2008 Topps Series 1

It's funny now to think how "old" the 2008 series cards seem already. I don't know if that's a by-product of card blogging or what. In any case, here is some 'old skool' '08 Topps Series One:


Roger Clemens (Yankees), Jeff Kent (Dodgers), and Byung-Hyun Kim (Marlins) are the first three cards out of the pack. For what its worth, Kent is featured on some pretty cool Indians cards...


Brad Penny (Dodgers), Kevin Kouzmanoff (Padres), and Mark Grudzielanek (Royals) complete a trio of blue and gold dots. Kouzmanoff walked on the field for the Tribe, hit a grand slam on the first pitch, and was promptly sent to the Padres. Go figure.


Hanley Ramirez (Marlins - 50th Anniv card), Felix Hernandez (Mariners - YIR card), and a checklist... The 50th Anniversary cards are kinda cool for the whole retro thing that card companies seem to be stuck in. The 'Year-in-Reivew' is one of those cards the girls at Dinged Corners like 'cause it's kinda 'newspapery!' (I'm pretty sure I just made that word up unless they used it before me)


Jamey Carroll (Rockies) and Wladimir Balentien (Mariners) close up the pack. I have to admit, I had to check the back of the card to make sure Balentien's name actually started with a "W..."

2009 Topps Fat Pack: What the Fungus?

I'm sure we've all seen our share of 2009 Topps already, but I got two fat packs at Target and something was odd. Check out the the following scans:






So, as I said..."What the Fungus?". You'll notice that all of the affected cards are horizontally oriented. I pulled about six others like these. Each fat pack had two separate runs of three misprinted cards in the middle of the pack. It looks like some of the colored ink didn't make it onto the cards; maybe yellow? At any rate, the backs of the cards are fine. You'll also notice that no less than three of the affected cards feature Josh Hamilton. Weird, huh?

Has anyone else found similarly gerfunct cards? (Yes, these are so weird looking that I had to use a fake word to describe them.)

2009 Topps Series 1 Fat Pack

What is the official terminology for these? It's the 36-card, two-section pack that hangs on the rack. Jumbo is the 50-card single-section pack, right? So is this a fat pack, or is that copyrighted by Upper Deck? Is it simply a rack pack, old-school style? Anyway, I bought it along with a second pack and a cereal box at Target last Tuesday. The big hits in the cereal box were a Chrome Refractor of Mickey Mantle (yawn), a Turkey Red David Wright, and a Lou Gehrig Legends of the Game. A few cards in the cereal box were a bit mangled, with the worst being an Omar Vizquel with a seriously bent corner. What's up with that? Anyway, let's check this bad boy out.

Top Section:

312 Ryan Sweeney - with fuzzy Phillies in the visitor's dugout.

195 Tim Lincecum - I read on espn.com that he sometimes goes two or three days without showering. Thanks for that, guys.

119 Craig Counsell - Do you realize he's been in the league for 13 years? Crazy.

262 Mike Gonzalez - According to the card back, the following hitters are all 0-for-their career against him (min. 5 ABs): Pat Burrell, Luis Castillo, Geoff Jenkins, Aaron Miles, Scott Rolen, Brad Wilkerson. Pick it up, fellas!

265 Carlos Zambrano - Love the photo of Z's home run swing.

143 Matt Joyce - Depicted with the Tigers instead of his new team, the Rays.

209 Alfredo Amezaga - The blurb on the back includes Dan Uggla raving about AA's defense. There's an easy joke here, but I like Uggla in spite of his lead glove.

83 Ryan Garko - There were rumors in the offseason that the O's would trade for him. But they fulfilled their ridiculously named corner infielder need by signing Ty Wigginton.

275 Alex Rios - Looking at the list of his best pitcher matchups, he kills old men (Julian Tavarez, Jamie Moyer, Randy Johnson). You're next, John Smoltz!

314 Matt Treanor - Do you think he resents his wife's fame, even just a little?

TTT16 Ichiro ToppsTown - Three of the seven TT cards I've pulled were Ichiro.

267 Michael Bowden RC - Was born in 1986, when I already knew how to read. I'm SO. OLD.

191 Shane Victorino Postseason Highlights - Commemorating his NLDS grand slam against Captain Cheeseburger. May it lead the way to several more Sabathia meltdowns in the Bronx.

224 Max Scherzer - Is it possible to pronounce his last name without yelling like an angry German? NEIN!

102 Garrett Atkins - His OPS each season since 2006: .965, .853, .780. That's what we call a disturbing trend.

165 Matt Kemp - An anagram for "Matt Kemp" is "Kempt ATM". That's all I got.

281 Tug Hulett - His 6 Degrees of Mantle features four Orioles: Tug's father is Tim Hulett, who hit his 1st HR off Dennis Martinez, who was a teammate of Mark Belanger, who was a teammate of Woodie Held, who was a teammate of Mantle.

234 John Russell - Apparently he "hopes a foundation based on fundamentals will pay dividends". That's code for "The Pirates suck hard".

Section the Second:

159 Matt Antonelli RC - Does he have a nickname? I suggest "the pride of Peabody".

284 Luis Ayala - Good trade for the Mets. He went from a 5.78 ERA with the Nats to a 5.50 to the Mets.

150 Kosuke Fukudome - Shown taking a curtain call at Wrigley. That photo must have been taken in April.

288 Guillermo Quiroz - According to Night Owl, the O's backup catcher is Mr. Ubiquitous of Topps Series 1.

26 Jason Giambi - Between the goofy 'stache and even goofier face, complete with protruding tongue, this is my favorite photo from the set so far.

110 Hideki Matsui - After playing in every game in his first three seasons in New York, Godzilla has missed almost 200 games in the last three. Uh-oh...

319 Brian Fuentes - If his card had a flavor, it would be grapity-purple.

50 David Ortiz - Does anyone actually hate Big Papi?

LG8 George Sisler Legends of the Game - I know dayf was a bit down on this player choice for the Legends set, but I like it. Topps and Upper Deck have done the usual suspects to death, and it's neat to see one of the few legendary St. Louis Browns get some props.

12 Andrew Carpenter RC - He looks too much like Sidney Ponson for my tastes.

22 Classic Combos: First Rate (Evan Longoria and David Price) - Thanks guys, for making it that much harder for my O' s to climb out of the AL East cellar. Isn't it time for more realignment?

282 Chris Lambert RC - Career ERA of 4.60 in the minors? Hold on to your socks, kids.

242 Ricky Nolasco - One of the more anonymous 15-game winners around, I'd say.

158 Ray Durham - I'm surprised no one signed him this offseason.

207 Joe Blanton - His World Series home run was one of my favorite non-Baltimore moments of 2008.

40 Carl Crawford - Have I mentioned that Carl and I share a birthday? Yes, probably I have.

329 Gil Meche - How many "What a Meche" headlines has he inspired?

151 Carl Pavano - "It was a welcome sight to see Carl (elbow) back on the mound again in 2008." For whom?

2009 Upper Deck Series 1

I had struck out in many attempts to find Upper Deck cards until last Saturday, when I saw that a local hobby shop was selling boxes for $89. Did I have $89 to blow on cards? Of course not. They didn't have packs for sale, but I later found myself in a Fred Meyer store. There it was... by the customer service desk... behind a box of Score football... completely untouched... could it be? I could have... any pack that I wanted!

How do you pack search again?

I ended up buying three packs, and here's the first one I opened.

32 - Ramon Hernandez (Hernandez gets a horizontal card because he's sticking his leg out.)
4 - Dan Haren
67 - Geovany Soto (Last year's NL ROY.)
161 - Brandon Backe (I don't like him. And he's lousy.)

YSL6686 - Andy Pettitte Yankee Stadium Legacy (If I collected this set, I'd be really annoyed. Why did they change the YSL logo at the top? There's no reason to do that. Did they forget what it looked like last year? I'm a stickler for consistency in design.)

GJ-PE - Jhonny Peralta UD Game Jersey (I swear I have no idea how to search packs. Not to mention the fact that the whole process seems to result in stuff getting damaged, and no one needs that. The only piece of jersey in the card is the navy blue "J")

434 - Yankees Team Leaders (I like these cards. They're very... Topps.)

482 - Adrian Gonzalez Team Checklist (Here's the Padres Series 1 checklist, Pads fans.)

211 - Greg Maddux (The last Greg Maddux card ever? Nah, not with the way things are now. He'll be in sets until 2089, when we run out of resources to make paper.)

228 - Justin Morneau (Morneau is trying not to look like a huge dork with his Home Run Derby trophy. Trying.)
245 - Luis Castillo
262 - Robinson Cano (Pretty good shot of Robinson Cano making the turn over a sliding pre-Dodgers Casey Blake. This post is already too Yankees-heavy, though, so you don't get to see it.)

332 - Felix Hernandez (King Felix. Who crowned him, exactly? I'd want him on my team, though.)
400 - Jesus Flores (Part! Time! Catcher!!)

349 - Jason Isringhausen (And here's Izzy to top it off. He brings his 293 saves and busted career to Tampa Bay. I wish him luck.)

2009 Topps: At Last.

Believe it or not, I had to go clear across the country to get my first few packs of 2009 cards! It's true. Last week it was mid-February, and it had been at least a week since the official release of Topps and Upper Deck. Here in Maryland, I went to my local Wal-Mart: nothing. Target: nothing. Wal-Mart in particular had a pathetic slate of offerings. A feeder box of Timeline and a few blister packs of Stadium Club. The rest was football and basketball, including blasters of 2007-2008 Topps basketball. W. T. F. So I visited some friends in San Diego over the holiday weekend, and Saturday night they took me out to get my first In-N-Out Burger (delicious, by the way. Burger and fries were both top-notch.), and we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back to the house. FINALLY. They had a feeder box of 2009 Topps, with A-Rod's chemically-enhanced visage plastered all over it. I picked up four packs, and got no Orioles. But the first card of the first pack I opened was a Padre - Chris Young, to be exact. Neat coincidence. So here's the fourth pack of the four.

52 Marco Scutaro - Did you know he was from Venezuela?

316 Brian Stokes - Not to be confused with Brian Stokes Mitchell, though this Mets righty does have a heavenly singing voice.

68 Kyle Lohse - Seriously dude, Kyle Lohse won 15 games last year. He hadn't racked up double-digit wins in a season since 2003.

124 Reed Johnson - Had the rare honor of being heckled mercilessly by yours truly when he played right field for the Jays as a rookie in 2003. The joke was on me, as he delivered a crucial hit in Toronto's win over the Orioles. But I did get the t-shirt giveaway, so it's not all bad.

65 Mike Pelfrey - Big Pelf had a solid '08, going 13-11 with a 3.72 ERA.

61 Classic Combos: Lance Berkman & Carlos Lee - "Bash-stros". That's cute. I see they're using the combo cards as checklists this year. That's a pretty good idea, I'd say.

LG19 Bob Gibson Legends of the Game - I assume this is the Wal-Mart exclusive version of the insert. Great action photo, which you don't get to see often from old-timers.

TTT22 Tim Lincecum ToppsTown - Does anyone actually use these cards? Is it worth your while?

317 Jarrod Saltalamacchia - Great photo showing Salty's back, so you can see all 14 letters crammed onto his jersey.

220 Jay Bruce - Rookie Cup! Do you know why I love Six Degrees of Mantle? Because it's your only chance to see Manny Trillo's name on a 2009 baseball card.

48 Mike Napoli - I just read that his shoulder might make it necessary for him to DH at the beginning of the season. Just what the Halos need...another DH.

42 Jeff Francoeur - "...many believe he's still far from reaching his potential." That's sugar-coating it, huh?

I love the minimal design, the extra stats on the back, and the improved photography. As long as Topps doesn't get obnoxious with the "error cards" again, I might be set-building.

Royal Rumble 2009 CONTEST: Gettin' Out the Repack

I thought it might be time for me to come in from the bullpen to relieve dayf and timrooks, who are both kicking ass on this blog as of late. Since I'm pretty sparse with my posts here, I thought we'd have a fun contest today. If you're a wrestling geek like I am (anybody? *crickets*) you should know that tonight WWE (formerly WWF) will hold their annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The Royal Rumble match is my favorite gimmick match in wrestling. It's a 30-man battle royal, where you have to throw your opponents over the top rope to the floor to eliminate them from the match. Last man standing wins. But the twist is this: the match starts with just two men in the ring, and another wrestler enters every two minutes afterward until all thirty men have entered. It allows for some creative scenarios to unfold instead of the usual horrendous clusterfrick that occurs when thirty large, muscly men are all trying to fight at the same time. Plus, you get the anticipation of counting down from ten seconds every two minutes...the buzzer sounds...and someone else's theme music hits. Who will it be this time?

Anyhoodle, here's what I'm going to do. I bought a 10-pack repack box from Sports Authority last weekend, and I've grabbed five packs that total 30 cards:

-2006 Topps Opening Day (7)
-2006 Fleer Ultra (5)
-2006 Topps Series 2 (6)
-2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition (5, with one disqualification bringing it to 4)
-2006 Upper Deck Series 1 (8)

I'll number the cards in the order that they're pulled and ask you to choose a number from 1 to 30 and leave your number in the comments to this post. Each number can only be chosen once. I'll cut this off at 9:30 PM EST, which is roughly the time that the Rumble match should start. Your number corresponds to the wrestler that enters the Rumble at that numbered slot. If your guy wins the match, you get a prize! The prize will be an assortment of cards from the team of your choice. Pick wisely...

P.S. I'm running late with this, so scans will come later.

2006 Topps Opening Day

1. Barry Zito - The $126 Million Dollar Man will have a tough road to victory today!
2. Alex Rodriguez - Uh-oh, it's the villainous A-Fraud!
3. Jason Bay - Hailing from British Columbia, it's the Canadian Clubber!
4. Danny Sandoval RC - 31 major league games in an 11-year pro career? Your wrestling gimmick is Mr. Coffee, as in cup of.
5. Nomar Garciaparra - Who needs a wrestling name when your birth name is NOMAAAAAHH?
6. Tadahito Iguchi Rookie Cup - Watch out for the mysterious green mist sprayed by the devious Iguchi.
7. David Ortiz (front)/Dontrelle Willis (back) Funny Photos - How appropriate! Big Papi has clamped a bear hug on Rafael Furcal. There is no escape!

2006 Fleer Ultra

8. Shannon Stewart - I forgot that he played for the Twins. I hereby dub thee "Twinkie".
9. Jake Peavy - Also known as "Ace", a nickname he can borrow from 1980s mainstay Bob Orton.
10. Julio Lugo - Um...Lex Lugo?
11. Robinson Cano Rising Stars - Switch it to Kano and he can go with a Mortal Kombat gimmick.

12. Brad Radke Gold Medallion - He was just elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, so we'll go with Goldenarm.

2006 Topps Series 2

13. Jason Lane - I guess he'd take to the ring with a hockey mask and machete.
14. Jason Vargas - Jason and Jason? Sounds like a tag team.
15. Moises Alou - Would be the Hitman, the second-generation star from the great Alou family.
16. Jon Lieber - Translating his last name from German, he will wrestle as "Loverboy".
17. Chris Young - At 6'10", he is the Tower of Doom.
18. Jamie Moyer - Now 46 years old and still plugging away. Rip Van Vader.

2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition

19. Todd Helton - Went from Tennessee to Colorado. Rocky Top is a no-brainer nickname.
DQ. Nomar Garciaparra - You can't enter the Rumble twice! I started posting and realized that I'd forgotten to account for the extra Funny Photos card in the Opening Day pack. So Nomar must go, having already popped up in the first pack.
20. Jim Thome and Pat Burrell Hot Tandems - I normally wouldn't permit a tag team to enter as one, but the Philadelphia Phantoms can be very persuasive. E-C-Dub!

21. Carlos Delgado - El Hombre.
22. Lyle Overbay - Hails from Washington state, just like Ted Bundy and Green River killer Gary Ridgway. I'm thinking of a serial killer gimmick: Lyle Wayne Overbay.
(Leave it to Fleer to put "draft" and "prospects" in the name of a product, and then give me a pack that has neither of the above.)

2006 Upper Deck Series 1

23. Luke Scott - LUUUUKKKKEEE! He is a proud gun owner. I say Cool Hand Luke.
24. Jason Marquis - Snooty Frenchman Marquis de Jason? Oui!
25. Brian Lawrence - Attended Northwestern State University of Louisiana, whose mascot is the Demon. His nickname is self-evident. Just don't confuse him with the KISS Demon, played by Jeff Torborg's son Dale.
26. Carlos Zambrano - The hotheaded Big Z is a force to be reckoned with.
27. Aaron Rowand - A dark horse in this match could be scrappy cruiserweight "Crash" Rowand!
28. Kirk Saarloos - The Sar-loose Cannon?
29. Bob Gibson Diamond Debut - WOW! A surprise entrant at #29! Hit the deck, it's Hoot the Headhunter!

30. Robert Fick - Sure, he used to be a valuable and versatile hitter, but I look at him and see "Third Bushwacker".

Wow, I have wayyy too much time on my hands. Tell you what...If you're especially curious and impatient, I'll live-blog the Rumble match on my Orioles blog. Updates should start some time around 10 PM. Now get those guesses in, you pencil-neck geeks!

1998 Fleer Tradition Series 1

I found this unopened pack in the basement while emptying a box of junk. I'm not sure why I never opened it up before, but why not open it up now? This was a pretty decent base set for the late '90s, clean design on the front, colorful on the back and a hefty 600 card checklist over two series. Since it's Fleer there are inserts a plenty and a couple of short printed shiny subsets. Every pack also has a retro design '63 Fleer card, a Million Dollar Moment game card and a useless points card that no one outside dealers busting a truckload of cases had any use for. Time to open 'er up and free the contents from their 10 year imprisonment.

25 Mark McGwire
19 Juan Gonzalez
136 Paul Molitor
28 Kirk Rueter
6 of 20 PG Jose Cruz Jr. Power Game
Vintage '63 7 Rafael Palmeiro
217 Jim Edmonds
178 Orlando Cabrera
134 Quilvio Veras
291 Wally Joyner
Diamond Ink - 1 point Jose Cruz Jr.
25 of 50 Maury Wills Million Dollar Moments


Jeez, imagine opening this sucker in 1998! Big Mac, Juan Gone and Mollie 1-2-3 in the pack. Thankfully Kirk Rueter brings us back down to reality before hitting the inserts. Four straight good cards before landing into the inserts might have caused me to faint. The insert is an embossed teal card with purple foil of Jose Cruz Jr. Jose had two homers against Kansas City his rookie season which qualified him for the high honor of an insert card featuring Charlotte Hornets team colors. The '63 card is the fifth card in the pack so far that was awesome in '98 and not so much now. I'm starting to think Raffy got jobbed now that all the wonderful details about Miggy's pharmacological history have come out. Who shares Vitamin B12 shots though? Eh, I'm probably too trusting. BURN 'EM ALL. THROW THEIR SHRIVELED CHESTNUTS RIGHT ON THE YULE LOG. MERRY CHRISTMAS JUICERS!!!


Ok, that's out of my system. I haven't bought all my presents yet so I'm a bit hIGH StRUnG today. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, the rest of the pack is pretty decent too. Jim Edmonds, Orlando Cabrera MLB Debut (not rookie) card and Wally Joyner were all pretty good cards in '98. Veras and Rueter are the only stinkers in the whole pack in 1998 terms. The Diamond Ink cards are stupid though, you had to collect 500 points to get an autographed baseball of the player on the card. They were one per pack and there were eleven different players you could pull in 1, 5 or 10 point cards. Mostly one point cards were all you found though. For perspective, at one point a pack, 500 packs equals about twenty one hobby boxes. So, yeah. These were junk. The last card in the pack was another giveaway contest, you had to collect a 50 card set of "Million Dollar Moments" to win (what else) One Meelion Dollars! Of course the last 5 cards in the set were horrifically short printed so it was damn near impossible. According to my price guide, the 1-45 set could be exchanged for a full 50 card set, something I didn't know back in 1998 or I would have done it. The set is actually pretty nifty, the one I pulled features Maury Wills with the stolen base that broke Ty Cobb's single season record.

This was a pretty dang good pack as long as you're in a late '90s mindset. Senator Mitchell kinda screwed up the pack though. Ah well. Still, it was a nice random unopened pack out of nowhere to open.

1990 Topps Big Series 1

I promised you guys this pack rip last night, but I have less than no time to write it up right now. So here's what I'm gonna do. You know how often games are better on TV with the sound muted? Like ones called by Tim McCarver or Joe Morgan? You're getting the sound muted. I'm just going to post the images of the cards and let you appreciate them for themselves. I made a snap decision on whether the front or the back was cooler, I hope you like my choices.









Ok, a little commentary. The John Smiley cartoon is utterly fantastic. We finally know what makes John Smiley smile.

Trick or Treat: 1991 Donruss Series 1

I've been scarce around here lately, as I tend to go boom-or-bust with my pack ripping. Besides, I've been trying to keep up with the new additions to my collection at The Great 1965 Topps Project. But David of TribeCards is doing another fun giveaway. I "trick or treated" at his blog, and received a box full of widely assorted cards, most of the non-sport variety. There was also this loosely-wrapped pack of 1991 Donruss Series 1. Trick or Treat? That's your call:

293 Craig Worthington - Ah, the Orioles' all-glove, no-hit hot corner man of the early '90s.

188 Lloyd Moseby - Huh. I didn't realize he was the Jays' all-time leader in games, hits, doubles, and steals when he left the team.

195 Bip Roberts - BIPPED!

90 Bobby Thigpen - His saves record may have just fallen, but K-Rod racked up a lot more cheap saves than Bobby did.

208 "You Can Call Me" Al Newman - Sorry for the Bermanism, but there's just not enough Paul Simon on this blog. Amirite?

214 Walt Weiss - He was apparently born in Tuxedo, NY. Heh.

159 Greg Hibbard - Great throwback Sox threads!

56 Mark McGwire AL All-Star - I never realized that Donruss' All-Star cards had the player's All-Star stat lines on the back. In his first four Midsummer Classics, Big Mac was 2-for-10 with no RBI. But he's not one to talk about the past.

285 Greg Olson - Valuable lesson: the Braves' catcher was Greg with a single 'g'. The Orioles' closer was Gregg with two 'g's. Then there's Greg Golson, the Phillies' farmhand. Yikes.

39 Julio Valera Rated Rookie - Sure, he was crap, but I just love that Rated Rookie logo.

237 Dave Martinez - Currently on the Rays coaching staff. Good for him.

131 Greg W. Harris - Here we go again. He was the Padres starter. Greg A. Harris was the bespectacled reliever for the Red Sox, Rangers, Phillies, etc.

299 Kent Mercker - The only player from this pack still active in 2008. Who'dathunkit?

194 Oil Can Boyd - That's right, Donruss. None of that "Dennis" crap that Topps used to pull.

202 Jeff Russell - Co-starring Jeff Russell's mustache.

5 Barry Larkin Diamond King - Dick Perez really should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

To close things out we have pieces #13, 14, and 15 of the Willie Stargell puzzle. Pretty choice pieces - Pops' head is fully visible, though several pieces of the wrapper are stuck to them. Eh.