2003 Press Pass Optima

My mom found a pack of this set at the local dollar store earlier in 2018. Crazy to think that a set from 2003 could still be found on store shelves in 2018 isn't it? Even more so considering that the store didn't even exist yet then, it only opened about 5 years ago!

As it turned out, I even needed one of the cards from the pack, even though I did a hobby box when the set was new!

Pack

The first card out was #50, the last card in the set, and the checklist, which reuses the packaging picture. The packaging depicted Ryan Newman that year.

#30, David Green. A rarity to see a tobacco sponsored car NOT get censored! 2003 was the final year for Pontiac in NASCAR.

Q&A #QA4. I actually needed this insert! Dale Jarrett was sponsored by UPS so a lot of his cards were brown themed from 2001-07 (when he retired). This insert is team-color coded

Fan Favorite #FF11. A one-per-pack insert, which is die-cut. The large white curved areas are cut outs, not white cardboard. Ward was coming off his most successful season in 2002, winning the Daytona 500.

Gold #G48, a one per pack parallel. Dale Jr. is my all-time favorite driver, so that was a plus. This was a duplicate, which was not a plus. However, every Cup card issued for him between 1999-2007 were censored, as Budweiser was his sponsor.

Even though I only needed one card out of the pack, I still consider it a successful pack as I got something new out of it, from the 2003 season which has probably about the highest completion percentage of any season of the Press Pass era.

More NASCAR coverage at my own blog, Cardboard History.  Thank you for reading.

1989 Donruss Baseball Cello Pack

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen last weekend that I picked up a couple of 1989 Donruss cell packs and would post the results here.  Your long wait has finally ended! 

I felt that $3.25 for a 10% chance at a pack-fresh Ken Griffey Jr. rookie was well worth it.  I still believe it was, but I can say that many of the cards in the two packs came out with bad corners and edges. 

I wonder how many people sent in for the "Large Size Diamond Kings." 

The top card in the pack came out with a white chip on the right side and a bad upper left corner.  Thankfully, it's just Sid Fernandez. 

The backs in 1989 are the typical, boring, "Recent Major League Performance backs."  I don't believe it was possible for Donruss to put less effort into the card backs.  The one thing I recall liking as a kid was the "How Acquired" blurb on the cards.  I will give some credit for that. 

Well, it's not Junior Griffey, but it is a rookie card of a Hall-of-Famer.  Unfortunately, this card is worth about a quarter.  Thanks for the overproduction, Donruss!

I had close to ten sets of the Hall-of-Famer puzzles from 1988-1991.  What I never did was pop out the pieces and put the puzzles together.  I mean, those were going to be worth some serious money down the road!

I always loved Diamond Kings.  As a kid still relatively new to baseball and card collecting, I didn't know a ton about the past.  Baseball didn't exist before 1986.  The years that a player was a "Diamond King" inside the crown was a nice, under-appreciated touch. 

The dreaded Diamond Kings checklist!  The only good thing about this card was that it was #27, meaning that the Rated Rookies started right at the beginning of page four in your binder. 

Welp, no Griffey rookie.  On the bright side there's one more pack and I know that y'all want to see it as well.  BONUS PACK!

Just look at those 1984-86 stats compared to the next two years.  How does that happen for a pitcher that's already 30 years old? 

All I could think seeing this card was that he looks like one of the "other" Indians in Major League.  It must be the satin jacket. 

Calling BWTP!

No Griffey, but it was worth a shot.

You can follow APTBNL on twitter at @namedlater and me at @beansbcardblog.  Please take a look at and follow my personal blog, I Feel Like a Collector Again. Happy collecting!