Christmas Trading Cards Over the Years

Around this time, I used to love checking the company mailbox. Everyone loves getting holiday mail, especially Christmas cards from friends and family, but I remember when I used to get some of the best ones from the trading card manufacturers.

You could always count on something cool arriving in the mail; a greeting that was a great keepsake, but also a thank you for another year of working together to spread the message about the trading card industry/hobby.

Those days seem like an eternity ago. Really they do. The PR people were more hands on, the relationship with writers and spokespersons were much more personal. Now everything is done by email, smartphone or twitter.

I couldn't find all of my Holiday cards from the manufacturers we've worked with over the last decade and then some, but here's a few I managed to scrounge up for tonight's show discussion. If I find some more in storage, I'll add them here for you to see.

Admit it, they are pretty cool. I hope to see them return.

Listen to Cardboard Connection Radio on Friday evening 11:00 PM EST at.

Peja Failakovic

What is this card? What does the title of this post mean? Tune in to Cardboard Connection Radio to find out.

2010 Panini Threads - Rob Gronkowski Rookie Class Auto

Last year I opened a lot of football cards. It remains my favorite sport and I want to support it and the manufacturers that make all kinds of football cards. However, 2010 happened to be a year that saw so many products, it almost became noncollectable. There wasn't a truly great rookie class and there were an overabundance of those rookie autos packed out in product.

One of the products I enjoyed last season was Panini Threads. A lot of collectors are not fans of the manufactured patch cards. I don't see any need for fake patches as a hit if they aren't autographed, but when you attach an auto to it, I think it is a much better solution than a sticker.

Threads boasted rookie patch autos #'d to 500 and while most everyone was hoping for an auto of Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy or even Ndamukong Suh, I actually wanted Rolando McClain of the Raiders.

After opening the box, I wasn't disappointed when I found a Rob Gronkowski. I remember doing the Cardboard Connection Radio show that week and discussing the product. I talked about the signed letter cards and that at that point in time, the box might not have looked that good, but I needed to give it some time acquire value. A lot of collectors were griping to me that I gave a decent review to a product that seemed to yield nothing near the cost of the box. A similar incident happened with the Limited product a little later in the season. Even one of my co-hosts thought it was a bust. I didn't.

What I saw was potential. Tom Brady is one of the most gifted quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. Yeah, he even gets some gifts from the officials too. But he likes to target the Tight End and when you put a 6'6" 260lb target in front of Captain America, he is going to throw that shield at him often and accurate.

Brady in a little more than a season and a half has helped make Rob Gronkowski a superstar. This past Sunday, the two made history when Brady connected with Gronkowski to establish a single-season record for most TD grabs by a TE. His record-breaking 14th TD of the season was a nice 49-yard completion against the Washington Redskins. Later in the game, they connected again and he notched his 15th TD.

To say he's having a stellar season would be an understatement. He still has three games to go and he's got 1088 YDS from 77 catches. He has become Brady's go-to-guy in only his second NFL campaign. Barring injury, he had a very bright future ahead of him and I'm happy to say I saw it coming.

After pulling this card out of a pack of Threads, I immediately put it aside knowing it would be one I wanted to keep. I honestly didn't know I'd be writing about it this soon though.

The card itself is one of his best looking rookie cards. A clean, blue signature on a white letter K says it all. It is #'d to 500 and is #193 from the 2010 Threads set.

2011 Panini Gold Standard Football Video Box Break

One of the most talked about NFL products of the year has arrived and I vannnnt gooooooold Austin Powers...

Check out what I found in a box of 2011 Gold Standard Football.

2012 Press Pass Racing Video Box Break

Here's a look at what I found inside a box of 2012 Press Pass Racing cards.

SIGnificant Cards - 2011 Press Pass Premium Carl Edwards Premium Signatures

It was a fight to the finish for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup and while on paper it looked like Carl Edwards was the guy to beat, Tony Stewart had other plans. It was a great season of racing. Never before have two racers finished with the same amount of points and Edwards took second place with a tremendous amount of class.

Edwards was the most consistent driver this year for sure and he also had a pretty amazing run in the Nationwide series notching 8 wins. He earned a lot of new fans, including yours truly. There wasn't a race he was in where he didn't hover near the top of the pack.

He's going to continue to be successful with the strong Roush-Fenway team behind him and a solid backing of sponsors for the #99 Ford including Aflac, Scott & Subway. Take a look at the highlights of the Homestead 400, one of the best races I've seen in a long time.

It took awhile for me to find an Edwards auto, but 2011 was a great year to enhance your Press Pass racing card collection. With a series of strong products including Premium, Showcase, FanFare, Legends and my favorite Main Event, they have produced and packed out some of their most impressive cards yet.

Press Pass Premium provided me with this foil board auto of the Ford Fusion driver and it's an interesting card to me. Usually Edwards is all smiles, well unless he is mixing it up on the track with Kevin Harvick or Brad Keselowski. He look almost perturbed in this photo which made me laugh. It's like he'd thinking he'd rather be just about anywhere other than in front of the camera.

I also commend Carl for the signature on the card. Not only is it completely legible, but you can tell that he was really paying attention to signing the stickers because he kept his signature completely within the confines without getting any cropped off the edges. Kudos to him and Press Pass for doing sticker autos in the correct fashion. There's a right way and a wrong way to sign a sticker, and this is an example of the right way. If its gotta be a sticker and the card can't be signed, take notes... this is how its done.