2013 Panini Prestige football

Back to the LCS pack wars with this puppy, cuz you know I don't buy them football rectangles.

Horizontal pack design alert. My favorite part is not how many cards are in the pack, but that there is "8 CARDS PER PACK!". What is with the exclamation point? Have I not noticed that on other wrappers in the past? Let's dive in.

Well, the front is clean. Not sure I like the drop shadow on the players name. In fact, there are too many different fonts on the front.

You see the whole color fade is based on one of the teams primary colors.

However, when you wash out the background, and then have a player wearing a lot of white, you really can lose the subject on the card. It's just not working here, Panini.

Now this is an interesting insert. Design is decent - I get the whole "on the highway" motif. It's the photoshopping that is interesting. The TV numbers on the shoulder are WAY TOO BIG. The shoulder stripes are rounded and look horrible. But the most interesting part is this is no standard photoshop. What caught my eye in that seam just above the front numbers that runs across his chest. If you look at images of Lacy in his 'Bama gear, the uniform cut is very different. So either this is a shop job with a head replacement on someone else's body, or Panini went the extra mile to include the jersey pattern that no one would probably have noticed. Except me, obviously. Too much thinking?

Is it me, or is that not the name of an evil villain's dog. Also, how many light bulbs are in the roof of that training facility? Geeeez.....

This guy needs to get back to The Daily Show.

Again with the wash out into the background. Sigh....

Sorry, I forgot the backs. Trust me - you are not missing anything but the standard Panini reused image and a couple stat lines with bio. Spot anything you want, let me know.

2011 Topps Chrome Football Retail

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the big Labor Day weekend.  Good for you folks who have Friday off.

Here's another pack from the restocked Target $1.59 bin...another one of those "I can't believe this isn't on the site yet" packs...it's 2011 Topps Chrome Football!

Standard Chrome release, with all the shiny chrome-ness.  Here's what was in the pack:

#113 - Dontay Moch (RC)
#171 - Marvin Austin (RC)

Since I don't follow football all that closely, I have no idea who Moch is.  I think I've heard of Marvin Austin.  Point is, unless you're a big name rookie, I wouldn't know you and wouldn't know if your card is of any value.

#BCR-23 - A.J. Green (RC)
#220 - Adrian Peterson

OK, now we're talking...a nice Bowman insert and you can't go wrong with Peterson.  Here are the backs:

Well, that's the pack.  It was certainly Bengal-centric (is there a blog out there that has used the term Bengal-centric?), but I don't think I did too bad.  Enjoy the long weekend everyone...thanks for reading!

2013 Bowman Platinum baseball

Good old raffle and pack wars last night at the LCS. Let's scan a few of the packs used in the games. Today, let's put up Topps 2013 release of Bowman Platinum, because if there is one thing we have been clamoring for, it's more Bowman releases. Thanks Topps!

Topps going all out with the pack design this year. As in they put someone else on the package. Otherwise, it's a lot of "seen this before". None of you seem very surprised by this. Five cards - pack god mojo?

I won't bother to explain the look versus the scan - you all know the drill. It's the usual unremarkable set they release year after year. This isn't a design release, it's a hit release.

Mix of current players with the guys in the minors. Slight difference in the front design.

Well how about that? At least I got something for my troubles. Orlando is still working his way thru the Royal system. Currently ranked #7 prospect in KC's farm system. It's an auto at least, right?

I'm calling this one better than the autograph. And I already know where I am mailing it.

And we end with a National. I didn't scan the backs. Do we need to see the standard Bowman back again? I didn't think so.

2013 Topps MLB Chipz

Baseball Dad recently posted about a pack of these little doozies, so I thought I would pick up a pack and post about it here (as well as use it for a season break pack on my site). 

These are 2013 Topps MLB Chipz. Each pack includes 4 Chipz, one team logo "sticker," and a game board with instructions. Let's start there. The game board is a folded heavy paper with a baseball diamond and some numbers printed on it:

There is also a place to record inning scores and overall scores. So, how do you play the game? Well, actually, there at least three ways:

Anyone remember POGS? Evidently, Topps didn't get the memo that no one plays POGS anymore. In the heyday of POGS, though, these would have been awesome. Today, they are not really on the scale of "awesome," but they are neat collectibles.  So, what about the chips, er Chipz?

Each Chipz piece has a player on the front. Most are a glossy photo. Some, like the Lawrie above, have a rough texture to them. Why the rough texture? Because that one GLOWS in the dark. Sorta. The light effect you see above is the part that kinda sorta glows if you hold in sunlight for a few minutes then look at it quickly in the closet with all the lights off and the door shut. The effect does not last long, and is very hard to replicate with the lighting indoors - at least in my house, anyway.  As you can see, the logo "sticker" above is stuck over the face of one player. It peels off easily because it isn't a sticker. It is a vinyl cut-out a' la Colorforms (if you are old enough to know what those are/were).

They make for interesting conversation pieces, and I will certainly be looking to pick up the Indians players (if there are any) from the set.

1990 Post Cereal Baseball

Greetings!

Hope everyone is ready for the weekend.  I'm ready, so I'm putting up a quick one tonight...it's 1990 Post Cereal Baseball!

It's another one of those oddball sets, put in packages of various Post cereals.  Looking at the roster of cereal, I'm not sure I can pinpoint a possible brand that we would have convinced our mom to buy for us (we did not consume large quantities of Fruity Pebbles and Honey-Comb).  Since I found 2 cards in the never-ending reorganization project, I'm showing 2 cards:

#10 - Darryl Strawberry
#24 - Eric Davis

Since once again these are not authorized by MLB, you get the players wearing generic shirts and hats.  As usual, to the younger me, I did not notice this until much later.  Here are the backs:

Nice job with the complete stats and the facsimile signature.  I even liked that they altered the color used on the stat lines for easier reading.

There were 30 cards in the set, which of course included the bigger stars of the game at that time.  Click here if you want to see a checklist.

Anyway, that's it for now.  More later.  Enjoy your weekend and thanks for reading!

2012 Panini Phineas and Ferb Stickers

I love watching Phineas and Ferb. There, I said it. I think it is one of the funniest and most cleverly-written cartoons on TV today. That's just me. Lucky for me, Panini inked a deal with Disney to make stickers!

Sticker #53 - Doofensmirtz and one of his inventions. Doof is so bad, he's kinda cool. He is the evil scientist anyone would love to have as the weird neighbor down the street.

Sticker #7 - Phineas doing homework. What is up with the fade hair cut on his triangle head?

Sticker #57 - Doof and Perry. They are something akin to a modern day version of Abbott and Costello. Those of you too young to have a clue what I'm talking about can search them out on YouTube.

Sticker #59 Doof singing. Doof's songs always make me smile. My favorite by far is "Charmed Life." Baby, I'm the Bourgeoisie!

Sticker #26 - Ferb dons railroad engineer's garb. Ferb hardly says anything in each episode. In fact, he usually only has one line in each one. He's like the goofy brother you almost never wanted, but got stuck with anyway.

Sticker #64 - Some kind of creepy crawly thing. You never know what the boys will encounter during their summertime adventures.

Sticker #126 - Phineas in a chair on an invention. What's so weird about that?

What is weird are the backs. They have copyright info and the P&F logo repeated. Well, there is the sticker number, too, but it just seems like there should be more.

2011 Panini Americana

I was surprised that a pack of these hadn't already been posted on here. Well, I am happy to fill that void. I'd be happier, of course, if I had scored a relic or an auto or something, but that didn't happen. Come along and wax nostalgia with me...

Piper Laurie - Actress - Supporting role in "Children of a Lesser God" and one of the stars in one of my favorite Corey Haim/Corey Feldman movies, "Dream a Little Dream."

The card fronts feature a watermark-style American flag behind an ornate border. The subject of the card appears inside the border. Near the bottom, the subject's name is stamped in foil. Below that, the Americana logo.

Barbara Morgan - Teacher/Astronaut - After Christa McAullife was killed in the '86 Challenger explosion, Barbara was the backup teacher selected. In 2007, she got to run the robotic arm that transferred cargo to the Space Station!

John Hurt - Actor - Most known for "Alien," he played the lead role in "The Elephant Man" in 1980. Both are worth watching if you've never seen them.

Chris Noth - Actor - You probably recognize him from either Law & Order: Criminal Intent or Sex and the City, or both.

Annette Charles - Actress - She is probably best known as "Cha Cha" DiGregorio in "Grease." She was also in a Magnum, P.I. episode.

The card backs feature a close-up image of the front photo, the card number, bio info, and a short write-up about the subject, and copyright info.

2011 Panini Cars 2 Stickers

I made a trip to the Dollar Tree with my wife recently. She bought things for her classroom, and I scanned the pickings they had in the way of cards, stickers, etc to see what I could find to post here. I found a few things, and this is one of them:

2011 Panini Cars 2 stickers. 8 stickers per pack.

I am a big fan of the "Cars" franchise. When I saw these, I did not realize they were "Cars 2." That's okay with me, I'll try anything in the name of APTBNL!

There is a sparkly/chrome sticker in each pack, or at least in the pack I got...

Lightning McQueen as a yellow drifter. The back says it is "X1" and i assume that to be the sticker number.


Next, we have Finn McMissile (#79) in an extreme closeup. I suppose I should have snagged an album while I was there so these would have some context. I figure each page probably makes a scene or something. A better blogger would research these things before posting. I am not such a person.

The third sticker is a wide shot of Paris, specifically the Eiffel Tower. It is #91.

Fourth, we have Jar Jar Binks, I mean Mater. He is gussied up in his green hat with red feather a'la Robin Hood or something. Holley Shiftwell is parked in front of him with something of a bemused look on her face. It is sticker #110.

The next card looks to be Rod "Mustang-Challenger Hybrid" Redline. He is about to put the hurt on the car in front of him. I am almost sure that is Lightning's car, but hard to tell. It is sticker #39.

The backs of the stickers feature the Cars 2 logo in a foreign language. Each sticker, or group of stickers, has a different language on it. The only text on the back, aside from the sticker number, is "Collect these stickers in the album available at your local shop." However, that same phrase appears 8 times in 8 different languages on each one.

Next up, a close up of Mater. He is #29.

The next one shows a shot looking over the "shoulder" of a photographer.. or is that phoCARgrapher? In any case, the image in the camera is of McQueen and Holley, I think. Number 142.

The last sticker in the pack shows McQueen in his Rust-eze paint job as he looks to be upset at something he sees above him to the left. Number 21.

2012 Panini Americana Heroes and Legends

I made a trip to the Dollar Tree with my wife recently. She bought things for her classroom, and I scanned the pickings they had in the way of cards, stickers, etc to see what I could find to post here. I found a few things, and this is one of them:

2012 Panini Americana Heroes and Legends. 5 cards per pack.

The front of the cards feature the person's name in foil at the top, a black-and-white (okay, greyscale) photo that takes up much of the card, and a colorful banner along the bottom. The banner features the Americana logo and then also features a background related to the photo.

Rachel Buehler - Soccer - Card #88 - You know that poor woman had to endure years of "Anyone? Anyone?" Heck, she probably still has to!

Jackie Joyner-Kersee - Track and Field - Card #46 - Her name is synonymous with Olympics, Track-and-Field, and women athletes. In that order.

Harry Truman - President of the United States - Card #33 - Dropped a couple big bombs and created the UN, among a laundry list of other things.

Fred Gregory - Astronaut - Card#90 - First black to command a space flight. The card says "African-American," but I have black friends who take serious offense to that statement. After all, Caucasians don't call themselves "Anglo-American." For what it's worth.

Roscoe Brown - Tuskegee Airmen - Card#106 - Commanded the 100th Fighter Squad of the 332nd Fighter Group. Also was the third pilot to shoot down a German jet. That's what I'm talking about!

The card backs feature a HUGE Americana emblem, the card number, the person's name and association to heroism or being famous, and a small rectangle with historical and/or biographical information. There is also a tiny copyright line at the very bottom.