Hot Dawg, we have a winner!

A few days back my friend Angus ran a contest to celebrate his anniversary of blogging on Dawg Day Cards, and lo and behold, I won! I think this is my first blogger contest win, but it may not be, as my memory is not that great. I'm lucky I remember to blog as often as I do (LOL)

Fast forward to today, I receive a package from Angus in the mail- with a little help from Night Owl, who physically put it in the mail to save on international shipping- I had no idea what would be in the package but he said I hoped I would like it. To say I liked it would be an understatement!

(sorry for the subpar picture, I used my smart phone, I wanted to get it posted tonight)

First out was the Bill Walton base card from Golden Age. I consider this a multi-sport set but I had never opened any of it. I didn't have the card so I was happy to have this oddball...and then I turned it over and saw the Autographed card with it! WOW! Always great to get an autograph from a Hall of Famer. He remains the only player in NBA history to win both MVP and 6th Man of the year, he also has Rookie of the Year on his resume. The photo on the autograph looks to be from his time with the Celtics, which is where he ended his career.
Next came the LeBron insert from this year's Complete. I really liked Complete a lot (I've mentioned the set several times) and someday I hope to complete this insert. Now I am one step closer.

Then came out the Estrellas set...As much as I like everything Angus got me, this is the star to me. I've read about this set in the past, but I've never seen it in person before. This set was issued in Spain and is from the 1988-89 season. They are dated 1988 but include the Charlotte Hornets, so that lets me know that they are 1988-89 and not 1987-88. I'm not sure they are 100% licensed, but I don't care. This is a complete set with a little sticker in the orange wrapper. I didn't know this set has any inserts, and I wasn't sure how to get it out, but as I was looking at it while making this post, the two halves of the orange wrapper just gave up the adhesiveness and now I have access to the Magic Johnson sticker. I love oddballs! I've been aware of this set for about 20 years and now, finally, I have it! The set is sort of like a game card but not quite; it includes player stats on the bottom of the front, rounded corners, and they all feature the NBA logo on the back. They are smaller than standard cards, just a couple of millimeters smaller in height but in width they are a quarter of an inch smaller.

The Sporting Greats Motor racing set is still factory sealed, or it was. It's opened now. It features F1 drivers, many of whom are new to my collection. Despite F1's popularity on the world stage, they are pretty rare in cards. The cards are just a touch wider than the Estrellas cards and are based on playing cards, with a singular back and all information on the front. These are, however, fully qualified trading cards in my opinion and will be only the second F1 set to join my collection, after 1992 Grid. I had seen some of these cards on the Trading Card Database recently when making sure every driver had a PID, but I didn't really know anything about them, such as card size or distribution method. Now I do, as they have joined my collection!

Thanks again Angus, the package was great and yes, indeed I am thrilled with what you sent me!
Make sure you go follow his blog, it's the only Football based blog I read, and he's proving to be one of the most generous people among a group of known for being generous people in the blogospehre.