Phone Cards For Everyone

The 2017-18 Panini Status basketball checklist has been released along with some pictures of the cards and my first impression is that the cards look like phone cards from 1994.

Now let me address the die-cut parallels. Die-cuts are supposed to accent the card and/or shapes in the design, not just random cuts of varying widths and depths. This adds nothing to the card but in my eyes it detracts.

Monday Question Day- Cool Relics?

Today is question day:

What unusual relic would you like to see in a card?

There are already some unusual relics in cards but they are not as common as the usual “Event Worn” memorabilia that shows up. In sports I would like to see shoes show up more often. Maybe do a cleat card with a single cleat from a football player’s shoe.

In non-sports, there are so many options. Cryptozoic’s Totally Fabricated relics, while they are manufactured relics, are very cool and bring us closer to comic books and animated shows like Archer so why not continue the idea in to other companies and their licenses? Who wouldn’t want a Totally Fabricated piece of the Death Star or some rocks from Alderaan? That is the odd thing about the Star Wars license, there are very few relics of any type; Ewok fur, Chewbacca fur, Jabba’s sail barge sail, bunker pieces from ROTJ and now Stormtrooper pieces. Where are the pieces of Han’s blaster? Luke’s lightsaber? Leai’s slave outfit?

Upper Deck Is Back In The NBA For A Different Type Of Release

Upper Deck has an official NBA licensed product releasing this year but in a very unique style. The set isn’t cards per se, but more memorabilia with a trading card style and it will be sold in pack/box form. The checklist will include retired players, stars and rookies including the three NBA players that Upper Deck has signed to exclusive deals; Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Ben Simmons. Some other stars on the checklist; Allen Iverson, Jerry West, Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Dennis Rodman.

The NBA has given UD the “Ok” to produce the set because it is being sold as memorabilia so the “cards” depict each of the stars in their NBA uniforms with full logos and names.

The 2017-18 Upper Deck Authenticated Supreme Hard-Court Basketball release is different because each card is a 5x7 piece of game-used wood from a Charlotte Bobcats floor and is basically designed to look like a card.

Each box will contain two packs and each pack will contain one card, no release date or price has been announced yet but I have found information saying there are 17 signers on the checklist and the price may be around $500/box.

I wonder if this works out for UD, if they will continue to work with the NBA for similar memorabilia sets. These small and very limited products gives Upper Deck an NBA presence without encroaching on Panini's license and gives the NBA control over what Upper Deck produces. Kind of a win-win for both.

Ready For Some XFL?

It is official, there will be an XFL reboot and play starts in 2020. Some of the information released during Vince McMahon's announcement today is that there will be 8 teams of 40 players each and that the teams will be owned by the league.

McMahon also said that the league is about football, not about wrestling, politics or social issues. A couple of other points he made; the game will be family friendly, safer and faster (he wants games to last no more than 2 hours).

Choose A Direction And Stick With It

I was going through my recent Steve Largent additions and adding the missing cards to my TCDB collection and I noticed after I scanned in three parallels from the 2005 Donruss Elite Back to the Future insert that the serial numbers are not printed the same way. The green parallel that is #/1000 has the top of the serial numbers nearest to the right border while the Blue #/500 and Red #/250 have the bottom of the serial numbers facing the right border.

I took a look at other player’s cards in the insert set and they are all serial numbered like mine, with the green parallels having their serial numbers in a different direction than the blue and red parallels.

I think the only reason I noticed this is because of my OCD and need for order. Damn you Donruss for messing with me and flipping the card sheets when printing the serial numbers.

Iksmezrtsay Lrac Autograph?

I came across this one on Twitter and it turns out that Yaz signed the backs of all of his base 2017 Topps Clearly Authentic autograph cards so his signature appears backwards, the parallels were signed on the front. As a buyer would this affect you? Does it lower the value of the card or would you skip it all together and maybe chase one of the parallels that were signed on the front?

There are currently 3 base autographs up for auction running with BIN prices of $115-150 and in the past three months there have been 5 sales running $67.91 through $108.88 so they are selling but you wonder if more would have sold had they been signed correctly.

Monday Question Day- Names

Today is question day:

Would you rather be Tommy John and have a potential career ending injury named after you or Mario Mendoza and have a potential career ending batting average named after you?

I would rather be Tommy John, medicine has made advances over the last few years so Tommy John surgery isn't a career ender like it once was but a .200 batting average lasts with you forever.

One Card Post- Nelson Cruz Sleeve Patch

A one card post today from the 2017 Hits Memorabilia release. This En Fuego Nelson Cruz patch card is #3/3 and I found it for under $5 delivered.

At first, I was confused about the logo because the Mariners have been using the nautical compass as the logo since 1993 but then I remembered that this past season they wore a 40^th Anniversary patch on their sleeve.

A List Of All The Scents Acceptable With Cards... Gum, That Is All!

I purchased a card last week from a high rated comic book seller on eBay for a great deal. It isn’t a major card but a nice cornerstone for one of my mini-PC collections. It shipped quickly and was secured nicely so I have no complaints about that but when I got the card and opened the cardboard they had around the top loader I got hit with a smell almost as bad as cigarette smell. It smelled like the seller had just sprayed a flowery air freshener right in to the padded mailer.

I tossed all the packaging, including the top loader and penny sleeve, and I have the card sitting next to my monitor in hopes that the smell will eventually dissipate. I’ll admit, I would rather have a rose smell compared to tobacco but any aroma other than gum doesn’t belong on a card.

The Giant In Mini Form

One of the most accomplished wrestlers ever was Andre the Giant and over his nearly 30-year career he also became one of the most famous wrestlers too. You can even say it was Andre who made Hulk Hogan who he is because of their WrestleMania III match when Hogan defeated him with the “Body slam heard around the world”.

Andre began wrestling at the age of 17 in 1963 but it wasn’t until the early 1970s that he began to make a name for himself while he was in Japan. His first card, his rookie card of sorts, was included in the 1973 Wrestling Annual #6 magazine. In 1974 he had cards in the Yamakatsu set and in 1978 he appeared in the Amada Kings set.

The 1978 Amada Kings release was made up of regular sized cards as well as minis and I believe Andre appeared on at least four cards. This is one of those cards, and it is the mini version. The card was $7 and was part of my COMC order, the reason it was relatively cheap is because the bottom left corner is clipped.

You may not have noticed but the guy about to be suplexed by Andre is fellow WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki.