My Second Video: Showing off my Packers Card Collection

My First Video: My Spurs Cards & Memorabilia Collection

Card of the Day: 2013 Topps Five Star Brett Favre /208

It’s official: this weekend I will graduate from college! As such, I’ve decided to treat myself and spend a little more than I usually do on cards. Luckily for me my favorite high end product of the year was just recently released: 2013 Topps Five Star Football. Anyone who reads the blog or follows me on Twitter knows that I’m currently working to build the base set from ’13 Five Star baseball so it should come as no surprise that I LOVE the football set this year. These are some of the best designs on any cards anywhere in my opinion – they even beat their baseball counterparts if you ask me.

This particular Brett Favre card is numbered 81/208 — I don’t know how they chose 208 but I like that it makes them cheaper and more available than the baseball ones /75 (the prices on the baseball ones have sky-rocketed by the way). Favre was the only Packers quarterback that I knew for the first 15-16 years of my life (his Packers debut more or less coincided with my birth year). I love me some A-Rodg, but I have so many fond memories of watching the Gunslinger throw bombs down field. Needless to say, this card is a VERY welcome addition to the collection and perhaps this is the cornerstone of another Five Star base set. Stay tuned.

Looking to Move Some Cards!

The good news is I will be graduating from college in 2 weeks! The bad news is that I have too many cards. I have quite a bit to move out of my apartment as it is, and it’d be nice to only have one box of cards to move.

That being said, I’m looking to sell (at a low price) or trade (doesn’t necessarily have to be an equal trade) with anyone who is interested. Just let me know what team(s), player(s), or set(s) you are interested in and I’ll see what I can offer you. I have baseball, basketball, and football cards as well as one sweet hockey relic I’d be willing to part with.

As you should know: the Spurs, Packers, Astros, Brewers, and Red Sox are off limits. But everything else is fair game. Comment, email, or tweet at me and let’s get some cards moving!

P.S. If you’re wondering if the Will Clark patch contest is still open….it is! I will give it away at 350 followers as I said in the original post. Only 20 more followers are needed.

Card of the Day: 2008 UD Sweet Spot Prince Fielder/Ryan Braun Dual Swatch

In honor of the Brewers hot start I thought I would share one of my favorite Crew cards. I became a baseball fan back in 2007 when I was home sick from school one day and there was nothing on TV except for an afternoon game between the Astros and the Cubs at Wrigley. My dad is from Wisconsin and grew up a big Milwaukee fan so I paid attention to them too because he did. I’ve been to a game at Miller Park and a Brewers-Astros game at Minute Maid. That game was in 2008 when Fielder and Braun were tearing it up for the Crew so I sort of associate the Brewers with those two guys.

I picked this card up off of eBay for only a couple of bucks and it’s easily one of my favorites in my collection. I love the design and that the back specifically says “The memorabilia has been certified to us as having been used in an official Major League Baseball game.” I am not that impressed by some of the other statements from Topps or Panini like “this jersey was not from any specific season, game, or event” or just “guaranteed by Panini.” Anyways, the Astros aren’t going anywhere fast so here’s to the Brewers staying hot!

Card of the Day: 2013 Bowman Inception Jonathan Singleton Auto

I’ve been meaning to post a picture of this card for awhile now. It’s a 2013 Bowman Inception Jonathan Singleton Auto that I snagged off of eBay awhile back for $2.69. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal for a sweet signature of the Astros big-name first base prospect. Speaking of which, I’m a big fan of Singleton’s auto. Some might say it looks like a scribble, but the “J” and the “S” are clearly discernible. Plus, if you’re going to scribble I think it’s better to go big – otherwise you end up with something like Wil Myers auto.

I’m a sucker for anything Inception. From the dark and stormy background to the silver logo, to the clean font, to the matte finish these cards are just gorgeous. I’m also a sucker for the new Astros uniforms so combined with the Inception design I’m likely to just throw my money at you.

Thanks for reading – I’ll try to post more ‘card of the day’ from now on.

Review: 2014 Donruss

Well it’s been a long enough time since I blogged something that wasn’t a giveaway, but I promise I’ve had good reasons to be negligent. Anyways, let’s get into it! Last night to reward myself for surviving a long week I stopped by Target and picked up some packs. Guess it had been awhile since I was last there because 2014 Donruss, 2014 MLB Stickers, and 2014 Opening Day were all new to me. I picked up all 3, but am going to give Opening Day and the stickers their own reviews later on.

Review

Now, typically the card wrapper isn’t a part of card reviews, but the Donruss cards caught my eye right away – they’re shiny but have a really nice matte finish. Plus Big Papi is featured prominently on the front and I love the Donruss “d” logo.

I swear I only bought one pack, and this was waiting for me inside:

These redemptions have been selling for as high as $50 on eBay, but since it’s a Red Sox guy (a secondary PC of mine) I’ve redeemed it and will be holding onto it. I consider myself especially lucky since usually by the time I get to Target some jerks have usually thoroughly pack-searched everything. Anyways, a great hit and I’ll try not to let it bias my review of the rest of the cards.

Here’s the rest of what I got:

It should be noted that I usually stay FAR away from Panini baseball products because it’s hard for me to see past the lack of an MLB license. (What can I say? I like a good logo.) However, along with Select (and some Prizm), I’d say these are the exception to the rule – really sharp cards that, from a design standpoint, look nothing like anything that Topps pumps out. I’m actually a big fan of having the city name in the bottom left corner – it’s different and I think sometimes Topps falls in love with putting the logo on the front of every product because it can. The script is nice too, and as I said earlier I love the Donruss logo.

In terms of the photos themselves, I know because they don’t have a license that they try to select poses and positions where a logo wouldn’t normally even be visible. In some cases this works – I think the Pedro Alvarez card probably succeeds more than the others at this. However, other times this results in some awkward photos. Like this one for example – could be any white pitcher, good thing the bottom says Jordan Lyles or I wouldn’t know:

I don’t like the Diamond Kings inserts, for example, because they chop off the tops of players heads so that you can’t see that they lack a logo. But I mean, come on Panini, we know. Collectors who are buying your baseball products have already decided that they will buy despite the licensing issue. And with the tiny part of the caps that are showing on the Diamond Kings inserts you can already see there is no logo on the hat. Just show the whole cap or find a picture where the hat is off – this weird in-between isn’t fooling anyone and leaves everyone with an awkward final product.

I’ll end on a positive note, though. The backs of the cards are really unique: they’ve got players’ whole names spelled out. Do I need to know that Aroldis Chapman is actually Albertin Aroldis De La Cruz Chapman? Probably not, but it’s a fun twist. I like the blue color, too.

In conclusion, the good out-weighs the bad in 2014 Donruss. I don’t have any kind of grading scale, but I’ll go ahead and give Donruss a 7/10 if you’re mostly interested in base cards and inserts. It’s closer to a 5/10 if you’re hoping for sweet patches and autos, too. Not too many big names to hit from what I’ve seen and most of the game-used is small, plain white jersey squares (I’d rather have a base card than a white patch honestly). If they had the MLB license I would be inclined to give this product an 8/10. The design itself is sharp and different from everything else out there right now – there are some fun twists with some of the inserts and the names on the back of cards, too. However, some of the awkward poses and cropping that results from the you-know-we-don’t-have-a-license-but-we’ll-try-and-fool-you-anyway dance that Panini does with its buyers steals away from some of the design goodness.

Fourth Giveaway: 2013 Will Clark RC Commemorative Patch

I got word about a week ago that @JJJCubs24 received the medley of cards (that ended up including a Felix Hernandez, Doug Fister, Tim Lincecum, and Jose Bautista) from the third A Swing and a Hit Giveaway. This means it’s time for another! The prize this time is a sweet card from 2013 Topps Update Series: a Will Clark (SF Giants) Commemorative Rookie Card Patch. The card features a mini patch of Will the Thrill’s 1986 RC. Check it out:

 

The rules are as follows:

1. Follow me on Twitter @aswingandahit
2. Retweet the contest tweets (there will be one daily so you can earn an additional entry each day)

The contest will end once I reach 350 Followers. I will use random.org, randomize the list 10 times, and the name in the #1 slot will win. Good luck to everyone!

Trade Bait: Jays, Rays, A’s, and….Rangers

Hey everyone, I’ve got some cards I’m looking to trade (or sell if you don’t have anything to trade) for some Astros, Packers, or Spurs cards. Let me know what you’re interested in either by commenting, sending me a tweet/DM @aswingandahit, or emailing me at aswingandahit@gmail.com.

Third Giveaway: Felix Hernandez and Doug Fister

Congratulations to @REALCHRISNESS for winning the Darvish relic! I have word that he received it which means…time for another giveaway! (I also completed a sweet trade with Chris via Twitter – I highly recommend trading with him!)

This time the prize is actually two cards: a 2013 Panini Prizm Team MVP Felix Hernandez card and a 2011 Topps Doug Fister Diamond Anniversary Sparkle Variation

The rules are as follows:

1. Follow me on Twitter @aswingandahit
2. Retweet the contest tweets (there will be one daily so you can earn an additional entry each day)

The contest will end once I reach 200 Followers. I will use random.org, randomize the list 10 times, and the name in the #1 slot will win. Good luck to everyone!