1993 Topps/Coca-Cola Commanders of the Hill Baseball

A quick scour of the Google-verse tells me these were likely issued at military bases in 1993 with the packs attached to certain Coca-Cola products.  Can anyone confirm this?  Packaged in non-descript glossy black wrappers, these cards were likely hot commodities 25 years ago which might explain the use of the Army's old desert  uniform pattern (if you haven't been to the Middle East, it is freaking hot) for the borders on the cards.  Each pack has five cards and each card depicts each of the 30 MLB teams' 1992 ERA leaders which makes them their respective commander of the baseball mound/hill. The backs do a good job of detailing each of their 1992 outings on the mound.  Look at how many Innings Pitched these guys had compared to the game that baseball has evolved into now.

Up first is Card #15, Juan Guzman of the Blue Jays: 1992 ERA = 2.64

Card #6, Chuck Nagy: 1992 ERA = 2.96 with almost 10 complete games!!!

Card #18, Tom Glavine: 1992 ERA = 2.76 with 20 wins!

 Card #27, Bob Tewksbury: 1992 ERA = 2.16 with 16 wins!

Card #9, Bill Wegman: 1992 ERA = 3.20...not a great year for the Brewers.

Here is an unopened pack.

Have an awesome weekend watching baseball!

2019 Topps Opening Day Red Parallels

Just in time for Opening Day, we have an exclusive pack of 2019 Topps Opening red parallel cards from the Mega Boxes. These are similar to the blue foil parallels found in both hobby and retail packs, well, just red.

The red foil looks really sharp in person and looks better for some teams more than others, like the Gnats and Philthies.

Pretty simple, pretty cards. Have you found the Opening Day Mega Boxes in your neck of the woods?

2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Hobby Pack

 Ah here we are Opening Day is literally hours away as I write this and we get this year's Gypsy Queen.  Fresh out of the first box at Bosco's here in Anchorage.  Here are the pack odd's if anyone is interested and the NPN address.

I like the look of this year's design, but holy crap why on earth are the card numbers so small??!!  It's been the main grip all over Twitter today.  My joke was that it was Topps' attempt to get kids back in the hobby by making us older collectors have to seek them out to read the card numbers for us.  Anyway let's see what I pulled out of the pack.

My first Brewer and current reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich!! Nice.

 Check out how tiny that card number is.

 Here are the rest of the base.

 There are only a couple insert sets in Gypsy Queen and I just happen to hit this very nice looking Jacob deGrom Tarot of the Diamond.

 Well I think I'm done buying GQ this year. 

1994 Topps Stadium Club Football Series 2

I picked up a cheap pack of '90s football cards at a card show awhile back, but I was not prepared for how EXTREME it would be.

468 - Michael Bates - Seahawks are EXTREME.

351 - Rich Miano - I do miss these old Eagles uniforms tremendously. They were, genuinely, pretty EXTREME.

526 - Pete Metzelaars - Look at these card backs! So many EXTREME angles.

389 - James Jett - You know the Raiders are EXTREME, no matter what city they're playing in. I don't have to tell you that.

438 - Neil Smith Best Defense - Not being able to see half of the player you're grappling with? Now, that's pretty EXTREME!

434 - Brad Ottis - Okay, there's nothing extreme about this.

388 - Darrin Smith - Not being able to read the player names is pretty EXTREME.

396 - Reggie Rivers - Those are some EXTREME shoulder pads.

3 - Steve Young - Frequent Scorer Points - That's a pretty EXTREME civil defense map. I wonder what I can get if I collect enough points.

2019 Topps Opening Day Retail

Greetings...

Hope everyone is doing well.  The boys are on spring break next week, so I'll be job hunting while making sure they eat when they're supposed to (they'll be too busy with TV and video games).

Opening Day started in Japan a couple of days ago, ending with Ichiro riding off into the sunset.  Opening Day state-side starts next Thursday.  Topps Opening Day dropped back on March 13th.  I'm slow...here's my first pack:

There's 7 cards in a pack for a dollar, so the price for Opening Day didn't change like Flagship.  200 cards in the set; here's the checklist for those interested.  Here's what I got:

#90 - Jamie Barria

#198 - Aaron Nola

Too bad Topps doesn't use a different color border for Opening Day like they did for prior years.  Losing the foil and adding the Opening Day logo doesn't really do enough to differentiate the sets.

#33 - Mookie Betts
#M-24 - Mascot

The difference are the inserts, I guess.  Mascots return!  They come 1 in 4 packs.  I didn't know the Oriole Bird can play the violin!

#100 - Shohei Ohtani
#88 - Justus Sheffield
#64 - Tim Beckham

Justus is shown with his new team, an obvious photoshop job.  He's listed with the Yankees in Series 1.  Here are the backs because Mascots:

Anyway, that's the pack.  I also picked up a rack pack so I'll show that off eventually, unless someone beats me to it.  Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading!

2018-19 Fleer Hanes Michael Jordan 30th Anniversary

There have been plenty of promotional trading cards over the years, but is this the first set based on men's undergarments?

Michael Jordan has long had a relationship w/ Hanes and for the 30th anniversary of their partnership we have new basketball cards...by Fleer of all people! Of course Fleer now is not the same company we all knew and loved, now owned by Upper Deck. You can grab your own 5 card pack on specially marked packages of Hanes undershirts.

I didn't intially notice the odds listed on the back of the pack: base set red foil parallel (1:0.625), base set blue foil parallel (1:2.5), All-Star (1:1.11), All-Star Gold parallel (1:10). Autograph parallels fall 1:108,625 packs. The official website is www.upperdeck.com/collecthanes. The back of the pack even features a 6 alpha code like the old Fleer product for some kind of online collection...I think.

I imagine this is the face of MJ after someone asks him if LeBron is the real GOAT!

Red Foil parallel

 Red Foil parallel

All-Star insert

Some of the photos used are a bit grainy and almost look like a TV screen grab. The cards do have that unique Fleer vibe however. I wonder how many collectors are purposefully buying the shirts and tossing them to the side just for the pack and a (slim) chance at a MJ auto? I sure hope if people are doing that are smart enough to donate those shirts to a men's shelter or even Goodwill.

I actually needed some new undershirts for work so I wasn't one of those who just wanted the cards...but the cards did help sell me as I'm not loyal to the Hanes brand. The local Walmart I grabbed my pack at had a display on a endcap in the men's section and it was pretty full. I imagine there are a lot of these cards out there...or will be eventually...but if you want a pack or two they shouldn't be too hard to track down.