wwe week-day 2

Welcome to day two of WWE week! Today I'll start showing the inserts (the good ones, not the regular ones) from the 2010 Topps set. Above we have two autographed cards from Gail Kim and Ted DiBiase (Jr.). Autos are 1:37 packs from a hobby box, but hobby boxes always come with at least one auto and one relic. They are sticker autos, which kind of makes sense, as many wrestlers do 'meet and greets' and sign things all day. These autos actually have parallels as well, being gold (numbered to 25) and red (1/1). I'm kinda glad I got these two. I'm kind of a fan of Ted and Gail is one of the few "Divas" that can actually wrestle (must have been all that time in TNA, where the women are way better wrestlers). Oh well. Come back tomorrow for some more WWE and some event worn stuff!

wwe week-day 1

In celebration of WWE Raw's 900th episode set to air tonight, I thought it would be appropriate to display the new 2010 Topps WWE set this week. I know this is a baseball themed blog, but as I stated a few days ago, the WWE set is something the wife and I can bust and collect together.

The set is 110 cards total, with four parallel sets; blue (numbered to 2010), black-ish (numbered to 999), gold (numbered to 50) and red (1/1, not pictured). There are many insert sets, after all this IS a Topps product. There are also autographed cards and relic cards, then there are autographed relics and printing plates (and even auto'd plates too). Just like all their products, Topps overdoes it just a l'il bit ;). Blue parallels can be found in any packs (hobby its one per), golds and reds are hobby only. The black bordered is retail only I believe, but its not listed on the back of the packs oddly enough. Overall Topps did an awesome job with this set. Maybe we bought too much of it (four hobby boxes and two blasters and some misc. packs), but again, its fun and something we can collect together. Plus one of my local shops does a HUGE amount of wrestling stuff, so I can trade him stuff for presumably whatever I like in equal value. Stay tuned for tomorrow's part two to see what else we pulled!

"value" huh?

So I decided to pick up one of these "value" packs today while at the Wal-Mart. You know the ones that the hobby parasites are shaking and busting up to see if they have that Strasburg refractor in it? Well thankfully the three boxes they had were not violated as those videos online have shown. It did come with the six 2010 series 2 packs and the one hobby Allen & Ginter, along with the Million code and refractor card for $15. How much does Topps value that code and refractor if its supposedly 40% more value when I buy this thing? I'm no math whiz but the six packs are $12 in stores and maybe the Ginter is around $4. Taking that into consideration maybe it is a good deal. Well, here is what I got; a pack of Ginter with nothing special, a 1967 common from my code (one of the packs had another code card in it too, which I got a 1968) and a bunch of series 2 stuff I already have. Oh and a Cal Ripken refractor as seen below. The auto came out of the final pack as well. I've never heard of him, but it is an auto and I always appreciate those.

Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

the "other" 2010 topps cards

I haven't collected football cards in an even longer time than I did baseball. I was curious to see what they did with the 2010 design so I bought a few packs. I'm not sure who's who anymore, although I did recognize Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning and Ray Lewis out of what I got. I do have to applaud Topps on the Peak Performance cards in the football set, as they are superb looking and far superior to the baseball brethren. I think the white font looks pretty good too. As for the WWE, it was something the wife and I could bust together. We watch both WWE and TNA weekly and are fans of many superstars (and not so fond of others), so its cool that we could go through these boxes together and compare what we got and so forth. We got four boxes so far, its a lot but the boxes are relatively cheap at my local shop. It also looks great in the 2010 format. Its a great set with some great hits (dual autos, jumbo relics, etc.), with a blue parallel set like they used for Opening Day. If anyone is interested in the WWE set, I have many duplicates for trade if desired. I even completed a few sets. I'll post up some of the hits I got in the coming days or so (some real cool ones).

four pieces

Busy today so here is an automated post (hopefully). the bottom right relic is really a deeper red than it scanned.

cito! (i mean clarence...)

Good to see Cito lead the Jays to two victories over the Yankees this week. Here is hoping for a win come Sept. 4th!

back when it mattered...

Back when rookie cards were something. Now in the hobby a player gets 72 rookie cards (whereas they used to get roughly 427 of them when there were more companies making cards) in his first year, if they are good. How many did Cal have? Well...he had around four, but that's not excessive seeing as how there were three companies then. Donruss, Fleer and Topps (and Topps Traded). Which is the true rookie? I don't care. They all count as far as I'm concerned. You get to 1993-1995 for Derek Jeter. How many cards do they consider a rookie card for him? 58? Maybe? Now its a little better with only Topps, but say five years ago it was wayyyy worse. And with Topps' Bowman line, "the home of the rookie card", is home to a bunch of AAA players and a few who actually make it to the majors. I don't know, it all just seems too confusing and arbitrary. Rookie cards don't seem to mean a damn thing anymore and they haven't since before the Bowman line came along and screwed it all up. I guess any first year card could be considered a 'rookie card' persay, but not to everyone. I'll just take my Cal and be happy with him and his two buddies I know nothing of.

something fishy...

You all know this set, right?

How about this set?

This set was put out by Topps in 2002, for the Post company. I'm not sure if it came in the cereal boxes, or was a send away, but I do know it looks vaguely similar to this years annual issue. Thats not a bad thing though, I like both designs, and may have to find some more of the 2002s. (this one came from Joe over at the sandlot)

less is more...apparently

Oh....really?

attendance

Yay!! Baseball!!....I'll be attending my first Major League game on August 4th. It will be the Blue Jays vs. the Yankees in New York. I originally wanted to go in June, but the budget didn't allow it. It does now though! I can't wait. We plan on taking the train out probably from Stamford (and past WWE headquarters), right on over to the stadium, then an adventure in the city. Its going to be great. Maybe we'll see a Jays win, who knows.

aquisitions

Recent show pick-ups (this morning actually). Two great autos of one of Toronto's sure-to-become-a-star pitcher.

wal-mart blaster mania!!!!!

..............was not to be found at my local store. It was laaaaaame. Their card section is lacking to start, on top of that they had one discount blaster...ONE. Here it is:

YAY!!! 2008 Upper Deck X!!!......Hey, at least it was only ten bucks. A buck a pack I can deal with, pretty much no matter what set it is. Did I mention that I HATE these X die cut cards? I have a few of them for some Jays and these cards and I don't get along. I did get the *guaranteed* jersey card, it was Jeremy Reed, with a white swatch (booooooring). I do however like the insert set they have going with the Xponential series. They are shiny and raised and just kinda cool. Overall.....eh. Fun to open packs as usual but the blaster itself was kind of a bust. Can't win 'em all I suppose.

set review-1995

1995 Topps is a strange beast (madding over at cards on cards is busting a box right now, its fun to see what he gets). To start, it is the first post strike set, so it looks like many players are in posed positions, you know, like they aren't playing baseball and just pretending to? Not a ton of posed shots, but a good number of them. Secondly I'm guessing this set should have had 792 cards, instead of the 660 it has. Series 1 consists of 396 cards, while series 2 has the remaining 264 cards. Seems like they may have cut production on series 2 for whatever reason, be it a huge hit the whole baseball industry may have taken due to the strike, players not wanting, or able to be photographed for cards. I mean, who knows? If someone does, please let me know, I'm quite intrigued by it. Then the backs of the cards feature "Diamond Vision" sponsored by Mitsubishi. Just weird. Another thing is that some of the cards are dated 1994 in the copyright area, and others are 1995. Just random cards, not series 1 is 1994 and 2 is 1995. Its more like cards 1, 13, 76, 436, etc. I suppose it is fair to assume that Topps was affected by the strike, as was everyone in this industry then. Maybe that is why this set is the way it is. Everyone was just in a real messed up state. Now, onto the cards themselves. The design is totally 90's, from the scribbly picture borders to the weird foil font. Card number 1 is right above, good old Big Hurt Frank Thomas. Overall a middle of the road set designwise, but maybe with a little mystery behind its glossy finish.

set review-1994

The inaugural set review post is going to 1994 Topps, a set that I had to buy twice due to the stickiness of the first. Something about the gloss of these mid-nineties sets makes them stick with age. 1995 stuck too but with no damage to the cards. I remember this set when it came out. It was a real step up from 1993 and an even huger step from 1992. These were almost (but certainly not quite) Upper Deck quality. Good in game photography, glossy cardstock, big picture on the back, some good stuff in 1994. Upper Deck could never be touched in terms of photo quality, and even could be debated to this day...but not next year. Anyway, this is the last of the 792s, as 1995 and on would be smaller. The gave card 1 to then rookie, Mike Piazza, a large honor indeed, seeing as how most of the early 90's sets had Nolan Ryan as card 1 (and rightfully so). In the picture above we see Mr. Canseco has a mighty.......bat. Trevor Wilson was a random pick, but I was forced to show Canseco. The card design itself is pretty good for an earlier 90's set. Huge front photos, the backs aren't hard to read, and have a good color scheme going on. Overall not a bad set, some amusing pictures before the looming strike, and one of the final 792 'big boys'.

quick post

Just a quick post today. This week so far has seen the arrival of the 2002 and 1995 Topps sets. Both at good prices (the 1995 is a pain, and usually runs upwards from $65). I will be doing a review of both soon, possibly this week but work is running me over at nearly 60 hours this week (as much OT as I want and I'm taking it as much as I can) but I did want to do short posts in case I can't get a full one up. One last thing, as of right now there are only three sets not on my shelf in the run from 1986 to 2010 (1998, 2001 and 2009), with the goal to be 1982 to now. 1998 and 2009 are on their way, but the 2001 is the big one and usually goes for $75+. Hence why I still don't have it. I'm watching a few but we'll see how those go.


PS- Colbey over at Cardboard Collections is having a group break. Join in the fun! He has a couple of cool boxes to bust and share with us, so it should be amusing. I know I'm in!

topps' millions

Does anyone still get on the Topps Million deal? It seems like no one really cares about it anymore. Or even mentions it. I'm not sure how popular it is (or was), but I know I redeemed all my codes. I'm in the same boat as everyone, in that I didn't get anything great. I did manage however, to trade my way into getting at least one card of every year from 1956 to 2009. A difficult feat indeed, seeing as how no one wants to give up cards that are older than 1976. I unlocked cards that were fairly old, and I would trade them for the next year up (like a 1966 for a 1967 in return) that I didn't have. The real question is do I have them delivered to me? I was thinking about it, because it wouldn't cost all THAT much to do. We'll see what happens.

random vintage double-header #5

I seem to have a real liking towards horizontal cards. I know my favorite cards from this years Topps set were the horizontal ones. Same goes for 2007 Topps as well. These two 1955 sets are all horizontal, and remain two very popular sets to this day. Everyone loves the '55 Bowman color TV set. 1955 Topps isn't as exciting as 1956, which is a very close design to the '55, but without the action shot in the background. Both of these were cheap show finds.

olde tyme appreciation vol 1

I really like the 1960 Topps design. Such color usage on every card. Seemingly no card can be boring in this set due to that alone. Mix that with a great player selection, a couple prominent rookies (Yastrzemski and McCovey) and you have a timeless set that definitely withstands the test of time. It's no wonder you run into people collecting this set to this day (slangon over at Condition Poor is one such collector, help him out if you can). I think if I were to collect any vintage set besides 1954, it would be this year. I also really like that last years Heritage was the same design, so its great to see new players with this card format. I know they are going in chronological order, so next year we get the original wood grain set, 1962! Just awesome.

factory ninth (and final)

Ok, this is it. 1996 Topps is the first year I really missed and had NO idea what it looked like. I didn't see much 1995, but I almost had no idea 1996 existed. I did, because Topps is annual, but you get my drift. It also seems that Topps took a better interest in other things that year because this set is small. 440 cards total. Their smallest actually since 1957 (407 cards), as we all know Topps is usually known for their 792s, and 660s. Its not a horrible design, very simple, and almost full bleed but Topps LOVES borders. Its alright though, they are usually known for their white borders. This must have been a real tough time for baseball card collectors and baseball as a whole. Coming off of that strike really hurt seemingly everyone, Topps included. Their sets wouldn't return to a larger, normal size until around 2001. Everything until then was relatively small. Before this set came into my house this afternoon, I owned 1 card from it. That number will probably stay seeing as how the set is complete. This is a final "Factory ###" post due to some of these sets not being a factory set. Some of the sets I'm getting will be hand-collated, so the name isn't fitting anymore. I will still post up something about each set and what I think of them but it will be called something different post-wise. Back to the set itself though, I think this is the year Topps went Mantle crazy. This was the cereal set version and it came with four exclusive Mantle reprints (one of which I got two of...grumble grumble...), namely because it was right after he died. other than that I feel its maybe one of the forgotten years, nothing really stands out. No big rookies, no standout card, its just kinda....there. Thats not bad though, as it does fit right into my set collection quite nicely. I'll leave you with this guy;

topps bigg!

Topps Big are some fun cards. I had a huge amount of these when I was younger. The neat thing about these (and that I didn't notice until just now, looking at them closer), is they are very reminiscent of early Topps releases. Namely the 1956 set. The big cartoons on the back, the limited amount of statistics, the whole name of the player, etc. That and they are the same exact size as Topps' 1952 through 1956. I believe they put these Big sets out in 1988 through 1990. Here are the backs as a comparison;

See the similarities? Topps went retro before it was cool to go retro! Well, they have always appreciated (exploited?) their heritage, and continue to do so this very day. I've always been a fan of oddball sets, and these three years are certainly in that category. The Troll actually sent me a pack of these in a recent trade package, which was totally awesome to open up.

random vintage double-header #4

Here is a great size variation between some cards. The 1953 Topps series was one of the bigger release early sets. The 1975 mini was, well...mini. I like the minis and haven't run across too many of them. I try to pick them up when I can. The '53 was an eBay buy, I think for under $2.

random vintage double-header #3

1954. The year of 'the catch'. The year that Hank Aaron hit his first of his 755 home runs. Also the year Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe. It was also the year that these two sets came out, 1954 Topps and Bowman. Personally I prefer the Topps' design, for a couple of reasons. First it has everything that you would expect on a baseball card front. Player's name, team (and team logo), position, etc. Bowman went with a simpler design, with its facsimile signature on the front...and only that. What is with Stan Lopata's look by the way? They didn't have a better picture to go with? Secondly, it has two shots of the player depicted, one action and the other a close-up. I always like seeing the action shots on these. I have a few coaches from the '54, and they are doing all sorts of weird things like waving or pointing. Bowman just feels a little plain to me. To me, 1954 Topps defines the term 'baseball card', and is probably my favorite vintage set.

don't count them out!

It will certainly be an uphill battle. Yes they are currently 10.5 games behind New York, but the Blue Jays seem to be firing on all cylinders. After winning their last 5 out of 6 games, hitting 8 home runs in the second battle with Tampa, nearly no-hitting in the third and blowing away the league in home runs (175, with Boston being second with 147). Their batting average is well...average, but they have shown they can definitely win games. Brandon's performance on Sunday was awesome, he was totally in the zone. It's too bad Aaron Hill missed that final hit by Longoria, to upset the no-hitter, but Hill did all he could to try and get that ball. What is it with the Rays and being the guys that always seem to have the no-hitters thrown on them? Just weird. The Jays are in 4th in the division, and its highly unlikely they will move past that position with the three phenomenal teams ahead of them, but we can hope right?

factory eighth (and announcement)

Now this is a set I had a literal metric ton of. My collecting friend did too. Back in 1991 our baseball card collecting habits were in full swing. He and I collected pretty much anything our parents would buy us. It was pretty cool because he would get packs each weekend, so I was always able to see new cards all the time. 1991 Topps was no different, and we both had a bunch but I don't think either of us completed a full set. It also marked Topps 40th anniversary (they must count 1951) in the baseball card universe, much like next year will be the 60th (damn, its hard to believe this set is 20 years old...). Its an OK design, nothing fancy really and I think I felt the same way back then too. The backs are weird too, being almost a pinkish with the blue text. It is however, much better than the 1990 set with its yellow and black. This set is a fun trip trough memory lane for me. Looking at some of the cards and remembering them well. I remembered the Wade Boggs instantly, with him in a batting stance with nothing but the clouds and sky in the background, a still awesome shot. Much more action shots in this issue too, than years previous.

The second thing I wanted to address is the guessing contest I held this week. AdamE from over at Thoughts and Sox will be declared as the winner. He guessed on the first post and the first guess on the second. In each of his guesses he guessed a right year, so the box is his. The years missing from the box were 1996, 1998 and 2002. I already have your address, so I'll be shipping them out this week, I hope you find something that interests you.

factory seventh (not really)

Ok, I'll start off by saying that I have almost given up getting the factory sets. I have only six years left to have every set from 1986 to 2010. The final six are those years where Topps seemed to shorten their print runs due to whatever reasons (lack of collectors, focus on higher end product, etc.), thus making the factory sets harder to find. I really didn't want to pay over $30 for a set and that's including the shipping. I'm glad to say that I haven't had to yet but If I need to get those final years, I may have to. ...Or do I? It was mentioned on here that getting hand collated sets would be much cheaper. Well, that is entirely correct. I picked up 1992 for 5 bucks, add in $9 shipping and we're good to go. This brings me to my next set as you see above. 1986 Topps. What a great set. I have very very few of these growing up (I was 4), and always cherished them due to them being my oldest cards. Kinda corny but hey, I had no idea. I picked this set up for $4.62 with shipping for $10. It was advertised as missing card #310, Greg Minton. I was perfectly alright with that, because it was cheap enough for the set and I could find Mr. Minton later. Well, I got it today and I went through it to see what was missing (something I do with every set I get) and wouldn't you know it? #310 was in there. Right between 308 and 309. Just a little out of place. Some of the other cards were too, but not far from where they needed to be. There is actually an error in the set, that being there is no 171 and two 141s. I checked the checklist to see where one of them went, and it was the 171 spot. Just a plain old Topps goof. I'm glad to have this set and I can't wait to go through it to see all the cards in this set that I haven't yet. My eventual goal is to have each Topps set from the year I was born (1982) to now. With only 9 years left, I'd say my task is almost complete.

PS- don't forget to take your guesses on yesterdays post to win the box of dupes. Like I said, if you already guessed you can guess again, take your shot!

keep 'em coming!

The giveaway is still going on! A couple of you did correctly guess one year out of your three picks. I'll hit the reset button and show this:

These are some more of the cards from the box. Maybe this picture will be of some help. Everyone who guessed before may now guess again, leaving the comment on this post and in the same fashion as before. I'll give until Sunday to announce the winner, so guessing goes on until then. If it comes down to two people guessing two of the three years, the first one will get the box, and the second will get something, not sure what yet though. If someone manages to guess all three years correctly, I'll be sure to make it something cool thrown in with the box. Good luck!

tribute?

This card is pretty much the single card I want from 2010 Tribute. It stands as the single Tribute card I own period. This set is way too expensive for the small return you get back. My local shop busted two boxes of the stuff and he let me look through what he got. Yeah, some nice super shiny cards (mmmm....shiny) and some cool relics/autos of HOFers and current players, but NOTHING I'd pay nearly $60 a pack for. Topps is out of their minds with this product. I thought UD's Sweet Spot was absurdly overpriced, and he sells that for $30! I did try one of those though, not sure why. I ended up with a Tim Raines jersey. Cool, but not $30 cool... Anyway, I'll be waiting until the hype over Tribute wears off then I'll pick up the few other cards on the cheap and those would probably just be base cards (the shiny-nesssssss....). According to the release schedule on BaseballCardopedia, the next set I'll be buing some of isn't until October, with Topps Update (or series 3 as it should be called). Maybe I'll get into Topps Chrome in late September, but even that may be pushing it with its 4 card packs for $5 bucks (I think). Calling the set "Update" makes sense, but I still feel it should be Series 3, starting with card 661 and ending with 990. Yes, nearly 1000 cards in a set is daunting, but the releases are stacked far apart so its no big deal. They did series' in the 50s and 60s (maybe the 70s too), and they came up with the Traded series in the 80s. Oh and see? If they called it series 3, they would be paying tribute to their heritage once again. (ha, not funny!).

ps- Don't forget to take your guesses on yesterdays post to win my duplicate box. Some of you guessed right with one of your years, but no one has guessed two right yet. Keep 'em coming! I'll announce the winner tomorrow, but if no one wins by 3 PM tomorrow, I'll give the word and those who guessed already can guess again.

post #62! and a give away!

I have noticed a number of contests/giveaways on other blogs since I started this and they seem to be rather popular. Since I started collecting, I have obviously gotten some doubles. These are those doubles. What am I doing with them? Giving them to you, the reader. One lucky reader will take home (once it is mailed to you) my box of duplicates. Its not EVERYTHING that I have dupes of, otherwise it would be a whole box of 2010 Topps and 2010 Opening Day and a couple of other years and sets. What I have done for those two sets is kept a certain amount of cards, per card, and everything above that would be put in this box. It didn't come out to all that much really. Now, you want to know how you can get your hands on it? All it takes is a guess. Here's the lowdown; the box holds about 800 or so cards. As you can see from the picture, it has various years and sets in it. It contains cards from 1981 through 2010. There are a few before '81 but I'm not including them in this contest. Don't worry, the junk wax is limited to maybe a fifth of it. There are three years excluded from the box. Guess which three years in a comment between 1981 and 2010 and the first reader to guess at least two of the three years will win the box. Leave your comments in this fashion; 198x, 199x, 200x. Good luck and thanks for reading!

kids stuff

I got my 1992 Topps Kids box in today. I won it on eBay for the high price of $8.50 plus shipping. This is a fun set to collect, and I did when they came out originally. I was ten and I would rush down to the locally owned market and buy up some packs. They were 35 cents a pack and contained 7 cards and a stick of gum. Thankfully the gum was wrapped so it didn't ruin the cards. Ok so 48 packs, 7 cards per pack equals 336 cards total, and with a 132 card set, I should get at least 2 and a half sets right? We'll see. Here are a few examples;




These are cool, no? Apparently Tom Henke has a robot arm. This is news to me Mr. Cyborg pitcher. I always liked this set and am glad to have it in my collection once again. I did manage to complete one full 132 card set. I came around less than 20 or so for a second. I guess that's not too bad for Topps in the early 90's.

four of a kind

I don't usually purchase cards if I already have them. In some cases though I'll make an exception. Here is an exception:

The top two I purchased from eBay, and the bottom two I received in trades. The most recent being today (the gray) from The Troll. The two gray swatches are identical but the two whites are a different material, which is why I wanted them. If I happen to find any different colors of this card I'll be sure to get those too. Maybe a black perhaps? looks like I'll be hitting up eBay soon...

random vintage double-header #2

Today's random vintage comes from two companies who no longer produce cards, and subsequently two companies that were both were owned by Upper deck at some point. The shorter card on the left is Play Ball circa 1939. It is Myril Hoag of the St. Louis Browns. I like cards depicting teams that don't exist anymore. Well, they do technically but you know what I mean. The taller card on the right is from Fleer's 1961 Baseball Greats set. According to the back of the card, Howard "Earl" Averill played for Cleveland, Detroit and Boston. His son, Earl Averill was an active player for the "new" Los Angeles Angels in 1961. The Fleer set was the standard card size we know today, while the Play Ball is the same width, but shorter than the standard. The Play Ball's also look like they might be old photographs at a quick glance. This is the only Play Ball in my collection right now but I do plan on getting some more of the different years they produced which were 1939 through 1941.