Crewniverse Contest Winnings

It's high time I posted this mail day, now that it's almost a month late.  At the end of September, I watched the Cubs slowly collapse and the Brewers turn on the jets and tie everything up on the final day of the season.  October 1st became Game 163 to decide the National League Central title.  The game came on just after my final class for the day, so I turned on the TV in my classroom to watch the game while I graded papers.  It was crushing to watch the Cubbies fall at home to the Crew and drop to the Wild Card after boasting the best record in the NL just two days earlier.

I had been expecting a package from noted Brewers fan Matt Prigge, from the Summer of '74 blog because I put out an almost miraculous guess of how many Brewers cards in his "Crewniverse" collection.  When I got home, I found that very package in my mailbox.  Frankly, I was a little nervous that I was going to open up the envelope and find a bunch of Matt's Brewers doubles greeting me.  That would have been pretty awful timing.  Luckily, Matt had sent me some random goodness that helped ease the pain.

 
Here are some serial-numbered football cards.  Two of them (McCown and Henry) are numbered below 100, and the McCown even goes as low as 25.  I wasn't expecting anything like that.

Some football inserts from recent years.  I like what Panini has done with Playoff since it revived the name a couple of years ago, and these inserts look pretty nice.  The highlight is the Rookie Roundup of James Conner who has been pretty big this season in Le'Veon Bell's absence.

How about some mid-to-late 90s shiny Bowman's Best?  These are pretty cool cards that I just don't have many of.  Drew Bledsoe was one of my under the radar favorites back in the day.

Of course, a package coming from Wisconsin to a Packers fan will probably contain some Green and Gold.  The highlights are two Brett Favres that I've never seen before.  One is an oddball, and the other is an ODDball.  I love the all character in the Pro Line card.  And look, another serial number!  Eddie Lacy may have fizzled out in Green Bay, but he is still one of my favorites to collect.

Here are some pretty cool cards.  These are both Promos from SAGE.  I don't think I ever would have seen these cards before, and they happen to fit perfectly in my collection.  I collect Heisman winners, and it's always a bonus for those cards to feature the player in their college uniform.  I know, Reggie Bush technically is no longer a Heisman winner, but come on.  The guy won the Heisman.  We all know he did.  They can take the trophy away, but in my binder, the 2005 page will still show the guy who actually won.  Really, though, it's kind of a shame that things shook out the way they did because another kid (Vince Young) really had a pretty good claim to the trophy that year, too.

Let's end the football portion with some Hall of Famers.  The top left card is one of those trippy Time Warp inserts from Collector's Edge in the 90s.  I have several of these, but this is the first one featuring two HOFers: Ronnie Lott chasing down Gale Sayers.  Dan Fouts makes another serial number.  The gem here is the Buck Buchanan all the way from 1968.  Yes, my friends, Matt sent me a 50-year-old card of a Hall of Fame defender.  And the condition isn't too bad, either. I've definitely seen worse.

We're getting to the highlights now.  When I saw this card in the package, the back was facing me.  I saw the gold of the Padres and I my thought was that it was a Gold parallel Topps card.  I didn't imagine that it would be an actual Anthony Rizzo rookie card!  That is sweet.  That alone could have been the prize, but there was more.

Ta-da!  A Tom Selleck Mr. Baseball insert from 1992 Upper Deck . . . with an auto.  At first I wasn't sure if an autographed version of this was inserted into packs back in the day.  As it turns out, this is either an IP or TTM auto of Mr. Selleck.  I'd be interested in hearing from Matt the provenance of this card.  How did you get it, Matt?  Either way, I'm stoked about it because it had only been a week or two earlier when I sat with my dad and watched a western (Monte Walsh) starring Mr. Selleck and I remarked to my wife how awesome I thought the guy was.  And then this shows up!  It was the best part of a great package for me.

When all was said and done, it was truly deflating to watch the Cubs go down in Game 163.  This package came just at the right time to ease the pain a little.  It was like the Brewers giving back to this disappointed Cubs fan, in a way, since this package came because of a Brew Crew centered contest.  Thanks a ton, Matt.  It was well-appreciated and very generous.