1992 BBM Japanese Baseball Card Pack

I saw a pack of 1992 BBM Japanese baseball cards for .99 cents and picked it up.  I did some googling to see who would be good players to get and Hideo Nomo was one of them.  Let's open it up and see who I got!

I like the design of the pack with the logos for all the teams.

There was some sort of insert as the first card in the pack which I couldn't figure out what it was for.  The best card so far is the Yoichi Okabayashi, as he made three Japanese All-Star teams.

The next four cards were for pretty average players, but I do love the photo on the Shinji Sasaoka card. 

The next three cards are also for some players I couldn't find much info on, and a checklist was included as well.

Here is the back of the card.  I wish I could read the Did you know section!

I had fun opening this pack as I have never seen any Japanese baseball cards in person.  They look pretty standard design wise, but keep a pretty clean and classic look.  If you are interested in purchasing some of these cards I'd recommend finding the best players and looking on www.comc.com.

Mail Day #1

My first mail day on the blog is for 3 cards I got online.  I got an Anthony Alford Bowman Inception 2016 auto, Arismendy Alcantara Topps Heritage 2014 auto and a Kris Bryant Topps National Baseball Card Day 2016.

My local card shop didn't participate in NBCD 2016, but I figured I might as well pick up the one card I was interested in for a couple dollars online.

The Alcantara is my first Topps Heritage autograph and I really do love the look of this card.  Topps Heritage autos are so cool looking on "vintage" paper stock and I hope to find more in the future.

Anthony Alford is currently no. 98 on MLB's Top 100 prospect list.  I hope he does well in the future and the card goes up in value.  Even if it doesn't, I love the look of these cards with the galaxy background.

Sports Card Collectors Contest Win!

I have entered a few contests on Sports Card Collectors blog and last week I won!  The card I won is a Topps 2016 Olympic autographed card of Holley Mangold.  What's awesome about this card is this is the Gold auto version numbered 14/15.  It's a really tough pull, but thanks to Sports Card Collectors I can add this to my personal collection.  Thanks again for the contest and be sure to visit the Sports Card Collectors website to enter more contests that are currently running!

Direct link to his contest page: http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_26.html

1 Pack of 2016 Topps Stadium Club

I picked up a pack of 2016 Topps Stadium Club and was pretty pleased with what I got.  The Ted Williams is such a nice looking card with a great photo, but the insert I got is the Gold ISO Metrics Adrian Beltre.  The gold version of ISO Metrics hits at 1 per case, so it was pretty cool to get it in one pack.

All of these are up for trade if anyone is interested.  I'm always on the lookout for Cubs cards. :)

Javier Baez - 2016 Topps Museum Collection Quad Relic

One of my current favorite cards is this Javier Baez Primary Pieces Quad Relic card.  Since the jersey has some dirt on it, it gives the relic some personality.  Also, I believe the blue swatch is from the "C" in the cubs logo.  It definitely has the feeling of a patch.

Relic cards are fun to collect as they are usually fairly cheap and I always try to keep an eye out for a nice patch or jersey swatch with dirt on it.

Trade Days #1 with Baseball Card Breakdown

I recently did a trade with Baseball Card Breakdown and traded away a few Andrew McCutchen, Paul Goldschmidt and Xander Bogaerts cards to him that he needed.  In return I got some cool custom Kris Bryant cards he made, a few vintage cards and a Diamond Kings Nolan Ryan.  Thanks again for the trade Gavin!

2016 Topps Archives

I picked up a 2016 Topps Archives Blaster box earlier this year and I wanted to show off a few cards from the packs that I liked a lot.  This year's Archives takes the 1953, 1979 and 1991 designs and puts them into the set.  Personally, I love the 1991 design as that was shortly after I began collecting baseball cards as a kid.  Seeing the new players in that design makes me feel pretty nostalgic in a good way.

I only was able to pull 2 Cubs players, but at least I got a couple of good ones.

Here are 2 inserts that I liked from the box.

Here are a few other players that were cool to get.

Unfortunately, I didn't get an autograph, but I did pull a blue Sandy Koufax out of 99, the short print Sandy Koufax, and the base to go along with it.  I was able to sell those 3 on eBay for the cost of the box, so it was nice to recoup the money and get some solid cards with it.

Kris Bryant - 2014 Bowman Rookie Card

Kris Bryant's first Bowman is a decent looking card.  I like the Bowman border, but the shot they chose to use for his card could be better.  I would have much preferred seeing a photo of him finishing a home run swing.

Kris Bryant cards are skyrocketing in value...but with a catch.  It either needs to be graded or an autograph.  Base rookie cards are going for about $4 or $5, which is good for collectors like me who can't afford expensive cards.  I also enjoy base rookie cards for their simplicity and easy collecting.  If you are interested in picking up some Kris Bryant rookie cards, Cardboard Connection has a really good article on how best to spend your dollar.

Anthony Rizzo - 2014 Donruss Relic Card

The purpose of this blog is to show interesting Cubs related items.  Whether it be baseball cards, autographs, art and other memorabilia that I own.  From time to time I will showcase other teams, players and random things I like, but predominately I'll stick with the Cubs for now.

My first card I want to show is a 2014 Donruss Anthony Rizzo relic card.  What I like about this card is the classic design and that I was able to get one with some dirt on the jersey.  I wish Donruss had the MLB team license, but overall this is still a nice "classic" looking card with a solid action shot.