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...because I can't stop

Eddie’s Sports Treasures – Knoxville, Tennessee

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I also ventured out to another Knoxville sports card shop.  Eddie’s Sports Treasures in Knoxville, Tennessee didn’t disappoint.  It was about a 15-20 minute drive from downtown Knoxville and was set in a very strip-mall-like atmosphere.  But once I walked in, I was pretty happy with the place.  It was big and loaded with all kinds of sports memorabilia.  Owner Eddie Barkley had authentic jerseys, signed helmets, signed photos, and a great selection of cards.  He also had a bunch of officially licensed products like t-shirts, hats, etc…

Eddie’s Sports Treasures has a pretty strong online presence as well!  You can visit his website at eddiessportstreasures.com.  He’s also on Facebook here and Twitter @sportstreasures

VIBE (4 out of 5)
While it doesn’t look like much from the outside.

The inside is something else.

Eddie was helping another customer when I walked in.  It was like two in the afternoon so this was already a good sign.  I looked around the immense inventory, marveling at a bunch of the stuff.  He then took two calls before we had a few moments to chat about the business of cardboard. (And he took another call while we were talking.) Eddie’s Sports Treasures has been around since 1989 and he said he was very busy.  He said it was a lot of work keeping up with the changes in the hobby but he made a decent living at it.  Eddie had a bunch of different things going on to keep things interesting at the shop.  He had a live case break the following weekend and he often gets some former Tennessee Football Players to come and sign autographs at the store.  He said that was a huge help to the business.

INVENTORY (5 out of 5)
A couple of individual cards I spotted and liked were a Leaf Jim Kelly Auto priced at $75 dollars, I already had one I found online that was very similar and much less expensive.  There was also a Bruce Smith auto card that was priced at $80 but I couldn’t pull the trigger.  Not a whole lot of Buffalo stuff, but I wasn’t too surprised since I was in Tennessee.   Instead I bought a couple of boxes my favorite product Contenders Draft Picks.

PURCHASE (4 out of 5)
Eddie had a bunch of boxes of 2017 Contenders at a very decent price.  Only two dollars more than I’d seen advertised online.  So I grabbed two.  And I pulled some nice stuff.  No giant hits or case hits or anything like that but each box did contain an auto of the Buffalo Bills first round pick, Tre’Davious White.  I also pulled a cracked ice (numbered to 23) and playoff ticket (numbered to 15) and a bowl ticket (numbered to 99) in each box.  Along with these I pulled a veteran bowl ticket (numbered to 99) in each box.  I think this is pretty standard for these boxes but I’ve had other boxes that had only regular college ticket autos in them.

 

OVERALL (4.5 out of 5)
I really liked this place.  This is as close to a 5-out-of-5 as a place could get for me.  Had I been able to find anything Jim Kelly or Buffalo Bills related I would have given him a 5.  I’ll definitely stop in again next time I’m in Knoxville.  If you are ever in the area stop buy and check out this shop.  I highly recommend it.

Sports Treasures is Open
Monday – Friday: 10-6
Saturday: 10-4

The Loot Locker – May 2017

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

It’s that time again.  My Loot Locker came about 2 weeks ago, but I’m just getting to post about now.   Usually I have some pretty good luck with Loot Lockers, but this was not one of my best.  Here is the breakdown.

Three Hobby Packs
2015 Topps Platinum
2016 Donruss Optic Football
2017 Score Football

Noting special to report from the Topps Platinum.  I’ve already built the base set in 2015 Topps Platinum and am just working on the Golds…I got an Eddie Lacy which I already had. Donruss Optic wasn’t much better, none of the cards helped with that base set and the “hit” was the following card.

2016 Donruss Optic Football #174 Jeff Driskel 228/299

Finally, I opened the 2017 Score Football pack.

I’ve always liked Score, maybe because it’s cheaper and has more base cards to try and collect.  But this year’s version looks quite nice.  The photos used are great and the design is clean.  Here are a few that I pulled.

2017 Score Football #151 Trevor Siemian Gold 03/50

Here are some of the other cards in the pack.

2017 Score Football #106 Sammie Coates Scorecard

2017 Score Football #105 LeSean McCoy

2017 Score Football #363 D’Onta Foreman

2017 Score Football #416 Cooper Kupp

2017 Score Football #425 Evan Engram

So now the question becomes what should I collect next.  Is 2017 Score Football on the list?  I’m still not sure.  While it wasn’t my best Loot Locker, it did give me something to think about.  Now I have to go open some more packs.

Webb’s Cards and Collectibles – Knoxville Tennessee

GimmeSomeJimmyBrick and Mortar

VIBE (3 out of 5)

Webb’s Cards and Collectibles is a small store but very organized. It felt a little cramped as card boxes were packed to the ceiling. Each set was organized on the shelves by year, each card was in number order. If you needed a card to complete your collection this is the place to come. Especially if you need baseball from the past 40-50 years.

I chatted with the owner, Bill, while his grand kids were running around the store. This was pretty cool to see two little boys playing around the store. Both boys were well behaved and energetic and put a smile on my face.

INVENTORY (3 out of 5)

I’m a football guy and I like to be able to buy packs and boxes not just singles. I would have given a higher score here had there been any wax boxes at all. There were some factory sets, a couple of random hobby boxes, but nothing 2017. There was an entire display case full of Peyton Manning, since it was in Knoxville, Tennessee. Most of the single cards in cases were pretty recent (last 4 years) but there were a few older cards scattered around.

He had an entire wall of boxes with a player’s name on them. Unfortunately, there was no Jim Kelly or any Buffalo Bills’ player box…these boxes had a bit of everything but were mostly base and low-level inserts. He also had a few boxes of each team filled with random player cards. He offered to sell me all 4 boxes of Buffalo Bills (four 1200 count boxes) for $100 but I had no way of getting them home from Knoxville. I spent some time going through the boxes. Not a lot of Jim Kelly.

PURCHASE (4 out of 5)

I went through a box of Buffalo Bills in Top Loaders. I wanted to give him a little bit of business since he was nice enough to chat with me for 10-15 minutes. I bought 10 cards for $10 well worth some fun things for personal collection. I’m particularly fond of the JP Losman numbered to 50! Check them out below.

 

OVERALL (3 out of 5)

Not the best card shop I’ve been to and not the worst. This place was pretty average actually. Bill seemed a little bitter over lack of business, but was a nice guy. He told me business wasn’t horrible but not great either. He took two calls while I was there and his advice to both callers was to sell your cards online because he’d only give you 5% of what it was probably worth so that he could make a profit.

He told me he sells all sports, but said that the Basketball and Hockey didn’t sell really well. Knoxville is a football town and he sells football the most. Individual cards seemed a little overpriced compared to what I’ve seen other places, but not by much. Pretty reasonable really. I’ll stop by next time I’m in Knoxville just to see how Bill and his business are doing.

Note: I visited another shop while I was in Knoxville early last month. I’ll have more on that in a later post!

The Loot Locker – April 2017

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

Yes, it’s almost June. I’ve been neglecting my posts. I have about 6 or 7 in the works just about ready to post with another 3-4 stored up in my huge noggin. But since it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything please take a look at my last Loot Locker.

Without further delay…the April Loot Locker.

Three Hobby Packs
2016 Donruss Optic Football
2016 Panini Draft Picks Prizm Football
2016 Panini Clear Vision Football

2016 Donruss Optic Football
2016 Donruss Optic – Holo #129 Rookies – Kevin Dodd

2016 Panini Draft Picks Prizm Football
2016 Panini Prizm Collegiate Draft Picks – Prizms #72 Matt Forte

2016 Panini Prizm Collegiate Draft Picks – Prizms Autographs #193 Jason Spriggs

2016 Panini Clear Vision Football
2016 Panini Clear Vision – #24 Ameer Abdullah
2016 Panini Clear Vision – #97 Randall Cunningham

2016 Panini Clear Vision – Clear Rivals – Blue #9 Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin 83/99
 

No big hit, but overall not too bad. To go along with the Optic Holo,I also pulled two cards that I need to complete the base set of 2016 Optic.

As always all are for trade or sale. Hit me up.

Mail Day – April 14th 2017

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

Another successful group break with Fox’s Fire Card (@brownsfan83 on Twitter).  Photos only since it’s a beautiful day for sitting on a patio with a cold beverage and good friends.

Some Buffalo Bills from Panini Phoenix…

A few more Bills…

2016 Clear Vision LeSean McCoy Mega Jersey 24/99

And a couple of randoms…

And a couple of hits…
2016 Clear Vision Amari Cooper Clear Change 88/99

2015 Topps High Tek Bryce Petty Autograph

The Loot Locker – March 2017

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

Back again this month with a pleasant surprise.  After all these Loot Lockers I finally got a bonus locker.  Two extra hobby packs for the upgraded Loot Locker!

Regular 3 Packs
2016 Donruss Optic Football
2016 Panini Phoenix Football
2016 Panini Playoff Football

Not much to write home about in the first few packs…

2016 Panini Playoff – Kickoff #211 Rookies – Vernon Hargreaves III 054/199
  

2016 Donruss Optic – Orange #31 Emmanuel Sanders 177/199
 

2016 Donruss Optic – Inducted #1 Brett Favre
  

Two Bonus Packs
2016 Donruss Optic Football
2016 Panini Phoenix Football

2016 Donruss Optic – Fans of the Game #5 Daniella Monet
 

2016 Panini Phoenix – RPS Rookie Memorabilia – Jumbo Yellow Prime #JM-WF Will Fuller V 04/25

#Boom!

As always all for trade or sale. Until next time, go open another pack.

Loot Lockers x3

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

So I haven’t posted my Loot Lockers in a while.  Life gets busy, but I want to post more often and show of more of the stuff I pull and share with this great hobby community.  For the December and January Loot Lockers I’m just hitting the highlights. But I’ll give you the entire breakdown of the February Loot Locker.  Check them out.

December 2016 Loot Locker

2016 Unparalleled
2016 Classics
2016 Certified

2016 Certified Gold Team #8 Cam Newton
  

2016 Certified #179 Rico Gathers 993/999
  

2016 Certified Sunday Certified #14 Eli Manning
   

2016 Classics Classic Clashes #17 John Elway/Brett Favre
 

2016 Classics #123 Roger Staubach (Red Back)
  

And the Unparalleled
Drew Brees, Jalen Ramsey, Jimmy Garoppolo

2016 Unparalleled World Class Records #WCR-6 Bruce Smith
  

Great addition to the personal collection

January 2017 Loot Locker

2016 Clear Vision
2016 Contenders
2016 Donruss Optic

2016 Clear Vision Tony Dorsett

2016 Clear Vision Joe Namath

2016 Clear Vision William Jackson III 304/999
 

2016 Contenders Jordan Payton Playoff Ticket Auto 25/99
 

2016 Donruss Optic Legends of the Fall Drew Brees 02/10
  

#Boom!

February 2017 Loot Locker

2016 Clear Vision
2016 Contenders
2016 Donruss Optic

2016 Clear Vision Darrelle Revis #50

2016 Clear Vision Dez Bryant #18

2016 Clear #6 Amari Cooper Mega Jersey 90/99

#Boom!

2016 Contenders #40 Devonta Freeman

2016 Contenders #73 Khalil Mack
 

2016 Contenders #30 Matthew Stafford

2016 Contenders #83 Robert Griffin III

2016 Contenders #259 Robby Anderson Playoff Ticket Auto 79/99

2016 Donruss Optic #43 Lamar Miller

2016 Donruss Optic #130 Nate Sudfeld

2016 Donruss Optic #33 Ryan Tannehill Gridiron Kings

2016 Donruss Optic #188 Nick Vannett Rated Rookie Red 38/99

There you go three months, three Loot Lockers.  All for trade except for the Bruce Smith and Cam Newton cards.  Until next time, go open some more packs.

Mail Day – Feb. 27th 2017

GimmeSomeJimmyBreaks

Over the last month or so I started breaking with a group of collectors that I met through twitter. Mr. Fox at Fox’s Fire Card (@brownsfan83) runs them whenever he gets enough people to buy them out. It’s a nice small group and I like that I can often get the Bills in any “pick your team” break. Today I got my first package from the breaks and while I didn’t get anything great on the Buffalo Bills end I did get some nice cards.

Here is the breakdown of the teams and products I bought
2015 Donrus Football – 5 Box Break (Bills, Panthers, Giants)
2016 Limited (Bills, Panthers)
2016 Crown Royale (Bills, Panthers, Lions, Giants)

And here are some of the highlights…

2016 Panini Limited – Rookie Autographs – Jeremy Cash 01/99

2015 Panini Crown Royale – #31 Victor Cruz

2015 Panini Crown Royale – Pink Ribbons Die-Cuts – Green #PR12 Cam Newton

2015 Panini Crown Royale – #118 Quandre Diggs

2015 Panini Donruss – Stat Line Receptions #276 Gridiron Kings – Odell Beckham Jr. 079/143

2015 Panini Donruss – Press Proof Purple #149 – Luke Kuechly 112/199

2015 Panini Donruss – Passing the Torch Memorabilia #PTM-CAR

2015 Panini Donruss – Threads #DT-AW Andre Williams

There also was a pack of 2015-16 Panini NBA Hoops included in my package and some how I pulled this sweet card!

2015-16 Panini NBA Hoops – Hot Signatures #HS-TB Tarik Black

Until next time!

Jim Kelly – 2015 Panini Spectra Football

GimmeSomeJimmyPersonal Collection

A couple of weeks ago I made a bit of an impulse purchase on eBay.  It was a lot of eight Jim Kelly cards from the 2015 Panini Spectra Football set.  This purchase led to a new trading card quest.  It’s not going to be easy and it might not even be possible to find, but I’m looking to complete the rainbow of Jim Kelly variations.  Here are the cards I purchased.

Base 19/99
  

Neon Blue 04/49
  

Neon Blue Die-Cut 02/35
  

Neon Green 18/25
  

Neon Green Die-Cut 04/15
  

Neon Pink 07/10
  

Neon Pink Die-Cut 4/5
  

Neon Orange 3/3
  

So I’m still looking for the Neon Orange Die-Cut 1 of 1 and the Gold 1 of 1. These are obviously the hardest ones to find, and the most expensive but if anyone out there has one, please let me know.  I’m willing to trade and/or buy. Either way these cards are a great addition to the person collection. Let’s Go Buffalo!

UPDATE: 2016 Blowout NFL Season PLAYER Promo

GimmeSomeJimmyGeneral

This is a bittersweet, and very delayed, post but I felt like I needed to get it out there before Christmas.  During Week 14 of the NFL season when the Bills were defeated and basically knocked out of the playoffs, a certain Pittsburgh running back went over the 200 yard mark.  The Bills are technically still mathematically alive for the playoffs.   This loss probably bounced Buffalo from the first (and Rex Ryan promised) playoff berth since 1999.  It was a very disappointing outcome.  But, I did get 100 dollars for Le’Veon Bell’s effort from Blowout Cards!  Here are all the details from my earlier post about the contest.

I got that going for me, which is nice!  Not sure what I should buy with my new found money but I’m pretty pumped about having an extra $100 to buy a new hobby box or two!

I’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up so this may be my last post of 2016.  Hope you have a Merry Christmas filled with family and fun.  And maybe unwrapping a few hits too!  And to get my New Year’s Resolutions off to a good start, here’s the first for me to work on, more creative and frequent posts for OneMorePack.com.

Merry Christmas Everyone!