2003 Topps HTA Jumbo

Anytime you get a chance to buy a Topps hobby jumbo pack for $2, you have to pounce on it. I don't care what year it is. It also doesn't hurt that I am trying to collect this set.

187 - Ismael Valdes

191 - Ramon Hernandez

216 - Todd Hundley

218 - Derek Lowe

220 - Jorge Posada (Posada is the last of five consecutive horizontal cards to lead off the pack. These things seem to always come in groups.)

130 - Gary Sheffield (Here's Sheff back when he was slightly less obnoxious.)

195 - Tony Batista

234 - Matt Lawton

239 - Eric Milton

153 - Mike Stanton (Mariano Rivera gets all the credit, but Stanton was tossed out into the fire in some pretty key situations during the Yankees late '90s period of dominance.)

260 - Vicente Padilla

78 - Jimmy Anderson (Anderson gets the dubious honor of being the first gut in the pack that I've never heard of.)

203 - Kip Wells

192 - Adam Kennedy (Kennedy had a surprisingly good year with Oakland yet can't land a job for 2010 for some reason.)

173 - Johnny Damon (Pre-Caveman Damon.)

339 - Alex Rodriguez / Jim Thome / Rafael Palmeiro AL HR League Leaders

361 - Bernie Williams All-Stars

337 - Manny Ramirez / Mike Sweeney / Bernie Williams AL Batting Average League Leaders

RB-JM - Juan Marichal Record Breakers

HM7 - Chipper Jones Hobby Masters (Wow, look at all of those MLB logos!)

154 - David Justice

254 - Glendon Rusch

10 - Mark Prior

163 - Carl Everett (I wonder if Carl Everett watched Jurassic Park back with his buddies in college and freaked out.)

212 - Robert Fick

132 - Brian Daubach

99 - Jose Rijo (Rijo has five consecutive years of stats on the back which read "INJURED - DID NOT PLAY")

16 - Kerry Wood

243 - Sean Burroughs (What happened to this guy? He was the typical Can't Miss Kid.)

263 - Bobby Cox

25 - Nick Neugebauer (No idea who this guy is.)

204 - Ron Coomer (Him neither.)

102 - Hideki Irabu

23 - Aubrey Huff

157 - Brian Lawrence

2009 Donruss Americana: The Worst Pack of All-Time

The pack that finally made me swear off this stuff once and for all. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy Donruss Americana unless it is a first series hobby box.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
49 Denzel Whitaker (I have no idea who you are. Thus, you are the result of Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker having a baby.)

7 Sofia Milos (I have no idea who you are. Thus, you are a cross between a TV chef on a show nobody watches and Carnie Wilson. Or you are the third sister of non-sisters Dana Delany and Kim Delaney, Sofia Delaeney.)

15 Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (I have no idea who you are. Thus, I apologize for not watching Welcome Back, Kotter. A little before my time.)

72 Anson Williams (I know who you are, you're Potsie! Yay!)

29 Ty Hardin (I have no idea who you are. Thus, you are a cigarette spokesman from the 1950s. Knowing what you know now, how can you live with yourself?)

Even the wrapper sucks for this product.

What is this, a record crate? If so, what is it doing in the middle of the desert?

I apologize.

1995 Topps Stadium Club High Series

Hello, A Pack A Day. It's been a little while. The boss is back, so I figured I'd better look busy. I received a box of 1995 Stadium Club High Series as a gift awhile back and I thought I'd show off the first pack. At least, I think it was the first pack. I'm just going to go with that.

526 - Alex Gonzalez (Of all the Alex Gonzalezes that played professional baseball over the years, this is the one that played for the Blue Jays in 1995.)

569 - Jim Abbott (Enough said.)

540 - Mickey Tettleton

593 - Mark McLemore (Nice shot of McLemore making the turn. This is what we all come to Stadium Club for.

546 - Pat Borders

625 - Gregg Jefferies Trans-Action (As noted on the wrapper, each pack promises four "Extreme Corps" or "Trans-Action" theme cards per pack with rainbow and silver foil stamping. If you replace the word "rainbow" with "red" then it makes sense.)

625 - Gregg Jefferies Trans-Action (Again? Arrrgh. This is a nice photo, at least. Unfortunately, it commemorates when the underrated Jefferies made his exit from St. Louis.)

501 - Jeff Bagwell Extreme Corps (First off, what does "Extreme Corps" actually mean? Secondly... did they really need to go with the ransom note font?)

510 - Cal Ripken Extreme Corps

581 - Mark Kiefer (Just a few cards left... can I get a fist pump?)

536 - Joey Cora (Hell yeah!)

529 - Jason Bates

558 - Mike Perez

2009 Upper Deck 1st Edition Basketball

2009 Upper Deck 1st Edition Basketball

108 David West
143 Brandon Roy
155 Manu Ginobili
198 Ty Lawson
BA-11 Troy Murphy - Behind the Arc insert
1007 Michael Jordan Legacy
189 Jeff Teague
88 Jermaine O' Neal
74 Sasha Vujacic
#27 Delonte West

2009 Upper Deck First Edition Football

2009 Upper Deck 1st Edition Football

50 Calvin Johnson
28 Lance Briggs
177 Shonn Greene
102 Domenik Hixon
89 Wes Welker - silver parallel
CT-5 Ed Reed - Crunch Time insert
72 Rashean Mathis
56 Greg Jennings - Lambeau Leap
199 Josh Freeman
129 Frank Gore

2009 Score Football

Being a baseball guy, I actively ignore other sports cards, because it is more simpler to focus on one sport - impulsively, I guess I'd grab cheap base cards of stars from other sports as well as a few of the most cheapest packs [maybe a dollar each] of football and basketball, just so I can casually keep up with the names of the game.

2009 Score Football

177 Ted Bruschi
232 Troy Polamalu
138 Maurice-Jones Drew
280 Barrett Ruud
153 Chad Pennington
387 Ramses Barden
281 Albert Haynesworth - glossy

2009 Topps T-206

Last night I picked up a retail pack of Topps 206. I've been having a great weekend, which is following a horrible week, the low point of which was a near-snow day. Almost every school in the state was closed on Wednesday, but Milwaukee was caught in a narrow band of rain that just made the three inches of snow heavier to remove from what ultimately is city property. Baseball cards make me happy, and I'll let you know what percentage out of 100 each card makes me smile.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
62 Dan Haren (2%: Nobody receiving this card is happy. Haren is a collecting black hole. Even when his mom opens packs and gets one of his cards, she checks it against her want list and then shakes her head in disgust if she already has it.)

108 Alex Rios (71%: I like his chain, and I like that he's playing a game somewhere in hell, judging from the background.)

293 Troy Tulowitzki (49%: Troy has a goofy, constipated look on his face. I enjoyed the comeback he had in 2009.)

13 Bobby Parnell Mini - Piedmont back (3%: Common ad back, plus a guy I've never heard of. I wish it was a card of Chris Parnell. A state of disillusionment persists.)

159 Rick Ankiel Gold (1%: Not a big fan of the guy.)

46 Cliff Lee (50%: Love the guy, just wish he was still on the Indians.)

OK, so I guess that pack didn't make me that happy after all. But it the proper perspective, a bad day opening a pack of cards beats the hell out of a good day at work. Or shoveling. And having wet feet all day.

1983 Mother's Cookies Giants

Ok.... Here's how this worked. Fans who attended the August 7, 1983 Giants versus Astros game received a small box containing 15 Mother's Cookies San Francisco Giants cards. Unfortunately, a complete set consists of 20 cards. Not to fear, though, 'cause each box contained a redemption card that could be mailed away, and a few weeks later, five more cards would arrive at your very doorstep.

Problem solved, right?

Well, not quite.

You see, each Mother's box was missing five random cards. And when you mailed in your redemption card, you received five more random cards. What are the odds that you'd get the five cards you actually needed to complete the set? (any math geeks out there?) Why the heck was such a scheme tolerated by masses of poor, already-suffering Giants fans?

Who knows.

I've heard that the point of all this was to encourage good old-fashioned trading amongst card collectors, which makes sense I guess. But in reality, it sounds to me like a royal pain in the ass. Regardless, I was strolling through the local monthly flea market in Medford, Oregon this past weekend and noticed a box of these very cards. One minute (and one dollar) later, I was walking out the door with my new prize. Here are the 15 cards I got out of the possible 20:

1. Frank Robinson (Manager). Woo-hoo, the biggest name in the set!
















2. Jack Clark. Wow, another bigger name from the team... Looking good so far!
















3. Chili Davis. Fans of '80s baseball remember Chili. Dollar well spent!
















4. Johnnie LeMaster.
5. Greg Minton (the pitcher who took the 2-1 loss that day against Nolan Ryan).
6. Bob Brenly. Hey, we all know this guy!
















7. Fred Breining.
8. Jeff Leonard.
















9. Darrell Evans. Great player in the 70s and 80s. Glad to have 'em.
10. Tom O'Malley.
12. Mike Krukow.
17. Joel Youngblood. The only player in history to get hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day.
















18. Dave Bergman.
19. Mike Vail.
20. Andy McGaffigan.

As any Giants fan will tell you, I'm missing Duane Kuiper, Atlee Hammaker, Gary Lavelle, Bill Laskey and Max Venable to complete this sucka. Until one day, when computers across the globe connect to virtual auctions in far-away places (like San Francisco), I vow to complete this set. Let's just hope that prices stay reasonable and Atlee Hammaker doesn't have the awesome Hall of Fame career I think he will.

2005 Upper Deck

Here's my first 2005 Upper Deck pack, purchased as part of a repack box sometime in the past couple of months. Some of the less interesting stuff that I open tends to sit around for awhile, and I'd probably say that this fits. The design is full-bleed like many Upper Deck sets, but is also fairly forgettable at the same time.

354 - Angel Berroa

315 - David Ortiz (It's hard for me to totally hate David Ortiz, even though he plays for the Red Sox and was a PED user. I'm not sure why that is. It's so much easier to hate Manny Ramirez for whatever reason.)

376 - Jaret Wright

337 - Jake Westbrook

- Upper Deck Rewards ad

344 - Carlos Pena (Pena has turned into a premier slugger.)

493 - Jake Peavy Team Checklist (I have a strange feeling that Peavy will struggle with the White Sox in the long run.)

480 - Todd Helton Team Checklist

450 - Tony Blanco Star Rookies (According to the back of the card, this guy was the heir apparent at 3B to Vinny Castilla. I had no idea Castilla was still around in 2005.)

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom 14-card pack

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom 14-card pack [$4.99 each / one pack]
182 Gordon Beckham
114 Bronson Arroyo
153 Troy Glaus
170 Russell Martin
81 Joey Votto
29 Francisco Liriano
193 Robinson Cano
37 Kenji Johjima - deckle edges
116 Jorge Posada
147 Hanley Ramirez
35 Felix Hernandez
99 Paul Maholm
80 Scott Rolen
8 Justin Morneau

I wouldn't normally touch this stuff, but was looking for a card fix at a local Target and through the somewhat see-through cello wrapper - I could make out the letters of Chicago White Sox star rookie Gordon Beckham's name, so I bought the pack.

2008 Topps Opening Day

Keeping this blog alive with another freebie insert I got with a trade. Can't complain about the star content of this pack. Gold foil lettering scans as black. These are very red....

Wrapped in this...

First up, Mr. No-Hitter...


Then Dice K. The red works OK for this one...

Next up, Johan Santana. Three horizontals in a row!..


Now Michael Young. He seems to be the guy I get in every couple packs...


Home town hero Brian Roberts...


And last, former Yankee, now Angel watching from home, Bobby Abreu...


Not a bad lineup even if this set is just the big names. They could package M&Ms on the team letters, like poke through pill packaging.

These are still very red....