Teddy Ballgame Completes My Stained Glass Trifecta

Recently I was turned onto these 2013 Topps Archives Gallery of Heroes inserts, featuring legends of the past and present on a stained glass design.  They're were decently tough pulls at 1:31 hobby packs, but not so tough as to be prohibitively expensive, even years later.

My first foray into these was picking up a grouping of three that were each available Buy-It-Now for $6 or less, with free shipping.  We've already seen Sandy Koufax...

 ...and Yogi Berra featured on the blog in recent weeks.  Today, I round out that initial trifecta with my personal favorite of the three...

...Ted Williams!  I'm biased as a Red Sox fan of course, but to me this is the most aesthetically pleasing of the three I acquired in this initial batch.  Just love those deep reds, oranges and yellows.  Looks like the Splendid Splinter is taking a cut right in front of a stained glass sunset!

I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that I love this card so much that it might make an updated countdown of my favorite Red Sox cards in my entire collection if I ever get around to doing one.

Here's the back, as I've shown with each of these to date.

Here's a look at how Ted looks in his new UltraPro One Touch magnetic home, with some nice back-lighting to really illustrate the glow of the card.

Finally...

...here are all three of my new additions together!  Truly, these look incredible in hand.

I was able to bring home this trio, 20% of the overall insert set, for less than the cost of a retail blaster, and that includes sales tax and shipping!  As I mentioned before, if your favorite team or player is represented in this set go out and grab it, you certainly won't be disappointed.

That's all for now, thanks as always for stopping by my little corner of the internet...

Cardboard Keepers - The First Basketball Inductees!

Time for the next installment of Cardboard Keepers, a thought experiment in which I theoretically whittle my entire collection down to just 2,000 cards; 1,000 baseball keepers, and 1,000 "other" keepers.

In today's post, we'll finally get around to inducting a couple of basketball cards to the Cardboard Keepers collection.  I'm not a big basketball guy overall, but I have decided to try to pursue some significant cards of the best players across many different sports, and so finally have a couple that I feel are worth induction into this collection.  Let's get to it!

In the lead-off spot today is my very first card of an absolute legend of the game, Wilt Chamberlain!  This is actually a tall-boy format card from Topps' 1970-71 flagship basketball release, which is the same width as a standard, modern-day trading card, but taller.  Very fitting for basketball in particular.

Even limiting myself to just 1,000 non-baseball cards, it seemed fitting that Chamberlain should be included in this project.  Easily one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.  The fact that he's the only player ever to record 100 or more points in a single NBA game alone is probably enough to make sure I include him.  Or, how about the fact that he's the only player ever to average 30+ points and 20+ rebounds per game across an entire season, and did it seven times!

An easy choice here for inclusion in this project.

Same goes for the second and final inductee in today's post!

BAM!  If you've been following my blog throughout 2020 then you probably knew this was coming.  Arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time, and certainly on anyone's top 5 list.  By many standards, the most iconic single basketball card ever produced, though opinions obviously differ there.

When I started working out this Cardboard Keepers project in my mind, one of the big goals was to acquire some significant cards of greats in sports other than baseball and hockey in order to broaden my horizons and better round out my collection.  This exact card was one that I specifically had in mind from the outset.  I had to sell about three dozen graded cards over a period of weeks on eBay to raise the funds required, and made many trips to the post office, but finally this beautiful Jordan "RC" was mine.

It's my favorite basketball card by a country mile, and always will be.  It was only a matter of time before I selected it as a Cardboard Keeper.  Hell, it would make this list even if I were hanging onto only 20 non-baseball cards, forget 1,000!

Hard to argue with either of these cards, and I'm happy to have them be the first cards to represent the sport of basketball in this project overall.  I guess I need to get out there and find myself LeBron and Kobe cards at some point now, and I wouldn't mind a nice Dirk Nowitski either.

In the meantime, the non-baseball Cardboard Keepers collection is up to 23 cards in size now, and can be viewed here.  I've still got a long way to go, with 977 cards remaining to be selected.  I'll be back soon with the next card or group of cards for the project, but until then thanks as always for stopping by!

The Itch to Rip - Penultimate Post from My 2018 Stadium Club Blaster

Sometimes you just get the itch to rip.  For the past few weeks, that itch in my case has been scratched by this blaster box of 2018 Stadium Club baseball, which I picked up online a while back.

I've ripped the first four packs so far over two blog posts, and today we'll take a look at what packs five and six have in store.  Just five cards per pack, so these are quick and dirty...

Nice bat rack pic on this Nicky Delmonico rookie card.  I seemed to recall this guy having a couple of solid games against Boston at Fenway Park, but his stats from last season look pretty atrocious (.206 batting average, just barely skirting above the Mendoza Line).

Love the photograph on Clayton Kershaw's base card.  Perfectly framed, great horizontal layout with the out-of-focus batter in the foreground.  Noticeably good photography in each of the first two cards in the pack, actually.

My second Cody Bellinger insert of this blaster here, with a Beam Team card.  As with the first one, it goes into the stack of cards for an upcoming card giveaway I'm planning for my hobby friends.  Moving on...

This Ichiro card is just plain beautiful.  It makes me miss baseball.  The photograph is so great that I made sure to check when entering it into my collection on tcdb.com that it wasn't a rare photo variation or something.  Nope, just his plain ol' base card.  This is exactly the type of card I was hoping to pull from this blaster.

I mentioned at the outset of starting on the blaster that my only 2018 Stadium Club cards were a Red Sox team set.  So, this JD Martinez is a dupe.  I've tossed it into a big stack of Red Sox doubles that I'm planning to compare against Chris The Collector's collection on TCDB to hit him with a trade package, however I'm quite sure he's already got this one.

Just three new base cards for me in pack five, but the Kershaw and Ichiro cards were really great so I'd consider it a win.  Let's check out pack number six...

Zack Cozart of the Angels leads us off.  Looks like he just hit a triple and is calling for some applause from the dugout.  Either that, or some type of issue with his batting helmet.

Really cool second-year Aaron Judge here.  I'm not one of those Red Sox fans who "hates" the Yankees.  Hell, I'm so starved for baseball and hockey that I'd love to watch a Yankees game right about now.  An absolutely awesome photograph of Aaron on this card.  All rise!

Addison Russell signing for the fans on his base card.  We're officially in the midst of a string of horizontally-oriented cards now.

Love the action on Jake Lamb's card.  He looks safe to me, though it's admittedly hard to call without seeing a proper video replay.

Closing out today's proceedings we've got a nice classic shot of veteran Joey Votto.

A fun couple of packs here, and I feel like I finally got a good dose of the photography that this set is known for.  Still have two more packs to go, really hoping to maybe pull an Ohtani.  No Acuna and no Soto in this release (other than maybe high-end autographs), and since I already have a copy of the Devers RC, Ohtani is really the card I'd like to pull most.  Maybe next time.

I'll be back with the final installment from the blaster soon.  In the meantime, thanks as always for stopping by!

Next Stop on the Project 2020 Train - Mark McGwire

For the most part, I'm avoiding Topps' Project 2020.  For the most part.  I did succumb to temptation and purchase a Ted Williams card that was just so fantastically strange I had to have it.  After that, I returned to just passively monitoring the new offerings as they came across my inbox daily.  The next one that happened to catch my eye finally arrived in the mail last week...

Whereas my first Project 2020 pickup was based on "that's so odd I just have to have it" logic, this one was actually a card that I just plain liked.  My scanner does a terrible job with the magnetic holders these come in, so here's a much more accurate and colorful representation of how the card looks, courtesy of my iPhone:

Ah, there we go.  It's like someone turned the lights on in here!  Anyway, I really, really dig this particular card.  I think the artist was genius to combine elements of the 1987 Topps McGwire (I'd recognize that wood-grained border anywhere!) with elements from his '85 Topps Team USA rookie card.  A very creative approach.

Even though our country is incredibly $&%ed up right now, I'm still proud to be an American, and I like the flag backdrop that the artist went with here.  All in all, this card just spoke to me.  I guess that's sort of the point of Project 2020, different cards appeal to different collectors with different tastes.  For the most part I've been content to ignore them, but like the Ted Williams that I purchased first, this one just spoke to me.

Here's the back, your standard reference text related to the project as a whole, and the specific artist who completed this card.  Nobody buys these things because of the backs though...

Well, that's about all I've got to say regarding this pick-up.  A really fun card, and since I'm not exactly a super-collector of Mark McGwire or anything this is easily probably a top ten or even top five card of his in my collection now.  I know they're not for everyone, and they're largely not for me either so far, but this particular Project 2020 card just struck a chord.  I'm happy to own one.

Thanks as always for stopping by, I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of pack rips!

Signature Sundays - An Oakland Seal

Panini's 2012-13 "Classics Signatures" remains one of my favorite hockey sets to be released since I returned to collecting back in 2007.  I went a little nuts collecting the on-card autographs from the set for a few years there.  I reached the point where I had every single standard autograph, and quite a few of the SSPs, and finally trailed off when the few remaining SSPs I needed were either never spotted in the wild, or prohibitively expensive.

Well, today I have another autograph from that awesome set to show off, and like the Craig Patrick base autograph above it features a player from the Seals franchise.  Whereas the Patrick autograph is from the California Golden Seals era, today's autograph is from the Oakland Seals era...

Bobby Baun is most remembered as a long-time defenseman for the Maple Leafs, a franchise where he won no fewer than four Stanley Cups throughout the '60s.  When the team left him unprotected in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, he was grabbed by the Oakland Seals (thus the fitting name for this autograph set).

Baun did not exactly enjoy his time with Oakland, and demanded a trade back to an Original 6 club after just one unsuccessful season.  Pretty awesome to have a "short term stop" autograph that also features a long-gone franchise as well.  Add to that Bobby's absolutely stunning penmanship, and you've got a real winner of a card.

Here's the back, with the write-up featuring the expansion draft selection that I mentioned.  Another great look at the Oakland Seals logo as well.  Panini did a great job with all of the card backs from this release if you ask me.  The bright, bold colors are easy on the eyes.

This one will pair quite nicely with my base autograph of Bobby from the set, which features him in more familiar Maple Leafs garb.  If I had to choose between the two though, I'd take this Seals one all day long.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and please check back throughout the week for new content as I continue with my goal of posting every single day for the month of July!

Box Break - 1991-92 Upper Deck Hockey

A while back (like, over a year ago now) I broke a wax box of 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey.  My brothers and I initially got into hockey cards during the 1989-90 season, and then saw the scene really explode with the 1990-91 releases.  Nevertheless, in my recollection I ripped as much of this '91-92 Upper Deck release as a kid as I did any product during those preceding two seasons.

Even these foil wrappers bring me right back to sitting around on the living room floor in the early '90s, ripping packs and trading cards with my brothers.  Great memories, I really miss those days.

What I remember most about this set is of course the white glossy card stock, high quality photos, and holograms on the back that Upper Deck was known for at the time.  In addition though, I remember that (like many sets from this era) this release was absolutely littered with subsets.

The other thing I find interesting about this release is that it doesn't really contain any one or two single cards that I'd consider iconic.  Maybe that's just me.  When you think '79-80 Topps though, you think Gretzky RC immediately.  1989-90 O-Pee-Chee?  All about Sakic and Leetch RCs.  Even the inaugural Upper Deck hockey set, released the year prior to this one, has the Fedorov and Bure RCs.  This release though?  Not so sure.  There are some great ones that come to mind as you'll see, but something feels different to me about them.

Rather than do a painstaking pack-by-pack break of cards you've all seen hundreds of times over the decades, I figured I'd save myself weeks of time and just post some random highlight cards that I enjoyed through the course of the break.

With that being said, let's take a look at some notable pulls from my box...

As a kid I thought these Canada Cup subset cards were the coolest.  Seeing the stars I was accustomed to seeing in their NHL sweaters in international gear instead was just such a kick.  Even now almost 30 years later, I still think this Teemu Selanne is a fantastic card.

How about this early gem, featuring the greatest defenseman of his era, and one of the greatest ever to play the position?  Love it!

Picked this Mike Foligno to feature because I think the photograph is kinda cool, and because I love the old school helmet style Mike is rocking here.

Just like in the other sports that Upper Deck produced at the time, there were "Heroes" inserts to be found in this product.  Brett Hull was the subject, though this is obviously the header/title card.

The inserts that appealed to me more as a kid collector though were these beautiful holograms.  Whereas the holograms in the inaugural release the year prior were very fuzzy and difficult to make out, these are stunning.  Upper Deck improved by leaps and bounds here in just a year's time.  They even scan well, which in my experience is rare for hologram cards.  Just look at that Brett Hull!

Easily one of my favorite players throughout the '90s, easily one of the better rookie cards to be found in this release.  This one is as close to iconic as I guess you'll get in this set, per my point in the opening, but I still don't feel like it's as generally recognizable and regarded as the Fedorov Young Guns RC from the year prior.

Controversial '89-90 "rookie" Sergei Makarov gets a killer card in the set thanks to this great horizontal photograph.

Ditto for his teammate, Mike Vernon!

Just kinda hopping around in random order here based on how these were pulled from packs and scanned over time.  Back to a couple of the Canada Cup inserts with the ageless wonders Chris Chelios...

...and Jaromir Jagr.  It's still amazing to me that this pair played well into their 40s at the NHL level.  Makes me feel like I've still got some gas left in the tank myself!

One of the more memorable photographs from this release has in my mind always been this Theo Fleury, hopping over the boards in a dark rink.  Not exactly sure why, but this is a card I remember fondly from the winter of '91.

Here's a look at one of the standard Hull Hockey Heroes inserts.  Same general design as the Heroes inserts from other sports, though you'll notice the cutout/frame that Brett is emerging from here is in the shape of the NHL crest.

Another cool Hull, showcasing his lesser-remembered stints with Minnesota (collegiate) and Calgary prior to his arrival in St. Louis.

One of the other really notable rookies in the set is Dominik Hasek.  This guy was really, really good.  Amazingly good.  Good enough that I'd watch an entire game back in the '90s just to watch him play.  An under-rated rookie card of an under-rated (as HOFers go) player.  Really happy to have pulled one of these.

Here's another of those stunning holograms, this one featuring Eddie the Eagle.  Just look at the detail in his helmet and Hawks sweater.  Though they may not be "worth" much, these really are incredible inserts for their time.  Hell, I'd be happier to pull something like this today than 95% of the inserts I've seen in Topps baseball products in recent years.

Another Hull Heroes, this one with a picture from his days with the Flames' AHL affiliate.

Always liked the Nordiques back in the day.  I think it was at least partially because they were a similar small market team to my beloved Whalers, also from the WHA, and with similar problems as a franchise.  Highlights from this box on the Nordiques front included this Joe Sakic...

...and this great, if a little strange not seeing him in a Canadiens uniform, Guy Lafleur tribute card.  What an awesome, awesome photograph here.  A fitting send-off in cardboard format for a true hockey legend.

We'll wrap it up with one of my favorite overall cards from the box, this Gretzky hologram.  I can almost guarantee you that when I get around to my "Top 99 Cards of Number 99" countdown at some future date, this card will make the list.

That's all for today, there were many great cards in the box beyond what you saw here, but I'm sure you've seen most of them and I want to keep this post from getting too long.  Long story short, it's a great product.  If you're a "fringe" hockey card collector and looking for something fun and cheap to rip during sheltering in place here, I cannot recommend this product enough.

Thanks for stopping by, and for joining me on this trip down memory lane to the early days of my hockey card collecting experience!