Trading Card Database Secret Santa got delayed by the mail, but worth the wait!

 I got what I can only conclude is my TCDB Secret Santa today, which was sent to me direct from COMC...who as we all know aren't the fastest. It arrived today, December 30th, but was well worth the wait!

1999 Press Pass is my favorite Press Pass set, and documents my favorite NASCAR season. 1998 is when I went from a casual fan to "this is my life and everything else comes after NASCAR". That has not changed and I don't think it ever well, nor do I want it to. 

I didn't get all that much of the set when it was new, although I do believe the first Serial Numbered card I ever pulled was from this set. I did not get the short printed #0 card. For many years Press Pass included a 0 card on the checklist which is part of the base set but is packed and treated more like an insert. Despite the fact that I opened boxes of Press Pass every year from 2002 to 2015 (when they went out of business) I only pulled two or three of the 0 cards. Many of them are serially numbered, as this one is- to 800 copies. 

While this doesn't complete 1999 Press Pass for me (I'm still chasing some of the 1-per-pack Retro subset) this is THE key card needed to complete the set, and one that sells for more than I'm usually willing to spend for a card. The cheapest one on COMC right now is $26, and I generally won't go above $20...although my preferred price point is $5 or less. 

This is a huge addition for me, and is not only in the running for favorite addition of December, it's in contention for favorite addition of the year! (Look for that post next week sometime...hopefully)

Jeff Gordon's 1998 season is also the best season I've seen. He won 13 of the 33 races, including 4 in a row, both of which are tied for the most in the Winston Cup era. His 13 wins are the most any driver has put up in my lifetime in a single season. 

Trading Card Database Secret Santa 2022

 Secret Santa 2022 didn't play out at all how I expected it to, first off because the person I sent it to still hasn't gotten it yet, even though I mailed it the first week of December. It went to a country I've never mailed to before so even though I have the receipt I'm not sure how much good it would do. 

I didn't get mine before Christmas either, and I usually put up the post on Christmas Eve. If you noticed it was missing, there's a good reason for that! Tt turns out that my Secret Santa was Dan, aka Vrooomed, who just happens to live in the next town over from me. Dan wanted to meet up in person and deliver it, and I was all for that, but my schedule didn't cooperate enough to do it before Christmas, and then I got sick which felt like it lasted forever, and then Dan got sick, so we didn't get to meet up until January 24th! And because of the circumstances of our lives, we ended up meeting at 9 PM in the parking lot of the local McDonald's! We had a nice chat for a half hour, Dan gave me my present and I finally completed a sale from him that I put together on the Database a week before the pandemic hit. Dan has been holding those cards for me since February of 2020! I'll get to them in another post. 

Dan and myself, I am on the left. Note the wrapped box, which is my Secret Santa present

Lots of Rangers cards in here! Most of these are ones I scanned before I took the photos. The Leaf Steel cards are really cool. 

Both English and French versions of the 1991-92 Pinnacle Amonte card, and a great photo of Adam Graves with the Stanley Cup from 1994-95 Stadium Club highlight this batch

the Stadium Club Members only of Brian Leetch is the only non-hockey card here- it's a Multi-Sport card. 

the white Lady Liberty alternate makes an appearence, and my first Green StarQuest from hockey! 

The Line 2 Line card is SN, and those Epix cards are sooooo confusing. There's 4 versions of each, I think. This is my first of any player from this sport. The NASCAR versions are much easier because there is only one version. 

After getting this batch of cards I may have to do another post on the Richter Scale!

I really should have planned out the photos a little better when I was taking them. The Christian Dube card is also SN. The more I see Pacific cards the more I'm liking them.

More Richters including a die cut insert and a Silver Script parallel...however my favorite card in the entire package is in this shot and it's one of the very few non-Rangers related, and I think you can guess which one. 

the famed Hot Dog card from 1995-96 Pinnacle of Olaf Kolzig! I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, but this was one of my most wanted hockey cards! 

In total I got 85 new cards for my collection, and a big boost to my late 90s/early 2000s Rangers, which was an era I had the least from. 

By the way, how do you like my new photo backdrop? It's a Rangers blanket I got for Christmas. 

So, even though life conspired to keep the Secret Santa exchange from happening for a month, I'm thrilled with the new cards and owe a big thanks to Dan! 

Secret Santa 2021!

 Every year I like to take part in the Secret Santa exchange on the Trading Card Database, formerly the Blogger Secret Santa, which is now run by my friend Dan, AKA vrooomed, on the Database. It is getting bigger and better every year, this year more than 100 people took part. My Secret Santa this year was fellow blogger Andy of Stadium Fantasium and he came through with probably the most unique Secret Santa gift I've ever seen, let alone received! 

It's a helmet! 

No, wait, it's actually a bowl! How very cool! This is a special helmet shaped bowl direct from the Rose Bowl, where Andy actually works, and like I said...that's so very unique, and cool. 

I did try to wear one as an actual helmet but my head's a little too big for that, LOL. No pictures, sorry, it wasn't really worn so much as balanced on my head anyway, haha. 

But that wasn't all! 

There were cards too! The AT&T promo set is a special all-Clippers release from the 2001-02 season, and includes a brand new to me Elton Brand promo! The Planinic is a SN-rookie from the 2003-04 Hoops Hot Prospects set. The All-Star pack of Adrenalyn XL is a fun one with a story. I had no idea there was a promo pack for that set until December 19th, when my brother and I went to the Basketball Hall of Fame...a series of posts is forthcoming on that...and they had some as part of the exhibit. I have not actually opened the pack yet...I need to scan it first, but I've got so much going on at the moment my scanner has not really been too clear yet this year. Unfortunately the pin was rendered mostly invisible by the flash of my camera, but it's from the time were his stadium hosted the Super Bowl. 

A belated thank you and Merry Christmas to Andy! 

Secret Santa 2020!

 Today is Christmas Eve, and as is the usual tradition for me I opened my Secret Santa present from the Blogosphere. But there was no Secret Santa on the blogs this year! So How did I do that? Well, Dan, aka Vrooomed on the Trading Card Database, put one together...and 53 people participated! That's pretty darn awesome. 

Mine arrived to me on December 1st, but I managed to wait and it was well worth it!

A mix of NBA, NASCAR and Street cars! The Rusty and Jeff cards in the top row are a mystery to me, they will need some research. 

Two of the NBA cards are serially numbered and there are two cards from 2003-04 Topps Jersey Edition...a set I don't think I've added to since it was new in 2004. 

1996 Autographed Racing, the set that alternates with Vette Set, is one I don't have a lot of and most of those should be new! I have completed the Vette Set but I suspect these may provide upgrades to the cards I already had. 

Overall I'm thrilled with what he sent me! 

I thought you might like to see a photo of our Christmas tree. I tried to make a star for the top of it today but it kind of looks like an ankh instead. It's just aluminum foil but I wanted something up there. 

Sorry this post is so late going up. We were without power for several hours which really messed things up for me. 

Christmas Eve means it's Secret Santa time!

It's Christmas Eve, and one of the traditions I've come to look forward to, is the opening of my Secret Santa package on that day...or this day, I should say. (Yes, you're actually getting a post written today, not written weeks or months ago and then scheduled!) I've done it on Christmas Eve all four times it's been held, with the first time in 2016, then 2017 and 2018 as well. (Funny weird thing I saw composing this post- I just finished scanning the cards I got last year within the last week! I had somehow missed scanning the Kyle Larson Elite Dominators card from last year!)

This year the Secret Santa was opened up to both bloggers and Database members, and I got Kmack, who, coincidentally, had just sent me a PIF within a couple of weeks of getting my name in the draw. Being a Database member, he knew exactly what I liked and wanted, and targeted the cards specifically to me- three of the non-sports cards from various Allen & Ginter sets, a new to me Elton, and a fatpack of this year's Hoops!

 This was the first card out of the package...

 The second. The PIF he sent me back at the end of October was 2 other cards from this same insert!

Next was this mini of Napoleon. I never think to look for the non-sports cards in Allen & Ginter, so these are very pleasing to me to add.

The last single card was my favorite though, as it just literally glows! Topps Gold Label only appeared in the NBA in 2 seasons, 1999-00 and 2000-01, this card is an insert from the second year. It shows the black alternate jersey, always a plus to get an alternate card, even if these jerseys aren't as nice as the black with red pinstripes worn just a few years before. By the Database's reckoning this is the 590th Elton in my collection, although in actuality it's less as they count league leaders, team cards, multi-subject cards etc. in those totals.

Now, moving onto the pack of Hoops...it's a 30 card pack, and I needed 27 of them (which is kind of crazy because I have only three 8 card packs worth of the set) but I did very, very well with this pack...

 It always is a good start when the first card out is your first card of a person...

And the second card out is one of the brightest young stars of the game, already playing his way into MVP conversation in only his second year in the league.

 The Miami Vice jerseys are always cool. They have worn them for three years now, originally neon pink, then black, this year's are neon blue.

 Drummond pulling down a rebound, his specialty.

Always thrilled to get a new Nets card! Allen is going to lead the league in blocks one of these years...soon! Mark my words.

 Both the Rockets and Thunder wearing alternate jerseys here.

 Don't see many players wear 99.

 Of all the cards in the set, this is the one I wanted the most! Craig is the first player who turned a two-way contract into not only a regular NBA role, but also a starting role, integral to his team! He started 2017-18 on a two-way contract, played so well he got converted to regular, and by the end of the year he was starting. He's not a big time scorer, but he's one of those heart-and-soul guys who make a team work; the Nuggets had the second best record in the West last year and he played a key role in that. It's his first card, I don't believe Panini included him in anything in his first two years...although I have not stayed up on that sort of thing like  I once did.

 Another heart-and-soul guy, Smart plays with a lot of passion.

 Ferguson is in his third year, but I don't know all that much about him, to be honest.

 He missed the entire 2018-19 season due to injury.

 Every year I tend to pull a lot of cards of one or two rookies, and last year Hamidou Diallo was that rookie...going so far to even pull two different cards of him out of the same pack at least once.

 What better than to pull a card of a man sometimes called Jingles as part of a Christmas exchange? He sports a throwback jersey here.

Jimmy Butler wearing one of the worst jerseys ever. It doesn't say it anywhere, but that's the 76ers' alternate from last year.

 Brogdon's career has been forever tainted in my eyes because he was awarded Rookie of the Year for political reasons. I shouldn't hold that against him, because he certainly did nothing wrong, but I'm just having a hard time accepting it.

 Nurkic broke both bones in his leg last year, and will likely end up missing more than an entire calendar year because of it. The injury occurred March 25th in a game against the Nets, which I was watching, and he's not expected back anytime soon.

I wasn't lucky enough to pull either of the Fatpack exclusive parallel colors but at least I got this cool Purple, my second Purple parallel from the set. It also shows their alternate jersey, which I really like. Of the 27 cards I needed in the pack, this is the only one that needed a scan on the Database.

 This insert shows the Kings' stupidly lettered but awesomely colored alternate. Sactown, really? That's the best you could do?

 My first card of the Class of 2019 insert is also my first card of the Knicks' RJ Barrett. This is my 2nd favorite card in the pack, after the Craig. Barrett, from Canada, actually grew up as a Knicks fan and was thrilled to come here...something most players wouldn't say. I like this card as well due to the group photo from the rookie photo shoot on each card.

 I've now opened 5 packs of the set and pulled three Arriving Now. inserts, and all three were my first card of each person. I just wish they hadn't made the player's skin color graytone. In case you are keeping track, that's 4 new players...

 Make that 5 new people for my collection...

 and six! I don't know anything about either of these guys yet, but that's changed now, or will, once I read the backs of the cards.

 Monk with the alternate jersey.

 7th new person

 I really dislike the Tribute subset. There are 525 players in the NBA, but Panini can't be bothered to make any sets larger than 300 cards. And now they are taking away 20 of those slots to make another card of somebody in the set, or of somebody who retired long ago. I wish we could either get rid of these subsets (in it's second year), or just make the sets larger and do it right. I don't know why they refuse to make a proper set.

8th new person added to my collection! This pack did a great job in helping my project of getting at least one card of everyone who's ever gotten one!

Kyle Anderson rounds out the pack. I don't even know which jersey is the alternate or the base for Memphis anymore, because they seem to rotate them every game. This might be the alternate or this might be the base...based on the floor color this photo was taken in Houston. You can't tell based on jersey color anymore, which is fine with me other than the fact it makes it a little harder to "place" a photo now. A truly minor concern.

Well, that's my Secret Santa haul! I think I did very, very well, adding 8 new people, a new Elton, and some cards I would never have gotten otherwise! I will have another post up sometime tomorrow, where I will show, if nothing else, my Christmas tree. Merry Christmas!

Updating an older post and some other small topics

A few days back I was pretty furious at COMC. They didn't send one of the cards  I was looking forward to getting, and I made a rather accusatory post on Twitter, figuring that they sold it out from under me via their ebay auctions that they are pushing.

Well, COMC responded...they totally defused my furor and they made it right. Not only did they replace the card, they also credited me back the $1.30 I had spent on the original card. Yes, it wasn't about the money, it was about the fact that it would have been my first autographed lady hockey player card.

This is the card they replaced it with...so it still is, even if the SN is different. I'm still learning about hockey but I think this may be part of the shoulder number. The black is the base jersey, the red and white is elevated...I would say a patch but it seems more printed on, although it's raised.

I was preparing to post about being done with COMC, but that is no longer the case. The way they handled this was top notch. Frankly, they handled it better than I did. Restored my faith in the company….although I still have issues with them charging me two fees to sell one card.

I decided NOT to spend the $1.30 they gave me, and have left it in  my account to pay the monthly storage fees for the cards I'm trying (poorly) to sell.

As an added bonus, the front scan- the same one posted right here- became my 4000th hockey contribution to the Trading Card Database in the 3 AM hour of the 14th, when I uploaded it.

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Part of my COMC order included some cards for my Blogger Secret Santa, which went in the mail on Friday the 13th. I was afraid that I was going to have to overnight it to the recipient, but the PO said it's expected to arrive at it's destination no later than the 17th. I used my actual return address label to mail it so the secret won't be a secret for long. This year I actually remembered to photograph it before I packed it...ALL my presents are labeled with a Sharpie, including those to my family members. Gold this year instead of the usual black! 

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I finally bought dividers for my NHL paper listing. After creating the listing back in 2017, NOW it finally feels real. It's already at 4 binders, but unlike my NBA and NASCAR binders where I've been collecting for decades, there's still a lot of empty space in the NHL binders, waiting to be filled. Naturally, I chose the set closest to completion to photograph...you can see another example of my terrible handwriting, and how I color-code each day I get cards. (Cards in black with no date are those I had before I made the paper listing)

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Finally, because it's just about Christmas time, here's a picture of an apple pie that my mom made. 

It tasted even better than it looked! 

If all goes according to plan, I will be having one of the last adventures of the decade when this post goes live….so stay tuned for another trip post coming sometime in the next few days!