A Pack To Be Named Later: 10/11

Friday, October 28, 2011

1994 Topps Series 2

Greetings!

At this moment, Game 7 of the 2011 World Series rages on. Most are saying this goes down in history as a classic Series. I guess any championship that gets to the seventh game can be considered to be a classic.

In honor of tonight's Game 7, here's a pack from the last year there was no World Series. From the shoebox of unfiled packs, here comes some 1994 Topps Series 2!!!

I checked the collection and this appears to be the only pack of Series 2 I purchased / received. Looks like a jumbo pack of some sort since there's 29 cards to go through:

#549 Ron Darling

#763 John O'Donoghue / Mike Oquist (Baltimore Orioles Coming Attractions)

#508 Wayne Kirby

I vaguely remember Darling with the A's. The back of the Coming Attractions lists the scout who signed the player. Per Baseball-Reference.com, O'Donoghue went 0-1 with a 4.58 ERA in his only season with the O's (and the majors). Oquist lasted a little longer, going 25-31 with a 5.46 ERA over 7 years and 3 clubs (O's, Padres, and A's).

#574 Willie McGee

#754 Jason Myers (Draft Pick - Giants)

#739 Jon Ratliff (Draft Pick - Cubs)

#770 Mark Kiefer / Troy O'Leary (Milwaukee Brewers Coming Attractions)

Odd to see Willie in a non-Cardinals uniform. Ratliff was a big Cubs prospect but then disappeared. Going back to Baseball-Reference.com, Kiefer pitched for 4 years with the Brewers, going 5-1 with a 4.29 ERA and 1 Save. Troy O'Leary is the clear winner of the Coming Attractions sweepstakes, playing from 1993 through 2003, peaking with the BoSox and finishing with the Cubs.

#689 Omar Olivares (back)

#736 Dave Valle (ToppsGold)

#689 Omar Olivares (ToppsGold)

It's a Valle sandwich! The card back meets with my approval, with the picture and full stats. ToppsGold was not impressive in this set since only the name and the Topps logo gets the gold treatment. Then again, I don't remember ToppsGold being all that anyway.

#760 Ryan Hancock (Draft Pick - Angels / ToppsGold)

#719 Tom Pagnozzi (ToppsGold)

#503 Steve Frey

#541 Jeff Juden

#569 Mike Felder

#495 Mickey Tettleton

#399 Frank Castillo

#430 Dave Winfield

#592 Jay Howell

#531 Rob Deer

The back of Deer's card showed he led the league in strikeouts 4 times, including 2003. He was traded from the Tigers to the Red Sox that year, so the card shows he stuck out 120 times for Detroit and whiffed 49 times for Boston. If you don't look closely, you'd think 49 strikeouts lead the league that year.

#556 Guillermo Velasquez

#677 Eddie Guardado

#688 Brian Dorsett

#486 Wally Whitehurst

#738 Greg Harris

#429 Bryan Hickerson

#593 Omar Vizquel

#687 John Smoltz

#476 Dave Hollins

2004 was Omar's 6th year in the majors...and he's still going!

Well, that's all she wrote. Time to see if the Rangers can make it interesting again. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

2002 Topps Series 1

Greetings!

Time to follow up my debut post with the first of many unfiled packs. I'd pick them up from the (then $1.49) Target discount bin from time to time but never got around to putting them away; they'd wind up in shoeboxes and sit in their wrappers until I'd come across them a year or so later. Then I'd make a goal to put them away but then something else came up and then they'd sit in shoeboxes again until I'd come across them a year or so later again. The circle of life, I guess.

Will the sophomore effort be as good as the rookie post? I doubt it. But here it is anyway...2002 Topps Series 1!!!

Will there be a randomly inserted original Topps card of a Hall of Famer in this pack? Well, no:

#124 Jaret Wright

#145 John Smoltz

#224 Roger Cedeno

I remember when Jaret Wright was supposed to be a big deal. I like the Negro League Stars jersey Cedeno's wearing. They should have more pictures of players in the alternate jersey; it adds some variety to the team sets.

#155 Omar Daal

#210 Hideo Nomo

#208 Marquis Grissom

By this time, all 3 players above have been well travelled. Nomo's in the middle of the 1 team per year tour.

#246 Einar Diaz (back)

No # Logo Race Card

#363 America United We Stand (Angels / Mariners)

I like the card backs, clean with a picture of the player and complete stats. Anyone try to get the hat? The back of the card says you have to find a Team Sticker Card randomly inserted into packs; on the card, there's a small sticker you'd use to fill in the spots on the Race Card. Get all the teams on the Race Card and you can mail it in to get a baseball hat of your choice. I don't remember getting a Team Sticker Card.

Oh, and the America United We Stand card is not an insert. It is shiny, though.

#263 Mike Cameron

#243 Torii Hunter

#264 Paul Konerko

Hunter's entering his prime here, and Paulie's a couple of years into it.

Checklist 2/4

#104 Daryle Ward

#262 Jay Bell

FYI, the checklist boarders are white. Was 2002 supposed to mimic the '89 Topps design? All you need is the team name spelled out on the wave.

Anyway, that's the pack. More later eventually. Thanks for reading!

Monday, October 24, 2011

2010 Cport Stickers

I have procrastinated on publishing this post for a while. Last Fall I had the pleasure of spending some time in Moscow and while I was there, this is the closest thing I found to trading cards.

These are stickers of players from the Russian Soccer League. The CPORT in the title of this post is not a misprint. In Russian the S sound is symbolized by the same character as our letter C. The P is similar to our lower case n but I didn't carry the transliteration through the remainder of the word.

As I stated in my FC Bayern Munchen post last week, I don't really know anything about Soccer, Futbol or Stickers so this is strictly presented for purposes of folks that know more about those things then myself.

2011 Sport Stickers Wrapper

At the very top of the wrapper you see the word "Cnopt" preceding the capital H. This is how Sport is spelled in Russian. Plurals do not end in S so there is no such word as SPORTS in Russian.

The word that begins with the H is the Russian word for Label or Sticker.

Ok enough of the language lesson - onto the stickers:

Martin Kuschev (silver foil-y looking insert)
I will translate the names the best I can. The Martin part is likely correct here - Kushev is probably correct - sounds Russian.

Jan Golenda
Oleg Evanov or Ivanov

Dmitri Kudrachov
Team Zenit half sticker

Zenit is the representative from St Petersburg. I recognized them here by their uniforms. Their sponser is the energy company Gazprom which is fairly common in Europe I believe.

The Website for these Panini Stickers is www.sportsticker.ru - However, it is a single page written entirely in Russian.

Other European Futbol Stickers Posts

2011-12 FC Bayern Munchen
Additional Russian Futbol Stickers

Thursday, October 20, 2011

2011 Topps Heritage Minor League Pack

Cross-posting this over here too BECAUSE I CAN. Have I even posted here in the past year? Who knows?! Here's some gosh-darn BALLCARDS.

First Topps had Bowman Heritage as a late-season Heritage/Retro type product. It was inconsistent but generally good. Topps then killed Bowman Heritage viciously and with malice aforethought and replaced it with Heritage High Numbers Presented By And Including Two Topps Updates And Highlights But Not Traded Or Rookies Series Three Series That You Already Bought Two Jumbo Boxes Of A Month Ago And Do Not Want At All But You're Getting Them Anyway Instead of Two More Heritage Cards So Suck It. Last year they had no late season retro set at all which was probably a good idea since the 1961 design is horrible. Topps must have overbought the cereal box card stock this year though because late season Heritage is back again, this time in a minor league set. I assume Topps wanted another late season prospect dump product to try to sucker collectors with ZOMG FIRST CARDS even though minor league cards are the red headed stepchildren of the hobby. Since it's a minor league set, there is little to no demand for the product so it's a Hobby only product. If Topps had included some veteran cards along with the prospects they likely would have sold more and maybe even been able to sell it in retail outlets. Huh, a set like that sounds familiar... what set would that be... Oh yeah. Bowman Effing Heritage. That product was probably the pet project of an executive that was squeezed out in a boardroom power play so we will never ever see it again. Sorry Folks, you get what Topps wants, not what you want.

What we get is a '62 Topps retro set with minor leaguers. Details can be found at Baseballcardpedia. Long story short, 200 card base set, 50 short printed all-stars, autos, relics and parallels, oh my. Oh yeah BRYCE HARPER HNNNNNNNNG. I got this pack for three bucks and a quarter, I don't expect to see a pack go for much more than that to be honest. Not that I'm likely to buy another pack with Topps Series 3 out. Gotta chase those Liquorfractors. Here's mah pack. No card numbers because I left the actual cards upstairs and if I go up there I'm getting beer and you can forget about this getting posted before December.

Seth Blair

Pitcher - A Ball

Cardinals - 1st Round 2010

Thanks to Byzantine free agent draft pick compensation rules, the 46th overall pick is now considered a first rounder.

Garrett Richards

Pitcher - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County, California, USA, Earth, Third Planet in the Sol System, Southern arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, Parallel Universe #590273978593223461

Angels - 1st Round 2009

Don't expect a lot of commentary, I don't know who these people are.

UPDATE: Well, crap. Garrett got a cup of coffee this year!

Tim Beckham

Shortstop - Triple-A

Rays - 1st Round 2008

#1 overall pick in '08, only 21 and in Triple-A. He'll be up to the bigs soon enough.

Robbie Ray

Pitcher- A Ball

Nationals - 12th Round 2010

They can't all be first rounders. I just love giving Topps crap about anything, but ever since I pulled cards of Kris Medlen, Johnny Venters and Tommy Hanson in various Bowman products and my initial reaction was "Who the @#$! are these bums??" I've learned it's best to respect their scouting department if nothing else.

Edward Salcedo

Shortstop - A Ball

Braves - International Signing 2010

MIXED FEELINGS ALERT: I pull my first card of one of the Braves' most heralded prospects and it's this hideous piece of garbage. I don't care if it's serial numbered, this is awful. Why, Topps? WHYYYYYY

Trystan Magnuson

Pitcher - Oakland A's

Drafted by Toronto - 1st round 2007

First card in the pack to have made the bigs already. #56 overall is NOT a first round pick. Sorry. There needs to be a First-and-a-half round pick designation.

Maikel Cleto

Pitcher - St. Louis Cardinals

Mets - International Signing 2007

This dude might get a World Series ring! What's he doing in a minor league set?

Jean Segura

Second Base - High A

Angels - International Signing 2007

Awwww, this guy is adorable. I want to pinch those cheeks and give him a cookie. He's also the #57 overall prospect in 2011 according to Baseball America.

Jaff Decker

Outfield - Double-A

Padres - 1st round 2008

145 strikeouts in 133 games. Someone get Adam Dunn the hell away from this kid. Of course if he can manage to figure out how to bop 30 homers a season he's got a 100-million dollar contract waiting for him. Also: Jaff is his given name. I'd normally criticize his parents for sticking him with that name, but I gat my e's end a's mixed up whila typing ell tha tima. Saa?

Ok, there's a pack of artificially antiqued young-un's. I apologize for any eye strain the Salcedo may have caused.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

2008 Topps Series 1

It's World Series time! I wish I had a better pack to post to commemorate the affair, but unfortunately we're stuck with something I found lurking in a dusty corner of my room.

17 - Cristian Guzman (OH)

254 - David Murphy (WRITTEN IN THE STARS)

298 - Cecil Fielder / Ryan Howard / Adam Dunn (A MILLION MILES AWAY)

175 - Delmon Young (A MESSAGE TO THE MAIN)

87 - Maicer Izturis (OH)

274 - Jermaine Dye (SEASONS COME AND GO)

MMS50 - Mickey Mantle Story (BUT I WILL NEVER CHANGE)

- David Wright Topps of the Class (P.S. David Wright wants you to stay in school.)

90 - Vladimir Guerrero (AND I'M ON MY WAY)

313 - Kameron Loe (The Rangers are probably glad they don't have this guy anymore, huh.)

147 - Marlon Anderson (Also... what the hell does "a message to the main" mean?)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2011-12 Upper Deck Victory Hockey

The 2011-12 NHL season is in full swing, and it's a shame that no 11-12 hockey cards have made an appearance yet on A Pack to Be Named Later. Since I was in Target today I decided to rectify that by spending just a dollar:

Victory was the first 2011-12 product to hit shelves, a few weeks back now. For those of you who don't collect hockey, this is Upper Deck's significantly cheaper alternative to its flagship set. Sort of like Topps Opening Day baseball. There's a 250-card base set, with cards 201-250 containing rookies, and a small variety of inserts and parallels. Upper Deck, can we please get someone other than Sidney Crosby or Wayne Gretzky on a wrapper? 6 cards for a dollar, let's see what I got:

#193 - Alex Ovechkin

I'm not a Victory guy, I don't intend to collect this set, and I'm not really the biggest Ovechkin fan either. All of that being said, I think that's a nice looking card and a pretty good way to start the pack. Maybe it's the Capitals jersey, I don't know. As far as the design itself I don't feel too strongly one way or another I guess. Every year a gigantic VICTORY seems to make an appearance in the background somewhere. I guess it's hard to complain too much when the packs cost less than what a cup of coffee now goes for most places. Here's the back:

I do think the phonetic spelling is kind of cool, especially in a league with so many European-born players. Given some of the name-butchering I've heard on major networks already this season, I'd say there are a few play-by-play guys who could benefit from picking up some packs.

#54 - Erik Johnson

Two #1 overall draft picks out of the gate. Ovechkin was taken first overall in 2004, Johnson in 2006.

#100 - Brian Gionta

Ugh, a Canadien! The Captain no less...

#GB-JT - John Tavares (Game Breakers)

These Game Breakers inserts fall at 1:2 packs. Could this be Tavares' breakout year? 5 goals and 3 assists in just 4 games so far...

#32 - Matt Stajan

I'm sorry but this card is just plain boring.

#40 - Joni Pitkanen

Finishing things off we have Joni Pitkanen. So...there you have it. The Ovechkin and the Tavares insert saved this pack from being a dud.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Cards One Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack

Bought this at Dollar Tree today. It's another pack of random cards courtesy of Cards One. 30 cards for a $1? Not a bad deal. Shoot the front of card is likely worth half of how much I paid for if you are going by Beckett value. I got lucky on this pack as I got 4 extra cards making it 34. Half the cards have dinged corners and nicks on it. As for the cards: