What are the odds of that?

Back in 2007, my brother gave me a mini-box of Legends. Each overall box was broken into three mini-boxes. In that mini box, my relic was this Kasey Kahne Sunday Swatches card, the basic version SN 180/199. The scanner I was using when I scanned it cut off the bottom, I will have to rescan it at some point. I probably already did but lost it when the remote hard drive I was using crashed actually.

Flash forward to Christmas 2016. I got a box of the Dave & Adam's Hit Parade. The very first card out was a card that looked pretty similar- I though it was a duplicate at first until I got out my listing and saw that I had previously had the bronze foil version, while the new one was the silver foil version. What I didn't notice, however, was the serial number. Even though I wrote it down, as I always do, I didn't bother to look at the serial number for the version I already had.

The new silver one is SN 80/99! What are the odds that, 9 years later and not purchased as a single, I would pull the SN80 of the silver version to go along with the SN180 of the bronze version I got when the set was new? I think the odds on that are pretty astronomical.

There's also a gold version, but those are only numbered to 50, so this couldn't be repeated with the final version I don't have. I may have to look for that one to complete the rainbow all the same.

Total Blaster 20: The End!

I bet the few people who are reading these are happy this is the end. I know I am! Not because I dislike the cards, but because I really dislike how Press Pass did it. It was only a 50 card set, and you only got one per box...yet I got more duplicates than new, I think, including today, where it goes out with a whimper...as only one card is now.

 Stenhouse base is a dupe, Stewart red parallel is a duplicate, the Edwards Acceleration is not even the first time it's been a duplicate and that is the most frustrating. It's a ten card set...you got one per box and I got 20 boxes, so you'd think I would have completed the insert, especially considering I already had two of them before the project started...but NO. I did not get the Dale Earnhardt Jr. card. Ingram is also a duplicate.

The one new card is the relic, which is Kasey Kahne. This makes it the first year ever my first card of the year was a "hit", I think. (relic/autograph). This one has a scuff on the tire piece and two wear tabs, so the relic is a nice one. I'm happy to get that one even if the rest of the box was a waste.

The best thing though I think, is that this very disappointing series is now over. Let's never speak of it again. Unless you want to trade for any of the many duplicates, that is.

And to think I put off my Goals of the Year post for this...

Total Blaster 3

Today was the day where I opened the third blaster from the 2014 Total Memorabilia 20-blaster lot I purchased. It was not that great of a blaster, to be honest, but at least it wasn't the last one! It can only get better from here, right?

The good thing is, all five cards were new. The bad thing is, my tire piece is Bowyer, one of my all-time least favorite drivers.

My favorite card here is the Truex. With Dale Jr. out and questions as to if he will ever return, Martin Truex Jr. has stepped into the role of my favorite active driver. The mirror foil aspect takes it down a little bit, but I'm still happy to have it. And even though I am not a Bowyer fan, it gets me closer to completing the set, so there's that. And it means I don't have to spend any actual money to buy a Bowyer card to complete my set. In case it wasn't obvious, that is a goal of mine now that I have these 20 blasters to work through. I thought at first the Kahne red parallel was a duplicate but I was wrong, I had the gold version of the card, which is SN175. I knew I had seen the photo but I didn't remember the foil color I had. Oops. The Elliott Sadler is one of the few non-Cup cards in the set. The Rusty Wallace Hall of Fame Placque is the holofoil parallel.

A Prizm blaster...

My local Target finally stocked the Prizm set, and they only put out one blaster, which my brother got for me yesterday. It was a little disappointing but upon reflection it isn't too bad.

Each blaster of Prizm includes 24 cards, and for me exactly half of them were duplicates, including all three Prizm parallels which was the most disappointing...but I've already traded them for the remainder of the base cards I needed so it worked out pretty good in the end!

For me Prizm seems to be a Matt Kenseth set with some other drivers. Kenseth is my second least favorite driver currently in Cup, so of course I get lots of cards of him.

The Green Flag prizms are my favorite parallel in the set, so I am happy to get another, but it had to be Kenseth, of course.

The tire piece came in the same pack as the Kenseth.

It's SN25/75. It looks like they are doing the same as Press Pass did, hobby versions of relics show the driver and retail versions the car. I don't have a problem with that. More cards to chase and you all know by now that I love the car cards. This looks much better in person, by the way.

I got my first two die cut inserts in the same pack.

Raising the Flag is really nice- car shots, some of them older. This one is from 2011. I have since pulled a Kyle Busch from the same set from when he won the Championship last year.

Machinery is good as it's all car photos, but there's too much design and not enough photo. I think it would have worked better horizontal, something I rarely say.

I also got another Winner's Circle insert. Guess who?

And then, out of the last pack, I got a Prizm parallel from the Winner's Circle insert...guess who...again?

I also got 6 of the base cards I needed, as the hobby box only yielded 55 of of 100.

And that's the entirety of the blaster. It will probably be the only one I open...I have all the base cards I need coming to me in the mail, and I don't know if I'll want to spend money to chase the parallels and the guaranteed one per box hit (either an Autograph or relic). Also, I got the only one available at my local Target already. So I might not even have the opportunity. I'd like to get to Wal-Mart and try one from there as they have exclusive inserts as well, but our Wal-Mart is not good for cards and there is no guarantee they will ever stock them.

While I was there, they also put out the 15-card hanger pack, which has exclusive Red, White & Blue Prizms. I love them. I got two hangers, but only opened one when I made the scans for this post. Interestingly, I pulled the standard Prizms for all three of the RWB ones in my hobby box.

 My first Legend variation!

 It appears the Legend variation Prizm does not have the borders.

I like the Winner's Circle inserts. They are the most common. 

The second hanger gave me 10 new cards out of the 15 so it was the better of the two. Of course I managed to get ANOTHER Kenseth Prizm out of it. Oh well, at least it wasn't Clint Bowyer.

I still think this is a great debut set from Panini and I'm happy to know that I will be completing it shortly, and I really love the various Prizm parallels that look much nicer in hand than in scans.

The real reason for heading to Target though was because my phone got too full to play Simpsons Tapped Out anymore...so my brother bought me a tablet!

 I have finally moved into the 21st century :)  And yes, that is a direct link to Cardboard History on my main screen on my phone! If any of you in the blogosphere play Tapped Out, let's be neighbors!

Busting 4 packs of D&A Cardworld's NASCAR Hit Parade

I've said many times, and in many places, that I liked the hobby better before there were autograph and relic cards. I also love to get them, and I would miss them if they stopped being produced. Does this make me a hypocrite? I believe it does. So what? I love all cards...and I'll add them to my collection when I can, and Dave & Adam's Cardworld recently debuted a NASCAR pack in their Hit Parade series.

I got 4 of them, and it turned out that I ended up getting one of the nicest relics in my collection. Interestingly, I had previously pulled a parallel of the very same card, and the base version turned out to be much, much nicer.

I thought about showing them in order, but I MUST start with the best one.

 

Holy crap! That is an incredible piece, very clearly from the Coors Light Pole Award contingency. As you may recall, and could easily find by clicking the Michael Waltrip tag at the bottom of the post, I pulled the Gold parallel when I did a box of 2013 Showcase in November, and the piece on that is a single color of firesuit- off white in color. This is much, much nicer, and in this month I've gotten two of my best NASCAR cards. There is some dirt and scuffing in the sheet metal piece, (which is actually part of a decal) so I suspect it may have come off the car Michael wrecked in the 2013 Twin 125, or whatever they call it now.

 

Each Hit Parade pack gives you one of these 2007 Eclipse Hot Treads Jeff Gordon cards. I'm a big fan of Jeff's, but I wish they did not give you the same card in each pack. I don't need four of them. Maybe I can trade a couple of them.

Here are the autographs I got. They generally came relic/auto/relic/auto/relic/auto but I am posting the autographs first.

2011 Premium Signatures Joey Logano. This is a mirror foil card, which scans terribly. I won't miss these, Press Pass used the mirror foil for almost every insert since 2012. My second autograph of Joey Logano, both of which I got in 2015.

 2008 Press Pass Signings Casey Mears

2009 Press Pass Autograph Gold Brendan Gaughan

 

 2007 American Thunder Thunder Strokes Johnny Sauter. My 3rd auto of Sauter.

 2011 Fanfare Ricky Carmichael. Nice low serial number. My second auto of Ricky.

 2013 Legends Will Power. Hey, that's not a NASCAR driver! Will Power is my favorite Indy car driver, though, so I am still happy to have it.

 

 Two autographs from 2004 Wheels, I don't remember if they were exclusive to High Gear or were in both High Gear and American Thunder. This is my first Kasey Kahne autograph, and it's from his rookie season, so that is definitely a great pull! It's my second auto of Bobby Labonte.

 

2013 Redline Signatures Regan Smith. Regan is one of my favorite drivers so I am happy to pull his autograph, even though it's the 3rd or 4th I've gotten. First one in red ink, and only my 4th card from the entire set. Serial number is 14/99.

 2013 FanFare Parker Kligerman. He has a nice, large signature, and I did not open a lot of 2013 Fanfare.

2007 Legends Denny Hamlin. I'm not a huge Hamlin fan, but this is a nice card. Coincidentally, I pulled both Logano and Hamlin autographs from the 2015 Cup Chase box....which I purchased from Dave & Adam's, back in January. It is my second Hamlin autograph. Hamlin is not a Legend, yet, and should not have been included in this set. 

This was the last card out of the last Hit Parade pack, and it turned out to be my very first card of Eric McClure! He did not have a lot of cards issued, and off the top of my head, he only has "hits", no base cards. Eric McClure's father was one of the owners of Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which was my favorite team when I discovered the sport.

 

Now let's look at the relics. There are less relics because each of the four packs included the same Jeff Gordon card.

2006 Legends Bobby Allison sheet metal. An actual Legend in Legends!! WOW! The Sheet Metal Artifacts Gold is only a two card set (Benny Parsons is the other card) giving me some hope that I may actually be able to complete a relic set.

 2007 Legends JJ Yeley dual. Oddly enough this is the second Yeley dual relic I've pulled. There is NO WAY Yeley should have been in Legends. I like Yeley, but he's no more of a legend than I am.

 

 2011 Stealth Jeff Burton. That's a mighty small piece of sheet metal, The discoloration on the left side of the piece is actually some damage to the metal. Looks like it may have been taken from a wreck.

 2013 Ignite Martin Truex Jr.. Yellow with some stitching. This is not from a patch, so it must be from the small yellow stripes on the sides, by the sleeves.

 

 2012 Ignite Greg Biffle. I was sure this was a duplicate, but I can't find a previous scan of it, so I guess it's not. Sorry for the poor scan. I have to use a different scanner for the deep relics and it's past it's useful life- I'm just too cheap to replace it. I am actually doing pretty well on this set, and I've considered trying to complete it. It helps that my local Target has the 2012 Ignite blasters marked down to $12 often.

    2014 American Thunder Class A Uniform Paul Menard. This set got some negative press when it came out, but I liked it. I like the camo theme. For a Press Pass set it wasn't bad. (IE, no action photos) 

 

 

          

 

2013 Showcase Prized Pieces Matt Kenseth. Another nice sheet metal piece. I actually pulled this one before the Waltrip. This is my first NASCAR relic to include gray, I believe. I was surprised to see that the sheet metal is clearly from the #20 car, the Dollar General car. Kenseth only joined that team in 2013 and that's pretty fast for Press Pass to get the sheet metal into the card. (They were usally a year behind)

 

And that's what I got...anybody want to trade for one of those Jeff Gordon tire pieces? It's well worth the $30 per pack Dave and Adam's charges, and it seems to be a big success. I hope they do more...I'll be getting some if they do!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

2015 Daytona 500 brings what may be the last current NASCAR packs I ever open.

The 2015 Daytona 500 was today, the true start of the NASCAR season. It was a solid race. Not as much passing as I would have hoped for, but the last 30 laps or so were very good. I won't spoil the winner but he has appeared on this blog before. It is a driver I root for so I can't say I am unhappy with the race.

With Press Pass out of  business and no new company stepping up to the plate, the 2015 Press Pass set may be the last current NASCAR product ever released. I had two blasters from my local Target saved specifically for today, the day of the 500, and opened them shortly after the race began.

I have cleaned out my local Target, and by this point I am assuming they are going to be sold out from Wal-Mart as well, but I was not actually able to get there. If they are...then these were the last current packs of Press Pass/NASCAR I will ever open.
That's not a good feeling, but I did get some nice cards.

Each Blaster promises one autograph or relic, and I got one of each.

I did not have an autograph of Gilliland or a relic of Almirola before, so I was happy with that. This is actually the first base Signings autograph I've pulled from the 2015 set, but the 4th overall. Nice amount of lettering on the tire piece...there's almost no unpainted rubber at all! I really like the Burning Rubber concept (race win tires) and I am always happy to see a first time winner, so I really like this card a lot.

Each blaster also gives you a parallel. Target's were red. Wal-Mart's were purple. I did not get a single one of them.

Unfortunately they were both from one of the pointless subsets Press Pass loved. They couldn't be bothered to include the cars, but we got everything from eyeball closeups to driver's "star signs" over the years...Still, neither were duplicates, so there's that, at least.

I went in 12 cards short of the base retail set, and I got 8 of them. Unfortunately 6 of the 8 came out of the pack damaged, with the Jennifer Jo Cobb card with the biggest hit. Some of the cards that got water damage earlier this month are in better shape then the brand new just out of the pack cards from Press Pass. I wish I could say I was surprised by this.

 

This is a really terrible, craptastic picture. Sorry about that. I can do better than this, I really should have taken a better one, but I'll have all of them scanned hopefully later today, so I didn't want to go through a lot of effort on this.
I'll edit in the scans when I get them made, if I remember.
The driver on the top left who is too blurry to make out is Dylan Kwasniewski.

Here is the scans...I was not able to make them yesterday, but I got them done now.

I ended up with another stack of duplicates- including at least one more copy of the #11 Austin Dillon card. Of the 6 blasters I opened, I got that card in 4 of them. Plus I had a few copies beforehand. Yet I still ended up 4 cards short. Also not much of a surprise.

If I can't find any more blasters or loose packs at Wal-Mart, I will try and trade for the last four cards I need, or if not, I'll just nab them off Ebay I suspect. Most likely I would be able to trade for them, but I want to at least try and get them myself first.

As always, thanks for reading!