Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 2

     I walked into a room to grab something, minding my own business, when I found THE BOX staring back at me. I knew what it held imprisoned, and the faint sound of baseball cards crying out for help batted my eardrums. I had but one choice.

    I sprung into action, grabbing THE BOX by the maw and pulling it open. THE BOX put up quite the fight - it was clear he wanted to keep his captives. A struggle led to me pulling one card free before THE BOX escaped back into the closet from whence it came.

    Battered and bruised on the floor I sat, with the card I rescued next to me. Then I realized I didn't even know who it was I had saved! I looked to my side to see none other than...

...1992 Fleer Greg Olson!

    The expression on Olson's face is golden. It looks as though he just hit the ball, startling Homer the Brave (their mascot in '92), knocking him off the top of the dugout and into the nachos of an unsuspecting opposing fan.

    As for 1992 Fleer, I think it's a decent design as far as Fleer goes. It holds a respectable score of 6.2/10 on TCDB. The names, though sideways, are nice and easy to read, though under bad lighting the player's first name can get a little bit iffy.

    Greg Olson played five seasons and 414 games in the majors, all but three of which coming with the Braves. He accumulated 309 hits and a .242/.317/.342 slash line. Greg was an all-star in 1990, when in 100 games he batted .262/.332/.379 with 7 home runs. He holds a .798 career OPS in the postseason (16 games).

    

    I'm glad to save Greg Olson's 1992 Fleer card from the clutches of THE BOX. Don't worry Greg, I shall free the rest of your friends.

    Thanks for checking out the blog, have a great rest of the weekend, and happy collecting!

Latest LCS Finds (and the Winner of the Giveaway)

    The winner of my blogoversary giveaway will be mentioned at the end of this post. You can bear with me, or just skip to the end if you'd like :) 

    A couple weeks ago I went to my local card store for the first time in a few months to pick up the prizes for my football pick 'em and blogoversary contest. Unfortunately for me, 2025-26 hockey cards still haven't made their way into the store yet. There was a Dallas Stars box, however. There were very few autos, which is probably good for business, but not for my giveaway. Oh well.

    While I was there, I skipped the quarter boxes - a rare move for me - and looked through one of the dollar boxes and the Stars box. But not before grabbing a fistful of binder pages for the new hockey binder I'm putting together. I realize that most of my collecting habits at the current time are hockey-related, but when baseball season comes back around I imagine I'll be collecting more baseball cards.

    Though I spent most my time looking into the Stars box, I did grab a handful of baseball cards from the dollar box. And when I was paying I noticed a few quarter Buster Posey cards that were added into my little stack. All in all I ended up walking out of the store with a dozen cards added to my collection and twenty binder pages for my binder.

       2016-17 UD Artifacts #74     2016-17 UD Trilogy #26       2018-19 O-Pee-Chee 

                                                                                                                   Platinum #88

    I grabbed this trio of John Klingberg cards for one reason and one reason only - you guessed it! He's with the Sharks. But the cards look pretty nice too. I know Klingberg's been in the league for awhile and that he was originally with the Stars, but a quick look into Hockey Reference showed that he spent the bulk of his career with Dallas, from 2015-2022. He was a productive player offensively (though he's a defender), and scored 67 points in the 2017-2018 season.

2000-01 UD e-Cards #EC2

    Not only does this 2001 card of Hall-of-Famer Brett Hull look very cool, but I also notice the giant 'e-Card' slapped onto the front. There is a code included, under which are the directions, 'Go to upperdeckdigital.com to digitize your e-Card.' However, when I tried to visit the website my computer told me that I entered a website likely to have viruses 😅 It's a good thing a quick scan came up clean, but it stinks I couldn't check it out. I probably wouldn't suggest checking the website out unless I messed up the address - I'm not even going to try and find out.

2008-09 UD Biography of a Season #BS5

    Another really cool-looking card. Brunnstrom's career wasn't very long, spanning only three seasons and 104 games, but at least they gave him a neat card to show for it.

2022-23 UD Credentials #141

    I've always thought that ticket access cards were cool. I didn't notice until writing this paragraph that the card is actually serial-numbered 231/999. It looks like Fredrik Karlstrom had an assist in the final period of his NHL debut in the 2021-2022 season. He only played seven games after that, but it looks like he's currently active, skating in the AHL with the Islanders organization. 

2024-25 UD MVP Hockey #127

    Heiskanen is on the current Stars team that's tearing up the NHL alongside the Avalanche. It's a shame they're in the same division as Colorado and can't meet in the Stanley Cup Final. Heiskanen has been productive all year and has paced a talented Stars defense in points while also playing as one of the league's finest defenders.

    That does it for all the hockey cards I added to the collection at the LCS. Now onto the baseball cards.

2025 Topps Chrome Power Players #PP-8 and Chrome All-Etch #CAE-15

    The colors on these two cards are so vibrant it's impossible not to notice them. As far as inserts go, I really like the Power Players, and All-Etch isn't too shabby itself. I forgot exactly how many inserts there were in 2025 Topps, but I can only remember the names of a handful of them off the top of my head, so many.

             2013 Bowman #200                 2017 Topps #675                 2019 Topps #157

    And these are the trio of quarter card Busters. We have three nice action shots of Posey batting here. I'd like to think Posey will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he first hits the ballot in 2027. As of right now he still has a job in baseball as the president of baseball operations for the Giants, where he has made some big decisions, including the off-season appointment of Tennesee Vols coach Tony Vitello as manager. All in all I think he's done a very good job and that he belongs in his current role.

    That'll do it for my latest LCS additions. I hope to pop in again fairly soon and make some additions to various PCs.

 

   And now onto the winner of my 2nd Blogoversary's Giveaway:

   

    11 people entered the giveaway this year, and the one to have his name landed upon three times was...

 

    Congrats to Seager for the Win on winning my giveaway! I'll have the cards on the way in a few days.

    Thank you to all those who read my blogoversary post and to those who entered my giveaway. It's so fun for me to have one on the blog's birthday, and I hope to continue doing it every year.

    That does it for today's post. Thanks for stopping by the blog, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 1

     THE BOX may sound intimidating - and if you're a little baseball card in this big world, it certainly is. You can get lost in a prison of cardboard, surrounded on all sides by fellow cards similar to yourself, doomed to an existence of lying sideways and never being appreciated.

    I've started to sympathize with my little cardboard buddies. Too long have I left them forlorn in the wasteland of a box, burdened with the fate of being ignored for years to come and eventually given to future generations, who will probably place them in the spokes of their hoverboards or whatever they'll be riding then.

    

    Okay, okay hold up. Perhaps that's slightly dramatic. Nevertheless, I thought it would be a fun undertaking if the cards residing in one of my boxes that usually doesn't see much light could be 'rescued' and then featured on a post dedicated to that specific card and the player depicted on it.

    I've found some pretty cool cards while sifting through these boxes, and while many of the cards being rescued likely won't be too special, at least I'll remember that I own them.

    Every other week (or whenever I feel like it lol) one lucky card will be saved from THE BOX and featured on Don Cardwell. This is the chance of a lifetime if you're a Topps card from the 1980s or a '90s Upper Deck or Fleer card.

    Now let us behold the torturous prison our little heroes have been trapped in as they await their salvation. It has many names: The Void, The Depository of Dejection, The Black Hole - but I have twice already called it by its name most relatable to card collectors: THE BOX

    As you can see, Dean Palmer is a victim of the perilous Packaging Tape of Terrors Untold. Don't worry Dean, we shall free you soon!

    Clearly I have a lot of work to do in order to save all these cards from a life of mediocrity and insignificance. 

    I can tell I'm going to have a lot of fun writing this series on the blog. And I hope y'all have fun reading it. Tune in soon for the freeing of the first card. Until then, have a great week, stay safe out in the crazy weather, and happy collecting!

My Blog Has Hit Its Terrible Twos!

     Holy smokes, it's been two years already? 

    It isn't too often that I'll use GIFs on my blog, but I believe one is in order today. Two years ago today I started up this blog, giving it a silly name and expecting nothing to come of it, and to only write for a couple weeks. And yet here we are two years later, alive and well. 

    This year was admittedly a slower one for Don Cardwell, as I posted only 44 times, contrary to last year's 126 posts. Though I've posted a handful times in January already, which has been good. I expect to crank out about 50 or so posts this year, which would be ideal. I already have six posts sitting patiently in my drafts ready to go.

    Though this year was slower in terms of posting activity, the viewership has jumped up A LOT (thank you bots). Whatever the reason for this, I like statistics, so be ready to get hit with the blog's stats for this year.

    

    My blog is now up to 70,277 views all time, and 56,412 this past year, which is so much more than I ever would have thought my blog would hit in a year, even with a bot invasion.

    My biggest single month of this past year in terms of viewership (not entirely fair for a blogoversary post since January is almost entirely cut out) was September, when the blog boasted 18,770 views; more than the entirety of the blog's views last year by almost 5,000. I only posted three times in September, which begs the question: how many of those viewers were human? Surely not many. Those three September posts received 1431, 1124, and 207 views respectively. But the post the bots loved most was my July 13th post, Grant Taylor in 200 Words, which received an absurd 4073 views. The single comment on that post would suggest that humans were not the main viewers.

    I think my favorite part about card-blogging is the comments y'all send my way. My 44 posts yielded a large number of comments, at 215. It's awesome to see what readers have to say about what I write. My most commented upon post is a tie between three, with eight comments each: Slowing Down (where I said I wasn't going to post as much), The Latest Grabs (when I hit the LCS for the first time in a few months back in November), and A Short Christmas Message (my Christmas post).

    I also added a trio of followers this year, putting me up to 19 total readers who also follow the blog. I'm glad to see some more interest in my humble little blog and in the hobby itself.

    (Next year's stats will be posted around New Year's; I feel that's a better time for stats since it's the beginning of the year.)

    I would like to give my sincerest thanks to all those who have checked out my blog this year. This is such a great hobby with great people in it, and y'all are what makes writing this blog of mine so enjoyable.

    Now that we're through with all the boring stuff, it's time for some fun: this year's giveaway! Sadly, I don't have much to give to the winner; autographed cards won't be in the mix this year because my LCS, the supplier of the prizes, was thin on autos this month. Nonetheless, the person who wins this contest will be receiving a pack of both 2025 Topps Update and 2025 Allen and Ginter, as well as a few shiny bonus cards. 

    

    All you need to do if you should wish to enter is leave a comment stating who your all-time favorite player in your favorite sport is. By doing this, not only will you offer me amusement, but you will also get your name entered into the whimsical spinny wheel. Whoever's name is first to be landed upon three times will be the winner of the contest. You don't need to be a follower of the blog to enter. I'm leaving this up to anybody who wants to enter, even if you've never seen my blog before. Though I wouldn't complain if you followed my blog if you haven't already 😉

    The winner will be decided on the morning of Thursday, the 29th. That gives y'all a whole week to enter!

    I also created this short questionnaire about my blog and the card collecting hobby. I enjoy making polls like these and seeing how people respond. 

    Click here to fill it out

    And finally, I've taken my fandom a little bit too far with the advent of a new blog, Macklin CELEBRATION - The Fan Club of Macklin Celebrini. I invented it on a whim, kinda like this blog, and will be posting once a month, or whenever I feel like it. If you like Macklin or the San Jose Sharks, go ahead and check it out. If not, I have failed you. 

    I believe that'll do it for this post. Thank you for checking out the blog today, have an amazing week, and happy collecting! Let's make this year better than the last!

Reviewing the 2026 Topps Baseball Design

     The design for Topps' 75th anniversary base set has finally been released! Though the set won't be available in stores for almost a month, let's take a quick peek at it and see how they've done on their design in this milestone year.

    It's an interesting design for sure. A few things strike me at first; the color scheme is pretty nice. The Red Sox colors are integrated into the card well. I like the font for Anthony's name as well. It's different than every other design, and I think it looks pretty cool. There is also a 75th Anniversary badge thing on the card, this one being in the upper right corner though I have seen other cards with the badge in a different spot.

    For example, the badge here is on the upper left-hand side. There is what looks to be lacing surrounding the left side of the card bordering the picture, and some other pattern on the card bordering that. I like what they did with the team logo on the bottom left as well. I feel that my wording doesn't make a ton of sense here, but it's what's my brain is thinking when I look at this 🤣

    There is certainly a lot going into every aspect of the card, and the more I look at it, the better a design I think it is. I think they did a good job this year.

    What do y'all think about this year's design? How did the folks over at Topps do compared with last year? 

    That does it for my brief review today. Have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Digitally Collecting Cards?

     I've heard a lot about collecting cards digitally the last six or so months, and I read about it once again on another blog about a week ago. This time my interest was peaked. 

    I looked around for a few minutes to find a free digital collecting website, and before too long I found one, Upper Deck e-Pack. I ended up joining e-Pack a few days ago to check out the concept of online collecting and see how I like it. 

    e-Pack is free and easy to join, and every day you log on to the website you get a free small pack of cards. There is always the opportunity to buy cards digitally, but at this point I'm sticking with what's free.

   The bulk of the cards you'll see are hockey cards, but you can also collect football, golf, and wrestling, as well as entertainment.

    The website is very easy to navigate, and there is a legend on the top left-hand side of the page which shows what the symbols you'll come across on the website mean.

    In addition to collecting, e-Pack offers you the opportunity to connect with other users via a couple forums, similar to TCDB. But the coolest part of e-Pack, in my opinion, is the ability to trade your digital cards with other collectors on the site.

    Another interesting perk that I read about is the ability to buy the physical copies of cards on the website, and Upper Deck will go ahead and send them to you. This feature, combined with the ability to trade with the other site users, may very well come in handy in the future.

    I've only been an Upper Deck e-Pack member for a handful of days now, but it looks like a pretty cool website. I will make an update on how it's going at the end of every month as I continue to learn about the site and use it more (starting in February). I'm thankful to get the free opportunity to try something new regarding card collecting, and I hope it turns out to be a cool experience. I was also recommended the BUNT app shortly after joining e-Pack, which I'll likely check out if I enjoy the former.

    That's all I've got for this week. Make sure to come back on January 22nd for my Blogoversary post (I don't know why I'm pushing this so hard 🤣)

    Thanks for stopping by the blog, hold out until this evening and then have a great weekend, and happy collecting!

The NFL Playoffs are (Almost) Among Us!

     And that means it's time for pick 'em! I started a bracket free for anybody who wants to play. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a creative name for my group, so I just called it Super Bowl Pick 'Em.

Click here to join

Password is superbowl. The deadline to join is when the first game of the playoffs starts on January 10th, 3:30 P.M. CT, featuring the Rams and the Panthers.

    I mostly have this up for bragging rights, but when I hit up the LCS for my Blogoversary post prize, I'll pick up a small prize of a pack of football cards for the winner (or baseball cards if they're out of stock).

    Good luck to your favorite playoff team (and the 49ers), have a great week, and happy collecting!