1994 Upper Deck World Cup

1994 was the year. I had been married just shy of five years. My mind wasn't on soccer. Er, football. Sorry.

The 1994 FIFA World Cup games were held in the United States.  I don't remember them.

Madding wondered what the second pack of the "2 packs for a $1 Buck" was.  This is it.

A multi-lingual mish-mash celebrating players I don't know.

There appears to be some sort of discoloration on the front and backs of these cards.  It is actually where I had to pry them apart.  Almost like they got wet and stuck together.

The Great Platini.  Starring Robert Duval as Erwin Sanchez.

You know you've made it in the soccer world when you have just one name.  Think Pelé.  Or Messi.  Or Branco.

Ah, the mighty powerhouse of soccer that is Switzerland.

Adrian Knup, from the land of Fonts.  He "is a lethal finisher."  Put that and the White Branco (see above) and it sounds like OJ.

Fun fact about Aron Winter?  He has never been see without his warm up jacket.

Ally McCoist.  Rhymes with McMoist.  This insert set was in multiple languages.  English with German.  English with Italian.

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena is where the final game was held.  Hence the name of the insert set.

A nice mix of action shots and stills.  A plus is a different photo for the back of the cards.  Typical glossy card stock and finish for Upper Deck cards of that era.  I have no clue what a Lithogram card is.

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen

The latest Topps product to hit the shelves in 2017 is Gypsy Queen, which they've rolled out for the 7th consecutive year. This is a product I typically ignore, seeming to be at worst a replacement for the vastly superior Turkey Red and at best desperately trying to cram one more product into America's already bloated card hole. They've had some nice design concepts here and there, mostly with some of their inserts. This set is actually pretty nice looking in that the base cards don't really look like anything they've tried before.

153 - Logan Forsythe - This set is clearly cobbled together early in the Topps calendar, because Forsythe was dealt in the offseason to the Dodgers. Again, I like the design, though the team name sans nickname makes it look a bit like Panini's licenseless offerings.

116 - Robbie Ray - The backs aren't bad. Large font size helps the old eyes, though this is also starting to look at bit like what would happen if members of The Decemberists designed a baseball card.

95 - Carlos Rodon - I can never keep Carlos Rodon and the other Chicago (Cubs) reliever, Hector Rondon, straight.

39 - Jacoby Ellsbury - Ellsbury is one of the greatest baseball players to ever come out of the state of Oregon, so it's rough to see people see him as The Contract now, even though I'm far removed from the Yankees/Red Sox rivarly. Still, his 2011 season has to be one of the weirdest one year blips of offensive greatness, on the level of Brady Anderson or something.

175 - Gregory Polanco - The Pirates outfielder who didn't do steroids or get bent out of shape over getting bumped out of center field.

225 - Jose De Leon - In a bit of coincidence, this is the guy that the Dodgers traded to get Logan Forsythe.

1990 Collegiate Collection Arizona State Sun Devils

Yesterday I stopped by the Dollar Tree store. I needed to get some AAA batteries. And some cards. Mostly the cards.   The feeder towers by checkout lane number 1 had the usual.  Stickers from current and older movies, baseball card repacks (with a shiny card on top), other major sports that I don't care too much about, and these "2 Original Trading Card Packs - Only $1 Buck".  A $1 Buck?  Okay, I'll bite.

I selected the ASU Trading Cards.  I attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.  ASU wasn't our rival.  They were in a different conference.  They were not looked upon very favorably.  But gotta root for the state teams.

I thought that this pack might be similar to the Collegiate Collection Notre Dame packs from the same era.  Football, football, football.

I guess Collegiate Collections signed a deal and asked the athletic department to ask the archives and special collections department to provide photos of teams, players, and facilities.  So we get a photo of the 1970 football team.  More text than photo.

If the thing behind Art Becker's head is the backboard glass, that's one tall dude.  The card says he's just 6'8".  Hmmm.

Fan / Assistant # 81, just to Wood Green's left, is ready to go into the game and pick up some extra yards.  No helmet?  Now that's dedication.

Ah, when ties were wide and students were named Norris.  He was good enough to be signed by George Halas.  See, reading the backs of cards is educational.

In my mind I've never thought of ASU as women's basketball powerhouse.  But I live in the shadow of Thompson-Boling Arena, the home to so many of Pat Summit's wins.

I've got nothing.  Good for Ms. Webb.

I've only known of a few people named Curley.  The Stooge, and Mr. Culp.  Wait, the Stooge didn't have the "e"?  How about Curley Neal, from the Harlem Globetrotters?  No "e" there, either?  I only know of one person named Curley.  That would be Mr. Culp.

Always good to have a pool shot.  That should be in landscape mode.  Sort of like the 1970 football team card.

Looking at these cards on COMC, I see that there were variations.  Either a gold back or a black back.  The biggest player to be featured in this set was Barry Bonds.  I have no desire to collect this set.  I bought it on a lark.

2016 Topps Update Series

The new baseball season is in full swing, so let's look at some baseball cards! I spent pretty much all of 2016 ragging on Topps for their weak flagship design. This 8 card pack (must be from a blaster) came to me in a repack box, which will make this the first 2016 Topps pack I've ever opened. Enjoy.

US194 - Eric Hosmer All-Star - Hosmer is holding up his bat like he won something.

US19 - Max Scherzer - Scherzer has a serious case of pitcher face.

US172 - Kenley Jansen - I can't even remember if I watched the All-Star Game last year. I'm sure the AL won.

US200 - Alex Colome - Colome is wearing the event jersey and not a game jersey, so he must be warming up or something? Pitching to someone in the Home Run Derby? The back of the card mentions that he didn't appear in the game.

TF-17 - Hanley Ramirez Franklin - Topps treads down a dangerous slope here with a sponsored insert set. It's... not very exciting.

There's a coupon on the back of this, but it's already expired. I do like Topps giving us poor retail buying chumps some coupons, though.

US227 - Aaron Sanchez - Sensing a theme here? It's another All-Star card. Sanchez "worked the fourth inning" but apparently all the cameras were broken.

US291 - Dellin Betances - Betances is a 3-time All-Star somehow. I seem to recall that he fell off a cliff after Chapman was traded, but now he's back. Maybe a 4th straight appearance is on the horizon?

US44 - Aledmys Diaz Rookie Debut - Finally, the first and only non-All-Star card. It's also a subset card, however. Diaz had a fantastic but abbreviated rookie season, and has crushed two HRs so far today. I like him. He's good.

2017 Topps Opening Day Retail

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  We're in day 3 of the 2017 baseball season, and Cubs fans are very excited to root on the team's defense of their championship.  Here's to a fun season.

This post is going to be a little more personal than most, as I present 2 retail packs of 2017 Topps Opening Day!

Apologies for the yellowish pics...they were taken on the kitchen counter using the stove light with 2 kids excitedly running about waiting for me to show them the contents.

Since the Cubs won the 2016 World Series, my boys have become fans of the game.  MLB Network off-season programming plus Game 7 and the subsequent parade on the DVR certainly helped build interest.  Eventually, discussions about WAR and home run leaders started popping up between Pokemon and silly Disney XD shows.

So finally, it happened a month or so ago...the boys were asking for baseball cards.  They knew daddy has a lot of baseball cards all over the office (which they weren't allowed to touch), and there were new packs on the Target shelves...with Kris Bryant on the cover!  But there was a problem...they didn't know how to take care of the Pokemon cards they did have (cards on the floor, in the bed, in backpacks), and ol' Jafronius wasn't about to spend money on cards for them to ruin, cards that could be in his stacks in the office.  You see, ol' Jafronius wasn't too big of a fan of The Wifey dropping over 4 bucks for a pack of Pikachus, but he didn't mind it because he wasn't invested in the product. Now these little punks want a piece of the action...real people (on cardboard) were at stake!

So, a plan was hatched...Jafronius went to the LCS to get a couple of binders and pages for the kids, and they were told to put all their cards in the pages.  Daddy would then check on the binders from time to time and see how they're handling the cards.  If they took care of them for an extended period of time, they would be rewarded with their first packs of baseball cards.

The kids were enthusiastic to take on this task, fueled by the knowledge that 30 years ago, my brother and I got our first packs of baseball cards, a reward for good grades.  Since packs were what, a quarter back then, we wound up splitting a whole box of '87 Topps from that Walgreens.

I'm not sure how long I was planning to test the kids, but life decided for me.  Last week, The Wifey had emergency surgery to remove scar tissue wrapping itself around her intestines (she had gastric bypass almost 2 years ago).  The kids found out about it when we were on the way to the hospital to visit her, and they were subsequently disappointed when we got there and found out they couldn't go up to see her because of some flu outbreak and kids weren't allowed on the floor.  So, we turned around to go back home, and I decided to get them their first packs to make them feel a little better.

I let them open the cards, but then I took them away so I could take the pics.  Meanwhile, they discussed who they wanted to get.  They both wanted Cubs, but other superstars were mentioned as well.  Here's what they got:

Pack 1 (Youngest son):

#135 - Madison Bumgarner
#144 - Gerrit Cole

My youngest was pretty excited to get Madison, since he was one of the names he rattled off.

#102 - Adrian Beltre
#ODB-13 - New York Yankees (Opening Day at the Ballpark)

I explained that the Yankee card was an insert, but he was more happy that he got a Yankee card since his uncle (my brother) lives in New York.

#93 - Michael Fulmer
#89 - Matt Harvey
#99 - Christian Yelich

Same goes for the Harvey...it's a Met card so that's fine because Uncle lives in New York.

Here's some backs from the first pack:

Overall, my youngest wasn't too pleased with the pack, as he was hoping for more recognizable names.  Let's see how the second pack went.

Pack 2 (Oldest son):

#182 - Seung-Hwan Oh (RC)
#46 - Kendrys Morales

My oldest wasn't as pleased with his first ever baseball card, as he didn't know who he was.  I'm sure he'll know more about Oh as the season progresses.

#31 - George Springer
#SC-4 - Anthony Rizzo (Superstar Celebrations)

I smiled when I saw that he got this one, as Rizzo's his favorite player.  I secretly moved this card to the end to be the last card he sees.

#89 - Matt Harvey
#99 - Christian Yelich
#79 - Sonny Gray

Yep, the boys chose two packs and got 2 duplicates.  After the confusion died down, I showed them the Gray and the Rizzo (the back's scanned above).  The plan worked, as the eyes on those two became so wide you'd think they were gonna fall out.  Then came the celebrations of pulling an insert of a Cub player.

They immediately put the cards in the binder, and as far as I know the cards have stayed there.  They both got another pack since, and the oldest son pulled the Rizzo base card, which led to similar celebrations.  I think they're angling to get more packs down the line.

Anyway, that's all I've got.  Thanks for indulging me with the documentation of their first baseball packs.  I don't know how long they'll stick with it (the oldest son appears to be on track to keep collecting), but this was a fun moment for me and for them as well.

Thanks for reading!

1997 Takara Basscolle

It's Opening Day.  Masahiro Tanaka got chased out of Tropicana.  Madison Bumgarner went deep twice at Chase Field.  And the Arizona Diamondbacks fought back to beat the San Francisco Giants with two outs in the bottom of the ninth earning the first walk off win of the 2017 season.  I'm so excited!

Let's celebrate with a pack of 1997 Takara Basscolle.  Your eyes aren't deceiving you.  They're staring at a pack of Japanese fishing lure cards.  I won't even begin to pretend that I know what I'm talking about, because everything I learned about these cards... I learned here.  In fact, that's where I got this pack of cards.

So if you're truly interested in learning about these cards, head over to Ryan's blog.  He did some pretty interesting research on these.  Need some luring?  Here's a tasty nugget of information about this set. Brad Pitt had a role in the production of these trading cards.  I'm 100% serious.  Go on... check it out.  I won't be offended.

If you're still reading this post, then I better continue with my review...

I can't really say I'm a big fishing guy, but I'm really excited to add these into my Japanese trading card binder.  The first card out of my pack was card #104, which features a Fuze Crankmax lure.

The card back shows off a second picture of the lure along with a chart that shows the collector the optimal water depth for each lure.  Takara was also kind enough to include the lure's length and weight too.

I can't read Japanese, so I have no idea what else is written on the back of the cards.  See... I told you to go check out Ryan's post.

Each pack contains ten cards.  Here's a look at the other nine lures I pulled:

If you look closely at #57, it looks like someone signed the lure.  Would have though that autographed lures would be a thing?

Well that's all I have on these fishing lure trading cards.  This is one of the weirdest packs I have ever opened.  It's right up there with my Japanese kitty cat cards, which seem to be related to the 1983 Topps Perlorian Cats.

What's the weirdest trading cards you've ever collected?

Happy Opening Day and sayonara!