Top 12 Cards of 2020 + Yearly Recap

This is my second post of the day, the In Memorium post went live at noon.

Trying something new this year, in that I'm not waiting for the end of the year to compile this post- I'm actually beginning the composition on March 20th, and will update each month after they conclude. With March, I already had a card by then I knew would take the top spot, so no need to wait for the end of the month to begin. But first, January and February.

January was a huge month-I added 1525 new cards to my collection, with the largest batch coming from 2 full 600 count boxes I received as a Random Act of Kindness on the Trading Card Database. I also got my Christmas present COMC order, and from there is where my favorite card of the month comes from.

This oversized insert from Upper Deck commemorates the very first NHL game I saw from start to finish, on January 1st, 2017. Although I had begun watching in October 2016, I didn't catch a full game until the Winter Classic...as such, that game's commemorative insert set takes a very special place in my collection. I remember this event, where Tarasenko took a selfie with the crowd, from that day, and when I saw the card posted on one of the blogs, (don't remember which one) I knew I had to have a copy. It took me a while, but I found one on COMC as noted.

February saw even more cards roll in, 1571, 998 of them from a shoebox I bought at a card show, where I met Dan and Jerry from the Trading Card Database. One card I found that day, despite not being in the greatest shape, is a card I had been chasing for many years.

Wayne Embrey was for many years the missing person from my collection. An NBA Legend and Hall of Famer, he had scant few cards issued, and I was never able to hunt down a copy. I eventually added a card of his from 2010-11 Rookies & Stars Longevity, but this is a playing career card! In fact, he was the only Hall of Famer who had cards later than 1948-49 Bowman that was missing from my collection! And he had that distinction for quite some time, as he was inducted in 1999. I don't recall when I got the R&S card but it was only a couple of years ago- after I had made the list of missing people which I published to Cardboard History in 2015. I had been wanting this card for so long that finally adding it made it a sure bet for the top card of the month.

March...things got crazy in March. Still are, as I type this on March 20th. Every century has a major health pandemic, and it's going on right now. All sports in the world are on hold right now- cancelled outright or on hiatus until further notice. It's something the world has never experienced and hopefully it'll be in the past soon. However, it has not stopped cards from entering my collection, although at a much lower rate...only 154 cards as I type this, although 11 days remain in the month. One, however, has such an awesome photo that I don't think any card would surpass it.

  I love snow...it's not something that comes up on card topics very often, so it may not be known to even my most regular readers. But watching snow fall is one of my favorite things to do. I've been known to set my chair up in front of the window and just watch it fall for hours. The Heritage Classic, an outdoor game, was played in the snow during this season, and UD chose a photo of Rittich from that game to use on his base card in Series 2 of the flagship set. And it is snowing! And he's toqued! So much awesome about this card. I ended up with 172 new cards on the month.

April saw my card intake decline somewhat from January and February, but I still added 1048 cards! 881 came to me as Easter gifts, and the rest were pulled from my stash. All but two were hockey cards! I didn't go out card hunting at all, for the second month in a row. My favorite was clearly the Clear Cut parallel I pulled from the Upper Deck Series 2 box my mom gave me.

So far, with the first third of the year down, Hockey has taken three of the months.

May was a BIG card month, as I hit the Sousafly Collection hard...I ended up adding 1797 new cards during the month, and all but about 150 of them came from that collection and my pack stash. However, my favorite new addition was actually one my Mom got for me. I had mentioned how I didn't have any of the series 2 High Numbers for the 1953-54 Topps World on Wheels set, and probably wouldn't because they are generally all above my self-imposed $20 per card limit. So, she went on Ebay and got me this one!

It was also the most cards I've scanned in a month since 2017, as I did 2501 cards. I didn't get the monthly upload on the Cardboard History Gallery done until June 13th!

June saw 874 cards enter my collection, many of them from a large purchase I made on the Trading Card Database. I don't purchase all that often, but I had a deal presented to me that I could not possibly pass up. 313 of the cards from the month came from that purchase, including the card of the month. It was most of the Chrome parallels, about half the Refractors, and about 1/3rd of the Atomic Refractors from 1996-97 Topps Stars. It is the equivalent of 44 boxes worth of parallels. The most I've ever opened of one box was 6...

The Atomic Refractors don't really scan all that well, so I actually took a video of this card in the sunlight. 

Two of the greatest to ever play the game on some amazing technology. 

375 cards came my way in July, and the absolute best was already shown- my Henrik Lundqvist autograph that I got from Kenny!

I never thought I would ever get one of these! I'm not sure this can be topped, this may be my card of the year. 

August...nothing can top July, but let's see what is my favorite addition of the month. Only 94 cards to choose from, too, a very light month. In fact, the first time since August of 2014 that I didn't get at least 100 new cards in a month. August 2020 is when I started to go fully into scale modeling mode, which would last until it got too cold to build in October, when I'm working on this post for the first time since June. I'm actually going to go with one I pulled from my pack stash this time:

I always liked the alien Green Lanterns and the stories that dealt with the GL Corps in space, and this is one of my favorite alien GLs solely because he looks so cool. I am slowly working through a box of 1993 Cosmic Teams I bought in 2019. 

September was fully model mode, although I still managed to add 146 cards. Starting in August, lasting all of September and into October, was the greatest time period in my modeling career. I did almost ZERO card related things. However, I did make one trade- in which I sent out empty toploaders and got back some great Allen & Ginter cards, which completed two of the inserts. Two of them, from the 2017 World's Fair set, show things I've seen in person, but I am going to go with the Unisphere. Funny thing, I've been so focused on models, I have not scanned it yet as I write this caption on October 28th. It showed up in the mail on September 3rd. I finally got it scanned on December 23rd! Actually, I scanned it on something like December 12th and just got around to editing it, since I've been working so hard on other stuff, like the Recovery project.

October, normally a big month since it contains my birthday, wasn't this year...sort of. I got 196 cards, and all but 85 of them were from the Topps Now NHL Playoffs set. I was all set to use one of them, but then I got a birthday present from Database member and friend Bevans, which included this Rangers card from 1969-70 O-Pee-Chee. I have so few 60s Rangers cards, this being my 13th from the entire decade (though I do have 3 from the 50s.) But this is a playing career card of a Hall of Famer- one of the greatest goalies ever. The last card issued during his career and lifetime...Nope, can't beat that! 

November saw me add 280 cards, the vast majority of which were from an entire 100-pack box of Tim Horton's cards my friend in Canada sent me- which I still have not written a post about yet! My favorite cards out of that set are the lenticular team cards, which are also the rarest not-hit insert, as I pulled only three of them in 100 packs. I am going to go with the Lightning, they did just win the championship, and they were the first ones I saw. 

This card looks so much better in hand than it does in scans.

December was once again dominated by Christmas with 435 of 931 cards I got in the month arriving on that day. 291 more arrived on the day my two Black Friday purchased boxes arrived. In total I ended up adding 9009 cards on the year, which is a massive amount. More than I got in either 2019 or 2018. In fact, 2020 is my 6th highest total that I have documented, although  my records are really only fully accurate from 2010 to present. Christmas once again provided my favorite card of the month:

Sheet metal pieces are my favorite, and these are both three color! 

Overall though, my favorite card is the Lundqvist autograph. No surprise there, right?

Overall 2020 was a great year for me for cards. Pretty amazing since I haven't gone looking for cards since February, haven't gotten a COMC shipment since January. 

I achieved my goal for the year on January 5th, and my 2021 goal? I met that on December 6th 2020! I specifically have no goals for 2021 now, at least not not for cards. I do have a goal in scale modeling. That is to build more than 25 1/64 builds. 

My 2020 there was even better than my 2020 in cards...I set a new personal record by finishing 62 models, breaking my old record of 60 which I set in 2000, and which I thought I would never break. Now that I've figured out what I'm doing, the record I set this year could fall...easily...as soon as next year! Only time will tell...

My 2020 completions.

I keep some yearly lists on the Trading Card Database that you might enjoy looking over. Some cards appear in multiple lists.

New Sets added to my collection in 2020 159

Autographs added to my collection in 2020 40

Serially Numbered cards added in 2020 157

Relics added to my collection in 2020 58

New NBA and NASCAR people added to my collection in 2020 41

2020 Trades 10 (I normally make way more trades through a year but I was not trading for most of 2020)

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 2000-2009

I don't know why, but, as I noted at the conclusion of the last post, the cards of the 2000s were never the same as they had been previously. One of the worst "innovations" in the hobby began in 2001 when exclusive licenses made their debut in sports cards, when NASCAR gave Press Pass the exclusive. During this decade, Fleer went out of business and the memorabilia delivery systems began to replace actual card sets...

2000

2000-01 Hoops Hot Prospects

2001

2001 Enduring Freedom

2002

2002 Topps Simpsons

2003

2003 Press Pass

2004

2003-04 Topps Chrome

2005

2005 Topps Revenge of the Sith

2006

2006 DC Direct Who's Who

2007

2007 Wheels High Gear

 2008

2008 Press Pass UMI

 2009

2009 Element

What symbolizes the decade more than a jersey card? This one for 2000 was the first I ever pulled from a pack- Christmas Day, 2000. 2001 saw the world rocked by September 11th. Topps actually got a card set out of it. 2002 was a rough year, as I lost my dad to cancer in February. 2003 saw me pull one of my favorite cards I've ever pulled- this one, from a single pack purchase at the Target in Kingston, NY. It brought me back to NASCAR fully, for the first time since 1996. 2004's set is from the 2003-04 season, but Topps Chrome was a very late season release. I was slowly losing my interest in the NBA, and during 2004 (I think) my Excel file corrupted, and I lost everything- I had only one copy, stupid-which took away most of the enjoyment I was getting. 2005 saw me purchase non-sports cards for the first time since 2002, when I had gotten the Simpsons cards shown at the Toys R Us in Lake George, NY, and some Attack of the Clones cards. 2006's set is one where, while I was not actively purchasing the non-sports cards, I was still getting some anyway...these came with figures that you had to assemble...not quite models, but close. Sometime between October and Christmas 2006 I decided I was done with the NBA forever. That didn't hold, but I would not purchase another NBA card during the decade. From 2007-2009, I was collecting NASCAR only, and barely at that. I was unhappy with Press Pass's cards and got very little in 2007. In 2008, I got only 14 cards documented for the entire year, my record low since I started recording dates in 1999 (but surely my lowest total for any year). While I did get more than 14 cards from the year, I only wrote down the date of 14 of them- 13 of which came from this UMI promo set that came with the Cup Series Yearbook, which I got for Christmas. 2009 saw me get back into hobby full time...although I didn't even truly leave in 2008, I did consider it. My brother surprised me with some cards from the local Target in 2009, including some from this Element set, and I really enjoyed them. That got me back in...it was in 2009 that I began my Excel files anew (which I've since put on the backburner as I've made them obsolete) and I also began scanning my entire card collection, which, 10 years later, has a long way left to go. In the ensuing decade, everything changes...

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 1960-1969

The 60s, in my opinion, had the best music, especially from 1964-68. But the cards, especially in the non-sports realm, do not have the same vibrant variety as what had come before; to this date that still holds true. The NBA finally starts to get some cardboard respect, with annual sets debuting in 1969-70.

1960

1960 Revell 50th Anniversary of Naval Flight

1961

1961-62 Fleer

1962

1962 Topps

1963

1963 Topps Flag Midgees

1964

1964-65 Kahn's

1965

1965 Donruss Spec Sheet

1966

1966 Topps Batman

1967

1967 Philadelphia

1968

1968 Topps Hot Rods

1969

1969 Topps Man on the Moon

My 60s collection, for non-sports, is actually pretty slim. The years represented by sports cards here do not have a single non-sports card in my collection, with the exception of 1961. 1960 is also pretty slim- the Revell promo card is the only non-sports card issued in that year that's in my collection, although the year is represented in my NHL and MLB collections. The 1968 Topps Hot Rods set is actually a reissue of the 1966 set of the same name, which had slightly different back coloration. While the iconic 1969-70 Topps NBA set should probably have gotten the nod for 1969, the Man on the Moon set- humanity's greatest achievement- could not be ignored. Even though none of the cards in the set actually have any images from the Apollo 11 mission, mostly being a modified reissue of a 1963 set that is not yet in my collection. (Edit to the original post: The 1963 Astronauts set now IS in my collection, although not scanned yet)

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 1940-1949

The 1940s saw World War II rage on, changing life throughout the entire world seemingly forever. 75 years later, the repercussions are still being felt. In fact, the repercussions are still being felt in the trading card hobby. Before the war, most cards were European in origin, with the vast majority being British, but with cards also coming out of Germany, France, and other places. After the war, US companies, always producing cards, moved into the forefront and have remained there ever since. The most damaging aspect though is that in the 1940s is when cards took on the notion of being for kids. For the first 60 years of the hobby, cards were marketed towards adult collectors. With the adults all fighting, or working on production, the marketing of cards switched towards kids, and the hobby has been unable to shake that reputation, despite the fact that the actual cards being produced have switched back towards adult collectors. If you've ever been insulted for collecting cards because they are for kids...it's Hitler's fault.

1940

1940 Gum, Inc. Superman

1941

1941 Wings Cigarettes Series B

1942

1942 Gum Inc. War Gum

1943
1944

1944 Card-O US Navy

1945
1946
1947

1947 Traindex Birds

1948

1948-49 Bowman

1949

1949 Bowman Wild West Picture Card Gum

1940s cards are rare, not just in my collection. During the days of 1943 in particular there were almost no cards produced, I could find record of only 6 regional baseball promos and one non-sports set that appears to be based on a movie serial, although it's possible there are other rarer issues I didn't find, as I was just checking to see if there were any cards made in the year. The Superman set from 1940 is the first comic book based set ever, and that would play a major role in my collecting in the future, as I was not yet born in the 1940s. Military themes dominated the war years, and also the immediate post war years as well. The first basketball set must get the slot for 1948, although the set represents the 1948-49 season. Although I do not have any examples, the hobby would be changed in one other massive way in the late 1940s, as Topps released their first set in 1948. Going forward, Topps would go on to become one of the "Big Three", with Fleer and Upper Deck, that dominated the hobby for decades. I would really like to get a card from 1946, as that was the year my dad was born. The pickings are somewhat slim, but they are out there, and do fit into my collection, so it's really only a matter of time before the year appears in an update post.

Top 12 Cards of 2019

I like to finish each year with a countdown of my top 12 cards of that year- one from each month. This year I was mostly on burnout mode because of my Card of the Day project in 2018, basically just going through the motions until about mid-November, when my passion returned (as I'm sure you've been able to tell by how much I've been posting since then) I have even less preconceived plans about what will "win" each month this year than I have in the past couple of years, so this should be fun for me to compose, hopefully for you to read, as well.

January:

2017 Absolute Racing Tools of the Trade Dual Gold

It's hard to argue against a dual relic SN to ten that I pulled from a pack myself, which is not something I do very often! Couple that with the fact that it's got two colors on the sheet metal piece and parts of the Goodyear lettering on the tire, I just can't beat that! 2017 Absolute was also the only hobby box I bought for myself during the entire year...although not the only one I did. I got three for Christmas as well. That's it though, the least I've done in a year since 2008 when I did none.

February:

2015-16 Ultimate Collection Jumbo Materials Patch

I attended my first card show since either 2004 or 2005 in February, that was a thrill for me! This is the marquee card I got, and I actually got two from this same insert set. I had hoped to attend the card shows at least two times a year but it just didn't turn out that way for me, attending each one only once. But the fact that I got to go to two is just so amazing to me, I hope to get back to at least one in 2020.

March:

Hitting 2017 Absolute Racing again, but this time from the Plainville CT card show, not the box. This has a piece of neon yellow sheet metal, and having grown up in the 1990s, there are two things that will ALWAYS catch my eye- holograms and neon. This is my first piece of neon sheet metal, although not my last, as I purchased three pieces from the same seller at the show all at once. As you can tell from the photo, Menard is ecstatic.

April:

Here's a card I got from another blogger, this one coming from Chris of the Collector. It completed my Starting 5 promo set for that year, which is quite an accomplishment because I wasn't collecting NBA at that time, and promos are notoriously hard to find after the fact.

May:
I'd like to show you the favorite card I got in May, which is a Henrik Lundqvist card I got in trade from Kenny/Zippy Zappy. But, I lost the box I put it in and the other cards he traded me, as well as the rest of the Beach Boys box I finally finished opening, so I can't. I've gone nuts looking for them, because I didn't even get a chance to list them in my paper listing yet. Very frustrating, and a sign of how much I was just going through the motions in those months.
What I CAN show is one of his trademark pretty girls he's known for sending. Somehow, I managed not to lose them.

2013 Seven Colors #62

I have no idea who this lady is, I think possibly a musician, but she has a lot of cards issued. Unfortunately, I can't find full checklists so I can't post them on the Database, making them and the Sumo cards Ryan sent me a while back the only part of my collection not properly documented.

June:

2018-19 Panini Threads Dazzle Gold #86

I never pull cards SN to 10 or less...I did it twice in 2019! My brother bought me some cards when we took a one-day-up-and-back trip to Lake George, and I happened to pull this Russell Westbrook card SN 01/10! And it's really cool looking in person, much nicer than it does in scans.

July:

1966 Batman Black Bat #51

I was able to add three 1966 Batman cards in 2019, bringing my total to 4. I need more of them, but they are quite hard for me to find! The Black Bat set was new to me in 2019. I still lack the Blue Bat set totally.

August:

2000-01 Stadium Club #236

August was probably my worst month in the hobby since 2008. I didn't scan even a single card during the entire month, the first time that has happened that I can recall. The one and only highlight of the month is that Ryan / SumoMenkoMan sent me a box of stuff totally at random, and I really like the design of the 2000-01 Stadium Club hockey set- this is only my second or third card from the set- so it got the nod.

September:

2011-12 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics Patch

I think we all knew that this was going to be the card. I passed this card by last time I went to the shop it was for sale in in 2017. I didn't get there at all in 2018, and I assumed it would be sold...lost to me forever. When I got back there on September 3rd, it was still there, so I made sure that I would not leave without it- even if it's the most I've paid for a hockey card to date. (tied) This is probably my favorite card of the entire year, to be honest. I can't tell you how many times I had thought about and regretted leaving it behind.

October:

1887 Allen & Ginter Arms of All Nations

I got a lot of REALLY great cards in October. For new cards, it was one of the best months of the year. Getting my oldest card, a full 131 years old, that can't be topped so it gets the nod.

November:

1972-73 Topps #87

In November, I found out I was losing my favorite place for vintage cards, where I've gotten all sorts of great oddballs and hockey since 2014, due to the owner pulling the lease to put in "upscale coffee shops". Well, I went and got as much as I could afford, which was a lot of Rangers cards, and a partial set of 1972-73 Topps, which I suspect was complete at one point, but had gotten picked over over the years. I chose this card, instead of the many Rangers I got, because it has such a cool, unique photo on it. (and it does have a bit of a Rangers tie in- the photo was taken at Madison Square Garden.) This is a really unusual and creative photo for 1972-73...about 95% of the set are posed photos, not even action photos, which makes this stand out even more.

December:

2019-20 Upper Deck UD Exclusives #86

Although I got a lot of great cards in December, including my COMC order that had been building since August of 2018, a card I pulled had to get the top spot. I have been a fan of the UD Exclusives parallel since it was introduced in 1998-99 for the NBA, and as I would come to find out, the NHL as well...although it would be years until I learned about that sport, which has now taken firm control of the #1 spot in my collection...not in card totals but in interest. The UD Exclusives are always SN, usually to 100, although some sets to 500. They are not common pulls, and since I began collecting the NHL, this is only the second one that I've pulled from a pack, following one from 2010-11, which I pulled from a single pack I found somewhere. In the grand scheme of things, these are my third-favorite parallel concept, but are de-facto #1 since the first two are no longer issued in my sports, or at all. (Refractors, which sort of live on in Prizms from Panini for NBA and NASCAR, but not quite, and Ultra Gold Medallions). The fact that I pulled a Ranger, a player from my team, makes it so much more special. I pulled this on Christmas day, and I got the base version as well. My brother's Christmas Present to me was $100 on COMC, and a good portion of that was spent on other UD Exclusives issues, including a full page from the 2017-18 set...I'll post about them when they arrive, and my recap of the cards I actually got on Christmas will be coming soon...hopefully by this weekend....but next year, nonetheless!

I ended 2019 on a high note, Cardboard History wise, and 2020 is going to be starting out much the same way, as I have almost 30 posts in the queue waiting for their time in the sun...

Thanks for another great year of reading!