1977 Topps Star Wars Series 1 (no, 2!)

It's been forever and a day since my last post here. It's not for a lack of ambition, but mostly out of a lack of energy at the end of the (every?) day.  However, the desire...the desire to post runs deep.

This morning, I awoke to some news about the funny idea that today is "Star Wars Day", at least as far as the calendar is concerned. As in, "May the Fourth be with you."  Yeah, I know, kinda dumb, kinda funny.

So, I got the bright idea that for Star Wars Day, I would unearth a 1977 Series 1 Star Wars pack I acquired on eBay about four or five years ago.  I was so excited.  The back of the pack looked like this:

Pew! Pew!

It seemed sealed believably nice, and I was ready to open all of the awesomeness. I crack it open, and I see a card back, with an appropriate gum stain underneath:

I eagerly take the cards out of the pack like a weak-minded death-stick junkie, and when I flip them around, I see:

1977 Topps Star Wars Series 2, #121

Now that is a pretty rockin' vintage picture of two unamused, shoot-first kinda guys. What a minute! There's something wrong here...

"Hey, what are you trying to push on us?"

For those familiar with vintage Star Wars cards, Series 1 packs have the C3PO wrapper as shown at the top of this post. However, series one cards are blue bordered, and numbered 1 through 66. This card (and all subsequent cards in this pack) are red bordered cards from series two.

Is is possible to feel duped maybe five years after the point you've been ripped off? I am proof that the answer is, "Sure, why not!" It could have been longer. I originally was thinking that I wouldn't ever open this pack, along with a second one I acquired at the same time.

Is it possible that I got some kind of super-rare series two cards put in a series one wrapper direct from the Topps factory from whence I was a tiny boy? Mmm...no. Add the fact that there are only four cards in this pack (real packs contain seven, plus the advertised sticker), and it really smells bad. Like a fish. Or like a rather masterfully resealed pack full of lies and droids.

So, here goes the rundown of the rest of my switcheroo, shortchanged, custom gum job:

1977 Topps Star Wars Series Flippin' 2, #117

1977 Topps Star Wars Series Freakin' 2, #74

1977 Topps Star Wars Series Frackin' 2, #69 (hehe)

Even the gum is a lie. I think I recall that pre-1981 Topps gum was fatter and maybe a little shorter. If that is correct, then this skinny little broken slab is clearly a plant.

I wonder if I can data mine my eBay feedback history and find the vendor that sold me this sad little criminal case.  If only I could do this when I find him:

"Nooo! Nooo! Noooooooahhhhh!"

Still.  May the Fourth be with you.

1994 Score Select Baseball Series 2

Got back from out of town while piles of packs. My first pack to open is 1994 Select baseball series 2. It's another brand from Pinnacle/Score at the time with 12 cards per pack. The first card....

335 - John Doherty - the cards are vertical along with the last name. First name is on top horizontally with two pictures. Despite 14-11 record that season his ERA was at 4.44.

313 - Harold Reynolds - in an Angels uniform. 1994 was his last season in the majors.

390 - Rich Becker - rookie prospect cards are horizontal. Becker had a journeyman year.
356 - Bo Jackson - 1994 also last season for Bo Jackson playing career. Two players in Angels uniform playing their last major league games as teammates.

336 - Jody Reed - spent one season with the Brewers.

391 - Billy Taylor - talk about perseverance. Drafted in 1980 he spent 13 years in the minors before making it in 1994. He didn't play in 1995, but came back in 1996 playing til 2001.

403 - Joey Hamilton - made his debut 1994 but never lived up expectations.

238 - Bobby Bonilla - 1993 was his best year as a Met but went into decline afterwards. At least he got money coming to his way for rest of his life.

225 - Brian Harper - spent one season with the Brewers. Played two games in 95 with A's before calling it quits only return for one game in 2000 with Tacoma.

257 - Terry Steinbach - he nearly got bowled over by Jeff Cirillo.

273 - Eric Davis - 1994 was his final season before retiring for a year and returned in 1996 where he became inspiration for winning his battle against cancer.

281 - Brent Gates - final card of the pack

1990 Swell Baseball Greats

I love these sets that have no current players and are focused on "baseball greats."  This set in particular is one of my favorites and part of it is the fact that it includes players that don't quite reach the level of "great" and so it gives a lot of players some new cards...and millions of team collectors rejoiced!

So for this post I'll skip over the commentary on the cards for the likes of Hank Aaron and Ty Cobb and focus on the "great" players.

#60 Bob Feller

Jim Northrup was one of the leading offensive weapons of the Tigers 1968 World Series title.  During that season he hit 21 home runs and five of those were grand slams.

#78 Jim Northrup

#2 Hank Aaron

#15 Ty Cobb

#90 Johnny Mize

Ralph had an outstanding 1974 season batting an incredible .353 average. He also led the league in hits and triples for the Braves that season.

#46 Ralph Garr

#30 Grover Alexander

#10 Babe Ruth

Don played shortstop for the Cubs in the late 60's and early 70's.

#69 Don Kessinger

Billy Herman is a Hall of Famer but I really could tell you more about him other than that he played for the Cubs.  Billy was probably the best Cubs 2nd baseman behind Ryne Sandberg and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975 through the Veteran's Committee

#59 Billy Herman

2011 Upper Deck Thor

 

Upper Deck's latest sports efforts may have not wowed the masses, but their newest Marvel Comics movie tie-in set in my opinion is really nice.  5 cards per pack with retail packs ringing in at $1.99 it isn't the best value per se, but the card design is nice and the what appears to be one per pack inserts are nice.

Remember in Iron Man 2 when the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assigned to watch over Tony had to leave due to a disturbance out west?  This is what he was going to oversee...the discovery of Thor's hammer - Mjolnir!

I've bought a few packs already and each pack has come with one sort of insert.  I love these Concept Series cards.  I just wish I knew who the artist was.  This artwork reminds me of Stuart Immonen a little.

I anxiously await this movie as Marvel seems to better themselves with each subsequent movie.  I love how the movies are starting to blend in as we approach the big screen debut of the Avengers movie in a few years.  Upper Deck has come a long way since their release Hulk Film & Comics card release for the first live action Hulk movie.  I would love to finish the base set of the Thor cards.  Perhaps these too will one day end up in the discount pack boxes @ Target.

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Retail

I usually start with the wrapper on my posts but this first card is too good to bury deeper in the post...There is just something great about pulling a Sandy Koufax base card in a new pack...

#66 Sandy Koufax

Now that I've got Mr. Koufax out of the way, we can start our regularly scheduled post...Here's the wrapper...you receive six cards for $2.99 retail price.  Of those six cards you typically get four standard base cards of the 350-card set, one insert, and one mini.

Desmond is apparently the Rays best prospect and

#191 Desmond Jennings [RC]

Who doesn't love a little soft focus in their baseball card?

#254 Brandon Phillips

And my mini is actually a short-printed mini:

#341 Ryjer Morgan Mini

I was pretty surprised to also see that these packs at dummy cards inserted to circumvent  the pack searcher scourge.

Another base card:

#215 Trevor Cahill

I would say I'm a fan of a "busy design" on a card and this one from The Great Ones insert set  does it just about right.

 #GO11 Johnny Mize

1996 Pacific Power Basketball Draft Picks

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I picked this pack out of a dollar bin recently. I knew that it had something to do with basketball and I knew that it hadn't been posted here yet, so I just went for it.

RR-35 - Steve Nash Regents of Roundball (It's pretty remarkable to get a current NBA player out of a draft picks pack that's 15 years old. I'm not sure what's up with that "Central" jersey he has. There certainly aren't many spectators hanging around for whatever this game was. At least Nash has been enjoying himself lately.)

PP-32 - Ryan Minor (Is this the base card? I have no idea. The "Regents of Roundball" cards are listed as an insert with approximately 2 cards per pack. These packs only contain 3 cards. Minor was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, but opted to play baseball instead. He actually made the majors as corner infielder, appearing in 142 games in 4 seasons with Baltimore and Montreal.)

RR-5 - Marcus Brown Regents of Roundball (Brown was a Blazers draft pick, but he didn't stick around long. He also played a handful of games with Detroit before embarking on a long and successful overseas career which continues to this day.)