Hobby_Legends 2018 Panini Rookie & Stars Group Break

After having good success with eBay seller Hobby_Legends in a group break where I grabbed my Charlotte Hornets, I decided to see what else they were offering up. I found a whole case break of 2018 Panini Rookie & Stars football (I still want to call it Leaf instead of Panini!) and I grabbed the Carolina Panthers.

I missed watching the live break so I just decided to wait for the package to arrive and be surprised than to search out the video on his YouTube channel. I didn't know much about this years Rookie & Stars product, but it's one I've liked in the past so why not? In the end, I think I did alright for myself.

It appears the base set for the Panthers is small at only 3 cards...but when those 3 cards are of Christian McCaffrey, Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly is that really a bad thing?

Remember the old Action Packed brand? Too bad these cards aren't embossed like their former namesake. There is some red foil that did photograph too well. Nice looking card and subset.

On the RC side of things I ended up with 3 players. Ian Thomas started to get some playing time at the TE position after Greg Olsen went down for the year. DJ Moore also started to get more reps once WR Devin Funchess' play started to decline. If I'm being honest, I've never heard of Marquis Haynes!

What modern set isn't complete without various levels of parallels? Ended w/ with two parallels for rookie TE Ian Thomas. True Blue is numbered to /49 and the Red parallel is numbered to /25.

One shiny chrome Airborne insert card was pulled for my team, that being of Cam Newton. Beautiful card in hand. I also bought a similar McCaffrey card too. Call me a sucker for shiny cards.

I'm not sure how I ended up with three Year 1 jersey cards of DJ Moore, but I'll take 'em! The blue piece of jersey if you look close enough appear to be different. The one on the right has more noticeable lines if you will in the fabric. These aren't game worn either, which is a bummer, but still nice additions to the collection none the less.

The seller also tossed into my package a pack of Ultra Pro penny sleeves and two older sealed football packs - 2015 Panini Prizm and 2017 Panini Donruss Optic. Just another reason I gave him my business again and will probably do it again in the future. Overall I'm very happy w/ my pulls. I haven't bought a lot of 2018 football product so this was a fun and easy way to bolster my 2018 Panthers stack of cards.

By the way, I used a new app on my phone to take these pictures...how do you think they turned out? Another card collector told me about the app, CamScanner, which has turned out to be a life saver for work...but I really haven't tried it too much w/ cards. It was a lot easier and quicker than taking a picture with my phone, then having to edit the photo. I may have to make this app the new default way of sharing card photos moving forward.

Trade with the Collector's Crack

Mark from the Collector's Crack had a stack of Braves and Carolina Panthers building for me for some time and recently sent over some good stuff. I had shipped him earlier some Brewers and Packers stuff I had been sitting on for him as well.

I received four team set bags full of cards plus a few others. The bulk of the cards of course were Atlanta Braves, many that I'm pretty sure I didn't have already.

A few of the highlights include some HOF players like Dale Murphy, John Smoltz (which by the way this TSC card features a great picture!) and this numbered Chipper.

Always nice getting cards of players that wore the Braves jersey for only a brief time, or just don't have cards made very often. I think this makes maybe the 2nd or 3rd card I have of Robert Fick in a Braves uni and the first of Shane Reynolds and Horacio Ramirez.

I don't have a lot of Braves minor league cards in my collection, but this shiny foil Pro Debut card of Jason Heyward is a welcome addition.

Last of the Braves highlights is this 2018 National Baseball Card Day of Ozzie Albies. The only LCS close to me didn't participate in the program, but thankfully Mark's awesome local shop did and he tossed this Albies card in my stack.

I don't feature too much football on my blog, but Mark is one of the few baseball card collectors that I know also dabbles in football. Here we have a look at the original rookie Panthers QB and the current Panthers QB. Love those older Pacific football cards.

Rounding out the Panthers were two jersey card, one of draft pick bust Joe Adams (though still a beautiful card) and fan favorite RB DeAngelo Williams.

The perfect ending to the trade is a healthy addition of new Ben Sheets cards for my PC of his. Shy of hitting up COMC or SportsLots I don't often get too many new cards of Ben so I'm very grateful to this Brewers fan to these. I'm hoping the Brewers can stave off elimination in tonight's NLCS game against the Dodgers. Thanks again for the trade Mark!

Time to Clean Out my eTopps Portfolio

Surely I'm not the only one that kept getting those emails from Topps advertising shipping discounts for cards left in your eTopps portfolio. The fact that the Topps has still be maintaining the eTopps website still amazes me. The program ran for 12 years, but I only bought cards for a few years after discovering what the program was.

I thought the idea behind eTopps was great and sometimes I wish the program was still going today. Topps Now essentially replaced eTopps years later, but when you compare the actual eTopps cards in hand vs. Topps Now...well there is no competition. The eTopps cards are beautiful, but the high shipping rates I'm guessing is what helped kill the program.

Recently I decided to cash in on the 30% off shipping discount and clear out my portfolio. I requested delivery for the majority of my cards some time ago, however for some reason I left some cards behind. Now that I have them in hand, let's take a look at the last cards from my portfolio.

2001 Tim Hudson #38

2005 Tim Hudson #6 (179/499)

2011 Freddie Freeman RC #2 (1478/1499)

All 3 of these cards look beautiful in hand, especially the Freeman rookie. I'm surprised I never had that card shipped before.

2004 Stephen Davis #38 (/1,250)

2011 Cam Newton RC #11 (1677/1999)

2011 Tim Tebow RC #32 (073/599)

I had all but forgotten that I even had some football cards left in the portfolio, but I'm glad to see the Cam Newton and even the Tim Tebow.

2005-2006 Emeka Okafor #3 (/672)

2005-2006 Sean May #59 (/1000)

I rarely buy basketball cards period, so I too had forgotten I had these two cards sitting in my portfolio. At the time I decided to take possession of these two cards, their online "value" was like $.10 each! They'll look nice in my Charlotte basketball collection none the less.

Like I said earlier, it's been awhile since I've had cards delivered from my eTopps portfolio, but I don't remember the cards coming shipped in one touch holders. It seems as if my past order the cards were almost slabbed. I recall the card holders used were in were very tough to open. All I've got to do to remove these cards from their holders is remove the little hologram sticker and the holder should open up rather easy. I do plan on freeing these cards from their slabbed prison so I may add each of them to their respective boxes.

Do you have any cards left in your eTopps portfoilio? Do you have plans on taking delivery if you do? What were your thoughts overall of the eTopps program? I'd love to hear from you so leave your answers in the comments below.

The Iron Lion Collectibles

A few weeks ago I got a message on Facebook that I was added to a new group called The Iron Lion Breakers. I had no idea what Iron Lion was, but then I saw I was added by Samual Pair aka The Daily Dimwit.

It took me a few days before I checked out what the group was all about and I immediately kicked myself for the delay. Sam has partnered with Andrew Williams and Shelby Bridges, co-owners of The Iron Lion Collectibles, a new store that will be opening very soon in Colorado Springs, CO. Sam was brought in to help expand their online presence by giving away cards. And we're not talking about cheap, run of the mill cards. They have been busting some very nice boxes each evening and giving the hits away. While they are hosting mini mixers and draft style group breaks, the majority of the cards are given away nightly up until their grand opening on 02/17/18.

In the last week or so I was able to get in on some of the giveaways and walked away with some nice cards. While I didn't get a 1/1 printing plate patch auto card or some of the other hot cards they've pulled, I'm blown away by the genorosity of The Iron Lion.

One of the first hits that I received by randomization is this 2013 Panini Momentum Robert Woods Upside Jumbo jersey numbered 275/299. While I'm not a Bills fan, this was the best card available when it was my turn to choose. Beautiful card, but I'd like to flip it for another player.

The next drawing I got into yielded this 2017 Panini Certified O.J. Howard New Generation jersey numbered 237/399. The front of the card has a rainbow sheen to it, much more beautiful in hand. Again, beautiful card but I'm hoping someone reading this will want to trade for it.

My third and final card I received from Iron Lion is this beautiful 2015 Panini Playbook Triple Threats jersey card of the Panthers' Cam Newton / Devin Funchess / Kelvin Benjamin. It's numbered 140/199. I love the blue piece of jersey, it really pops on the dark colored card especially with the two black pieces of jersey.

I so wish I lived closer to Colorado Springs as I'd love to check out their store. From the pictures they've posted on their Facebook page, I see they are also carrying comic books, video games (both retro & new) and some toys/collectibles. Actually, it may be for the best that I don't live nearby as I'm sure they would be taking money out of my wallet on a regular basis and the misses wouldn't like that very much.

There are a few nights left that they should still be doing giveaways, so why don't you jump onto Facebook and join their group so you can get in on the fun as well. After all, who doesn't like free cards? Just enter "The Iron Lion Breakers" and I'm sure you'll see the group.

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.