2018 Bowman Mega Box Chrome

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Today's pack is 2018 Bowman Mega Box Chrome.  Yes, that 2018 Bowman Mega Box Chrome.  The one from the box exclusively sold at Target that some folks can't find because sometimes some card flipper buys all 30 boxes and puts it on eBay for $1,500.  Or 50 for $2,000.  You get the idea.

Anyway, about 2 and a half weeks ago I came across a fully stocked display at the Target toy section when I got in for my overnight remodel shift.  I was briefly concerned it would be all gone by the time I would be able to get a box but then I remembered it was overnight so the chances would be slim to none (I only say that because that same week some overnighters were fired and arrested for stealing, so I guess there's always a chance).

When the shift was over, the store just opened, so I went back to the section to claim my box.  It just so happened that I knew the employee manning Electronics that morning so I flagged him down and told him about the display.  Even though he doesn't collect (and is thus immune to Ohtani-fever), he knew immediately what that meant (i.e. Target exclusive Funko figures), so he pulled all but one and put the rest behind the Electronics counter with a note specifically saying one per customer.  He said he even fielded a call from an angry customer the day before demanding where the boxes were "because according to online sites we had them in stock".

I was pleased by my actions on behalf of the card collecting community and even more pleased that the boxes stayed behind the counter for the rest of the week and weekend.  Unfortunately, when I got in Sunday night all the boxes were moved over to the card aisle up at the checklanes.  The team leader at the checkout lanes wasn't around when I left so I couldn't let her know about the boxes...and when I got in Monday night, they were all gone.  I have no idea who decided to move the boxes up there; they obviously ignored the "one box per customer" note.

I can only hope that some true collectors were able to get a box before the card flippers cleaned us out.  But enough rambling:

You get 5 packs of Original Recipe 2018 Bowman and 2 packs for Mega Box Chrome for $15.  Here's the checklist.  I only scanned one of the packs so here's what I got:

#BCP13 - Sam Hilliard
#BCP120 - Nick Senzel

Hilliard is currently in AA for the Hartford Yard Goats.  July 8 is Yoga in the Park Day.  No idea if the Yard Goats will join in on the yoga fun, which apparently is a thing.

Senzel is currently in AAA for the Louisville Bats.  August 11 is Hulk Bobblehead Giveaway night.  I'm not seeing the relationship between the Hulk and the Bats but hey, bobbleheads are cool.

#BCP14 - Kyle Wright (#72/99)

The pull of the pack is this (I assume) Green base parallel which comes 1 out of 16 packs.  Kyle is currently in AA with the Mississippi Braves (boooorrrrring).

August 18 is Princess Night...I guess you need a cool minor league team name to get the cool theme nights.

#BCP107 - D.L. Hall
#BCP92 - Ryan Vilade

Hall currently plays for the class A Delmarva Shorebirds.  On August 17th, they're shooting a man out of a cannon!  He's done it before, but kids, don't try this at home.

Vilade is currently in class A's Asheville Tourists.  Apparently Asheville is the first minor league park to offer Thirsty Thursdays so they have that going for them.

Here are some backs:

Anyway, that's the pack.  Hope everyone has a good weekend, and thanks for reading!

1992 Pacific Major (Indoor) Soccer League

World Cup is going on in Russia and look what I picked up at the local card shop. I love the junk wax era. Major Indoor Soccer League started in 1978. They would change their name to Major Soccer League in 1990. By 1992 it was all over as the league would fold after the season. MISL would come back in 2008 lasting to 2014. There are 12 cards in this pack. Only player I heard of was Tatu from Dallas Sidekicks because he was profiled on Sports Illustrated Kids magazine way back then along with a card.

126 - Greg Muhr - good photo shots with player's name, team, and position. Back listed with games, goals, assists, points, penalty in minutes (I wonder what the rules are for the league), and game winning goals. I wish they would put a team logo on it. Despite showing 1990 it meant to be 1990-91 season.

140 - Gregg Willin

16 - Victor Nogueira - San Diego Sockers was the most dominant team in league history going to 8 MISL championships and winning 7 of them. The team won the last five championships before the league folded. The goalie was MVP in 1989 season along goalkeeper on the year three times.

12 - Gary Heale - lead the team in total points with 72

44 - Brad Smith

59 - Tim Wittman - Baltimore Blast is the only original team to play entire MISL 14 year existence but here's a catch. The team played in Houston in MISL inaugural season before moving to Baltimore the following season.

36 - Todd Strobeck

81 - Doc Lawson - last player from inaugural season to play ending his career after the 1990-91 season.

94 - Jan Goosens - one of top players in MISL. It was end of the road for Comets as they folded after 1990-91 season despite being one of teams of MISL inaugural season.

125 - Mark Frederickson

150 - Otto Orf - Cleveland Crunch finish the season on top of their division with with 29-23 record. Orf was at losing end of it with 13 losses and 4 wins.

Is indoor/arena soccer still a thing or the outdoors stadium style game taken over it? Who's watching the World Cup?

2017-18 Panini Essentials Value Pack

The NBA Draft is this week, which feels like a weird thing to say because the Finals just concluded. Panini keeps rolling out more NBA releases no matter what the calendar says. Here's a new one I just discovered.

EL-15 - Reggie Miller Essential Legends - The inserts and parallels were bunched up at the beginning of the pack, which is strange. They are all thicker than the base cards.

ES-10 - Karl-Anthony Towns Essential Stars - One of the bright young stars of the league.

154 - Kristaps Porzingis Orange - This is, I believe, a one per pack retail parallel which is also thicker than the base cards. Porzingis is probably hoping the Knicks will get him some help in the draft.

148 - Dirk Nowitzki - Here's what the base looks like. It's a pretty intense design, but I kind of like it.

147 - Pau Gasol - Here's a look at the back design. Like Dirk before him, Pau is another longtime veteran big man.

146 - Spencer Dinwiddie - Like the rest of the later Panini releases in this year's calendar, the cards show off the new Nike jerseys. It looks like they missed a few letters in 'Brooklyn'.

145 - Joel Embiid - I really like Embiid, but I'm not totally sure why.

144 - E'Twaun Moore

143 - Antonio Blakeney - I have no idea who Blakeney is, but he's a rookie and I didn't watch much of the Bulls this season. They're starting to turn into the Bucks, pre-Giannis days, to me.

60 - Stephen Curry - We all know this guy.

59 - John Wall

58 - Kyle Collinsworth - Another rook that I haven't heard of.

56 - Kyrie Irving - Irving carried the Celtics this season, got hurt, and then they carried on just fine without him.

57 - George Hill

55 - Elfrid Payton - I was happy to hear that Payton finally got this thing cut off his head recently.

2018 Topps Series 1 Miller Park Giveaway

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Back on Monday, The Wifey, the boys, and my mother in law took my father in law to General Mitchell International Airport; he was flying out of Milwaukee for a conference in New Jersey.  I didn't find out until the day after that while I was working and sleeping (preparing for the overnight working), after the gang dropped him off at the airport, they all decided to catch the Cubs - Brewers game at Miller Park.  Lucky them.

They didn't stay the whole game (my mother in law has a thing about leaving early if it's a blowout or if she gets worried about traffic), which is unfortunate for them.  However, they did enjoy rooting for the Cubbies among the Brew Crew fans.

While I was given their game recap, I was told the boys were given baseball cards when they got into the park.  I checked online later and didn't see that it was on the Brewers' official promotional list.  They gave me the cards so that I could post them for all to see...it's 2 promo packs of 2018 Topps Series 1!

They stayed til after the Sausage Race...the Chorizo won.

They were each given a clear package of 4 Topps Series 1 cards as well as a promo card for Topps Now and the upcoming National Baseball Card Day.  Here's what they got:

#40 - Carlos Santana
#346 - Max Scherzer (League Leaders)

As you can see, these are regular cards, nothing fancy about them.  I was kinda bummed about that, hoping they got some sort of Stadium exclusive release or something.

#231 - Joe Mauer
#144 - Jean Segura

The Mariners are in first place!

Here's pack two:

#164 - Adeiny Hechavarria
#20 - Chris Sale

#64 - Giancarlo Stanton (League Leaders)
#36 - Anthony Rendon

The Marlins aren't in first place!

Here are some backs, as well as the front and back of the promo card:

Anyway, those are the packs.  Series 2 was just released but APTBNL has kinda been going retro in recent months, so we're a little behind.  I should be rectifying that unless others beat me to it.  As always, thanks for reading!

2015-16 Panini Excalibur

We have a local retail variety chain in Oregon that has a sports cards section. Occasionally that section has some interesting older packs, which is where I came to find these Excalibur packs from a couple of years ago at what I assume is a discounted price. The NBA season may have come to a close, but we can still open a pack or two around here.

37 - Al-Farouq Aminu - First up is a guy from my team. The Blazers found Aminu at an affordable price when they were attempting to rebuild, and he became an integral part of the team. He probably could technically be classified as a 3&D guy, but he's not a very conventional player.

75 - Jabari Parker - There's no photo on the backs of these cards, and very little room for stats. The Bucks logo is hypnotizing, and somewhat frightening. Fear the deer, indeed.

69 - Reggie Jackson - Mr. October.

64 - C.J. Miles - I would always get C.J. Miles and C.J. Watson confused, though I think the latter might be out of the league now.

65 - John Wall Crusade - These very swanky Crusade inserts are almost worth the price of the pack themselves. I'm not sure if the pattern here is supposed to be a camo look or Atari 2600. Maybe a little of both?

193 - Richaun Holmes - Holmes in a back-up center for the young Sixers squad. Does that make him officially part of The Process?

138 - Vince Carter - I hope Vince never retires.

135 - Chandler Parsons - And we end things with a nice throwback jersey. One of the things I dislike about the new Nike deal with the NBA is that most teams seem to have abandoned the throwback concept.