee Chee build. Hoping this gets over 50% before the Santa Lot ends, which would be saying something on an 800 card set.

Traders:


I love Robert Gallery doing his best Troy Polamalu impression.

Through 12580 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 3 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 6) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	202	27
Inserts / Var Kept	383	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2450	368
Doubles/Sell	2294	280	2228	3289	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	174	4	215	222