Buried in Score

One of my favorite hockey sets to be released since I returned to collecting in 2007 is the 2013-14 Score set from Panini.  I like the simplistic design, and the photography is top notch, easily on par with the Upper Deck flagship sets.  I'm not much of a set collector these days, but I enjoy this one enough that I've actually been passively working away at completing it for the past five years or so now.

The set is fairly large by hockey standards, with a checklist 650 cards deep, with another 100 "update" cards printed in 2013-14 Rookie Anthology for a full set size of 750 cards.

Many months ago my buddy Douglas of Sports Cards from the Dollar Store sent me a whopping package that contained literally hundreds of needs for my set!  There's no excuse for taking as long as I did to post a proper thank you, but the one I'm going with anyway is that I've been insanely busy and it took me forever to scan, crop and inventory the sheer number of cards I received.

I picked out a subset to share here in this post, and I think you'll get an idea for just how great the photography is if you're not familiar with the set.

Towards the end of the checklist there's a Season Highlights subset featuring notable moments from the season prior.  This is something I really appreciate, and that I wish we'd see more of in modern sets.  I've always enjoyed cards that can be anchored to an exact moment or milestone.

I'd have to say that my personal favorite from this batch is the RC of one of my current favorite NHL players, Vladimir Tarasenko.  This is one I'd always hoped to pull from a pack myself, but never managed to.  So nice having a friend like Douglas to cross this one off my list for me.

Another notable rookie!

As I mentioned above, I simply love the variation in the photographs that Panini chose for this set.  I can't think of too many other face-off shots in my hockey card collection that are cropped this closely and give you such a good idea of the intensity involved in the draw.

Another great shot here, look how many youngsters are having the time of their lives here in Buffalo.

The team leaders cards are done in an interesting fashion, featuring head shots of the top players for each club.

Here's another interesting one from the Season Highlights subset.  Hard not to admire a 24-game unbeaten streak!  Not surprising that the 'Hawks went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2013.

Getting just about any card of Sid the Kid in trade is significant, but I especially love the jubilant celebration on this one.

Seems I selected just about every Season Highlight card in Douglas' package to show off here today.  I'm starting to think I would have enjoyed an entire set comprised entirely of these.

Celebration shots run rampant throughout the checklist.  Here's not one...

...not two...

...not three (hat trick!)...

...not four...

...not five...

...but six that I randomly chose to give you an idea.  Without putting in the effort to confirm it, my guess would be that there are more goal celebration cards in this set than in any other hockey set out there.

Here's another photograph I really enjoyed.  You don't get to see the faces of goaltenders all that often, and I like the pensive look on Chris Mason's face here.

The checklist is chock full of oddities like these.  I'll confess that I don't purchase too many modern hockey cards these days, but with that being said I think this might be the only one I have featuring the Stars' pre-game intro...

...and this might be the only one featuring a player tossing a puck to the fans.

From player entrances...

...to candid pre-game warm-up shots...

...to some of the best players the game has ever seen, this set truly has it all.

This post is starting to run a bit long in terms of number of images so I'll wrap it up here with a 400th goal...

...a 1,000th assist...

...and another great pre-game intro shot.

Douglas, thanks so much for these fantastic and much-appreciated cards!  My apologies that it took me so long to get to them, but that's not a reflection of how much I enjoyed them whatsoever.

This giant lot brought me all the way up to 602 out of 650 cards in the base set, or 92.6%!  What's more, I received a follow-up package from Douglas not long after that brought me even closer to completion.  I'll be featuring those next.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

My Latest Mbappe

Just a quick post tonight featuring three new soccer cards for my humble collection of the sport.

The first two cards were throw-ins that came packaged along with the third card, an eBay purchase.  This is my first card of mid-fielder Andreas Samaris, and also my first card from the 2016 Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase set.  Not a bad looking design at all I have to say.

I also received this Hyper Prizm parallel from the 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup set that I've been rabidly collecting.  This one is much appreciated given that I may try to attempt a parallel franken-set of this 300-card release.

Here's the card that the first two came packaged along with.  Kylian Mbappe has been continuing his captivating play post-World Cup with Paris St Germain of France's Ligue 1.  In just two games with the team so far this season, he's already found the back of the net three times, despite the fact that in one of those two games he wasn't even subbed in until halftime!

Still just 19 years old, Kylian has already established himself as one of the best players on the planet.  This is my fourth card of his, and I think it might be my favorite so far as the Red & Blue Wave parallel matches France's country colors so well.  This one also pairs nicely with the Green & Orange Wave parallel that I posted on the day France won the World Cup.

Well, that's all for now, thanks for stopping by!

Buyback Franken-set: Dime Box Nick Edition

It wasn't all Red Sox cards in the last package I received from my friend Nick.  He tossed in a nice small lot of 7 buyback cards as well.  A good size lot for a post on an evening where I'm not feeling all that well, especially after a day of hauling furniture.  Let's crank through these and see how they fare when it comes to my buyback projects...

2012 Topps #646 - Francisco Cervelli

This one might be my favorite buyback from the grouping Nick sent this time around.  I like the shot of Cervelli in full catcher's gear during what I assume to be a post-game celebration.  Certainly looks much more aesthetically pleasing than the buyback I had in slot 646 prior:

A boring checklist card!  I do like how the 1990 Topps checklists broke the set out by team, then alphabetically by player last name within each team.  You know what's happening here...

...Cervelli bumps the checklist from the franken-set, and over into the dedicated 1990 Topps buyback binder.

1979 Topps #616 - Billy Almon

Billy Almon looks a little dejected on his 1979 release here, almost as though he just struck out.  I'm not all that familiar with Billy as a player to be honest.

Brian Holman, who went 11-11 as a starter for the Mariners in 1990, sits in slot 616 of the franken-set binder.  Same deal here, Almon takes up residence in that binder...

...bumping Holman over to the 1990 Topps set.  Really starting to pick up some steam with that secondary buyback project, even though I'm unsure whether completing this set in buyback format is even possible.

1978 Topps #449 - Tim Blackwell

Here's a nice Expos buyback, featuring catcher Tim Blackwell from 1978 Topps.  Blackwell actually spent 1978 with the Cubs though, having signed with them as a free agent in February of that year.  Does this one make the cut?

Well, I put this 1989 Carmelo Martinez buyback from Gavin into the franken-set binder just this past week.

Carmelo gets the bump already.  The franken-set binder is a tough place to take up residence, and this is certainly a prime example of that.  Just a few short days in the sun and Carmelo is off to the rejected buyback box.

1990 Topps #335 - Andy Hawkins

1990 was basically Andy Hawkins' last full season as a starter.  In 26 starts that year he went just 5-12 with an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00.  Still, a very cool buyback for me as it's my first #335, and as such fills an open pocket in the binder!

1990 Topps #202 - Mike MacFarlane

Keeping it rolling with the 1990 buybacks, next we've got Mike MacFarlane of the Royals.  Mike hit 24 doubles and drove in 58 runs for Kansas City in 1990.  He's got a tough match-up for the Buyback Franken-set though...

...in the form of a Ron Guidry 1978 Record Breaker subset card from 1979 Topps.  Easy choice here...

...as Guidry stays put and MacFarlane strengthens my 1990 buyback set even further.

1990 Topps #455 - Jeffrey Leonard

Next up, outfielder Jeffrey Leonard relaxing on a cool day by the batting cage.  1990 was the final year of Jeffrey's 14-season MLB career.  I like the casual pose here, as well as that interesting jacket.

The great Dontrelle Willis already calls pocket 455 of the franken-set binder home.  This one's got some good sentimental value for me, I remember Willis being a pretty big deal early in his career with his unique delivery to the plate.

Makes it an easy choice to leave Dontrelle in place and shift Leonard over to the 1990 binder.

1990 Topps #423 - Fred Toliver

Last card for tonight, pitcher Fred Toliver of the Padres.  Freddie actually didn't pitch in the Majors in 1990, 1991 or 1992.  He did make a brief return in 1993 for 12 games, the last of his MLB career.  Toliver has some competition for the franken-set project in the form of...

...Fred Toliver?!?!  Some collectors may find this frustrating, but I think it's ideal.  I'll leave this silver foil version in place in the franken-set binder...

...and shift the rarer blue foil version over into the 1990 Topps buyback set.

What a great and much-appreciated batch from Nick.  The franken-set was improved for sure thanks to these, but what I'm most excited about is the whopping five additions to my 1990 buyback set from this lot!  That puts me past 10% complete on that crazy quest, thanks Nick!!!

Franken-set Progress: 619/792 (78%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 83/792 (10%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 481
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,183