2021 Donruss Jumbo Pack Box

I went on a dry spell without making any purchases for about 3 months. I was saving up some change to a certain amount, then I started buying a bunch of stuff that I needed. In the past few weeks, I've tried to fill set needs. I've tried to hit project and mini-collection needs. I've pursued some new BYU players that I needed to add. Part of what I "needed" was the fun of busting some packs. I found a good deal on a couple of boxes to scratch my itch.

One of those two boxes is 2021 Topps Big League. I haven't touched that one yet. But a fat pack box of last year's Donruss football has already been finished off. I chose this one because I was thinking I needed to complete a 2021 set still. However, after I bought the box, I remembered I already had a complete 2021 Prestige set in my possession. Oh well, I still wanted to bust a box and we'll see if I get close enough to this set to go after it.

Let me me walk you through a typical pack.

Each pack contained 18 veteran base cards. You can see from this pack, there are a handful of legends in the checklist.

There are three rookies in each pack. This particular pack didn't include any spectacular names. There are 50 photo variations in the set. Each variation is just a helmetless shot.

Finally, each pack brought four Press Proof Blue parallels and one insert. This was fairly consistent throughout the box. (Four packs had 3 variations replaced with base cards.) Collation was good; I pulled no dupes. Which, if you do the math, you can already figure out what I ended up with: 220/250 veteran base, 36/100 rookies, 44/50 variations, 48 Press Proof, and 12 inserts.

Moving on from a pack breakdown, we'll see an overview of the entire box.

A Pack hot pack.

 

 This was an interesting pack. I ripped it and saw a Nick Chubb Dominators as the insert.

Then pulled the cards out of the pack, flipped them to the front, and found Nick Chubb's base card on the top.

Oddly, there are two Tom Brady base cards. These are not variations of each other. Buccaneer Brady is #1 in the set. Patriot Brady is #2 in the set. It's like the Patriots used Tom Brady as their legend on the checklist, despite the fact that he had a current card with his active team!

I didn't pull any of the bigger rookies, like Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence. Or Zach Wilson, which I would have liked best. But here are the best of the rookies in the box. Micah Parsons is already on the threshold of superstardom. Amon-Ra St. Brown has been a beast this year. Davis Mills has been surprisingly reliable for the Texans. Rhamondre Stevenson, Travis Etienne, and DeVonta Smith are pretty solid.

There are far too many masks in the variations. I don't like the reminder, but I guess it will make an interesting historical note in later years for this set. This box got me so close to completion that I decided I'll make a run for the complete base set: vets, rookies, and variations all.

Of all the Blue parallels, these are the ones I am going to keep.

Any other Press Proofs are up for trade. These are the most notable. I pulled both versions of Jonathan Taylor. There are a few interesting rookies here. Rashawn Slater was named #78 in the NFL Top 100 by his peers after just his rookie season. Sam Ehlinger was briefly the starter in Indy this year. And Javonte Williams was playing pretty well before he went down for the season.

Of the 12 inserts in the box, there were four that will slide into my collection. Elite Series may be shiniest, but only one of the designs is really appealing to me: the simpler Inducted set.

I don't necessarily plan to keep all of these inserts. There are some pretty decent cards here, though. Jaylen Waddle and Ja'Marr Chase are young studs at receiver, and there are three between the two of them here. Nick Chubb and Lamar Jackson are two of the best at their positions. The Rondale Moore card is interesting. In the scan, it looks like just a base card, except for the "Rated Rookie" in gold foil stamping. But it's a "Rookie Portrait" insert and the card has a canvas feel to it.

Even though it's not the coolest product out there, I had a blast opening packs for the first time since my annual Opening Day break back in March. As a bonus, there were no collation issues, so I was able to come within 30 base, 64 rookies, and six SPs of a complete set. So I'm going for it. If you have any 2021 Donruss, here is my wantlist. Let's deal!

Swimming in Some Junk Wax

In my last post, I shared my newly acquired 1993 Topps set. I also mentioned my goal to retroactively complete one set from each year that I was actively collecting. The first step in achieving that goal is to select the sets I'm going to build, of course. I already have a complete 1996 Score set and I've been working on 1994 Finest--both thanks to Dennis. 1993 has been taken care of. By my recollection, my first pack of baseball cards came in 1989, so I'm starting there.

1989

My options are Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score, and Upper Deck. Stupid oversized Bowman is not an option. I'm not a fan of gray Fleer, either. Topps is okay, but it's not my favorite. Upper Deck is a solid choice, and probably the set most collectors would want. However, I don't have much from that set, so that isn't a great starting point.

That leaves Donruss and Score. Donruss has a couple of advantages. Of all the 1989 sets, I think I would most like to see pages of Donruss together in a binder. And it has all the major 1989 rookies, most notably Ken Griffey, Jr. Score is also a pretty decent-looking set to me. Its major advantage, though, is the fact that I've busted a box of 1989 Score within the past three years and had a large stack in my possession already. I hadn't even entered them into my collection because I hadn't figured out what to do with them, but they were there. Plus, the only 1989 packs I ever opened at the time they were released were Score. I still remember my six-year-old tongue trying to figure out the name "Luis De Los Santos" from his '89 Score rookie card. So there is an element of sentimentality involved, too.

In the end, I chose to build with the cards I had rather than accumulate even more 1989 cards and duplicates that I'm not sure what to do with.

So I'm building the 1989 Score baseball set. I'm currently sitting at 72% completion, with 448 of 660. Some are in current/pending trades right now. I'm adding my set needs to my wantlist page here on the blog.

1990

Set design is a major factor when I'm considering a set build. After all, I want to enjoy looking at pages its cards when I've finished. 1990 isn't the best for looking at. I don't love Fleer or Score. I detest Donruss (though it would have been the easiest, based on the number of cards I own). But I've always appreciated Topps. 

 

And there is some sentimental value, too. I have a memory of holding a pack of 1990 Topps (which included Doug Dascenzo and Doyle Alexander, if I remember correctly) while my family visited Devil's Kitchen up Payson Canyon. I guess my parents must have gifted me a pack at a gas station on our way.

As of a few weeks ago, I had only a small stack of maybe 100 cards of 1990 Topps still in my collection, but I wanted to collect it. I jumped on eBay and found a vending box. I'd never gotten a vending box before. I even had to research a little to understand exactly what it was. I may be the only one who needs this explanation, but just in case: a vending box was sold as a box of 500 loose cards (not in packs). The cards could be loaded into vending machines. It wasn't a box of sealed packs or a complete set. I picked one up for $10 and made a major dent in the set.

 

 

TCDB has already come through with a bunch of needs through trades. As of right now, I have 615 of 792 cards for 77.7% of the set.

 

1991

 

1991 Topps is a classic and I've always loved it. I bought a lot of it, one pack at a time, at the one convenience store in my hometown. But I also got a lot of Score and Fleer. In fact, I have opened a box of both of those sets in the recent past. Call me crazy, but binder pages full of yellow-bordered cards just sounds like a beautiful thing. *Pauses to listen to bloggers hit the floor after fainting.*  

 

 

And I think I was right. This looks good to me. I picked up another box of 1991 Fleer wax for cheap off of eBay, and my set is getting close to finished. As of this writing, I have 696 of 720 cards, or 96.7%.

1992

 

Now that you have all recovered after hearing me profess my desire to see all the yellow together, let me drop another bombshell: 1992 was a tough year for me to decide on a set. The problem? It's twofold. Fold #1: I don't have a lot of 1992 cards lying around. For some reason, I just don't. Fold #2: I think 1992 was a good year for card design. Yes, I like 1992 Topps. And Upper Deck with its great, interesting photography. And Fleer's green borders. And I've always liked the blue stripes on Donruss. Score is even okay, but not the one I would choose.

I strongly considered Upper Deck because I could spend hours looking at the great photos. I still might do it someday. But after deciding to build 1989 Score, 1990 Topps, and 1991 Fleer through trades and box breaks, I decided to take the easy route in 1992. For less than the price of any unopened 1992 product, I found a factory set and decided to do this all in one fell swoop.

 

And 1992 Fleer looks pretty good together. Though I never did much collecting in 1992 as a kid, I still have one very vivid memory. My grandma and grandpa went to a Native American Pow-wow every year and they took me a couple of times. On one occasion (I'm going to guess it was 1992), we stopped at a little barn and bought some fresh peas and corn. They were selling little blisters of team sets, and they bought the Texas Rangers--because Nolan Ryan and Juan Gonzalez were two of my favorites--for me. That day is actually one of my favorite childhood memories. That scores some points for Fleer.

With these decisions, I've spent the past six weeks wading drowning swimming in junk wax heaven. TCDB trades have been plentiful. And it gave me a reason to update my trade lists with lots of overproduced cards to trade for other overproduced cards. I'll have more on the trades later, but I've been busy with this influx of cards and loving it. I feel pretty optimistic that at this rate I'll be able to complete these sets before the year is over. If you are dying to rid yourself of any 1989 Score, 1990 Topps, or 1991 Fleer, check out what I need and send some my way!

2021 Football Packs: Panini Prestige

Last week, I wrote about a create-your-own blaster I put together from eBay. I still haven't found any blasters on a shelf for a while, but I did manage to stumble across some packs at Wal-Mart a month ago, to my great surprise. I found fat packs of A&G and Prestige. It wasn't hard to decide which to get. I'm not an A&G collector, but I wind up completing the Prestige football set about every other year. I chose two packs of Prestige.

The base cards are a little busy with all the white lines running everywhere, but it's not too bad. Definitely one that I have no problem putting together the set. In my two packs, I received 33 of the 200 veteran base cards and 4 dupes.

Each pack contained four rookie cards. No huge names, but some first round picks. I know Matt likes that Toney kid. Throwing the rookies into my set build, I have 41 of 300 base cards (13.7%)--still a ways to go.

Each fat pack had two Xtra Point Sunbursts. Jones and Henry on the top join my collection. Hardman and Shenault are up for trade.

I decided two insert sets were worth chasing. I really like the Living Legends set and the Power House has a nice look and an interesting checklist. Here is my start.

These inserts are all up for grabs. I just now am noticing all the initials in this group. CeeDee, DK, and TY FTW!

I really would like to complete this base set and the two selected insert sets. I don't have my wantlist up yet, but I don't own too much, so it's all pretty much a need. I haven't seen another pack to buy since then, which is frustrating. Needless to say, this set build hasn't reached priority status yet. But if you have some you'd like to trade, let me know!

State of the Set: 2012 Rookies and Stars

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. Last year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. I was able to kill a good number of sets this way, and I'm continuing the practice this year. I'll still write an end-of-the-year sets completion post in December/January, but I also want to track some of my set acquisitions along the way.

Today we'll look at a set that flies under my radar most of the time: 2012 Rookies and Stars football.

Why I'm collecting this set: Years ago, I bought a Dollar Tree gravity feed box because it was cheap. I came within a card or two of the veteran base and substantial number of rookies, so I thought I'd finish it off. Starting at #216, the "base" cards of the top rookies are all autos, which I am not chasing. So for my intents and purposes, rookies like Andrew Luck, RGIII, and Russell Wilson don't exist in the checklist. However, you can see from the picture above that there are still some solid rookies in the base set. Lavonte David and Stephon Gilmore stand out, but Melvin Ingram, Kevin Zeitler, Janoris Jenkins, and Dont'a Hightower have built pretty good careers, while Kellen Moore is going to be a hot coaching commodity in the near future.

How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: Five, six years now. 

Current state of set completion: 210/215 (97.7%)

Current needs: 151 (Alfred Morris), 156 (Bobby Wagner), 163 (Courtney Upshaw), 177 (Harrison Smith), 215 (T.Y. Hilton)

Prognosis: This has been a somewhat challenging set for me. I'm not sure why. A partial explanation could be that the set is a little bit boring to me. Another possible explanation is that I am demotivated by the fact that I'm not going to complete the full set, so it doesn't feel like a real chase. Yet another explanation is that they're hard to find for trade. I'm feeling fairly certain that nobody collected this set; therefore nobody has any to trade. I've had some luck finding them on Sportlots, but I always seem to have higher priorities when buying. The cards shown here all came from my most recent Sportlots order. With only five cards left, I should be able to polish it off. But I'm not making any promises as to how soon that will happen.

State of the Set: 1997 Upper Deck Legends

 

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. This year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. We'll see how many sets I can kill before the year is out.

For the past few years, I have written a post that summarizes my set completion quests for the year. I still plan to do that for 2020, but I also decided to give a progress report for sets that I'm actively acquiring cards for along the way. I thought this might be more interesting than writing one giant post that tries to tie all the different cards from a trade or a purchase together.

I've never, ever opened a pack of today's set. I've seen 20+ year old boxes of it for sale, and it is far too pricey for me. I never even had a card from this set until the day I decided to build the set. But when I first bought a lot of 1997 Upper Deck Legends from somebody on TCDB, it was love at first sight.

Why I'm collecting this set: The checklist. I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't love having retired greats sprinkled in my modern base sets. But that's not the case with this set. This set is an entire set of retired greats in a modern base set. I love the idea. Plus, they're not all the same legendary Hall of Famers you see over and over and over again. In fact, a lot of players in this set aren't Hall of Famers at all. A good portion of this checklist is made up of players who were great in their day, but are less remembered than many of their peers. This is just a flat-out fun checklist.

How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: I'm thinking it has probably been two years now.

Current state of set completion: 186/208 (89.4%)

Current needs: #4 (Walter Payton), #12 (Tony Dorsett), #13 (Fran Tarkenton), #35 (Joe Greene), #36 (Mike Rozier), #37 (Lou Groza), #39 (Elroy Hirsch), #41 (Charlie Joiner), #46 (Bob Lilly), #48 (John Mackey), #53 (Marion Motley), #56 (Mel Renfro), #57 (Jim Otto), #124 (Jack Kemp), #127, (Jerry Kramer) #140 (Tom Landry), #152 (Babe Parilli), #154 (Ozzie Newsome), #155, (Jim Plunkett) #157 (Johnny Robinson), #178 (Joe Montana), #180 (Bart Starr)

Prognosis: Not promising. I mentioned that unopened product for this set is expensive. So are the singles, for simple base cards. Not to mention that some of these cards on my list aren't even for sale on Sportlots, COMC, or eBay at the moment. There is a scarcity to this set that I can't really explain. I'll just keep plugging along, picking up what I can from time to time, like these two cards I got in my latest Sportslot order. And if anybody has some extras they are willing to trade, I'm willing to listen.

State of the Set: 2019 Topps Big League

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. This year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. We'll see how many sets I can kill before the year is out.

For the past few years, I have written a post that summarizes my set completion quests for the year. I still plan to do that for 2020, but I also decided to give a progress report for sets that I'm actively acquiring cards for along the way. I thought this might be more interesting than writing one giant post that tries to tie all the different cards from a trade or a purchase together.

Today's set is one that has been surprisingly more difficult to put together than I expected at the beginning. It's a "low-end" base set, so I thought I would be able to pick it up with just a box or two. Unfortunately the collation gods weren't with me, and I have needed significantly more than my initial purchases to whittle down this set. Let's see where I stand in my 2019 Topps Big League set build.

Why I'm collecting this set: When 2018 Big League was released, I really liked the concept because it was budget-friendly and different from Flagship. I wasn't a huge fan of the design, though, so I decided not to build it. When I first saw 2019, I really liked the design. (I like it a little less now that I've seen pages of it all together in a binder.) I still liked the idea of Big League, so I decided to put the set together.

How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: If I'm remembering correctly, I think I picked up a couple of boxes for myself for my birthday last year. Since it is now my birthday month again, I'm going to estimate I've been working on it for about a year.

Current state of set completion: 398/400 (99.5%)

Current needs: #100 (Jose Altuve), #375 (Christian Yelich Award w/ Hank Aaron)

Prognosis: My most recent Sportlots order kicked about 35 cards off my wantlist for this set. With just two remaining, I think I can polish it off this year. Does anybody have my two missing cards for a trade?

A National Baseball Card Set

Allow me to tell you a tale that illustrates a set-building endeavor. It features adventure, excitement, romance (well, maybe not romance), and frustration. And a cliffhanger--will it ever be completed?

Since my last post six weeks ago, I've probably spent a total of 1 hour with my cards. Our move and renovation proved to be bigger beasts than I anticipated. As of this writing, we have only been living in the new house for about 10 days. We have several big projects that are still awaiting completion and numerous small ones about the house and everything just feels incomplete. My collection is still sitting in the garage, untouched since the boxes were set there a month ago.

 In the midst of all this, I did manage to participate in National Baseball Card Day. More than once, actually. On August 8, I went to my new LCS. I mean "new" in a couple of ways. First, it's now the closest card shop to me, whereas it wasn't before. Second, it has only been open about a year. This card shop, called Venue Sports Cards, is unlike any other card shop I've seen. Phil, the owner, doesn't have a large inventory. There aren't many singles sitting beneath the glass, and there are no monster boxes of cards stowed behind the counter. Neither are there boxes and boxes of unopened material. There are boxes and packs beneath the glass, but it's not a huge selection. It's clean, orderly, and somewhat empty, truthfully. I think business is coming from some grab bags, team packs, and various signed memorabilia for sale. 

When I walked into the shop just before closing time on National Baseball Card Day, Phil was all too happy to give out some packs. I think it helped that I was to be the last customer of the day, because when I bought a box of 2020 Big League (still unopened), he gave me three packs of NBCD cards and three copies of the Pete Alonso Bonus card. I made sure that each pack had somebody different showing on top.

But I didn't get a chance to open those packs for a week. The following Saturday, I stopped in again for another round. This time, he gave me four packs and both the Mike Trout and the Yordan Alvarez bonuses. With seven packs now in my possession, I decided to open them. I discovered something that someone else already put on his blog: there was a predictable order to the packs. My packs all had the highest-numbered card showing on the outside, and the other four cards counted down in order from there. The one exception was John Means at #4 counted down to #1, then a randomly numbered card rounded out the pack. I'm not sure which one it was.

 

All of this together left me with 26 of 30 base cards and 3 of 3 bonus cards. The set was within reach! With the pattern in mind, I made one more trip yesterday to Venue Sports Cards. I told Phil how close I was to the set and he let me choose another pack. Three of the cards I'm missing are 7, 8, and 9. I found a pack with Miguel Cabrera on the front, #11. I figured the pattern was 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, and BINGO! I would have three of my four missing cards.

Instead, the four cards underneath were 27, 28, 29, 30, then random #11 Miggy on top. So I'm still the same four cards short. Here's the tough pill to swallow: one of the cards I'm missing is Luis Robert. Of course, it has to be the most expensive card in the set that I failed to pull from packs. To thank him for his generosity, I paid more than I should have for one single from the shop. This shiny Aaron Judge, which will be the first serial-numbered Judge in my ROY collection.

 

 But I'm definitely going to try to finish it off. I've never picked up more than a handful of NBCD cards in a year, so this is a fun chase for me. If you have any extras you'd like to trade here are the four I need:

• #7-Luis Robert
• #8-Joey Votto
  
• #9-Francisco Lindor
• #16-Jorge Alfaro

And I have these dupes in exchange:

• #11-Miguel Cabrera
• #27-Blake Snell
• #28-Corey Kluber
• #29-Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
• #30-Juan Soto 
  

 It's good to be back, even if I'm not doing much with my collection while I get caught up on the house and wrap up the first week of school. When I can get back to it, I have a box of 1991 Fleer, a box of Honus Bonus, and a hobby box of 2020 Diamond Kings to crack open. I was able to pick them all up for pretty good deals. And the Big League from Venue, too. Just a little more time, I hope.

State of the Set: 2017 Prestige Phenomenal Athletes

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. This year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. We'll see how many sets I can kill before the year is out.

For the past few years, I have written a post that summarizes my set completion quests for the year. I still plan to do that for 2020, but I also decided to give a progress report for sets that I'm actively acquiring cards for along the way. I thought this might be more interesting than writing one giant post that tries to tie all the different cards from a trade or a purchase together.

Let's have a look at an insert set I've been working on for a few years that a pair of trades have helped in the past couple of months.

Cards via TCDB trade with ARMYWP12

Why I'm collecting this set: In 2017, I decided to try building the 2017 Prestige set from jumbo packs alone. Each pack came with a few inserts. I took on the Phenomenal Athletes set for a few reasons. First, I got a good start on it from the jumbo packs. Second, they look pretty good. Third, I liked the checklist. There are some current and retired superstars in the set. And finally, it was an appealing size. An insert set with 42 cards was big enough to be a challenge but still attainable.

How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: About 2 1/2 years now, since I started the Prestige set from its release.

Current state of set completion: 22/42 (53%)

Cards via TCDB trade with blains

Current needs: #2 (Marcus Mariota), #4 (Antonio Brown), #7 (Jalen Ramsey), #11 (Jim Brown), #13 (Gale Sayers), #15 (David Johnson), #18 (JJ Watt), #20 (Adrian Peterson), #21 (Bo Jackson), #22 (Tyrod Taylor), #23 (Vernon Davis), #24 (Jamaal Charles), #28 (Antonio Gates), #29 (Ezekiel Elliott), #30 (Jimmy Graham), #32 (Rob Gronkowski), #34 (Brandin Cooks), #36 (Cam Newton), #37 (Julius Peppers), #38 (Darrius Heyward-Bay)

Prognosis: Buying these cards on the secondary market has turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. Not that they're hard to find, but I'm a bargain-hunting buyer and they are usually priced around $1 apiece, which is little more than I want to pay for inserts that sometimes came two in a jumbo pack. So it's slow going, picking them up here and there. I doubt I'll finish this one by year's end.

State of the Set: 1990 Action Packed Football

I feel that there are too many sets on my wantlist that have been sitting there for years while I slowly chip away at them. This year I noticed that a lot of those sets are well within striking distance this year, so I've tried to swing some trades for set needs while focusing my recent Sportlots purchase on sets as well. We'll see how many sets I can kill before the year is out.

For the past few years, I have written a post that summarizes my set completion quests for the year. I still plan to do that for 2020, but I also decided to give a progress report for sets that I'm actively acquiring cards for along the way. I thought this might be more interesting than writing one giant post that tries to tie all the different cards from a trade or a purchase together.

On today's docket: 1990 Action Packed Football

I remember when Action Packed came out. It was unlike anything that had ever been done before. Each card had a gold foil border and was embossed. And it was amazing! I couldn't afford to get much of it back when I was a kid just starting out, but I got a pack or two and was completely astounded. Plus, there is plenty of good action photography on the cards.

Another great feature of the product was the Action Note on the back. It was meant to describe the action happening in the picture. In the case of the Gary Reasons card, I remember watching that game live, down in my grandma's basement. I couldn't have told the final score or even the winner of the game before this card gave me that information, but I do recall the hit pictured on the front.

However, I do have to take the Action Note with a grain of salt. Look at this card. The Action Note says that Butler is kicking a 25-yard field goal. But where is the holder? Unless the long snapper managed to snap the ball so it could stand on its end while the kicker kicked the field goal, I'm thinking this shot is a kickoff. Years later, today's sports card manufacturers often struggle with the details of a "player used" article in the card. As for Action Packed, there are some cards where it's easy to see that the Action Note is adding useful information to the photo. The more generic looking photos, however, have to be considered just storytelling to allow the reader to visualize a possible scenario.

This set is full of Hall of Famers both on the offensive side.

And the defensive side. There's enough visual information on the Tippett and Haley cards to make me trust the Action Note on the back.

Why I'm collecting this set: This is part of my quest to complete one football set for every year that I actively collected. I've been choosing one set for each year that I liked the design and look of, and Action Packed was the one I had my eye on for 1990. A good starter set for an affordable price on eBay finalized the decision and got me going in the right direction.


How long has it been on my wantlist (roughly)?: It has been in my mind for about a year now, but I haven't even officially put it on my wantlist yet.


Current state of set completion: Base set--279/280 (99.7%); Rookie Update set--1/84 (

1.1%); 280/364 (76.9%)

Current needs: #9 (Deion Sanders), Basically all of the Rookie Update set.

Prognosis: This depends on my ability to find a good price for the Rookie Update set on eBay. I don't plan on piecing it together right now, so I'm hoping to find a good hand-collated set on the cheap. For the base set alone, it's a slam dunk to be finished by year's end. Only one card to go there.

Sale on Cards!

There are many places to buy cards online. Some of them I use often. Some of them I use occasionally. Some I have used once but never again. Recently, I found a new place that I tried. A TCDB member named baseballcardstoreca posted that his website was offering a sale. So I went and checked it out. The site is the same as the TCDB username, baseballcardstore.ca, and every card on the site is $.25. Except for right now. Using the promo code 2020 at checkout will make every card $.10! So I went virtual dime box digging and came away with some good stuff.

Dime box 1973s? I'll take some. I was able to score some old Cubs, and some pretty good names, too. I believe this is my first Randy Hundley card.

My mini-collections, like my Rookie of the Year collection, got a boost. I like the bright blue foil Opening Day Dontrelle Willis, but the steal of this lot is the National Baseball Card Day Aaron Judge. This is the incentive card given for purchasing $10 in packs at the store. It's a nice find for a dime, I think.

I didn't forget about my All-Star MVPs. I picked up a bunch of SP Legendary Cuts from various years for this purpose.

My All-Decade teams got some help. Here we have the 80s.

The 1990s. Well, except for Ty Law, who is a member of the All-2000s team, but his rookie cards here are from 1995, so I mistakenly put them in this photo. The Steve Wisniewski that is so washed-out is a 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion, so the entire background is gold foil.

And here, the 2000s. I like the Derrick Brooks cards I got. There were some really cool ones, like the Skybox NFLPD subset, which is embossed. The two bookend Polamalus are minis.

I also found some college uniform cards of Heisman Winners. I usually prefer college unis in this collection. The Charlie Ward is an interesting addition to my Heisman collection, as he is playing basketball on it. Despite his stellar college football career, Ward passed on the NFL in favor of a 12-year career in the NBA. Jim Plunkett may not be in a college uniform here, but I wasn't to pass on a vintage Plunkett for ten cents.

I also was able to pick up a card here and there for various set builds.

Most of my order, though, was focused on refractors. I picked up some for my refractor frankenset and some of guys I collect.

All of these go in the frankenset. I love the look of the infield dirt as a refractor on Alcides Escobar.

Here are some different types of refractors, like refractor versions and different color variations.

I've never bought any Prizm baseball, but there was a good selection of Prizm refractors on the site, so I picked a lot of them for my frankenset.

My order was mostly refractors, and all for $.10 apiece! I don't know how long the sale will be going, but I know it is still. The site doesn't have a great filtering system to find what you want, but with a little bit of searching, you can probably find a few things you want. It's worth checking out.