2008 Topps Opening Day

Here's another one to file under "I can't believe no one has posted one of these yet." These packs are a staple of just about every repack box on the market these days, which explains why I have received so many Cardinals from this set in recent days. The Cardinals look pretty good in this set, but overall I'm not sure if this was much of a hit, even for a 99 cent product. That being said, I'm glad that Opening Day is coming back for 2010 (from what I've heard anyway.) The more budget-priced products, the better.

42 - Vladimir Guerrero (Guerrero's career is fading fast, which always surprises me. I guess I don't pay a whole lot of attention to players' ages or when they start their decline. Maybe it explains why I sometimes struggle at fantasy baseball.)

27 - Hank Blalock (Here's another supposedly on the decline, and he's not even 30 yet. What's up with that? Maybe that just means he wasn't very good to begin with. I read here that he is still looking for a team and may be without one for awhile yet.)

210 - Josh Anderson (This guy was good for about 2 weeks at the end of the 2007 season, and that's about it. Unfortunately, it seemed like most of those games were against the Cardinals.)

- Cincinnati Reds Opening Day Tattoo (It's a hit! These tattoo things are only available in 1 out of 12 packs, which means on average you'd have to spend around $12 to get one of these puppies. I performed some "computer magic" to make this thing appear as it would if you "tattooed" it on your hand or on somewhere worse.)

- David Wright filler card

176 - Aaron Harang (Here you're starting to see what was so bad about the 2008 design. There's not nearly enough room for Harang in this frame. I'm not all that thrilled they went to the huge logos for the same reason.)

92 - David DeJesus (And DeJesus... I'm not sure if he was ever any good. He's not horrible, though.)

1991-Impel U.S. Olympic Cards

Whenever I stop by the hobby shop he always has a bunch of these in a big bucket with reduced price packs. I finally grabbed a pack to see what they were all about.

Their is 15 cards per pack and I believe the checklist is 90 cards. Each card has a pretty good bio on the back of the card.


#32 Danny Mack Gable




#75 Robert J. Kane

kind of a boring interlude with all the action shots in the set.




Back to the action shots.

#31 Ralph Boston




#29 Sugar Ray


I love the guy sitting at the bottom left corner with a pensive look.

Here's the back. According to wikipedia he's named after the singer Ray Charles.


#34 Debbie Meyer




#25 Edwin Moses


#54 1964 U.S. Olympic team: Men's Basketball


#83 Willie Davenport


#76 Leroy Walker



#59 1964 Men's Basketball team roster card


#22 Frank Wykoff



#2 Mark Spitz



#70 1980 U.S. Hockey team

This is a pretty cool card. It has the roster on the back. (I forgot to scan it)


#12 Dick Button


#46 Scott Hamilton


...and here's the back of the pack.

New Writers

I've received a bunch of new writer requests in the past week and I haven't been getting back to everyone as quickly as I'd hoped to. Long story short, I'll be sending out invites this weekend [probably tomorrow].

Thanks for your patience,

Matt F.

2010 Upperdeck....Baseball?

It's true. 2010 Upperdeck baseball, bought 'em at Target for the typical $3, But Notice the bottom of the pack reads: NOT authorized by Major League Baseball or its Members Teams. Hmmm... that explains why it only refers to the city where each person plays, but it pretty much looks like the same ol' Upperdeck.
There's a rookie card, doesn't use the typical rookie logo. There's a ballparks card that I assume is 1:1. Tells about the history of the ballpark, I think that is pretty cool. The spectacle of a stadium is often lost in the world of sports. Then a Biography card of Jon Lester shares June 6th, 2009 of his season with us as he threw a 2-hit 11K "masterpiece" against the Rangers...I mean "Texas".
Upperdeck, you sure now how to keep a guy coming back. Yeah that's an insert of my favorite player, Sweet! I gave you a chance Topps, but you failed to produce a Ryan Braun card in four packs, Upperdeck comes through with an insert, in the first pack. To quote the fella's at ESPN, "C'mon Man."

2007-08 Fleer Basketball

Remember the Sonics? I do. I think it's pretty lousy that they were taken away.

Here's some cards of the basketball variety.

85 - Marvin Williams (Right off the bat, I have to say that I really like the design of this set. I can't really say the same about most of the Fleer stuff I've seen since Upper Deck took them over or bought them out or whatever they did. It reminds me of classic late '80s Fleer designs.)

15 - Andrea Bargnani (The backs are a pretty simple but classic design.)

86 - Shelden Williams (I always seem to get Hawks in the packs I buy these days. I just end up sending them to this guy.)

116 - Martell Webster (Marty! Well, just when Webster was starting to show some consistency with his game for the first time in his career, he's started to pull another disappearing act which has coincided with the return of last year's starting small forward Nicolas Batum.)

102 - Darko Milicic (Ahhh... him again? Does anyone here read freedarko.com?)

160 - Marcus Camby (Ugh, a Thugget. This is the one guy I liked before he came to Denver, but I was a pretty big fan of the Knicks as a whole in the '90s for some reason. And I take back what I said about the card backs in this set. They only show the player's last five seasons, which always bugs me. You get to see The New Ball in this photo.)

191 - Amar'e Stoudemire (I don't know what's more obnoxious: the unnecessary accent turned stray apostrophe in Stoudemire's name or the constant trade rumors that surround him every season.)

212 - Kevin Durant (This must be the marquee card of the set. It's always fun to get the wrapper cover player, although Durant is officially the enemy now that his team is an abomination and is also threatening to make the playoffs.)

2007-08 Upper Deck Basketball

$2.99 for only 8 cards? Is this supposed to be some sort of high-end product? I don't remember what I paid for this, but it was certainly not $2.99.

96 - Renaldo Balkman (Not to be confused with Rolando Blackman.)

8 - Shane Battier (Ever since I burned the Yao Ming card during last year's playoffs, I seemingly get a Rocket card in almost every pack I open.)

95 - Marcus Williams

162 - Darko Milicic (I kind of feel bad for this guy. He was drafted #2 overall in 2003 and apparently peaked as an NBA player a few years ago averaging about 8 and 5 with the Magic.)

178 - Kobe Bryant (Ugh.)

104 - Steven Hunter

199 - Dwight Howard (I used to like Dwight Howard, admittedly, but he just gets more and more obnoxious by the day.)

CC-SO - Shaquille O'Neal Champions of the Court 2006 (This didn't turn out to be a bad pack for stars, at least.)

2009 Topps Chrome Football

I love Chrrrroooooooommmmmme! Like Goldmember loves gold baby I love Chrome, so needless to say I picked up a pack.

Four cards of Chrome-filled adventure and it's a great start with:

Adrian Peterson TC28, yeah the best (second best? Chris Johnson? Peterson made it to the playoffs I'm not ready to make that call yet) running back in the league. Nice!

Here's a pick of the back of a nice Hines Ward TC22. I like Ward, he's a gritty receiver, not a diva.

Jeremy Maclin RC TC160, sweet, he is one of my favorite rookies from this year. I think he will be a pretty dang good receiver and for no reason at all I've always sort of liked the Eagles. They've never really been one of my faves, but I rarely find myself rooting against them. They have a bright future with Kolb, McCoy, Maclin, and DeSean Jackson. Their transition should be smooth.
Love them x-fractors! Julius Peppers TC107 X-fractor. Yeah, I love seeing a refractorized corner right when I open a pack. My computer says refractorized isn't a word, but I'm going to go ahead and make it one:

refractorized (adj): when an object (commonly a chrome sports card) is given a reflective coating to stand out from the rest.

2009 Topps Mayo's Football

Three bucks, six cards, why not? I gave 2009 Topps Mayo's a try and I liked what I got in my first pack:

My Mini card was a rookie of Rams Offensive Tackle Jason Smith #301. Too bad it's an OT, but it could have been worse. I love that the mini is in black and white. I'm not sure how to feel about mini cards sometimes, Are they an annoyance, or a nice change of pace? I go back and forth on this issue, but I like this one.

Here is the base set card of which I got Kevin Faulk (above) #149, Marshawn Lynch #180, James Casey RC #298 and Tim Hightower (below) #254. I like the base set of these cards. It's different, but doesn't try too hard.

Here's the back of one. Pretty average.

This is my pack thickener, a Ramses Barden silver rookie #216, the back is also silver instead of bronze as shown above. Barden didn't do much this season as the Giants had another rookie receiver, by the name of Hakeen Nicks, who stepped up this year, but it's a nice pull. All in all I loved this pack. I got three rookies out of six cards! That was a big surprise. Two of my rookies were parallels and I like that. I feel like most packs probably have one rookie, but I like the design and quality of these cards and I will think about buying them again.

This Pack is Named 1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3

Greetings folks, it’s the Troll back again for another pack rip… This is part of my never ending group box break-if anyone is interested in joining the party, I have 10 slots open for the next one, find out which teams HERE. The pack of the day today is 1993 Topps Stadium Club Series 3. Generally when a card company brings on a 3rd series it means that you get a combination of yet another card of the superstars, plus whoever is left over-middle relievers and call-ups. In theory this would yield a lot of rookie cards, but 17 years later, none panned out (does Troy Percival count?). The checklist for Series 3 is only 149 cards and there are 14 (super premium) cards per pack and 24 packs per box. Each box yields 336 cards which make for a TON of dupes. This is pack #21 that I am ripping and I’ve already hit 6 copies of some cards. It’s a Bipping waiting to happen… The player selection is horrible, the collation isn’t great, but the photography is great for the most part and it’s a good looking set. Here is what I got in the 21st pack I ripped: #673 Kirk Gibson Detroit Tigers (The Pirates released Gibson after only a month in 1992. Gibby sat out the entire year, but went back to Detroit to start ’93 and played for the Tigers for 3 more years as an outfielder and DH. He retired in Detroit where he started his career after the 1995 season. Even in a Tigers uniform I can’t look at Gibson without getting the image of him limping around the bases in ’88)
#747 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Members Choice (Even with only 149 cards in series 3 they still had 2 cards each of all the era’s stars like Bonds. The back of the card calls Barry a “man without a weakness” and the “best all around player in baseball”
#623 Scott Fletcher Boston Red Sox (Fletcher was the Red Sox’ every day second baseman in 1993. He hit .285 and led the Bo Sox with 16 steals)
#627 Paul Molitor Toronto Blue Jays (1993 was a banner year for the Igniter. He started the All Star Game (DH), won his 3rd Silver Slugger Award, Finished second (to Frank Thomas) in the MVP vote, he led the AL in hits (211), topped 100 RBI (111), won the World Series with the Blue Jays and took home WS MVP honors after hitting .500 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs… Not too shabby for a 36 year old)
#653 Felix Jose Kansas City Royals (Jose swiped a career best 31 bases for the Royals in 1993, his first season in KC and his last full season in the big leagues)
#693 Mike Moore Detroit Tigers (The Pride of Early, Oklahoma! Mike Moore was the #1 overall Pick in the 1981 draft out of Oral Roberts University and he was no Brien Taylor. His best years were spent with the Oakland A’s. In 1989 Moore was 19-11 with a 2.61 ERA for Oakland. In the World Series he was 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA against the Giants-at the plate he added a 2-run double. His hit broke a decade long hitless streak for AL pitchers in the Series. Moore went to Detroit as a free agent right before the 1993 season. In his first season there he 13-9 in 36 starts. He had a very high (5.22) ERA, but he won ball games. He stopped winning ball games in 1995. He was 5-15 in his final season with Detroit; this would prove to be his final season in MLB as well. For his career Moore was 161-176)
#650 Tom Glavine Atlanta Braves (In the ’92 WS Glavine went the distance in each of his 2 starts, splitting his decisions. He came out on top 3-1 in game one, but took the hard luck 2-1 loss in game 4)
#738 Steve Howe New York Yankees (In my best Rick James voice-“Cocaine is hell of a drug!”-The NL ROY in 1980, Howe was 3-5 with 4 saves for the Yankees in ’93)
#711 BJ Surhoff Milwaukee Brewers (Starring BJ Surhoff as “The Flash”… Ridiculous…Make that embarrassing)
#750 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves MEMBERS CHOICE (Maddux facts from 1992-He won the first of 4 straight Cy Young Awards. He never allowed more than 4 runs in a game. He never pitched less than 5 innings in an outing. He held right handers to a .176 BA. He won 20 games. He completed 9 of his 35 starts and pitched 4 shutouts. He struck out 199 batters in 268 innings. He batted .170 with a homer and 8 RBI. He faced 1061 batters. He hit 14 of those batters. He had a 2.18 ERA)
#660 David Justice Atlanta Braves (In 1992 Justice batted .256 with 21 homers and 72 RBI. In 1993 with the best pitchers in the league all on his team his numbers jumped to .270, 40 homers and 120 RBI. He was the NL’s starting right fielder in the All Star Game and won his first Silver Slugger Award. It all dropped off for the World Series though. Justice batted .158 in the 6-game loss to Toronto. Oh and this glamour shot picture is completely ridiculous)
#647 Ivan Calderon Boston Red Sox (I don’t know if this pic is ridiculous or completely pimp-it’s a fine line…)
#604 Bryan Harvey Florida Marlins (The first ever closer for the Fish in their first ever season. Harvey was the Marlins first All Star, pitching a scoreless 9th inning in the NL’s 9-3 loss in ’93. Harvey was third in the NL with 45 saves and posted a 1.70 ERA in his first year with the Marlins)
#626 Steve Avery Atlanta Braves (In 1993 Avery won 18 games for the Braves, 3rd best in the NL and 3rd best on his team. He was one of three Braves pitchers on the 1993 NL All Star Team (Maddux didn’t make it). Avery won the NLCS MVP Award in 1991 when he struck out 17 Pirates over his 2 victories at age 21)
Okay, I mentioned at the top that the photography was top notch. It really has been good throughout most everything I have seen so far (other than half this pack). Don’t judge the set on the few horrible shots in this pack. I mentioned that the collation was horrible. It is. 4 Braves, 2 Tigers, 2 Red Sox in one pack, plus that is the 5th Ivan Calderon card I have pulled in 21 packs. Not great, but with only 149 cards in the set that is what happens. Any pack with a Hall of Famer (Molitor) in it aint bad. Getting 2 300 win pitchers, plus a 700 homer guys isn’t too bad either. I will say that opening an entire box with no hope of inserts or autos does get boring. I am not used to pulling autos, but I am used to having the chance. I also think its foolish to have a box with 336 cards in it for a 149 card set. Also, if that BJ Surhoff card was the first card I had seen I wouldn’t have touched this box no matter how cheap it was. This is all part of the fun of junk wax though. Speaking of junk wax… Over at the Collective Troll we are filling spots for a junk wax box break. Many of the pack rips will be posted right here on this awesome blog. There are 8 slots (teams) still open and here is some of what I will be ripping for it-shoot me an email if you might be interested… Oh, I wanted to apologize to Scott Fletcher, Felix Jose and Bryan Harvey and their fans. I really thought I scanned thier cards, but I keep on searching and can't find 'em anywhere... The chances of all 3 of them being pulled in the last 3 packs I rip are good, if so I will be sure to post them then. Go Rays! Troll out.

2004 Bowman Heritage

I picked up this little potential gem at a card show recently for the double discounted price of $2.00. This is the "TV set", if I recall.

10 - Derek Jeter (I guess there are worse ways to start out a pack.)

236 - Dana DeMuth (Oh yes, and there were umpires in this set. This probably would have been rather unpopular with the blogs if they were prevalent back then. DeMuth is one of the few MLB umpires whose name I actually recognize, but I have no idea why. It's probably all of those long summer nights watched taped FSN Midwest broadcasts.)

196 - Kevin Millwood

189 - Zack Greinke (Greinke did not make his major league debut until 2004, but he's become an established star pitcher who has the stigma of being a Royal attached to him for now. Bonus? Apparently this is a short print!)

260 - Aarom Baldiris Black & White (This is a one-per-pack thick parallel of some guy whose parents went the rebellious route with his name spelling.)

102 - Ben Sheets (Wow... 10 million dollars for a guy who hasn't pitched in a major league game in ages. Good luck with that, Oakland.)

199 - Ryan Klesko

19 - Cliff Lee (It should be an exciting year for Mariners fans. I wouldn't count myself as one of them, but the plus side of the Mariners being competitive is that you actually might get to hear about baseball on occasion where I live for once.)