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 Andrew3 Comments

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

Oh Captain, My Captain: The 1984-85 Topps Steve Yzerman rookie

Hockey was the last of the four major North American sports that I got into as a kid. I was probably about 12 or 13 when I started to follow the game, which means I was coming in about 1994, which just so happened to be the dawn of a bit of a golden era… Read More Oh Captain, My Captain: The 1984-85 Topps Steve Yzerman rookie

November 3, 2020 AndrewLeave a comment

Blast From the Packs: How I use eBay to buy sports cards

I won’t pretend to be an expert on using eBay, but I’ve been successful in the last month or so tracking down affordable boxes of old sports cards; grab bags of random packs of sports cards; and single cards of favorite players, including rookie cards (actually, they’ve mostly been rookie cards). I’ve learned a few… Read More Blast From the Packs: How I use eBay to buy sports cards

October 21, 2020October 21, 2020 Andrew1 Comment

I hate/love the trading card industry: A two-sided essay

When I started this little experiment in purchasing sports cards from my past off eBay as a way to spur my writing muscles awake from a much-too-long slumber, I said to myself, “this isn’t going to be a big new hobby, it’s more of a writing exercise. Besides, I can’t even afford to buy cards… Read More I hate/love the trading card industry: A two-sided essay

October 18, 2020October 19, 2020 Andrew4 Comments

What’s in the box? Checking out a Fairfield repack

Have you ever seen something like this in the trading card section or the toy section of a store and wondered what the hell it is? It’s usually between 5 and 20 bucks, and it purports to have a certain number of cards (usually between 30 and 80) and a pack or two, and sometimes… Read More What’s in the box? Checking out a Fairfield repack

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 AndrewLeave a comment

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