2000 Collectors Edge T3 Football

These retail rookie hologold 3 card packs, The set consists of 225 cards, parallels Holoplatinum #'d /500, HoloRed #'d /50, Heir Force #'d /1000, Excalibiur #'d /1000, Future Legends 1:24, Adrenaline 1:24, Game Gear, Leatherbacks #'d /12 & Rookie Ink.  This pack had a Holoplatinum #'d 250/500 of Albert Connell.  See the pack and fronts and backs in the pictures below.

1997 Fleer Football

Here is a retail 10 card pack of 1997 Fleer Football.  The set contains 450 cards along with 6 Insert sets Rookie Sensations 1:4, ProSpects 1:6, Game Breakers Supreme 1:18, Thrill Seekers 1:288, All-Pros 1:36 & Game Breakers 1:2.  This pack contained an Eddie George Rookie Sensation. Interesting note on the wrapper that the new texture of the cards are perfect for autographs.

2017 Panini Chronicles

It's time to get weird with one of Panini's weirdest products. And yet, this is before Chronicles got even weirder, where it's difficult to tell what the base design even is.

71 - Kris Bryant - It never occurred to me until now that this design reminds me of the outer cover of a novel, where it's trying to give the potential buyer a little blurb about the book as an enticement to buy it.

28 - Max Scherzer - Talking about Max's eyes like that makes this seem like it could be some kind of romance novel.

98 - Rickey Henderson - Rickey "Faster Blaster" Henderson. Yup, that was totally his nickname.

Here's a look at the back. As you can see, there isn't much left to the rest of the story.

54 - Lorenzo Cain

212 - Dinelson Lamet Donruss Rated Rookie - In what was just a brief glimpse at things to come, this isn't actually part of the base set. It's considered an extension of the Donruss set, as the card numbering picks up with more Rated Rookies from where the main set left off.

1996 Upper Deck SPx Football

I Holoview Perimeter Die-Cut card in each pack.  these one card packs could have also included a Montana or Marino Autograph each at 1:433.  The set is a total of 50 cards and had other inserts consisting of Gold 1-7, Holofame 1:24, Marino Record Breaker 1:81 & Montana Tribute 1:95.
This pack contained a regular Darney Scott, see packaging and front and back in the pictures below.

1995 Upper Deck Football

These wax packs contain 10 cards.  There are inserts including Silver 2:1 & Gold 1:35 Electric, Pro Bowl 1:25, Predictors 1:30 & also had predictor packs that were 1:144.  This pack contained the 2 Silver Electric cards (Rhett & Carrier) along with a Cris Carter and a Star Rookie Curtis Martin card.

1995 Topps Stadium Club Series 1

In these 11 card packs there were also a number of inserts, in every pack was either a Extreme Corp or a Draft Pix card other insets included Power Surge, Power Matrix, Metalists Laser Cut & Nemeses Dual Etched Foils these Special cards appeared in 1:28 packs. This pack included a Rick Mirer Extreme Corp card, best card in the pack was probably the Michael Irvin Cowboys card.

2020 Topps Gypsy Queen Retail.

    In this time of Covid-19 lockdown, I am slightly spoiled in that I have a Walgreens literally across the street from my house.  So any prescriptions I need or milk or bread issues and I can just slap my mask on and walk 50 yards in my pajamas and take care of it with little problem.  I know that a lot of people do not have this luxury.  One of the other wonderful things is that in the last year or so, they started stocking retail baseball cards, something usually only the Targets and Walmarts of the world would do.  I bought way too much 2020 Heritage last month due to this fact and now this afternoon, in need of something to do and comfort not made of chocolate I made the odd choice of buying a 3-pack hanger of Gypsy Queen.  I see GQ as ugly (just look at it) and redundant (we have the far superior Allen and Ginter) but dammit if I don't buy some every once in a while, usually much to my chagrin.  But desperate times call for desperate measures, so here we are.  I will spare you three packs of this stuff - and the magical exclusive green parallels - and just pick one and do it. 

It took me a while to remember Bryce Harper was on the Phillies.  My brain is already forgetting baseball!

The design is just a riff on the last few years designs and for the decade or so of its existence it has rarely strayed from the turn of the century (as in 20th) kind of psuedo-nostalgic old-timey saloon poster graphics. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it's awful.  This time it is just...fine.  There is one terrible part that I will harp on in a moment, but overall it looks like Gypsy Queen and let's just leave it at that.

 

#254 Chris Archer - Pirates.  Archer epitomizes the so-underrated-he's-overrated kind of pitcher.  He's pretty damn good at times and has made a couple all star teams off of that reputation.  But in between he has also led the league in losses and has a completely average 103 ERA+. 

#24 Michael Conforto - Mets.  Hey! A Mets card, that makes any pack worthwhile, though in a moment this pack is gonna get a whole lot more interesting.

#113 A.J. Puk - Athletics.  Here's the major problem with the design of this set - the line with the name and position is just a mess.  PUK, A.J. P. looks like something Elon Musk would name his kid.  I thought Chris Archer's name was C. P. when I first looked at it and you could easily mistake Michael Conforto's name for MOF.  A simple font size or color difference here or a little more spacing would have taken anyone paying attention for five seconds that same amount of time to fix.

#134 Tim Anderson - White Sox. Jackie Robinson Variation Autograph 16/99.  Well, jackpot! I never get hits in retail packs and here we have a numbered autograph variation, a 1:4484 pack on-card beauty.  I really wish I collected Anderson or White Sox cards but right now that's besides the point.  That's a pretty card and I have been staring at it like a goon while I write this astounded that I actually plucked something nice out of a pack from a Walgreens.

#212 Marcus Semien - Athletics.  Sorry, Marc.  You're a huge letdown after that autographed card.  Even though you've saved my fantasy team the last couple years when my starting SS got hurt, I can't even bring myself to make a childish joke about your last name after that Anderson card.

#287 Jesus Luzardo - Athletics RC.  This was a real A's superpack, huh?  I mean, except for the low numbered autograph of the White Sox player.  With a moment to catch my breath, I can say that Jesus Luzardo is a magnificent name. If I were to start a tribute band for Green Lizard and The Jesus and Mary Chain, in a million tries I couldn't think of a better name than Jesus Luzardo.  Then we'd become big and he'd become a star and we'd have to change our name to Mary Jelly.  Oh well.

This was exactly the distraction I needed this afternoon and I hope it was for you as well.  Stay safe and sane everybody!

1995 Topps Football Series 1 Wax

The wax packs for series 1 of 1995 Topps Football had 13 cards in each with possible insets of Power Boosters, Sensational Sophomores, Hit List, Mystery Finest & Finest Refractor.  Here are the cards in my pack and the wrapper.