Strive For '65 Status Saturday: Pitching Leaders

STRIVE FOR '65 STATUS:
30 January 2016
Strive for '65 | 1965 Set Build | Master Want List

 Current card count: 247/598 (249/600) 41.6%

I don't expect this update to be a very long or exciting one. Oh this card that came is the last one I was expecting. One of the ones I thought was coming was one that the seller couldn't find so I was refunded on the "lost" one. That means it will be a long while before I have another one of these posts.

The Latest Additions:
Tuesday 26 Jan 2016: One card only.
10 NL Pitching Leaders: Larry Jackson Cubs, Juan Marichal Giants, Ray Sadecki Cardinals - VG off-center toward right (toward left on back)

Trading Thursday: End Of January

 TRADING THURSDAY:
End of January 2016

Trade Info | Master Want List | What I Collect

Not sure what will pop up this week. I do plan on updating old posts when cards get traded away or sold, or just plain gone from my collection. So far this experiment isn't getting any offers. I probably haven't shown anything that interests my two or three regular readers. I noticed I have lost some followers in recent days first it was down from 102 to 100 now it is down to 99. UGH! What did I do wrong?

I didn't press myself too much this past week or even last night (Wednesday) to get this done. So this installment isn't exciting at all. It will also not be linked as a "Previous Offerings" at the bottom. I still need to get into the habit of doing these I guess.

This Week's Offerings:

Yeah that says what it means.

I didn't grab anything specific, I still have a bit of brain freeze from the Blizzard of 2016. I didn't scan any tradebate so there is no specially featured cards for this one. I do have a bunch of Football and Basketball I could make some more recent team lots of, and I suppose I could also do some Hockey or Baseball team lots.

Previous Offerings: 

Previous posts/offers are listed here.

Experiment Number One: All 3 cards still available

CFL Trading: All lots still available

Strive For '65 Status Saturday: Been SportLotin'

STRIVE FOR '65 STATUS:
23 January 2016
Strive for '65 | 1965 Set Build | Master Want List

 Current card count: 246/598 (248/600) 41.5%

As I mentioned last status update post (the first of this kind of post sort of) I did some ordering on Sportlots. The first cards that came in (last Saturday of curse the day my last update was posted) were all from one dealer at $1.00 each. There were five more modern cards with them from the 2003 Topps Bazooka set, but that doesn't matter here for this post. This post and any later posts will only mention cards from the 1965 Set build, even if it was just one card from a box of thousands.

I will list the cards newest arrivals listed first and grouped as they came.

The Latest Additions:

Friday 22 Jan 2016: 7 cards from Canada
46 Bob Lee Angels VG
47 Tommy Harper Reds VG
52 Ed Roebuck Phillies VG
57 St. Louis Cardinals Team Card VG
74 Red Sox Rookie Stars: Rico Petrocelli and Jerry Stephenson VG
82 Braves Rookie Stars: Santos Alomar and John Braun VG
431 Cardinals Rooke Stars: Nelson Briles and Wayne Spiezio EX

Wednesday 20 Jan 2016: One '65 card only
60 Jim O'Toole Reds VG/EX

Tuesday 19 Jan 2016: Wow I tied my record for most packages received for a card mail day at 13 packages (3 bubble mailers, 10 PWEs). Not all had 1965 cards, but I got a total of 13 cards to add to this set. Most of the envelopes had 2 or 3 cards with 4 cards being the most cards in an envelope (that one had no '65s) So here we go for this day:

64 Lou Burdette Cubs EX/NM

4 NL 1964 Home Run Leaders: Willie Mays Giants, B. Williams Cubs, J Callison Phillies, D. Cepeda Giants, Jim Hart Giants VG/EX
209 Pittsburgh Pirates team card VG has crease

19 Gates Brown Tigers EX/NM

338 Philiadelphia Phillies team card VG/EX

83 George Thomas Tigers EX

173 Detroit Tigers team card VG Front blot thing right side, back very clean

29 Felix Mantilla Red Sox VG front has medium to dark gum stain, dent/ding indentation left side by team banner
78 Dal Maxvill Cardinals EX/NM
426 Milwaukee Braves Team Card EX Back off center on bottom part of a cartoon top is on right.

9 AL 1964 Pitching Leaders: Dean Chance Angels, Gary Peters White Sox, W. Bunker Orioles, J. Pizarro White Sox, D Wickersham Tigers Overall good offcenter to bottom some back has some pencil marks underlining all the Chicago players.

36 Bobby Wine Phillies Excellent front has some printing goof dots on players hat and a light printing streak line.

423 Jesse Gonder Mets - In Excellent shape

Received on Saturday 16 Jan 2016: One package 3 cards.

61 Chris Cannizzaro Mets (The guy whose name was misspelled, well missing the first name initial actually, on checklist no. 1 card 79 to make that variant)

151 Kansas City Athletics Team Card - Very off-center to the bottom edge, very noticeable on the back

234 Chicago White Sox Team Card

Trading Thursday: Experiment Number One

 TRADING THURSDAY:
Experiment Number One

Trade Info | Master Want List | What I Collect

I'm going to try to have a semi-regular installment of "Trading Thursday" where I post some cards I have available for trade/sale and sometimes just plain giveaway. I sort of started it last week with my listing of the CFL cards I need to offload. This is still sort of an experiment. All cards listed will be for trade and/or sale. All sale prices will be the delivered price I won't bother with pesky shipping charges.

I usually like trading one-for-one for the same sport but will trade for other sports on my want/needs lists. When dealing with Hits it is 1 hit-for-1 hit, or if one trader isn't trading a hit it is at least 2 base and/or inserts-for-1 hit.

Here is what I am putting up right now:

HOCKEY:  For Hockey Nut PuckHeads
Prefer trading for Capitals base,inserts or autos. NO Relics or Game/Event Used.

2006 Flair Showcase Stitches:

 Radek Bonk Canadiens GU all red

 Trade for Capitals

or Sale: $5.00

 2006 Flair Showcase Stitches:

Tony Amonte Flames GU all-white

  Trade for Capitals

or Sale: $5.00

BASEBALL:

2011 Topps Marquee Baseball: Monumental Markings

MM-APA Angel Pagan Mets Auto on-card  blue sharpie

# 168/570

 SALE ONLY: $10 or best offer

Previous Offerings: 

Previous posts/offers are listed here.

CFL Trading: 9 team lots + 1 lot of misprint cards averaging 11 cards per lot. At time of posting all team lots are available for trade or $5.00 per lot.

Strive For '65 Status: January 2016

STRIVE FOR '65 STATUS:

Mid January 2016

I figure if I start doing weekly  more frequent updates for this set build goal it will push me to be more active in pursuing it. It will also remind readers that I am desperately trying to complete this vintage set.

Currently the count sits at 222/598 (224/600) 37.5% The first count being the unique card count and the count in the parentheses is the count with the two variant cards. Checklist cards as it turns out.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from sportlots including some 1965 Topps Baseball. The '65 Topps cards were about half of the order 20some out of 40some. The conditions range from GOOD on up to EX/NM. Hopefully the lower graded ones don't have much writing on them if any. I didn't see any notations of markings. I hate ordering vintage cards blind (especially if I have to get checklists) which is why I was avoiding ordering any from sportlots in the first place. The prices for the '65s ranged from .24¢ to $3.50 with most averaging somewhere between .50¢ to about $1.00 In the batch I knocked out a few of the team cards. Still need a few teams like The Reds and Yankees.
 

Strive for '65 | 1965 Set Build | Master Want List

CFL Trading

If you follow this blog you remember that I fairly recently broke a box of 2015 Upper Deck CFL Football (Part 1, Part 2)

I am keeping the 3 Brandon Banks cards and the 9 Retro OPC cards. Plus one wrapper. I have traded the high-number cards away for some Redskins. The high-numbers included Defensive players, All-Stars and Star Rookies. The cards numbered over #100. The rest are for trade in team lots. Oh and I also have as noted from the break 13 miscut cards. The two copies of the checklist card #100 will go with the two teams of the players that are shown on the front (Tiger-Cats and Stampeders). Trades will be one-for-one. I am open to selling by team for $5/team. If anyone wants the box or wrappers I could give (freebie no trade necessary) those to whoever wants them.

ALOUETTES: 10 cards
11 S.J. Green
15 Fred Stamps
38 Johnathan Crompton
44 James Rodgers
56 Samuel Giguere
64 Cody Hoffman
70 Stefan Logan
82 Tryell Sutton
95 Jeff Perrett
98 Josh Bourke

ARGONAUTS: 10 cards
14 Vidal Hazelton
18 Chad Owens
22 Brandon Whitaker
27 Andre Durie (2)
80 Curtis Steele
84 Trevor Harris
91 Tyler Holmes
92 Chris Van Zeyl
93 Jeff Keeping

BLUE BOMBERS: 8 cards
23 Clarence Denmark
35 Cameron Marshall
53 Darvin Adams
59 Nick Moore
71 Paris Cotton (2)
87 Julian Feoli-Gudino
96 Stanley Bryant

ESKIMOS: 13 cards
7 Adarius Bowman
12 Nate Coehoorn
24 Jordan Lynch
40 Shakir Bell
42 Kendial Lawrence
48 Mike Reilly
51 Devon Bailey
57 Kenny Stafford
61 Wallace Miles
63 Matt Nichols
67 Chad Simpson
85 James Franklin
88 Cory Watson

LIONS: 9 cards
6 Austin Collie
13 Travis Lulay
17 Andrew Harris
28 A.C. Leonard
33 John Beck
39 Manny Arceneaux
58 Shawn Gore
79 Courtney Taylor
86 Marco Iannuzzi

REDBLACKS: 12 cards
19 Chevon Walker (2)
25 Henry Burris
45 Matt Carter (2)
47 Brad Sinopoli
52 Chris Williams
54 Ernest Jackson
55 Maurice Price
72 Jeremiah Johnson
74 Danny O'Brien
83 Greg Ellingson

ROUGHRIDERS: 15 cards
3 Weston Dressler
4 Chris Getzlaf
10 Anthoney Allen
26 Ryan Smith
30 Kevin Glenn
36 Jamel Richardson
41 Taj Smith
43 Jerome Messam
46 Rob Bagg (2)
68 Darian Durant
77 Brett Smith
99 Brendon LaBatte (2)
Game Jersey GJ-CK John Chick all-green swatch

STAMPEDERS: 10 cards
2 Jon Cornish
5 Bo Levi Mitchell
16 Drew Tate (2)
20 Jeff Fuller
49 Marquay McDaniel
60 Joe West
69 Tim Brown
94 Pierre Lavertu
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders

TIGER-CATS: 10 cards
8 Luke Tasker
21 Zach Collaros
31 Terrence Toliver
34 Terrell Sinkfield Jr.
37 Mossis Madu
50 Bakari Grant
76 Andy Fantuz
89 Tiquan Underwood
90 Peter Dyakowski
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders

MISCUTS:  13 cards
(these miscut cards had to be identified from player’s name using a checklist)
1 Ricky Ray Argonauts
9 Brian Brohm Blue Bombers
32 Anthony Coombs Argonauts
54 Ernest Jackson Redblacks
62 Rob Cote Stampeders
65 Nik Lewis Alouettes
66 C.J. Gable Tiger-Cats
73 Rory Kohlert Blue Bombers
75 Anthony Parker Stampeders
78 Drew Willy Blue Bombers
81 Eric Rogers Stampeders - no number can't even see first name
90 Peter Dyakowski Tiger-Cats
97 Jovan Olafioye Lions

Box and Wrappers: If anyone collects or wants the empty box and/or the wrappers I can send those to you. I am only keeping one wrapper. I opened all the wrappers from the bottom, most of them were opened carefully without major ripping, one wrapper didn't cooperate and is in pretty rough shape.

Post edited 19 Jan 2016.

Resolutions? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Resolutions!

I'm not a huge New Years resolutions maker. I don't like being one of those phonies that makes some fancy resolution only to fail 3 weeks later. Last year (2015) I had a sort of resolution/goal that went uncompleted my Strive for '65 Topps Baseball set build. Bummed that is not complete. It would have been great to have it done for when I wanted ON the 50th Anniversary. Now it is the 51st Anniversary will I get it completed? Who knows?

For this year (2016) I will continue to pursue that set build, plus from the 2015 Topps Archives Baseball I want at least the 10 Will Ferrell inserts. The base set not the super overpriced autograph versions but the regular base cards. An auto card would be great but I don't see those going for cheap. It seems the only people buying them are those that want to keep it, and those who want to sell it at a high-price. So what else is new? I don't want to spend more than about $5 per card and most of them I have been seeing for $8-10 minimum. So I need all ten of those: (WF-#) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 on my standard real cheap. On Ebay I bid on the A's card (WF-1) $2.99 + $3 shipping since I had planned on bidding on a partial set of the other 9.

Oh and I guess I should try to complete my 2003 Bazooka Joe subset.

I also have two ancient trade commitments maybe more, and three or four lingering promises of sending out contest winnings. So I need to try concentrating on those as well. I'd like to be able to occasionally send out some surprise packages and PWEs.

I really need to get my card hoard organized and put mostly in binders. That or any organizing will take sometime.

Update 05 Dec 2017 -

2015 Upper Deck CFL Football Box Break: Part 2

(Part 1)

Here is the pack-by-pack play-by-play Box Break of 2015 Upper Deck CFL Football: Part 2.

Box Break: Opened packs starting form bottom left stack working down top to bottom, then to bottom right stack working down top to bottom, then to top left stack working down top to bottom, and finally to top right stack working down top to bottom.

Pack 1: (7 cards including only box HIT)
156 All-Stars Clarence Denmark West Division Blue Bombers

Game Jersey GJ-CK John Chick Roughriders all-green swatch
63 Matt Nichols Eskimos
31 Terrence Toliver Tiger-Cats
43 Jerome Messam Roughriders
24 Jordan Lynch Eskimos
83 Greg Ellingson Reblacks

Pack 2:
138 Jerald Brown Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
51 Devon Bailey Eskimos
94 Pierre Lavertu Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 33 Ricky Foley Argonauts
56 Samuel Giguere Alouettes
34 Terrell Sinkfield Jr. Tiger-Cats

Pack 3:
Star Rookies: 189 David Beard Eskimos
White Blank Decoy
18 Chad Owens Argonauts
93 Jeff Keeping Argonauts
3 Weston Dressler Roughriders

29 Brandon Banks Tiger-Cats (Redskins NFL)
15 Fred Stamps Alouettes

Pack 4:
103 Trsitan Jackson Roughriders
74 Danny O'Brien Redblacks
52 Chris Williams Redblacks
O-Pee-Chee Retro 46 J.C. Sherritt Eskimos
44 James Rodgers Alouettes
72 Jeremiah Johnson Redblacks

Pack 5:

Star Rookies: 184 Jeff Mathews Tiger-Cats
White Blank Decoy
10 Anthoney Allen Roughriders
42 Kendial Lawrence Eskimos
14 Vidal Hazelton Argonauts
99 Brendon LaBatte Roughriders
46 Rob Bagg Roughriders

Pack 6:
All-Stars 158 Adam Bighill West Division Lions
White Blank Decoy
77 Brett Smith Roughriders
23 Clarence Denmark Blue Bombers
6 Austin Collie Lions
47 Brad Sinopoli Redblacks
92 Chris Van Zeyl Argonauts

Pack 7:
128 John Bowman Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
67 Chad Simpson Eskimos
28 A.C. Leonard Lions
59 Nick Moore Blue Bombers
38 Johnathan Crompton Alouettes
84 Trevor Harris Argonauts

Pack 8:

All-Stars Brandon Banks East Division Tiger-Cats
White Blank Decoy
57 Kenny Stafford Eskimos
91 Tyler Holmes Argonauts
O-Pee-Chee Retro 21 Chris Williams Redblacks
25 Henry Burris Redblacks
36 Jamel Richardson Roughriders

Pack 9:
146 Greg Jones Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
33 John Beck Lions
89 Tiquan Underwood Tiger-Cats
20 Jeff Fuller Stampeders
64 Cody Hoffman Alouettes
53 Darvin Adams Blue Bombers

Pack 10:
Star Rookies: 199 Kevin Elliott Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
82 Tryell Sutton Alouettes
70 Stefan Logan Alouettes
96 Stanley Bryant Blue Bombers
37 Mossis Madu Tiger-Cats
48 Mike Reilly Eskimos

Pack 11:
124 Swayze Waters Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
61 Wallace Miles Eskimos
95 Jeff Perrett Alouettes

O-Pee-Chee Retro 11 Chris Getzlaf Roughriders
39 Manny Arceneaux Lions
68 Darian Durant Roughriders

Pack 12:
All-Stars 174 Swayze Waters East Division Argonauts
White Blank Decoy
80 Curtis Steele Argonauts
12 Nate Coehoorn Eskimos
22 Brandon Whitaker Argonauts
69 Tim Brown Stampeders
13 Travis Lulay Lions

Pack 13:
Star Rookies: 176 Alex Mateas Redblacks
White Blank Decoy
87 Julian Feoli-Gudino Blue Bombers
5 Bo Levi Mitchell Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 39 Ted Laurent Tiger-Cats
45 Matt Carter Redblacks
71 Paris Cotton Blue Bombers

Pack 14:

119 Kyries Hebert Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
98 Josh Bourke Alouettes
85 James Franklin Eskimos
41 Taj Smith Roughriders
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders
19 Chevon Walker Redblacks

Pack 15:
132 Shea Emry Roughriders
White Blank Decoy
35 Cameron Marshall Blue Bombers
90 Peter Dyakowski Tiger-Cats
54 Ernest Jackson Redblacks
16 Drew Tate Stampeders
27 Andre Durie Argonauts

Pack 16:
114 Keon Raymond Stampeders
White Blank Decoy
Three miscut cards don't know card # (guessed using checklist)
?75? Anthony Parker Stampeders
?62? Rob Cote Stampeders
?9? Brian Brohm Blue Bombers
100 Checklist cards 1-100 Zac Collaros Tiger-Cats and Jon Cornish Stampeders (dupe)
19 Chevon Walker Redblacks

Pack 17:
All-Stars 162 Rob Maver West Division Stampeders
White Blank Decoy
Two Miscut cards
?78? Drew Willy Blue Bombers Miscut card
?32? Anthony Coombs Argonauts Miscut card

O-Pee-Chee Retro 2 Luke Tasker Tiger-Cats
76 Andy Fantuz Tiger-Cats
7 Adarius Bowman Eskimos

Pack 18:
140 Khalil Bass Blue Bombers
White Blank Decoy
55 Maurice Price Redblacks
88 Cory Watson Eskimos
Miscut Card
?1? Ricky Ray Argonauts Miscut card
60 Joe West Stampeders
26 Ryan Smith Roughriders

Pack 19:
Star Rookies: 193 Brendon Morgan Blue Bombers
White Blank Decoy
Two Micut Cards
90 Peter Dyakowski Tiger-Cats miscut card (dupe)
54 Ernest Jackson Redblacks miscut card

O-Pee-Chee Retro 9 Bear Woods Alouettes
99 Brendon LaBatte Roughriders (dupe)
46 Rob Bagg Roughriders

Pack 20:
134 Bryant Turner Jr. Blue Bombers
2 more miscut cards
?65? Nik Lewis Alouettes miscut card
?66? C.J. Gable Tiger-Cats miscut card
O-Pee-Chee Retro 20 Tim O'Neill Tiger-Cats
16 Drew Tate Stampeders
27 Andre Durie Argonauts

Pack 21:
Star Rookies: 187 Brandon Bridge Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
?73? Rory Kohlert Blue Bombers miscut card
?97? Jovan Olafioye Lions miscut card

?81? Eric Rogers Stampeders miscut card no number can't even see first name
45 Matt Carter Redblacks
71 Paris Cotton Blue Bombers

Pack 22:
136 Chip Cox Alouettes
White Blank Decoy
11 S.J. Green Alouettes
40 Shakir Bell Eskimos

Grey Cup Moments: GCM3 Brandon Banks Tiger-Cats
21 Zach Collaros Tiger-Cats
50 Bakari Grant Tiger-Cats

Pack 23:
Star Rookies: 181 Rakeem Cato Alouettes (right bottom corner a bit nicked)
White Blank Decoy
49 Marquay McDaniel Stampeders
2 Jon Cornish Stampeders
O-Pee-Chee Retro 6 Zach Collaros Tiger-Cats
79 Courtney Taylor Lions
8 Luke Tasker Tiger-Cats

Pack 24:
113 J.C. Sherrit Eskimos
White Blank Decoy
58 Shawn Gore Lions
4 Chris Getzlaf Roughriders
17 Andrew Harris Lions
30 Kevin Glenn Roughriders
86 Marco Iannuzzi Lions

Totals:
23 White Blank Decoys: So one in each pack without a hit.

145 cards (1 extra)
Base: 134: A full set is 200 cards so you need at least 2 boxes to maybe get a full set. Due to the randomness there is no guarantee of that even.
Protrait/Vertical: 120
Landscape/Horizontal: 14
5 All Stars: Average 6 per box
7 Star Rookies: Average 6 per box
10 Duplicates

Inserts:
9 O-Pee-Chee Retro inserts: Average 8 per box.
1 Grey Cup Moments
1 “Hit" Game Jersey: Average is 2 per box but not guaranteed

13 Miscut cards - That is way too many. They fell mostly in the second half of the box 8 in 4 consecutive packs and then later 5 more in 2 consecutive packs.

2015 Upper Deck CFL Football Box Break: Part 1

My last post was a little cryptic. I have done my box break and started to sort the cards, posted a little late and well now the cat is out of the bag.

OK where to begin?

The Beginning why not?

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” OK Wrong beginning.

Some weeks ago I got a surprise email from one of Upper Deck’s Marketing people. It began with a short introduction and then the attention grabbing “I wanted to reach out to you because I love what you do regarding your Upper Deck card set.” I’m not sure exactly which set is being referenced or what special thing I did to get on the marketing department’s RADAR. I just hope I stay there so I can get more goodies. (Topps, Rittenhouse and Panini would be Super as well)

Anyway continuing…

“We would love to connect with you regarding some other sets including 2015 Upper Deck Canadian Football League, 2015 UD Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball, and 2015 UD USA Football...I have a couple extra media review copies and wanted to see if you would be interested in receiving one each as long as you would write something up on the product to share with your audience.”

I replied positively to the email and included my mailing address. A few weeks later, on Wednesday 23 December 2015 the Eve before Christmas Eve I got my package from Upper Deck. In a sea of pale pink packing peanuts was this fine hobby box of 2015 Upper Deck Canadian Football League cards 24 packs with 6 cards per pack. Those other products would be fun to bust as well, but Oh well.

Since there are 24 packs I will have to post the pack-by-pack listing separately to keep this from being too long a post.

First off I really enjoy this product mostly for its simplicity. My box breaking experience has some positives and negatives that I will cover with this post.

The base set consists of 200 cards. Inserts include retro O-Pee-Chee cards (50 card set), autograph cards, game used jersey cards, #d GU patch cards, and team logo patch cards. Cardboard Connection has the full checklist and basic product details at this link http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2015-upper-deck-football-cards (you will have to click between product details and the checklist)

I like the plain simple design with the bottom corner framing and the opposite corner flush with the edge. I am glad there is no annoying silver or gold foil that is impossible to read. Sadly there is some white lettering on silver background where the player’s position is listed. 

The front of the base cards has a large picture of the player mostly in-game action shots. The Upper Deck logo is in the upper left corner and the top and left sides of the card the picture hits flush on the edge for the “full picture” feel. The Right hand border is a white background with some light gray/silver shadowing and some team color hashlines top and bottom with the player’s position in white lettering (hard to read and gets lost) in both English and French. The bottom edge has a border that matches the teams main color with the Player’s name in white letters (the name could be a bit bigger) under the player name is his team name in gray/silver, very tiny a bit harder to read than the player’s name. And in the right hand corner of the colored border is the team logo.

The back is pretty standard they repeat the head/bust part from the front picture. There is some matching of team colors with the general design.

Most of the base card fronts are regular portrait (vertical) orientation, but there are a few landscape (horizontal) oriented card fronts, the backs are all portrait. The Checklists have two players on the front in the landscaped orientation, with the checklist on the back in regular portrait orientation. I am glad there are no multi-parallels, and that the number of insert sets, are kept to a minimum.

The inserts sadly don’t list the team names, but do have the team logos on the fronts. There are two main insert sub-sets “All-Stars” and “Star Rookies”. Oops those are also base cards. Well they have a slightly different look so I mistook them for inserts they are actually two “sub-sets” within the main base set numbering.

The All-Star Cards divided in their coloring by East (red border) and West (blue border) Divisions. The color border runs along the top, left and bottom edges with the right side having the player’s picture flush against the card edge. Again the Upper Deck logo is in upper left corner. Top right of the card kind of hard to read is the Division (East or West). Left side again in tiny lettering is the player’s position. On the bottom is a gray/silver banner with All-Stars in black lettering with the player’s name in white lettering underneath, and team logo on left hand side. Oh and I just noticed the player’s number in the bottom right corner how nice, didn’t see it before.

Backs are nicely done, except nowhere is the team name actually written out, just the team logo on front. After opening a few packs I got used to the various teams. I don’t follow CFL as closely as I do the NFL so I am not as familiar with the 9 teams in the league. I really wish they would do some expanding and have 12 teams to make things a little more exciting.

The Star Rookies cards again follow the regular base card team colors design. The front player picture is flush with the top, bottom and right edges the left edge has a color bar that matches the player’s team colors. The usual Upper Deck logo in left corner Star Rookies reading bottom to top vertically along the bar and team logo bottom corner. Player’s position reads “under” the Star Rookies “banner” along with a series of stars. The player’s name is in silver across the bottom. Team name not listed just team logo in corner.

Back looks like the regular base backs.

The Retro O-Pee-Chee cards remind me of a cross between the 2009 Philadelphia retro cards and 1960s cards. They have an all white border, the upper left corner has a retro looking OPC logo, The player’s photo outlined in white against a solid color background. The player’s name is in white letters on a black bar above a white bar with the player’s position in black. The team logo is in the bottom right corner. The team name is not mentioned.

The back is raw cardboard brown with black lettering. I really like this insert set and plan on building it.

Here are my basic totals from the box:

Totals:

23 White Blank Decoys: So one in each pack without a hit.

145 cards (1 extra)

Base: 134: A full set is 200 cards so you need at least 2 boxes to maybe get a full set. Due to the randomness there is no guarantee of that even.

Protrait/Vertical: 120

Landscape/Horizontal: 14

5 All Stars: Average 6 per box

7 Star Rookies: Average 6 per box

10 Duplicates

Inserts:

9 O-Pee-Chee Retro inserts: Average 8 per box.

1 Grey Cup Moments

1 “Hit" Game Jersey: Average is 2 per box but not guaranteed

13 Miscut cards - That is way too many. They fell mostly in the second half of the box 8 in 4 consecutive packs and then later 5 more in 2 consecutive packs.

(Miscut cards Shown here fronts and backs)

All-in-all I liked breaking this box. It is a fun product. Being a football fan that is more NFL than CFL it did teach me a few things, or reminded me of a few things. Like a fave homie player that I had forgotten plays in Canada now. Let’s see the positive:

• Nice design. Not to busy or complicated. Some little reading problems but not like the years when silver or gold leaf/foil is used
• Bright colors in design. Very few variants in design features
• Inserts fun and also bright colorful designs
• OK correlation, low percentage of duplicates

Now the negative:

• Player position very difficult to read with color design
• Insert cards don’t mention team name, only show team logo
• My box had a very high percentage of miscut cards. 13 total from 6 packs
• Player vitals read vertically
• Back picture takes almost the full top half of back and is duplicate of front picture (I don’t mind that too much but some people do)

I will keep a handful of the base cards, the Brandon Banks cards because he was a Redskin, and one of the best punt returners they ever had. They never should have gotten rid of him. I am also keeping the OPC Retro cards I plan on building that 50 card set. I will be trading or giving away most of the remaining cards.

My next post will have the pack-by-pack play-by-play and will show some of the cards I didn’t show here.