The last, for now

 We all know that the hobby has gone stupid lately. Cards are ridiculously overpriced, and not even available at retail. It started with basketball, and then moved to all the other sports. When it hit hockey and NASCAR at the same time, I knew that I was probably going to be done when opening new cards for the foreseeable future. The fun of the hobby had been sucked away. 

So I was REALLY surprised when my mom gave me a blaster of 2021 Donruss for Easter! I didn't expect I would ever get one. They either weren't stocked or scalped locally, and probably the latter. She had planned ahead and mail ordered it before the prices went crazy. (last I looked, blasters of 2021 Donruss NASCAR were running at $80)

So I knew that it would likely be the last new product I opened for a while...and I savored it. 

But I've been in such a card funk that I didn't scan them until today, April 22nd. That should say a lot about where I'm at in the hobby. Since I had ordered myself a hobby box back in February, I didn't actually need all that many of them, because, as is well known with Panini, they came out of the packs in the exact same order as they had come out of the hobby box, with the exception of the inserts, which are exclusive to each packaging format. 

Since this is "the end, for now", I decided to post every single new card I got in the box. Not something I normally do, but I'm going to here. 

First, the base cards...

3 of them was it. The rest were all dupes. 

The main draw of the blasters are the orange parallels, which are blaster exclusive. They come one per pack. 

Christian Eckes is a sort of "local hero", as he's from Middletown, NY, which is about 45 minutes away by car. 

The Silver parallels (really gray) also fall one per pack in the blasters, which is more than in the hobby box.

Interestingly, there are three cards where I got both Silver and Orange in the same pack. 

You may notice I mentioned that oranges and silvers are one per pack, but there are only 6 silvers vs. 7 Orange. That's because in one pack I got a serially numbered Red parallel instead!

Even after doing a hobby box and a blaster, each of which has multiple base cards and 2 parallels per pack, this is the only version I have of this card. Go figure. The SN is in the car's grill. 

Donruss Optic (a 100 card insert, which uses the same design, but different photos and card numbers) is also one per pack, and every single one of mine was a duplicate of one I had from the hobby box. However, I did get several of the Blaster exclusive Orange Wave Prizms. 

They look nicer in hand than they do in scans, to be honest.  They do not appear pink in hand, for instance.

I also got one of the Prizm parallels.

The inserts treated me well. Not wholly surprising, because the majority of them are retail exclusive, something new that was introduced with this year's set. 

I pulled the first three in hobby version, but the Edwards was totally new. Surprised to see the Nationwide image, circa 2010, on the Retro Series card. 

I pulled an auto of Dylan Lupton! I thought, when I pulled the card, that it was my first of him, but a quick check of my Cardboard History Gallery shows I have one from 2016. Even so, I'm thrilled to get it. I would much rather get cards of obscure guys than another Chase Elliott or Kevin Harvick. And one thing I will say good about Panini- something I don't do all that often- is that they are really stepping up the autograph checklists. It's got a wide variety of people. covering many NASCAR divisions, and pulling in some people to sign who are very rare signers. (A couple years ago they got 95 year old Hershel McGriff, which were his first autograph cards ever, for example. His first race was in 1950! His last in 2018. He has the longest professional career as an athlete in history. One of those autographs is waiting to ship to me from COMC) I digress. This insert is one of the few that is the same in both hobby and retail.

There are also retail exclusive Insert Parallels, because of course there are, it's Panini in 2021. I'd rather have more base set parallels, but I won't complain too much...my favorite card of the box came from this section.

This one, right here! You guys know I'm a big supporter of Bubba Wallace and Victory Junction, so this was my favorite card in the box.

All three of these are called the "Checkers" parallel, which also looks much better in hand than in scans. Checkers is fitting for NASCAR...every person in the sport is trying to be the first to see the Checkered Flag at the end of the race. from the drivers down to the guy who paints the lug nuts. 

And that's the checkered flag on what will likely be my last new card addition for the foreseeable future. While I have zero intention of ever leaving the hobby, I am dialing way, way back. I'm not enjoying thee hobby at the moment,  from the crazy pricing/availability stuff to stuff going on behind the scenes elsewhere. I haven't even felt the desire to open my latest trades I've received, several of which have been sitting here over a week now, still sealed. 

I'm back to my main hobby, 1/64 NASCAR diecast. It was always #1 for me, but some stuff had gone on there, and when I got sick in 2013, I couldn't afford to collect both hobbies. I chose cards...and I made the wrong choice. I'm working on filling in what I missed, but it's going to be a long, difficult process, that's going to cost me at least three to four times what it would have if I had gotten them new. {sigh} But, it's my true passion, and I will do it. Mostly. Even if it takes me decades. Some of the rarer cars are going for $150 or more. Don't think I'll ever get them. (Would have cost me $7 or 8 if I had gotten them new, depending on which year it was from). In reality, I've been feeling like that choice I made in early 2014, is going to be something I'm going to consider one of the biggest mistakes of my life...to be honest I was never happy with it in the first place, but I felt like my back was against the wall and I had no choice. Now that I'm back into the hobby full time, I actually feel something resembling happiness...maybe it is happiness. 

The timing actually works out well. I don't have to agonize over my choices- cards have been taken away from me due to something out of control...but I don't really mind all that much, because I'm putting them on the backburner anyway. 

Like I said though, I'm not leaving the hobby...I still need something to do when it's raining or too dark and cold to work on models. (Collecting 1/64 and working on models are tied together, they have essentially become one in the same. I am back to building cars that were not made in scale. I'm working hard on my NASCAR by the Numbers project, building one model of every number from 00-99, 110 different builds. I have 16 numbers left to build and 7 of them are in progress already! There is an outside chance I will complete the project in 2021). I just won't be doing as much card stuff.

As you may notice, that includes posts on Cardboard History as well. This is only my third in April. It may be the last for the month, which would be my new low. I just have nothing to say right now...beyond this post. I'll check and see if I have anything saved in drafts that I can crank out. I'm so far mentally removed from the hobby right now that I don't remember.

Just want to reiterate that Cardboard History is not ending, despite the overall tone of the end of this 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!

Box Break Review: 2017 Donruss NASCAR

Donruss makes it's triumphant debut in NASCAR with the 2017 set, and it positions itself as the flagship NASCAR release. There's a lot to like about this set, here's my breakdown of what I got in my hobby box.

My initial thoughts on the set: I'm actually surprised. The base set is 189 cards long, which is the largest set we've gotten since 2011, and most surprising is that the subset concept has returned in a big way! Race Kings, (and Queen, for Danica), Rated Rookie, 1984 Retro, Cup Chase, Pit Crew and Nicknames all appear as subsets in the base set. I fully expected them to be inserts, but I am glad that they were not. What I'm not glad about is the fact that most of them are short printed. I got only three of the Race Kings, 1 of the Rated Rookie, and two of the Nicknames cards. 1984 Retro was almost plentiful with 6 base cards. Pit Crew and Cup Chase are not short printed and I completed both of them. I would have liked to have seen them be not so short and cut down on the duplicates. My box yielded 106 duplicates, some of the cards giving up three examples. That's almost two full base sets.

Most of the Cup drivers have a driver card and a car card...but not all. And some of the choices are downright odd. Kyle Larson does not have a base card. Carl Edwards does not have a car card. Aric Almirola is not included in the base set at all yet appears in the autograph inserts...he also has a card in the 1984 subset but that's it.

Strange.

The design of the base card is superb.

The borders match the team colors.
The backs of the cards are bright and colorful but the second most disappointing aspect of the set (with the first being the lack of car cards for everyone and the odd exclusions as mentioned above).

There's a LOT of wasted space here. Some of that wasted space could have been removed and career stats included. Even just a total, not a season-by-season breakdown, would have been appreciated. We have not gotten a set with real stats since 2008, so it's desperately missing. What I do like about the back is that Panini has included hometowns. This is good info and something they usually ignore on the NBA cards. The colors are bright and vibrant, which I like. Mears is the only driver who has this green color. He's another driver who has a base card but no car card.

And the car cards...this is, by far, the BEST part of this set.

Not only do we get 21 car cards, they each show TWO cars! Most show the regular scheme and a special paint scheme, some show two special paint schemes, as this card does. (by the way, this was my first card from the set). Quite a few of the cards feature the Throwback cars from Darlington. 39 of the 40 cars in the race ran Throwbacks- it sure would have been nice if we got to see all of them. But this is the most car cards we've gotten in years. Discounting the 2011 set, the one time Press Pass actually got it right, you'd have to go back to the late 1990s to get this many car cards. Seriously. Expect a post dedicated to the car cards alone at some point. They are so good I'll probably post all of them together.
The backs of the car cards are the only ones that are not color coded.

They are all gray. The Pit Crew subset, which is also horizontal, and shows cars, has team color card backs.

Here is the Race Kings subset, which comprises cards #1-27 of the set, including the Race Queen card for Danica, Card #7, which I did not get in my box.

They feature the painted look like the various Kings inserts are known for...except this time they are base cards, of course.

Rated Rookies take up Cards #28-36, although most of the drivers in this subset have cards already. I got one base and one Green, and I am showing the latter.

A good Green to get- Byron is a surefire superstar, and if we had a real points system, would have won the Truck championship last year as he won 7 races, and dominated the season. He is one of four drivers to have a Rated Rookie subset card and a base card. Note that the border shows tires- but treaded tires. NASCAR has used slicks almost exclusively since 1971, but they do have treaded tires for Eldora and the road course races. The card numbers on back are also in a design reminiscent of tires.

The 1984 subset is cards #137-184, and here I have chosen to show a Gold parallel, of AJ Allmendinger.

The Golds are the most common parallel, I got 4 in my box. The gold foil scans as black, but trust me- the SN and the bar his name is printed on is gold foil. This subset falls a little flat to me. They aren't bad, by any means, but it would have been so much better if instead of the current drivers, we got actual photos from 1984, which predates NASCAR getting cards on a regular basis. There are some legends in this section of the set, but I don't have them so I don't know if they include photos from 1984. I know there are a couple of drivers who retired in the 1960s in the subset.

The Nicknames subset finishes off the checklist with cards #185-189, although some of the nicknames are kind of a stretch.
This is a Blue parallel of Daniel Suarez, denoting his Xfinity title last year. It uses the same photo as his base card.

Despite being the second easiest parallel to find based on serial numbering, I only pulled one blue from my box, but two Greens, which have 100 examples less produced. Since green is my favorite color I am happy by that.

There are also variation cards. I could do without these, mainly because they share the same number but are totally different otherwise-different photo, different text on the card back, and a nickname on the front. These are basically no different from the nicknames subset but instead of being part of the base set they just have the same number as the base card- stupid.
I pulled one from my box, and it was Kenseth. Interestingly, the base Kenseth card came from the same pack.

There are several parallels I didn't pull, but I did manage to pull an Artist Proof card, which has only 25 copies produced, making it the rarest non-printing plate parallel in the set. It features a black theme, with black text, black border, etc. The card is holofoil. Another Kenseth.

It doesn't really show in the scan but the card is refractor-like in hand. It's a nice card.

Now, that covers the base set. But there are a lot of inserts, and all of them have parallels. The relics and autographs have gold and black foil parallels, and the standard inserts all have Cracked Ice parallels which are all numbered to 999 copies, I wasn't able to pull all of them, and in fact the Pole Position insert, I pulled ONLY a Cracked Ice, no standard. The Cracked Ice look much better in hand than they do in scans. Here are, without further blathering, all the standard inserts I got. None of them yielded more than one card per set.

The inserts all feature gold foil on the standard version and holofoil on the Cracked Ice versions. The Call to the Hall set is the only one that includes photography from the 2017 season. Everything else reflects 2016, which makes sense when you consider that the set came out the week the 2017 season started.

Now, each box promises one autograph and two relics, and I got exactly that. My autograph came out of my first first pack, and is my first and currently only card of third generation driver Todd Gilliland.

Interestingly, the Rubber Relics set includes more than one card for some drivers, who had more than one standard sponsor. Jimmie Johnson is one of them- this card is for his alternate, Kobalt car. The back mentions a specific race but it's unclear if the tire piece used comes from that race or if they just chose to highlight that race. I suspect it may actually be the race the tire is from, because for Johnson it highlights a race he finished 16th in- nothing special for the multi-race winner and 2016 Champion.

The Logano card, part of the 1984 Retro Relics insert, does not say what the material is but it feels like firesuit. I really wish Panini would tell you what it is they are putting on the cards. With NASCAR it's easier to figure out what the material is- there's no mistaking tire or sheet metal, for example- than for the other sports, which feature multiple options that use the same basic material, there's no real way to know, unless you get a patch and can match it to the jersey photo.

Overall, this is a GREAT set, and a worthy flagship. It's not perfect, but I will say it's Panini's best effort so far. I completed the non-SP base cards from my box, with many duplicates to spare, but I still want to pick up a blaster to see if I can get some of the short prints or maybe a parallel.

Five drivers made their cardboard debut in this set: Todd Gilliland, Alon Day, Julia Landauer, Matt Tifft and Noah Gragson. The latter four appear only in the Signatures series, while Gilliland appears in the Rated Rookie subset. I added 8 new people to my collection, which is a very high number for a NASCAR box. I don't know what the record is, but this may be it, not counting when I first started collecting and everyone was new, of course. New to me were: Gilliland, Byron, Kate Dallenbach, John Hunter Nemechek, Cameron Hayley, Daniel Hemric, Christopher Bell and Ben Kennedy.

Thanks to my mom for giving me the box as a surprise gift!