Four PWEs

Watching:  Southern Miss vs Alabama on ESPN2

I have done everything in my power today to avoid watching today's Michigan game.  I have not seen a single second of it.  My brother-in-law has season tickets at Camp Randall and saved me a seat.  The day after the "win" against Army I called him and told him, "I'm mailing your ticket back.  I'm not going.".  He tried to talk me out of it but I said, "We are going to get killed.  I would probably leave at halftime.  I'd spend more time driving than at the game."  Sadly, I was right.

I received two TCDB trades yesterday and another pair today.  I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday so let's cover all four today. 
Four Finest additions for Owen's collection via mattdamick to start:

A basketball trade with 1145tc begins with a few 90s set builders:

The trade concludes with some Michigan additions:

Owen's collection grows by four thanks to bubbasbums:

Another trade with Orry04 concludes today's summary.  This baseball trade begins with a single set builder:

We finish with some more cards bound for Owen's collection:

Junebug skippin' like a stone

Listening:  Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

I received two TCDB trades in the mail today.  My second trade of the month with nathanfrancy leads off and adds six cards to Owen's collection, including an insert and three parallels:


My first trade with jaysee88 begins with a nice Jim Palmer for my 1984 Topps set:

The trade concludes with a pair of football additions to both the Michigan and Bama collections:
 

These burgers are crazy

Listening:  The Moldy Peaches Unreleased Cutz and Live Jamz 1994-2002

I received a pair of mailings yesterday.  My first trade with jimsisco adds 41 2019 baseball stars to Owen's collection:


The other mailing I received is a PIF from berton russell that helps build my 1983 Topps set:

Thank you!

Taking the plunge

Watching:  Padres vs Brewers on Fox Sports Wisconsin

With school resuming a couple of weeks ago we have also resumed the extracurriculars.  Included among those activities are Saturday morning swim lessons at one of the local high schools.  With our registration we receive a pass to attend open swim sessions free of charge.  Sunday afternoon I took our daughter to open swim where she vowed to jump off the diving board a million times.  This past spring she routinely jumped off the diving board.  She climbed the three steps and inched her way out on the board several times, however, she did not jump.  The board was too wobbly.  I summoned all of my courage and made two jumps, but that was not enough to convince her that the board is sound.  Oh well, we will try again next weekend.

A pair of TCDB trades welcomed me this afternoon at the post office.  A hockey trade with CardDad78 is first on the docket and begins with four Michigan additions:

The remaining cards are headed to my Hawks collection:


A small football trade with Dtd500 is up next and kicks off with a 1990 Topps Traded set builder:

A pair of Michigan additions follows, including a sweet First Day Issue:

That's where the trade was supposed to end, however, I was thrilled to find a pair of Brady's included as bonuses:

Thank you very much, Scott (Dtd500)!

Randy Woods had every right to be mad with Fleer

Watching:  Bama vs South Carolina on CBS

I received one package today; a TCDB trade with woodmangb that adds 15 cards to Owen's collection:

Gary was nice enough include one extra; a Rickey Henderson for my 1983 Topps set:


While making the obligatory Target run this morning I stood in the aisle perusing the card offerings for what felt like ten minutes.  The basketball offerings are now limited to Chronicles and Threads, but I just opened blasters of each earlier this week.  For the baseball offerings I have opened fat packs and blasters of just about everything in the past two or three weeks.  I could have picked up some football, but I wasn't feeling it.  It's been quite awhile since I picked up a repack so...

I picked up one of the 75 cards plus one pack repacks.  The pack inside is a 218-19 Hoops:

As is common with these basketball repacks I find lots of cards from the first half of the 90s; many of which are doubles.  These are the cards I will keep:

An Ayton rookie I needed; that's nice:

The 94-95 Fleer Randy Woods might be one of the most unflattering photos I have ever seen on a card:

A face only a mother could love.
And we close with plenty of trade bait:

Of course, one of these repacks would not be complete without a card from the wrong sport.

He's Charlie Mack... the first out the limo

Listening:  DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper

I received three packages today; one TCDB trade and two small lot eBay purchases.

My fifth trade with joe0786 is comprised solely of set builders, beginning with the 91-92 Hoops McDonald’s set:

We have a few early 90s football set builders:

The trade concludes with small stacks for the 1990-91 Score Canadian and 1993-94 Leaf sets:

Today’s first eBay purchase is a seven card Chronicles lot of Fernando Tatis Jr:

 

A pair of Topps Chrome Yelich parallels make up the second purchase:

An egg? Seriously, an egg? Five blaster bonanza

Listening:  (Silence.  It's nice)

While searching blasters on eBay I found a shop that offered free shipping and a discount based on the number of blasters of you purchased.  I selected five and the total came to $86.  If I had picked those up at Target it would have been over $100.  This may be the way to go...  The five blasters I selected include two basketball picks and three baseball picks:
 
I took our daughter to her dance class yesterday evening and while she was in class I retreated to my car and ripped through these five blasters.  Taking the cards along was a brilliant idea; a very productive use on my time.  I'll have to keep that in mind for future classes.

1. Chronicles
We will start with Chronicles.  I have picked up a fair number of fat packs and hangar boxes over the summer as I enjoy the bulk of the rookie subsets.  I did very well with the main base set (1-100).  13 cards and I needed all of them for the set:

I picked up 11 rookies from the various subsets to help build my set:

Nothing too exciting here.
I pulled my first blue parallel, a Michael Porter Jr that carries a SN99:

The box also included seven pink parallels:

Trae Young and MB3; not bad.  The chrome Holiday is SN75.
The Chronicles blaster closes with eight extras, all from the various rookie subsets, headed to the For Trade list:

All in all, not bad.

2. Threads
The other basketball blaster is Threads.  I have not picked up a lot Threads this season so this should be promising.  We start with eleven additions to the base set, including three rookies:

I like the cards that use the jersey as a background; plays into the whole "threads" theme.
We move on to the ten inserts and parallels I will be keeping:

The first AU card I have pulled from a pack or box in quite some time and it's Jerome Williams.  This is why I don't buy hobby boxes.  You pay an inflated price for a guaranteed auto or two and 99 times out of 100 it's someone like Jerome Williams.
I did manage to pull a nice Giannis for my PC:

Sweet card.
While I mentioned I have not picked up many Threads packs this season, I somehow managed to pull 13 doubles.

The Giannis pull is nice, but the rest of the box leaves me unsatisfied.

3. Optic
We move now to baseball.  I'll start with the Optic blaster as I have yet to purchase any Optic packs.  The Optic basketball offerings of the past few seasons have been some of Panini's better selections.  This blaster begins with six cards I will add to Owen's collection:

I am going to hold onto six rookies:

The remaining 15 cards will find new homes via my For Trade list:

Fairly disappointing box.  Nothing really of note.

4. Topps Series 2
Up next, a Topps Series 2 blaster.  I pick up Series 2 fat packs occasionally when I make a Target run.  I have probably picked up a total of 10 or 12 to date.  This is my first blaster though.  It would be nice to hit one of the big rookies, or two.  We begin with three additions for Owen's collection:

Not surprising to only pickup a few here as my previous fat packs and trades have left few needs here.
I will hold onto a dozen RCs:

That means a big stack of base cards will be added to my For Trade list:

Inserts and parallels headed to my For Trade list include:

One last card to cover before closing the lid on the Series 2 blaster...

I am going to hold onto this Yount patch card for my brother-in-law Jon who happens to be a pretty big Brewers fan going back to the 82 World Series team.
The Series 2 blaster was a huge disappointment.  No Alonso, no Vlad, no Tatis, not even a single SP.  I have fared far better just picking up fat packs. 

5. Allen & Ginter
And finally, my final blaster is an Allen & Ginter.  I have a real love-hate relationship with this set.  I love the design.  It's a great design, however, some of the people and things they choose to include in this set are downright bizarre.  Let's get into it with seven additions to Owen's collection:

The deGrom mini is a cool pickup.
We proceed to two RCs I will keep for now:

That leaves me 24 base cards I will place on my For Trade list:

Included among these 24:

Egg.  Are yo kidding me?  Topps has devoted a card in a baseball set to an egg.  Oh, but not just any egg.  A famous egg that set some social media record.  This is asinine.
Our fifth and final blaster closes with 15 inserts and parallels I will place on my For Trade list:

These oddball inserts seem to be pretty popular with a certain segment of the collecting population.
The A&G blaster was huge disappointment as well.

In the end, "disappointment" seems to be a recurring theme as I opened these five blasters.  Thankfully, it stings a little less given I didn't pay retail.  Well, if nothing else, I have added some depth to my 2019 baseball For Trade offerings and that should help me secure some cards I actually want.