Category Archives: Sports Card Blog Rants

Aloha! Card of the Day: 2011 Topps Triple Threads Shane Victorino Autograph Jersey

  By Sports Card Blog | September 5, 2012 - 11:06 pm |
1 Comment

Aloha and mahalo for visiting Sports Card Blog today. Tonight, we are on location on the beautiful island of Maui to get some needed rest and relaxation. Well, not really. A great friend of mine is getting married in a few days and I need to be there by his side while he gets married. So here I am, sitting just far enough to barely hear the waves at my hotel.

So when I think of Hawaii sports, I think of players that have come all the way from the islands to play professional sports. The first player I think of is Major League Baseball player Shane Victorino, also know as the Flyin’ Hawaiian. And I know a ton of people give Topps crap for some of the words they put on Triple Threads cards, but this one they did right. “Flyin’ Hawaiian” is the perfect nickname for the speedster and the perfect thing to put on his trading card.

Now I’m not a huge fan of Triple Threads in general, but the next release of the product comes out in a couple weeks. I have a preview for it coming soon, so stay tuned on that. Just hopefully this year Topps stopped with the corny words they are cutting into the cards for the relics.

Related Posts

My First Auto Pull From Retail

  By Sports Card Blog | September 3, 2012 - 2:15 pm |
6 Comments

Now I’ve been purchasing retail packs and blasters for a long time now. From back when I was little to even today, purchasing retail packs is the easy way to get your sports card fix when you just want to open some packs or work on a base set.

I’ve pulled numerous game used cards from blasters before. Most recently, I pulled a Cal Ripken Jr. bat card from Gypsy Queen. Some blasters even contain guaranteed game used cards now so that doesn’t make it too difficult. But I’ve never pulled an autograph from retail packs. Maybe it’s bad luck or everything I open seems to be pack searched.

But the other day I bought a rack pack of 2012 Topps Chrome on a whim. I like Chrome over the flagship set as it holds its value better, looks better, and the inserts are nicer. So I thought, let’s take a look and see what Chrome has to offer.

Then in one of my packs…

2012 Topps Chrome Ryan Lavarnway autograph. Not only is it my first autograph from retail, it’s the first time in a long time I’ve hit a Red Sox autograph that will go straight into my personal collection.

On a bonus note, Ryan Lavarnway used to play for the Manchester Silkworms in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. My brother also used to play for that team in the same league. I believe he played the year before Lavarnway though. Manchester, Connecticut, is right next to the towns that I used to live in growing up, so it’s nice seeing someone local, although he’s originally from California, make it to the big leagues and to the Red Sox.

It definitely makes it another reason why this should stay in my personal collection.

Related Posts

Man Cave Memorabilia Addition

  By Sports Card Blog | August 30, 2012 - 6:32 pm |
3 Comments

As everyone should now know, my temporary leave of absence from updating my blog was due to my wedding and honeymoon. One of the great opportunities from those two things is to get gifts, and my relatives know what I like.

But this item here was not a gift, nor was it even related to sports cards. It’s a great piece of memorabilia though that I thought would make a very cool addition to my man room to go along with my celebrity autographs. I had the opportunity to take in a show on my honeymoon cruise featuring a group that has toured around the world. They are part music, part comedy, and part blue. Yes, I was able to see Blue Man Group.

Now the memorabilia part of this is pretty cool. Due to me being as awesome as I am, I was able to obtain a piece of show used memorabilia from their live show.

Let me set the scene how this is made. There is a gumball machine with a bunch of paint balls inside. They pop one out and throw it across stage into the mouth of another Blue Man. They then pop the paint ball in their mouth and spray the paint on the canvas by blowing the paint from their mouth. They do a couple of lines and then spin the canvas and create a swirl in the middle. It’s a really cool piece of memorabilia art from one of the most recognized shows on the planet. Oh, the two little dots on the bottom corner are actually the signature of the Blue Man who created this.

I’m going to find a great poster to go with this or something of that nature.

Related Posts

Agenda: After Honeymoon Return

  By Sports Card Blog | August 22, 2012 - 6:55 pm | ,
3 Comments

Late last night, after hours of plane flights and flying through 3 countries, I finally returned home from my honeymoon.

I apologize for the lack of posts this month, but I just didn’t have the time to pre-write content that could last for awhile. Planning and executing a stunning wedding and honeymoon was pretty stressful and just took away a lot of my time and energy to write. With all of that behind me now, and great new memories, I have had the time to relax a bit.

So I wanted to share the agenda for things going forward for the next couple weeks. This will help keep me focused as well as I tend to forget things I want to do and say as I have so many things going through my head at the same time.

-Review 2012 Elite football and 2012 Score football

-Catch up on previews

-Combine cards and places I visited on my honeymoon

-Showcase some new items for the man-cave

-Showcase some special cards I received from the 2012 National, without even having to go!

-Get ready for the 2012 Panini NFL Player of the Day promotion

-Start graduate school

This is actually a more daunting list than previously expected. It’s a lot of different types of content over the next couple of weeks but also includes starting graduate school and going off to Hawaii for a week for a friend’s wedding. I should have plenty of content ready for the Hawaii trip but needless to say, it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Thanks for sticking around with me while I was away, but it’s back to business as usual.

Related Posts

Card of the Day: My Wedding Trading Card

  By Sports Card Blog | August 9, 2012 - 6:37 pm |
2 Comments

Only fitting that my first post back after getting married features the card I had given away as a wedding favor to my family and friends who attended my wedding a couple of days ago.

The design was done by myself and actually took awhile to do because of the specifications needed to get it printed and looking good. But it was all worth it in the end as the card turned out perfect. The back of the card was my favorite part of the card as I was able to utilize a great picture and create an image that looks sort of like the writing is on the wall.

Overall, it was definitely a great conversation piece during the reception as it seemed like everyone wanted me to talk about how I made the cards and how nice they were. It’s definitely a great idea for any card collector. If you have any questions about it, shoot me an email.

And now I leave for my honeymoon. I’m going to try and set up a few posts for when I’m gone, but I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to churn out tonight. I have some reviews I NEED to post, but time has been an issue.

But I’ll be back to posting full time in a week and a half or so.

 

Related Posts