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.

Christmas Cards (and not, I don't mean 2019 Topps Holiday)

Maybe a week ago I was tagged in a Tweet by @forgotaboutblay that some Christmas cards were on their way. A few days later a little bubble mailer showed up and inside was a thick brick of cards consisting of my 3 teams - Braves, Panthers & Hornets.

When the stack includes Chipper Jones cards you know you're in for a treat. I think I have this 1994 Bowman's Best, but it's such a great card I don't mind having a duplicate. I don't believe I've seen these 2005 Leaf Gamers cards before. It's printed in reflective silver foil and looks much better in hand. The same cam be said about the 1999 Fleer Ultra Diamond Mine. It's a very shiny card and from an insert set I'm not that familiar with.

Let's not forget about this 1997 Donruss Silver Press Proof parallel of former Braves slugger Ryan Klesko! Probably one of the more bittersweet cards in the stack was this 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor of Brian McCann. He announced his retirement this season after the Braves were eliminated in the NLCS by the Cardinals. This is a great photo of Brian and the Chrome Refractors are just so beautiful.

These two 2012 Panini Prime Signatures cards are think. The design is very minimal, but it works. Both are serially numbered with Jon Beason being 135/499 and Steve Smith being 120/499.

Another thick card in the stack was this 2014 Score Kelvin Benjamin Team Helmets. The helmet is made of rubber (?) and it's also a RC. Kelvin started off his career in Carolina pretty hot, but soon injuries started to plague his on the field performance. There were also issues with his attitude and diet and it wasn't long before Benjamin was on his way out the door to Buffalo and all of the Charlotte media was mocking him for his lack of a diet. It was actually entertaining radio at the time.

I haven't bought any of Panini's Unparalleled product before, but I do like this Perfect Pairs insert from the 2017 set. It shines great in hand and features two of the best defensive players ever to suit up for Carolina - Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly.

I grew up watching many Hornets games in person at the old Charlotte Coliseum back in the day. I don't have a lot of Hornets cards from the mid to late 90's so these cards from 96-97 Fleer Ultra are great. I especially love the Anthony Mason card. He was so much fun to watch bang around in the paint. Vlade Divac came over from the Lakers in the now infamous Kobe Bryant draft/trade. Kobe was never going to play for Charlotte so I hate it when that topic comes up whether in the national or local media. The Tony Delk card is from an insert set called Rookie Encore. I remember him being an instant fit for the team and helped provide more scoring fairly quickly.

There were also a few 99-00 Fleer Ultra cards as well. Here we have Ricky Davis, Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell. I honestly don't remember much about Ricky or Elden, but Eddie was the one of the few star players the Hornets seemed to have during this period...well maybe outside of Baron Davis.

There were also many other cards in the brick that Dennis sent that I didn't share. I really appreciate being thought of and I appreciate the cards as well. All of them will find a nice home in my various collections. Thanks again Dennis, Merry Christmas!

Surprise Christmas Package...That I'm Just Now Getting to Posting About

Right around Christmas I came home from work and was greeted at the door by my lovely wife...although she didn't have that lovely look on her face. Nope, I walked in the door to her stink eye. She was standing there, holding a rather large USPS Priority box.

You see, I have a lot of hobbies and tend to spend too much money at times. Whenever a package shows up she wants the 411 on it and this was one time that I couldn't tell her what was inside...because even I didn't know! I thought the return address looked familiar, but I wasn't sure so I proceeded to open up the package.

To my surprise I found new, sealed Kenner Starting Lineups of Braves players David Justice and Kevin Millwood. There was an empty Pinnacle Inside can featuring Chipper Jones, a Topps Screen Plan tin again featuring Chipper (and the card inside too!), a large tin of Donruss Preferred featuring Carolina Panthers QB Kerry Collins (and some guy named Aikman) and a 100 count box of cards. Inside the box was a slew of Braves and Panthers players, including some nice older cards of Phil Neikro. Inside the Preferred tin were a few more cards. An autographed card of Bruce Chen (of who I share the same exact birthdate), a Stefan Lefors football/jersey card and a very cool Keary Colbert card featuring cut pieces of his helmet mask. Yeah, those players never really lived up to their expectations and did much in the pros, but the cards none the less are very cool.

So, who sent me all of this loot? It was none other than Dennis from Too Many Verlanders. I'm really embarrased that here it is the 10th of February and I'm just now typing up my thank you post. Dennis' gift absolutely came out of left field and I really, really appreciate it. I know I haven't been as active with my blog, reading and commenting on other blogs or trading as I would like. I'm sure there are plenty of other Braves fans that blog so I'm humbled to receive this loot. Looks like it's time for me to Pay It Forward. Thanks again Dennis!

My lone baseball card representation from Christmas

When people were asking what I wanted for Christmas earlier in the year I mentioned just about everything BUT baseball cards.  Not sure why.  Perhaps I was just taking a break during this off season, but my wife was gracious enough to toss a rack pack of 2012 Bowman Chrome into my stocking.

I'm not a big prospector so I don't buy much Bowman each year.  I'll track down all of Tim Hudson's cards and at least a complete Braves set, but that's about it.  Having said that this pack of Bowman Chrome was my first time ripping this product.

You know the break down - three packs each containing three cards + an exclusive three card pack of green bordered cards.  The first pack I opened contained a nice Braves surprise waiting for me in the form of a Brian McCann Refractor.

The 2nd pack didn't contain anything special...just some base cards which have been listed on my trade page.  The 3rd pack however is where things got interesting.  The pack lists the odds at 1:390 for Prospect Refractors.  I'm hoping an Astros fan will want to trade with me.

#170/500

My wife said she had a hard time finding much to choose from at the local Walmart by the house and told me she really didn't know what to buy.  I would've been happy even if I hadn't pulled a Braves card I needed or the auto - I just love her for thinking of me and my crazy hobby enough to buy me a pack of cards.  Thanks babe!

What Did Santa Bring You?

Santa was pretty good to me this year.  Cardboard wise I ended up with more baseball cards than I ever thought I would.  Sure - I asked for some boxes and told me wife that packs make good stock stuffers, but I really didn't expect much.

On Friday, Christmas Eve we drove up to Stanley, NC to visit my grandmother and my bio-mom as I call her.  In addition to some Blu-ray DVDs and a few Xbox 360 games I ended up w/ a box of 2007 Upper Deck Series 2.  I had asked for a box of 2002 Upper Deck, but the Amazon seller sent the wrong box.  It's OK though as I really like the '07 design and may build the set later on down the road.

Christmas morning brought me my first ever jumbo box of Topps!  I got a hobby box of 2008 Topps Series 1 since I'm working on building the set.  At the time of this post I've only opened one pack as I'm trying to stretch the fun...that and I've got some serious cataloging to do!  My wife got me one of those discounted blasters of 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces.  Wow, why did I never bother with these cards before?  They are beautiful!  Guess there is another set I'll go after.  Check the sidebar shortly for my want list if you have any extra base cards.

Speaking of cataloging I also got several packs of 2010 Topps Series 2 and Update Series along with a few Update blasters.  99% of the cards from these packs were all doubles and my trade list has already been updated with these cards.  If ANYONE out there can use some base 2010 Topps cards please let me know and they are all yours!

I plan to post box breaks later on so stay tuned!  Now you know what Santa brought me.  Leave a comment and let me know what you got cardboard wise.