1989 Upper Deck Baseball

The new kid. The evolution of the hobby. The game changer.

Welcome to 1989 Upper Deck baseball. This is the pack that changed the hobby forever. New card stock. Unique photography. Back side images. Holograms. Everything in our hobby changed when these packs hit the market, especially considering the first card that Upper Deck released. Somehow, my LCS got in a box of 1989 Upper Deck. I bought a pack since I do not own a copy of card #1. Let's see if I am now an owner of one of the hobby's most iconic rectangles.

Wax wrappers were another change in card collecting after the release of Upper Deck. Who remembers these foil packs? You could win a Mantle, according to the front. Plus - 15 cards. FIFTEEN!!! And I think that was for a buck if I recall. Let's go three at a time.

 

The familar 1st base path design, that they continued thru their next three years to complete the baseball diamond. The Ellis is poorly framed. UD got better in the coming years.

We start seeing UD different take on the images with the Shelby and the Slaught.

Almost a PATP with Pena. And look - a real checklist. If I had to guess, before I ripped the pack open, I would have known one of the 15 cards was a checklist. When these were common place in sets (as opposed to the "checklists" they have now), I pulled one in dang near every pack I purchased.

Well, I got a rookie, but it wasn't Junior.

I am sorry for those that got the Chris Berman nickname in their head with that last card. Let's turn over the cards and show the best 3 reverse sides.

Ruffing blowing bubbles. That is the type of shot that won the fans over to UD, among other reasons. The pack also said I would get a 3D team logo hologram. I got two!

Well, today is Father's Day, which means Panini packs, which means if there are still packs left in this box, I am buying a couple more. There's gotta be a Junior in one of them, right?

1998-99 Topps Basketball Series 1

We're in the thick of the NBA Finals now, so to get everyone pumped for tonight's Game 4, here's a pack of cards from more than 15 years ago. Hooray...?!

26 - Elliot Perry - Perry was a fringe player who eventually developed into a solid backup point guard.

71 - Alan Henderson - Here's the back of these weird cards, which do not look very Topps-like. Hey, it was a lockout year.

96 - Wesley Person - I guess Person is responsible for the dunk here, but only about 8% of the player shown in this photo is actually Wesley Person.

83 - Clifford Robinson - Uncle Cliffy! Nice!

- 1998 NBA Draft Redemption #27 - Oh man, I wonder if Topps can fulfill this one for me. The #27 draft pick ended up being Vladimir Stepania, who had a pretty unremarkable 6 year NBA career.

3 - Rod Strickland - Here's a look at the then-brand new Wizards look.

4 - Keith Van Horn - Keith Van Horn is just showin' off.

52 - Matt Maloney - Well... enjoy the Finals, folks.

2013-14 Panini Rookie Anthology

Soon, licensed Panini cards in the hockey realm will be but a fond memory. As much as we like the exclusive Topps baseball license (re: sucks), I am sure this exclusive releases to UP for NHL cards will be just as fantastic (re: more sucks). But until there is no more Panini, let's enjoy them. And enjoy the fact that Panini decided to do a full on dump of all memorabilia and auto cards in their last few releases.

My wife and daughter chipped in for a Father's Day gift of a box of Rookie Anthology this year. It comes 10 packs to a box, 5 cards be pack. Guaranteed 4 hits, though I have seen 5, and other people have seen as many as 7 hits in a box. Let's post what was, to me, the best of the 10 in my box.

Wrapper. Boring. Blue. Silver. White. Dual rookie. We done? Good. Moving on.

Crisp images on an ok background. I prefer the ice surface behind the players. but I think Panini likes to focus on the one player alone. Whatever. Not too much foil - just the name and the logo/lines at the bottom. No too shabby a design. The color bar behind the player is gradated. You'll see it better in another card. Simple team logo upper right. Jeff likes this.

Now you see the background gradation. Eh - I could do without it. Martin need to step aside - Cory is the future in the Devils nets.

Here's the backs. If I asked you to mock up what you thought the back would be like, I am sure you all would have gotten about 70-80% correct, just missing out on the player stats.

Here comes the dump. Of the 5 cars in the pack, two are not Anthology, unless it's an Anthology hit. I was pulling Prizm, Score inserts (like this, gold and black borders), Select - you name it. It's a Red Wing. In fact...

Yeah - two Dead Wings in the same pack. "But Jeff - you said this was the best out of the box. Did you go all turncoat on your beloved Blackhawks?" Nope, cuz this baby saved the pack, and made the box.

OH YEAH!!!! Luxury Suite is another card set you can pull. Plus I pulled some Titanium hits. This baby was sandwiched between the two flying tires. It's a beautiful in person as you would think.

If you visit my blog, you can see the rest of the hits from my box, plus a few packs of the product too.

1995 Sportflix UC3

1995 may well have been the height of the short strange trip of the Sportflix brand as they apparently decided to branch out and release another product. UC3 was the name, which is not to be confused with the somewhat inferior Topps D3 (D III?). It was a fruitful time to collect lenticularesque cards. Also, I just wanted to type lenticularesque.

38 - Chuck Knoblauch - Certain Chris Berman-isms are so deeply entrenched in my head that they seem to pop out of nowhere. I am apparently incapable of seeing or hearing anything about this ballplayer without hearing his voice going "Chuck New-Kids-On-The-KNOB-lauch" and cringing. This is a joke that was never funny at any time during Knoblauch's career, nor would it have been had Knoblauch played professionally in 1988 during the "Hangin' Tough" days.

56 - Ozzie Smith - So Ozzie is going to miss that catch, right? Are we to believe that the ball is real? Should Ozzie upgrade to that much larger glove that stands behind him menacingly?

110 - Russ Davis - This set had several different designs for their base cards. This seems to be the "rookie" design. There's also a whole host of inserts according to the wrapper.

129 - Greg Maddux - Pro tip: Chicks actually don't dig the longball as much as they dig the financial stability of a Hall of Fame player that was consistently excellent over a very long career.

132 - Will Clark - Will the Thrill is in the foreground, while the creepy specter of Chad Curtis lingers in the background.

2014 Topps Archives Baseball Retail Rack Pack

Topps Archives has become one of my favorite sets in the past few years. Cool old school designs (great for TTM autos) and a mix of today's players and yesterday's stars. It doesn't just focus on the clear cut hall-of-famers like many insert sets in current products, it also highlights some of the great fan favorites of baseball history. It's not uncommon to see players like Bill Lee, Fernando Valenzuela, Graig Nettles, and Andy Van Slyke.

I haven't had a chance yet this year but when I saw the rack packs in my local Target I thought I'd preview the product.



First we have two Houston Astros, Chris Carter and Jarred Cosart. Carter struck out 212 times in 2013.



Her we have Andre Rienzo and Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez had 434 career Home Runs.



In the 1989 Topps Design we have Carlos Gonzalez and Khris Davis, and Bob Feller in the 1986 Topps Design.



The 1980 Topps Design is one of my favorites, perhaps due to the famous Rickey Henderson rookie card I chased after and (and found, twice). But here we have some current players and Mark McGwire.



Here are some more in the 1989 and 1986 Topps Designs, including legends Eddie Murray and Paul O'Neill.



CC Sabathia and Eddie Mathews. I wonder how that matchup would work out?

Finally, I was lucky enough to pull this in my retail rack pack...



Mickey Tettleton Auto in the 1990 Topps Design. This card is serial numbered 49/50. Tettleton made 2 all-star appearances and won 3 silver sluggers.

2014 Topps MLB Chipz

Whoa - been far too long since I wrote something up here. And it's not that I don't have the packs to post - I have a good dozen folders worth of cards. I need to get the heck off my lazy behind and do something besides work on cars, mow the lawn, work in the yard, do laundry, wash dishes, work my career, feed the dog, clean the bathroom, fix the wifi, fix the cable, take out the garbage. I mean - look at all the free time I have. I'm such a bum.

Anyway - I picked up a package of Chipz specifically to post. Hope I pull some White Sox.

Topps had to go the super crapton of variations even with the Chipz. Along with glow in the dark, magnetic and who knows what else, there are rainbow Chipz.

YUM!

Four Chipz per pack, which was the same amount as the inaugural release. Let's teach kids poker!

Pedro Alvarez is first out of the pack. I like the design a little better over last year, but not by much. Unless there are some action shots, I am not liking the posed pictures. But the name is not as intrusive as it was on the 2013 release. Not a White Sox - going to Battlin' Bucs.

MVP Maid of Honor Mike Trout is number two in the pack. He's having a bit of a slow start this year, so let's see if he can turn it around and win that plaque. Not a White Sox, so this is going to Plaschke.

You receive a team "sticker" in each pack, which is really just a vinyl round you can put on anything it will stick to. The sticker matches the team the player underneath is from. So instead of pulling it off, here's a good excuse to scan the back.

So we have a Yadier Molina. Again, not a White Sox, so I'll be giving this to Kerry at Cards on Cards.

Well, we get a colored Chipz, os well traveled Bartolo Colon. The red with the gold foil is painfully hard to view. Plus, not a White Sox. Looks like this is heading west to Fuji.

Chipz are fun. I don't mind getting the White Sox Chipz in my collection. Not sure I would ever chase a set of them, though.

2013-2014 Panini NBA Hoops

You have to give credit to the LA Lakers. Despite losing the limelight big time to the Clippers this year, they still have the most NBA wins, most playoff appearances and highest winning percentage. Not only that, they send pretty nice fan packs too. This pack came in one such package. However, though it is ostensibly a 2013-2014 Hoops product like we've seen before, it turned out to be a bit weird, though definitely Lakers-flavored - starting with Kobe (rather than Kyrie Irving) on the front of the pack.

I scanned the back as well, for history I suppose:

Yeah, so fittingly the first card is not from this set at all, but from the 2012-2013 Kobe Anthology set. It books for $4, somehow?

Okay. Next up...Ray Allen? Maybe Panini stuck him in thinking he might be a Laker after becoming a free agent in 2012?

Here's a card of Kenyon Martin, and the card back. You know what I'm saying?

Tim Duncan ends the pattern, and also gives the pack representatives for both Finals teams this year. Though I don't have much of a dog in that fight, I'm mildly going for the Spurs in this match-up. Also, since it will be forgotten within a fortnight, Lebroning has seemingly become a thing...

Rounding out this quirky pack with a Kobe insert card/advertisement/coupon - front and back. No expiration date that I could see.

If anybody wants/needs the above cards, give me a shout. A PWE is all you need!