The card shop near me just got 3 boxes full of new cheapo packs so I picked up a few to share. Since college football kicked off this weekend (including a win by my beloved Bulldogs) I've got a pack of 1991 Bowman to get us in the football mood.
17 Michael Haynes
A mohawk that gave up? Maybe it makes sense from the front.
I love opening up early '90s football packs, it's like going over a Tecmo Bowl roster. I appear to have picked the Falcons pack, with Haynes, Miller and the punter. Chris Miller is the reason the Falcons didn't need that Favre guy so there's some great memories for me. I spent several years at a therapist trying to repress those memories but hey, nice card. When you take out the "guys hanging out on the bench" shots out there is actually some decent action photography on these cards. Gary Zimmerman taking on the fridge is just classic. It's a shame Topps ripped off the design from Bowman baseball, but they did that with every football set that year. They have the one per pack foil card too, but I got the NFL leader in punt returns, whoopie. I ignored this set when it came out, mostly because of the backs. The fact I was a broke-ass freshman in college didn't hurt, but the wall of text backs just didn't do it for me. I wanted full career stats and cartoons and crap. Now I love it, you open up a pack and it's like reading a book. There's a bunch of gems in there too, like on Michael Haynes' card:"Wide receiver Michael Haynes attended high school games playing not football, but trumpet!"
Aw, that's just heaven. I'm going back on Tuesday and wiping them out of this stuff. It's ten times as good as any of the crap that's come out this year. I can also get 40 packs of it for the price of one Stadium Club pack.
133 - Ray Boone / Bob Boone Father - Son (a fine baseball family that would go on to include Bret and Aaron)
-Instant Win insert (woo! 4 runs!)
40 - Phil Niekro (here's where the gettin's finally good. a Knuckle Brother!)
611 - Ozzie Virgil (the requisite vintage gum stain)
I recently won a contest from 88 Topps Cards and I received this pack as a bonus. There's no UPC symbol on the back and there was no StarQuest card, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is a pack from one of the Stars And Stripes blasters.
408 Chad Tracy
As topical as the McCain and Obama squabble is right now, Barack is too damn skinny to effectively represent Lou Piniella. If Barack ate McCain, he might be able to approximate the paunch. I'd like to see someone throw a base around at the debates though. The back of the card highlights their vastly different views on Immigration, specifically "they agree citizenship should eventually be granted for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements". Um... yeah. Upper Deck would have been better off detailing Paris Hilton's energy proposal on the back. It's a typically good pack photo wise for UD. Chad Tracy is in full swing, Rod Barajas is trying to throw out a player stealing second and Marcus Thames is laying out for a diving catch. I got Mark Kotsay in his spring training Braves uni a few days too late. He had an RBI for the Sox today so he's contributing for a team in a playoff run at least. Both Cy Young winners from last year are featured on highlight cards. I'm thinking Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb have locks on this year's award. #17 Pat Neshek is also in this pack. He has one of the nicest signatures around, but I still haven't sent him a card to get signed. This is complete stupidity on my part since he is practically asking for stuff to sign on his website. I always feel like a pestering mooch when I ask people for autographs though. I'm also just a lazy procrastinating bum, as everyone who tries to trade with me is well aware.
The cards are small too. Here is the comparison with the Topps US edition in 1988. 
The one on the left is obviously the more inferior UK card. About the same size as the album stickers being produced at the same time.
88 Checklist
I think the most enjoyable part of these cards is the back and the section called 'TALKIN' BASEBALL. A short definition, a dummies guide to baseball for those unknowing Brits.But my favourite is on the back of the Lloyd Moseby card - Throw."In order to earn SAVE, a pitcher must finish game won by team, not earn Win and (optional) enter game leading by 3 or less runs and pitch one inning. (See#69and #71 for other save conditions)"
I need to see those other cards!
"A Throw is the act of propelling the ball with hand and arm to a given objective. A throw is to be distinguished from and not to be confused with a pitch.(See #52 for PITCH definition)"
Hope you enjoyed.
Here's the last type of pack I got from Shane Diaz in the package he sent. This set appears to be a contemporary players and legends hybrid set with an All Star game theme. There's 50 all stars, 25 "future" All-Stars and 25 Legends in the set. Inserts include All Star Matchups, All Star MVPs, All Star Box Scores... you get the point. I got three of these, here's the first one I ripped.
9 Curt Schilling
Looks like I ripped the Jeter pack. This was a really nice group of players with a couple of Hall of Famers and a bunch more who are knocking on the door. The only clunker in this pack (and all three packs to be honest) was Capellan, who has never harnessed that flamethrower arm of his. Out of the three packs I opened all the "Future All-Stars" cards other than Jose actually are All Stars. Alex Rios, Jose Reyes, Ryan Howard, Johan Santana and Grady Sizemore. None of 'em are rookie cards or anything, but it is nice to see some future stars that actually pan out in a set. All the Legends were Hall of Famers and the 'worst' base card was Sean Casey who is a fan favorite at least. The Jeter insert is just gravy on top of all this. I even pulled a Tim Hudson card that I didn't have already which is nice. I ignored this set when it came out, but if you find a pack or two floating around I'd suggest you give it a try. There's some pretty good stuff in there by the look of these packs.
Lakers Coach and Coach of the Year, Pat Riley....
Orlando Magic guard Scot Skiles. Did I scan Scott's card because he holds the NBA record for assists in one game with 30? No. Was it because this was the year he won the NBA's Most Improved Player Award? No. Was it that he went on to be a head coach with Chicago, Phoenix, and currently Milwaukee? No. It is because at 6' 1" he is the shortest player in the pack.
Mitch Richmond - Golden State
Armon Gilliam - Hornets
What secrets are you hiding Old Planter?
Hanley Ramirez, he'd be a solid MVP candidate if Albert Pujols wasn't completely destroying the league right now. Hanley is only 2 homers and a stolen base away from joining Grady Sizemore in the 30-30 club this year. I love the old timey border on this design that was swiped from the original Allen & Ginter set. The good news is I now have a third of this insert set. The bad news is I'm probably going to try to complete it now. Maybe I should finish off the 2006 and 2007 sets first.
short-set: 28 of 320 (8.75%)Insert:
Star Players: 1 of 40 (1:2) S. Bywater
Here's the second annual "Bowman Chrome Is A Crappy Rip" memorial post. Three cards per pack and this year there isn't even a prospect in every pack. What the hey? It's got Joba on the pack though so buy it up kiddos, don't worry about that injury at all...
71 John Maine
I've seen worse... Lackey is a good pitcher but so were Pat Hentgen and Mike Scott and no one cares a flip about them anymore. John Maine will probably go to Dinged Corners where he'll be appreciated. I did manage to get a prospect at least although they are one in every other pack for some reason. Isn't Bowman home of the Rookie card? Or at least home of the Prospect Loophole To Get Around The New MLB Rookie Logo Rules card? The card #194 spooked me too, until I realized that Bowman already had cards 1-110 for Bowman Chrome. 200 short printed cards in one set would be cruel. The prospect I got is pretty good at least. David went 9-0 in the rookie league he pitched in last year. The record is not as good in the A-league he is pitching in this year but 169 strikeouts in 143 innings sure is. In five years or so after Dave has had his mandatory trip to Dr. James Andrews he might be a pretty good rookie pitcher! Unfortunately for me the only one of this cards that will be worth anything then are his autographed LudicrousFractor cards, this is just a lowly base card and base cards are for chumps according to Beckett and the message boards. This was a good pack rip though for one reason: While searching Google for David Bromberg I found a cool blues/jazz/country/weirdness guitar player that I wasn't familiar with before. The three bucks I spent on this pack is well worth the cool music I'll be listening to the rest of the day.