1989 Topps All-Stars Double Headers

I got a package in the mail today from fellow APAD contributor Shane Diaz. It was a nice surprise for a Friday, we had a trade brewing but I didn't expect a bunch of neat packs to be in there as well. Here's one of them, A DoubleHeader pack from 1989. This oddball set has a tiny reprint card encased in a plastic stand so you can display it proudly. This is the first pack of this I've opened, let's see who is in the set:

Fooey, no Braves. Not even Murphy. They sucked hard in 1988 though so not too surprising. From the checklist it looks like the best possible pull for me would be Pudge, the worst John Franco. Yeah, he was a great closer, but that doesn't mitigate the fact that he was an evil Met. Let's open!

Jose, can you see? Seriously, can you see that? These things don't scan for crap. I gotta get my camera fixed. The '88 MVP is on his classic '89 card on one side...


And his '86 Traded card on the back. Not a bad oddball pull although the plastic case was a little scuffed out of the pack. The stand kind of looks like a teeny little PSA case. I wonder if this is where they got the idea?

The Dirty Dozen: 1999 Topps Stars

Topps Stars was one of those products that, when it was first introduced in 1997, actually seemed to serve a purpose -- which is more than you can say for many of the other products that debuted in '97 (i.e. Pinnacle Inside, UD3, Donruss Preferred, Topps Screenplays). Topps Stars was what The Hobby needed in '97; a moderately priced, Hobby-only, collectible product. (Come to think about it, The Hobby could use a product like 1997 Topps Stars now.)

The problem was, Topps could keep well enough alone and in ensuing years meddled around with it. The 1998 version had every card (base set, parallel, and insert) serial numbered. When that didn't work, they came up with another gimmick for the '99 version.

The 1999 Topps Stars set was 180 cards -- 150 player cards with two subsets. Good enough, right? This is where it gets a little crazy, so bear with me.

There are four pseudo-parallel "Star" inserts; each progressively smaller and scarcer, with each photo cropped closer and closer as you move up the star scale. Then, there's a foil parallel that includes not only the base set, but also the Star cards. And as you would expect, the Foil Stars are also progressively scarce. Got all that? There will be a quiz later on.

Each six-card waxpack contained two base cards, two one-star and one two-star inserts, and either another base card, a foil parallel, a three or four-star insert or a non-star insert.

Base:
Matt Clement
Ray Durham

The backs of each base card lists the player's skills on a zero-to-four star scale.

Parallel:
Foil (1:15, numbered to 299): Ray Lankford

Inserts:
One Star (2:1): Scott Rolen, NOE-MAH!!!
Two Star (1:1): Brad Fullmer

The backs of each One Star card lists the player's career highlights, while the Two Star has a summary of his 1998 season.

Believe it or not, I need the Ray Durham base card for my complete set -- the first card I pulled so far that's actually on my wantlist. So I guess I am "better feeling." Just a bit though.

1988 Donruss Pop-Up All Stars

Here's a quick and dirty pack rip from the 25 cent box. You can see previous rips of this stuff here and here.


Stan Musial Puzzle 31, 32, 33
Mike Schmidt pop-up
16 Matt Nokes
41 Gary Carter
31 Wade Boggs top vote getter
57 Tim Raines
24 Jack Morris

Big smile on Stan the Man's puzzle pieces. Wade Boggs gets the special "Top Vote Getter" card. The rest of the base cards spreads the spectrum from Hall of Famer to Matt Nokes. The Mike Schmidt pop-up card makes up for the last pack I ripped with the two checklist cards. Actually it makes up for every crappy pack I've ripped in the past three months. I like Mike.

Sox Or No Sox: 2-5-08

Welcome to the Magical Pack Genie edition of Sox Or No Sox.

A mysterious package came to game show yesterday. This package has the potential to be the highest ratio pack of Sox Or No Sox history!

The rules are simple. We take one unopened pack of baseball cards that was randomly selected by yours truly. We then go through the pack card by card looking for those hard to find White Sox cards.

Our player in tonight's game is a 1986 Donruss All-Stars pack. The pack contains 3 cards, 1 pop-up card and a puzzle piece and features a see-through cellophane wrapper. Very cool. Let's begin.

#1: Carlton Fisk - pop-up - White Sox
The 22 year old packaging tore everywhere, except where it should open. The little tab thing on the back ripped right off. Fear not, I had scissors. Like Mel Brooks' Rabbi Tuckman, all that was needed was a little snip of the tip. And let me tell you, I was rewarded!

#2: Dave Stieb - 55 - Blue Jays
A future White Sox pitcher, from 1986's standpoint. Plus, a pitcher that I loved before he became a member of the White Sox.

Halfway through the pack. 1 White Sox Hall of Famer and a future White Sox pitcher!!! This is turning out to be more of a ringer pack than the Eight Men Out pack, which wasn't so much a ringer. 2 more cards in the pack. Dare I say it? Let's find some more White Sox cards!

#3: LaMaar Hoyt – 9 - Padres
An ex-White Sox Cy Young award winner!

#4: Carlton Fisk - 17 - White Sox
Another Fisk!! My luck is changing! Thank you Magical Pack Genie for making the 300th post in A Pack A Day (according to blogger.com) extra special!!

OK, our pack opening is complete. THAT WAS AN AWESOME PACK!!! How impossible is that to get two White Sox cards in a pack of 3 cards and a pop-up! Plus the other two were on the White Sox in the past. Plus, a puzzle piece (28,29,30) of the true Home Run King, Hank Aaron. This is the pack that White Sox dreams are made of.

Final score: 6 points

2 White Sox cards in this game, let's see if we can break that record next time on Sox Or No Sox.

1988 Donruss Pop-Up All Stars

I'm kind of worn out after yesterday's festivities, but I just had to share this pack with you. I got this pack for a quarter and I paid 26 cents too much for it.

BEHOLD: THE WORLD'S CRAPPIEST PACK

Stan Musial puzzle 46, 47, 48
John McNamera Pop-Up
32 Checklist 1
64 Checklist 2
44 Willie McGee
20 Mike Witt
53 John Franco

I knew when I pulled the McNamera pop-up I was in trouble, but good Lord. One checklist is bad but TWO is just cruel. The players are three of the more non-star all-stars you'll ever see. I suppose I could have gotten Ozzie Virgil, Matt Nokes and the card of Oakland stadium, but Willie McGee as the best card in the pack sure ain't great. Even the Musial puzzle piece is lame, I got his right sleeve, oh goody. The only thing I can see a pop-up card of a manager is good for is target practice for your Red Ryder BB gun. You'll shoot his eye out! Of course even my bad luck is good, imagine if I ripped a pack of some big money product like Sportkings and done this badly. Oh wait, Sportkings is already this crappy, nevermind. Well there you have it, my lousy pack. I gotta rip something while I wait for '08 Topps to come out.

1988 Donruss Pop-Up All Stars

I found this pack for a quarter and figured what the heck. This set is similar to the Action All-Stars and pop-ups that Donruss had been doing for a few years, but they shrunk the large sized cards to the standard 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. As always, there is a puzzle piece in the pack.

Stan Musial puzzle 43, 44, 45
Dave Winfield pop-up
38 Eric Davis
2 Dave Winfield
59 Tim Wallach
27 Kevin Seitzer
50 Ozzie Virgil

Two cards of Dave Winfield is pretty dang cool. The Pop Up cards are similar to the Batter Up cards of the 30's and the '64 Topps Standups cards except that these have a back that is folded over to help the things stand and maintain structural integrity. The cards look like boring versions of the '88 set. Eric Davis should have been one of the All-Timers, but it wasn't meant to be. Another lost superstar from the 80's. Speaking of lost, what the hell happened to Kevin Seitzer? He was one of the hottest rookies around in the mid 80's and was actually a pretty good hitter truth be told, but no one seems to know who he is anymore. I'll bet if you got 100 baseball fans in a room ans asked them all who Kevin Seitzer was you'd get a lot of blank stares and maybe a "oh yeah, that guy" or two. Even his BR Bullpen page is almost empty! Dude was an all star with 1500 hits in his career. He shoulda juiced up and hit more homers. The pack ends up with Ozzie Virgil looking sharp in a Braves uni. We traded Cy Young closer Steve Bedrosian for this guy, ouch.