Sports Card Tour 2018 - Charlotte

The Collector's Sports Card Tour 2018 is back on track (for now) and back in the good ol' USA. Today's stop is Charlotte.

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing sports markets in America. Thirty years ago the state had no pro sports teams, now there are three. Charlotte is home to two of them: the Panthers and the Hornets. The Panthers have played in two Super Bowls, losing both. No Charlotte-based basketball team has advanced past the second round of the NBA playoffs.

While pulling cards to scan and discuss in this post I realized that I have an above average amount of Panthers cards relative to other NFL teams. A lot of that has to do with how cool their uniforms are: the black and blue colors really pop.

Most of my favorite Panthers base cards have blue in the background, such as the Stephen Davis and Keyshawn Johnson. My favorite is the DeShaun Foster with the leather helmet. I'm not sure what stadium that photo was taken at, but it looks as old as the helmet!

Kerry Collins led the Panthers to the NFC title game in just their second NFL season. (Thankfully my Packers beat them, en route to their SB XXXI win.) Kevin Greene is the only Panther I can think of who is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame - though his prime years were played with the Rams and Steelers. Steve Smith is arguably the greatest player in franchise history.... unless you believe Cam Newton has already earned that title.

I really want to like Cam Newton. The dude is an athletic freak, bigger and faster than almost any QB the sport has ever seen - and he can throw the ball downfield with the best of them. But I still have questions about his maturity and leadership. That bogus press conference after the Super Bowl loss still lingers in my mind.

That said I do kind of collect Cam's cards - especially those with blue or black borders. I bought both versions of this Topps Chrome RC but sold the Blue refractor on COMC during Newton's MVP season in 2015.

All of these were COMC purchases except the All-Pro Newton; that came out of a jumbo box of 2016 Donruss I ordered from Dave And Adam's. Christian McCaffrey is an intriguing prospect; he can definitely catch the ball out of the backfield but I'd like to see him run a little more (so Cam doesn't have to.) 

I used to binge watch the show Ballers when my mother-in-law had HBO, and there's a scene in one episode where Ricky wants to buy a black panther and name it Huey - but he's told Luke Kuechly has already purchased said panther. The Bowman blue foil parallel was a bargain buy - because it was incorrectly listed as Kiko Alonso on COMC.

The NBA expanded to Charlotte 30 years ago, back when teal was all the rage (they may have even started that trend.) Most of my commons are from the original Hornets franchise - which moved to New Orleans after the 2001-02 season. Perhaps they would have stayed put had they held on to their first round pick in 1996.

I'm calling you from the future. Do not trade him for Vlade Divac.

I don't remember much about the Kelly Tripucka-era Hornets, but once Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning arrived, the team turned into a contender. Both players were very popular with young NBA fans, especially "Grandmama" (Take that, Tyler Perry!)

The Fleer Mourning cards aren't dupes; one of them is from a set of Drake's Cakes cards my father-in-law collected.

Charlotte teams have had quite a few UConn alums- including Scott Burrell, Ben Gordon, and Emeka Okafor. Kemba Walker was rumored to be on his way out at the trade deadline. I nearly bought an Immaculate base card of Kemba on COMC; perhaps I'll grab it eventually.

Some of my more recent Charlotte cards, including the other Steve Smith and a trio of Cody Zeller cards from the big box o' basketball Jon sent me. The MKG Donruss parallel ($0.55) and Clear Vision Kaminsky card ($0.38) were part of the COMC 500. And so was this bad boy...

Still can't believe I got this for only $1.67, considering that if I bought a 6-card "pack" of this stuff at the SRP of $100+ this would be the best card I could expect to pull.

I could end this post here, since these are the only two teams in Charlotte. But there is another team in North Carolina - and I don't feel like giving my least favorite franchise its own post.

The NHL's Hurricanes are right down the (tobacco) road in Raleigh, where the former Hartford Whalers franchise has settled after a brief stop in Greensboro. Carolina's only pro sports championship belongs to the Hurricanes, who won the Stanley Cup in 2006. I really, really wanted the Edmonton Oilers to win - not just because I can't stand the 'Canes, but because the Oilers were my favorite western conference team.

That said, I do have a fair amount of Canes cards in my collection - mostly due to their origins in my home state. Former Whalers are always welcome, and I have a mini-PC of players who skated for the AHL's Beast of New Haven - a joint affiliate of the Canes and (Florida) Panthers. 

That short-lived franchise gave me an up close look at future NHLers like Marek Malik and Shane Willis, who could have been a 30-goal scorer and a guy I would have had to root for, had his career not been cut short by concussion problems stemming from a Scott Stevens hit.

Of course the Connecticut to Carolina pipeline would not be complete without the greatest player in franchise history, Ron Francis. Like the Kobe Bryant trade, many Whalers fans will say the Francis-to-Pittsburgh deal was the beginning of the end of hockey in Hartford. 

I have about two dozen "Ronnie Franchise" cards in my collection. The Whalers cards are all in an album. Here are a few from my star player box: 

I snuck in a couple other players, including Eric Staal. The Chrome RC is in my hockey hits box. Most of the higher-value Canes cards I end up with get sold or traded straight away. I pulled a Big Playmakers patch card of Eric Staal from a hobby box at my LCS; promoted the pull (and shop) on Sports Card Forum and earned a 20% off discount on my next purchase. Then I sold the Staal. 

Every other Canes card you see here was pack pulled, except the last two. I'm a sucker for anything with the 1993 SP foil design like that Elias Lindholm (I had his autographed RC from SPA and sold it) The Compendium Red was an impulse buy, and I probably could have found better ways to spend a dollar on COMC, but I wanted to support Bryan Bickell and his battle with MS (#BickellBrave)

 

Can't hate that guy - no matter what jersey he's wearing.


Favorite Panthers player: Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey
Favorite Hornets player: Kemba Walker
Favorite Hurricanes player: Ron Francis. Forever.

Panthers card I'd like to own: A Julius Peppers refractor RC from 2002 Topps Pristine.

My nephew gifted me a Panthers mini-helmet signed by Peppers. It's buried in my closet somewhere

Hornets card I'd like to own: Another Kemba card. Or maybe a Dwight Howard base card.
Hurricanes card I'd like to own: Can't think of any, unless there's a base card of a Beast or Whalers player not yet represented in my collection.

Our next tour stop is a big one - Chicago. Before that I might have an unrelated post. Hopefully the tour will resume by the end of this week. Thanks for reading!


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