don't do what I did

 For literally years now, my dentist has been telling me to get my wisdom teeth out. I didn't want to do that. My thought process was "I'm going to keep my teeth for as long as possible" 

BIG mistake. My bottom left wisdom tooth broke off over the course of a few months and there was no pain at first so I figured the problem solved itself. 

I could not possibly have been more wrong. In February it got infected. I got medicine and it had stopped hurting, I had an appointment with the dental surgeon and I had him take out the other one that WAS hurting, on the right side. That one healed really quickly and essentially painlessly. I didn't need an ice pack and by day 3 I didn't even need pain medicine for it. 

Then the bottom left one got infected again, I took more medicine and had the appointment for March 16th to get it out. At that point I was actually looking forward to it because the two infections really were bad. 

Then I got it done...and it is the worst thing I've ever experienced. Because it was broken down to the gumline, he couldn't just grab it and pull it out. He had to use a drill to dig out all of the pieces, and it was excruciating. I've broken multiple bones including crushing part of my back, I've stabbed myself, I've drilled myself, I've burned myself...a couple years back they started doing a root canal before the numbing agent took affect...NONE of that compared to this. I've been living in constant pain 24/7/365 for 20+ years and this was by far the worst. 

It's been over a week now and it's not fully healed. There is still pain, although it's gotten to the point where I'm not bothering to take pain medicine anymore, I'm used to some pain. I can't guarantee I won't take some later though. 

My point is, if you need to have a tooth removed, do it BEFORE it breaks off. 

To make this somewhat relevant to Cardboard History, here are the three cards I have that are most tooth themed. Racing cards in 1996-97 got weird and in 1997 there was an entire shark themed set for some reason. These were the autograph cards from the set. 

a brief tale of redemption

 Back on February 4th, I purchased a box of 2024-25 Credentials from my local hobby shop. Each box promised one autograph but mine was in the form of a redemption. I entered the number into the Upper Deck website and waited for the card to arrive. Yesterday, it did. 

This is only my second hockey redemption since I began collecting the sport actively in January 2017. This is my 9th card of Gauthier but first autograph. It is only my 2nd Anaheim Ducks autograph also. 

Since I mostly do lower-end cards it's pretty rare for me to pull a redemption or an autograph in hockey. Looking at my collection records, it appears that I hadn't pulled a hockey autograph since March 2024, almost two years. 

While I am a set collector at heart and a fan of parallels (which this one is, by the way) it's still a nice feeling to pull something special for your collection. 

New People February 2026

 February was a weird month. I really enjoyed scanning and I did a lot of it - 1237 cards in total. This is despite the fact that I took roughly a week off surrounding the wisdom tooth removal which I had done on the 11th. 

I used the time I was recovering from that to FINALLY sort and post the Busch and Truck series cards into albums for each team on Cardboard History Gallery, something I've been wanting to do for a while but hadn't put aside any time for it. Now, finally, more than 7 years after I launched it, the Cardboard History Gallery is fully built! Now from here on, it's just maintaining with what I scan each month. 

For being the shortest month of the year, I scanned a LOT of new people...130. Of the 130 new people, 47 are women, which may be a record. I began scanning the PWHL cards and I finished the 2025 Donruss WNBA blaster I bought, which provided the majority of the women. 

Among the bigger names were Megan Keller, Olympic Golden Gold scorer, Marie-Philip Poulin and Nyara Sabally, the last New York Liberty player I was missing from my collection that got included in the 2025 Donruss checklist. 

I added 572 new cards in February, with almost 400 of them coming via trade on the Database. Most of them were people previously in my collection, but there were some new people too. 

I actually scanned almost all of them, too. Five of the hockey players arrived via trade on February 28th and I just didn't have time to scan them, and the Olympics athletes I was waiting until I had enough of the Topps Now cards to scan a full page of just them, and enough have arrived that that is now possible, so expect to see them in the March update. 

Black History Month Hockey Spotlight: Dustin Byfuglien

 As I mentioned in my previous post I only had one player I could get a full post out of, and that is Dustin Byfuglien. In case anyone is unfamiliar with him, his last name is pronounced "Bufflin"

He had a moment in my first full season watching that sticks in my mind. His Jets were playing the Golden Knights and there was a scuffle on the ice. "Big Buff" as he was known grabbed one Golden Knight by the back of their jersey by the name banner in each hand, and lifted them up and away from the fight. It was awesome, LOL. His career ended shortly after I began watching due to a recurring ankle injury, and last I knew he was competing on the professional fishing circuit, which doesn't get cards as far as I know. 

I currently have 27 cards of him in my collection, of which 20 have been scanned. This is all of them. 

2006-07 Upper Deck Rookie Class #37

2008-09 Black Diamond #16

2010-11 Zenith #63

2012-13 Upper Deck #196

2014-15 Artifacts #18

2014-15 MVP #276

2014-15 Ultra #200

2016-17 Upper Deck #195

2016-17 Upper Deck UD Game Jersey

2017-18 Ice #29

2017-18 MVP #110. This set had pronunciation guides on the card back which is how I learned how to say his name.

2017-18 O-Pee Chee Platinum #72

2017-18 Panini Stickers #436

2017-18 Upper Deck #444

2018-19 MVP #152

2018-19 MVP Factory Set #152

2018-19 Upper Deck #192

2018-19 Upper Deck UD Canvas #C89

2019-20 MVP #55

2019-20 MVP Green Script #55

I actually have a card of him I just got in January that may get scanned before the end of February but it requires to be scanned with other cards of the same material. I may not get to it until next month. 

I don't think I have any other players with more than 3 cards that I can build posts for, unfortunately. I like doing these posts and updates, so I'll have to see what I can come up with for next year. 

Black History Month Hockey Spotlight 2026 Update

 As I've written a few times, my new card additions was well down in 2025. My lowest year of additions in some time. So I don't know how much any of my collections of the players I've spotlighted has grown...I'll be finding out as I go along writing this post. 

P.K. Subban- last year 47 cards. This year 47 cards. I have not added a new P.K. card to my collection since May 2023.

Jarome Iginla - last year 44 cards, this year 46 cards. I added two cards, both on the same day, in November. 

2016-17 MVP is the only one I've scanned yet. 

Ryan Reaves - last year 13 cards, this year 17, a large jump. 

This is however again the only one I've scanned. This was an epack exclusive set, unfortunately. Ultra is getting a real release this season, which I am looking forward to. Ultra was my favorite stick and ball sport brand.

Anthony Duclair- last year 21 cards, this year 22. 

His 2024-25 O-Pee-Chee base card is the only one I added.

K'Andre Miller- last year 6, this year 8. I have not scanned either new card. The Rangers gave him to the Hurricanes for nothing so I'm pretty sad about that. 

Quinton Byfield- last year 14 cards, this year 18, a four card increase.

I didn't scan any of the 4 new cards, but I did get one scanned that I hadn't scanned yet last year

His 2024-25 MVP base card.

Grant Fuhr- last year 27 cards, this year 27, I have not added a new one since August 2024.

Devante Smith-Pelly- last year 4 cards, this year 4 cards. I have not added a new card of him since April 2020. 

I think I only have one more person I can get a full post out of, which I will write and publish soon. 

30 Years ago Today...

 I became an NBA fan, and nothing in the hobby for me would ever be the same. 

By April 1996 I had already been collecting NASCAR and Non-Sports cards for years, but I was the only one in my friends group who collected either of those topics. My mom worked in my school and noticed that everyone else was into basketball. So, for Valentine's Day that year she gave me a pack of 1995-96 Fleer Series 2. 

Later that night, I found a game on TV. It was my local team, the New York Knicks, on the road at Charlotte. The Hornets dominated and won by 20 points. For many years I thought it was the last day of the regular season, but once I discovered the game logs on Basketball-Reference, I discovered that it was actually Valentine's Day. Muggsy Bogues instantly became my favorite player, eclipsed today only by hometown hero Elton Brand. 

Collecting NBA cards became my obsession. I barely collected NASCAR cards (focusing more on diecast) and I stopped collecting Non-Sports cards around 1997-98 somewhere. I built my collection like my life depended on it, and after my father lost his battle with cancer in 2002, getting new cards was one of the only things that kept me going. 

In 2004 I lost my excel file that I kept track of how many cards I had of each person. I didn't realize it at the time but that was a tipping point. By 2006 I was burned out. I wasn't enjoying watching the game, and I wasn't enjoying the cards. I told my family not to give me any more basketball cards for my birthday/Christmas that year. I truly thought I was done, and there was a year where I didn't watch a single basketball game. (don't remember if it was 2007-08 or 08-09 anymore). 

I thought that part of my life was over. Thankfully, I was wrong. 

In 2011 the Dallas Mavericks ran to the NBA finals, and I watched it with my mom. Jason Kidd is her all-time favorite player and he got his NBA championship that year. I really enjoyed watching and it got me wanting to start scanning my collection. In the interim where I wasn't collecting the NBA, I was now collecting NASCAR fully and had begun scanning all of them in 2009, a project that I am still working on. 

I started to pick up some cards again in 2011, but only a little bit, not full time yet. When the 2012-13 season started, I got back into it full time. When I discovered that the Trading Card Database give you stats on your collection, I got out my paper listing and entered in my entire collection. It was so much fun, and the memories of working on my paper listing came flooding back, and I missed it. Then I discovered my local Target had 44 cards packs of Hoops for $5. That's it...I was back in full time. The 2012-13 season is one of my favorite seasons in NBA card history. I was also watching the NBA regularly again, even when I was in the hospital nearly dying from a disease I didn't know I had in April 2013. 

I realize now that there was nothing inherently wrong with the cards in 2006. It was my mental state. I regret not collecting in those years, and I will never stop collecting ever again, I know that for sure. 

When I stopped collecting in 2006, I had 73000 something cards. Now, in 2026, I have 102,000something cards, hitting the 102 thousand milestone just last week via trade. That's NBA only. I will always favor the 1990s cards, but the sets from 2002-03 in particular mean more to me than other years do as well. I'm a better collector now than I was then, but the memories of then are better. (I look back on some of the decisions I made and wonder what the heck was I thinking?) Nostalgia means so much.

I love the hobby, it has given so much meaning to me. I don't know what the future holds, but I know it holds a lot more basketball cards, and cardboard friends of other topics, to look forward to. 

I do have to wonder, if Mom knew what kind of obsession she was starting, if she would have gotten me started and supported my hobby all these years? 😁 I'm glad she did! And hey, she still gives me cards for all holidays and gift giving occasions, and sometimes just for the heck of it, so I think I already know the answer. 

The very first card out of my very first pack? Sam Cassell

The 1995-96 Fleer set is one of the most hated in the hobby, but I loved it. Still do. 

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed trading

 I stopped being an active participant on the Trading Card Database in January 2023. I started participating again in November 2025, and in January 2026 I updated my trade list and turned trading back on. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this. The randomness of not knowing what will be offered to me, the process of pulling them and shipping off my duplicates to send to someone who wants them and is willing to send me cards I want for them. 

It's been so much fun and I didn't really remember how much I enjoyed it, nor did I realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again. 

I had 15 trades going at one time, and they have started arriving. So far I've gotten a trade package every day in the mail this month except February 2nd, and I wonder if some showed up at the box- we didn't check it that day. All but two of my paper listing binders had cards that had to be written into them, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I had to use all the binders like that. It's been a long time. 

Via trading, I completed one major set (1994-95 Upper Deck NBA), completed four Insert sets (1993-94 Hoops David's Best, 1993-94 Ultra All-Rookie Team, 1995-96 Fleer All-Star Weekend and 1995-96 Hoops Slamland) and added an entirely new sport to my collection, getting my first 7 Lacrosse cards. 

Since the trades started rolling in, I've added 245 new NBA cards, 13 NASCAR, 4 NHL, 2 WNBA 5 Non-Sports, 15 MLB (All Non-sports cards from A&G) 4 NCAA basketball, 1 soccer and the 7 Lacrosse cards mentioned earlier. And I'm still waiting on more to arrive, I know for sure my NBA, NASCAR and NHL numbers will be going up. 

I love trading, and I love turning my duplicates into new cards. It's good to be back! 

This photo below shows the first 10 trades that have arrived in February alone. (Two also arrived in January). Some have been large, some have been small. All have been fun, all trades are good trades.