Sunday, May 31, 2009

2000 Upper Deck Series 2

I have to say that I love blue cards. These puppies are all blue on the back, which is a good look. I'm not so fond of gold foil, though. I never quite figured out what "jersey edition" means exactly. Anyway, here's the 10 cards I got for $1.

493 - John Olerud

467 - Bruce Aven

401 - Mike Sweeney

375 - Tom Goodwin

323 - Wally Joyner (I kind of forgot that Wally World was a Brave at one point.)

349 - Frank Thomas (The Big Hurt was almost too big to fit on this card.)

539 - Pedro Martinez Checklist

288 - Rob Bell Star Rookie

511 - David Segui

PD7 - Manny Ramirez Pennant Driven (According to the wrapper, these cards are 1:4 inserts.)

- Babe Ruth's Final Appearance Bat ad

1987 Topps Harry and the Hendersons


Take a hairy Bigfoot and make him lovable by pairing him up with John Lithgow and calling the family "The Hendersons," then ask Topps to take various vidcaps and studio shots and make them into stickers and cards, and voila! Instant, um, success. In the name of honesty and bearing all of one's dirty laundry online as is so modus operandi these days, my family went to see the film when it came out. How could we not? We had a relative named Harry, and well, we are Hendersons, so it seemed a natural progression of life. Also in the name of honesty, I don't remember a thing about it.

This pack features a checklist card! Wahoo! We now know there are 77 cards in the set. Let's get crackin! We also have Ernie, who LOOKS like an Ernie (no offense to any Ernies out there):


Is it voyeurism when you are looking in the windows of your own house? Was it their own house? I have no idea. We also have the "1 sticker per pack" here, too. Evidently, animals sticking their heads out the windows of vehicles goes way, way back...


Oh, isn't that sweet? It's like "Bambi"... or Thumper maybe is more appropriate for "Ernie's first kill." Man, I don't even think you could get away with saying that on a card these days... And then we have LaFleur - which in French is "flower" and of course the villain would stink, so his name is something of an oxymoron or something. I'm sure I learned that in all my literature classes...


Hmm, when I saw the scan of the next cards, I had to go back and check the words! On here, it does not look like "Sniff! Sniff!" to me!! And in the next card, Harry looks a lot like Rafiki from "Lion King" - but without the make-up...


And finally, Harry evidently knew this dearly departed deer. And, is there really a Bigfoot museum? That'd be a great place to take the kids...


I think Topps should bring this card design to baseball or football cards next year - the vines, the small inset face, the red and yellow... Talk about retro!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

2007 Topps Series 1 Retail

This pack was part of 10-pack box that was severely discounted at Wal-Mart...10 packs for $4.97. It was the first pack in the box and it turned out to be about as good a pack as you could expect for six cards for .99

#308 Albert Pujols NL Gold Glove Award


JG9 Josh Giblson Home Run History

Forget the Shoeless Joe Jackson relics from this year's Donruss products, give me some Josh Gibson bats and jerseys.

#49 Nook Logan

Okay, if Nook faces this way we've got an apartment building and two cards behind him. What could possibly be a worst background on the other side? A highway overpass? Two dogs humping?

#7 Mickey Mantle

If I remember correctly, this Mantle base card was short printed...

#258 Mike Hargrove

#306 Mike Cameron

1991 Impel Terminator 2: Judgment Day


The first thing I noticed was the text on the wrapper: "1 Offer Card." It says it right there. Up front, no hiding it. They don't try to sneak it in there, they let you know right away that this pack is asking for your money.


I am one of the few people in this world, or so I assume, that has never seen any of the Terminator movies or TV show. Yes, I know the whole "I'll Be Back" thing, and I have seen PARTS of the original movie, but never sat through the whole thing. I have no excuses.


I'm sure something very climatic is happening at the moment depicted on the cards. I just have no idea what that might be.


How do you top an "I'll Be Back" card!?


Ah, hey, I actually remember the motorcycle scene. Though, it was probably in the trailers enough or on commercials, right?


Here is the offer card (above) - you could buy a poster featuring all 140 cards. It was $6.95 plus $2.50 postage and Maryland residents had to add 5% tax. There is also an 800 number listed. Maybe I should call it...


Sarah Conner card... Nothing else needs to be said here.


Hey, isn't he the cop they used in that DirecTV commercial a few years ago?

1991 ProSet SuperStars MusiCards

"This beats stamp collecting, Dudes!" (see bottom of post)


Wow, ProSet was into everything in 1991, weren't they? The law ruled that Topps could not hold a monopoly on trading cards and the world went nuts... And speaking of nuts:

We start the pack off with John Lennon "Legends" card. My mother always said that if I didn't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything.... But then, she wasn't a blogger then either... I'm just sayin this: "Give Peace a Chance" didn't work out so well for that guy.... Just sayin. Next is Lenny Kravitz, who was only a few years into his career when this card was made. Why do musicians and actors feel the need to say they "want to try and help make a difference?" Really, I don't care if they make a bazillion dollars doing what they do - that what we pay them for in movie tickets, concerts, etc. Then again, if I had their kind of cash flow, I'd be trying to do something to benefit someone else, too... Dang conscience...



I cannot tell you how many times I played "Wild, Wild West" in every remix rendition I could get a hold of in the late 80's/early 90's. The kicker? That is one of my son's all-time favorite songs now too. That's actually kind of scary. What is it with me and KISS cards!? Well, here are the boys-in-black('n white) once again... Yes, I had KISS 'action figures' as a kid. I admit it. Yeah, and the sound stage thing, too...



The London WHAT!? Oh... Quireboys... Yeah, never heard of 'em. Tone Loc, however, was everywhere on the radio, provided the station could get hold of the edited versions of his songs. The public was clueless as we ran to the record stores to buy up his tapes then listen in shock and awe at the language pouring out from our cassette decks. It was great!



Lynch Mob is another band I never heard of - or don't think I have anyway. I'm guessing no one else had when these cards came out, because the back actually lists who they are and what they did for the band. And to the other end of the spectrum, we have a guy we *WISH* we hadn't heard of... Yes, I had the tape. Yes, I watched MTV. Yes, I burned the tape (along with my Milli Vanilli) once the party was over.



Linear!? Big hair, no idea. Again, never heard of 'em. But, they are followed by Dave Edmunds doing his best "Doug Jones Flaming Balls" imitation!! Wait, maybe Doug was imitating Dave... Wow, this is going to require a bit of resear... no, not really.



I could win a trip to LONDON!! All I have to do is travel back in time to 1991 and play this scratch-off game! Wait... TRY AGAIN!? Well, since I have to buy 49 more packs anyway....


The last card in the pack is a 10-cent coupon. That's right, save enough of these bad boys, and you could get up to 50% off a Superstars Music T-Shirt!

Wait, now I have no idea how much a T-Shirt was, but let's go with a 'standard' price for 1991 and say $9.99 per. The most we are allowed to claim (according to the back) is 50% ($4.99ish). So, I would need FORTY-NINE of these cards. At one-per-pack, that's basically FIFTY packs of these cards to save FIVE bucks. Wanna bet there is a warehouse full of these shirts somewhere?

Oh, at the top of the back of this card, it reads: "This beats stamp collecting, Dudes!" Yeah, for the money, I'm not so sure about that....


I did manage to find a web page with way more information about these cards than anyone really wants - great stuff! You can find it: HERE!

1994 Fleer Ultra Series 1

There's no price tag on this pack, so I'm not sure how much I paid for this pack. I'm hoping it was only 50 cents. I'm a sucker for anything with full bleed photos, though, so it should be good no matter what.

290 - Mike Jackson

93 - Wade Boggs (A great photo that probably makes the Red Sox fans sad or angry. And that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.)

48 - Paul Sorrento (Sorrento used to play for my hometown Portland Beavers before making it with the Twins. This must have come after a deal or signing with Cleveland after the Beavers left town.)

213 - Brett Butler (He was a good bunter.)

258 - Danny Miceli

115 - Bobby Witt

175 - John Roper (One of several semi-notable John Ropers.)

233 - Rondell White

37 - Kirk McCaskill

1 - Jeffrey Hammonds

157 - John Smoltz (Pretty good picture of a determined Smoltz.)

80 - Dave Nilsson (Do you think Dave is getting into the game tonight. My guess is no.)

242 - Kim Batiste

135 - Pat Borders

263 - Kevin Young

12 of 25 - Robby Thompson Award Winners (I don't really like the Giants, but I'm sure someone would be happy about pulling this card.)

The wrapper promised 17 cards, but I only ended up with 16. Where is my Gary Redus card???