2017-18 Panini Vanguard Kemba Walker High Voltage auto

Back in January I acquired a redemption off eBay for a steal of Kemba Walker. This was around the time where Kemba was freakin' unstoppable and was making his claim to be an All-Star in his home city of Charlotte in February. 

For such an electric player, his RCs and autos can be had for reasonable amounts online. I imagine if he were to sign elsewhere and get more exposure his cards would go for more. However I'm hoping that doesn't happen. He's a free agent now and all of Charlotte is wondering if he'll stay or if he'll go. he has said he loves Charlotte and wants to stay, but he also wants to complete for a NBA Championship. As much as I love my Hornets, I just don't see them being a real contender...ever? Professional sports leagues just aren't designed in a way where small market teams can really compete.

If Kemba does leave, it'll be a dagger in the heart of Charlotte. Perhaps knowing what may (or may not) happen I've been wanting to pick up a few autos of his. When I won the redemption card, I had no idea what the High Voltage cards even looked like. If the Vanguard name sounds familiar, it should as it was a piece of the now defunct Pacific Trading Card company that Panini acquired.

I don't know how much you can tell, but this is a shiny card. The whole front of the card is printed on foil board with a rainbow sheen. There is a small lightning bolt running down the middle of the card. At first I thought it was a crease in the card. There is a large area for the player's on card auto, however Kemba's auto is pretty small so it doesn't fill up the entire space.

The same photo is duplicated on the back of the card. As you can see, there are only 49 of this auto in existence and I have number 18. I redeemed the code on 01/14/19 and received the card on 04/18/19. Panini's turnaround time for redemptions has proven to be pretty quick in my experience.

Thankfully we have the NFL draft coming up to distract us Charlotte sports fans from the Kemba Walker saga. I feel it's going to be a long summer as we await to hear what his decision is.

Another one bites the dust!

1996 Leaf Signature Series Gold autograph

My side project, Rey Ordonez Super Collector blog hasn't been updated in 6 months!! Guess I've bitten off more than I can chew? Well I did get around to doing another update today, but I really wanted to spotlight this gold auto parallel I finally picked up off a fellow collector. This card completes my Rey collection from 1996 Signature Series. For a complete look at this set you can refer back to my original post.

Topps Comes Through (a redemption story)

Earlier this year in February, I pulled a redemption card for an autograph of the young WWE Superstar, Neville. While wrestling autograph cards don't usually get me all that excited, I have to admit I was looking forward to getting this card in the mail. I promptly logged onto Topps' website and redeemed the card. The wait began. I waited...and waited...and waited. Nothing.

About two months ago I decided to check on the status via the website and I saw that there was an option to forego the wait and request a replacement. I've read enough card blogs to know that if I went that route I wouldn't get the Neville auto I had been waiting on. The replacement card may be something better...or it may be something worse, like an auto of Curtis Axel!

However yesterday a fat padded envelope came from Topps and I figured it was finally my replacement card. I ripped open the mailer and I found not one replacement card, but two?!

I don't know if this is normal or not, but apparently the extra card comes as a added bonus for making me wait so long. What I don't get is what was the hold up in getting the autographed cards from Neville. I know WWE Superstars live a very grueling road life much of the year, but Neville was on the shelf injured for a good part of the 2016. Couldn't he have signed his cards for Topps during his time away from the ring? Whatever the reason, it's nice to see that Topps was at least trying to make me happy. Speaking of that, did they? What was the replacement?

I got this nice auto of Dean Malenko from 2013 Topps and I was pretty darn happy. You see I was more of a WCW fan growing up, NWA before that. I never watched much WWE until the "Monday Night Wars" heated up. I loved the cruiser weight division that WCW featured and Dean was fun to watch in the ring. A very technical wrestler that could spar with the best. 

Now the image Topps used for this card isn't the best in my opinion. In fact he looks a little creepy with the way he's looking at his opponent. None the less, not a bad replacement at all.

My bonus card is this nice WrestleMania 30 mat relic from 2014 Topps. I enjoy these type of gimmicky cards in wrestling releases almost as much as I enjoy jersey and bat cards from baseball products. I do like the fact that they tell you what event this piece is taken from as opposed to the normal line from Topps. I also enjoy watching Cesaro perform. Just check out him in the process of body slamming none other than the Big Show!

Everyone knows that Redemption cards can be risky, but for once I'm happy to say that things worked out well and I appreciate Topps for trying to go the extra mile to keep one of their customers happy.

Redemption, Freddie Freeman Style

On the heels of receiving my 2015 A&G Buster Posey redemption auto, I grabbed this redemption card of Freddie Freeman from 2015 Topps High TEK. I've only seen these High TEK cards online, never in person so I'm really looking forward to receiving this card. Since it's from 2015, I'm hoping it doesn't take 9 months for it to show up in my mailbox.

   

Well that was quick. Before I could even get this draft of a post ready to go, the mail man brings me the card in today's mail! Now let's get this card out of his top loader prison so I can show off it's beauty...or the best that my scanner will allow!

Like with many "shiny" cards, this scan does not do the card justice. It's much more beautiful in hand. I love these clear acetate style cards...just beautiful. I was surprised to see that the card was serially numbered too, #02/99 to boot! 

This easily is one of my favorite Freeman cards now, autograph or not.

A Dodger...on this blog?

The summer months should be about having fun, watching baseball and having time to enjoy my hobbies...but that isn't the case for me...at least that last part. Work has kept me so busy these last few months that it's been hard to escape from reality for a bit to enjoy any of my hobbies, let alone baseball cards. While I have been working in the background on a few sets and such, I haven't picked up many singles lately. One card I scored for a pretty good price (in my opinion) was this blue parallel of the Dodgers' Alex Wood from 2016 Topps Tribute.

This Charlotte kid misses the other Charlotte kid. I cringed when I heard the trade announcement that was shipping Alex out to the west coast. However now that Olivera has been traded and the Braves essentially have Matt Kemp in left field it lessens the pain...a little.

I have a few autos of Alex as a rookie and even though he has a simple autograph, he's one of those players that I will still buy cards of even though he's not an Atlanta Brave any longer. I liked the clean design of Tribute this year and finding the blue parallel of a Dodgers player just seemed to make sense for to pick up.

It's hard to keep up with a team on the other side of the country, but I know Alex has struggled some since being traded. I don't recall watching him pitch since he left, but I do hope he continues to show what he is capable of in the near future...even if it is with the Dodgers!

The Waiting Game Begins!

It's been awhile since I've played the redemption waiting game w/ Topps, but here I stand on the threshold of entering a new code. I've held true (for the most part) about staying away from baseball posts during this off season, so this redemption isn't for the latest Braves auto or relic...nope it's for my first WWE auto in quite some time.

While I'm not the biggest WWE fan or collector in the world, professional wrasslin' has been a guilty pleasure of mine since I was a little. I have many fond memories of going to my grandfather's house for the annual WCW StarCade PPV. This Neville kid reminds me of the older style wrestlers in some ways so it's pretty cool that this redemption card turned up to be for a card of his.

So let the waiting commence! Code has been entered as of this evening. How long will it take? Will I even get the card I'm supposed to? Perhaps I should put up the little "Redemption Card Watch" gadget on the sidebar?

So I may have gone a little crazy w/ 2015 Donruss

In my last post I shared the contents of a retail value pack of 2015 Donruss I picked up from my local Target store. I was enamored by the cards and inserts so much that I sought out what eBay had to offer in the area of Braves singles. Well as you'll see below I may have gone a little crazy with some purchases, but I scored them all for a song if you ask me.

Opening Day always gets me excited, however this year I'd be at the beach camping. I missed the first two Braves games against the fish in Miami, however I stayed glue to my phone trying to get updates on each game...that is when I had a connection!

Of course the wind was taken out of my sail Sunday night when I saw the news that Craig Kimbrel was traded to the San Diego Padres. My expectations for this season were already a little uneasy at best with the shake up new GM, John Hart has made. However I've tried to stay as optimistic as possible and none the less was please to see them Braves take down the Marlins in games 1 and 2.

I got home last night in time to watch the 3rd and final game in the series and wow, what fun it is to be watching baseball again. This just makes new card acquisitions that much more fun. I'll leave you with some images of my new 2015 Donruss pick ups, in the mean time I'm off to learn more about some of these new faces on the Braves that have impressed me early in the season.

Freddie is now the veteran on the team and has a lot of pressure on him as such. For many reasons I've gravitated to collecting more and more of his cards and these two sub-theme cards are great additions.

I always liked the old Production Line serially numbered inserts. Card looks way better in hand than the scan appears. Card has that rainbow "refractor" like look and is serially numbered to his .461 Slugging Percentage, 434/461.

Alex Wood is the other Brave that I've picked up the pace in collecting. I hate I missed his start in game 2 on Tuesday evening, but I'm looking forward to watching this young pitcher continue to grow and mature. I've already picked up the blue version of this beautiful auto so now to keep my eyes open for the red version numbered to /49.

Speaking of the red Signature Series autos, check out this Ron Gant! I'm glad older players were inserted into the checklist of this great looking insert set. Numbered 42/49, this card only set me back $3 believe it or not.

While labeled a member of the Astros, I could pass up this $2 auto of the young ace we picked in the Evan Gattis deal. This is one time where not having the logos on the cards doesn't hurt!

Lastly we have the former Brave, El Oso Blanco aka Evan Gattis. I hated to see this guy exit the club, but I can understand the move. I'm not sure his value would have gotten any higher and Christian Bethancourt was just waiting in the wings to show his stuff. Nice card design and for a change it's nice to get a small swatch of bat over jersey. B.J. Melvin Upton is in the same set, but unless someone sends it to me in a trade I'm not bothering with it.

Maybe I didn't go too crazy, but the initial offerings on eBay were pretty good and not many bidders either. I may have paid $15 total for these? And thanks to eBay Bucks none of that money spent actually came out of my PayPal account!

Cards from the Underdog

A few days ago I found a bubble mailer in my mailbox that I wasn't expecting. While I've completed a few trades recently, I haven't received many new cards in the mail. Well thanks to the Underdog Card Collector, I have some new cards!

We've exchanged e-mails in the past, but nothing recently, all the more reason I was surprised he sent me a little package. He knew I was easing myself back into cards, though he knew from my toy blog that I hadn't given up on blogging. Inside the mailer was a nice stack of cards, both Atlanta Braves and Carolina Panthers. I've decided to take my favorite cards from the stack to share, but I appreciate everything that was sent.

From the 2015 Topps comes this beautiful Inspired Play insert of current fireballer, Craig Kimbrel and Hall of Famer, John Smoltz. I really like the faded copper colored background.

I'm always surprised when somebody sends me a relic or autograph card just out of the blue. Even those the Braves opted not to bring Kris Medlen back for the 2015 season, I'll always take whatever cards of his I can get as he was so much fun to watch on the mound.

The Greats was an insert from 2013 Topps that look nice enough to have come from one of the many sets released that year. Printed on a thicker cardboard, these have that premium feel. Smoltz is one of the guys I like to collect and this is one that had eluded me thus far so I'm very happy to add this one to the collection.

Reggie White
2000 Collector's Edge Masters Holofoil #0793/1000

I don't have many Reggie White cards as a Carolina Panther. Even though this card didn't scan very well, I can promise you it looks much better in person.

This off season the Panthers decided to part ways with long time running back, DeAngelo Williams. I believe this decision was made in part to the production of this guy, Jonathan Stewart. While Stewart has had some health issues in the past, when he is healthy watch out! This is the Xfractor version of his 2008 Topps RC.

More Carolina Panthers from a Michigan Fan

I'm really starting to feel guilty here as I have received several bubble mailers full of great cards (mostly Carolina Panthers) from Dennis (Too Many Verlanders). Other than from the goodness of his own heart, I'm not sure what I did to deserve receiving these awesome cards, but a huge thank you! I swear Dennis, as soon as I find something relevant to what you collect it'll be in the mail to you!

2002 Upper Deck SPx DeShaun Foster Winning Materials Rookies #WMR-DF

This big, thick card features a raised rubber square with the Panthers logo along with a big black swatch of jersey. Foster was a pretty good running back before injuries started to set in place. He would eventually wind up in San Francisco with the 49ers before fading into obscurity.

2005 Upper Deck SP Stefan LeFors Rookie Authentics #223 (487/890)

One could argue that before the Panthers "won" the lottery and drafted Cam Newton, our QB play hasn't been that good. Yeah, Kerry Collins had a few good years even Jake Delhomme took the club to the Super Bowl one year, but how many Stefan LeFors have there been? At least this is a pretty card to look at with an on card signature.

2006 Upper Deck XL DeShaun Foster XLmemorabilia #XL-DF

While not the best looking card out there, this is just another example of why I miss Upper Deck. At the time the quad relic was still something special. While card technology has far surpassed this now a days, I'm grateful to own another relic of Foster.

2007 Topps Co-Signers Steve Smith / Dwayne Jarrett RC #85 (24/50)

Jarrett had a lot of hype coming out of the University of Southern California, but he couldn't quite make it with the Carolina Panthers, or the NFL for that matter. I always kept hearing in the local media that he had a hard time adapting to a pro style offense and that he could read the playbook. Kinda funny he's matched up with Steve Smith who obviously didn't have a hard time making himself known in the NFL for his style of play.

2013 Panini Contenders Kawann Short Autograph RC #159

I have to be honest here, this card surprised me. I'm used to receiving early 2000's era Panthers cards from Dennis, so to receive a modern card...and a rookie auto at that caught me by surprise. Kawann is just now starting to come in as his own player at the Defensive Tackle position. For years the Panthers have had a pretty good defense and it's key guys like Kawann that have help with the Panthers D what it has been.

I haven't cataloged all my Panthers cards yet, but I do believe this is my first Kawann Short card, period. Thanks!

This is just another reason that I love to blog about cards...it's the cool people that I've met over the years. Of course I'd say this about Dennis or any other blogger even if I didn't receive any cards out of it. Thanks again Dennis and I'm serious, please let me know what I can send you in return.

The Buzz is Back!

October 29, 2014 the Charlotte Hornets 2.0 take the hardwood against the Milwaukee Bucks in Charlotte, NC. Unless you are a Charlottean or were in town for the majority of the original Hornets tenure in Charlotte, then you just can't begin to imagine the level of excite that is abuzz today. Yes, that pun was intended.

I still vividly remember going to Hornets games with my dad at the old Charlotte Coliseum, or as we called it "the Hive". The team in those early days wasn't the best in the league, but it was entertaining and boy did the Hornets fill the seats. Who would have ever thought the Charlotte Hornets would lead the NBA in attendance for 6 consecutive years back then?

I miss those days of watching Kelly Tripuka, Robert Reid, Kurt Rambis, Rex Chapman, Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry hustling up and down the court. The night the Hornets beat the Bulls on a last second offensive rebound and put back from Rambis. Those were the days.

Later iterations of the team would bring in Kendall Gill, Larry Johnson (Grandmama), Alonzo Mourning, Glen Rice and other stars. The playoff win against the Celtics. I was there. I've never witnessed such an awesome sports experience before that moment or even to this day. Just watching this video again gives me goosebumps!

Now granted the team taking the court tonight isn't the original team. I've heard some outsiders saying that they can't understand why a new team name, new logo and colors would make that much of a difference. It's all about the product on the court. I couldn't agree more. While all the nostalgia will be fueling the tonight's game and most of the this season, it's still about the win loss record at the end of the day.

Post All-Star break last season the former team in Charlotte put up some great numbers and had an impressive 2nd quarter record. They made the playoffs only to face LeBron and the Miami Heat with a banged up Al Jefferson. Had things gone a little differently those last few weeks of the season they may have had a higher seed. Had Al not hurt his foot who knows what may have happened. But that was last season. This is a brand new season in every sense of the word. In addition to the players that have come back, the Hornets have added a few key free agents - Lance Stephenson from Indiana and Marvin Williams from Utah. Add those guys to drafted rookies Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston and I'm excited for this upcoming NBA season.

If you've been a regular reader of my blog then you've probably noticed by my lack of posts that I've hit that proverbial collecting wall. I often find myself going to Target or Walmart and not even looking at the card aisle these days. I really want to finish my 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter set, but I can't even find the time nor desire to collate the cards I do have so I can make a want list. I fear I've lost some readers and better yet that trading relationship I once had with many fellow bloggers. I do have to say however that my excite over the Hornets returning to town and to the court may flow over to cardboard. While I still have a very small collecting budget to work with, I'm finding myself starting to look at cards again...and even buying a few on the cheap end.  Take for instance these...

 

Big Al has been one of the best free agent signings by Charlotte, period. I really enjoyed watching his constant effort last season. His chemistry with Kemba Walker has been great and I'm looking for good things this season. I know this card shows Al in his old uniform and most likely the white swatch was taken from an old uniform as well, but for a buck I didn't mind making this one of my first Hornets 2.0 cards.

 

Cody Zeller had a pretty good rookie season last year and while I didn't pick up many of his cards, this was another early Hornets cards that I was able to snag for cheap. Panini appears to have done a nice job w/ the NBA Hoops brand yet again. I look forward to picking up cards of Cody and other players in their new Hornets uniform as the basketball card collecting season moves forward.

A surprise from my Mistress

It's no surprise that I've been out of the (cardboard) loops recently.  Life has just demanded more time so my hobbies have fell to the wayside.  I wasn't even able to afford a box of 2014 Allen & Ginter this year.  Yes I know, it's tragic.  When I've had spare time and the money I've picked up a few blasters and loose packs here and there.  Still not content w/ the amount of minis I've acquired, I searched out eBay.  I ran across a few listings by none other than fellow blogger, My Cardboard Mistress.  I placed a few what would be winning bids on some of his extra A&G minis.  But that's not what this post is about.  It's about Adam's generosity.  

When the cards finally came in the mail 3 additional cards fell out of the bubble mailer that I wasn't expecting.

The first card comes from Topps Pro Debut minor league baseball.  It's a "patch" card of the Charlotte Knights mascot, Homer the Dragon.  I've blogged a few times about the local White Sox AAA affiliate team before.  The team moved into uptown Charlotte this season into the beautiful BB&T Ballpark.  I've only been once and the game was rained out.  This was a very nice gesture and completely unexpected.

The next card falls into my NC State collection.  Tom Gugliotta was one of the first NC State basketball players that I followed for the entirety of their collegiate career.  He was probably one of the first basketball players I started collecting that wasn't a Charlotte Hornet too.  I love getting his cards, period.  Just a base card would have made me happy, but an autograph?!  What's going on here?

The third bonus card in the mailer happened to be this nice looking auto patch card of Carolina Panthers WR Joe Adams.  Granted Joe never did anything in the league or even made the Panthers final roster, I still love this card.  You've got a big patch, an auto and it's serially numbered.

You know if I had been more active at the time within the community receiving extra cards like this wouldn't have surprised me at all.  One of the best things about being apart of this card blogging community is the great people I've "met".  However my posting has been spotty at best.  All I can say is Thank You Adam for your kindness and make sure everyone else knows that you more than just My Cardboard Mistress!

El Oso Blanco is back in the line-up!

This week marked the return of Evan "El Oso Blanco" Gattis to the starting line-up in Atlanta.  While the Braves put up a good record in Gattis' absence, it sure is good to have his bat back in the line-up again.  Chalk it up to coincidence, but just the other day I received this card in the mail from Topps.

Beautiful, thick piece of cardboard with a nice on card autograph to boot!  I'm very happy to add this card to my Braves collection, but as I was scanning it I noticed something that Topps seems to be doing all too often.  Check out his Opening Day card below.

Yes, it's the same image.  I've noticed Topps has been re-using the same photo over and over again for a lot of players across their many sets.  This just seems mighty lazy to me.  Granted both cards are beautiful and I'm glad to own them both, it would just be nice to have a different photograph on each card...especially the higher end Tier One.

Pack Break - 2014 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 1

(This post got buried in my Blogger account since it was saved as a draft and never posted.  I write this post back in February!)

So Topps decided to bring back Garbage Pail Kids for another round in 2014.  Mind you I'm still not up to date with all of the new card releases with me being out of the circle for awhile.

No longer do the GPK sets have the tag line "All-New Series", replacing it 2014 Series 1.  The price tag seems to have risen at retail to $2.49 a pack.  I grabbed a $4.99 jumbo pack after seeing some of the images online.  21 cards/stickers plus a bonus card/sticker.  A quick scan of the back of the packs lists gold parallels, printing plates, SP "c" name variants, artist autos, Motion cards, Olym-picks in bronze/silver/gold varieties and Sketch cards.  There were a few that made me laugh, but some of them are just down right ugly or dumb.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Two thumbs up

Two of the cards had no name.  The small text tells you to make up your own name.  Anyone got a suggestion?

With the Winter Olympics here Topps decided to have a little fun, GPK style!

Bonus sticker

Artist Autograph!!  Seeded 1:193 packs (jumbo odds)

As cool as this card is, I don't think I'm going to keep it.  I'll gladly trade the card for just about anything else so if you're reading this and you're interested let me know, otherwise off to eBay it goes in a few days.