Sunday, April 24, 2011

1996 Pacific Power Basketball Draft Picks

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I picked this pack out of a dollar bin recently. I knew that it had something to do with basketball and I knew that it hadn't been posted here yet, so I just went for it.

RR-35 - Steve Nash Regents of Roundball (It's pretty remarkable to get a current NBA player out of a draft picks pack that's 15 years old. I'm not sure what's up with that "Central" jersey he has. There certainly aren't many spectators hanging around for whatever this game was. At least Nash has been enjoying himself lately.)

PP-32 - Ryan Minor (Is this the base card? I have no idea. The "Regents of Roundball" cards are listed as an insert with approximately 2 cards per pack. These packs only contain 3 cards. Minor was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, but opted to play baseball instead. He actually made the majors as corner infielder, appearing in 142 games in 4 seasons with Baltimore and Montreal.)

RR-5 - Marcus Brown Regents of Roundball (Brown was a Blazers draft pick, but he didn't stick around long. He also played a handful of games with Detroit before embarking on a long and successful overseas career which continues to this day.)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

2010-11 Playoff Contenders Patches

Went to my local card shop and picked this up for $7. There has to be something worth opening.

49 - Marc Gasol - the younger brother of Pau. Looks like he's grabbing a rebound. I like the design with the ticket showing his position, jersey number, years played in the NBA, and the team inaugural season. Back of his showed one line season stat with career numbers. Along with it are the team w/l record and defensive and offensive ranking from last season.


91 - Dwayne Wade - D-Wade about to layup a shot. One of Heat trio of Bosh and LeBron trying to get that NBA championship ring.

129 - Lazar Hayward - Whoo! I got a rookie ticket card! Drafted 30th overall by Washington Wizards only get shipped to Minnesota. Played 42 games this season. I enjoy pulling this because this is my first ever autographed/logo card.

87 - Al Horford - Played in the All-Star game last year. The big man in Atlanta is very good rebounder and has improved his numbers each season.

30 - James Harden - coming off the bench has steadily improved from his rookie season. Could be potential starter next season?

73 - Ben Gordon - since signing with the Pistons he has declined. So far he's a free agent signing bust.

Not a bad pack and I feel like a winner with Hayward rookie ticket card along with D-Wade.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

2010 Topps Pro Debut Series 2

To make a long story short, I was really looking forward to the Topps Pro Debut set when I first heard about it a little over a year ago. I was excited about the idea of buying minor league packs with a traditional Topps look to them, and was thrilled that they'd be available for me on an impulse buy. And then I waited, waited and waited some more. It took me a long time to realize that not only was it a hobby-only release, but that no one cares at all about it. It took me more than a calendar year after its initial release to actually see a pack for sale. I ended up buying two at $3, which is at least twice as much as I think it should cost for a pack of 8 cards of minor league players on base set card stock. I didn't even realize until after I'd opened the second pack that what I actually bought was in fact Series 2, whose existence was completely unknown to me as well.

423 - Ian Gac (I had to look at this card about 12 times to realize that his last name is, in fact, not GAG. He is threatening to tie Jon Jay's title of shortest name in MLB, but it looks like he's got a ways to go considering he's shown playing for the completely fake sounding team called the Kannapolis Intimidators.)

411 - Chris McGuiness (And now we go from an Intimidating team to a team of sewing enthusiasts, apparently.)

402 - Seth Rosin (With the Portland Beavers departure into the evil black vortex that former owner Merritt "Portland Timber$" Paulson created when he evicted the team from their longtime stadium, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are now the closest geographically located professional baseball team to me. I live in a market of more than 2 million people. That is just pathetic.)

392 - Khris Davis (The funny thing about this picture is that the pitcher never actually threw a ball.)

TT11 - Dustin Ackley Tools of the Trade (It's going to be a long season in Seattle, but they've got some nice prospects in waiting.)

227 - Todd Frazier

238 - Tanner Bushue (Where are the stats, Topps?)

308 - Jesse Biddle (Biddle spurned the Oregon Ducks ovations and decided to go for the money last summer. Should I remember this fact by the time he reaches the majors in 6 years, I will likely not root for him. Also, I just realized that some of these guys were born in the '90s. Creeeepy.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

2011 Upper Deck Football

Outside of 2011 Topps Heritage being released there hasn't been much reason for me to stop by the card aisle @ Target or Walmart recently.  I did however notice that Upper Deck's new football offering was live so I grabbed a pack to see what all the hub bub was all about.

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In typical fashion UD is recycling the pack design from their 2010 baseball and hockey offerings.  The back of the wrapper states that autographs of Star Rookie & Lettermen Signatures can be found 1:36 packs.  20th Anniversary cards are inserted 1:4 packs.

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#6 Herman Moore

The recycling didn't stop at the wrapper as last year's baseball and hockey card design is replicated here.  I forgot that UD only had a collegiate license.  At least in typical UD fashion the photography is clean and sharp.

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#38 Keith Jackson

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#DT-6 Dream Team - Tim Brown / Raghib Ismail

Not a bad looking insert here.  I'm sure some Notre Dame fan out there will appreciate this card.

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#183 Jonathan Baldwin Star Rookie

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#37 Ron Yary

I won't pretend that I know much about football history period.  According to the back this guy was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987 after helping USC win the National Championship in 1967.

These aren't too bad.  If I'm buying football cards I would rather the players be in their NFL uniforms.  I can see how this set may appeal to some collectors and college football fans, but these aren't for me.  All of these cards are available for trade.  Heck, send me a SASE and you can have a card or two!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

2008 Upper Deck Series 2

This pack is another one of those "really, we never posted one of these?" packs. I don't remember how I got it. It's a safe bet that I did not pay full retail price.

442 - Carlos Zambrano (Zambrano hasn't had any crazy blow ups yet this year. Let's see what happens when the weather gets warmer.)

617 - Jason Bay (Bay looks really strange here.)

499 - Curtis Granderson (Great picture.)

488 - Ubaldo Jimenez

524 - Shane Costa (I have never heard of this guy.)

503 - Jeremy Hermida

583 - Duaner Sanchez

645 - Yuniesky Betancourt (He has a fun name to say outloud.)

632 - Michael Barrett (Not a fan of the camo jerseys.)

462 - Carlos Quentin

555 - Eric Gagne

650 - Brad Wilkerson (This pack is like a who's who of "remember that guy?")

746 - Matt Holliday Season Highlights (I like Matt Holliday and all, but he has one weird lookin' head.)

702 - Brian Barton (Barton was a Rule V pick but didn't really stick in the big leagues and is currently floating around the Reds organization according to Baseball-Reference.com.)

779 - Nick Swisher Team Checklist (Check the Oakland Athletics etching on Swisher's bat.)

786 - David Ortiz Season Highlights

723 - Matt Tolbert

SQ-33 - Alex Rodriguez StarQuest Un-Common (What do you all do with your A-Rod cards? I don't really know what to do with mine.)

Monday, April 04, 2011

2007 Upper Deck Holiday Inn

If you were staying in a hotel, and they handed you a pack of baseball cards, wouldn't you be extremely confused? Now, just think about how someone who doesn't even collect cards (and that's most people, folks) would think. They had a stack of these weird promotional packs at a card show I went to a couple of months ago for only a quarter a piece, so I grabbed the whole stack. Here's one of the packs.

3 of 4 - Cal Ripken Jr. Free High-Speed Internet (Each pack contains a Ripken "insert"/sweepstakes card that is pure comedy gold. Along with this internet one, there's one with awkward bald Cal and his Priority Club card, one with dreamy bald Cal bumpin' CCR on his new iPod and one with creepy bald Cal holding a bunch of pillows.)

17 of 60 - Alex Rodriguez (60 cards in the main set.)

30 of 60 - Adam Dunn (They look more or less like a generic small peripheral set that Upper Deck could have released just about any time in the mid-'00s.)

56 of 60 - Albert Pujols (The game's best player has gotten off to a bit of a slow start so far this year.)