FLAWLESS VICTORY!!!!

You may recall that I ran a contest and had a blog post with this exact title just over two years ago. 

Well after watching the 2021 Mortal Kombat film on HBO Max last night, it's time to bring back the Flawless Victory!!!

Here are some of my favorite Panini Flawless cards in my collection

Team USA is represented from Cutch's 18U days.  These Flawless cards feature either on card signatures or actual gems (diamond, ruby, sapphire) inside.

Another pair of on card signatures, both limited to under 10 copies

A nice patch and on card autograph from his Pirates days

How about that sleeve patch of the Jolly Roger?!!!!

And these team up????

Starling and Cutch made for one of the best offensive/defensive outfields in baseball from 2012-2015.

No spoilers on the movie here, but the fact it was an R rated film really made this Mortal Kombat movie 10x better than the others.  I loved the introduction of so many familar Mortal Kombat faces.  

The battle of Scorpion and Sub Zero is epic.

Sonya Blade is a badass and hot!!!

Kano is a d**kbag just as you would expect.

The whole movie was great. It was a perfect video game movie.  There, I said it!

Did you ever play Mortal Kombat?  What were some of your favorite characters to play as?

CSA Show Bound

Tomorrow I will be heading to the Chantilly, VA CSA show with my brother.  We will only be in attendance for a few hours.  If you're heading there, say hi.

I will be wearing a Team USA McCutchen jersey with a backwards Pirates cap.

Here is a fairly recent pickup I snagged.

I got a few other parallels coming in as well.  The uniform is from the 4th of July weekend Series the San Francisco Giants wore in Coors Field against the Rockies last year.

Let's Play, What Is This From?

I have had this card in my collection for a bit over a year before researching where the relic could have came from.

I have looked up countless throwback and alternate jerseys to find it's origin.

At first I thought it might be a holdover from a Team USA World Baseball Classic jersey since I knew they used a bunch of patches from that jersey for 2017 Museum.

Nope! Blue Letters on back

Maybe the 4th of July 2017 uniform Topps used

Nope!!! Again blue letters on back

How about any of the Negro League uniforms?  Oh wait, none of them have nameplates on the back.

Then I realized this jersey is actually from 2016.  It is the nameplate from the 4th of July jerseys worn in St. Louis.

Above you can see the red letters on the back of the Josh Harrison jersey which match the layout of this jersey perfectly.

Topps has used an image from the game for their cards in the past.

All week long I will show off some cards as we celebrate America!

Memorial Day

Millions and millions of Americans will celebrate Memorial Day today.

Sadly, the true meaning of the National holiday has been forgotten and it has unofficially become the start of the summer.  For me it means relaxing by a pool or the shore and/or watching a baseball game while drinking beers and grilling some hotdogs and burgers.

Here are a pair of 2018 Flawless National Team USA cards I have.  Cutch didn't receive the Ruby parallel.  He is only listed for the Gold and Blue as seen in the picture above along with a black (never seen it available)

The back discusses how Cutch lead Team USA 18 under squad with the most walks and scored the second most runs for the team.  These traits remain active as he leads all National League players in walks, hits, and runs scored since his 2009 MLB debut.

What are some of your Memorial Day traditions?

Grey vs. Gray

I finally got one of the last remaining parallels I was chasing from 2017 Heritage.

The grey back SSP (far right)

I've previously shown shortly after release the following
Gold Chrome /5
Flip Stock, Bright Yellow, Color Swap, Blue Border, and assorted chromes
Throwback SP yesterday

The issue I had when cataloging this particular card, was the spelling of it.

I always spell it grey, but Topps labels it as a Gray back.  Cardboard Connection has it listed as a Gray Back also.

In doing some quick research, both Gray and Grey are acceptable ways to spell the neutral color.

Despite the confusion with the spelling, I am extremely happy to cross this off the list.  I only need 2 chrome versions (Superfractor 1/1 and Purple Hot Box refractor).