Avast, ye land lubbers, he's Walked the Plank

Legendary Blogger Matt of Bob Walk the Plank has retired from the blogging community. While it stinks to lose his regular posts, he's retiring to spend more time with his family and you can't fault that at all.

As a little tribute to one of the first people to make me feel welcome in the blogging community, I'm going to post every Pirates card I've scanned. It's not many, as I'm not really a baseball guy, but I will take any card and there are some.

1958 Topps #4

1970 Topps #188

1991 O-Pee-Chee #293

2008 Upper Deck #337

And...that's it. The Trading Card Database shows that I have 40 Pirates cards in my collection, but these are the only 4 I've scanned yet.

Since that's kind of a light post, here's some more Pirates...whether they ever set foot in Pittsburgh is questionable.

1952 Topps Look 'n See #122

1952 Topps Look 'n See #123

1954 Topps Scoop #92

1954 Topps Scoop #97

Unfortunately, I don't have any cards of the Pittsburgh Pirates that played briefly in the NHL in the 1930s. They are out there, I just don't have any, yet.

Arguably Matt's biggest contribution to the hobby has been organizing the Secret Santa every December. He did it the past two years and it was awesome.
The first year  Peter K. Steinberg got me and got me this:

Then last year Scribbled Ink got me and got me this:

Both were excellent packages of cards that put some great stuff into my collection. The Al Bianchi remains the only 57-58 Topps I've ever received as a gift if my life!  And I even needed a few of the vintage NBA that Paul sent which is a pretty hard feat to pull off!

I thank you Matt, for all that you have done for the community, and just being an overall friend of the hobby. Enjoy your retirement, but don't be a stranger!

A Major Milestone reached...thanks to you!

I reached a major milestone on June 12th, and didn't realize it for several days. What's more...I have you all to thank. The milestone? I reached 10,000 different hockey cards! I say hockey and not NHL because- for the time being- I'm counting the minor league cards I've gotten as part of one collection. I may break them out at some point into a Minor League collection, but I'm not organized enough to do that any time soon. (by time I am, I will be well over the 10,000 marker anyway).

But I have my fellow collectors to thank for reaching this milestone so quickly. Of the 10,000 cards in my collection...at least 7,000 of them have come to me from other collectors, largely as gifts, sometimes as trades. That's mind-blowing. I didn't keep track of where the cards in my collection came from until mid-2017. When I realized that most of my new additions were coming from other people sending me cards, rather than actually me buying them for myself, I started writing down where they came from in my Excel file I track the order I get them in. I wish I had done it sooner, so I could know for sure how many of those 10,000 came from other people.

When I add in the cards given to me by my family members for gift giving occasions, we're looking at at least 8,000 of the 10,000 coming to me as gifts or trades. At least! I've only purchased one hobby box for myself.

Really, that's so mind-boggling that I can't even think of a proper way to convey how incredibly awesome that is.

I thank every one of you who has contributed to my NHL collection. Whether it's been gigantic boxes of cards- my friend Ricky sent me almost 3000 of them in one day- or just a simple PWE of 2 or 3 cards- I treasure them all, equally. Having these cards means the world to me, because as you know, my health problems mean I don't have much enjoyment and fun in my life. Cards are just about the one thing that brings me any true happiness, and these cards sure do make me happy.

What's more, I'm using cards to learn about the history of the sport. Through cards, I've learned about players who played before I was born. Heck, I've learned about players who played before my grandparents were born! I still have a lot to learn about the history of the sport, but I will get there...probably by reading the backs of cards. Although it happened before I knew what the concept of a blog was, that's also how I learned the history of the NBA as well.

I've only been actively collecting the NHL for 15 months. I officially began collecting on January 15th, 2017. And I've already come this far. I know the future of this section of my collection is going to expand exponentially. There's still hundreds of thousands of cards I don't have and would like to. And my project of getting as many different people as possible will be going on the rest of my life. I'm going to make a fairly bold prediction right now: At some point, my NHL collection will be larger than my NBA collection. (My NBA collection is currently at 90,462 cards). I don't have as much money to spend on the hobby as I once did, thanks to the medicine that I need to stay alive, but there are a couple of reasons I think this will happen- 1 is the generosity I've already gotten from fellow collectors. Even if that stopped tomorrow, I've gotten such a headstart because of it that I'm way ahead of where I would be left to my own devices- and 2 is the simple fact that the NHL gets more cards produced, and has a longer history of cards, although the old stuff is too pricey for me. The NHL gets at least 2 500 card sets a year. The NBA hasn't gotten a single set above 400 cards in 15 years. The early 90s, the easiest cards to get, have huge sets...in both sports, but I've gotten most of the NBA cards already, there's very little room for expansion there. Not so for the NHL, where there are some early 90s sets still not yet even present in my collection!

Sure, it will take me a while to get there. I would guess at least 15 years. But I'm never planning to stop collecting, either sport. I just think it will happen some day.

This is the card that happened to be #10,000, which was a random pull out of a pack I opened from the hobby box I mentioned earlier.

 2017-18 Upper Deck #399.


I'm also very close to another big milestone...

As reckoned by the Trading Card Database, I am 2 cards short of 10,000 different Topps cards across all sports. That's somewhat misleading- it doesn't include any of the Topps Non-Sports sets or any of the other Topps issues- just Flagship Topps cards, but it DOES include inserts, parallels and pre-production cards. If Topps still had the NBA license, I would have reached it long ago...I don't know what card it will be, or even which sport it will be, but that's kind of a big deal.

Sets in my Collection #33: 1954 Topps Scoop

Here is another one of my all-time favorite non-sports sets. I just discovered it existed in 2014, and it's become a major favorite of mine.

As I've mentioned numerous times, I love history. My favorite time being ancient history, which is almost never on cards. This set includes ancient history and all kinds of other topics. Each card is done up as a newspaper clipping, with a drawing on front, a newspaper themed back and either a drawing or a black and white photo on the back to accompany the text.

Originally these cards came with some sort of black covering that you had to scratch off with a coin or some other similar object, I've read. None that I have seen have retained the covering.

Like the Wings and World on Wheels set, I cannot show only one card front.

As of this writing, (11/20/2015) I have 60 of the 156 cards in the set, or 38.5%, but I have a local source of these and I hope to get some more soon, perhaps before this post comes up in the queue- the last Sets in my Collection post I've published as of this writing is #9, and this is #33, so it may not see the light of day for some time. This is a set that I have posted about before, and the tag for it already exists.

The cards are smaller than standard size, no other cards in my collection utilize the same size.

#20

#52

#88

#89

#91

#118

#128

The cards that involve athletes are the rarest and most expensive cards in the set, with the baseball themed cards being the most expensive, of course. I don't have any of them. I had to post all the ancient subjects I have, and I think that I have all of those.

Updates for 2018- I now have 126 of the cards, or 80.8% of the set! I also have other cards using this size- It appears Topps was experimenting with this smaller scale as a standard card size as there were several mid-50s sets using it, before deciding on the current standard size in 1957.

I also recently ranked it #1 on my list of all-time favorite Non-Sports sets.

Photoshop fail

2002-03 Topps Xpectations #76

When it comes to bad card images, photoshopping a player into a jersey he's not wearing is ALWAYS bad. There's no way around that. But this is worse than normal. Topps' "artists" didn't bother to include a jersey number, something the NBA mandates must ALWAYS be worn!

But wait, it's worse! MacCulloch played three of his four year career with the 76ers except for one year with the Nets. Why in the world did they not use a photo from 2000-01 or earlier, when he was wearing an actual 76ers jersey? It's not like they changed designs in the time period, although he did switch jersey numbers from 50 to 11 in his second stint. It's not unheard of for an image to appear on a card several years after it was taken, either.

The decision making here is just all-around poor. I can't imagine how Quality Control would allow this to get published.

Here's an image from his rookie season to prove that he did in fact wear the same jersey.

Sets in my Collection #32: 1954 Bowman US Navy Victories

This is a set that I only have one card of, and it was free! Gotta love free- even though one of the corners is literally missing and the card is so severely bent that it's nowhere near flat anymore. It's still good enough for me! It's a 48 card set, and the larger than current standard size that was Bowman's usual at this time frame.

I have an interest in military history and ships so I am a fan of this set. The set covers the entire breadth of American Naval history, from the Revolution of 1776 up all the way through the Korean War. This card is a WWI subject, which is pretty rare to see on card form (or any other form, for that matter) It is another set I would like to complete...although that is a something that I say about almost every set. What can I say, I'm a collector?

Was this REALLY the best photo available?

No, no it wasn't...

I had saved this football card for a post along these lines for a while...somebody sent it to me but I don't remember who. Angus maybe.

Once again, the back photo would have been a much better choice.

I know I have more of these in the collection, but so I can get a post up in this sparse time I will go with just these two

Sets in My Collection #31: 1944 Card-O US Navy

Oops! As you may notice, I am stepping back a decade with a set I missed doing chronologically. When I went in to get the scans for the set that was originally going to be the topic for set #31, I realized I missed this one- both posting about it and typing it into the excel chart I am using as my guideline for posting order.

This is yet another set I had no idea existed until I got my copy, and then I was surprised to find in researching it that it was actually from 1944, right in the middle of WWII. Size and consistency of the card actually matches a playing card, rather than a standard card. I suspect it may have been made on playing card stock.

The set is only 22 cards, which makes it one of the smaller sets out there. I have only this one card.

The cards were not numbered and as is clearly visible, my copy is not in the greatest shape.

The design seems kind of poorly layed out, the blue border on the left should really have been discarded, instead of cutting the back of the ship off. It's possible I may have a mis-cut card, but based on the back I don't think I do.

Editor's note: I am dealing with some health problems right now- something that I have to deal with the rest of my life, but not a lot of fun...so not a lot of new writing coming from me for a little bit. I'm going to post some stuff from my Queue that I have written up for just the times when my health acts up. I'll get back to writing new material as soon as I am able. 

A look at my NHL Collection afer my first full season

The NHL has rapidly grown in importance to me. Since I "discovered" the sport back in October 2016, it has been a part of every day of my life since then...and it's becoming a bigger and bigger part all the time. The NHL -and hockey in general, I'll watch any form of hockey I can find- is now omnipresent in my life. I would say it's a safe bet to say that the "NHL era" of my collection is now in full swing. I've speculated on if that would happen in the past, and for sure, it has.  In fact, to be honest, the NHL is currently my #1 sport. It's surpassed the NBA...in such a short time it's come out of nowhere and become my #1. (but I will still collect the NBA to a high degree)

As you know, I like to document things...you might say I'm obsessed by it, and I wouldn't argue that point. When I began collecting the NBA in 1996 and NASCAR in 1992 there were not as easy ways to document as there are now. For one, the Trading Card Database didn't exist yet, which is where I'm gong to be pulling these screencaps from. Also, the leaderboards for my other two sports are pretty much set in stone...since I began tracking my collection on the Database there has only been one significant change to the top 10 people in either sport. The NHL, being new and wide open, may not be that way, and I am curious to track that as time goes on.

I thought I would take a look at my statistical leaders as reckoned by the Database in all the major statistical categories they provide. All these stats are accurate to the conclusion of the season. I've gotten more cards since then, but I specifically didn't add them on there so I could do this post. I've been planning it out since the Finals were going on but didn't get a chance to actually write it for quite a while. My plan is to track my collection in this format at the conclusion of each season, to see how it changes over the years.

I keep my statistics a little differently than the Database does. For example, if it's a League Leaders card, I count it as a League Leaders card, while the Database counts it towards each person's and team's total. Team cards, where applicable, are tagged to the person, where I track them as team cards. So there are some differences in the numbers shown and what I consider the "actual" numbers...but this is the best I can do considering to get to my numbers I'd need to scan everything and enter it into my Excel charts...something I can't do any time soon, there' s too much.

Please remember you can click on each screencap to see it larger and easier to read. 

Top 25 Players:

I'm not totally surprised Wayne Gretzky is leading. I am a little surprised his number is so high already, with 56 cards. Being the best player, and being active in the 90s, leads to a lot of cards being produced. Mark Messier has had the lead at various points as well, but the "official" leader is The Great One. Brian Leetch being third surprises me. Being a big Rangers fan, I do get his cards in team lots, so that must have helped him. Henrik Lundqvist, my favorite player in the sport, is in a three-way tie for 4th. That will change when I finish going through my COMC box, and get my next COMC order. It's probably going to put him in contention for the lead, actually. Lundqvist, Jagr and Iginla are players who I chase single cards of. Vincent Lecavalier was #1 before I officially became an NHL collector. A good friend of mine, a long time Lightning backer, sent me almost 4000 cards in 2015, and he included most of his duplicates...Lecavalier is his favorite player so that's how he got so high.

Top 25 Teams:

No surprise here, with the Rangers leading by a large margin. (165 cards). What actually DOES surprise me is the fact that the Islanders don't crack the top 10. Being a local team, I have access to their cards more than most teams. I must not be pulling too many of them out of packs. Also, people know me as a Rangers fan and sometimes send me Rangers just for the heck of it, which helps their numbers...as does the fact that I chase Lundqvist and Mats Zuccarello cards as singles. Just for my own future reference, the Vegas Golden Knights are in a tie for 40th, with Finland, with 22 cards in my collection.

Top Years:

This is an interesting chart, because I'm collecting everything all at once. My NBA and NASCAR collections are all very strong in certain times, because I was collecting heavily in certain times, meaning I have more cards from then. Some years, in the NBA especially, are so high that I doubt any year can ever catch them, even if I could afford to collect how I want to. The NHL is different, however, because I'm going for it all- and my funds are not high enough to buy up everything like I want to- however the current season is pretty darn high, as is last season..just due to the fact I have easy access to them.  It's nice to see such a mixture of years in the top 10. Only 4 years from the 90s are in the top 10 currently...I suspect that will change at some point, as I add more and more cards that I'm currently missing.

Top 25 Sets:

The Top 25 Sets is one that I think will change the most from year to year, as every day it could change. As of right now, just one Blaster can get a set into the top dozen, as that is all I have from 17-18 O-Pee-Chee. I don't know if any set can catch 1990-91 Pro Set though, but I don't mind - it's my favorite NHL set (that I've discovered, anyway)

Top 25 Brands:

I'm not really a big fan of this chart but had to screencap it anyway, just because it's there. Upper Deck seems like it's got an insurmountable lead, but I suspect OPC and Topps could vie for the lead if I had all the 80s and 90s cards I don't have yet.

Those are all the stats the Database gives you. at least for your own collection, but here are two leaders I've added on my own.

Lowest SN:

SN 1/2. I still can't believe I pulled this card! This will not be my lowest numbered card for very long- I have a printing plate in my COMC box waiting to be shipped.

Oldest Card:

1957-58 Topps. The oldest NHL card I've seen in person since I began collecting the sport. The NHL has cards going back to the 1920s, but I have not seen any yet...and I doubt I could afford one anyway!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who has sent me NHL cards...more than half my collection has arrived as gifts or trades! I was at 9928 NHL cards at the conclusion of the season.

My Card Collecting Interview

A few days back Ryan, AKA SumoMenkoMan, interviewed me, all about cards. It was a lot of fun...please check out THIS LINK to read my interview on his website. I've been super busy this week so I have not had much time to write anything, but I have some cool card stuff to post...sometime soon, I hope!

I know Roberto Luongo's career has been long, but....

I didn't know it was this long!

Thanks to Chris The Collector for sending me this great card!

May 2018 Card of the Day

May is a special month for this project. Way back in 2002, I got a card every day in the month of May, something that at this point I can't remember if I planned, or if it started out well and then I forced it, either way, it was the first time I ever got a card every day in a month...which I'm trying to do every day of this entire year, to celebrate my 30th anniversary in the hobby. Back then, I was pretty much collecting NBA only, with occasional single packs of a NASCAR release...and sometime in 2002 I got some Star Wars cards. But I didn't document when I got them, the project was only NBA then.

Now, my collection has multiple aspects that take up almost equal time. As is well documented, I'm still collecting the NBA, NASCAR and Non-Sports...but I've since added the NHL. Those are the big 4 for me, so I decided to do a week of each...

Week 1 started out as hockey. I hadn't planned it yet, but got two hockey cards to start the month, and decided what I was going to do on day #3.

May 1st:

2015-16 Upper Deck Overtime Flash of Excellence #FOE-13

My favorite NHL player starts us off, with an insert off COMC.

May 2nd:

2012-13 Score Gold Rush #156

This one came out of a pack I had in my pack stash, which I opened for the project. The Gold Rush parallels were one per pack. 2012-13 Score is one of my favorite NHL sets.

May 3rd:

2011-12 Panini Contenders #107

It was on the third, with this card out of my COMC box, when I decided to do the month in weeks. I'm glad I got to see the very tail end of Iginla's career. I wish he had played in the 2017-18 season because I think he still could have contributed.

May 4th:

2015-16 Upper Deck Puck Wizards #PW-2

This was packed loose in with a single packed blister pack that I got at my local TRU. I still need to write up the post about the cards I got there in my final visit, which was in early April.

May 5th:

1991-92 Stadium Club #365

This one came from my pack stash...did it late at night because most of the day was spent on building models. Lucked out in it being a Ranger!

May 6th:

2014-15 MVP #45

When I first began actively collecting the NHL in January of last year I began to build a pack stash, and this one has been with me since then.

May 7th:

1995-96 Finest #136

Back in September of last year when I was in Lake George, I got some store-collated repacks of both NBA and NHL, which have appeared in this project a few times. This one came from there. For what it's worth, store collated repacks is where roughly 40% of my NBA collection has come from and its my favorite way to get cards.

Later on May 7th, my order from Dave & Adam's arrived with the case of 2017-18 Revolution I bought. As you may recall, the case was frustrating and the way it ended up did not leave me very happy. My plan was to do a box a day for an entire week, which I did. However, the last box was 100% duplicates, so I had to pull from my COMC stash.

May 8th:

2017-18 Revolution Chinese New Year #121

Even though the set is only 150 cards, and I got more than 200 duplicates, I did NOT get the Tatum base card in the case. I eventually purchased one on COMC but have not shipped it yet.

May 9th:

2017-18 Revolution #42

Speaking of frustration, Brook Lopez was my favorite Net, and the last one left from the New Jersey days. He would have moved into first on most of the Nets' all-time statistical categories during 2017-18, but the Nets traded him to the Lakers, largely because the media kept hammering away that he MIGHT leave as a free agent, even though he never gave any indication he would do that. I was so frustrated by this move that I have not posted anything on Nothing But Nets since then...and I watched fewer Nets games in 2017-18 than I have in a full season than any other year I was watching the NBA. Can you guess what I think of Nets management?

May 10th:

2017-18 Revolution Chinese New Year #103

The Revolution packs had a pattern. The Chinese New Year Rookies would fall one in every three packs, and the first pack in the box was ALWAYS a rookie. You see them a lot in this project because the three base cards before them in the packs were usually duplicates. In fact, all the CNY parallels you will see in this post are Rookies. I tried to fix it so that a veteran parallel would be the first card of the day, by not taking the first pack out of the box...but they were all duplicates. Story of the set.

May 11th:

2017-18 Revolution Chinese New Year #105

 I am running out of things to say about this set. So I will say that the Hornets v2's light blue looks nice over the foil. Most of the set features very dark colors.

May 12th:

2017-18 Revolution Chinese New Year #138

I was hoping to pull this card in the project. Zhou Qi is the only Chinese player in the NBA during the 2017-18 season so I thought it only fitting to make the only Chinese player the cover image of the Chinese New Year set on the Trading Card Database.

May 13th:

2017-18 Revolution #81

A base card, not a parallel. For some reason, Panini did not include Joel Embiid in this set. Well, I think I know the reason. Ineptitude!

May 14th:

2003-04 UD Legends #123

Since the box of Revolution I did that day was ALL 100% Duplicates I had to pull a card from my COMC box. It's hard to see in the scan but this is numbered.

Since I got the case, making the NBA second in this month, I decided to go backwards through my hobby career. I began collecting the NHL in 2016-17, the NBA in 1996-97, and NASCAR at Christmas 1992. Non-Sports began in 1988 so you will see NASCAR next, then Non-Sports.

May 15th:

2009 Legends Gold #11

The Flock family was very important in early NASCAR- youngest brother Tim still holds the best winning percentage in a season, in fact, almost 70 years later. Bob was the oldest of four siblings who raced in NASCAR- Bob, Fonty, Tim and their sister Ethel- and this photo probably is from 1950 or 51. The card came from my COMC box, one of only two NASCAR cards left in the box I got in the mail in December 2017. The next box I get, whenever that will be, is going to be about half NASCAR.

May 16th:

1990 Maxx Glossy #1

The 1990 Maxx set is an interesting one, and hard to scan. The green border is made to look like neon, and it's significantly brighter than the scan shows, although not actually neon. The Glossy version was only available in a factory set, but not every factory set. It may have been Club Maxx only, I'm not sure as I had not yet discovered NASCAR at the time. Angus sent me the glossy version in 2016 or so and I've been holding on to it. I got it out for this project.  Terry is my mom's favorite driver.

May 17th:

1999 Wheels High Gear #33

This one is a first for the 2018 Card of the Day project- it completed a set! I got a hobby box of this set for Christmas 2013 and had been holding onto a pack since then. (well, most of one, as I pulled the one-per-pack First Gear parallel out a while ago.). That paint scheme of Jeff's is such an icon of my favorite era in NASCAR.

May 18th:

2009 Stealth Retail #28

My NASCAR pack stash is running pretty low. This set was a staple of it for a while, as it was very common in repacks, so common in fact that I've nearly completed it from repacks! However, with opening this pack, I have finally run out of it, and my local Target doesn't stock NASCAR repacks anymore. I don't really like the set all that much, but I still want to complete it. Collecting and mental stability are not really compatible!

May 19th:

2017 Absolute Racing Tools of the Trade #TT-AJ

Knowing I was running low on NASCAR stuff in my stash, and hoping to find 2018 Donruss, my brother took me to Target. It has not been restocked since before Christmas, 2018 Donruss was never in the store. In fact, this single blaster of last year's Absolute was the ONLY NASCAR in the store. So naturally, he bought it for me. I did 4 blasters of this set, and two of them had AJ Allmendinger sheet metal pieces, but they are both good ones- this is 3 color and the first, visible in the February Card of the Day project post- was part of the secondary grillwork. Unfortunately, as is typical for Panini, both the base cards were duplicates. (I have less than 10 cards from the set)

May 20th:

1995 Upper Deck #234

With this card, I'm totally out of NASCAR packs in my pack stash! Like 1999 WHG, I got a box of this set for Christmas 2013 and have been holding it. I got three cards out of this pack, but Jeff was the first. I really like this set, hopefully someday I can get a box of Series 1. (Edit to add: I found a few more NASCAR packs stashed away on May 31st, but there probably isn't going to be anything new in them. Will be mixed into the project at some point)

May 21st:

2005 Legends Greatest Moments #GM18

That really WAS a great moment. One of the most thrilling finishes in NASCAR history, I'll never forget seeing it live on my TV. I've posted the video in the past. It turned out to be the final win for Pontiac in NASCAR history, GM pulled them out of the sport after that season and shut the doors on them shortly afterwords. It also turned out to be Craven's final career win (of 2).

May 22nd:

Moving into Non-Sports, I figured a good way to start was with one of the cards from the custom set made by one of the Trading Card Database members OF the Trading Card Database members. Joe here has helped me out a few times with cards, and if you remember back when I first got into the NHL, he sent me a care package of Devils cards, which I got a post titled "The Devils made me do it!" out of, to this day one of my favorite post titles ever.

May 23rd:

2013 Beach Boys #44

I've been a fan of the Beach Boys for many years. I began listening to 60s music when I was in 7th grade- which was 1997/98 season. While my friends were listening to Eminem and Britney Spears, I was listening to the Beach Boys, Grass Roots, Jan & Dean and more. To this day the 1964-74 time period is my all time favorite in music history and the Beach Boys one of my top 5 favorite groups of all time. Then...in December 2016...we found out the Wilsons and Mike Love are very distant cousins. Couldn't be a better group to be connected to, even remotely, in my opinion. While I was composing this post, the Music Choice Solid Gold Oldies channel played "God Only Knows" a few moments ago, in fact! (As I type, however, it's Gary Puckett & The Union Gap's "Over You"). After saying for many years I need to chase this set, I finally ordered a hobby box from Dave & Adam's.

May 24th:

2000 Artbox Simpsons Film Cards #31

This set has appeared several times in this project. I love the Simpsons, my favorite TV show ever. Until last season I'd seen every episode but I missed three last year and 2 or 3 this year. I will catch them on FXX or DVD eventually. The fact that I've lost my streak of seeing everything actually gnaws at me quite a bit, I need to fix that and not miss any next season.

May 25th:

1994 Star Hooters #52

A friend from the Database sent me a factory sealed box of this set, and this was the first card out of the box...I don't usually show the girlie cards on Cardboard History though I do collect them...several of the cards in this set show the models wearing Alan Kulwicki jackets and shirts. That makes them NASCAR cards, right? :)

May 26th:

1992 Pacific The Story of WWII #87

I spent the day at the Military Encampment at FDR's Home in Hyde Park, NY, so I figured it was a good day to get some military history into the project. I bought a box of this set on Ebay in 2014 and have been going through it slowly ever since. History is one of my absolute favorite topics, although not the largest in my non-sports collection, yet.

May 27th:

2012 E-Max Angry Birds #5

When I started building a pack stash circa 2012/2013, these were some of the first cards added, and I still have a few packs left. I decided to pull one out for this project. I currently store the scans for these, and count them as "Oddball", but I almost wonder if I should move them to my animals heading...should Angry Birds be with Useful Birds? Something to ponder....

May 28th:

1999 Episode I Widevision #29

I used to be a HUGE Star Wars fan...then Disney got it and is trying their best to destroy it. It no longer really plays a role in my life. But, since it is so important to the earlier stages of my life, I figured it should be represented in this non-sports week, and in fact, closes it out. I have had these packs in my stash since before Disney flushed it down the drain, and all the cards were stuck together and took damage. Luckily this one didn't take much damage so I was able to pull a decent scan out of it for this project. Even though collecting Star Wars cards came to an almost full stop at the end of 2015, it still ranks 1st with most Non-Sports cards in my collection, with more than 2000. That concludes the four weeks of my 4 main aspects of my collection...but it leaves three days....

May 29th:

1997 Hi-Tech NHRA Autographs #HT-4

Only the second autograph I've pulled out of a pack in 2018, I certainly chose a good pack to represent the 5th aspect of my collection- the other sports! In retrospect, I probably should have saved this pack for the 30th, because my monthly subscription of SI for Kids arrived later in the day, giving me 9 new Multi-Sport cards, and the lead off card was even NBA this time. Oh well, I still got a great card. This pack came to me from my friend Josh Lones, a regular on the Database, well over a year ago.

May 30th:

2012 Goodwin Champions #80

I wanted to get some Multi-Sport into the project, and Goodwin Champions is the only multi-sport stuff I have in my pack stash, so it HAD to be them. The 2012 set had only 4 cards in each pack, and 1 of them out of here was a duplicate. I'm not an MMA fan by any means but from what I've been told this guy is one of the best.

May 31st:

1990 Topps #216

Closing out the month totally randomly, with a card from my favorite baseball set ever, really. This one came to me via Jon of A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts.

Now that I got through May doing theme weeks, I will go back to random stuff. It was more enjoyable for me in the first 4 months of the year than May turned out to be, but I'm glad I did it all the same, since May holds the distinction of being the first time I ever tried this! June will bring the halfway mark for the project, well, the completion of June will anyway, and it looks like I'm actually going to be able to pull this off. I had some trepidation when I started but now I'm confident I can do it...