2015 Panini Elite Baseball

 I was at Don's Sportcards yesterday here in Anchorage, Alaska and ended up picking up a few packs.  I grabbed two packs of Elite and for the life of me I couldn't decided which one to feature since both were pretty good, so I'm breaking the rules and making this a two pack break.

If you love the look of Elite base cards you'll love this set, because it looks like all the other Elite base cards from years past.

 Here's what the back looks like.

The first pack brought me this Back 2 Back Jacks insert, with Cano and Cruz.  This is by far my favorite themed insert set from Panini.  And it dates back to the early days of Donruss Elite.  Sadly this card would have looked so much better had Panini been able to use logos and team colors.  I also like I got two different types of relics in the card.

 Pack 2's base cards.

 A Kris Bryant insert.

 And a super low numbered David Price Purple Inspirations Die Cut parallal card!!

Overall not a back couple of packs.

2009 Press Pass Wheels Main Event

Diving pack into the scan folder, we pull out a pack of Press Pass NASCAR. If I recall, I saw this in a bin at a dollar store, so I took the chance it was missing from APTBNL. Sure enough, it's missing now more. Shame that Press Pass no longer exists. I know a couple guys at my LCS that are huge NASCAR collectors, so it will cut into what they enjoy.

Sure, my scanner didn't pick up on this well, but it is a black pack after all. Dale Jr. gets the cover (doesn't he get damn near all, like Crosby does on NHL packs). When I ripped this, it was an interesting premise for a card set.

Yeah - wow! But that's not the part I mean by interesting premise. If you pick up the design as well as the insert name (yes, this is an insert - I think), the set is based of playing cards and gambling. You can see the suit cards on the logo in the upper left. Plus, those spade backgrounds are pretty hard to miss. This card plays of like a face card from a deck. Busy as all get up, but with the idea of the set being playing cards, a card like this is expected.

And here is the gambling part, with poker pro Phil Ivey being in a NASCAR set. Maybe it's just this set, but man - Press Pass loves it's scroll work foil. It's everywhere.

I'm taking a guess this is the base card. I really don't know. But you have the driver in some really washed out, over exposed B&W images, with his ride below in the same look. The "card" number is his car number. Don't forget more scroll work designs.

I'm not sure if the base design of the double suited is always a spade. At least the background colors change. I'm going to say that this insert set will always have two pictures - one with a cap on and one without. But what do I know?

THANKS GOODNESS!!!! As Panini Golden Age did a couple years later, Wheel Main Event does allow you to build an entire deck of playing cards. No idea the insert rate (I long tossed the wrapped), but this would be fun to complete.

Here is the back of the Double Suited cards. It's the only one I scanned. That's a lot to take in. You can see the back talks about two different paint schemes. So basically two advertisements for the price of one.

2011 Topps Attax

Here's another entry into the long line of attempted game/sports card hybrid market. It isn't missed. The latest thing Topps is doing is their Bunt app, which is far more frustrating than holding real oddball cards in your hand, so things can always be worse. I picked up a bunch of these packs for a quarter with the knowledge that team collectors I trade with could probably use a few of these weirdos.

134 - Kevin Youkilis - The Greek God of Walks had his time in the sun, but now that time is done.

216 - Junction Jack - Pour one out for Junction Jack, who was put out to pasture in favor of some weird green alien looking thing as the Astros are trying to get back to their cosmic roots with their move to the AL. I do like the Astros about a thousand times better now that they're out of the NL Central and Cardinals territory, but that's just me.

83 - Felix Hernandez - King Felix needs to be in the playoffs. One of these days he's going to rage quit baseball because of the Mariners perpetual suckitude.

126 - Josh Willingham

64 - Dan Uggla - Is it possible Uggla was merely impersonating a professional baseball player all along and people were just fooled for years?

159 - Miguel Tejada - I would remember the Miguel Tejada Giants era fondly if I could remember it at all.

1991 Pacific The Andy Griffith Show - Series 3

The Andy Griffith Show was a great show for so many reasons. Comedy, shenanigans, problems, and sometimes even a little law enforcement.
This set of cards came out in 1991, a good 23 years after The Andy Griffith show went off the air.

 Here is Sheriff Andy Taylor serving himself at Wally's.

 Barney Fife's motorcycle escapades.

 Looks like Ernest got caught throwing rocks.

 The core four: Barney, Andy, Aunt Bea, and Opie, celebrating the latter's birthday.

 Andy, Barney, and Gomer are making a run for it in the haunted house.

 I don't have any idea what is going on in this picture.

 Here is a rare, behind the scene shots of Ron Howard and his (Actual) father playing checkers on set.

 Barney and Andy before a fishing trip.

 Goober, up to his trousers in motor oil.

And finally, Howard and the crew celebrating a bowling victory.

Too bad no Otis :(

2014 Topps Chrome Update Series

Greetings!

Hope everyone's ready for the holiday weekend.  My apologies...I just looked at the posts and found that I haven't put up a pack here since March!  So kids, that's why old Jafronius doesn't have a blog of his own.  On the plus side, thanks for my co-writers for keeping the packs a-comin' these past few weeks.  It's been great looking at all the cards...

...which is why you're here now, so enough rambling.  It's a pack of 2014 Topps Chrome Update Series!

There's only 55 cards in the set, and just like it's 2013 counterpart, packs could only be found in Topps Holiday boxes.  I don't remember the 2013 boxes, but the 2014 boxes cost $15 and contained 5 packs of Topps Update and 2 packs of Topps Chrome Update.

4 cards per pack...let's see what we got:

#MB-11 - Michael Choice (RC)
#MB-29 - Chase Anderson (RC)

I have no idea what's going on with the numbering here.  What does MB even stand for?

#MB-43 - Masahiro Tanaka (RC)
#WSC-14 - George Brett

There are 2 Tanaka cards in the set, as well as 2 Jose Abreu cards and 2 Jacob deGrom cards.  In my opinion, Topps should have just made room for 3 other rookies or traded players.  The World Series Heroes card comes 1 in 4 packs.

Here are the backs:

 Anyway, that's the pack.  Enjoy the 4th and be safe.  Thanks for reading!

1983 Donruss Magnum PI

Magnum PI was a classic detective dramedy. It had everything 80s... Ferrari's, short-shorts, baywatch babes, and moustaches.

Here are some cards from 1983.

Here is Magnum looking confused, and Magnum spying on something. I could go throw in the DVD's and figure out what exact scenarios these cards are highlighting but... that's not really in the spirit.

 Higgins looking disappointed, and Magnum checking out some disgusting rusty crime scene.

 Magnum in a classic Hawaiian shirt, and squeezing into a sub-compact car.

 And a few beach shots to finish things up. Pretty sure Magnum's clothes came from the children's rack.

2015 Topps Stadium Club Retail Jumbo Pack

Jumbo is a relative term when it comes to Stadium Club..

We'll get back to the ladies in a bit, but first I have this pack I grabbed at Target the other night.  It... It's not that interesting.  But it is a pack of something that isn't here yet, so I might as well post it.  Someone can post a better one later.  Anyway, here goes...

248 Alex Gordon, 159 Torii Hunter, 18 Zack Wheeler, 51 Miguel Cabrera, 5 Anthony Ranaudo RC, 202 Stephen Strasburg

The first thing you notice immediately about these cards is just how incredibly crisp the photography is.  Even with a so-so (for this set) loadout of photos in this pack, they all still look amazing.

72 Madison Bumgarner, 144 Prince Fielder Gold Foil Parallel, 232 Corey Dickerson, 31 Albert Belle, 221 Nick Castellanos, 17 Jacoby Ellsbury

Other things of note about that these cards: I remember Sooz saying the flimsiness was one of the complaints they addressed from the 2014 set.  And indeed, these are slightly thicker, & noticeably sturdier feeling, than your average loose pack of retail cards.  So mission accomplished there.

The other thing (aside from how much I despise the cropping job on what was almost an amazing Jacoby Ellsbury card) is that the foil works way, way better in the scans than it does in real life.  Never thought I'd be able to say real life doesn't do the scans justice, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

And here the backs of the two I'm keeping to make sketch cards out of.  Nice & colorful.  I dig it.  Everything else is available (especially Ellsbury).

BONUS!

I actually did draw the above cards (I guess the base will be available for trade as soon as I color everything then), plus one more.  So here are those three works-in-progress are now.

Prince Fielder

Madison Bumgarner

Albert Belle

Until our next...