Saturday, September 19, 2020

1991 ProSet Bill and Ted's Most Atypical Movie Cards

Hello! Welcome to a most excellent pack of collectible trading cards, dudes! Wait, there's like no inserts, man? Bogus! Okay, now that we have that out of our system, this is a pack of 1991 ProSet Bill and Ted's Most Atypical Movie Cards. As described on the pack, there are "10 Triumphant Cards" in each foil pack. The wrapper is certainly decidedly 90's. And, you could have won a trip to San Dimas. Excellent!

The cards themselves feature borderless fronts. They show scenes from the movie or have "behind the scenes" depictions. There is a "badge" in the lower left corner to designate any kind of "subset" status and the "ProSet" logo appears in the lower right.

 

The backs give some insight to the movie. Some feature "Bill and Ted Speak" so those who are lost in the vernacular can get caught up. It's something of an "Urban Dictionary" before that was even a thing. 


As mentioned above, you could enter to win a trip to San Dimas. You could also instantly win the trip and/or win various prizes.



There were 100 cards in the set. These came out just before the era ushered in with parallels, relics, autos, etc, so you'll find none of those in this set, unfortunately.




The cards are the same stock as the ProSet NFL cards of the time, so they a decent thickness and a slick feel to them. The photography is about what one might expect cards made from movie still might feature. I will say, they are better than the Topps 1991 baseball card "action photos" of the day, but that is probably more due to the type of card stock than the actual photos.

In any case, here's a trip down memory lane should you care to venture down it while watching the movie released during COVID-2020...

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

1993-94 Leaf Hockey Series 2

Dallas Stars defeated Las Vegas Knights in OT to move on the Cup finals. Waiting for the other half to be decided let's open hockey cards. In 1993 Leaf put out one of best designed sets first with baseball then with hockey. The back of the card shows the player in front of backdrop of a city landmark. With that in mind I'm going to post the front and back of the cards. I posted a pack of series 1 about 6 years ago. Now I'm here with series 2. Carefully on opening due to the UV coating causing the cards to brick up. You can stick the packs in the freezer then hammer the packs out with your fist on palm of your hands. It might help.
335 - Mark Fitzpatrick - like almost all of series 2 cards players wearing jerseys of their new teams. Mark played for Islanders the previous season before getting drafted by then-expansion Florida Panthers. The back shows Miami coast. I prefer showing beaches instead yachts.
340 - Pierre Turgeon/Checklist - front showing Pierre Turgeon with Lady Bing Award and checklist on the back. Leaf got a headstart on this way before Topps decide to put a highlight on the front then checklist on the back.
355 - Donald Dufresne - welcome to Tampa where the palm trees sway. I wonder which game this shot was taken since Lightning and Panthers played each other three times in October.
360 - Scott Thomas - Niagra Falls on back of the card.
375 - Enrico Ciccone - Enrico defending the capital building
380 - Pat Conacher - LA skyline gleaming on the back of the card
395 - Brad McCrimmon - there's a ship on back of the card. This card is sad. McCrimmon was the head coach of KHL Lokomotiv team in 2011. He and the entire team perished in a plane crash nine years ago.
229 - Adam Foote - night falls on Le Chateau Frontenac. Foote is one of Nordiques/Avalanche best all-time defenseman. The team retired his jersey in 2013.
240 - Jari Kurri - Multi-time Cup winner, All-Star, and a Hall of Famer. Currently GM of KHL Jokerit team. If you haven't heard of what's happening to Jokerit so far they are having a strange early KHL season journey. Summary here and there. Back of the card is same of Conacher.
235 - Adam Oates - Boston night time with Boston Clock Tower on the left. Another Hall of Fame player in this pack.
326 - Vitali Prokhorov - while some Blues' player were in front of the arch he got Union Station
321 - Peter Klima - backdrop of nighttime downtown Tampa
306 - Mike Sillinger - skating in front of the Detroit rail.
301 - Stephane Fiset - Fiset's guarding net and the Quebec City parliament.

Another fun Leaf pack. Interesting enough Gretzky (yes The Great One) was packed in series 2 as well Eric Lindros (his cards was hot at the time) and Dominik Hasek. Mario Lemieux was featured guy on that year's set. His Mario Collection insert card 6-10 are in series 2. It's enjoyable set. Like I said if planning to opening the packs carefully on peeling it or stick it in the freezer for few hours.

Monday, September 07, 2020

1973 Donruss Galaxy Wars Tattoos

 


Today, we step back in time to a galaxy far...er, I mean we step back to 1973 (I have seen these listed as 1973 and also 1981, so...). Donruss released a set of tattoos in wax packs. One of the unique features of the set: it came in three different colored wrappers. We have the yellow variety above, and here are the red and blue ones:


Honestly, it makes way more sense that these would be circa 1980-something because the guy in the mask bears an uncanny resemblance to several other masked space characters of the time. The wrappers themselves are true wax packs of the day. And, yes, there was gum inside. I did not scan the gum. Sorry, folks.

Inside each pack, an instruction sheet told you how to put the tattoos on yourself (well, I suppose you could put them on anyone, but usually this was a personal activity).


As you can see, these were made in Spain. Also, we were warned: DO NOT APPLY TO FACE! Pretty sure that meant tons of little boys were wetting the thing and then running up to their sisters and slapping them in the face with these... I digress.

The tattoos themselves were attached to a brown paper protective sheet:


When you peeled the protection away, it revealed the set of tattoos your pack contained. Now, the actual tattoos were attached to a thin white (or off-white) backing. This had the "cut lines" to separate the three sections for application. It also says, "Collect all 40 sets." I could not find a checklist nor a photo of all 40 sets.


The stains you see (and will continue to see in the images below), are where the gum adhered to the backing of the tattoos. This is most unfortunate as it means that where there is a stain, the tattoo had pretty much stuck to the actual backing. More on that in a moment.

Once you peel the brown sheet off, you can see the tattoos. Again, where you see stains, that is where the gum bled through the backing onto the tattoo:




In an effort to show what these might look like when applied, I flipped them and did some very crude photo editing. What I didn't realize until a little later was that these are actually MUCH more vibrant when applied than I could have imagined. But, these are the same images above, just flipped and retouched:




I decided I wanted to see what these looked like when actually applied. This was an exercise in futility. Where the gum had seeped through the backing, the tattoo was attached to the paper and would not release. I also forgot just how much patience one needed and how long it takes for the actual tattoo to separate. I eventually decided to try attaching the tattoo to a clear plastic holder in hopes I could manipulate the backing and the surface to get a nice, clean exhibit. Nope. So, this is what we're left with:


As you can see, this thing is bright and very detailed! I am amazed that after all these years, these could still look pretty good - so long as you aren't fighting gum stains.

Saturday, September 05, 2020

1991 Jockey Star Jockey Guild Trading Cards

Greetings!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Labor Day weekend safely.  Today, the 2020 edition of the Kentucky Derby was run in Louisville.  The Derby usually takes place in the first Saturday in May (the first leg of the Triple Crown), but because virus, the Derby was moved to September, the first time since 1945 (because Hitler).  It's also the first time since 1931 that the Derby was not the first leg of the Triple Crown (because 1931?); the Belmont Stakes was run back in June.

There was no audience for the race, so no fancy hats and mint juleps, unless you're at home...but if that's the case you can wear fancy hats and drink mint juleps anytime you want.


To mark this unusual occasion, here's a pack of jockeys.  I found it at the LCS back on National Baseball Card day going through their big old green tub of packs.  I didn't think there was demand for a card set for jockeys, but this is from the 1990's.

Here's what I got:


#185 - Larry Snyder
#174 - Nick Santagata

The cards don't look too bad for 90's sets.  Solid green border with a nameplate.  The backs have a solid write-up of the jockey's career up to that point, as you'll see at the end of the post.


#163 - Jeff Radosevich
#152 - Frank Olivares

I'm not sure why the jockeys are listed as Journeymen.  I'm assuming they are essentially riders for hire, as if they would wind up walking the Earth "Kung-Fu" style looking for an owner who'll pay them to ride.


#141 - Randy Meier
#130 - Art Madrid Jr.

The Jockeys' Guild is still around.  There's 220 cards in the set...here's the checklist if anyone's interested.


#47 - Curt Bourque
#36 - Eddie Baird

I kinda sorta remembered Baird but I didn't remember how so I looked him up.  Here's why I think.  It must have made the sports talk radio at the time.


#25 - John Beech
#14 - Don Brumfield


#3 - Bill Shoemaker
#101 - Vince Guerra

Hey a name I at least heard of in Bill Shoemaker (I was really stretching on the Eddie Baird one).

Here's some card backs.  As mentioned earlier, it's pretty good; you get a multi-paragraph bio, as well as recent / career stats:



I knew the jockeys were short, but I didn't think they were barely over 100 pounds!

Anyway, that's the pack.  This will get filed away with the other miscellaneous one-and-done packs, purchased just for you guys.  Ah, the things done for APTBNL!

Be safe this weekend, and thanks for reading!