The Best Kind of Christmas Cards

I'm in my mid 30's so just about every Christmas card I receive has pictures of all our friends families dressed up.  My wife was a good sport this year and only put our daughter on the card.  I despise coordinated pictures. She is always the star anyway, my wife and I are just space fillers.  

Maybe next year I'll make a Bob Walk the Plank oriented Christmas card. I bet my uncle would love a 1990 Bob Walk Donruss card.  Maybe if my wife decides we need to be in the picture again, I'll photoshop Bob Walk in.  Hooray great ideas!!!! 

Speaking of holiday cards my pal Angus sent a nice baseball themed one my way a couple of weeks back. It had some nice cardboard surprises inside that needed a formal thank you. 

Off Season's Greetings!

Is Kellogg's cards the king of the oddballs?  It would probably get my vote.

It was cool of Angus to throw this card my way.  I'm pretty sure it was pack pulled! Love sets that feature the college uniform.

So much awesomeness in one scan.  Teke by default wins just about every cardboard comparison, but this would be a close race.  You have the rugged good looks of the Candy Man and the always top notch Mad Dog and Cobra.

Thanks again for all the cards Angus.  I hope you are enjoying the warmth of Arizona. 

Thanks for reading!

Canadian Cardboard

My pal Angus hit me with a box of cardboard that had a nice Canadian theme to it right before New Years.  Are you still savoring that lone Browns win Angus?  Do you think they draft Deshaun Watson?  No fan base deserves to suffer that kind of losing. Being a Pirates fan I understand your pain.

Back to cardboard.....Look at these beauties!!!!!

 Canadian Goudey! When I first opened the box that Angus sent my attention was immediately drawn to the colorful Goudey cards. Upon examination I found that they were the Canadian version.  So cool!!! Thanks so much for sending these my way.

 Couple of Chrome autos highlighted by Nick Kingham and his unique penmanship. Kingham is kind of the forgotten man when it comes to Pirate prospects.  He was all set to make his debut in 2015 but blew out his arm. Thankfully he worked his way back last year and has shown no velocity drop. He will likely start the season in AAA, but will be one of the first calls if an injury or trade occurs.

 I'm such a sucker for Little/Big Poison cards. Such a great set.

 These double sided Leaf Limited cards are so interesting that you can make a post alone. My favorite is the Lou Collier card because he shares with a certain Yankee captain.....

 That is right....Lou Collier and Derek Jeter on the same card.

 Some more Canadian goodness with the colorful 75 OPC set.

 The Stargell and Kiner are Circle K oddballs!

 Almost World Series hero and forgotten Pirate Rajai Davis.

The biggest portion of the box Angus set was a ton of late 70's early 80's hockey.  These Penguin teams weren't that good. Thankfuly Super Mario wasn't too far way and helped put the franchise on the map.

 I can thumb through older hockey cards forever. The hairstyles are top notch!

 Quick break for a Jagr oddball!

 Such an Upper Deck Artifacts move showing a guy in his old hockey jersey....

 Pat Boutette sporting a bowl cut.

 It looks like Greg Millen is wearing a turtle neck. Also every early 80's hockey player looks tough.

To finish things out some sweet goalie action. Frank Peterangelo and Marc Andre Fleury probably have the two most famous saves in franchise history. Peterangelo's was probably the better save but Fleury's won the 2009 cup against the Red Wings.

Thanks so much Angus for all the great cards.  What a great assortment. You really bolstered my hockey collection.

Thanks for reading.

Burger Chef

A couple weeks back Angus of Dawg Day Cards sent me an email to be on the lookout for a purchase that he was having directly shipped to me. Little did I know it would be something so unique....

How about a full sheet of Pirate discs still on the original Triple Play Funmeal backing! The 4 discs on the instruction side are the heavy hitters for the Buccos during the time featuring Stargell, Parker, Candy Man and Al Oliver.

Being that I was born in 1982 Burger Chef was already in the process of being sold so I never got to experience one. My parents told me that their were several of them close to the area I grew up. From what I read the holding company that owned Hardees bought them out and either closed them or rebranded them as Hardees.

The kid in me wants to poke all of these out, but I think the collector in me will keep them in their natural state at least for the time being.  I need to ask my Dad if he remembers the promotion. Why were discs so prevalent during this time?

This is what makes blogging great. I was well aware of oddball releases before blogging, but I never fully grasped just how many existed. I think Tony L single handedly traded me about 5000 differents over the course of my 2 + years of blogging. Now Angus surprises me with this gem. Ain't blogging grand!

Thanks for reading.

White Christmas

I've been working hard the past couple of nights to finalize some mailings to make sure they arrive for Christmas.

Pretty much all my regular trade partners and contest winners should expect something.  I was still a few cards short for Brad, Mark Hoyle and AJ. Yours will probably be coming in early January. Please contact me if you want to start swapping!

It felt good to get those out in the mail because I had been receiving quite a few envelopes the past couple of weeks and wanted to make sure I returned the favor. One such package I received recently was from Angus of Dawg Day Cards. Angus peppered the blogosphere with xmas cards full of cardboard goodness. Blogger xmas cards are the best!

 It is cool to see the Jets having a good season, but I wish Geno was the one leading the way. I'm guessing this will be his last year in Jets green.

 Sidney Crosby has been very quiet for the Pens this year, so Malkin has had to try and put more on his shoulders. Love receiving Pens cards!

 Some old Pen stickers. Schock and Bianchin have some glorious sideburns. Any time I see cards from this era it makes me think of the movie Slap Shot.

White Christmas!

 I loved Diamond Kings baseball so naturally Gridiron Kings would be top notch.

 Here is Kevin in his college garb. Looks like that was the Oklahoma State game from last season.

 Some diecut goodness from Prizm. Cool looking card.

 White Christmas ends with the base rookie from Prizm. It was ashame that Kevin got hurt this season. I'm sure the Bears are expecting big things. I felt he had the best chance of any of the recent Mountaineers drafted to make a huge impact.

 Jumbo Pena! Obviously Pena's time in Pittsburgh is remembered more for the time he was traded for Andy Van Slyke, but he was a very good player in his own right.

A very festive shot of the Library of Parliament.

Thanks for the holiday cheer Angus. I'm still accumulating some cards for you, but rest assured I will hit you back with some cool stuff.

Thanks for reading!

High Quality Angus

Angus, who just started a Cleveland Brown centric blog called Dawg Day Cards, reached out recently to offer up some Pirates. Angus isn't new to the blogosphere as I've seen his name pop up several times as he has sent cards to Tony from Off Hiatus. I wasn't sure what to expect when a bubble mailer arrived late this week.

I knew I was in business when this is the first card that popped up. This is from 2005 Leaf Sportscasters and is numbered /75.

Leaf Signatures is one of the best auto sets of all time.

More Clemente!

The Impression cards were pretty cool as the color scheme lined up with the team.

Rookie Teke! The glasses weren't even dark yet. Little does he know that he will become a cardboard legend. Cool shot from spring training.

Aramis started and finished with the Buccos. Have to wonder what could of been if the Pirates had good management at the time they traded Aramis to the Cubs.
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COBRA!!!!!

 

Angus is from Canada so one of the cool things about this trade package is the pile of O-pee Chee cards.

Look at the Canadian Gary Redus. You jealous Wes?

The Victor Cruz traded cards if fantastic.

Al Oliver looks upset.

 

A very nice 65 Vern Law to close things out..

 

 

Thanks so much Angus! I really enjoyed all the great cards, especially those Clemente's. I know you said you didn't want anything in return, but I'm going to dig up some Cleveland Browns cards for you.

 

Thanks for reading.