2006 Topps Opening Day

Greetings!

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  It can't be that common that Opening Day occurs on Easter Sunday, but it did this year, and what can be better than showing some Opening Day cards on Opening Day...with the classic APTBNL twist.  Here's some 2006 Topps Opening Day!

This pack was part of the Fairfield 30-pack clear case for $15 the wifey got me oh so many years ago.  Let's see what's inside:

#50 – Manny Ramirez (back)

#108 – Tim Hudson

Not a bad start to the pack.  It's the same design of the 2006 base set, just with the Opening Day logo and a different color foil stamping.

 

#51 – Melvin Mora

#42 – Zack Greinke

#55 – Joe Mauer

Looks like the foil stamping caused the names to not come up well on the scan.  Sorry about that.  Then again, you're here to look at the pretty pictures and count on the poster to tell you who's who.

#28 – Nick Johnson

#25 of 25 – Chipper Jones / Marcus Guiles (Funny Photos)

Work Hard Get Cards card

Fantasy Baseball Sluggers card (not pictured)

I would rather have gotten a mascot card than the Funny Photos insert.  But getting a Chipper's cool nonetheless.  Oh, you want to see the back? 

 

I'd say something witty, but Marcus won't be hearing me anyway.

Anyway, that's the pack.  Here's hoping for an fun and exciting baseball season, and that the Cubs don't suck as bad as last year.  More later...thanks for reading!

2012-13 Panini Basketball

Mere weeks away before the end of the NBA season, Panini has launched their flagship basketball set for some strange reason. If you had asked me prior to Sunday what 2012-13 Panini basketball cards looked like, I probably couldn't have told you, but I would have sworn to you that I owned at least some stack of them somewhere in my home. It turns out that I didn't, because it just came out.

75 - Jason Richardson - It also turns out that I really like this design. It's very bold, and somewhat resembles their NBA Hoops designs from the past couple of years, but I like it. The foil in the bottom corners is weird, though.

32 - Chris Bosh - Instead of the typical Panini "cropped version of front photo plus some stats" back design, they went with more of a blurb and just a single line of stats. I'm okay with this. Basketball cards have never been very consistent about providing stats on the back.

89 - J.R. Smith - He of "you trying to get the pipe?" fame.

189 - Karl Malone

147 - Rudy Gay - I can't believe how far Rudy Gay's stock has fallen.

208 - Meyers Leonard - Awkward 7'1" rookie who can shoot. He just needs to learn just about everything else about being an NBA center.

266 - Kevin Murphy - I have no idea who this is.

224 - Ivan Johnson - I usually collect anything and everything Oregon Duck, but this guy actually got kicked off the team/out of school. Too bad. He worked his way back to respectability and has actually earned a role in the NBA.

2012-13 Upper Deck SP Game Used Edition

Jeff back. I really need to stop buying packs with such a long frigging name in them. It's hockey night again. Hawks leading the Kings 1-0 right now with 3 min left in the first. They play again tomorrow, which is technically tonight since I am scheduling this post to go up on the 26th. So let's post some more hockey. Boxes of these blew out of my LCS, but they did get more in, so I snagged a pack. It's high end, like the Panini Signature, so here is the one and only pack I will be buying.

Well, the pack is very understated. On the plus side, we don't have to see the only two hockey players in the league - Crosby or Ovechkin. How is a sport so popular with only two players in the entire league? Five cards and you should get a hit in each pack. What did I get? Read on, cowboy.

Very Artifact-y. The foil at the bottom reads "game used" stamped above the name. Red Wing - bad start to this pack.

Messier without Gretzky. Is it me or do those color splotches look like college football uniforms?

I REALLY hate when they use the same front picture on the back. That's being lazy. You only get 5 years of stats, so you better make them count.

Nice pull of a HOF player. Geez - was Robinson ever that young?

And there's my hit. If we apply Ginter-cuff scoring, it's what - +10 for a hit, -5 for a nobody, -25 for a Red Wing, making this a -20 card. Too high a score if you ask me. Luckily, I know the person that will appreciate this.

Meh. Let me say it again - NJ, dump the black and bring back the green. Trust me.

BONUS CARD! Yup, pulled 6 in a 5 card pack, with the dummy card too. Let me say it again - St. Louis, dump the Bettman stripes. Trust me.

There ya have it. Go Hawks!

2013 Topps Stickers

Since Topps Total won't be coming back soon, one of the few escapes from the madness of inserts, parallels, and "hits" chasing comes in sticker form. Back for the third year, Topps stickers and their corresponding albums have hit stores everywhere, or at least the one I was at this afternoon.

117 - Oakland Athletics Mascot - Topps apparently can't afford to pony up for all of the mascot rights. I wonder what Fredbird's rookie contract looks like.

103 - Jed Lowrie - Lowrie isn't exactly a household name, but his acquisition was one of the few moves in recent memory that really paid off for Houston. For some reason I thought he'd survive the full rebuild of the team, but he didn't.

88 - Harmon Killebrew - Nice to see Killebrew here, one of the legends who hasn't been overexposed in recent Topps products.

75 - George Brett

240 - Rafael Betancourt

35 - Evan Longoria

42 - Josh Johnson - Johnson was part of the latest Marlins fire sale. This one is Photoshopped, of course.

119 - Ken Griffey Jr. - Griffey is retired now, of course, but judging by his overall size I am fairly certain that this photo is from his final tour with Seattle and not career prime Griffey.

Cards One Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack Mixed Sport Edition

Greetings!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend.  All of you out there sitting in front of several TVs to watch the tourney, have fun...hope your brackets are somewhat in tact when the weekend's over!

Anyway, this pack was posted before, but after picking one up at the local Dollar Tree, I figured another one couldn't hurt...just think of this as a public service.  It's another Cards One Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack Mixed Sport Edition!

As you can see, Shaq's the top card.  Assuming the card has a Beckett value of at least a dollar, I decided to pick it up.  It's a nice looking card, and it's early Shaq.  Here's the rest of the pack:

1995-96 Topps #279 - Shaquille O'Neal
Cards by the Pound Ad (not pictured)
1992 Dunruss #174 - Dave Righetti
1991-92 Upper Deck #321 - Kendall Gill

Not a bad start.  Note to self...if you ever run into Kendall Gill, just agree with anything he says.

1989 Topps #51 - California Angels Leaders
1986 Topps #667 - Tim Teufel
1980 Topps #379 Kevin Bell

Still alright.  The Bell card was nice surprise.  The front looks fine but the back is pretty misaligned.

And now it begins...

1990-91 Skybox #206 - Otis Smith

OK, nice one Cards One, scoffing at me with that radioactive ball.  That's cool, I still got my Shaq!

1990-91 Skybox #205 -Scott Skiles

Hmm, OK, Cards One, I get the point...it's junk wax, you're not really checking for duplicates, you're just trying to fill those Dollar Tree quotas.  Still got my Shaq!

1990-91 Skybox #207 - Reggie Theus

Reggie's got some serious "Hang Time" there.

Whew, at least the Skybox Orlando Magic run is done.  I see a blue bordered card next...

2000 Score #12 - Art Monk

Just when you thought it was safe to start flipping through cards.  The back of the pack did guarantee a "Hall of Fame card", so I guess 3 Monks are better than one?  Shaq?

1990 Score #132 - Rich Camarillo

Make it stop!  Um, 3 Monks are better than 4 Camarillos.  Remember, got a Shaq...<sigh> we've moved on from 1990 Score; the nightmare's over...

1994-95 Upper Deck SP #127 - Dana Barros
1990 Score #28 - Richard Dent
1990-91 Skybox #217 - Rick Mahorn

OK, so I got another Hall of Famer, and a Bear to boot.  That's fine.  I see some Upper Deck coming up...

1991-92 Upper Deck #202 - Craig Ehlo

Gah!  I've been Ehloed!  Is that even a term, like a poor man's Bip?  Geez, Cards One, your helper monkey must have been on break when this pack was put together...not even a "defense during the NBA All-Star Game's first half" attempt at quality control?

1991-92 Upper Deck #201 - Mark Acres
1992 Donruss #25, 26, 27 - Rod Carew (Diamond King puzzle)

The puzzle piece was visible at the back of the pack, so I knew I'd be getting Rod's elbow.

The totals?  32 cards for the price of 30.  2 Hall of Famers plus one future one (got that Shaq).  10 Magic cards.  15 duplicates.

That's the pack.  I did get my money's worth, and it is a repack of cards, albeit with horrible QC.  If there's a lesson to be learned, it's make sure you want or need the top card in these packs so you're not completely disappointed in the rest of it.  That's all for now...thanks for reading!

1988 Pacific Baseball Legends

Before heading to Ukraine I recorded myself opening a bunch of packs I had on hand and saved them to post over the year that I would be away from easy access to trading cards.  I found that I had made two videos for packs of 1988 Pacific Baseball Legends about five months apart and in those videos I said mainly the same thing for each pack.  So I've spliced the two videos together and I hope you enjoy me getting a little meta with some packs from 1988.

2009-10 Upper Deck Draft Edition Basketball

I've got a contest going on for the upcoming college basketball tournament that everyone gets so excited about. In honor of that, I thought I'd show off a pack of (mostly) college basketball players about to turn pro that I picked up for $1 at a card show a little over a week ago.

55 - Jrue Holiday - Right off the bat, I get an All-Star player. There probably aren't a ton of All-Stars in this set.

13 - Chase Budinger - Budinger was a 2nd round pick and is now on his second NBA team (Timberwolves.)

47 - Jeremy Pargo - Jennero Pargo's brother went undrafted, which makes me question the overall premise of this set. After two seasons in Israel, Jeremy found his way to the NBA where he plays for the 76ers.

38 - Henk Norel - Minnesota drafted Norel in the 2nd round, but he has spent his entire pro career in Europe.

62 - Tyrese Rice Auto (239/999) - Yeah, Rice wasn't even drafted. Of course. I'm not sure why the piece of tape that this player signed had to be affixed diagonally. Any BC Eagles fans out there? Yeah, I didn't think so.

64 - Marcus Thornton - Thornton has been a productive NBA player after being drafted in the second round and traded a couple of times.

33 - Gerald Henderson - Henderson Jr. was a late lottery selection by the Charlotte Bobcats, and he's still there. I'm not sure what that says about the Bobcats, because he hasn't exactly been amazing.

46 - Jerel McNeal - McNeal went undrafted but became a D-League All-Star this year, for what it's worth.

32 - Dante Cunningham - Cunningham was a 2nd round pick who I liked when he played in Portland, but is already on his 4th NBA team.

25 - DeMarre Carroll - Carroll was a first round pick who has struggled to find consistent playing time. He's on his 4th NBA team (Utah) as well.