Cards on Cards Contest Winnings--and a Well-Timed Trade

It has been well over two years since my last post. I have several reasons for putting the blog on hiatus, and I don't anticipate that I'll be coming back to it often...buuut, this is a post that probably needs to happen. Recently Kerry over at Cards on Cards ran his annual March Radness contest, and I won! The prize was a blaster of 2026 Heritage. I can think of no better way to say, "Thank you," for the contest and to let Kerry see what his lucky winner pulled out of the box.

Now, before we get to the box, there is another transaction to be dealt with. Serendipitously, Kerry and I were in the midst of a TCDB trade at the time of the contest. So he sent both the trade and the prize together in one well-timed package. Let's look at the trade first.

Yes, I'm still collecting BYU players. Fred Warner has become an absolute stud in the NFL. This Jamaal Williams card (which doubles as a Packers card--YES!) has a nice serial number of 100.

 

I was able to pick up some new Cubs from Kerry. I don't know how I didn't have a 1990 Fleer Joe Kraemer already. Not only that, but I had never heard of him before. This is a nice A&G Javy Baez insert. These are also the first Owen Caissie, Andrelton Simmons, Luke Little, and Ryan Pressly cards in my Cubs collection. Caissie had just a short stint in Chicago before being shipped off to Miami this offseason. I'm still not sure how I feel about that trade.

 

 

Another long-time collecting focus has been MLB Rookies of the Year and All-Star Game MVPs. Most of these players are new to my collection since the last time I posted anything.

I'm also still collecting NFL All-Decade performers. But for the latest iteration (the 2010s team), I don't feel as much nostalgia. So I decided to focus my collection for All-2010s players on inserts rather than anything I could get my hands on. This Chandler Jones card fits the bill.

I'm also still pursuing plenty of sets. Donruss Optic is the set I chose for 2024 football, and I'm getting down to the last 50 cards or so to complete it.

There is one new thing about my collection. With the Utah Mammoth coming into town, I'm learning how to be a hockey fan. So naturally, that means card collecting. A budding hockey collection and the early days of this blog sparked a new idea. One of my first blog projects was to create a Franchise 9 page for every NFL team. So I thought it would be fun to have one page of every team in the four major sports leagues. Though I had collected basketball cards as a kid, my attempt at one page per NBA team was essentially starting on equal footing as the hockey, which I had never collected. It has been a fun project, and Kerry helped me out with some cards.

Now for the prize. A big thanks to Kerry and his generosity. He holds a few annual contests and the prizes are always great. We'll go pack by pack through the blaster. Teaser: this particular box started out as just an average box in terms of my collection, but started to catch fire in the last few packs.

Pack 1:

A couple of collection hits here, with ROY Drake Baldwin and ASG MVP Kyle Schwarber getting a binder spot.

Pack 2:

PCA is the highlight for me here, though a couple of All-Star MVPs (Duran and Stanton) make appearances. An Isaac Collins Chrome is the first non-base of the box. On a side note, there appear to nine cards in this pack.

Pack 3:

Pete Alonso and Luis Gil are Rookies of the Year. It looks like we have a Pirate of Penzance here, too.

Pack 4:

Aaron Judge fits in my collection, but a shared card isn't quite as cool as a solo. We have our first "Dark Green" parallel of the box. Since there isn't much for my PC in this pack, I'll take a moment to talk about the break. I think this is probably just my 2nd or 3rd blaster box break since my blog went on hiatus. I just haven't been buying much new product. That's one reason why I stopped blogging. I wasn't yet alive for the release of the original 1977 Topps, let alone collecting, but it's a Top-3 offering of the decade in my book. I like this Heritage product.

Pack 5:

 

Wait, what's this? Only six cards? Well, that's because one is a relic, a nice surprise hit from a blaster! Riley Greene is a pretty good player to pull, too. Not only that, but here's a pink sparkle Austin Riley. Though nobody fits in my collection, it's still a good pack.

Pack 6: 

 Now we're going to add a couple of Cubs superstars--one of them Chrome, no less! And Shohei Ohtani insert. This is also my first Cal Raleigh that isn't part of a set build, so this card will go in my All-Time All-Star project. For this project, I'm collecting one card of every player who was ever a Major League All-Star. This is a great pack in my book. 

Pack 7:

We'll keep the Cubs rolling here with a little Nico Hoerner. Another Shohei, this time a highlight card. Circling back to the Owen Caissie trade--I mentioned earlier I was on the fence about the trade. I was high on Caissie as a prospect. Well, here we have Edward Cabrera--the return for Owen Caissie. I have to admit that I didn't know much about him when the trade happened. So far, he has been solid for the Cubs. I'll give him that.

Pack 8:

The last pack is pretty good, too. We have a dark green Aaron judge to add to my collection and a nice Clayton Kershaw sunset card. That's a good ending to the box.

And there we have it. Once again, I have to say, "Thanks," for the trade and the contest, Kerry!