Friday, November 30, 2018

Cardboard History Gallery Update 11/24-30

Here's the weekly update on the new Cardboard History Gallery. I've been very busy and have launched one of the more interesting features that I planned to do this week.

Although you can't see it yet, I finally finished sorting the basketball scans on November 26th...I began working on them in August! That's more than 120,000 scans I had to put in the right places. A lot of work.

  1. added the basketball non-people cards, meaning Checklists, Multi-Subject, Specific games or series, etc. 
  2. Added basketball team cards. I really love team cards so they get their own section. 
  3. Multi-Sport and Olympics by sport. Ever wonder the exact breakdown by sport of multi-sport and Olympic sets by sport? I did.
I thought I might be able to get the last big feature created this week, but there was just too much work to do. Hopefully soon.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Ugly

I thought long and hard about what I would enter for the ugly card contest Peter at Baseball Every Night is running.

I didn't want to make fun of somebody's looks...
And, sure, I could have gone with a terrible design...
or some really bad airbrushing....
but in the end I had to go with cards which are just in horrible condition. And the worst part of them is that...they are not duplicates. These are the best copies I have.
This Michael Waltrip card appears to have been used as a cutting board before I got it. The fact that it's a promo and not easy to replace makes it worse. Believe me, I've been trying for more than 15 years. I got it in a lot in (circa) 2000.
These Wild Card cards were victims of a basement flood, I cared so little for college cards that I hadn't even realized that I had put the box of them in the basement.

And then there's the victims of the flood of 2015. This is the most painful to me.
You can read more about it, if you can stomache it, here. This event has permanently damaged or outright killed my appreciation of some sets. I can't think of 2003-04 Topps now and not think of the flood damaged cards. It was my favorite Topps flagship before then. I've since replaced both of those Muggsy Bogues cards thanks to Trading Card Database members sending me replacements.

If I win Peter's contest, the card I'm going to choose is probably a replacement for the factory set Bosh rookie. It would be fitting, I think.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Who's Left?

With the NBA season now a month in, and with not one but two players slated to tie the record for longest career in NBA history during this season, I thought I would take a look back at each NBA draft, starting with 1998, and figure out how many of the draft picks are still playing in the NBA. I will show my favorite rookie season card I have scanned as well, at least for the earlier years.

1998- 2
The 1998 NBA Draft class was not considered a particularly strong one at the time, but it gave the league 5 All-Stars, and at least three guaranteed Hall of Famers. An amazingly high percentage of players drafted played at least one NBA game- 56 of 58. At the time it happened, few people would likely have said that it would give the NBA the best European player in history, but that turned out to be true- Dirk Nowitzki has played his entire career with the Dallas Mavericks, eventually rising to be 6th all-time in career scoring, (since passed by LeBron James) and with at least another season left to rack up numbers. Vince Carter was a superstar the instant he stepped onto the court, known at first for high-flying dunks, before settling into a solid career as a role player, accepting the loss of superstar status better than just about, if not, anyone in NBA history. Both, along with Paul Pierce, are guaranteed 1st-ballot Hall-of-Famers, and both rank in the top 10 in most number of cards produced in NBA history. Vince has already tied the record for longest career, Dirk is still out recovering from surgery.


1999- 0
The 1999 draft class gave the NBA my all-time favorite player, but as he's longer active, he doesn't
get included in this rundown. There are no players from this draft still active in the NBA. Jason Terry, who had been in the NBA since 1999, played last season with the Milwaukee Bucks, but was unable to find a new contract and has moved into broadcasting. Manu Ginobili, who was drafted in 1999 but played in Europe until 2002, retired after a Hall of Fame career at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.

2000-1
This was nearly a zero, but Jamal Crawford got signed by the Suns just before the season began. He has been the only player left from this draft for the last two seasons now.


2001- 4
The 2001 draft is the first year that sees more than two players still in the NBA. In order of being drafted: Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Zach Randolph and Tony Parker. Richard Jefferson retired at the conclusion of 2017-18, and Joe Johnson did not officially retire- but no teams offered him a new contract, either. I made up this graphic on my old computer before the two of them exited the league and it was the last graphic I made, so I don't want to delete it. So enjoy a bonus shot of RJ and Joe. (I originally began this post in September and had to retool parts of it due to retirements, so I decided to wait until the season began so rosters would be set)

2002- 1
The rookie class of 2002-03 is a favorite of mine, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not considered a particularly strong one. 2002 was such a hard time for me, the NBA and NASCAR were pretty much the only good things in my life at that time. So I have a lot of sentimental value for the rookies of that season. Only one is left, and that is, surprisingly, Nene. Interestingly enough, likely only one player from this draft will make the Hall of Fame- and he's already in there, #1 pick Yao Ming, who had his career cut short by injury. Born Maybyner Hilario, he legally changed his name to Nene following the 2002-03 season.

2003- 4
Largely considered one of the best drafts in NBA history, most of that talent is found at the very top, and not surprisingly 3 of the 4 active players came from the top 5 picks. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Kyle Korver, who was the 51st pick, are the remaining active players. Wade has already announced that this is his final year, and Korver has said that he considered retiring before the season began.

2004 -  6
Dwight Howard, Shaun Livingston, Devin Harris, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and J.R. Smith are all that's left. Shaun Livingston has to be the most impressive though, as his knee injury was so bad that it's become legendary- doctors were planning to amputate it but he said no way. He missed about 2 years because of it, but came back and has won multiple championships as a key reserve for the Warriors.

2005 - 9
Marvin Williams, Chris Paul, Raymond Felton, Channing Frye, C.J. Miles, Ersan Ilyasova, Lou Williams, Amir Johnson and Marcin Gortat remain from this class. Both Ilyasova and Gortat played in Europe at times, Gortat did not enter the NBA in 2005-06. This number could go up late in the season, as several players are active overseas and could return to the NBA once their seasons end; Jarrett Jack was the last cut off the Pelicans roster just before the season began. Amir Johnson was the last player who was not forced to either attend college or waste a year doing nothing.  I do not yet have a rookie card of Amir Johnson, this 2012-13 Panini Brilliance is the oldest I have scanned.

2006- 7
LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, J.J. Redick, Thabo Sefolosha, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry and Paul Millsap are all that remain. This draft class is the last I saw before I took a break from the NBA, which I now consider one of the biggest mistakes of my life. We are at the point now where I don't have rookie cards for the majority of players, so I will go with the oldest card I have of each player. Only Aldridge, Redick and Rondo are actually 2006-07 cards.

2007 - 9
Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Mike Conley, Jeff Green, Thaddeus Young, Marco Belinelli, Jared Dudley, Wilson Chandler and Marc Gasol. While that is the list of who is on an NBA roster and has played this season, there are several more players who were active last season and may return to the NBA at some point this season. How I wish now that I had stayed in the game, and gotten to see the early years of Kevin Durant. I will always regret that.
2008 - 20
Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Danilo Gallinari, Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustine, Brook Lopez. Jerryd Bayless, Robin Lopez. JaVale McGee, Ryan Anderson, Courney Lee, Kosta Koufos, Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, George Hill, DeAndre Jordan, Luc Mbah a Moute, Goran Dragic. With this many names, the panels would be too small to see and it's a lot of work so just a list from here on out. The average NBA career lasts around 8 seasons so seeing that there are still 20 active in their 11th season actually makes me very happy. And not only are so many active- many of them are still starters on their teams. Some are downright superstars. Two are former league MVPs.

2009 - 18 or 19, depending
Blake Griffin, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, Omri Casspi, Taj Gibson, DeMarre Carroll, Wayne Ellington, Dante Cunningham, Patrick Beverley, Jonas Jerebko, Danny Green and Patty Mills. Technically, Jodie Meeks is still in the league but is not expected to play again. Currently serving a steroid suspension, it's expected he will be waved when the suspension is completed. Another year that I will forever kick myself for missing out on the chance to get rookie cards of. (Edit: Meeks was waived earlier in the day I scheduled this post for)

2010- 17
John Wall, Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, DeMarcus Cousins, Ekpe Udoh, Greg Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Ed Davis, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, Avery Bradley, Quincy Pondexter, Hassan Whiteside, and Lance Stephenson.
The 2010 draft is not considered a particularly strong one, but all these players have made it to season #9- more than the average NBA career.

2011- 28
Kyrie Irving, Enes Kanter, Tristan Thompson, Jonas Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, Brandon Knight*, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Alec Burks, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Iman Shumpert, Tobias Harris, Kenneth Faried, Nicola Mirotic, Reggie Jackson, MarShon Brooks, Cory Joseph, Jimmy Butler, Bojan Bogdanovic, Shelvin Mack, Chandler Parsons, Jon Leuer, Davis Bertans, E'Twaun Moore and Isaiah Thomas.
The lockout, part two. At the 8th season mark, all of these players have hit the average length of careers. Most of these who have made it this far still have some time left to play- the average is kind of misleading. If you can make it in the NBA, you can usually stick around a while. But far more players only get in a year or two if that much. Brandon Knight last played in 2016-17. He has suffered major problems with his knee and it's unsure if he will ever be able to play again.

2012- 23
Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal, Dion Waiters, Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes, Terrence Ross, Andre Drummond, Austin Rivers, Meyers Leonard, Jeremy Lamb, John Henson, Maurice Harkless, Evan Fournier, Miles Plumlee, Tomas Satoransky, Jae Crowder, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton, Will Barton, Mike Scott, Darius Miller and Kyle O'Quinn
A significant dropoff in the number of active players, 5 less than the year. This is the year I got back into the NBA full time- I started to watch the games again during the 2010-11 playoffs- but from this point on, I've been actively watching and collecting again.

2013 - 29
Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter, Cody Zeller, Alex Len, Nerlens Noel, Ben McLemore, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Trey Burke, CJ McCollum, Michael Carter-Williams, Steven Adams, Kelly Olynyk, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dennis Schroder, Tony Snell, Gorgui Dieng, Mason Plumlee, Solomon Hill, Tim Hardaway Jr., Reggie Bullock, Andre Roberson, Rudy Gobert, Allen Crabbe, Alex Abrines, Isaiah Canaan, Mike Muscala, Raul Neto, James Ennis and Lorenzo Brown
The 2013 class is considered one of the weaker classes in recent memory, but it has produced one bonafide superstar in Antetokounmpo, and two players who the argument could be made to be superstars in Oladipo and McCollum. Somewhat embarrassingly, the #1 draft pick is no longer in the league, because no teams want him. (Anthony Benett)

2014 - 29
Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon, Dante Exum, Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, Nik Stauskas, Noah Vonleh, Elfrid Payton, Doug McDermott, Dario Saric, Zach LaVine, T.J. Warren, Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Rodney Hood, Shabazz Napier, Clint Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kyle Anderson, Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant, Glenn Robinson III, Nikola Jokic, Dwight Powell, Jordan Clarkson and Jordan McRae
Even though this year's draft means that the players are in their fifth year, only 21 of the 30 first round picks are still in the NBA.

2015 - 34
Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell, Jahlil Okafor, Kristaps Porzingis, Mario Hezonja, Willie Cauley-Stein, Emmanuel Mudiay, Stanley Johnson, Frank Kaminsky, Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, Cameron Payne, Kelly Oubre, Terry Rozier, Sam Dekker, Jerian Grant, Delon Wright, Justin Anderson, Bobby Portis, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Tyus Jones, Jarell Martin, Larry Nance Jr., Kevon Looney, Cedi Osman, Montrezl Harrell, Willy Hernangomez, Richaun Holmes, Josh Richardson, Pat Connaughton, Andrew Harrison and Norman Powell
With 34 active players, the highest number seen yet. Interestingly, most are from the first round, with only the final 8 names being from round two. Only 44 of the 60 players taken in the 2015 draft played a game in the NBA, so for 34 of them to be active is a high percentage, but, at the 4 year mark, that's to be expected.

2016 - 37
Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, Dragan Bender, Kris Dunn, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray, Marquese Chriss, Jakob Poeltl, Thon Maker, Domantas Sabonis, Taurean Prince, Denzel Valentine, Juan Hernangomez, Guerschon Yabusele, Wade Baldwin IV, Henry Ellenson, Malik Beasley, Caris LeVert, DeAndre' Bembry, Malachi Richardson, Ante Zizic, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Furkan Korkmaz, Pascal Siakam, Skal Labissiere, Dejounte Murray, Damian Jones, Ivica Zubac, Cheick Diallo, Tyler Ulis, Malcolm Brogdon, Zhou Qi, Jake Layman, Georges Niang, Abdel Nader and Tyrone Wallace
Of the 60 players drafted, 54 have played in the NBA, and 37 are still on rosters. Considering that 1st round draft picks are guaranteed a 3 year contract, it's actually sort of embarrassing, for the players, that two of them are already out of the league. (To be out of the league with a guaranteed contract, it means the teams literally paid you to go away)

2017 - 48
Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, De'Aaron Fox, Jonathan Isaac, Lauri Markkanen, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith, Zach Collins, Malik Monk, Luke Kennard, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Justin Jackson, Justin Patton, D.J. Wilson, TJ Leaf, John Collins, Harry Giles, Terrance Ferguson, Jarrett Allen, OG Anunoby, Tyler Lydon, Caleb Swanigan, Kyle Kuzma, Tony Bradley, Derrick White, Josh Hart, Frank Jackson, Davon Reed*, Wes Iwundu, Frank Mason III, Ivan Rabb, Jonah Bolden, Semi Ojeleye, Jordan Bell, Dwayne Bacon, Tyler Dorsey, Thomas Bryant, Isaiah Hartenstein, Damyean Dotson, Dillon Brooks, Sterling Brown, Ike Anigbogu, Sindarius Thornwell, Monte Morris, Edmond Sumner and Jabari Bird**
This is only last year so it's not surprising that so many players are still active. Davon Reed is on a two-way contract and may not get called up. Jabari Bird is battling mental health issues and legal troubles as a result of the same, it's unknown if he will ever return to the NBA. Several of the players from the 2017 draft actually made their debut in the 2018-19 season. I do not know if Tony Bradley will ever get a chance to play this season. He was only put into 9 games all of last season.

2018
It's too early to tell who will "make it" and who won't. The season is still early with the most games any team has played is 14. Already 43 players from the draft class have made their NBA debut, and at least 4 more are out injured- with three of them expected to miss the entire season due to the injury. There were only two "draft and stash" picks this year (many of whom never come to the NBA) so the number could go up as the season goes on and players go down with injury, leading to G-League callups, potentially some could be from this year's class. Only time will tell what the future holds.

All those numbers equal up to 370 players, which means the rest must have either been undrafted, or I counted wrong.

Friday, November 23, 2018

What I accomplished on Cardboard History Gallery, November 17-23

Time for another (for now) weekly update on what I've accomplished on the Cardboard History Gallery.

I didn't do any card uploading this week, but I did do:
  1. Packaging for basketball
  2. packaging for hockey
  3. packaging for baseball
  4. created Auto Racing section and did packaging for same
  5. created Non-Sports section and did packaging for same
  6. created Other Sports section and did packaging for same. (This includes everything not part of the big 5, including Multi-Sport and Olympics)
To do this, I sorted my packaging scans for the first time ever. I didn't begin scanning packages until a little later- it looks like during the 2012-13 NBA season, which would make sense as that is when I joined the Trading Card Database, and I began scanning packaging specifically to post it on there. 

All the packaging sections also include ads, mostly scanned out of comic books. They go back to 1976 in the baseball section. I really enjoy the ads. At some point I'll get my sell sheets scanned and posted into an album in the packaging section as well. Think I only have NBA but might have a few from NASCAR.

I also realized, when sorting the scans, that I had forgotten to scan some of the newer blasters I had purchased over the course of 2018, and scanned them as well...but didn't  upload them yet. That will come when I do my monthly update on the 1st of each month, or at least that I start doing then. Based on my Card of the Day project, I know that some of these blasters have been waiting since January to get scanned! I also realized I never scanned the box of 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary, which I got for Christmas in either 2015 or 2016, I can't remember without looking it up...too long ago. That does explain why I didn't send it to my storage unit like I did all the other boxes from that time frame. I'm actually typing this up Thanksgiving morning, before I've scanned it, so hopefully the dust isn't permanently attached, LOL.
(Friday morning edit: it's fine)

I realized too that I didn't scan the boxes SumoMenkoMan sent me way back at the start of the year...I'll be working on them too, but may or may not get them out and done before this post goes live Friday afternoon...not that it really matters since I wouldn't upload them until the 1st anyway. (nope, didn't do them)

The packaging section has a lot of room to expand. I began saving every single box and pack around the 1999-00 season, but they are all lost in my storage unit. I know some were lost to flooding in the unit, but eventually I will find and scan the rest, that survive. But everything I added to my collection from roughly late 1999 to 2012 is not yet scanned.

Here's the weekly stats screenshot.


Wednesday, November 21, 2018

New People added to my Collection in October 2018

Not as extensive as the hockey post, but there were still new people added in the month. Unusually, I got two issues of SI for Kids in October and that leads off the month...
2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #766

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #767

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #769
2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #770

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #771

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #772
2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #776

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #778

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #779

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #780

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #781
And as it turns out, the two issues of SI Kids turned out to be the only new additions to my collection in the month of October who were not NBA or NHL. (I added no new NASCAR people for the month, either).

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

New NHL Players added to my collection in October 2018

With all the crazy stuff that happened with my computers in the past month, I didn't get to do a lot of scanning in October. Add that to playing catchup with what needed to be done, I have not had the time to put the effort into this post. Finally...finally...on November 20th, I'm writing this post. Thanks to Shane of Shoebox Legends it's a plentiful amount of people, too!

2017-18 Upper Deck #394
2017-18 Upper Deck UD Canvas #C233

1997-98 Score New York Rangers #13

1997-98 Score New York Rangers #18
The first two came from the last packs of the hobby box of UD Series 2 I bought in June. The two promo Rangers came from the complete set a local dealer gave to me for my birthday, as I recounted in my Card of the Day post.
The next three Young Guns all came from a purchase I made.
2017-18 Upper Deck #205

2017-18 Upper Deck #236
2017-18 Upper Deck #225
The next cards I got for my birthday on the 18th.

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee #194

1979-80 Topps #240
1972-73 O-Pee-Chee #110
1971-72 O-Pee-Chee #9

2018-19 MVP #238
The next two cards came to me via trade on the Trading Card Database. With them and others, I now have every veteran player card from 17-18 UD Series 1!
2017-18 Upper Deck #261
2017-18 Upper Deck #33
When I went to thank the dealer for the birthday present, I picked up three vintage cards and he gave me an Islanders team set, which yielded me 4 new players. The player from 1959-60 actually was already present in my collection.

1964-65 Topps #49
1962-63 Topps #64
1995-96 Score #305

1995-96 Score #309
Everyone else in this post...and there's a lot of them...came to me from Shane of Shoebox Legends. He's happy to get rid of stuff, I'm happy to add stuff, it works out well! Most of the November post will be from him, too.
2007-08 MVP #48

2007-08 MVP #296

2007-08 MVP #314

2007-08 MVP #324

2007-08 MVP #345

2007-08 MVP #349

2012-13 In the Game Heroes and Prospects #110
Non-NHL players count. I guess I should call it "New Hockey players" rather than new NHL players, but I think you know what I mean.
1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual #249
2005-06 Ultra Gold Medallion #228
 Name is hard to read, this is Chris Campoli.
2012-13 In the Game Heroes and Prospects #34

2012-13 In the Game Heroes and Prospects #90

2012-13 In the Game Heroes and Prospects #98
2011-12 SP Authentic Rookie Update #R32
My first card of 11-12 SPA as well.
2011-12 Score #273

2011-12 Score #345
1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #78

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #80

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #101

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #110

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #114

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #115

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #117

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch #124
Many of these minor league players appear to be One Hit Wonders, as well. (Meaning the only card they ever got)

2012-13 Upper Deck #204

2013-14 Upper Deck #244
Pretty sure this is my first YG from one of these two sets. I listed them in my paper listing a while ago now and I don't remember which set, though!
2009-10 Victory #204
2009-19 Ultra #216
2009-10 O-Pee-Chee #47

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee #134
 In a bit of a sad coincidence, I added both Derek Boogard and Steve Montador on the same day. Both died as a direct result of concussions received during game play.
2009-10 O-Pee-Chee #381
 I had a hard time not posting this card as a single card post and title it "Shane gave me the Finger!"
2009-10 O-Pee-Chee #386

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee #394
And even when I thought I had everything scanned, I had to go back and find one in my "waiting to be scanned" boxes...but luckily, I found it and got it scanned and it appears in this post. (The Vic Hadfield card)

But that's exactly 50 new people added to my hockey collection, bringing the total up to 2839 total people, which is now, already, less than 100 away from more different people than in my NBA collection, currently in my 22nd year with that sport.

Come back tomorrow to see the post for everyone else in my collection that's not NBA, NHL or NASCAR.