Bean's Christmas Cards

A few days before Christmas a bubble mailer arrived in the mail from Kin of Bean's Ballcard Blog with this little rectangular wrapped gift, tucked away inside a Christmas card. The aforementioned card was hung with the other Christmas cards in the living room by the wife. While she was doing that I quickly tore into the Christmas paper like a child on Christmas morning.

The first card in the stack was this 1999 Donruss Elite Aspirations parallel of Tim Biakabutuka, 71/79. Tim may have had a short NFL career due to injury, but he was one of my favorite running backs early on in the life of the Carolina Panthers. Serially numbered 90's cards are some of my favorites too so this card has found a new happy home!

The timing of this next card is a little surreal. Kevin Greene sadly passed away on 12/21/20. Even though he only spent 3 seasons in a Panthers jersey, he left many lasting memories for Carolina fans. I found it interesting that 1) Kevin was included in a 2020 product and 2) he was shown in a Panthers jersey over Steelers or Rams. This 2020 Panini Prestige Xtra Points parallel has a nice foil finish on the front and looks better in hand than my photo depicts.

The last card sent hails from the 2018 Score set and features a white piece of jersey of Luke Kuechly. This is a fitting card as Luke walked away from football at the end of the 2018 season due to injuries/concussions. Luke was an awesome defender and an absolute joy to watch play the game. I still miss all the "LUUUUUUKE" chants from the fans (you know, when we had fans in the stands) after he'd get that sack on the QB or lay a hard hit on an opposing player.

Thank you Kin for your hobby friendship and for these awesome 3 cards. I'll add these to the stack sitting to the left of me that need to be cataloged. It was a great holiday season and things like this just make it a little better.

It came from Arlington...

The other day I received a package from the great state of Texas...Arlington to be exact. I don't know why but when I saw the return address I immediate thought of King of the Hill.

Kin of Bean's Baseball Card Blog (@beansbcardblog) recently held a sale on his YouTube channel and I dropped by to see what all the hoopla was about. Turns out Kin had some really nice cards for a quarter a piece. I first asked what Carolina Panthers cards he had and as he was thumbing through them I found several I wanted.

2000 Collector's Edge Supreme Hologold parallel

Tshimanga Biakabutuka...man I love saying his name aloud. Tim's career in Carolina was cut short by injuries, only playing 51 games over 6 seasons, 35 games as a starter. He's one of those players that I often play the "what if" game. 

2010 Panini Crown Royale All-Pros / 2011 Topps Prime Aqua

From one Panthers running back to another, Jonathan Stewart is one of my favorite Panthers players. Not only did he impress me with his skills on the field, but his character off the field was just as impressive and made me even more of a fan of his. To date he's one of the few football players that I'll chase more than just base cards of.

I'm a sucker for die-cuts and certain parallels so both of these cards were easy pick ups. While I like what Panini has done w/ the NFL license, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss Topps in the football card market.

2018 Panini Select / 2019 Panini Unparalleled

If we are talking about Panthers running backs we have to mention Christian McCaffrey, right? His stardom in the league has carried over to his cards so I don't have a lot of his cardboard. Anytime I have the opportunity of adding new cards of McCaffrey to the Panthers collection I'll jump.

After getting the Select card in hand, now I want the Prizm parallel (is that what it's called?). The Unparalleled cards are a little busy, but remind me of the old Pacific Prism baseball cards.

I really miss Greg Olsen playing for Carolina. Not only was he a good blocking tight end, he was also a phenomenal pass catcher. This 2018 Score All Hands Team captures his ability perfectly. From a year earlier we have Curtis Samuel's Score RC. I was big on him coming out of college. I still remember the local news stating that on the first day of training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, Curtis' mom dropped him off! While his first few years in the league have been up and down, I love how Coach Rhule and his staff have been using Samuel. Surprisingly I didn't have this RC...now I do!

These 4 cards I grabbed just because they stood out. Starting with the top left, 2010 Topps Finest Brandon LaFell Finest Atomic Rookie. Shiny and die-cut! We also have his 2010 Panini Classics Team Colors...just love the look of the card. 

To the bottom row, left we have a 2017 Panini Unparalleled Kurt Coleman Lime Green Escher Squares parallel. What stood out to me about this card was the inclusion of the RC symbol. Kurt's first year in the league was back in 2010 with the Philadelphia Eagles so I have no idea what Panini was thinking! Next is a 2013 Topps Platinum DeAngelo Williams. I think this is a parallel of some sort, but I can't quite identify this...still a nice looking card.

The last of the Panthers bunch is Luke Kuechly. Before Luke hung up his pads there were many a Sundays in Charlotte, NC where you could here chants of "Luuuuuuuke" being rained down from the stands. It was a black day in town when Luke stepped away from the game...another player that had to call it an early career due to the violent nature of the game.

I didn't have any 2014 Bowman cards prior to picking up this Kuechly. The 2017 Panini Classics card looks like a great set. The 2012 Leaf Draft set isn't the best looking, but for a quarter why not? Lastly we have a nice looking die-cut 2012 Panini Contenders Rookie of the Year Contenders insert. Easy purchase!

Next I asked Kin what Braves he had. He thumbed through quite a stack and I was surprised I found as many as I did.

2013 Topps Chrome Jason Heyward & BJ Upton Chrome Connections

I'm not sure I've even seen these die-cut Chrome cards before so they were an easy pick up, even if one of them was BJ Upton!

We have more shiny and die-cut cards in this lot. First its a 2015 Topps Finest Freddie Freeman base, then a 2015 Panini Prizm Julio Teheran Blue Prizm parallel. On the bottom row: 2013 Bowman Platinum Jason Heyward Gold parallel, followed by a 2020 Topps Decade of Dominance Hank Aaron die-cut insert.

The last batch of Braves cards all come from 2020 Topps. John Smoltz Decade's Best, Ozzie Albies & Freddie Freeman Turkey Red and finally a Austin Riley Decade's Next insert. With finding baseball cards in 2020 being such a chore I was glad to pick up a few cards of my team.

I really appreciate cheap sales such as this. I'm not sure if Kin is planning on doing anymore sales like this, but if he is you gotta jump on in and see if he has anything for your favorite team(s).

A Punch to the Gut

Excuse me while I cry over some bad news that hit me today like a 1-2 punch. While this isn't exactly a trading card post, as of today I learned that two great players for my teams will no longer be appearing on cardboard as one player signed with another team and the other retired from the NFL.

Today was a long day at work and by the time I got home my family had already finished eating dinner. I sat at the table by myself eating a great plate of spaghetti, thumbing through various social media accounts. I've been expecting news of where Josh Donaldson was going to land every day and again...nothing. By the time I got my girls tucked in bed and gave them good night kisses, I could feel the effects of the day wearing on me. I laid in bed, again playing around on my phone when I got the breaking news notification from the At Bat app...Josh Donaldson was no longer a Brave.

While I can't say that I'm shocked at the news, it's still disappointing. I loved watching the guy play last season. I loved his umbrella/bringer of rain gimmick and how he seemed to have so much fun playing the game of baseball and interacting with his Braves teammates. However the longer the hold out continued the less I thought he would return.

As @FakeDanUggla posted on Twitter this evening, "I feel like we dated Josh Donaldson when he was broke and unemployed, living in a van. We supported him emotionally and financially until he was back on his feet. Then he one day after all that growth decided he's better than us (Braves) and hooks up with some flooy in Minnesota". Well said @FakeDanUggla!!

I'm not sure what the future holds for the Braves now. Reports are they will platoon Johan Camargo and Austin Riley at the hot corner as they don't want to give up on their prospects for a rental of a player like Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant. I have faith Riley can turn his offense around and be the stud that many Braves fans hope he can be. Only time will tell. Still sucks loosing JD's bat though. Let's be honest, Freddie Freeman had one his best years with JD batting behind him in the line up. Oughta be an interesting rest of the off season to see what AA and the Braves do next.

Oh yeah, the Braves also revealed the new name of their ballpark...Truist Park. Yeah, I hate it too.

While lying in bed, talking to my wife about the Josh Donaldson news I then see a video on Twitter posted by my hometown Carolina Panthers that Linebacker Luke Kuechly was retiring after 9 seasons. What?! Where did this come from? This was like Andrew Luck part 2!!!

The video was emotional and it was clear that Luke didn't want to walk away from the game, but he knew he had to...for his own health. While he didn't bring up his health as the reason, we know that is the case. He's suffered 3 concussions that we know of between 2015 and 2017. I stress the "we know of" portion of that statement because their could be more. Luke did say that he didn't feel he could play with the intensity and speed that he wants to. While he did gather All-Pro 2nd Team honors this season, fans here in Carolina could tell that Luke wasn't his normal self. However I don't think anyone saw this coming...especially so soon in his career.

While this isn't a good look for the NFL, I respect his decision to move on while he still can. He's only 28 and I imagine his long standing girlfriend may want him around for a little bit longer. Quality of life is something that you can't put a price tag on so kudos for him for knowing his body and when it's time to walk away and do something else.

The 2020 season will be a rebuilding year for the Panthers and it sucks that we have lost one of our cornerstones. I wish Luke all the best in the next chapter of his life and hope that one day we'll see him standing on the sidelines of the Panthers as a coach in some capacity.

Needless to say it's been a rough day in my household...

One of those "Better late than never" posts...

I've been meaning to get some real organization in place for my cards and various cardboard collections (no pun intended) and after a trip to my local LCS to pick up some supplies, I can finally start cataloging all of these stacks of cards on the corner of my desk.

It didn't take too long into one of the stacks before I came across two team bags with a index card from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders / Too Many Manninghams. This gift has been sitting here for at least 6 months. Perhaps you can better imagine the mess I have on my hands that I'm now trying to work through! In these stacks were lots of great cards for several different themes I have in my collection.

Of course there were plenty of Braves cards, including several Tom Glavines and a Johnny Estrada Topps Pristine relic.

Remember when Topps made football cards? I know you're super jealous of the super hot Dwayne Jarrett RC you see peeking out from underneath Steve Smith.

My favorite Carolina Panthers card in the stacks was this dufex infused Zenith team card. Jake Delhomme may not be well known outside of Charlotte (or Louisiana), but he is a "legend" in this area. Same goes for Julius Pepper, though this is from his first tour with the team. DeShaun Foster may not be the best well known Panthers RB in the history of the team, but they needed a third player so there you go.

I saw that there was a smaller card in one of the stacks, but never in my wildest imagination would I think it was a printing plate. Combine the fact that this is a Jonathan Stewart printing plate and I was/am over the moon! JStew is one of my favorite players of all time and I've got a nice little PC of his, but nothing this cool. Thank you so much Dennis!

Also included were cards of two players for what I call my "Faith Brothers" collection...Albert Pujols and Mariano Rivera. It's not that often I acquire cards of either of these players unless I'm at a show digging through nickle and dime boxes, so this was a nice surprise. As I sat down to catalog these cards it turned out that I didn't have about 95% of them. I guess this Braves guy just had a hard time keeping cards of a guy that killed our pitching or of a stinking Yankee!

Thanks again Dennis for your kind generosity and I apologize it took so long to share these...but as the post title says "better late than never".

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.

Thanksgiving Surprise

The week of Thanksgiving I was receiving a few bubble mailers each day as I've been grabbing cheap autos and RCs of various players lately, however one of the mailers was noticeably thicker than the others which I wasn't expecting. Then I saw the return address and I instantly knew who it was from...Cards on Cards.

2018 hasn't been an overly great year for me in terms of blogging. My activity across all my blogs is down and as a result so is my trading activity with fellow collectors and bloggers. I blame this on wanting to spend more time doing other things and of course work...gotta blame work. For some reason Kerry at Cards on Cards had been putting aside cards of Atlanta Braves, Carolina Panthers and Charlotte Hornets for me. I always love to see what people send me and I always appreciate what I'm sent, regardless of what era it's from. Let's take a look at a small sampling of what he sent me.

One of my favorite cards is this shiny Freddie Freeman from 2018 Topps Chrome. I sat Chrome out this year so I have very little Braves from the set. This International Affair card has a simple design, but looks beautiful. This is one of those inserts that works better for Chrome than flagship in my opinion. 

Next up is a small sampling of players from what I call my "Faith Brothers" collection. Fitting that all of these are from Cardinals players, but hey, that's OK. Personally I love the Jaime Garcia Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards.

Following up on the baseball edition of "Faith Brothers", I got a few more cards for the football version of this sub-collection. Of these 5 cards, my favorite hands down is the 1992 Score Sam Mills Dream Team. I've never seen this card before, so cool. I don't have many Sam Mills cards either so I love finding new things. For those of you outside the Carolinas, Sam Mill is the basis of the team's "Keep Pounding" mantra/slogan thanks to his battle with cancer he fought as a member of the Carolina Panthers. 

I also really appreciate the other cards too, especially the cool Domino's Pizza issue of Rodney Peete and the silver parallel of the Minister of Defense, Reggie White.

I never collected a lot of basketball cards, but I absolutely loved Upper Deck's inaugural NBA set. However I never had a chance to pick up packs of the sophomore release and I still only have a few random cards. Upper Deck had some great photography as shown in the Kendall Gill card. One day I'd love to pick up a box or two and sit down and try to build the set. The early to mid 90's NBA was a lot of fun in my opinion.

With all of the off season moves the Charlotte Hornets made, combined with some early success has me watching more NBA than I have in a very long time. It's been really fun watching the Hornets and their young players play. I've been wanting to pick up RCs and other cards of some of these younger players, but I typically don't buy packs of basketball cards. Kerry came to the rescue with RCs of Malik Monk from Elements and Dwayne Bacon from Donruss Optic. These were the Hornets first and second round draft picks from a year ago. Neither got much of a chance to play last year under coach Steve Clifford, but with the staff changes both young guns are finally getting a chance to show their skill. Even though the team moved on from Dwight Howard, I still find it cool to have a few cards of his in a Hornets uniform.

Lastly we have a few cards of Kemba Walker. If you haven't had a chance to watch him play you are missing out. He's one of the best point guards in the NBA that nobody talks about. He is consistent night in and night out and is the face of the Hornets. He is already quickly becoming one of the best Hornets players statistically as his play has improved year over year. There have been a lot of trade rumors surrounding him, but it appears he wants to remain a Charlotte Hornet and bring the city their first NBA title. How can you not root for a guy like that? The NBA All-Star weekend is being held in Charlotte, NC this upcoming February and I fully expect to see Kemba representing "Buzz City".

Huge shout out to Kerry at Cards on Cards for the surprise package...I owe you one buddy!

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.