Card of the Day: Mike Fiers 2017 Topps Heritage High Number SP #487

Product Highlight: 1991 Pennsylvania High School Big 33

Due to a decline in donations and an increasing amount of debt, the Big 33 Scholarship Foundation closed it’s doors after sixty years in 2017.  The annual football game it once sponsored is now under the supervision of the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association.

The Big 33 Football Classic began in 1957.  Its often been referred to as the Super Bowl of High School Football.  Some of the best high school players from Pennsylvania have taken on Ohio, Maryland, and Texas.  In the early years Pennsylvania would just play itself splitting up between east and west or blue and gray.  Between 1957 and 1960 Pennsylvania played against collected talent from around the nation.  Lots of famous football stars have played in the Big 33 game – Herb Adderley, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly.

Starting in 1991, they began to make team sets.  The Pennsylvania set contains (36) black and white cards.  Key cards include Ray Zellars, Curtis Martin, and Marvin Harrison.  All of these predate their NFL rookies.  It’s 1991 Maryland counterpart doesn’t really have any major cards worth talking about.  Any Big 33 card can make an interesting addition to your collection.  Later on, some sets included autographs.

During my senior year in high school, I received a Big 33 Academic Scholarship.  That included a trip to the 2004 Big 33 game in Hershey, PA.  A couple of players from that game made it to the NFL – Chad Henne, Brian Hoyer, Darrelle Revis, and Ted Ginn Jr.

Card of the Day: Tim Lincecum 2016 Topps Heritage High Number #631

Blue Jays ’19 Topps High Tek Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Bryce Thompson on being the lucky winner of the Elvis Luciano 2019 Topps High Tek RC Auto.  Once Bryce Thompson sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Blue Jays ’19 Topps High Tek Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Elvis Luciano 2019 Topps High Tek RC Auto.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, December 27, 2019 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• U.S. residents only.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Card of the Day: Gerrit Cole 2013 Topps Heritage High Number RC #596

2019 Topps High Tek Baseball Hobby Box Break & Review

Topps Tek made it’s debut to the world in 1998.  The various background patterns gave collectors what seemed like an endless amount of cards to collect.  Some of these patterns are much more difficult to obtain than others.  I’m sure there are collectors still attempting to finish their sets they started over twenty years ago.

I’m so happy that this brand got an overhaul compared to it’s recently revived predecessors.  Over the past few years trying to follow which patterns and parallels go with each player got a bit confusing.

What’s changed?  A lot.  Instead of getting (1) pack with (40) cards and (2) autographs, we now get (3) mini-boxes containing (6) cards and (1) autograph per mini-box.  Less cards, but more autographs.

Only (3) patterns highlight the base set.  There is a different pattern for rookies, current stars, and retired players.  Each have the same parallels.  In my opinion, this makes things so much easier.

The 2019 Topps High Tek base set consists of (112) cards.  Parallels that you can pull include White (1 per pack), Blue (1 per pack), Green #’ed/150, Purple #’ed/99, Pink #’ed/75, Black #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, and Gold #’ed 1/1.

Autographs include High Tek Autographs, CelebraTEK Autographs, Future TEK Autographs, PortraiTEK Autographs, ReflecTEK Autographs, and TEK Buyback Autographs.

Inserts include CelebraTEK, Future TEK, PortraiTEK, and ReflecTEK.

I’m a sucker when it comes to on-card acetate autographs.  Not only is the 2019 format easier to follow, but for the same price as previous years you get an additional autograph.

Checklist

Here is what I pulled:

Autos

• Lance McCullers Jr. High Tek Red Auto #’ed/10
• Brad Keller RC High Tek Purple Auto #’ed/99
• Elvis Luciano RC High Tek Auto

Parallels

• Mookie Betts Black #’ed/50
• Miguel Cabrera Purple #’ed/99
• Jacob deGrom Green #’ed/150
• Jose Ramirez Blue
• Jose Ramirez White
• Touki Toussaint RC White

Base

• Jose Ramirez #16
• Anthony Rizzo #71
• Justin Verlander #24
• Paul Goldschmidt #108
• Andrew Benintendi #6
• Nolan Arenado #77
• Derek Jeter #38
• Christin Stewart RC #19
• Javier Baez #72