2023 Leaf Draft Football

Here's something I must have unearthed from one of those repack boxes, as there's no chance I'd intentionally buy a modern Leaf product. This is another one of those unlicensed college football draft sets, similar to recent Sage products.

35 - Jaheim Bell Gold - It's a short and sweet pack as we open up with a gold parallel. Bell was a 7th round pick who currently plays for the Patriots.

92 - Jaren Hall Red - This one is a red parallel from a Quarterback Kings subset. It feels very Panini to me. Hall started at BYU for two seasons and made a couple of starts with the Minnesota Vikings in his first pro season.

21 - Deuce Vaughn - Vaughn was a 6th round pick out of Kansas State and has primarily been a third stringer with the Dallas Cowboys as a pro. Those teams have pretty similar looking uniforms.

29 - Stetson Bennett - Bennett is the one guy I'd heard of in this pack, which makes sense because he was a part of the Georgia Bulldogs back-to-back title runs earlier this decade. He was drafted by the Rams but hasn't gotten into a regular season game yet.

53 - Jalin Hyatt - I'm not sure what makes Hyatt a "Leaf X Rookie" or whatever that logo is trying to tell us, but he started 7 games with the Giants during his rookie season after playing college ball at Tennessee.

2025 Topps Series 2 Retail

Greetings!

Hope everyone is enjoying America's 249th birthday.  Ol' Jafronius has nothing planned except for beating the heat; The Wifey and the youngest are in Arizona visiting her sister, while the oldest is helping his grandfather clean out one of his storage sheds.  But I hope you all had some fun and relaxation today!

Topps Series 2 was released back on June 11.  I saw all the online posts pop up, but I didn't have the yearning to immediately go out and try to find some.  I did find some time a week or so ago and grabbed a couple of fat packs and this loose pack.  $3.50 for 14 cards; let's see what I got:

#451 - Kyle Tucker

#412 - Josh Rojas

Nice to start out with the Cubs' All Star Starter.  If the Cubs are going to be active towards the trade deadline, they have to be active in trying to sign Tucker to a new contract.

And why is he called "King Tuck?"  Apparently there's a rapper who goes by King Tuck, but that has nothing to do with Kyle.  It should be Friar Tuck...maybe that will be his nickname if he ever goes to the Padres.

#615 - Mike Burrows (RC)

#586 - Anthony Santander

There's 350 cards in Series 2, with the usual mix of short prints and parallels and inserts.  Here's the checklist if you need it.

#445 - Joey Estes

#371 - Edward Cabrera

#694 - Yariel Rodríguez

#634 - Grant Holman (RC)

Yariel's wearing the alternate red Blue Jays jersey, usually worn on Canada Day (but not always?).  However, Toronto did play Houston on July 1, 2024, and Rodriguez took the loss.  See, Ol' Jafronius can track down the game the photo came from with the best of them!

#540 - Brayan Bello

#356 - Harrison Bader

Time for the inserts!  USA!  USA!

#90B2-21 - Alec Bohm (1990 Topps)

#SMLB-50 - Oneil Cruz (Stars of MLB)

I believe the odds in getting the 1990 Topps card is 1 in 8 packs.  I like the 1990 set; coming after 2 consecutive average card designs, all those colors was a pleasant surprise.  It's like the 1975 Topps of my generation!

As usual, you get one Stars of MLB card in each pack.

#513 - Edgardo Henriquez (RC)

#479 - Mickey Moniak

We end on a nice Moniak slide, similar to Mike Trout's 2015 Topps card.

Here are some backs because 'Murica!

Anyway, that's the pack.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend, and thanks for reading!

2024 Topps Allen & Ginter Value Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final are in full swing.  I'm thinking OKC in six, but if the Pacers win I won't have an issue with that.  Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers are a win away from going back to back, but a Canadian team hasn't won since 1993, so why not root for Edmonton?

Hey, haven't we seen this before?  Well, I had this pack scanned and sitting in my Folder when it was posted.  I still had the pictures, so why not share?

7 bucks for 14 cards.  Let's see what I got:

#74 - Ketel Marte

#12 - MacKenzie Gore

I think the blogosphere wasn't a fan of the design overall.  It didn't seem way too off base compared to prior years, but then again I'm only an occasional A&G collector, so what do I know?

#45 - Matt Olson

#139 - Jorge Soler

There's 350 cards in the set, comprising of veterans, rookies, legends, and special guest stars.  Here's the checklist if you need it.

#102 - Torii Hunter

#126 - Thurman Munson

A couple of legends here.  Big fan of Hunter's game.

#268 - Nicky Cass

#157 - Sonny Gray

Yeah, I had to look up who Nicky Cass was.  Can't say I remember seeing a video of his (I'm not on Tik Tok and rarely use Instagram), but good for him.

#252 - Ted Williams 

#320 - Alex Bregman (mini Gold Border)

The base Bregman would be a short print, so I guess this is a mini short print?  And it's Gold...GOLD!

#GTI-17 Cedar Wood (Got The Itch)

#348 Jack Flaherty

Looks like the odds for the Got The Itch minis are 1 in 52 packs.  It did smell like wood but I'm not up on my trees, so I'll have to trust them when they say it's cedar.  

The last 50 cards in the set are short prints, so yay, I got one!

#BUZ-2 - Honey Bee (Buzzin')

#SOS-30 - Comet (Stars of the Show - The Westminster Kennel Club)

Your odds of running into a bee are 1 in 3 packs, while the odds of finding a pooch was 1 in 4 packs.

Here are some backs because Finals:

Anyway, that's the pack.  You know what you're getting with A&G, so there's no need to get any if you're not a fan.

Hope those who are daddies had a great Father's Day, and thanks for reading!

1992 SkyBox Pre-Rookie AAA Baseball

 

Several years into the rookie card explosion, a few people tried to make the whole concept of a "Pre-Rookie" card a thing. On some level, it makes sense. Rookie cards = magic (for some reason), so why not throw some shine on cards of players before they hit the bigs. Beckett even debuted a magazine dedicated to minor league and college prospect cards around this time. It never really took off in the way that they expecting, I suppose. In any case, here's an old pack of 'Pre-Rookie' branded minor league cards that I ended up with in a recent repack box.

38 - Tom Kramer - These are very similar in design to the previous year's Line Drive sets, only with a new brand name.

27 - Tom Kramer - No relation to Randy as far as I can tell. Here's a glance at the back of these cards. The major league logo is a nice touch for us team collectors that are out there.

165 - Paul Quantrill - Quantrill had one of the better careers of any of the guys you'll see in this pack. He's a former All-Star, a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and is the father of current Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill.

140 - Todd Burns - I wonder how many times he's heard the Boo-urns joke from the Simpsons?

194 - Rob Wassenaar - The first Portland Beaver (RIP) of the pack. Not bad.

74 - Chris Beasley - The back of the card tells us that Beasley "enjoys baseball card collecting" which, of course, had really taken off by this point.

292 - Derek Bell - I know I've seen a fair amount of this set, but I don't recall seeing the batting champ logo before. It has a very early '90s banking look to it.

281 - Chris Cron - Cron is the father of 2022 All-Star C.J. Cron and has another son (Kevin) who spent some time with the D-Backs.

239 - Reggie Harris - Comin' right at 'cha!

259 - Steve Carter - Well, I just learned that a mud hen is a slang term for a particular bird that looks rather duck-like but isn't actually a duck.

211 - Arthur Rhodes - Rhodes won a ring with the Cardinals in 2011 at the end of a long career as a valuable late-inning reliever.

121 - Dan Walters

268 - Rich Rowland - Here's another coot!

252 - Eric Hillman - One of my early childhood baseball memories was watching Dwight Gooden's Tidewater Tides winning the inaugural (and short-lived) Triple-A World Series. The Portland Beavers won the PCL that season and were among the participants. I just remember how strange it was to see minor league baseball on TV.

184 - J.T. Bruett - Here's the second (and last) Beavers card of the pack. For a team that changed major league affiliations multiple times in my youth, it was still fun getting familiar with all of the future major leaguers.

2024-25 Panini NBA Hoops Value Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  We're right in the middle of the NBA Playoffs, and it's been quite surprising so far.  The Lakers didn't benefit from that stunning Luka Doncic trade, injuries to Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum resulted in early exits for the Warriors and Celtics, Damian Lillard's long-term injury may lead to Giannis leaving Milwaukee, and Aaron Gordon had two game winners.  

Now there's a realistic possibility that the Finals could be between those TV-rating powerhouses, Indiana and Oklahoma!  Playoffs!

NBA Hoops was released back in January, but I didn't see it in the big box stores till about a month ago.  Kinda embarrassing when the poster boy's no longer wearing the same uniform when packs are popping up in stores.  Sure no one saw the trade coming, but I still think the visual would sting less if the set was released at the start of the NBA season.

30 cards for seven bucks.  Let's see what I got:

#77 - Derrick White

#273 - Nikola Durisic (RC)

#120 - Spencer Dinwiddie

#278 - Harrison Ingram (RC)

We start off with a nice shot of Derrick White's drive to the basket.  Hoops still uses the small transaction text to denote the change in teams.  I kinda like that more that photoshopping a new uniform on.

#296 - Shaquille O’Neal

#248 - Tristan da Silva (RC)

#44 - Kyle Anderson

#263 - Tyler Smith (RC)

Shaq shows up on the Hoops Tribute subset.  I'm cool with tributes, but I get confused if a current player or Rookie appears in it.  Tribute implies honoring a legendary player.  Nikola Jokic will be legendary, but not yet.

#112 - Kelly Oubre Jr.

#207 - Josh Hart 

#228 - Dereck Lively II

#223 - Naz Reid

There's 300 cards in the set.  Rookies start at #231 and Hoops Tribute starts at #281.  Here's the checklist if you're interested.

#113 - Jaren Jackson Jr.

#91 - De’Andre Hunter

#103 - Brook Lopez

#197 - Bol Bol

I personally enjoy the Hoops and Donruss releases because the pictures taken are from games, so there's a chance of showing other players on the card.  Panini has too many chromey single player sets.

And, common, it's Bol Bol!

#59 - Andrew Wiggins

#217 - Josh Giddey

#72 - Taylor Hendricks

#214 - Jimmy Butler

Yes, white lettering on a yellow background is real hard on the eyes.  And that game winner from Josh Giddey will live in Bulls fans' memories forever!

#50 - Keyonte George

#80 - DeMar DeRozan

#94 - Franz Wagner

#74 - Norman Powell

While DeMar has moved on to the Kings, his back-to-back buzzer beaters from 2021 and 2022 will also live forever in the minds of Bulls fans.

#149 - Miles Bridges

#118 - Gary Trent Jr. (Purple Parallel)

#222 - Duncan Robinson (Teal Explosion Parallel)

#6 - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Pure Players)

There's so many parallels, I'm only guessing on these 2.  They're not numbered, so there's that.  Newly minted MVP SGA has his Thunder up 2-0 on the Timberwolves.

#2 - Johnny Furphy (Arriving Now)

#51 - Donte DiVincenzo (Base Premium)

Last card in the pack is what I think they call a Base Premium.  It could also be an Opti-Chrome card, who knows.

Here's some backs because Memorial Day:

How exciting.

Anyway, that's the pack.  Hoops is usually a solid release and overall, it doesn't disappoint.  Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend everyone, and thanks for reading!