Pack Break: 2017 Panini Playoff

The other day while at Walmart a noticed a new rack pack of football cards that didn't look familiar...Playoff. While I'm very familiar w/ the Playoff brand, I didn't realize Panini scooped up that brand name or had released this set of cards.

I grabbed two rack packs, plus a few singles off eBay after I opened these packs, so this post is more or less to showcase what the base cards, parallels and some of the inserts look like.

Eack retail rack pack contains 40 cards for $4.99. I think Panini does a good job at giving the collector a decent bang for their buck. The packs feature Marcus Mariotta and my Panthers' Christian McCaffrey. Each pack contains 3 exclusive blue parallels.

What I didn't know going into opening this pack (or knew from the pack itself) was that the base set includes a good mixture of many past players, including Hall of Famers. I like it when older players are mixed in from time to time. I mean, who doesn't like pulling a new Bo Jackson card?

Speaking of past players, here are a few that I randomly pulled to scan. The card design is rather plain, but at least the horizontal stripes on the side mimic the team color. The card back gives a decent write up about the player, but it uses the same photo from the front. Come on Panini, that's lazy! I was particularly happy to pull the Panthers card of Kevin Greene.

A small selection of two QBs that I just happen to love to hate! I did notice as I sorted through the stack of cards that the photography was average. I didn't come across any cards that made me do a second look. Most of the photos are your standard fare football photos.

Goal Line are the included retail exclusive parallels. The name is replaced with a blue foil and the words "Goal Line" are placed on each side of the team logo. At least I got a decent parallel of a future HOF player.

Rookies must be short printed as I only pulled one per pack, though I did get a few RCs in the parallel set. Despite this set coming out late in the 2017 NFL season, Panini seemed to use photos from the rookie photo shoots prior to the season beginning.

The only insert I pulled from the two packs was this Momentum card of Larry Fitzgerald. Cool design, but again the same photo is used on the front and back. Overall odds for the inserts seem to fall around 1:3 packs.

I purchased this Rookie Stallions relic card of Christian McCaffrey for a few bucks off eBay. I love the painted front, but I mistakenly thought the card had a canvas like look/feel. The foil used for the names on the front is green. I don't know if this is a parallel or not, but I don't care for the gree foil as it looks out of place. Since it has the words "Hail Mary" underneath the Rookie Stallions logo, my guess is this is some sort of parallel.

The same Rookie Stallions card of Curtis Samuel has silver foil and is numbered 029/149.

I also grabbed an auto off eBay. This one too has the "Hail Mary" words on the front so I'm guessing it's a parallel. It's a sticker auto, but ever since Samuel went down for the year, his cards have remained fairly cheap...which is good for my wallet.

2017 Panini Playoff is a mixed bag. I like the value (at least with these rack packs) and the mix of veterns and current players is nice. The design is average, but it looses a point for using the same photo on the back of the card. The inserts appears to be pretty nice, but had I not resorted to a few eBay purchases I would have had to base my judgement off the one insert I found in my packs. Panini could have done better, but they could have done worse as well. Not sure if this set is worthy of the Playoff name.

A long delayed public Thank You

Some months ago I ran across a post on the blog Baseball Every Night with some cards that were being given away. I think he had bought a random pack just for fun, but didn't have any desire to hold onto the cards. None the less, I grabbed the 3 cards above and he was gracious enough to send them to me free of charge.

Then the dreaded thing happened...the mail got buried, literally, in my home office. I've been trying to dig myself out over these last two months and just the other day I found these 3 cards. I hate it when I do this because I always like to publically thank fellow bloggers that I trade with or in this case, send me free stuff.

Thank you Peter for the cards. I'm sorry about the long delay!! If you haven't visited his blog, I encourage you to do so. Good stuff.

Sunday Verse

Romans 8:1-2

New International Version [ Life Through the Spirit ] Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

New goodies from the Collector's Crack (just in time for MNF)

When the colder weather starts to set in it usually brings with it some illness and that illness found me last week. For the most part Friday was pretty good, but shortly after I went to bed it hit me. Let's just say that for most of the weekend I spent hovering the porcelain throne...two ways. It was not the best weekend I've had.

Right before I fell ill, I did receive a little package in the mail all the way from Alaska. In it was filled with new Braves goodies from my good friend Mark who runs the Collector's Crack. I had inquired about a Freddie Freeman card he posted several months back so I knew he had sent that, but I had no idea what else he had included.

I don't really have a good card shop locally anymore so I missed out on the National Baseball Card Day promotion, luckily Mark set aside this Freddie Freeman for me. I also got a shiney Freshman Flash RC of Dansby Swanson from this year's Topps Chrome set. The Saber Stars card of Andrelton Simmons I'm not familiar with, but I'll take it!

I don't buy much of any Bowman product these days so I didn't have any of these Bowman Platinum cards. Of course its always good to pick up a new Freeman I don't have, but I was glad to see the Dansby RC. Max Fried was pick up in a deal w/ San Diego a few seasons ago and while he hasn't made a huge impact on the Braves pitching staff yet, I do hear that there are good things to come from him.

There were many other Braves cards in the bubble mailer, but here are 3 of them that I grabbed to scan. I haven't had much luck pulling those Rediscover Topps cards, but now I've got one. Brandon Beachy was a guy I really enjoyed watching, then he messed up his elbow, was shipped off to the Dodgers and then just disappeared sadly. None the less, this is one of those Power Players redemption cards and not an easy card to come across. Speaking of fun players to watch, Furcal was amazing in the infield w/ the leather. I've got a few nice cards of his and I'll always take a new relic.

Mark is also one of the few baseball card bloggers that I know that buys/collects football cards too so I can't say I was completely surprised to find a few Carolina Panthers cards in the stack. Couple of Cam Newtons, jersey card of the now free agent DeAngelo Williams and a few others that I didn't have time to scan.

I really appreciate the kind gesture Mark and I plan to return the favor soon. Now I need to get off this computer and finish packing as I'm headed up to Charlotte today for a 2 day self storage sonference (sounds riviting, doesn't it?!). At least I get to go to the Monday Night Football game tonight with the Panthers vs. the Dolphins.

Batting Pitchers: 2016 Topps Now Adam Wainwright

It's been a really long time since I've found another card to add to my small themed subset collection I have of batting pitchers. This 2016 Topps Now card beautiful captures the Cardinals pitcher smacking a double in the top of the 12th inning on June 10, 2016, scoring runners on first and second. The Cardinals would go on to win the game 9-3.

I don't normally buy Topps Now cards of players other than Braves, but for me this was an easy decision despite the $9.99 price tag. 1) the card meets all the guidelines for my batting pitchers collection and 2) he's yet another outspoken athlete that isn't afraid to share his faith with his fellow team members and the fans. Great all around guy (who ironically enough was drafted/traded by the Braves) and a great card commemorating him helping w/ his bat win a game.

Sunday Verse

Colossians 4:5-6

New International Version Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Pack Break: 2017 Topps Star Wars Rogue One Series 2

Series 2 offers up another 100 base cards featuring images from the movie. There are 3 levels of parallels: Death Star Black (1:2), Green Squardron (1:3) and Blue Squadron (1:6). Inserts include Character stickers (1:6), Heroes of the Rebel Alliance (1:14), Villians of the Galactic Empire (1:14), Prime Forces (1:3), Troopers (1:3), Movie Posters (1:48), Darth Vader Continuity (1:24), Autograph (1:4,424), Patch card (1:251) and Sketch card (1:1,272).

The various inserts in this set of cards is what steals the show in my opinion. The Trooper insert set offers up some great art featuring different Empire troopers. 

Each 6 card retail pack seems to yield 1 parallel and 1 insert and retails for $1.99. I'm currently working on getting my cards from series 1 and 2 in order so I can post a want list. Just something about the Rogue One movie that I really enjoyed and that carried over into wanting to complete this set as well.

Pack Break: 2017 Topps Series 2 Toys 'R Us

(this post was originally posted on A Pack To Be Named Later)

I don't recall what year Topps and Toys 'R Us teamed up to offer exclusive purple parallel cards, but the trend continued in Series 2 this year. Unlike in past years, there is only 1 parallel card per pack now. The packs retail for $2.99 at TRU stores...I hope the included parallel is worth the extra dollar.

Nothing fancy or special here, just regular cards from Series 2. I need to check these against my own list to see if I need any of these for my set.

Rainbow parallel of Rockies catcher, Tom Murphy.

Memorable moments insert of Derek Jeter. Not a Yankees fan, but I can respect Jeter's talent. 3,000 hits...dang. Not sure though how I feel about this set though.

...and finally the purple parallel that I'm sure most are curious about. George Springer. Nice photo Topps. Appropriate that this card was pulled on the night of Game 2 of the World Series.

I was hoping to find packs of the new Update series while at TRU, but no such luck. Not sure of Topps even produced these special packs for Update. The Jeter insert and the parallels are available for trade if anyone is interested.

Well, now off to find me a purple parallel of Freddie Freeman.