1998 Bowman Chrome Series 2

Here's a friendly neighborhood pack of 20 year old baseball cards featuring Reds Rookie Paul Konerko? Remember him? A Pack To Be Named Later does.

331 - Vladimir Nunez - Over the course of his scattered MLB career, Nunez was just a bit below replacement level. That's not a great level to be at.

396 - Ruben Mateo - By age 26, Mateo had played his last games in an MLB uniform, amassing a 0.0 career WAR. I feel like he's someone you've heard of, but you're not sure why.

438 - Jae Weong Seo - After some early big seasons as a Mets starter, Jae Seo went on to pitch in the Korean Baseball Organization for eight seasons.

437 - Carl Pavano - A 2004 MLB All-Star and World Series (2003) champion? Now we're talkin'!

Here's a look at the back, featuring the typical (for the time) Bowman Scouting Report. The binding theme for this pack? All of the cards are "prospects" rather than big leaguers, but none of them are actually the coveted 1st Bowman Card.

1988 Donruss Baseball - First Timer

A couple months ago I busted open some old football stickers with my daughter in my maiden post to the site. With my one-plus-year-old interested in anything we do, I decided to bust out some packs per my four-year-old's request and did a box break of 1988 Donruss. I've had four boxes stacked for over a year and decided since it was rainy outside, the perfect time to introduce my littlest to the hobby. So I chronicled it and decided to provide some family fun to the page, because without the next generation, there is no hobby.
Understanding we have already busted 88 Donruss before, I kept the cards to four-card bricks and will keep it brief.

Not too shabby if this were 1988, a couple of 'back in the day' upstarts in Todd Benzinger and Kal Daniels and some eventual HOFs in Lee Smith and Robin Yount.

But here is where the fun comes in - I bought the 88 Donruss because it has the puzzle groupings and my older daughter is obsessed with puzzles. We did a 750-piece Little Mermaid one and she actually built Ariel and some of the fishes. So a 60-piece Stan Musial should be easy enough. And a photo of my younger daughter opening her first-ever pack of cards - and inside she grabbed the first card and it happened to be one of my favorites from my youth - Shawon Dunston! It's not worth the cardboard it's printed on, but that is going in a case somewhere. Bent and all.

A little different post than usual, of late the packs have gotten more and more oddball, and that's OK. Just tossing some hobby goodness into the foray. Thanks for reading!

2005 NECA Napoleon Dynamite Flippin' Sweet Trading Cards

Ask anyone what their Top 5 cult classics are and this film is likely going to be in the running.  Next to Clerks, The Big Lebowski, Reservoir Dogs, and Office Space...this movie is right there for me.  Lots of classic one liners and some great writing.  13 years ago, NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association, a manufacturer of entertainment merchandise) printed this set to try and capitalize on the Napoleon Dynamite movie.  There is a good discussion on The Trading Card Database with this set as it wasn't printed with numbers on the cards so checklisting it proved to be challenging.  There are 50 cards in the set and each pack contains 6 cards.  The cards depict a scene from the movie on the front and the backs showcase a one liner from the movie against a subdued movie scene.  Grab a bottle of Gatorade and some lasagna....it is time to Vote for Pedro!

I'm already chuckling thinking about what cards lie within.

Nice car!

Taming the Honeymoon Stallion!

Good ol' Kip.  And Napoleon showing off his mad skills.  Appears to be an UER here. (wisom not wisdom)

He needs his chapstick!

Killer Dance Moves!

Vote for Pedro.



Well there you have it.  I hope your weekend is going well!

1987 Topps Who Framed Roger Rabbit

One of the most memorable movies to come out of late-1980s Hollywood is Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  Jessica Rabbit is memorable, Roger the loveable goofball, and Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom.....this is also the first time special effects were able to merge a cartoon and real characters fairly seamlessly.  In fact, it won Oscars in 1989 for the effects. Topps was cranking out the sets in 1987 and Roger Rabbit got caught up in the swirl hyping the movie's release in 1988.  There are 132 cards in the set according to The Trading Card Database and this 9-card pack should also yield some 30 year old gum.  Imagine if I would have bought fleer basketball cards instead of Roger Rabbit cards back in 1987?  Oh the choices we make.  Grab a drink....No thanks, I am trying to cut down.  Yes, you want a drink.  Okay, I do.

Oooo, special sticker....ah the memories of a great movie.

#108; Eddie Valiant right off the bat.  A great performance by Bob Hoskins.

#56: Eddie, his hand comes out of the cuffs...classic comedy.

#88: Floor please.

#126: Judge Doom had it coming.

#99: Jessica Rabbit makes an appearance

#125: A happy ending....

#115: Judge Doom is a toon???

#117: 'Nuff said.

#47: Not the DIP!!!

My promised sticker....Baby Herman none-the-less.

Here is the back of card #108.

Evidently they didn't use enough softeners or BHT to maintain the freshness of my gum.

There you have it.  Enjoy the rest of your week and ease on into the weekend.

2000 Upper Deck Christina Aguilera

I've been reading that these packs are somewhat hard to find.  Maybe because they were printed in Canada, maybe because she was so popular, or maybe most of them are at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.  Christina definitely had some hits back in the day and I guess she is probably around still performing.  I am not sure.  I found this in the $0.33 bin at a card shop so figured it was worth taking a chance.  The pack enticed me to "Look for Christina Aguilera Autograph cards."  Sure, why not?  However, this 4-card pack likely won't yield any goodness.  The back has really weird odds.  It says " This box contains a random assortment of Christina Aguilera Trading Cards numbered 1-45.  Odds of finding a pack containing the following insert is: 1 Christina Autograph card (Limited to 250 total cards).  What does that actually mean?  Chatter on the internet puts odds of pulling an autograph at around 1:200 or so boxes.  Grab your Bailey's and Coffee and a doughnut....time to wake up.

Oh yeah, she is daring me to open this pack.....

#10: These are weird cards for Upper Deck.  They are printed on really thin cardboard and have no hologram.  Right out of the gate, Christina is up to no good....the little devil she is.

#17: According to the back, she sang "Genie in a Bottle" in the Thanksgiving Day parade back in 1999.

#41: Fun fact, Justin Timberlake and J.C. were in the Mickey Mouse Club with Christina.

#44: Lighting, photo editing, or something....she looks cracked out.

Here is one of the backs to the cards.  There you have it...I hope you had a great weekend.