2017 Topps Then Now Forever Ember Moon Kiss Card

For a few years at the end of the 2010's, Topps regularly included kiss cards as inserts in their WWE products. For the uninitiated, kiss cards are pretty much what they sound like, a lipstick print on a trading card. I've got a couple of them in my collection.

This Ember Moon kiss card from 2017 Topps WWE Then Now Forever is the latest one to show up in my collection. Prices on most kiss cards these days are pretty high, so I was lucky to find this one from a wrestler I collect at a reasonable price. It's an interesting collectible and a concept we may not see on cards again in the near future. 

This example is /99. Ember Moon now wrestles for WWE rival AEW under the name Athena.

4 Mega Boxes of 2024 Topps UFC Chrome

I hadn't planned on getting any UFC Chrome from Topps this year, as the $250+ price on hobby boxes was a little off-putting. Then they released these Mega Boxes at $60 apiece, and I couldn't help myself. With one autograph per box and a variety of exclusive inserts I figured I couldn't pass up the chance to chase the base set and some hits.

As I mentioned, each box offered up 1 autograph and 10 XFractors, as well as an assortment of inserts that were different from the offerings found in other configurations. I ordered 4 boxes. I wound up getting 110 base cards, 40 XFractors, 24 inserts, 14 various Refractors, and 4 autographs.

Here are a handful of the vertically-oriented base cards. The 200-card checklist features a good cross-section of current and former fighters on the UFC roster. I kind of wish there were fewer XFractors and more base cards, as half a base set from these 4 boxes was somewhat underwhelming for a set collector. I imagine if I buy more boxes I will run into more duplicates and eventually I'll have to fill out the set with singles.

The checklist also includes plenty of horizontal shots, including one of the headliners for tonight's fight, Manon Fiorot. I pulled a few doubles in my base cards, so I've got roughly 100 out of 200 cards in the base set from these 4 boxes.

As mentioned before, each box contains 10 XFractors, for a total of 40 in my break. I think these are exclusive to the Mega Box format. I would rather have base cards, but at 10 per box you could have a reasonable shot at building a whole set of XFractors if that is something you wanted to chase.

Of the 14 various Refractors I pulled, most were of the regular and Prism variety. I pulled a decent variety of them, with a small selection pictured here.

I got 2 numbered Refractors, an /199 Aqua of Cory Sandhagen and a /299 Speckle of Brunno Ferreira.

Here are some of the different inserts I got in my boxes. Apparently the inserts in the Mega boxes and blasters are entirely different from those found in Hobby configurations. Inserts shown here are Allen & Ginter, Brick by Brick, Fired Up, Embedded, and Pathblazers. I like the inserts in this product. They all look pretty good.

Finally, I picked up four autograph cards. No huge names, but a couple of names I recognize in Marvin Vettori and Andrei Arlovski. The Jack Jenkins rookie autograph is a Gold /50, and 3 of the 4 autographs I pulled are numbered autos.

Overall this is a fun product to break. I am looking to complete the base set, so I'd imagine a few more boxes are in my future, although I don't think I'll dabble in the Hobby side of things.

Various Recent Racing Card Pickups

In addition to busting various packs of racing products recently, I've picked up a handful of singles that I figured I'd show off today. I don't watch a lot of racing, but I sure do enjoy collecting the cards and following things online.

First up is a Hailie Deegan Blank Slate insert out of 2023 Panini Donruss Racing. These cards are tough pulls from the product, rumored to be case hits. I got this one for a relative steal on eBay compared to other copies of the card that were listed, so I was happy to add it to my Hailie Deegan collection.

I picked up these Brittney Zamora cards from 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing as a lot, again on eBay. I actually bought another copy of the Newly Minted triple relic, but it arrived packed in tape which peeled off the foil along the top edge, so I had to replace it. Luckily the seller was understanding and issued a refund without too much hassle. I hate eBay returns. They feel very confrontational at times. Zamora has replaced Danica Patrick as my current primary driver collection in racing cards, although I'm not sure how much racing Zamora has done recently.

I'll close things out with a couple of cards for my longest-running driver collection, Danica Patrick. She retired a while back, but Panini luckily still puts her into most sets that get released. The tire relic is #/50 and comes from 2021 Panini Donruss Racing, while the Clear Vision insert is #/99 and comes from an older set, 2016 Panini Torque Racing.

Jim Bouton PSA Basic Set

I mentioned a few posts ago that I started collecting the Jim Bouton PSA Basic Set after reading his book Ball Four, a classic baseball memoir. It didn't take me too long to gather the full 7-card run, Topps releases from 1962-1968.

 

The 1962 rookie card was the most expensive card in the bunch, even though I picked up a miscut example. Other than the centering the card looks pretty good, and the discount for the condition made the card attainable for my collection.

The 1963 and 1964 Topps Jim Bouton cards came in relatively low condition, because that's where they were cheap. I don't feel like I missed out on anything by getting them in a PSA 4 grade. I got the 1965 card in a 6.5 grade, and it's a pretty nice-looking card. Never thought I'd be chasing a full run of a Yankee, but that's how the collecting winds blow sometimes.

Here are the final three cards in the set, 1966-1968 Topps. The best value for the 1966 card came in a 5 grade, but I was able to get a 7 for 1967 and an 8 for 1968. All of that adds up to the worst complete Jim Bouton Basic Set in the PSA Set Registry. I don't really care about that, as I achieved my goal, a complete run of Jim Bouton's career Topps issues. This was a fun set to put together.

1962 Topps Stamp Panels Wally Moon/Brooks Robinson

A quick one-card post today, just to keep the blogging juices flowing. I've been lagging a bit lately in my effort to resurrect my card blog. It's hard to gather the mental bandwidth to post sometimes, especially when I don't feel like I've got much of value to say to anyone.

In pursuit of the Wally Moon PSA Master Set I've picked up most of the mainstream stuff. That leaves me with oddball issues that can be hard to find. This Wally Moon/Brooks Robinson stamp panel is the latest one I've marked off my list. It is one of two two-stamp panels that Wally Moon appears on. The other features Wally Moon and Frank Malzone, and is a lot harder to find than this one, at least in PSA-graded form. I may end up having to purchase a raw example to send in and grade. I currently have the #1-ranked Wally Moon Master Set on the PSA Set Registry, but that's because no one else has bothered to register their cards. I'm sure there are some hardcore vintage collectors out there who could blow me out of the water if they bothered to register their cards. Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at it until I'm done.

A Couple Blaster Boxes of 2024 Topps Series 1 Baseball

I've opened a couple of 2024 Topps Series 1 Baseball blaster boxes over the last few weeks. I figured I'd hit the highlights from them in one post rather than trying to squeeze two posts out of a couple blasters.

 

My official first card of 2024 Topps was...Spencer Torkelson. I really like the design of this set. The colorful foil really pops in the right light, and I think most of the elements are well-placed and easy to read. I'm sure the graphic designers of the world could pick it apart, but to a layman like me it's a fun set design, and that's all I really want from a baseball card set.

The backs are fine, with plenty of information and stats. I can't find anything to complain about with the card backs.

This photo is kind of washed-out, but it's a selection of some of my favorite horizontal cards from the selection I had on-hand. I had to include the Miguel Cabrera farewell card, along with a couple of young stars in Corbin Carroll and Bobby Witt Jr.

And here are some of the vertical cards I pulled from my blasters. I had to get a couple of Astros in this post, Chas McCormick with a nice action photo and Hunter Brown to show the Future Stars design. I figured the Jasson Dominguez and Julio Rodriguez cards probably warranted posting as well.

I got a handful of these shiny blue holiday parallels. Nothing that lit my collection on fire, but here they are. This is a parallel I could see myself trying to build a set of if card prices were at 2014 levels rather than 2024 price points.

I got one Rainbow Foil card and one Easter Egg parallel across the two blasters. I guess the season-themed parallels are pretty fun as opposed to the standard different border colors of most years.

The first blaster yielded this /999 Blue Sparkle Angels team card. This is another set that would be considered for a set build at 2014 prices and print runs. It would have been achievable then. Now, not so much.

This flowery Jhoan Duran parallel is /50 and came out of the second blaster I opened. I doubt that most blasters drop a numbered card, but I got lucky and pulled one from each of the blasters I opened.

Stars of MLB is the most common insert in the boxes. I pulled quite a few of them, and these are the four best by my reckoning. I'm always happy to add another Yordan Alvarez card to my collection.

Each blaster box also dropped one Stars of MLB Chrome card. These are the two I got. Corbin Carroll is a pretty good pull, I suppose, although his card doesn't qualify for the coveted RC shield this year.

These 1989 Topps throwbacks are pretty cool, and I got a couple of good players from them, with Nolan Ryan in an Astros uniform and Bo Jackson running hard. 1989 Topps is one of the first sets I remember from my youth, so the design hits the nostalgia button for me.

I got a mix of other inserts from the set in my boxes. I reckon the Shohei Ohtani and Ichiro cards are my favorites here. The Mike Schmidt photo is pretty cool, too, with the old-school uniform on display.

Finally, I got a couple of Home Run Challenge cards. I typically don't scratch the codes and play the game of trying to pick a home run date for the players, but maybe I'd consider it if I pulled doubles of a card.

That does it for a quick rundown of 2024 Topps Series One Baseball. It marks the official start of the 2024 baseball year for many collectors, and I think Topps did a good job of designing the cards for this year. I probably won't open a ton of this stuff, as I prefer to just buy a factory set and grab an Update set on eBay each year, but I could see myself sampling a bit of basic Topps this year when I find it on the shelves at retail.

A Second Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing

I mentioned in my last post that I'd opened a couple boxes of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing. It's probably my favorite racing product to open because of the variety of designs and the checklist's focus on stars and rookies. I always know I'm going to pull something for my collection.

Here are four of the base designs that I liked from the box. Danica Patrick has long been the most numerous racer in my collection, and Brittney Zamora has been my non-retired collection focus for the last couple of years. Luckily they both make appearances in most products, so I always have new cards to chase.

These are four more of the base designs. I haven't counted the base designs yet, but there are quite a few Panini brands represented in the checklist. Thunder and Luminance are a couple of my favorites. Luminance has a very Stadium Club feel to it.

 

In addition to a lot of base designs and plenty of hits per box, this product also drops a lot of parallels on you. The basic parallel in Hobby boxes is the Blue /199. It's a good-looking color. Pulling a couple of Hailie Deegan Blues in this box was pretty good. She's one of the better sellers in the current crop of young racers.

My Immaculate pulls were both pretty low-numbered, with an /25 and an /51. I assume that all of the Immaculate cards are serially-numbered, based on my small sample size. The big names came in the Red parallels for me, with a Jimmie Johnson /99 and a clear Kevin Harvick /100.

Each box promises four hits, but I pulled five in each of my two boxes. Not sure if that's typical of the print run, or if I just got lucky. I pulled three autos and two relics per box, although Panini stopped guaranteeing a certain number of autographs this year. I pulled a basic tire relic of Tanner Gray and a triple relic of Austin Cindric.

The Chase Briscoe autograph here is actually an /10 Gold parallel, so it's the lowest-numbered card in my Chronicles break. I would argue that the Kevin Harvick Immaculate auto-relic is actually the hit of the break, though. It's a nice-looking card of a guy I kind of collect.

That does it for this break of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing. It's a fun product with a lot of variety. Again, it's probably my favorite racing product to open because the checklist is full of good drivers and there is so much different stuff you can pull.

A Hobby Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing

I really like Panini Chronicles Racing, probably because of the sheer variety of cards you can find in every box. I usually don't get lucky and pull huge hits of big-name drivers, but there's usually a smattering of stuff that fits into my various collecting interests. It's hard (for me) to have a bad break of Chronicles Racing, as there's typically something interesting in there. That all being said, I opened up a couple boxes of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing recently. Here are some of the cards from the first box.

Technically I guess there is a Chronicles base set design and everything else is considered an insert, but I tend to think of the whole product outside of parallels and hits as one big conglomerate set. I took pictures of some of the sets designs I like, and some cards of drivers I collect. Some standouts for me this year were the Luminance and Thunder designs.

Here are a few more designs featuring drivers I collect. I especially like the Overdrive cards. They remind me of 90's Topps Chrome.

There were plenty of parallels in both boxes I opened. Most were of the /199 Blue variety. Nothing here really fits my collection, but I do like the look of the Blue parallels. The John Hunter Nemechek Pedal to the Metal card is especially eye-catching.

Every box has 2 Immaculate cards in it, which I guess replaces Spectra as the thick cardstock special set in the product. All the ones I pulled had serial numbering, but I don't know if that's true of all of them or if I am just lucky. I also got a Martin Truex Jr. card /99 and a clear acetate Richard Petty /100.

The lowest-numbered card in the box was this Lawless Alan /25. I've never heard of Lawless Alan, but he's got a great trading card name.

The box promises 4 hits, but I got 5 in each of my boxes. It used to be 3 autographs and 1 relic per box, but they did away with the guarantees this year. I still got 3 autographs per box, but I also got 2 relics per box. It's nice to get bonus hits, but I don't know if that happens across the print run. I guess the Chase Elliott Recon relic here is my favorite hit card from the box.

As I mentioned, there were three autographs in the box. The Spencer Boyd is /49, but I think the Chris Buescher Contenders auto is my favorite of the group.

That does it for my first Hobby box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Racing. Overall this is a fun break that pays off in variety and has a rather narrow checklist of stars and rookies, so you're likely to pull something you like if you're a fan of racing.

Reading Leads to a New Player Collection

I recently read Jim Bouton's baseball book, Ball Four, and of course reading about his baseball career got me thinking about baseball cards. The book itself was pretty interesting. I wonder how members of the baseball establishment felt about his revelations, and I also wonder how his wife felt about some of the things he wrote about. It's probably a good thing that he wrote it as his career was winding down, as I imagine him writing about the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on in the clubhouse and hotels was frowned on a little bit.

Naturally I wondered whether Bouton had any baseball cards, and if so, how many are there? It turns out his basic player set in PSA numbers only 7 cards, with only his rookie card pulling relatively large money. I decided to see about grabbing all 7 over time in PSA-graded form. As can be seen by this PSA 4 example of his first solo card, I am not chasing the best set possible, just examples of the cards in PSA holders.

Here is the back of the 1963 Topps card, for completeness' sake. I generally don't collect cards of Yankees, but I'll make an exception in this case.

 

I also got his 1968 card, the last one in the run, in PSA 8 form. When buying graded cards I do a little bit of value analysis to compare what's available versus the asking price for each grade. Sometimes there are bargains to be had, especially if one is willing to venture outside of the premium 9 and 10 grades. I am just happy to get the cards, so I am willing to shop around for the best value I can find among the lower grades. Sometimes it's an 8 and sometimes it's a 4, but I am having fun chasing the set.