1993 Cardz William Shatner's TekWorld

Springing forth from William Shatner's TekWar book series were many things: Branded bop bags, an ill-fated licorice product, children's sheet and pillowcase sets, a television series, and a chain of animatronic pizza palaces. Foremost among these, however, was TekWorld, a comic book published by Marvel. These are those cards.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
40 (There are no names for each card scene, so I'll give them my own based on the picture.) Grace Jones: Dare to Fly

41 The Day the Earth Took Pills

42 Hairscaping by Guile

43 Robinson JanSport on Mars

84 "This Tanning Bed Has an 11-Minute Limit"

85 I Spy With My Little Eye…

86 Ineffective Close-Quarters Combat

I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of a mostly sequential pack of cards. Not sure what sort of story these were trying to tell, and I'm not going to make an effort to find out.

1993 Pacific Nolan Ryan Texas Express

The pack for tonight is a 1993 Pacific Nolan Ryan 27th Season Texas Express pack. Pacific released two 110 card tribute sets to Nolan Ryan in 1991 and 1992, this is a third series of 30 cards that was put out to commemorate his 27th season in the league. This quarter pack has cards from the entire 250 card set inside. I picked this pack up at Arlington Stadium when I attended a Rangers/Yankees game in 1998.

See, that's an official 1998 Arlington Stadium price sticker. It would have been cooler if it had a Rangers logo on it or something, but oh well. I've been holding onto this unopened pack for a decade, I may as well brag about where I got it.

234 - 24 of 26 Seasons

The 24 of 26 is the number of seasons Nolan struck out 100 batters or more. This is the only third series card in the pack, it's different from the others due to the 27 logo, the pacific logo on the top right and the font used on "Nolan Ryan" on the left side of the card is slightly different from the other cards. Yes, I notice these things.

211 - Nolan Ryan Seven No-Hitters

The seven are listed on the back: 5/15/73, 7/15/73, 9/28/74, 6/1/75, 9/26/81, 6/11/90, 5/1/91. I'd normally link to the box scores on baseball-reference.com, but it's getting late.

115 - Nolan at Age 20

Ok, this is easily the coolest card in the pack. Nolan's styling in his Jacksonville Suns jersey.

130 - Number One

Number One is his first No-Hitter. Pacific reprinted the box score on the back. Looks like Bob Oliver hit a homer in that game!

169 - Texas All-Star

This card commemorates his victory in the 1989 All-Star game in Anaheim. The pack netted 4 second series cards and 1 third series card. At that rate you may as well just buy the high series set using the offer on the back of the pack. 30 cards and a special collector's box for $5.95! How can ya beat it?!

Stadium Club Pack Battle: '91 vs. '93 vs. '02

Oh God, not another pack break video!


Here's three packs of old Stadium Club one of my fans sent me. Enjoy.

1993 Score

$2 for a 16/660 shot at a Derek Jeter RC? Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either. Here's today's vid...

Jumbomania! Upper Deck Pack Battle! 1992 Lo-Series vs. 1993 Series Two Retail

"Fighting out of the orange corner, weighing in at 27 cards; he features an exclusive "Home Run Heroes" insert in each pack, and a base set with a Manny Ramirez RC. It's ...

NINE-TEEN! NINETY-TWO! UPPER! DECK!

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"And in this corner, in the silver foil, also weighing in at 27 cards. He features a Jumbo exclusive "On Deck" insert in each pack, and a base set that has a Derek Jeter RC. It's ...

NINE-TEEN! NINETY-THREE! UPPER! DECK! SERIES TWO!

RRRRRRRRRR-ETAIL!!!!!!!!

Let's get it on!

And now, Stale Gum.com presents "The Tale of the Tape."

	1992	1993
Printed Price Tag:	$2.19	$2.79
Price Paid:	$1	$5
Base Set:	700 cards	420 cards
Pack Exclusive Insert:	Home Run Heroes	On Deck
Star Rookie:	ManRam	Derek Jeter

The pack battle is being scored on the ten-point must system.

The winner, by a split 13-12 decision, and still Jumboweight champion of the woorrrrrrrrld....

NINE-TEEN! NINETY-THREE! UPPER! DECK! SERIES TWO!

RRRRRRRRRR-ETAIL!!!!!!!!

Jumbomania! 1993 Bowman

Next up, a Jumbo pack from a time when Bowman baseball truly was "The Home of the Rookie Card," 1993. There are 22 cards in this pack, and the "money card" is a Derek Jeter RC; which after the SP RC, is probably his "best." There's also the only true RC of Andy Pettitte.

1993 and 1994 Fleer Atlantic

I'm going to apologize right off the bat for the very awkward post. I have two small packs here that I got for no reason other than that I'd never heard of these cards before. My purchase broke a fundamental rule of mine since I resumed collecting cards in the past couple of years in that neither of these two sets contain any Cardinals cards whatsoever. Sure, there are plenty of players on the checklists that have spent time in the Birds on the Bat at one time or another (Bonilla, Clark, Eckersley, McGwire, Pendleton, Van Slyke... even Juan Gonzalez in spring training this year...) but that still doesn't really count. The other awkward part is that each pack only contains five cards and neither really deserves their own entry, so I'm combining the two. I'm also not sure what these sets are supposed to be called, so I have an awkward Title to put up with as well. Atlantic (and/or Sunoco) are apparently gas station chains that exist in parts of the United States that aren't where I live, and at some point they may or may not have sold or given away baseball cards wrapped in some sort of plastic or mylar wrapper. Here are cards that you may have seen within those wrappers:

"Atlantic [Collector's Edition]: 1993 Baseball Card Series (presented by Fleer '93)"

15 - Fred McGriff (as you can see, the design of the set is modeled after the 1993 Fleer base set, but the borders are gold instead of silver. I am too lazy to check to see if they used the same photos... I really hope not. I hope this card will be featured as part of the Tao of Fred McGriff someday.)

25 - Checklist (yes, you apparently have a 1-in-5 chance of not getting a player at all)

14 - Don Mattingly (Yankee haters should stay away from Mattingly, who unfortunately never made the playoffs until his final season.)

9 - Tom Glavine (the card backs are also very similar to the Fleer base set design)

18 - Kirby Puckett (Puckett represented the pro-Twins side of my internal conflict about his team, who I hate for beating the Cardinals in the '87 Series but also followed closely as they were the parent club of my hometown Portland Beavers in the early 90's)

"Collector's Edition: Baseball Card Series '94 (presented by Sunoco, Fleer, Atlantic)"

Contains 5 "Limited Edition" trading cards - making sure to put "limited edition" in quotes to assure potential investors that there are no refunds should the marked for gas station-issued cards suddenly collapse.

10 - Cecil Fielder (this may have been based on the 1994 Fleer design, but I am fairly certain that I've never seen an honest to goodness '94 Fleer card. I guess that means that every Cardinal card is in my theoretical "want list" for that set.)

12 - Juan Gonzalez (I am a fan of minor league stats on the back)

25 - Checklist (well... bleh.)

24 - Andy Van Slyke (I'm not sure if the blurry Pirates guy behind Andy is warming up, making fun of him or is just really bored)

23 - Frank Thomas (one of the best cards you could get at the time. he played for so many non-contending White Sox teams that you have to wonder what kind of accolades he'd have now if his teams had more success.)

1993 Ultra

This is the 4th pack I'm opening from a 16-pack repack box from Vintage Sports Cards, Inc. I really liked the 1993 Ultra. There were a few mainstream sets which offered full-bleed photography, UV coating, and gold foil in 1993. Flair, Leaf, SP, Stadium Club, Studio, and Ultra. By 1994, most sets sported this look. Eventually, there would be a backlash against this trend but the mid-1990s was a time for full on shininess. There are two long term problems with UV coated cards. Depending on how the coating is done, it can cause a card to curl. This is because the coating and the paper do not expand and contract together with changes in temperature or humidity. One or the other shrinks or expands more than the other and the card curls. The other problem is that after being pressed together in a pack for 15 years, the cards tend to stick together. This pack of Ultra wasn't too badly stuck together but it has a noticeable curl. What have we got?

#149 Scott Cooper


#94 Mike Williams - the first Phillie I've pulled out of one of these packs. and I already had 4 of them. I included it here because its a rookie card. He was a not very impressive starter for the Phillies but was converted to a closer later in his career. He saved 46 games for the Pirates in 2002. He came back to the Phillies in 2003 and retired at the end of the season.
# 181 - Frank Thomas. One of my favorite players. Frank hit 41 homers in 1993, to go along with 128 rbis, and a 0.317 batting average.
#254 - Mike Bordick
#160 - Mike DiSarcina
#107 - Brian Jordan
#171 - George Bell. Another of my favorite players and another White Sox. Originally signed by the Phillies in 1978 but never played for them. 1993 was his final season.#24 - Sammy Sosa. Another guy playing in Chicago. He hit 33 home runs in 1993 but he's still a few years from the monster years.
#13 - Mike Stanton
#294 - Mike Timlin
#273 - Dave Valle
#69 - Chris Nabholz#236 - Kirby Puckett. Another favorite player. If I'd bought this pack new in 1993, I'd have been pretty happy with it. But, every card so far I already have.
#248 - Melido Perez.

So that's it. I score this pack a 4, mainly because I already had all the cards. So far: 2007 Fleer (14 points), 2007 Bowman Heritage (12), 1991 Score (2).

1993 Fleer Ultra

There is nothing quite like the sound of taking a stack of glossy-covered cards and hearing the 'crack' as you bend them in an attempt to separate them. Over the years since 1993, the Ultra cards in this pack joined together in some kind of 'lets all stay mint' solidarity move. Leave it to me to kill the party.

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The wrapper on these bad boys is a shiny, foil teal/turquoise something-or-other. Look, I'm one of 'those' guys who sees everything in very specific colors. You can call it aqua, teal, turquoise, sea foam, or whatever. Frankly, it's blue-green to me. There are 14 cards in the pack, and upon opening, one has a chance to collect "Dennis Eckersley and 'Award Winners' limited edition subsets." Fat Chance.

First player is Rene Gonzales (Angels). The cards have nearly full-length player photos with just enough accent to list the player's name and team, and a small 'bug' in the upper corner with the Fleer Ultra '93 logo. These were great cards! The backs featured two additional pics of the player plus the card number, bio info, team logo, and 1992 stats.

Next up is Cardinals pitcher Mike Perez. He may not be smiling on the front of the card, but his portrait on the back would make the girls at Dinged Corners very happy!

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Hey, Jim Thome (Indians) comes up next! A Triber AND the guy who has waited nearly as long as this photo is old to be recognized for his talents...

Man, I also pulled Wally Joyner (Royals). Joyner is one of those guys that I liked collecting in my younger years.

John Wehner (Pirates) finishes out this trio. I don't remember him at all, and I can't help but wonder if that first "E" is long or short (man, walked right into the pun, eh).

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The next triplet starts with Tim Naehring (Red Sox). His card makes it look like he is swinging for the logo - a high pitch that's fading downward quickly.

Julio Valera (Angels) comes in second here, and rounding out the three cards:

Vince Horsman (A's). Now, I have to ask: Was his last name pronounced "Horse-man" or "Whore's Man?"

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Here is a great shot of Tigers star Alan Trammell. He has yet to be elected to the HOF, but he'll be back on the ballot in 2009, and deserves to be in there.

Another great franchise player, Darren Daulton (Phillies) is just a bit too far right to have the logo look like it's about to be smacked. That's a bummer, because it would have made for a cool effect. Hopefully he will be remembered more for his good playing days than the bad ones and his 'interesting' post-baseball life.

The Brewers get to make a showing in this pack with John Jaha. Most folks will probably remember him in an A's uniform, unless they happen to be Brewers fans!

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Chito Martinez (Orioles) had the unfortunate card placement of being nearly welded to the back of the Fryman card. In fact, some of the coating from the Fryman is still stuck on Martinez's face and helmet.

Man, here is ANOTHER long-time player from the Tigers organization - Travis Fryman. I was always a fan of his, especially when he came to the Tribe.

And the last card in the pack belongs to Jack Morris (Blue Jays).

All-in-all, an okay pack from 15 years ago... Anytime I pull a Triber, I'm a cappy hamper!

1993 Pinnacle Series 1

Let's take a look at a Score 1993 Pinnacle Baseball Series 1 pack of cards. We might even find a "Team Pinnacle" card in here (oh, boy!):


The pack itself is black and bronze with red accents. Very shiny, sop as to attract kiddos away from other packs. The black is also slimming, so the players inside who let themselves go during the off-season don't look as big... The cards feature large player photos surrounded by a black border. At the top of the card, the player's team is listed, and the bottom features the player's name and "Pinnacle" logo. The logo is in gold foil. After all, the card company is much more important than any player that happens to be pictured, right?

The first two cards are Lee Stevens (Angels), Derek Bell (Blue Jays)

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Next up, we have Mo Vaughn (Red Sox), Juan Gonzalez (Rangers), and Dave Hansen (Dodgers).

The backs of the cards are black and feature a "studio"-type head shot in the middle. On the left, there is the card number, position, bio info, team logo, MLB logo, and MLBPA logo. The right has the Pinnacle logo again with a brief write up about the player. All of this is kept apart from the bottom of the back by a horizontal line with the player's name. The bottom portion features stats from the previous year, career totals, and copyright info.

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In the next group, we have Jack McDowell (White Sox), Mike Bordick (caught in a very cool shot!) (Athletics), and Dennis Eckersley (Athletics). The Eck-man is ripping one in, and if I didn't understand the laws of physics, I'd be ducking while looking at the card, since it looks like the ball is coming right at me - as if Eck said, "oops!" :-)

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Tom Gordon (Royals) who has nothing to do with the Stephen King story, Jeff Bagwell (Astros), and Paul Wagner (Pirates).

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Finally, we have Barry Manuel (Rangers), Dennis Martinez Now&Then (Expos/Orioles), J.T. Bruett (Twins) caught in an awful bunt pose (just look at the poor man's face).

The last card in the pack (not scanned) is Mike Raczka (Athletics).

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All in all, not too bad of a pack. I mean, heck, it had Eckersley, Bagwell, McDowell, Gonzalez, and Martinez. Now, if it had just had a Triber.....

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1993 Donruss Triple Play

If you happen to stop by my Indians blog, you will notice that I am playing "Scratch-off Mania" like Thorzul did a while back. Well, I am so hooked on the scratch-offs and having "interactive" games, I decided to snag an eBay auction for some 1993 Triple Play packs in an unopened box.

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Every pack comes with 12 cards plus 1 ruboff game card. In this pack, we find Junior kissing a ball goodbye for the Mariners. At least, I think that's Junior. If not, feel free to correct me. He's come a long way since this home run...

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The cards themselves have black borders on the front with the "Triple Play" logo in one corner (usually the lower-left). The player's last name is in silver (not foil) all-caps lettering across the top of the card. The player's full name (in all-caps) appears in red at the bottom of the card (again usually in lower left) with the position in white lettering next to the full name. The team logo appears in the lower right corner. I like the layout because the photos take up a LOT of card real estate! I'm old school, I like big pictures. It's the reason I "read" all those girlie magazines as a teen... I digress... The backs of the cards are black with a 2nd player photo on the left side. The right side of the card has the card number, the player's jersey number in silver with his name in red lettering across it. Biographical info is below the number/name in yellow. there is a bit of trivia on each card in white that takes up the bulk of the center-right of the card back, then some stats in a gradient filled orange-to-yellow table at the bottom.

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First up in the pack is Gary Sheffield (Padres) - "Gary's run at the triple crown earned him a lot of attention in 1992. Who was the last NL player to win the Triple Crown, leading the league in homers, RBI and batting average?" (answer below)

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Next up, we have Awesome Action - "Pitchers try to thwart the top base stealers by stepping off the pitching rubber and throwing to first base, hopefully catching the runner too far off the bag."

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After that, we have Cal Eldred (Brewers) - "Don't cheat yourself and always work hard to be successful." -himself

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Todd Zeile (Cardinals) - "Todd met his wife, Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast Julianne McNamara, in a folk literature class when they were both students at UCLA."

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Brett Boone (Mariners) - "Bret is the grandson of former major leaguer Ray Boone and the son of longtime catcher Bob Boone, making them the first family in history to have major leaguers from three generations."

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Curt Schilling (Phillies) - "Tough times don't last, tough people (who rat out their peers) do." --himself, modified slightly...

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Jeff Montgomery (Royals) - "Who was the last National League pitcher to win the MVP award?" (Dang, this guy didn't get his own quote or family history or anything on his card....) (answer below)

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Al Martin (Pirates) - "Al attended USC on a football scholarship before he was drafted and signed by the Braves in 1985..."

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Vince Coleman (Mets) - "I believe in the three d's: determination, dedication and desire." -himself

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Edgar Martinez (Mariners) - "Edgar won the AL batting crown in 1992, becoming the first Mariner ever to win the award. Third basemen have won nine of the last 13 batting titles in the AL, including five by Wade Boggs and two by George Brett."

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Frank Thomas (White Sox) - "Pick positive role models to follow, like those who say no to drugs." -himself

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President Clinton (Astros hat) - "This lefty made a pitch for the White House and became our 42nd president. He's only the fourth left-handed president in history. Can you name the others?" (answers below)

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Okay, are you ready for the answers to the trivia questions? Well, too bad! Here's how we're playing the game: first person to answer ALL the trivia questions correctly wins a 1957 Topps Bob Hale card and a pack of 1993 Triple Play. Rules are simple: Answer the questions as they would have been answered in 1993. You must be the FIRST responder to correctly answer the NL Triple Crown question, the NL pitcher MVP winner *AND* the three lefty presidents question (according to the answers as provided on the cards). Pretty easy, right? Have fun!