2015 Topps WWE

Over the last couple of years, I've slowly gotten back into WWE wrestling. I think it's the unique type of fandom that the sport demands that has made it attractive to me. A combination of scripted drama with the possibility of actual surprise is an intriguing one, and for this reason, I plunked down $1.99 at my local Target.


Let's tear in.
Top to Bottom:
42 John Cena

He gets a bad rap from serious fans, but I can't help but like the guy. They say he's there for the kids to have someone to cheer for, but I appreciate what he brings to the ring. His ring entrance music is the best in the business, in my opinion.

7 Big E

Currently representing for The New Day, a group of clowny also-rans that are downright embarrassing to watch. Automatic FF when I'm watching RAW on the DVR.

41 Jimmy Uso

Part of another snooze-inducing tag team. The WWE's tag division is an absolute joke, a far cry from the days of Demolition and the Road Warriors.

55 Nikki Bella

Fitting I get one Diva in a pack, just like you get one Divas segment per show. Nikki is the less attractive of the Bellas. Fact.

66 Rusev

This guy never disappoints. The Russian schtick is enjoyable, and I love it when he gets enraged and starts shouting in rapid Russian (or Bulgarian, possibly, his true heritage). Looking forward to another match with Cena, though that storyline looks as if it's gone by the wayside at the moment.

Crowd Chants 6 "This is Awesome!"

Fun idea for an insert, but I wish I had gotten someone with a little more pop.

Hulk Hogan 6 Faces Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania IV

What's that, two inserts in this retail pack? Can't go wrong with that. Hogan rules.

So I have to say I think I'll be buying more of these. I like the use of the 2015 Topps baseball design, and with a small set, I think completion won't be all that difficult. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to the Cheap Heat podcast.

1988 Topps

I found this pack in a box full of miscellaneous junk. My 1988 Topps cards are housed in an 800-count box that looks to be about 9/17 full. As I open the pack, I’ll check which cards I need. I’m considering five cards needed from this pack a success.

Let’s tear in.

Top to Bottom:
417 Mark Ciardi (Got it.)
182 Ken Phelps (Got it.)
250 Nolan Ryan (NEED IT!)

68 Dave Dravecky (NEED IT!)

327 Larry Sheets (Got it.)
518 Greg Gross (NEED IT!)

751 Jim Morrison (NEED IT! One more, and this is a successful pack.)

607 Mickey Hatcher (NEED IT! WOO-HOO!)

723 Bob Kipper (NEED IT! GRAVY!)

659 Bobby Meacham (NEED IT! ICING ON GRAVY!)

330 Eddie Whitson (Got it.)
112 Les Lancaster (NEED IT! COOL WHIP ON ICING ON GRAVY!)

323 Rick Leach (Got it.)
240 Lee Smith (Got it.)
34 Ricky Horton (Got it.)

Okay, 53.3% is an outstanding hit rate.

Full disclosure: I still haven’t completed a single set of any brand from 1988.

1991 Stadium Club Series 2

It's still snowing, so I'm opening this pack that's been sitting around for a few years.

Let’s tear in.

Top to Bottom:
518 Terry Steinbach

341 Kent Mercker
399 Mark McGwire
539 Rob Deer
524 Alfredo Griffin
541 Mike Sharperson

438 Randy Velarde
342 Ken Griffey (Love getting a look at Griffey's rookie here. Amazing, too, that his son's rookie cards came only 15 years later. And here's another mind-blower: 1991 Stadium Club is only slightly closer in age to 1974 Topps than it is to cards from the present.)

421 Jeff Russell
531 Steve Bedrosian (Sweat-hat visible.)

491 Gary Wayne
443 Vicente Palacios

While my gut says Series 1 had a somewhat stronger player lineup, a quick look at BCP tells me that the two checklists were pretty equal. McGwire would have been a nice pull back in the day, and Rob Deer was a personal favorite of mine. Decent pack.

2014 Bowman Draft

I picked up a few packs of these Bowman Draft cards on the miraculous trip I made to my local card shop the weekend before last.

Let's tear in.
Top to Bottom:
DP111 Troy Stokes

DP20 Cole Tucker

DP130 Jared Walker

CTP-82 Mac Williamson

CTP-29 Gabriel Guerrero Blue Refractor (232/399)

DP39 Jacob Gatewood

TP-19 Jose Berrios


Two Brewers (who will undoubtedly someday help the St. Louis Fucking Cardinals reach the World Series) and a blue refractor? I'll take it!

1989 Fleer Baseball

Up tonight, a pack of cards from one of those sets that wasn't sold at any stores 10-year-old me frequented, so I don't have a ton of it. 1989 Fleer is still somewhat uncharted territory to me. Will I stumble across a Randy rookie, or the infamous Dick Tracy villain, FuckFace?

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
Giants Sticker
354 Danny Darwin

481 Wally Joyner
240 Fred McGriff (Yessssss!)

3 Todd Burns
577 David Palmer (This card was collected between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on the day of the California presidential primary.)
247 David Wells
206 Doug Drabek
112 Dan Gladden
10 Darryl Strawberry '89 Fleer All Star Team

595 Rick Mahler
209 Brian Fisher
543 Mike Campbell (I have no recollection of this person playing baseball.)

459 Jose Oquendo
99 Lee Smith
491 Harold Baines (#HaroldToTheHall)

167 Jeff Reed
392 Luis Rivera

Pretty good pack, lots of guys that have small but dedicated followings conspiring to get their guy into the Hall of Fame. The insert was nice, too.

1991 Topps Traded Baseball

This pack has been sitting in my living room for the past few months. Every so often we get out a bowling ball and play a game where we roll it under the pack to score points. It's fun.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
116T Todd Taylor
121T Mike Timlin
97T Ernie Riles
129T Willie Wilson

103T Tom Runnells
74T Candy Maldonado
42T Steve Finley

Mattress Man says, "That's that."

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's

I picked up a couple of packs from the card shop I go to for $4.50 each - I don't want to splurge too much on unopened breaks since I'm planning on getting a hand collated set of 2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's sooner than never.

Pack one

#256 Rickie Weeks

#170 Hanley Ramirez

#221 Salvador Perez

#159 Jose Altuve

#150 Reggie Jackson

#CAP-IN Inca - Civilizations of Ages Past insert

#26 Elvis Andrus - black bordered mini parallel

#326 Ruben Tejada - SP

1986 Fleer Cello

I recently bought some Yount cards on eBay from a huge Yount collector who's slowly paring down his collection. As a little add-on, I picked up this cello pack that the Yount guy was selling with Robin featured on the front. To me, this doesn't represent something different, but I understand the completist mentality. I bought it with the intent to open it, as '86 Fleer is a set I don't have too much of.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
506 Robin Yount

214 Reid Nichols
181 Andy McGaffigan
41 Tito Landrum
234 Lance Parrish
192 Mario Soto
64 Dennis Lamp (Man, that is one area of growth! That dude shaves after lunch, then has to do it again before washing his hands for dinner. Thickness.)

509 Bruce Benedict
448 John Russell
8 Mark Gubicza
93 Rafael Santana
45 Darrell Porter
565 Mike Mason
261 Randy St. Claire (That's a sweet-ass Starter jacket. One might even say it's worth being killed over.)

Los Angeles Penant Sticker
Oakland Sticker
104 Brian Fisher
484 Cecil Cooper (Cooooooooooooooooop!)

197 Juan Agosto
196 Max Venable
29 Cesar Cedeno
242 Lou Whitaker
178 John Franco
62 Cliff Johnson (Speaking of jackets, Canada was representin' on the outerwear, eh?)

530 Milt Thompson
441 Greg Gross
13 Charlie Leibrandt
83 Danny Heep
36 Brian Harper
573 Wayne Tolleson

That was fun.

2013 Panini USA Baseball Champions

Out of the three packs I busted for $3.50 each at the card shop I go to - this was the best one with an autograph pull; it looks like Jake Barrett is currently a closer for the Visalia Rawhide, a minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

#77 Blake Swihart
#100 Bubba Starling
#6 Tyler Anderson
#64 Nick Franklin
#22 Shawn Green
#JBR Jake Barrett - Stars and Stripes auto serial #'d 367/855
#109 Alex Dickerson
#113 Nolan Fontana

2013 Topps Opening Day

Opening this pack, I realized that you can give any player a nickname with little to no thought. Just take the start of their first name, add the beginning of their last name, throw a hyphen in there, and PRESTO! Instant nickname! Let's see how this works.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
198 Ryan Howard (Ry-Ho. Futuristic, would fit in well with the Voltron crew or the Thundercats.)

155 Brandon Crawford (Bra-Craw. Kind of Neanderthal, maybe a little too Broseph-y, but it has potential.)

22 Felix Hernandez (Fēl-Her. Suggestive, a little TOO suggestive.)

BF-18 Darwin Barney Ballpark Fun (Dar-Bar. A new desert available at Dairy Queen in limited test markets.)

183 Fernando Rodney (Fer-Rod. Too many -Rod nicknames as it is, plus no one wants to think about a furry shaft.)

212 Pablo Sandoval (Nope, already has quite the nickname.)

81 Miguel Cabrera (Mig-Ca... oh,forget it.)

Never mind, bad idea, it only works out like 10% of the time.
Gotta say I like these cards, though. Although Topps probably heard how much we liked it when their OD product is designed without the foil player names, then decided on difficult-to-read light gray. Why do we even bother?

2013 Topps Archives pack break recap

I picked up a pack of the new 2013 Topps Archives [$4.50 each from a card shop] - to see what the cards look like.

I grew up collecting 1990 Topps but out of the retro designs within this product, I probably like 1985 Topps the best - followed by 1982 Topps, 1990 Topps and 1972 Topps.

#5 Allen Craig - 1972 Topps
#92 Ken Griffey Jr. - 1982 Topps
#143 Jake Odorizzi - 1985 Topps
#197 Chris Sale - 1990 Topps
#83-BH Bryce Harper - 1983 Topps All-Star
#78 Johan Santana - 1982 Topps
#141 Adam Jones - 1985 Topps
#151 Jason Motte - 1990 Topps