Top 100 Cards of My Collection Honorable Mention: 2003 Ultimate Collection Dual Patches Jerry Rice/Terrell Owens

T.O. has been in the news recently with his mysterious ACL injury which might cost him a shot at getting signed this season. There's no doubt about it though, despite all the antics and drama, T.O. is definitely one of the best receivers to play the game. Of course Jerry Rice was THE best receiver to play the game and one of the best football players period. This sweet dual patch comes courtesy of Ultimate Collection. It's numbered to 10 (mine is 10 of 10) and the patches are nice especially the T.O. with it's many breaks.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #41 07-08 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Dual Autograph LeBron James/Tayshaun Prince

 

Tayshaun Prince, I've had three different combo auto cards with him, one with Dwight Howard (no longer have), one with Chauncey Billups (still have) and this one here at #41. I guess it was just a matter of time before Tayshaun would hook up with someone with enough star power to get him on my Top 100 countdown. Which of course leads to the main reason this card is here. LeBron James is the tag team partner on this autograph card. This is my only autographed card I have of James in my collection (I have a photo and ball as well) and though it's a sticker auto and the other player doesn't scream excitement (not that Tayshaun is a horrible player, he just doesn't really carry too much weight in the hobby) it's still an autograph of one of the best players in the league today. I've always like the simple nice design of Sign of the Times (though of course I perfer on-card autos) and this one doesn't disappoint.  So yes it's official Tayshaun Prince is on a card that I consider in the top 50 of my collection...but I'm pretty sure LeBron's presence helped just a little!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection Honorable Mention: The Other Two Gehrigs

Lou Gehrig is definitely worthy of having multiple cards on my countdown, and quite frankly I came real close to having that happen. I just felt there were other cards I liked more and went with the best looking card in my opinion to represent Gehrig. Here are the other two memorabilia cards that didn't make the cut.

2003 Donruss Classics Legendary Lumberjacks Lou Gehrig

What I love about earlier issued memorabilia cards by Donruss is they show you the actual item that was cut up to be inserted in the card. Is it foolproof? Of course not, but at least you get to see what item the memorabilia card is supposed to be, unlike today's vague LOA's on the back of cards. This features a piece of game used bat from Gehrig. I think the card is real well done, love the design, overall a great Gehrig game used card.

2002 UD Authentics Threads of Time Lou Gehrig

My first Gehrig memorabilia card. The Ty Cobb of the same set made my countdown and this would've been a slam dunk too, had I not acquired a different card that had a pinstripe on the swatch. Still, this is a great card that features a piece of jersey worn by Gehrig in a major league game.

CM Punk is so damn AWESOME

 

Holy crap was that one of the GREATEST promos, worked or not, that I have EVER seen on Raw. Ever since CM Punk turned heel on Jeff Hardy a couple years ago, I've realllllllllly dug CM Punk. He's gifted not only in the ring, but on the mic as well. I'm not gonna pretend I've followed him on the indy scene or anything like that, cause I haven't and like I said, as a face when he first showed up in WWE I was pretty bored with him, but as a heel there is NO ONE better and tonight proved it. It's got the wrestling world buzzing and as far as unpredictability there hasn't been this much since the Nexus initial attack last year. Is it all an angle or is part angle/part shoot? Who knows, some of the things Punk called the WWE out on tonight definitely you would think would've needed the OK of Vince McMahon (especially calling Stephanie McMahon his "idiotic daughter" and HHH his "doofus son in law", which was hilarious!). Very interested to see where this goes(I read rumors were Punk has been "suspended indefinitely"), hopefully not just another Super Cena victory. There's only one guy who can pull this off and it's CM Punk. Hats off to him and if this is really it, I'm gonna really miss him in the WWE.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #42 04-05 SPX Dwight Howard Auto/Jersey RC

 

Legit franchise centers are not only hard to come by, but in today's NBA pretty much extinct. Long gone are the days of Ewing, Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaq patrolling the lanes. Dwight Howard is of course the exception to that rule. He's a throwback to the dominant 7 foot centers who block shots and rebound like it's nobody's business. The scary thing about Howard is that he has yet to reach his full potential, and he's already a two time Defensive Player of The Year! Now mostly the talk around Howard is where he will be playing in a couple years, with most people coming to the forgone conclusion that he's headed to the Lakers. That remains to be seen, but you can't deny Howard's impact in the league. Here's one of his best rookie cards issued at #42. SPX has always been a favorite of collectors as it combines rookie cards with not only memorabilia but an autograph as well. Though it pales to Exquisite, I still personally prefer this to his Ultimate Collection rookie. These aren't too hard to find as they are numbered to 750 (mine is 146/750), but this card is still a prominent card in any collection, and is one of my favorite cards in my collection.

Now THAT'S Entertainment! A Look at My Non-Sports Card Collection Part II

Here's the 2nd installment of my Non-Sports Card Collection

 More cards from the Donruss Americana series

Jerry Lewis dual relic card from the Donruss Celebrity Cuts set

In 2008 Upper Deck inserted A Piece of Hollywood memorabilia cards into it's A Piece Of History baseball set. I know, some think these cards are unattractive and generic, especially because not only are the actor/actresses likeness not on the card, but their last names aren't even used! For example The Jamie Foxx Shirt card from Ray says that the shirt was worn by Jaime in the Movie Ray. Really weird, but it makes for a cheap way of acquiring worn movie memorabilia, which is what I'm all about. The cards from top left to right are from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Mel Gibson, Woody Harrelson, bottom left to right, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Denzel Washington. Third Scan is Top left Robin Williams and Demi Moore, Bottom Jim Carrey and Jack Nicholson.

This Week's Mail

Another light week, but two really cool autographs to add to my collection

 

2005 Topps WWE Hertiage Autographs Rowdy Roddy Piper

I have always been meaning to expand my wrestling collection more, since besides sports, wrestling has been something I've followed all my life. It's weird that I don't have a lot of wrestling related stuff, but I guess when it  comes to memorabilia and cards I prefer to focus more on baseball, basketball and football. I did come across this on Ebay though, and I had to get it. Love the old school design and also it's a on-card autograph of a true wrestling legend. Definitely a great addition to my non-sport collection.

 

07-08 SP Authentic Chirography Alonzo Mourning

I had a Zo autograph from the Legendary Nicknames set in 03-04 UD legends, but wasn't impressed with it cause it was just signed ZO. I sold it off last year, and I've always wanted to reacquire a Zo with a full signature and that's exactly what this is. Nice full sig on card of course. Great looking card.

1996 SP Special FX Ken Griffey Jr.

And it wouldn't be a mail week without a 90's insert of course. I love holograms and the Special FX set is really cool looking. I'll always jump at the chance to add a nice looking Griffey card.

 

 

Top 100 Cards of My Collection Honorable Mention: 2008 UD Premier Foursome Patch Barry Sanders/LaDainian Tomlinson/Joe Montana/Tom Brady

 

Another sweet multi-player multi-color patch card featuring 4 of the NFL's best. Two running backs and two QB's highlight this card and the selection isn't too shabby. The only swatch that's single color is the LT, and to boot, there are only 15 copies of this card and mine is the last one 15/15. Anytime you can get a nice memorabilia combo card of players of this caliber it's awesome.  Definitely a tough card to leave off the countdown but more than qualifies as an honorable mention.

NBA Draft Day Memories: Here's Mine, What are Yours??

 

I don't know what it is, but NBA Draft Day has always been one of my favorite days of the year. Maybe it's the witnessing  the beginning of future legends like Shaq, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant or historical curiosities like Ed O'Bannon, Mirisad Turckan, and Mario Bennett. What makes the NBA Draft stand out to me is first the time. It's only two rounds (I never understood why before the draft was longer than 2 rounds when you only had 12 man rosters at the most) and the time between picks is relatively short compared to football. Plus in football, I just can't get excited about watching a draft where you can go a period with a bunch of O and D lineman being drafted. Baseball? Forget about it, as much as MLB wants it to matter, baseball is the biggest crap shoot of them all, plus players are drafted by how easy they are able to sign, not by their talent, and additionally you might have to wait a few years to see these guys even step foot on a major league field. The NBA does the draft the best in my opinion (though I do miss the coverage being on TNT, not fond of ESPN's coverage). My first draft was 1992, I don't know what possibly caught the attention of my then 7 year old eyes but I was glued and it became a tradition to watch it all. From the first to last pick. Since 92, I've only missed watching one draft the Amare/Yao 02 draft, because I was called in to work (I would usually request draft day off....yes I'm a nerd,lol). My favorite draft day memory was the 93 draft. I'll never forget being so excited at seeing this

Shaq/Webber...the Ultimate team, and then just like that  this happened

I was ENRAGED. How could my Magic do this to me?? I was a kid at the time and had no clue who Anfernee Hardaway was and was in near tears that my dream team of Shaq/Webber was just that...a dream. Of course this trade allowed me to find out who "Penny" was and eventually I warmed up to him and he became my guy and my favorite player of all time. That is what makes the draft great, the drama, the big shakeups, big trades, and the beginning of seeing future All Stars and Hall Of Famers start their journey to greatness. You can't beat it.

What your favorite draft day memories throughout the years? Feel free to post em here!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #43 2008 Playoff National Treasures All Pros Trios Prime Barry Sanders/Emmitt Smith/Jerry Rice

 

Just a beautiful triple patch card period. That's all I can say when I see this card. Playoff's answer to Upper Deck's higher end products Ultimate Collection and Exquisite was National Treasures and when you can make awesome cards like the one here at #43, you're bound to win some fans over. It's the perfect storm of a card, you take a high end patch set, combine with arguably three of the best football players of all time and then add in sweet multi-colored patches (well The Emmitt is solid blue) and you got yourself a winner. This card is numbered to 25 copies (mine is 2/25) to boot. Just a lovely card and I can't repeat how much I love the player selection. Emmitt, Barry, and Jerry, just awesome. A hall of fame patch card of three Hall of Fame legends.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection-Honorable Mention-2002 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Sweet Spot Signatures Ken Griffey Jr

 

Here's the 3rd of my Griffey autos. I really had a difficult time picking a Griffey auto to make the top 100 countdown and came really close to having two, since I really love the Sweet Spot Signature concept. Autographs on a simulated piece of baseball. Very cool idea indeed. Of course as I stated in the previous post, the biggest reason I chose the other Griffey auto was that I pulled it out of a pack, whereas this came where the majority of my collection came from....Ebay. BGS actually not only graded the card but the autograph as well (autograph grade is a 9). The scan is bad, but it really is a nice card and definitely a very close 2nd as far as favorite Griffey autographs go.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #44 2003 Upper Deck Signed Game Jerseys Ken Griffey Jr

 

As I have stated before, Ken Griffey Jr is my all time favorite baseball player. I have 3 certified autographs of him (one that I showed in yesterday's Father's Day post) and out of those 3 this is my favorite one for the simple reason in that I pulled out of a pack on my birthday weekend. My birthday fell on a Friday and there was a card show that Sunday, and I bought a couple packs of 2003 Upper Deck series one. When I got home and ripped open the packs I was shocked to see a.....redemption card actually. Yep, I pulled a redemption card for an autographed Game Jersey Card of Ken Griffey Jr. I was still excited of course, cause I didn't have a Griffey auto before this, but I've always been nervous about redemptions and how long they take to arrive. I waited...and waited...and waited..finally a few months passed by and I FINALLY received it, but it was definitely worth the wait. Griffey has such a nice full signature, and this is an on-card auto as well. It's numbered to 350 which is admittedly a little high, but it's the only on-card Griffey auto I have and also the only one I ever have pulled to this day, which makes it my favorite Griffey autograph in my collection and those are the reasons it cracks my Top 100 countdown.

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers out there!

 

There are plenty of father/son combos who have played professional sports, but my favorite is Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. Of course Ken Griffey Jr is my favorite baseball player of all time, but I think it's really cool that not only did his dad Ken Sr play baseball but towards the end of Griffey Sr. career he actually played with his son in Seattle. I couldn't imagine how Griffey felt, watching his dad succeed in the majors and not only following in his footsteps but actually becoming a teammate of his dads. That's pretty awesome. I'd like to wish every father out there a Happy Father's Day, enjoy your day because you deserve it!

This Week's Mail

Pretty light on the mail front this week, I did add another nice jersey to the game used collection. Here's what I got in this week.

96-97 Flair Showcase Row 0 Shaquille O'Neal
The Flair Showcase parallels are one of my favorite insert sets ever and since I was on a little bit of a Shaq kick, I went ahead and picked up this beauty.

96-97 Skybox Z-Force Big Men on the Court Shaquille O'Neal
This is probably my #1 favorite insert set of all time. Still on the Shaq kick, I saw this and had to have it, I'll probably never get the Jordan so it's so pricey, but this was within my reason and gladly add this to my Shaq collection.

That's it on the card front and I was able to add this to my game used collection

This is a 2010 game used jersey of Yovani Gallardo that he used during the HR Derby Festivities. It's MLB Authenticated. Very cool and unique piece to add to my collection.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #45 03-04 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics LeBron James

Yes I am welllllll aware of what a horrible Finals LeBron James had, and the way he carried himself throughout the Finals from the mocking of Dirk to the whole "people will have to go back their normal lives" debacle, I don't condone any of this. LeBron James isn't exactly Mr. Popularity right now, and though he still needs to grow up, there's no doubt that at 26 years old, more than likely he still has a lot of great basketball left in him, and hopefully he'll use this season and learn from the mistakes he made (there's a good chance he won't of course). Still LeBron might suffer a setback in the  hobby, but the bottom line is he's too talented to stay down for long, and his cards will always be coveted by basketball collectors. Enter card #45 in my countdown. This is a cool card because not only is it from LeBron's rookie season, but the swatch is extra cool and unique. You see, it's not from a typical photo shoot used jersey, no sir, it's actually from a game used high school jersey that LeBron wore. It's that reason that I put this on my countdown. There are plenty of cards that feature game used NBA jerseys or rookie photo jerseys but this one of only 2 that I can recall off the top of my head that features a piece of high school jersey (the other being the 03-04 UD Top Propsects School Colors). Definitely a different spin on game used and kudos to UD for not using a photo shoot jersey for this card and going the extra effort and securing a James game used jersey from his St Vincent-St Mary days. It was definitely a must have in my collection and I'm thankful I was able to win it off Ebay a couple years ago.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection-Honorable Mention Ultimate Collection Dual Patch Gold Albert Pujols/Scott Rolen

 

Here's a look at a nice Pujols card that didn't quite make the countdown. It's a dual patch card from Ultimate Collection. This card features two very nice multi-color patches of not only Albert Pujols but also of Scott Rolen. The regular dual patch version are numbered to 99, this is the gold one numbered to 35. Anytime you get a card with multi-color patches it's awesome, especially when it's a star like Pujols. This card definitely gained consideration into the countdown, but ultimately came up short when I finally compiled my final list. Still, it's the best Pujols game used card in my collection and definitely worth showcasing.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection-#46 2001 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Rookie Premiere Materials Albert Pujols RC

 

There are so many things I love about this card. First and foremost it's a higher end rookie card of probably the best player in the game today. Pujols rookies are pretty pricey, and though this is not his best rookie card, it's still up there as one his nicer rookies. At first you might think "why are you so excited when it contains a piece of game used BASE"? It's true, bases along with balls are probably not the best choice of game used memorabilia, but what makes this standout to me in my opinion is that this piece of base comes from a fairly significant game in Pujols career. As stated on the back, the piece of base comes from the game Albert Pujols had his 1st career hit. What I love about this card is that it gives specific game details unlike the generic LOA we see on the back of cards today. I think it's really cool that the base has great meaning, I mean a card that has genuine memorabilia from the game a future hall of famer collected his first major league hit is beyond cool. Even if it's just a base, it still ties to a historic moment in the career of Albert Pujols not to mention it doubles as a rookie card. These cards are numbered to 700 so though they aren't scarce, they aren't in readily supply either. Pujols is about to get probably the biggest contract in baseball next season, and this card has a piece of history that was there in the beginning.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection-Honorable Mention 98-99 SP Authentic Dirk Nowitzki RC

 

Thought it would be the appropriate time to show off Dirk's best rookie card in light of the Dallas Mavericks winning their first NBA Championship and Dirk taking home MVP honors. For Dirk, even though in my eyes he's always been one of the greatest to ever play the game, many felt this championship forever cemented his legacy and now puts him up there in the elite of elite NBA players. Who would've thought back in 1998 when the Bucks drafted him then shipped him off to Dallas in a draft day swap for Robert Tractor Traylor, that Dirk would become not only a star, but the best European player ever to play in the NBA. This card probably had little fan fare when it was first released, I'm sure people were chasing Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, even Mike Bibby, Jason Williams, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison and Raef LaFrentz before they even though twice about this card. Even when Dirk established himself as a legit star, this card always played third fiddle to the scorching hot Vince Carter, and to an extent Paul Pierce. Well no longer, as there is no doubt in my mind that this is the cornerstone of the SP Authentic set. This was a groundbreaking set at the time, as this along with SPX-Finite actually serial numbered their rookie cards thus creating high demand for these rookie cards. The SP Authentic rookies are serial numbered to 3500, which seems like a lot these days, but in 98-99 they were pretty scarce and these cards sold like hotcakes. Title or not, this card was always in consideration for my countdown just one of the casualties of the numbers game. I'm glad this card is getting the respect it deserves and looking at the prices on EBay, I'm glad I got mine a couple years ago and didn't wait till now!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection-#47 2004 Leaf Limited Limited Threads Patch/Auto Roger Staubach

Time to resume countdown and here at #47 is a great looking card from Leaf Limited. This is Roger Staubach's 2nd card on the countdown and it's a sweet autograph patch card numbered to 25. I really like the look of this card and this definitely looks better in person than the scan shows. The patch is solid blue and it's a sticker auto which always in my opinion loses a little luster, but being one of the greatest Cowboy quarterbacks of all time definitely makes up for it. Undoubtedly my favorite Staubach in my collection hands down.

Congrats to the Dallas Mavericks!! NBA CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!

 

What an UNBELIEVABLE run!! The Dallas Mavericks are NBA CHAMPIONS and they not only deserved it they EARNED IT. This in my opinion was the best run I have EVER seen. This team was not supposed to get past a deep Portland team, yet not only did they do that, they DOMINATED AND SWEPT Kobe and the Lakers, beat the young Thunder in 5, and just totally outplayed the Heat and seriously damaged the credibility and legacy of LeBron James. Dirk has forever shed the soft and choker label, that can be passed to good ol King James now. I am so proud of Dirk and the Mavs. What a great series!! The Mavs played TEAM basketball when it mattered, everybody stepped up when need be and came together and believed in themselves. That's how YOU win a title! You don't need a superteam to win NBA titles, Dirk just proved that. Miami will more than likely will be back, no doubt, and despite losing, they were able to make the Finals in their first year together, but LeBron's smugness and terrible play really turned me off, Wade's bitching and him and James mocking Dirk, really turned me off as well, cause Dirk ran CIRCLES around them. Congrats again to the Dallas Mavericks, NBA Champions of the World, and no one can take that away!!

Celebrating Shaq: Grand Finale Shaquille O'Neal 08-09 Phoenix Suns Game Used Jersey

In the grand scheme of things I don't have a real deep Shaq collection, only a couple autos, one patch card, nothing really huge, but the cornerstone of my Shaq collection is pretty damn awesome in my opinion. This is a home game used Phoenix Suns jersey from the 08-09 season of Shaq. I won this from Grey Flannel's Winter Auction of 2010. It's also game dated to April 3rd 2009 against the Sacremento Kings. This jersey originally belonged to Upper Deck as well, so I guess it was a jersey they were planning on using for game used cards it seems. Cards are awesome of course, but having a game used item is that much sweeter, brings you that much closer to the game. This jersey is larger than life, just like Shaq's career, and I'm lucky enough to own this. This concludes the Celebration of Shaq's career through my memorabilia and card collection. Hope you enjoyed seeing what I have to offer and once again thanks Shaq, for not only entertaining all fans throughout your career but personally for being a huge inspiration for being in this hobby that I love so much.

This Week's Mail

Here's what I got in this week's mail

 

2001 UD Legends of New York Red Rolfe Jersey Card

First up is a game used jersey of Red Rolfe, old time Yankee player. Love the pinstripe portion of the jersey and I like adding memorabilia of old players who don't have much out there.

98-99 Upper Deck Game Jerseys Shaquille O'Neal

Well it was Shaq tribute week and I felt it was fitting to pick up this gem. It's known, but I'll beat a dead horse that I LOVE earlier game used jersey sets, especially the ones put out by Upper Deck in the late 90's. This is a nice yellow swatch off a Lakers jersey worn by Shaq.

Famous Fabrics First Edition Nameplates Michael Irvin

Ah yes, Famous Fabrics makes an appearance this week. I'm a huge Cowboy fan, and this card was pretty cheap in my opinion, of course a big part of that is that it's unlicensed and there are no pics of the player featured on the card, but I still love this card. It's the 2nd letter I from a game used Michael Irvin jersey. Great addtion to my Cowboy collection.

I also added a couple of nice additions to the game used collection

2005 Carlos Beltran Game Used Bat

1st up is the 7th game used bat that I have added to my collection. This one came off Ebay from Ball Park Heroes and it's a nicely used Carlos Beltran Game Used Bat from 2005. Very cool.

2010 Rajai Davis Jackie Robinson Day Game Used Jersey (MLB Authenticated) 

And last but not least, my first baseball game used jersey. This is cool because a)it was used for the Jackie Robinson day and b)it shows great use, dirt stains are shown galore. Awesome addition to my game used collection.