2013 Topps Strata

More from the scan folder. Training camps have started, so let's get some football posted. Currently, no one has the exclusive NFL license, so we get team names, logos and the rest.

Geno Smith gets the cover. Let's see if he can make it as the full time quarterback for the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! Six cards in the hobby pack with potential hits.

That is busy. Lot going on in the background. As usual, Topps foils the name, so you really cannot read it without the right light. Team logo front and center, and the rookie card designation just under the set logo.

At least they alter the background to match the team colors. The one issue is the shading of the circle containing the team logo. The gradation makes the logo appear off center.  Maybe it's just me.

I imagine, behind the player, that background turns into a red dot. "I can't do that, Dave."

WHOA! Red parallel. I think these are one per pack. I tossed the wrapper long ago, so don't hold me on that. This works with the Texans, as red is a color. Other teams, though, not so much.

DAAAAAAAAA BAREZ!

I'll refrain from a comment about the current troubles this player put himself into. Those that know me can probably figure out where I stand. And flipping it over

One line and a career total. Plus some blurbs about games and stats. The back is not too bad. Well, except for the Twitter promo at the bottom.

2013 Panini Elite baseball

Let's jump back into the scan folder. I have way too much that needs to be posted. Here is a pack from one of my LCS pack wars. Who wants to prospect hunt?

So.
Much.
Silver.

Get used to that color. Anyway, this is the "Extra Edition", whatever that means. Hot to trot Clint Frazier on the pack and a conveniently not photoshopped out Under Armor logo. Let's see the 5 cards within.

The scan doesn't show, but these are shiny. Think of cards printed on tin foil, just thicker. No logos, shopped uniform, city names. But hey - eXtra edition!!!! Dig the huge Elite logo too. Ugh.

The centering is a lot to be desired. But they sure slide in that Elite logo.

Better centering, but then that stupid logo unbalances the card. This is a money grab release.

PITCHER HOT PACK!

I have no clue if there are players that are not pitchers in this set. Maybe that's the whole extra part - extra pitchers. Want the backs?

And the photo is run thru a grayscale filter and pasted. Zzzzzz....

2009 Upper Deck Series 1

Greetings!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.  I'm too lazy to scan new packs in (I'm also too lazy to do much anything else), so I continue to clear out the scanned folder on my computer.  Here's a pack of 2009 Upper Deck Series 1!

Our regular readers will quickly realize that this set has been featured on this site already.  Our not-so-regular readers will roll their eyes at this repack staple.  Anyway, Madding beat me to the punch with this set, but I spent the time to scan it and type up the player list, so I might as well post it.  Here's what I got:

#50 – Julio Lugo

#15 – Adam Dunn

#78 – Nick Swisher

#153 – Lance Berkman

#132 – Marcus Thames

#195 – Matt Kemp

 

I like the design of the set, with the above-average Upper Deck photography.  However, with the Berkman, Thames, and Kemp cards back-to-back-to-back, we're approaching 2014 Topps redundancy territory.

#403 – Jonathon Niese (RC)

#457 – Team Leaders:  Dodgers

#157 – President of South Africa (Upper Deck 20^th Anniversary)

Not Pictured – UpperDeckU.com

#481 – Brandon Phillips (Checklist)

#265 – Johnny Damon

#250 – Johan Santana

 

Johan signed with Baltimore back in March.  I had no idea this happened, and I'd like to think I follow the game pretty closely.  It's sad to see injuries take it's toll on (at the time) one of the premiere pitchers in the game.

#267 – Hideki Matsui

#233 – Jason Kubel

#353 – Todd Wellemeyer

#387 – Alex Rios

#370 – Eric Hinske

#380 – Vicente Padilla (back)

Not a bad pack if it was 2009.  Anyway, that's all for now.  Thanks for reading!

2006 Upper Deck Series 2 Fat Pack

Greetings...

Hope everyone's doing alright.  Time for another quick post from yet another set we've all seen before.  It's a 2006 Upper Deck Series 2 Fat Pack!

But it was on clearance!

This is the 5th (?!?!?) 2006 Upper Deck pack posted on the site, excluding the Update.  I didn't scan every card I got, probably because you all know what they look like.  I did scan the 2 exclusive All-Time Legends cards though:

Top Half

#594 – Danny Ardoin

#538 – David Riske

#546 – Bob Howry

#685 – Bill Mueller

#609 – Todd Jones

#697 – Luis Rodriguez

#758 – Ryan Doumit

#702 – Carlos Delgado

#782 – Scott Linebrink

#801 – Jose Lopez

#825 – Mark Hendrickson

#897 – Ivan Rodriguez (Checklist)

#995 – Saul Rivera (RC)

#971 – Casey Janssen (RC)

#947 – Paul Maholm (RC)

#ATL-17 – Carlton Fisk (All Time Legends)

 

Bottom Half

#506 – Johnny Estrada

#586 – Jason Davis

#530 – Ed Rogers (RC)

#601 – Mike DeJean

#673 – Olmedo Saenz

#617 – Alfredo Amezaga

#704 – Chris Woodward

#766 – Victor Santos

#710 – Julio Franco

#847 – John McDonald

#879 – Carl Crawford (Checklist)

#857 – Alfonso Soriano

#954 – Kenji Johjima (RC)

#930 – Mike Jacobs (RC)

#906 – Nick Markakis (RC)

#ATL-10 – Mike Schmidt (All Time Legends)

 

Wow, didn't realize all the fronts I scanned had a catcher in his gear on them.  I know I scanned the back of the Franco card just so we can bask in the 21 years of service.  Here's the fronts and backs of the inserts:

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

2013-14 Upper Deck Black Diamond

Get out the foil for Upper Deck Black Diamond set. This 250 card set is split up in four ways: single diamond (1-100), dual diamond (101-150), triple diamond (151-200); quad diamond (201-250). With five cards in pack going be a while to finish this set.

 64 - Shawn Horcoff - the cards are foil on the front listing name, team, position, and a diamond. This is single diamond card. Back show the stats along with team logo. Despite wearing Oilers threads the card mention when he was traded to Dallas Stars.

 89 - Craig Anderson - single diamond card. I somehow got decent scan of this card.

LAK-DD - Drew Doughty - double diamond jersey card of Drew Doughty, one of hottest defensemen in the league. He was a total monster in the playoffs this year resulting Kings hoisting Stanley Cup trophy.

218 - Patrick Kane - quad diamond card of Patrick Kane in All-Star jersey. One of top stars in the NHL recently got rewarded with a 8-year, $84 million contract to remain with Blackhawks.

34 - Ryan Suter - playing with a big 13 year $98 million contract he signed in 2012.

30 - Shea Weber  - whoa! Extra card in this pack. Three-time All-Star is one of excellent two-way defenseman to play on ice.

Excellent pack with impressive pull

2013 Upper Deck USA Football

Let's say you are sitting around a conference table, deciding how to put out a football release. You aren't allowed to produce cards with current NFL players, but you want something fresh and different. In your brain storming sessions, some mentions how a rival company has a product with up and coming prospects in MLB, and there isn't something like that for the sport of football. It seems like such a grand idea that you run full on into the product.

However, you forget that the important thing is to make the cards look good.

I warn you ahead of time - this will not be pretty. Luckily, just the 5 cards in the pack. Turn back now, for you cannot unsee what you will see.

I have no idea what someone was thinking. I think there are just the two countries of USA and Canada, when it comes to these cards in the set. From the looks of the uniforms, I think the photos are from some type of Senior Bowl or East-West game or something. I have no idea who anyone else, so I won't even comment on the players on the cardboard.

Urg.

Players from Team USA. The U-16 squad. Is this some American football version of the U-16 World Cup, or Junior hockey or something?

There's other aged teams too.

I think the design was thrown together in about 15 minutes. Oh Upper Deck, how far you have fallen.

The last two scans in the folder. There - we're done.

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter (retail)

Let's set a record here at APTBNL - posting a pack on the product's release date. I found this year's A&G at a Target last night. I bought a blaster and a 3 pack hanger. Let's scan a pack and all have the joy of ripping a pack on the first day of availability.

Standard ol' timey pack image. Well, except for the MLB logo on it. But we see Mr. Allen (or is it Mr. Ginter) ready to serve up what I am certain is a very doctored pitch. Look at that face - he cheats on his taxes. Six cards in the retail packs.

One of the 6 is a mini. Right off the bat - THANK YOU!!! It's a newer Feller image. The front has far more words than in past releases, but not as busy as the 2009 offering. Very swirly. The font color is goldish bronze. Overall, I like this release better than last year.

The usual appearance of retired players. Unlike the Feller, I think we have seen this before. Then again, it is Maddux - the guy was a machine.

As opposed to the younger Feller, we have Mr. Brett later in his career. I wonder if they shopped out the pin tar?

The only active MLBer in the pack.

Of the 11 packs I ripped, only two did not have an insert. Insert sets are always well done with A&G. Pastime's Pastime, Festivals & Fair's, Air Supremacy, CO¿NC?DENCE - great as always. In fact - here's a bonus scan. I will admit, as a Sox fan, this is a pretty card....

....for the world's largest bar. Back to the pack.

And the fun of A&G - non-MLBers. While I rail about the sameness of the backs of the Panini releases.

The same back year after year with A&G always makes me feel comfortable, like I just ate a nice homemade pot roast with potatoes. I had a bonus card in this pack.

There is the front and back of the code breaker ad card. Who solved 2013? Anyone?

2006 Topps Series 2 Rack Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July weekend.  Let's put a quick one up tonight.  Time to clean out the scanned pictures folder a little...it's a rack pack of 2006 Topps Series 2!

This is the 6th (!?!?!?!) pack of 2006 on the site, not counting the Update series.  A couple of years ago, Madding posted a Series 2 rack pack in a different configuration.  This one has 18 cards and 3 vintage (aka junk wax) cards that were ever so much popular to include in packs back in the day.   Let's see what we got:

Top Section:

#505 – Jason Schmidt

#510 – J.D. Drew (back)

#615 – Arizona Diamondbacks

#494 – Kip Wells

#539 – Juan Rincon

#508 – Danny Haren

#530 – Carlos Guillen

 

Back in 2006, you could call Dan Haren Danny.  These days, we still refer to Kip Wells as, er, Kip...or does he go by Robert now since he's out of baseball?

Middle Section (covered in an extra wrapper to protect those vintage cards):

#544 – Mark Bellhorn

#501 – Emil Brown

#TP-JT – Jim Thome (Trading Places)

#MHR46 – Mickey Mantle Home Run History

No# - Sluggers Fantasy Baseball card (not pictured)

1989 Topps #724 – Jerry Don Gleaton

1989 Topps #509 – Bud Black

1989 Topps #627 – Greg Harris

Checklist 3 of 3

No# - Work Hard, Get Cards (not pictured)

It's real 1989 Topps cards!  And real late '80s mustaches!

Bottom Section:

#549 – Erik Bedard

#486 – Wily Mo Pena

#453 – Daniel Cabrera

#648 – Brothers Orlando

#512 – Eric Milton

#526 – Ryan Wagner

#450 – Derrek Lee

Anyway, that's the pack.  Hopefully we can close the book on 2006 Topps.  More later...thanks for reading!