2017 Topps Stadium Club Rack Pack

April 26, 2009

In the overall scheme of things, this day is probably not a memorable one.  However, in the blogosphere, this day is right up there.  For on this day, Matt F. launched A Pack To Be Named Later with the ambitious goal of "ripping at least one pack of every card product ever made."

So what?  It's not even April yet!

Well, if you add up the total number of posts (wow, 416 in 2010?!), this marks the 2000th post on this site, a milestone to say the least.  From Pixar to Pokemon, Animals to A-Team, Racing to Ricky, we've covered many a set here, and with the next generation of bloggers posting at a rate not seen here in years...well, we may not reach Matt's stated goal, but we're gonna try!

Matt started the show with a pack of 2003 Topps Stadium Club.  2000 posts later, let's go back to the brand with a rack pack of 2017 Topps Stadium Club!

Somehow none of us were able to get around to putting one of these up here.  I figured this would be the perfect pack to put up now, since we're also in the middle of baseball's Opening Day / Week festivities.  12 cards in the pack, here's what I got:

#51 - Travis Jankowski
#184 - Cameron Maybin

Photography-wise, Stadium Club is the Upper Deck of Topps.  Most of the blogosphere seems satisfied with the shots used in the set.

#143 - Carlos Beltran
#177 - Robinson Cano

All this time I never considered Beltran to be a future Hall of Famer.  Perhaps I don't pay as much attention to stats as I should.

#257 - Daniel Murphy
#188 - Reynaldo Lopez (RC)

They should have gone vertical so we could see the machine Lopez was using, or maybe Topps was just interested in the Gun Show.

#26 - Eric Hosmer
#BT-KS - Kyle Schwarber 

The Beam Team insert is 1 in 12 packs.  Here's hoping the slimmed down Schwarber can rebound this year.

#CS-JB - Jose Bautista
#63 - Jason Heyward

The Contact Sheet insert is 1 in 4 packs.  Great shot for J-Hey (hoping he can rebound as well).

#97 - Troy Tulowitzki
#220 - Jose Berrios

Two more nice looking cards round out the pack.  Here are some backs because 2000 posts:

Anyway, that's the pack.  Thanks to all the posters and all the viewers, and for 2000 posts, thanks for reading!

2016 Leaf Babe Ruth Collection

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  A couple of months ago, my eldest was able to convince The Wifey that he needed one of those $20 Fairfield repack boxes.  Most of the packs were expected; several 2017 packs and many from the junk wax era.  As he wound down his pack busting, I was able to grab a couple of unopened packs to snap pictures of the contents before giving them back to him.  One was from the junk wax era (foreshadowing) and one is kinda recent...it's a pack of 2016 Leaf Babe Ruth Collection!

I believe these were only sold in blaster boxes; I don't remember seeing open boxes of them in the Target aisle.  This is an 80 card set with 2 10-card insert sets.  Here's a link to the checklist, but since it's all Bambino, the checklist does not assign a name to the card.  Anyway, here's what he got:

#2 –The Babe And the Yankees’ Owners Pose In 1921

#46 – Staying In Shape During The Off-Season

The cards are black and white, and I assume has images from either newspaper photographs or the

Ruth estate itself.  This gives a candid and personal look at the superstar.

#67 – Ruth Hauls In Big Catch!

#CA-02 – Career Achievements:  Career Home Runs – 714 

Career Achievements is one of the insert sets available.  The wrapper did not give odds on pulling 

one.  The other insert set is called Quotables; I think we all would know what that's about.

#13 – Ruth Prepares For A Hitting Exhibition In 1944

I included the back of the insert here.  The backs of the base cards are set up the same way.  Since many of the shots used in the set show Ruth away from baseball, the lack of logos isn't as obvious in this set.

Anyway, that's the pack.  I couldn't tell you where the cards are now; protecting the cards isn't something he's learned yet, much to my chagrin.  Enjoy the rest of the week, and thanks for reading!

2008 Inkworks X-Files - I Want to Believe

Season 11 of The X-files just wrapped up a few days ago so it make sense that we should honor a great show with a potential great pack of trading cards.  This set was released in conjunction with the 2008 X-Files called "I Want to Believe".  Had I seen the movie, these cards might make more sense, but I want to believe that this pack is going to contain some goodness.  I don't know, I've never opened any of this product before.  According to the pack, there are 7 cards inside with insert cards falling as follows: In Search Of (1:11 packs), Wanting to Believe (1:17 packs), Back to Basics (1: 23 packs) and some random auto and pieceworks cards.  According to The Trading Card Database, we are looking at 72 cards in the base set, plus the 3 insert sets mentioned above as well as a promo set to announce this set.  I personally love the X-files, but have stalled out at Season 8.  I need to press on and finish the series so I can catch up and have better commentary here.  Grab a glass of Mind Eraser and a protein bar, this could get edgy.

Nice and simple card design here.  Seems spooky already!

Card #62: Holding On....They have to hook up for real at some point in the series, right?

Card #44: The Accomplice....Scully, your hair is in my eyes.

Card #65: Confronting Monsters....I think they mean confronting busy graphics on the card.

Card #41:  Rescued....I imagined being rescued looking a little different.

Card #33: Parting Ways....say it ain't so....we were just hugging it out on Card #62.

Card #21: Fixation.  I've seen that love stare before.

Card #18:  Making Connections....although not with a razor.  I like this Grizzly Mulder look.



Here is a card back.

Does anyone else watch X-files?

2017 Iowa Cubs Cello

These 5 card Cello packs were a SGA and feature the World Champion 2016 Cubs.  I received Cards numbered 16-20 so thinking there were 4 maybe 5 different packs handed out.

Unopened Pack

Card Back

2018 London Knights Cello

These 4 card Choice Sports 2018 London Knights (OHL) cards I believe were a SGA.  I the pack I have I received 3 players and the Mascot "Scorzy" not sure how many total cards there are as they aren't numbered except for the players number appearing on the back. It will be interesting to see where the 3 players I got get drafted in the NHL as 2 are eligible in this year and the other is eligible 2019.

Unopened Pack

Card Back

Mascot Card!

1984 Fleer Glitter Glove

When Michael Jackson is everywhere in pop culture, but another card company owns the rights to make cards, what else is there to do but rip off the performer's trademark accessory? That's right, in 1984, Fleer released "Glitter Glove" stickers. I could not find a checklist (or much of any other info about this set), but according to the filler, there are "Over 66 Glittering Stickers!" So.. 67?

Before we get to the main reason why we're here, let's look at the "other" stick you get in the pack. It's a smaller "glitter" sticker than the main attraction and features text and an image, each die cut for removal and display (my scan does not do justice to the size differential):

And now, the main attraction:

The glove sticker is tightly die cut with a black border around it. Some of the other shapes on this sticker also peel off in die-cut fashion (in this case, the shooting star).

I have to hand it to Fleer. Whoever came up with idea was brilliant! Make money off the most recognizable fashion accessory of the day without stepping on copyright infringements. Beautiful!

Burton Progression Choice Sports Pack

I sent for some samples from Choice Sports and one of the items they sent me was a pack of cards for the company Burton Snowboards. I think this was some kind of promotion as I have never seen these before.  The pack was all silver with the logo only on it and contains 5 cards fronts of the card is a picture of someone snowboarding from a distance on the backs has the snowboarders name and some bio information and all cards are standard size. Not sure how many different cards there are or if there is only 5 cards and each pack was the same? Also no year on the pack or the cards so.....

2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball - Hobby Pack

Stopped by the ye old LCS this afternoon and grabbed a couple packs of Gypsy Queen.  I really  like this year's design.  Continuing from last year's really over the top art deco style, Topps continues that with an equally detailed and slightly more colorful issue.   The backs, well those are a different story.

 The backs are pretty minimal and I'm not sure if Topps could get the card number any smaller or put it in a more awkward place on the card.  Here are the rest of my base cards.

 Out of the two packs I grabbed this one was the only one with an insert and not a terrible one at least I know some Cubs fan that will probably enjoy this Fortune Teller insert.