As part of an order I made from Blowout Cards a few months ago, I picked up a box of 2022 Panini Revolution WNBA. It's pretty rare for a Revolution box to guarantee an autograph, but that was the case with this one. It turned out to be just about a perfect box for my collection, which is pretty rare when busting wax.
I pulled 2 cards of retired Point Guard Ticha Penicheiro, who is the subject of my longest-standing WNBA player collection. One of them is an Astro parallel of her base card in the set, and the other is her Vortex insert. I've always been drawn to players who do secondary things well, so rather than scorers I'm drawn to the assisters, rebounders, and shot blockers. For a while Penicheiro was the all-time WNBA assists leader, but she has since been passed by Sue Bird and Courtney Vandersloot. I am not super active about chasing her cards down, but I grab them every so often when a new set comes out.
I pulled 3 numbered cards from the box, which feels like quite a few from a Revolution break. Maybe WNBA wasn't printed in very high numbers. The Diamond DeShields Impact parallel is numbered /149. She is the sister of former MLB player Delino DeShields Jr. and the daughter of former MLB player Delino DeShields. Her mom was also an All-American college heptathlete, so a lot of athletic prowess in her family. The Cheyenne Parker card is an /99 Cosmic parallel, and the Kelsey Mitchell card is an /75 Sunburst card.
The hit of the break was this Sabrina Ionescu autograph. This is about the best base auto you could pull from these boxes, so I was pretty stoked to get it. I also have a small Ionescu collection, partly because she is a big star and partly because of her Romanian heritage. One of my earliest basketball player collections was Gheorghe Muresan, another Romanian. My dad's wife is Romanian, and they currently live in Romania. I visited there in 2021 to see some sights and hunt with my dad, so I feel a bit of a connection to Romania.
Here's a picture of me at Bran Castle, the traditional Transylvanian home of Count Dracula. They kind of downplay the vampire theme during the tour of the actual castle, focusing more on historical facts and other royalty that called the castle home, but the Dracula merch is on full display in the gift shop.
Congratulations on that sweet pull! This product is really attractive. I picked up one or two cheap Panini WNBA boxes on Black Friday, but don't think this was one of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I was pretty excited about pulling that auto. It's rare to actually pull a hit card that fits my collection, so it was a welcome addition.
DeleteI don't follow any current sports happenings, so I'm not familiar with any of these gals. I absolutely love that last picture though, and am envious of all the neat places that you seem to have been to.
ReplyDeleteI can't claim to be super up-to-date on sports happenings unless they make the rounds in headlines or on social media. I do enjoy traveling, even though often in the moment I am anxious or uncomfortable. I think it's important to experience different cultures if you get the opportunity.
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