Chasing 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey

I wish I could come up with a clever title for this blog post, but I'm drawing a blank. A few months ago I decided it was time to add a Ronda Rousey autograph to my collection. My initial plan was to go for a Topps Chrome autograph, but the ones I saw were all sticker autographs that lacked eye appeal.

I eventually settles on this 2016 Topps UFC Top of the Class autograph, numbered # 15 / 25. It's a sticker autograph, but the design of the card hides the sticker pretty well, and her signature is all on the sticker. I was pretty happy with that, and I was glad to finally add the autograph of one of the biggest names in MMA to my card boxes.

A little more recently, a Rousey collector listed a bunch of their collection on eBay, with some fairly reasonable prices. I added several to my watch list, but didn't really want to commit to buying another Rousey autograph. The seller reduced their prices at the same time an eBay Bucks promotion was going on, though, and I caved and bought an on-card Ronda Rousey signature. This one comes from 2013 Topps UFC Knockout, and is numbered # 78 / 99.

Later I got to thinking that it would be nice to have a Ronda Rousey WWE autograph card in my collection. There are rumors that she might not be with WWE for all that long, and I didn't really want to miss my chance to get one. She's got a few sticker autographs out there, but I noticed that I could get an on-card signature in the recently-released 2019 Topps WWE Transcendent Collection. I won this auction for about the cost of a group break spot, which I think is a pretty good deal for one of the bigger names in the product. This is the Purple parallel of her autograph, numbered # 09 / 10. 

The card does have a scratch on the surface on the left side, but I can live with that. It is funny to me how I am looking for things to complain about on an autograph card of one of the bigger names from one of the highest-end products, when as a teenager in collecting I would have gone absolutely nuts if I'd pulled a relic or autograph card of even a semi-star. Things have changed a lot over the last 20 years.

I may be done with Ronda Rousey autographs now, but we'll see what the future brings. I am pretty happy to have a couple of nice examples from her UFC career, as well as a pretty big card from her time in the WWE.

Cyber Week Breaks: Day 19 - R2-D2, Chrome Rondas, and Bowman's Best

For today's breaks, I opened the last 8 packs of Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy and 8 packs of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome. I also decided to post the results of a group break I was part of for some 2017 Bowman's Best. That will be down at the bottom.

The Jedi Legacy packs contained the second and last hit of the box, and it was a pretty good one. These Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge relics only fall about 1:14 boxes, so they are some of the hardest hits in the product, surpassed only by relic cards containing fur from Chewbacca's costume. In 2015 I was able to land the Leia version of the sail barge relic, which was one of my grail cards. I am pretty happy with this as the second hit of the box. 

The UFC Chrome packs were pretty good this time around. I got a couple of Ronda Rousey cards, a Fire insert and a Green Refractor parallel. The Green Refractor is # 45 / 99. I pulled two other numbered cards out of these packs. One is the Pulsar Refractor parallel version of Georges St-Pierre's Fire insert card. That one is numbered # 10 / 50. The other is the first autograph out of this box, a Green Refractor autograph of Robbie Lawler. It is numbered # 87 / 99. Those are both pretty good cards. I think the Lawler card is the first sticker autograph I have out of Chrome. It's cool that he signed it with his nickname, Ruthless.

I got into a case break of 2017 Bowman's Best. I don't know if it was the smartest thing to do, but I did it. I wound up with the Mets and the Royals. I actually bid on the Royals spot before I looked at the checklist, and that made me panic a bit. They don't have much in the set at all. Here are some of the base cards and Refractors I got.

I also got a couple of Mets inserts. The Dean's List inserts give grades to each prospect, according to Baseball America. The Best Cuts insert rehashes a design from 1997, and the back lists a few of the player's awards or highlights.

The topsy-turvy Mirror Image inserts show two players who have similarities to each other, and are also a little headache-inducing to look at.

You may have noticed that all the cards shown so far feature Mets. The Royals really don't have much on this checklist, but the one Royals card I did pull in the break was the best one I got. This is a Best of 2017 Autographs Red Refractor parallel of Jorge Bonifacio. It's numbered # 09 / 10 and features an on-card autograph. Pretty cool stuff.

Cyber Week Breaks: Day 11 - Knockout Steps in Again, and Hulkamania Runs Wild

Once again, I have a break that needs a little something extra to make it worth posting about. I guess if I were a better writer, I could make a good post out of anything, but that's just not going to happen today. The packs that were scheduled for today were 8 packs of Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy and a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact. I am adding a pack of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout to the post, too, as well as a surprise item that appeared on my doorstep this morning.

Not much came out of the Jedi Legacy packs. I guess the highlights were these die-cut inserts that fit together to make a circle. I think there was a promotion when this product was released that allowed collectors to obtain a disc card that fit in the middle when the puzzle was complete.

These Magenta parallels aren't that rare, but there wasn't much else to go with. I think you get four of these per box.

The High Impact box had a Felice Herrig Blue parallel in it, a Julianna Pena Femme Fighters insert that I already have at least one copy of, and an autograph of Al Iaquinta that I also pulled a copy of on Day 7 of Cyber Week Breaks.

With those breaks out of the way, here are the hits from the pack of Knockout that I opened. First up is a Fight Mat Relic of Ronda Rousey. Her last couple of fights didn't end well, but she is still pretty much responsible for the rise of women's MMA into the limelight. I am not certain, but this might be the first Rousey hit I've ever pulled. This is the base version, and it is numbered # 16 / 99. The mat relic piece is supposedly from UFC 157, where the first UFC Women's bout was held. That fight involved Rousey and Liz Carmouche, with Rousey coming out on top.

The next hit is a Fearless Fighters Autograph Copper Ink parallel of Matt Hughes. These are pretty tough to come by, as the Copper Ink autographs only fall 1:77 packs, or about 1 in 20 boxes. This one is numbered # 08 / 10. This box of knockout has been pretty amazing so far. It will be fun to see what else comes out of this product for me. And now it's time for the bonus item!

This is a terrible cell phone picture, but I couldn't scan this thing and it came rolled up in a tube and won't lay flat for a photo. Hulk Hogan's official storefront, Hogan's Beach Shop, was clearing out some stuff and I grabbed this poster featuring his signature x2, once as Hulk Hogan and once as Hollywood Hogan. He also added some nice inscriptions to the poster, with my favorite being the '12x Champion Brother!' on the right. It also included a Certificate of Authenticity with a little story about Hulk's rise to fame. I've been thinking about buying an autographed tear-away shirt from the shop for a while now, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get two signatures on a poster for the price of one. I'm pretty happy with this piece.

Also, Hulk Hogan retweeted my Tweet about the poster, so that's pretty awesome.

Cyber Week Breaks: Day 4 - Star Wars, UFC Chronicles, and Retail Baseball

Today's scheduled breaks from the big order didn't generate a whole lot of excitement for me, so I'm including scans of some retail baseball I busted last week to make things a little more interesting.

First up is the highlights from 8 packs of Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy. This box promises 2 hits, with one of them being a film cel relic. We got that hit out of these first packs, with a Darth Vader film cel. The Green parallel at the top left is a variation that falls one per box, and the Magenta parallel below it is either 3 or 4 per box. I can't remember. I don't find this product all that exciting, outside of the autographs and movie prop relics, so hopefully the second hit in the box is something enjoyable.

I also opened two packs of 2015 Topps UFC Chronicles. These come in a jumbo pack format, with 10 packs per box. Each box promises 2 autographs and 3 relics. That Frankie Edgar relic is the first hit of the box. The Gold Ben Rothwell card is numbered # / 88, the Black & White Jordan Mein is # / 188, and the Silver Ronda Rousey isn't numbered, but is probably still the best parallel of the bunch.

I also got a couple of decent inserts from these packs, with a Paige VanZant Climbing the Ranks card and a Ronda Rousey Victorious Debut insert. I also got the first autograph of the box, a base auto of Scott Jorgensen. It was probably about this point where I began to regret buying this box instead of another box of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome.

I picked up some retail cards on a shopping trip. These were my reward for catching and disposing of 5 mice in our basement, so my wife didn't have to look at or deal with them. I grabbed one of those value packs of 2016 Topps Chrome from the clearance bin. The highlights were a Kris Bryant Pink Refractor and a Byron Buxton Future Stars insert. Not the greatest break, but the Bryant is nice. 

I also picked up another box of 2017 Topps Holiday Baseball. I got a couple of nice Dodgers among the Metallic Snowflake parallels, Yasiel Puig and Cody Bellinger. I also got the same George Springer relic I pulled from my last box of this stuff. The relic on this one also does not quite fill the window. Maybe this card design just has an awkwardly-shaped window.

There was a blaster of 2017 Bowman Platinum hiding in the back of the shelf, and I grabbed it. I got an Aaron Judge insert, a Clint Frazier insert, and a couple of Astros among the base cards. I also finally pulled an autograph out of this product, a base auto of Will Benson of the Indians. Maybe even better, I pulled a Black parallel of Pirates prospect Kecin Newman, numbered # 06 / 10. That's a pretty good break when it comes to retail.

That does it for today's cards. The Cyber Week stuff for today wasn't great, but that's to be expected at times when busting a large amount of stuff over time.

Cyber Week Breaks: Arrival and Day 1

My big order from Blowout Cards arrived today, with a whole bunch of fun stuff for me to break over the next few weeks. I am really tempted to just start ripping it all open now, but this was a pretty big order and I want to make it last longer to stretch out the anticipation and entertainment value of my dollar.

Here is a picture of the order. I've got 13 boxes of 2015 Topps UFC High Impact, 4 boxes of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome, 1 box of 2016 Topps Star Wars Masterwork, 1 box of Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy, 1 box of 2015 Topps UFC Chronicles, 1 Jumbo Box of 2012 Topps Series 2, 1 box of 2017 Topps High Tek Baseball, 1 box of 2016 Panini National Treasures Racing, and 1 box of 2016 Panini Certified Racing. I also have 2 boxes of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout on the way from Topps and a box of Cryptozoic DC Bombshells on the way from eBay that I'll add to this pile when they get here.

I divided all of the stuff into lots for each day's breaks, but since today is the first day I made the break a little bigger than the others. I've got a Jumbo pack of 2012 Topps Series 2, two packs of 2016 Panini Certified Racing, a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact, a pack of 2016 Topps Star Wars Masterwork, and 8 packs of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome. I'll probably just be scanning the highlights rather than going through and scanning everything.

The baseball pack didn't offer much in the way of highlights, so this Ken Griffey Jr. 1987 mini insert is the representative from the pack. 2012 Topps Baseball has some of the uglier inserts out there, and I mostly bought the box 1) because I felt weird making a big order without much baseball representation and 2) to chase a Bryce Harper rookie card.

The serial-numbered insert from the Panini Certified packs was this die-cut Famed Rides card of Richard Petty's car. I've never been much of a Richard Petty fan, but he's pretty famous and had a lot of success in racing. This one is numbered # 065 / 199.

The other pack of Certified had this Kurt Busch autograph in it. This is the base version of his Certified Signatures card, and my copy is numbered # 038 / 139. I've actually been toying with the idea of collecting the Busch brothers now that most of my favorite drivers have retired, but I haven't quite talked myself into it yet. This would make a good start to a Kurt Busch collection. It's a sticker auto, but he has a pretty nice-looking signature.

The Topps UFC High Impact box promises one autograph, and this Joe Lauzon card was it. It is odd to me that the back of the card says it's a 2015 card, but the boxes call it a 2016 product. I guess maybe there was a delay in the release or something. Joe Lauzon autographs have a bit of a reputation for being set fillers, and I think I've probably got at least one of these already.

Each box of High Impact also promises a Femme Fighters insert. I am trying to complete the set, and I only need four more cards. Ronda Rousey isn't one of the ones I needed, but it is one of the better cards to get doubles of. My other copy is currently on the way from the COMC order I had shipped during the free shipping promotion.

I scanned everything from the Masterwork pack. The Count Doku and R2-D2 cards are base cards. The TIE Fighter Pilot is a Silver parallel, and the Yoda card is a Rainbow Foil parallel from the Force Display insert set. The TIE Fighter Pilot is numbered # 36 / 99, and the Yoda is numbered # 123 / 299.

The promised hit in the pack was this base autograph of Matthew Wood as General Grievous. I don't know what else to say about it. It's a Star Wars autograph that I didn't have yet, but it's not exactly what you dream of pulling from a pack of Masterwork. I've still got three more packs to go, though, although at least one of them is going to hold a manufactured medallion relic.

The UFC Chrome packs didn't have any of the two hits from the box in them, but I did find three serial-numbered cards. This Blue Wave Refractor of Stephen Thompson is the first. I think these fall one per box, and they are numbered # / 75. This one is # 20 / 75.

The other two big pulls were Refractors from insert sets. This Joanna Jędrzejczyk comes from the Fire insert, and is numbered # 89 / 99. I thought this was a pretty decent pull.

The next Refractor was this Museum Collection parallel of Dominick Cruz. I'm not a huge Cruz fan, but he's still one of the bigger names in the sport. Even without pulling a hit, I still feel like UFC Chrome is a fun product to break. The autograph checklist isn't all that strong, but I still feel like you get a decent amount of fun stuff for your dollar. I didn't scan any of the other inserts or base Refractors I pulled, and this was just 1/3 of a box. I thought about ordering a half case or full case of the stuff, but I wanted to leave room in the order for a little more variety in my break.

So that's Day 1 of the breaks. I have my spreadsheet broken out into about 25 days of stuff to open, so there will be plenty more. Tomorrow is one of the bigger days, as I'll be tearing into that box of National Treasures Racing.