2010-11 Panini Prestige Basketball

Let's check out some older hoops cards today. I believe I ended up with this pack in some sort of repack thing awhile back. It's getting tough to find older basketball packs these days.

39 - Shane Battier - Battier was one of the old guard of 3-and-D players.

96 - Steve Nash - A two-time MVP who now coaches the Nets for some reason.

54 - Mike Conley - It's fun to see an active player in a pack this old.

193 - Devin Ebanks - Here's the rookie design. I don't have a lot of recollections of this guy, other than thinking that he had a strange last name.

31 - Rodney Stuckey - Here's a look at the back design. The small photo window uses the same photo from the front of the card.

88 - Vince Carter - The best slam dunk contest guy in my opinion. And, hopefully, your opinion.

46 - Blake Griffin - Griffin sat out his first season as a pro due to injury, so he was still technically a rookie this year. He would go on to win the Rookie of the Year award as well as make the All-Star team and win the dunk the contest. It was a big year for him.

127 - Gheorghe Muresan - A retired player appears near the end of the pack.

102 - Carl Landry - Landry was a key member of those late '00s Rockets teams.

131 - James Worthy - We end things with another retired player.

2021 Onyx Vintage Extended Edition Baseball

Today I opened a pack of Onyx Vintage Extended Edition Baseball.

 

Each box comes with one pack, each pack has four cards, including two on-card autos.

I have never opened an Onyx product before and had no idea what to expect going on, I just saw it on the shelf and said "hey that's a reasonable price for a pack with two on-card autos". 

 

The pack is sterile. Just a pack. Nothing on it. But it's one pack per box, so no surprises. If you happened to grab it randomly not knowing what it was you would probably be pleasantly surprised when you opened it. 

First up is Mason Albright from the Angels system, although his uni looks a little more Colorado. 3 games under his belt in MiLB thus far.

Next up is Benny Montgomery from the Rockies system, although his uni looks a little more Cincy. He hit .340 in 14 games last season.

 

Here is Alexis Hernandez. He is 17. Drafted by the Cubs. He looks 17. These young prospect autos are kinda weird, although I have one of Joey Gallo so you never know. 

 

Finally, a green ink auto (/50) of Triston Casas. He is #1 in the Red Sox system, so this is a cool pull.

1990 Leaf Baseball Series Two

Continuing to check off packs we haven't tagged yet, today we have 1990 Leaf Baseball Series 2. 

Here we go...

Starting things off are Carlos Quintana and Norm Charlton. Quintana once played a game in Pawtucket and Boston in the same day. Charlton is a 1x All-Star who won a ring in Cincinnati the year this card came out.

Dante Bichette... what a fun slugger to watch. Got to catch him at the old-timers game a few years back. Danny Darwin may best be known for a some clubhouse scuffles but was the NL ERA leader in 1990.

Manny Lee played between 1985-1995 and won a ring in Toronto in 1992. Ron Gant was a two-time All-Star with 321 career home runs.

Future A's/Padres Skipper Bob Melvin in his playing days, followed by Luis Salazar, who lost an eye after being hit by a foul ball as a coach in the Braves system in 2011.

Craig Lefferts, as of 2020, is the last pitcher to hit a walk off home run. Lee Guetterman was something of a utility pitcher, going where he was needed.  

Scoot Coolbaugh played in the USA and overseas, and is currently a coach in the Tigers organization. Jeff Brantley is a former All-Star and saves leader who is enshrined in the SF Giants hall-of-fame.

Mike Jackson compiled a 3.42 ERA with 1006 strikeouts... approximately 1 strikeout for every game he played. Willie Randolph was a 6-time All-Star who once lead the league in walks.

Finally, Bryn Smith, a career 3.53 pitcher with over 1000 k's, and our puzzle pieces.

1993 Fleer Baseball Series 2

Today on "somehow we haven't opened one of these yet" we have a pack of 1993 Fleer Series 2. 

Here goes:

Leading off with Tim Teufel who has gone on to be a bench coach. The late Darren Daulton joins us on a "league leaders" insert. Alejandro Pena is depicted in his Braves uniform with the note that he signed to the Pirates in the corner.

Mike Munoz played between 1989 and 2000 compiling an ERA of 5.19. Tommy Greene didn't exactly have a stellar career either, but did pinch a no-hitter.

Journeyman Joe Orsulak joins us, along with Pat Rapp in Giants uniform despite having been drafted to the Marlins in their inaugural year.

Steve Frey did okay throughout his career. Henry Rodriguez was a 1996 All-Star.

Dave Stewart depicted here with the "signed by Blue Jays" corner flourish, and Roberto Kelly with a similar flourish, indicated he was signed by the Reds.

Pithcers Juan Guzman and Butch Henry show up yet again, Henry in an Astros uni despite having been dealt to the Rockies.

And finally, Dan Plesac who signed with the Cubs, and Jose Oquendo.

2022 Topps Baseball Series 1

This was also from the hobby box I won.  The chase card this year so far seems to be the Wander Franco RC.  So the first card of the first back I opened was a Franco so got that out of the way early which was good because didn't see any others in the rest of the box.  I like the design seems to me to be pretty clean good photos and can read names easily the backs are pretty standard for Topps. Each hobby pack has 14 cards and there are endless inserts, parallels, autographs & relics. Let me know what you think in the comments of these new Topps cards.

Shohei Ohtani on front of Pack

Odds of the numerous inserts

First half of pack with the Franco RC

Franco Back & backs of base

Second half of pack with an 1987 insert of Arenado 

Back of the insert Arenado

2022 Topps Baseball Series 1 Silver pack

I won a hobby box of 2022 Topps Series 1 and these boxes come with a hobby exclusive 4 card pack.  I wasn't going to buy a box but wasn't turning down a free one.  The cards in this back are throw back designs to 1987.  with some shiny added features they look nice and seem to be more sturdy stock from the original 87 card stock.  here are the 4 cards I received I heard there are some autographs that I didn't get 1 probably really long odds to get one of those.

Wrapper of the pack

Fronts of cards plus the predict HR Champ contest card

Backs of the cards.

1993 O-Pee-Chee Premier Baseball

1993 O-Pee-Chee Premier is a small 132-card set for the Canadian market. Another example of "how have we not opened one of these yet?" 

Here we go...

Leading off we have Vinny Castilla, one of the more impressive infield batters of the 90's, and John Kruk, who we all know from broadcasts but had a nice 3 year consecutive run of ASG appearances (culminating in 1993) and a career .300 average.

Todd Steverson is our Draft Pick insert. Steverson is perhaps best known for having his pitcher intentionally balk to end a game (in a loss) in the 18th inning while managing the Modesto Nuts. Some could argue his rationale was reasonable... he didn't want to prolong the game and risk unnecessary injury to his players, but he probably could have just forfeited instead of throwing the game. He was suspended for a year for these actions. Seems a little overkill to me.

One of my all-time favorite players, Andre "The Hawk" Dawson, pictured in a Red Sox uniform (you might find this under "right player wrong uniform" in the baseball dictionary) and Willie Wilson, a name shared by 9 professional baseball players in one form or another. This Willie Wilson is a Royals Hall-Of-Famer and won a ring with them in 1985.

When you hear Travis Fryman, you think of the 90's in baseball. His career was pretty reflective of that, appearing in 5 All-Star games between 1992 and 2000. Rene Arocha pitched in just four major league seasons but finished with a winning record. 

You may be wondering why I saved John Cummings for last. Well, it's because of the juvenile humor.

I refuse to believe a man with this surname was chosen for card #69 by coincidence.