1987 Donruss

Stats on the Back is downsizing, something a card collector like myself can certainly relate to. Like a sucker, though, I claimed a whole mess of cards. When I got the package, this little unopened wax treat was waiting for me along with my claimed goods. I wouldn't be so eager to open certain packs from the '80s, but 1987 Donruss is quite a gem of a set, and really difficult to find in good shape. My scanner does hate black borders on cards, so while some of these cards are off-center I can assure you that none of them are actually crooked.

436 - Jose Uribe

36 - Greg Maddux (Huzzah! If you ran into someone with this creepy little 'stache and a Cubs hat in 2012, you'd probably expect him to be wearing skinny jeans and spinning records at a corner bar. Anyway, this is one of the best cards you can hope to find from a 1987 pack.)

39 - Eric Bell (Another Rated Rookie! Is there anything better than a Rated Rookie logo? I would want this on a t-shirt, but I'm sure it's already been done.)

275 - Walt Terrell

143 - Billy Sample (Sample was born in the '50s, and just has the look of someone from another era.)

27 - Diamond Kings Checklist

23 - Jim Presley Diamond Kings (I feel like I've grown some appreciation over time for Diamond Kings that I never really had. I always thought they were interesting, but I was never so wild about them that I coveted them like some collectors.)

361 - Barry Bonds (Hey wow, has anyone seen this picture of The Artist Formerly Known as Barroid yet? Seriously, though... how did I end up with a Bonds rookie card AND a Maddux rookie card in the same pack? The mind... it boggles.)

229 - Ken Howell (A reliever who had 18 decisions in 1986. This kind of pitcher doesn't really exist anymore.)

220 - Charlie Leibrandt

86 - Brian Downing

569 - Rafael Santana (Former Cardinal?)

437 - Ken Oberkfell (Former Cardinal.)

26 - Steve Sax Diamond Kings (Another Diamond King! What a pack.)

409 - Steve Lyons (I had to listen to this clown call a game today for the Dodgers regional cable network. Not fun.)

37-38-39 - Roberto Clemente Puzzle (As always, we end a Donruss pack with some puzzle pieces.)

Can't complain about the two big rookie cards in this pack. They're not centered or anything, but they're "pack fresh" with sharp corners.

2012 Topps Olympic Team and Olympic Hopefuls

The Olympics has already started [I enjoyed some women's soccer this afternoon] and the opening ceremonies are on Friday and I can't wait.  For the first time in two Olympics I'll have the full spectrum of Olympics related channels [which this year will be NBC, NBC Sports, MSNBC, CNBC, and Bravo] so bring on archery, badminton, and judo! You can find a schedule here.

Now let's get to the cards.  They feature cards of athletes that will be possibly taking part in the 2012 Olympics.  These were printed long before the Olympic trials so I'm sure there are some cards in this set feature athletes that aren't actually able to participate in London.  Let's take a look and see what I got.

Brittany Viola is Minnesota Twins pitcher Frank Viola's daughter.  She'll be participating in the 10-meter platform diving competition.

#38 Brittany Viola

Dana Vollmer will be swimming in the 100-meter butterfly and 4x200 meter freestyle in London.

#14 Dana Vollmer

David Oliver won bronze in Beijing but didn't make the Olympic team in the 110-meter hurdles in London unfortunately.

#21 David Oliver

Evelyn Stevens will be riding in two events the Individual Time Trial and the Road Race.

#96 Evelyn Stevens

Hope Solo is the US Women's Soccer Team goalie and the women's team has already been busy and defeated France in the first games of the London Olympics.

#50 Hope Solo

It's pretty nice to get the base card that everyone is looking for.  This time around Michael Phelps will be participating in seven events which are the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, and the three relay events.  

#100 Michael Phelps

Tyson Gay along with Justin Gatlin will be America's chance to earn gold in the 100 meter dash.

#10 Tyson Gay

Rau'shee Warren is the first American to qualify for the Olympics three times in boxing.  Warren boxes in the Bantamweight category.

OLY-5 Rau'shee Warren

Each pack also gives you two foil stamped cards resembling gold, silver, and bronze medals.  My two cards are of gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Aly Raisman.  Liukin didn't make the 2012 team while Raisman is on the team.

#43 Nastia Liukin Bronze Medal

#15 Aly Raisman Gold Medal

1989 Star Minor League Baseball 2nd Series

I saw this pack on Listia, put a couple bids on it and won.  I had never seen these before...
until I opened the pack.

Ah, yes.  I see these all the time when I'm digging in the 5 for a dollar bins.

I know these are minor league players before they've made it to the Bigs, but it seems that I never find a card of a guy that I'm sure has made it to the Majors, even as a "minor star".

Let's see if any of these have.

Steve Foster - yep 1991-1993 Reds.

Anthony Dela Cruz - nope.

Ken Lewis - nah.

Pedro Munoz - 7 years, 6 with the Twins.  There's my minor star I suppose.

Mike House - nope.

Jaime Roseboro - never made it.

Lem Pilkenton - Only 2 Lems and 1 Lemmie have ever played in the MLB and this guy wasn't one of them.

Chris Butler - no.

Michael Maksudian - He doesn't look like a Major Leaguer, but he is! 1992-1994.

Ed Zambrano - Yes, 2 years with the Cubs, 1993-1994.

And the back of Steve Fosters card so you can see what the back looks like. 

A little background from the 2010 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says that with the first series Star became the first card company to venture into minor league cards.

So this is the second series to the trailblazing first issue.  

Cool.

2009 Topps Baseball Series 1

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Congrats to Barry Larkin on making it to the Hall of Fame.  Growing up without cable in Chicago meant only being exposed to National League teams, so when it came to shortstops, he was the best overall player at that position I’ve seen.

Here’s a pack which I assumed was already on here.  Turns out we just had the Target variation.  Here’s some 2009 Topps Series 1!

It’s a 330 card set that appears to please most collectors.  Here’s the pack:

#201 – Saltalamacchia & Hamilton (Classic Combos)

#206 – Santana, Lincecum, & Peavy (League Leaders)

#221 – Lee, Halladay, & Matsuzaka (League Leaders)

Topps appeared to have stepped up their photography for this set.  I like the playfulness of the Classic Combos cards.

#176 – Hamilton, Morneau, & Cabrera (League Leaders)

#161 – Brendan Harris (back)

#15 – Nate McLouth

Overall, I like the random stats in the arch at the top of the card.  I understand the Six Degrees of Mantle concept, but it got tiresome to always connect it to The Mick.  They could have expanded it to include other legendary players...is Brendan Harris somehow connected to Jackie Robinson?

#13 – Ryan Langerhans

#TTT1 – Alex Rodriguez

#224 – Max Scherzer (Gold #1346 / 2009)

ToppsTown still should not count as a card.

#281 – Tug Hulett

#218 – Emmanuel Burriss

#285 – Justin Duchscherer

That’s the pack.  Count me in as one of those collectors who enjoyed this set.  Have a good week everyone, and thanks for reading!

2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Retail

Allen & Ginter is always a hot set. So I suppose I'll rip some retail!



My personal opinion of A&G is so-so. I'm not nuts about the base set in terms of set collecting but they do make for nice TTM autos. The framed mini GU and AUs are pretty nice. The Ginter code chase thing is way beyond my patience level so I don't really bother.

Here's what I got!



Jon Lester...an important part of the struggling Red Sox this season.



The minis fall one-per-pack. Here is Miguel Cabrera. Hard to believe he isn't even 30 yet.



Something old, something new! Brooks Robinson and Brandon Belt.

Uh oh... something thick!



Nice! Mitch Moreland framed AU. A nice retail hit. I've enjoyed following the Rangers since their resurgence (I guess it is just a "surgence" since they were never contenders until recently) and Moreland is certainly an important part of their organization.

Nice!

1993 Defiant Plasm

A couple of years ago (at least?), I won a big lot of random packs from Heartbreaking Cards. I still have some of those packs waiting for a rainy day... or several of them, really. After opening most of the ones that were interesting to me (i.e. baseball) and some others that had never been posted here, I started stacking objects on top of the box that held what is left to go through. I have been in a bit of a cleaning mode lately, so I figured I may as well get around to scraping the bottom of the barrel.

In other words, I have no idea what this comic-ish set is and I am not going to attempt to explain it.

37 - (Ulnareah sounds like something unpleasant having to do with the bowels.)

133 - Body Barges (Some crazy man-eating super plant.)

98 - (A contemplative Ronald McDonald, perhaps, pondering a career change?)

27 - (At first I thought that said "Holy Slaughter Slugs!" Nevertheless, I might start incorporating that into my everyday lingo.)

99 - (Angry Goldilocks.)

147 - Mongrel Rude (I misread this one as well. I thought this was a Mongrel Ride, some sort of futuristic amusement park attraction.)

75 - (Spiky shoulder mullet guy is either cracking up, smelling something bad or failing to pick his nose properly.)

61 - (Oh, Lorca, you're the best.)

19 - (Yahh! Hoy! Man, Goldilocks is so serious.)