Me, Hank, and the Mick: My first experience digging through a vintage sports card collection

It’s always fun when something unexpected and good pops up, right? Getting two flat tires in a week courtesy of screws laying in the road (which happened to me earlier this month), that’s unexpected and bad. Not fun. Getting a chance to look through someone’s vintage card collection for the first time (which happened to… Read More Me, Hank, and the Mick: My first experience digging through a vintage sports card collection

July 30, 2021July 30, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

Topps Project 70: Déjà vu, but better

Last year, Topps did a yearlong thing mixing art and baseball cards called Project 2020. The concept was that 20 artists from across the art/fashion/culture spectrum would be assigned 20 classic cards from the Topps catalog, and each artist would put their own artistic spin on reimagining those cards, and the resulting 400 pieces of… Read More Topps Project 70: Déjà vu, but better

March 22, 2021March 25, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

SportKings, Topps Gallery, and Panini Diamond Kings: Sports cards as art

When I was a young sports card collector, I didn’t really “get” the whole Donruss Diamond Kings thing. Diamond Kings was an insert in the Donruss baseball card sets with hand-drawn/painted images of some of the day’s most popular players. I always thought the drawings/paintings looked kinda lame, and the design of the cards was… Read More SportKings, Topps Gallery, and Panini Diamond Kings: Sports cards as art

February 23, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

2021 Topps baseball series 1: A base set to beat all base sets

I haven’t followed baseball all that closely the last several years, but for me there’s nothing quite like the time when the first baseball card sets of a season hit store shelves. There’s an excitement and a freshness that comes with a new baseball season that seems to exceed the excitement and freshness of all… Read More 2021 Topps baseball series 1: A base set to beat all base sets

February 21, 2021March 25, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

I hate/love Panini: A two-sided essay on the current king of sports cards

The weirdest thing to me about the modern sports card collecting industry, after having awakened from a 25-year slumber of sorts, is finding that an Italian sticker company previously unknown to the vast majority of American collectors had snuck in and taken over the hobby. I remember reading that Panini (like the sandwich?) had signed… Read More I hate/love Panini: A two-sided essay on the current king of sports cards

February 10, 2021May 19, 2021 Andrew1 Comment

Blast From the Packs: 2020 WWE Topps Finest

I wasn’t a pro wrestling fan as a little kid, but at some point in 1997 (I was 15ish), I was at my friend Casey’s house playing the newly released Nintendo 64 game WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. That was and is an absolutely amazing wrestling game to play with friends. We had so much… Read More Blast From the Packs: 2020 WWE Topps Finest

February 2, 2021April 2, 2021 Andrew1 Comment

Bernie mittens, #gamestonk, Topps and the zeitgeist

Topps is a pretty old company, but among its trading card manufacturing peers, it’s arguably the one with its finger most firmly on the pulse of the nation. Producing timely sets of cards for sports leagues, getting the first cards of rookie players in their new pro uniforms, or of traded players in their new… Read More Bernie mittens, #gamestonk, Topps and the zeitgeist

January 29, 2021January 29, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

The Legend of R.L. Stine’s Shirt: Opening a box of 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter

Around the time I started my journey of re-discovery in the world of sports cards in fall of 2020, I was talking to my best friend since childhood, Casey, about collecting. He’s been a lifelong collector of a lot of things: comic books, Magic: The Gathering cards, books, toys, video games, movies, and even sports… Read More The Legend of R.L. Stine’s Shirt: Opening a box of 2020 Topps Allen & Ginter

January 15, 2021January 15, 2021 Andrew1 Comment

Blast From the Packs: Too much Topps

This is a post I’ve been sitting on for a while. How do I write a blog post about the grandpappy of all trading card companies? Topps has been around since 1938, with roots in an earlier tobacco company founded in 1890. It’s either purchased and absorbed (Bowman) or defeated (Fleer) its oldest rivals. Panini… Read More Blast From the Packs: Too much Topps

December 17, 2020 Andrew3 Comments

The Singles Mixer: My favorite recent baseball purchases

I started the Blast From the Packs series to talk about my experiences opening actual packs of cards and essentially reviewing the sets they come from, but over the past month or so, the majority of my “allowance money” has been going toward purchasing single cards — colloquially referred to as singles — on eBay… Read More The Singles Mixer: My favorite recent baseball purchases

November 13, 2020April 30, 2021 AndrewLeave a comment

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