The End of the Freddie Freeman Era in ATL

What roller coaster this MLB off season has been since the Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series. All the fans knew that Freeman would enter the season as a free agent, what we didn't know was that a lock out was on the horizon. This caused zero negotiations through the winter causing many fans to panic at the thought the long tenured first baseman wouldn't return for the 2022 season. 

During the off season there was chatter that Freddie wasn't going to re-sign. Multiple team names started to enter the conversation of different suitors for the first baseman. Could Freeman really go to the rival Dodgers? While I hate to think about it, he is from California and I could see him going "home". After all, he's spent the whole off season there...could that have effected his decision? 

Could Freddie end up in Yankee pinstripes? New York loves to spend and could possibly compete with the amount of money LA could offer. While I'm not a fan of the Yankees, I'd rather see him go to NY than LA any day of the week.

Then today happened. I was on my way out the door to head to Home Depot to look at carpet with my wife and I saw the news on Twitter...the Braves had traded a plethora of young prospects for the A's Matt Olson. I had heard earlier that this was plan B. Plan A of course was to re-sign Freeman, but if that didn't work plan B was to bring in a younger, less expensive slugger. The tweet mentioned Cristian Pache, Sean Langeliers and two other pitchers were headed to Oakland for Olson. Braves nation was divided. 

Where do I fall? While I don't want to sound like a bad fan, I'm actually OK with the trade. Yes, I hate to see Freddie go for a lot of reasons. Let's be honest though, the days where players play their whole career for one team are long gone. The fact that Chipper Jones and Derek Jeter did it still amazes me. I've heard that Freddie wanted to stay in Atlanta. I've also heard he really wanted to go home. I'm sure money was part of the equation, we're talking professional sports after all. I've heard and read a lot of comments/tweets today where fans were bashing the front office for letting Freeman go. I think after winning the World Series Freddie's price went up and essentially he priced himself out of Atlanta. Had the Braves lost the World Series I think he would have stayed and the Braves would've re-signed him. This is a business though and the decision to not bring him back is just that...business. However I don't really care who's "at fault" here. I'm going to miss him...but I'm also looking forward to seeing what Olson can do. I already saw a tweet today that effectively said Braves country will be OK after the first time Olson launches a homer across the Chop House...and they are probably right. Players change teams. It's a part of modern day sports. Wherever Freddie lands, I wish him the best.

How does this move effect my collecting? Not much. I'll still collect Freeman...even if he's in Dodger blue *shudders* or Yankee pinstripes. Heck, I'm already looking at some of Olson's 2017 cards on eBay...which is a mistake because the prices are ridiculous. There will be plenty of 2022 cards coming out w/ Freddie in a Braves uniform and I'll try to gobble up as many as I can...but I don't plan stopping just because he'll (eventually) have another logo on his chest. I still collect Dale Murphy, David Justice, and Jeff Francouer...regardless of the team.

Thank you Freddie for everything. It was a blast having you anchor the line up as well as first base for all of these years. We'll miss your hugs as much as your bat and that stretch at first. We'll miss seeing Charlie on television broadcasts and during the All-Star festivities. Best of luck wherever you go...just not against the Braves!

It All Starts Tonight

To say that last Saturday night, 10/23/21, was a good evening for the Braves' and their fans is an understatement. A huge understatement. While the Braves entered the post season as the winner of the NL East, they entered as an underdog with just 88 wins...the lowest amount of any of the post season teams. However the Braves were one of the hottest teams down the stretch and momentum means everything.

After taking out the Brewers in 4 games, the Braves took on the Los Angeles Dodgers...again. Two years in a row that these two teams met in the NLCS, however this time things were different. Thanks in part to the Dodgers having a hard fought Divisional series against the Giants, the Dodgers weren't 100% entering the series. Neither were the Braves. In July the team lost arguably one of their best players in Ronald Acuna, Jr. Combine that loss with Mike Soroka not even making it out of Spring Training. The Braves could have folded in July when Acuna went down, but they didn't. Alex Anthopolis pulled off some impressive deals at the trading deadline, including picking up an (at the time) injured Eddie Rosario for Pablo Sandoval...who was released a mere 12 hours after Cleveland acquired him!).

Rosario would go on to be the NLCS MVP as his explosive offensive performance helped propel the Braves past the Dodgers. Combine his efforts with that of Joc Petersen (Joctober!), Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler, all whom were also acquired at the trading deadline, and the Braves completely remade their outfield. It all magically came together in this post season...at least so far. While the Braves enjoyed home field advantage against the Dodgers in the NLCS, they will not have that advantage in the World Series against the Astros...however I'm not too worried. They split in Milwaukee to open up  the Post Season, but only won one of 3 games in LA. However they were undefeated at home...so I'm hoping for at least a split in Houston, then a sweep at home. 

Yeah, while I'd like to see that happen, I don't really seeing it unfold like that. I think this series easily goes 6 or 7 games.

Regardless of what happens, I'm super happy for two guys in particular....Manager Brian Snitker and...

Freddie Freeman. A lot of was made about his status at the beginning of the year after the Braves failed to resign him in the off season. Freeman said he would not let that be a distraction and would not talk about contract negotiations during the season. He lived up to his words. While Freddie may not have been able to duplicate his MVP 2020 season, to see the pure joy on his face as the he caught the final out of the NLCS. Freddie has toiled through a lot of tough seasons and it's fantastic that he's being reward with a trip to the game's largest stage.

While making it this far has been a long time dream come true, I don't want to be one of those fans that just satisfied with making it this far. I believe this is the Braves' year. It's their time. No offense to the Dusty Baker and the Astros, but 2021 will be the year of the Bravos.

To keep the post card related, Topps surprised me yesterday when they released 12 cards highlighting the positions between the Braves and Astros. In a year where I've only missed picking up one 2021 Topps Now Braves card, the Braves' success in the playoffs this year is getting expensive! However I don't know when the Braves will be back on this stage this gobbled up these 12 cards did I do. It'll be fun looking back on this season and these cards will help. Of course I hope the last few cards I put in my Topps Now binder are cards of the team celebrating winning the World Series, it's been a great ride.

Cardboard Acquisitions: Baseball & Football edition

Hey everyone! I meant to post some new content to both the blog and my YouTube channel before Christmas, but there was just so much to do in order to get the house ready for family visiting and all that comes with it and I just didn't have the time.

However below is a link to my latest "pick ups" video I posted to my channel. I do hope to get back to some regular activity in the coming week or so. Hopefully I can get some ideas for a 2020 collecting resolution video out of my head and typed up before they disappear! Until then, enjoy the video.

Braves' Post Season Dreams Crushed

The Braves' post season dreams ended in dramatic fashion today. A few days ago many Braves fans, including myself, were feeling great about our chances in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. Well all of that fell apart tonight in a way I don't believe many people ever saw coming.

Game 5, winner takes all. The Braves rolled out Mike Foltynewciz, winner of game 2. I was nervous with Folty pitching on short rest...especially after the way Kuechel pitched in game 4. I was finishing up work and rushing home to catch the first pitch. While I sat at the stop light on the off exit ramp I saw a notification on my phone that the score was now 0-1. Then 0-2 before I got home. Ouch. As much as I love Folty, I knew this wasn't good. By the time I walked in my front door, only minutes after the game, the score was 0-4. I sat down hoping they could put out the fire, but it was just too much for Folty. Manager Brian Snitker pulled Folty after 2/3rd inning and brought in 17 game winner Max Fried. Max walked the pitcher with the bases loaded. By the time the Braves finally made 3 outs the score was 0-10. This set a MLB Playoffs record...unfortunately the Braves were on the other side of that.

Now fans are asking what happened? The expectations were high. Yeah there were some naysayers in the media that were picking the Cardinals, but most had picked the Braves to reach the NLCS. So what did happen? Or shall I ask what didn't happen? The Braves were 5 for 39 with runners in scoring position. That's what happened.

Braves should have won this series. They should have won game 4. They had so many chances to score and couldn't. The Cardinals consistently was able to get a runner on base and then advance them. They played A-B-C baseball. The Braves couldn't. It's as simple as that.

The Braves were heavily scrutinized in the national media all throughout this series. From questioning Brian Snitker's managerial decisions, to Acuna's lack of hustle, plenty of people had their opinions about why this team fell apart in the post season. While I am pissed over what has transpired today, I have to give the Cardinals credit. They played hard. They never gave up. A lot like the Braves all season, they kept fighting until the very end.

The Braves locked up the NL East early and after winning they took care of the SF Giants in the following two games. Then more injuries claimed even more players on the already banged up roster. Snitker was put in a tough position. He needed to rest players like Acuna and Freeman, all while trying to figure out who would be on the Post Season roster. He played around with the line up, moving people around on the field trying to figure out what to do. As a result, the Braves basically limped into the Playoffs. This immediately had me concerned.

The Cardinals on the other hand had to play their best baseball to stave off the Cubs and the Brewers, only to win the division on the last day of the regular season. They were hungry. They were already running on adrenaline. The Braves were running on Icy Hot.

I don't care what Freddie says, his elbow was hurting him and effected his swing. I love Freddie. I love how he plays the game. I love how he puts this team on his shoulders night in and night out. In the post game interview tonight he squarely put the blame on him for not showing up. He was adamant that his elbow wasn't bothering him. Freddie isn't the type of guy to make excuses and I respect him for that. His lack of offense surely didn't help, but he wasn't the only one to "disappear".

As I type this post I'm watching the post game show on Fox Sports South and Brian McCann just announced his retirement. Dang. We all knew it was coming. He signed a one year deal. This was his 15th MLB season. McCann may not have provided a lot of offense during this series, however he was invaluable behind the plate.

With McCann's departure it opens the question of who else will be parting ways during the off season? There were several players on one year deals this year. Names like Josh Donaldson, Nick Markakis and Dallas Kuechel. I expect the team to look different next year. I don't know if Liberty Media, owners of the Braves will open their wallet to re-sign some of these guys. Both Donaldson and Kuechel have gone on record saying they want to come back, but this remains to be seen.

As much as this stings and will take some time to get over, I think this team is going to be hanging around for awhile. There is still an awful lot of young talent in the pipeline that we'll be seeing. The young players on the team will only get better. They'll learn from this experience...everyone will. The Braves will be back in 2020. After all, literally no one in the media picked the Braves to even win the division.

This sucks. To go out like this, a 13-1 clubbing is not the ideal way to exit the season. It's going to take a lot of time for me to get over this...but I'm a Braves fan through and through. I'm proud of what this team was able to accomplish this year. With every team there will be peaks and valleys and today the Braves just happened to fall off the peak and into a deep valley.

All season long different players stepped up and provided some memorable moments for the team. This was the first season in quite a while where I didn't want to miss a regular season game. The team was just too exciting not to watch. All the young talent, both on the mound and in the dugout. The gnarly veterans that were brought in to help with the young kids. The late season roster moves to bring in bullpen help and speed on the base paths. It was a great season. Thanks to the Topps Now program, at least I have a lot of great cards to remember these moments. Names like Adam Duvall, Matt Joyce, Billy Hamilton...players that don't often receive baseball cards. Fun times...well until tonight that is.

So, where to now? At least for me I get to turn more of my attention to my Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The new NBA season is just around the corner too. While my Charlotte Hornets aren't expected to do much, I'm excited about some of the changes made and will follow them through out their season. On the hobby front, I've got lots and lots of junk wax boxes that are waiting to be ripped. I'll be building most if not all of these sets so stay tuned for some box break posts and other stuff.

In closing, thank you Braves for a great year of baseball. I know it didn't work out the way that any of us wanted, but we have to deal with the cards we were dealt (no pun intended) and now we turn our focus to the off season and making preparations on coming back even stronger a few months from now when spring training gets underway.

#ChopOn

Cards on Cards sends cards

I can't be the only guy out there collecting cards that gets the evil eye from the wife when I come back from checking the mail w/ bubble mailers in my hands. Kerry from Cards on Cards (@cardsoncards) got my wife going over the weekend when I pulled out a rather thick bubble mailer out of the mail box. I wasn't expecting anything from him so I was looking forward to seeing what was inside...

There were two large stacks of cards that were neatly stacked and stored insides team bags and a sealed package of NBA TeenyMates. With the exception of a line Braves TeenyMates someone sent me years ago, I haven't had any exposure to these. I'll showcase the contents of that pack later however as I want to get to the meat & potatoes.

For starters I received 82 cards from my 2018 Topps Big League want list! I haven't done much with this set since last fall so it was nice to put a big dent in the list of cards needed.

Off the top of the 2nd stack were two cards of Braves players that represent the future and the past. I have both of these cards, but I don't think I have them for my 2018 Allen & Ginter set. When I'm building sets I always keep the Braves for my team collection first and foremost.

I busted a lot of 2019 Donruss, but somehow the base cards of Ozzie Albies has escaped my grasp. The others were needed for the set and are much welcomed.

Couple more shiney Freddie Freemans for the collection and a Topps Archives RC insert of Ozzie. I believe this card will go in the Archives binder as I pulled one last year for my team collection.

I don't buy a lot of basketball cards and I don't know many who do, but I do know that Kerry is an avoid Portland Trailblazer collector so I can usually bet any package from him will include some basketball cards. Oh boy, he did not disappoint either as he sent me cards for several different collections.

In the heyday of my collecting I pretty bought anything and everything. I had many of these cards, but as the collecting itch faded away a lot of my early collection disappeared. I can't remember what happened to all those cards, but I'm so glad to get some of these back. 

I made a comment on @pennysleeves blog the other day about a Robert Parish card I saw that featured him in a Hornets uni...and then this Hoops card shows up in the stack! I still don't have many cards of Anthony Mason as a Hornet so even though this Hoops card has him in a Knicks uniform, I'll take it. Not sure how many fans remember Darrin Hancock. He was drafted out of Kansas in the 2nd round of the 1994 draft and went on to play 1 1/2 seasons in Charlotte before he was traded to Milwaukee. His career in the NBA only lasted until 1997 (in Atlanta) before he would finish his career in 2005 playing for several different D-League teams. He was however electrifying to watch when he played for Charlotte, executing several fast break plays that usually ended in some kind of dunk.

I love getting cards of Hornets players from that time period where I attended a lot of games. This Kendall Gill and Kenny Gattison cards are so much cooler (to me) than the base cards they are because of the memories I have attached to them.

Considered the "dark period" in Charlotte basketball now, the Bobcats never really caught on with the city of Charlotte or it's fans. I have several ideas why, however I still count them as part of my Hornets collection. There was one lone Bobcats card in the stack and it happened to be a RC of D.J. Augustin. I liked watching him play the short time he played for Charlotte. He's still going strong (for Orlando) and gave the Hornets a fit in the backcourt this season.

I knew of Roy Hibbert from his time spent in Indiana, but I hardly remember him suiting up in the team and purple for the Hornets. However Panini made a card of him for their 2016-17 Complete set. I love getting cards of players that had a brief stint with a team as it makes it more fun when looking back. Do you like getting cards of players like this?

Panini releases a lot of sets and it's hard to keep up with what is out there and what the cards look like. Their Element set has some nice looking cards, such as this base card of Michael Kidd- Gilchrist. I think this makes the 2nd base card from this set I now have. Dwight Howard's time with Charlotte was short so he doesn't have too many cards of him in an actual Hornets uniform, so this insert of him was a welcome addition.

With the exception of the Tony Parker, all of these shiny cards look much better in hand than the pics. I especially love the Optic RC of Devonte Parker RC. I don't know what type of Prizm parallel this is, but it's really sharp. The multi-colored Optic parallels aren't my favorite looking, but anytime I can get new cards of young players like Monk and Bacon...I'll take 'em. I believe both of them are just now starting to scratching the surface of their potential.

If all of the Hornets cards weren't enough, Kerry tossed in not one, but two autographed RCs of P.J. Hairston. I find it ironic that P.J. was yet another former Tarheels player that owner Michael Jordan paraded through Charlotte. I swear the Hornets have had so many Tarheel players that never did anything. Probably the best former UNC player that came through was Raymond Felton in the early Bobcats years...so Jordan can't take credit for him.

In addition to the Hornets cards, I also got a new cards for my NC State Wolfpack Alumni collection. Nate McMillan was born in Raleigh, NC and was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in the 2nd round of the 1986 draft. He went on to play 19 seasons for the Sonics before he went into coaching. While I believe I originally had all 3 of these cards, I don't have them in my current NC State Alumni collection so these will be nice additions.

My favorite card in the whole package though has to be this Courtside Draft Pix card of former NC State point card, Chris Corchiani. While Chris' NBA career may not have gone as he would have liked, he was magic in the backcourt during his college years. Watching Corchiani interact and play with Rodney Monroe was a thing of beauty. For some reason it kind of reminded me of watching John Stockton and Karl Malone play together. I don't have many cards of Corchiani period, and this card is a beauty. You probably can't tell, but the front of this card features ink that has a slight metallic sheen, something cards from 1991 just didn't feature that often.

Thank you Kerry for all the great cards. While I love getting new baseball cards, I also love getting new basketball cards from time to time and this package was a very nice surprise. I owe you one!!

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!

Opening Day is Finally Here!

Opening Day is finally upon us. For the first time in many, many years, all of the MLB teams were slated to begin their season on the same day. I've already heard that weather may have scrubbed the Reds/Nationals game, but my team...the Braves will be hitting the field in just over an hour to take on the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Today is one of those days where I relish getting to work from home...however with so much baseball on TV today I can't say I've accomplished a lot of work! Shhh, don't tell my boss! Later today I also hope to rip into some baseball card packs and boxes I've had sitting off to the side. Some 2018 Topps Opening Day (seems appropriate, right?), some 2018 Donruss and last but not least a hobby box of 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen.

Back to my Braves. Today's opening day roster has quite a few changes over last year. On the mound will be the Braves' ace, Julio Teheran. He was very up and down last year so I hope we'll see a more consistent Teheran this season. The starting pitching is a big question mark for the Braves so we'll need him to step up his game and help anchor the starting rotation. 

The rest of the starting rotation appears to include new comber Brandon McCarthy (acquired in the Matt Kemp deal w/ the Dodgers), Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb.

The outfield will consist of Ender Inciarte (CF), gold glover who I enjoyed watching from the outfield at SunTrust Park last season. Preston Tucker gets the start in LF, a player that I'll be honest I don't know much about. Drafted by the Astros in 2012 and played in Houston his rookie year in 2015. While he does show some promise, I believe he will just be a place holder so to speak until they are ready to call up Ronald Acuna. Nick Markakis gets the start again in RF.

Infield consists of Mr. Reliable himself at 1B, Freedie Freeman. Ozzie Albies, called up late in 2017 gets the start at 2B vacated by Brandon Phillips. Dansby Swanson fills the hole at shortstop. He was up and down last year so I'm hoping we'll see more offensive abilities from him this year. 3B is another new face, Ryan Flaherty. Ryan previously played for the Baltimore Orioles, drafted in 2008 by the Cubs. Johan Camargo will most likely be the team's third baseman, but he is starting off the new year on the DL with oblique discomfort.

The bullpen has a lot of new faces as well and I'm really hoping these guys will hold up better than the bullpen of previous teams. A.J. Minter may eventually win the closing job from Arodys Vizcaino. A familiar face returning to the bullpen this year is the Aussie, Peter Moylan.

I'm so ready to go! Baseball is back! I'm having a blast with some of the early 2018 baseball card products and I can't wait to see what this season has in store for all of the teams, especially the Braves. Now let's go play some ball!!

Nachos Grande 2018 Topps Heritage Group Break Results

Chris from Nachos Grande has thrown his hat recently into the ring of hosting group breaks. I grabbed the Braves in his recent 2018 Heritage break. I don't usually buy much if any of Heritage, so I figured this would be a good way to get the Braves cards I wanted without having a lot of cards I didn't want.

I feel as if I did pretty good, getting multiples of every non-SP Brave in the set. I did manage to get one SP, Nick Markakis.

The Detroit Tigers ended up being my second team that was randomized to me. I only got 3 cards, but it appears all 3 are SPs. I'm keeping the McCann for my Faith Brothers collection, but the other two will be available for trade.

While Chris was waiting to break the actual boxes of Heritage, he opened a few bonus packs. Nothing too exciting, but I love the junk wax era and even though I may already have these older Braves cards in my collection I'll still gladly take them.

Thanks Chris for hosting the break and getting the cards out to me so quickly!

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.