Busting Packs - 2015 Panini Contenders Baseball

Was near Johnny B's in Lakeland the other day and picked up a couple packs of the newest baseball card product since Bowman Draft hasn't come out yet. Let's see what I got..

First card out of the first pack is A.J. Minter whom the Braves drafted 75th overall this summer. He would've been a first round pick according to most scouts if not for having TJS in March, another high risk high reward style pick for Atlanta. He projects as a closer as he pitches at 95-97mph

Another keeper even though I don't necessarily follow Gators baseball. Harrison Bader was drafted in the 3rd round by St. Louis. A big right handed bat with plus speed he could be on the fast track to Busch Stadium.

Here's the rest of the "base" cards I pulled - all available for trade even though I dig that black & white Frank Howard.

These School Colors card fell at 2 per pack and are pretty sharp looking, again all available for trade.

I had a hot hand pulling Brandon Koch cards, he was drafted by the Rays as a closer out of college. He had one of the best breaking balls in the draft according to mlb.com

The Old School Colors again fell at 2 per pack and are my favorites in black & white.

D.J. Peterson was once a Top-50 Prospect who's seemingly lost his way in the Mariners system. I can't remember the last big rookie to debut for Seattle maybe it has something to do with thier farm system.

Here's the 2 inserts I pulled - Julian Leon is the Dodgers top catching prospect so I think I know an Owl to send this to. Tyler Jay was the Twins first round pick this year so it is HIGHLY likely this one will be headed to Minnesota but it's all SUBJECTIVE.

I've been in Atlanta this past week visiting family for the holiday and my cousin gave me this replica ring from the Braves 20th anniverseray this past season. It's super heavy and really nice.

I went to the Falcons game yesterday and was let down by Matt Ryan yet again, he has taken a serious downturn in play these past few weeks and we are now completely out of the playoff picture unless we somehow get hot but I don't see that happening.. we'll see they head to Tampa next week along with me. As always thanks for reading.

Black Friday - Where you at

So I saw blowoutcards.com has some good prices on boxes but haven't seen anything on COMC.com that looked that great... probably end up springing for a box off Blowout but let me know if y'all find any other awesome deals.

If you haven't watched this video it's pretty funny even if your not a Rocker/Braves fan.

http://www.vice.com/video/the-real-kenny-powers-123

Over the Rockies and Thru the Woods...

Adam over at Infield Fly Rule sent me a surprise package the other day. We had traded before but I wasn't expecting this...

Big ol box of Braves. I won't show all or even half but let's check out some of my favorites that Adam sent over. 

More Finest Glavine, while not as awesome as the '94 above. It's just Fine...st 

Ok I'm gone be honest this is my first 1997 Topps cards and the crazy thing is I was collecting in '97. I guess I was so caught up in Upper Deck/Collector's Choice that I didn't bother buying any packs. 

So thanks Adam, I'm caught up 18 years later. I probably did have a few of these but I traded alot as a kid and probably traded these boring green bordered guys for shiny UD or Metal Universe.

Like these! I mean c'mon sorry to you Topps loyalists but Upper Deck owned the 90's to me. These are my first special edition marked cards from this set as well.

More Upper Deck magic,  love that shot of Smoltzy.  Probably celebrating one of his many strikeouts. 

Always loved this Score set, I opened a ton of these packs as a youngster but had really bad luck pulling Braves. I definitely remember trading that exact Andruw to my cousin Jon-Ryan for a Chipper Metal Universe card. 

More Flagship cards from sets I have embarrassingly too few cards of. What can I say I guess I hated Topps as a kid.

I mean even in it's infancy Upper Deck was putting out great cards. 

Trippppyyyyyyy

Only fitting for a Rockies fan to send me this one of Murph. Again thanks for all the great cards Adam I'll be getting you a worthy return package soon. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading. 

Card Show Trade Bait + College Football

Went to my local card show this morning and grabbed more stuff for you all than myself... Merry Christmas fellow bloggers. This us only a sampling...

It's a huge college football weekend for everyone NOT in the SEC, we're all playing cupcakes. 

The Big XII is hanging onto it's Playoff hopes by a thread and Michigan State - Ohio State should clear the picture up going into next weekend. Go Gators! 

Update Chrome - The Easy Way

I see you blogosphere, I watched with awe as you all opened box after box of the shiny fancy Topps Update Holiday Boxes with the 2 exclusive Chrome Update packs. But I couldn't do it, I even went to Target and had one in my hands but settled for a rack pack of Update instead. I went the 2015 route and went to eBay and for $4 total I got both Braves base cards from the set.

Shelby Miller - he of terrible luck and many trade rumors. The Royals haven't even been Champs for a month and the Braves have traded 2 starters from last years lineup. Shelby and Julio Teheran are apparently being discussed with the Cubs in regards to a young bat hopefully that means Soler or Baez if the right package can be put together. We'll see the Braves new regime sure loves making trades.

Speaking of trades Folty here was just acquired last offseason for Evan Gattis.Hopefully this kid can harness his easy 96mph fastball and be the next deGrom or Synndegard.

Picked up this one /499 for $3 of the Braves 2015 2nd round pick.

Love how American this card is of 2015 1st round pick and high school teammates with Lucas Herbert. Pretty crazy...

Here's a link to the article with a quote from the story.

''
The Braves did indeed pull the trigger on drafting both Herbert and Allard, an effective pitcher-catcher combo and among the more sought-after high school prospects for their positions in this year’s draft. Both players had commitments to UCLA but eagerly await their chance to sign their big league contracts once they graduate.

''

What have I done!? This huge card is awesome if you don't have any of these new fangled giant cards I don't know what to tell you other than that needs to change.

Sorry have to make it Extra Large because it's another huge card, I grabbed these 2 together for $6 both #/99.

My first new hockey cards of the year. hopefully they have some UD S1 at the card show tomorrow. Not a huge fan of the huge borders in this set but hey it's new Lightning cards.

My first 2015 Valor cards, these are pretty good looking like the mysterious tree thing in the background and as always i'm a sucker for filtered/arty cards. 

My first framed rookie from '15 GK

I pulled a pretty awesome framed card in my GK pack but it got shipped off last week. Party on Wayne....

Ripping Packs - Football Edition

OK I know most of you come here for the baseball cards but I collect football as well so your just gonna have to deal with it.. I've been doing pretty good on my "no retail" policy i've been trying to implement on myself but every once in a while a new product comes out I want to sample.

I picked up a blaster of the Rookies & Stars from Target and a single pack of Donruss at my monthly card show. Let's see what I got.

Here's the parallels I pulled, no interest in any of these guys so if you need them or know anyone who does let me know and i'll let them go for a song.

Here's the promised manu-relic that comes in every box. Again no allegiance to either player or the Ravens. What the hell happened to the Ravens anyway, the NFL is a funny league this year with the Packers losing 3 straight, the Bears playing really well lately and the Texans ending the Bengals undefeated streak.

Anybody collect Bucs, they've surprised everyone a bit this year I'd say with a 4-5 record already doubling their win total from last year.

Rookies & STARS! Oh I get it! These are probably the best 2 teams in the NFC, the Falcons play them 3 of their final 7 games so we'll find out if they go to the playoffs and are worthy of being there over that span. Cam should win MVP and I am not a Cam fan at all just don't think Brady should get it with his weapons, defense and coaching that he gets year after year. The Panthers would have 2 or 3 wins with any other QB.

This guy looks to be running away with rookie of the year unless another SEC player (shown later in this post) outlasts him.

Crusade makes another appearance, this design seems to pop up in all kinds of releases but i'm not complaining as I think it looks great.

I seem to have terrible luck pulling Falcons out of packs but got these 2 rookies to beat the odds. All in all I like this product but probably won't buy anymore retail of it this year.

On to the Donruss!

Here's the base card - My favorite one, I didn't actually pull this one I ordered the team set online.

I like this design but am not going to go crazy and chase the set or anything, I'm kind of anti border so these don't do too much for me. 

OK here's the inserts I pulled out of my pack - Jordy Nelson... poor guy always hate to see a guy get hurt before the season even starts even if it is a guy on a team I really don't like.

Closing it out with a nice looking card of the only other rookie of the year candidate to me. This guy and Derek Carr are really lighting it up out west and I'd say they are another surprise team in the league this year and are right in the wild card mix.

I know I've posted this before but if you collect football Pro or College and we don't already trade let me know and I should be able to whip up a pretty good trade package for you. As always thanks for reading and Go Falcons!

Hoot! Cards from Night Owl

I recently recieved a package from the one and only Night Owl including this new to me '71 Don Sutton. I just recently picked up my first few vintage cards of the Braves radio man but this one had eluded me... until now thanks to Night Owl. 

I had 3/4 of these but these are all upgrades and plucked from a mighty Dodgers collection. They will be well taken care of.

Well you knew there'd be Braves cards eventually. Sadly this is my first Babe with him in a Braves uniform, not sure if there's tons more out there but I'll have to make an effort to track them down if so. 

Who doesn't love obnoxiously shiny cards?

Gold and shiny!

This is the 2nd trade package I've recieved lately that hit off my small want lists proving they really do work. I guess I'll need to get on those but running out of pages/binders recently has put a grinding halt to my organizing efforts. Luckily there's a show on Saturday where I plan to reload. 

Thanks again for all the great cards Night Owl!