"Top 50" Sports & Non-Sports Cards I Acquired in 2013

The hits from box busting and many of the singles paled in comparison to 2012 but that's not to say that 2013 didn't have its positives. In fact 2013 netted me the holy grail of my collection, which didn't come cheap. My collecting is a bit out of control, actually that is an understatement, especially since I dabble in all of the major sports and non-sports. I busted nearly half as many cases this year (3 - Big Bang Theory, Castle, Psych) as I had my entire life. While the hobby gives me a nice distraction from life it is probably a more expensive hobby than drugs, though healthier. At the start of 2013 I set myself a goal of cards to purchase throughout the year...I may have knocked off a handful of them...mostly because I didn't get them at the price I was willing to pay but also because of a few huge purchases that shaped my collecting for the year. While my collecting, and spending, isn't at nice or high as others I buy for preference and bust for fun with hopes of hitting that one card which would give me that jolt of excitement. The below "Top 50 of 2013" has no real set reasoning as to why they fall where they do and honestly I'm not sure that I agree with the rankings but they are here for your viewing pleasure and mine. So without further ado....


50) Don Cerrone Mat Relic - Playstation Logo /88 - Pulled from my first box of 2013 Finest UFC

49) Pop Century Gold 1/1 Jeremy Miller - Pulled from box of 2013 Pop Century

48) BenchWarmer Industry Summit Schoolgirls Swatch Auto Buffy Tyler 1/1 - Pulled from a Black Friday buy, this will be a theme throughout that most of my pulled hits came from that day.

47) 2010 Topps Sketch Card Michael Morse - Bought on ebay - Found this hilarious, Mikey Mo is as good as I am when it comes to drawing.

46) 2012 Topps Museum Collection Dual Jumbo Lumber Michael Morse Ivan Rodriguez/5 - Ebay pickup in early 2013.

45) Ron Francis Supreme Sticks /5 - Pulled from a box bought around Black Friday. HOF player and would have been higher had it 1) been more colorful and 2) he not been a Pittsburgh Penguin

44) 2012 Topps Valor Discipline Autograph /25 Ryan Tannehill - Pulled earlier this year when on my quest of pulling an RG3 auto. Room to grow, especially if the Phins make the playoffs next season.

43) 2012 Contenders Playoff Ticket Autograph Josh Gordon/99 - Pulled from a box. His few big games this season got it on the board but didn't quite do enough to make my Top 40

42) 12-13 Gold Standard Damian Lillard - Pulled over the summer

41) Big Bang Theory Seasons 3 & 4 Penny Costumes - KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Penny!...All pulled from the case that I broke. The multi-colored pieces make them extra nice

40) Big Bang Theory Seasons 3 & 4 Sheldon Cooper Green Lantern Shirt Relic - Pulled from my case as well. Should probably be farther down on the list but my inner nerd got beat up by the sports fan in me. BAZINGA

39) Molly Holly Auto - Ebay purchase...This is one I'd been on the hunt for for quite some time. Was nice to cross it off my list

 

38) 12-13 Threads Auto Bradley Beal - Bought on ebay...This is my only Beal auto so far. Totally see him as Dwyane Wade 2.0...unfortunately with the injury history too

37) 12-13 Innovation Innovative Ink Grant Hill /25 - Pulled on Christmas. My 2nd Hill autograph

36) Upper Deck High Gloss Troy Brouwer /10 - Picked this up at a show after losing out on it on ebay and had even stopped searching. Also it had 3 P's I loved...the pic, the player and the price.

 

35) 2011 Topps Lineage Gold Autograph Michael Morse/10 - Love the pop & shine this card has, shame its a sticker auto but doesn't deter me.

  

34) 2012 Contenders Playoff Ticket Richard Sherman - Pulled from a box - Was pissed when I first pulled it as I still had memories of his mouthiness from the Seahawks/Skins playoff game earlier in the year but can't deny his talent.

33) 12-13 Fleer Retro Metal Red PMG Wayne Gretzky/100 - Pulled this from my only box of Retro and honestly thought of not letting this out of the 40s.  The quality of the card and the color line didn't help its cause but it is The Great One so that helped it rise to #34

32) 2011 Pop Century Co-Stars Auto Christopher Lloyd/Lea Thompson /5 - Finally snagged this on ebay after a long wait of making sure it was a price I wanted to pay and two full autographs. This was a must have because of the Back to the Future connection.

 

31) 12-13 Contenders Auto Anthony Davis - This was one of my best pulls on the year and was my best pull from Contender until around Black Friday. The Unibrow was one of the two or three best autos you could pull from Contenders so I was thrilled to pull it at the time. However....

30) 12-13 Totally Certified Black Trevor Booker 1/1 - Snagged this on ebay soon after the product went live. Being one of my PC guys it was nice to get it and since Panini started putting out a lot more "1/1s" with his printing plates, of which I've only been able to grab one, I was glad I got it This also goes well with his rookie Totally Certifieds that I have

29) 09-10 SPGU Tag Team Quad Juan Dixon/Caron Butler/Javaris Crittenton/JaVale McGee 10/10 - Added this one to my collection, which I believes give me 7 or 8 of the 10. Being a Dixon collector I had to keep this outside the Top 25 because he has the weakest tag. This was also going to be paired with another Wizards Quad Tag but I don't have a scan available.

 

28) 2009 UD Signature Stars Trio Ryan Zimmerman/Josh Willingham/Elijah Dukes /35 - Another Black Friday pull that rose the ranks because it was a team PC pull and features two of my favorite Nationals.

27) 12-13 ITG To the Hall Auto Peter Bondra 12/29 - Was glad to snag a Jsy #'d Bondra though I'd have preferred he be in a Caps Jersey

26)12-13 Dominion Patch Auto Colby Robak /99 - This is one of those cards that may not have a lot of monetary value but when I pulled it I was pumped since it was a piece of the Panthers claw.

25) Psych Seasons 1-4 Autographs James Roday and Dule Hill - Put the full set together when I broke a case of this stuff. These guys had to go in as a 2-for-1 because you can't have one without the other "C'mon son"

24) Bowman Inception Oscar Taveras - My first box of Inception this year was LOADED. Not only did I pull this one but there's another that will pop up later on the list and another auto /5.

 

23) 2013 Bowman Inception Silver Signings /25 - Bought this on Ebay. Love the design, in fact this may be my favorite looking design of any card in quite some time, its just a phenomenal background shot. Well done by Topps/Bowman. Would love to add the gold version

22) 09-10 National Treasures Gold Trevor Booker /25 - 2012 was the year of Booker patches but this one snuck into 2013.

21) 2013 Bowman Black Tyler Glasnow - Pulled this from a box of Bowman Chrome. Didn't know who he was but quickly found out.

20) Upper Deck Draft Edition Draft Class Triple Auto Chris Cooley/Ben Roethlisberger/Larry Fitzgerald /5 - This one, like the Lloyd/Thompson, was one I kept losing out on and wanted to get full signatures on it once I did win...my patience paid off.

19) 12-13 Prime Captain's Cloth Zach Parise 1/2 - As a Caps fan I hated pulling this but as a hockey fan and someone who rarely splurges on a product like that of Prime, I was thrilled to pull a card like this, only wish it had been signed.

18) Castle Seasons 1 & 2 Autograph Evidence Nathan Fillion - One of the few cards I didn't pull from my case of Castle but did score this on ebay for what was then, and may still be, the lowest price. As a huge fan of the show it was a must have.

17) 2012 Triple Threads Michael Morse - This isn't even all of the Morse TTT's that I have. 2012 allowed me a bunch more White Whales, I own all 8 that have shown up and one of the Wood 1/1s

1/3

2/3

 

1/1

1/1

 

1/1

1/1

1/1

16) 12-13 Prime Signatures Alex Ovechkin 8/25 - Jsy #'d so I bought it after many relistings

15) Big Bang Theory Seasons 3 & 4 Costume/Auto Mayim Bialik - When I ordered my case I commented that this would be the one costume/auto that I'd pull, I believe they're one per case. She's no Penny but she'd pay almost half the case if I sold it

14) 2013 Bowman Inception Byron Buxton Auto /99 - This would be the other card that I referred to back on the Tavares write-up. Of course all it did was lead me to buying a second box and pulling nothing of note, used up all my Inception mojo on this one box

13) 2009 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Eight Signatures 7/10 Donovan McNabb/DeSean Jackson/Peyton Manning/Reggie Wayne/Matt Cassel/Dwayne Bowe/Kurt Warner/Anquan Boldin - Snagged this early on in 2013 because who wouldn't want to have a Matt Cassel Jsy #'d card? Just kidding I bought it for the McNabb auto...well not 100%...I needed his auto for my Skins collection, I also wanted to get a Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner auto at some point. I decided to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone and all for just over $100

12) 2012 Playbook Auto Drew Brees /20 - Was so glad to pull this from a box over the summer. So much respect for Drew and I didn't have to drop a lot of coin to buy it on its own.

11) 2012 Bowman Platinum Michael Morse - Another Morse set I'm working hard to complete but that is drying up. Much like the Topps Tributes last year, I bought the majority of these as a lot.

/199

/25 w/tag

/25

5/5

1/1

1/1

10) Alex Ovechkin Supreme Sticks /5 - I  absolutely love the design on the stick, alas it wasn't meant to be. Of course had the ebay seller I bought the Ovechkin Glove card from, actually sent instead of saying it was already sold prior to the listing (likely story) then this would have been bounced from the Top 10.

9) X-Men Origins Wolverine Auto Ryan Reynolds - Put off buying this for too long, then got it for like $60. Been a fan since Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place

8) Fleer X-Men Auto Hugh Jackman - Another card I put off buying but for a longer period of time. One of my favorite actors

7) 98-99 Topps Gold Label 1/1 Peter Bondra - Was surprised when the seller accepted my offer on this one. I'm not as blown away by the card as others are but its still a beauty and a nice one to have gotten. Especially since Bondra's can sell well thanks to his overseas collectors

6) 12-13 Contenders Auto Kyrie Irving - Pulled the redemption from my Black Friday purchases and was arguably the highest valued card I had pulled all year, if not in my life. So glad that Panini got this fulfilled before the year's end and that the auto didn't run off the sticker

5) Psych Seasons 1-4 Autograph Rachael Leigh Cook - I was disappointed that Maggie Lawson didn't sign but that also meant a case with 12 boxes and only 11 signers would yield a duplicate autograph and I knew who I wanted...and I pulled it

4) 12-13 Panini Prime Color Logo/Patch/Number David Steckel - I don't know how or why David Steckel got into such a high end product. I wish Panini could have had his Capitals uniforms in the set but I was glad to see him in something new and something other than a base card. Also the Maple Leaf logo is beautiful so picking them up was a no brainer

/6

/17

/14

/14

3) James Bond 50th Anniversary Auto Halle Berry - One of the top cards I wanted to get this year and I snagged it for, once again was the best price at the time...wish I had been able to get the Smulders auto for $75 when Avengers first came out but I digress. I love Halle and while many consider Die Another Day to be the worst 007 film, she's my favorite Bond Girl.

2) 12-13 Dominion Ensigns 1/1 Jordan Eberle Shield - This rivals the Uncle Drew Contenders auto for both my best pull and of most value. Its definitely a sick card

 Now what could possibly keep a logo from being the to card? Well there's actually two cards keeping it from being the top card...I somehow miscounted  and I'm not going back and changing it now haha so I present you 

1B) 04-05 SPGU Logoman 1/1 Juan Dixon - I didn't know, or perhaps forgot, this card existed. Then again its listed as a 1/1 patch instead of logoman. Regardless that puts me one step closer to all Dixons

and what could be better than 1 logoman?





how about 3!!!

1A) 06-07 Exquisite All-NBA Access Triple Logoman 1/1 Juan Dixon/Andrea Bargnani/Jorge Garbajosa - This card gave me so much collector heartache for years. It was first pulled in Japan at RB21's shop. A friend went to check on it but was told it wasn't for sale. A few weeks later it had been sold to another collector, a Raptors team collector is all they'd say but that he NEVER sold his stuff. With each passing year I'd hold out hope that the card would pop up, that it hadn't been destroyed by a natural disaster, and numerous other things. I had agreements with a few Bargnani collectors to let me have this "if they knew what was good for them." With Dixon no longer playing, Garbajosa overseas (or is he done from his injury?) and Bargnani traded to the Knicks, the collector I guess had no use for it in his collection any longer. Much to surprise one Monday morning I receive a PM on Hobbykings and a mention on Twitter regarding the card from the newest Bargnani collector who told me it was mine if I wanted it because he wanted other ones the guy was selling. I was over the moon and thanked him. The seller told me he wouldn't end the auction early for anyone, which gave me a piece of mind and as the day grew closer I kept an eye on the auction. No one was biting at the HIGH starting bid, which was fine with me because for 7 years I had a price in mind that I'd pay and had even decided I would up the ante this year if need be. That wasn't necessary however as I was the only bidder and the card was happily added to my collection. Its the most I've EVER paid for a single card but I have no regrets about that