Pearl Jam Rocks Fenway (with Cards)!

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing my all-time favorite band, Pearl Jam, play live at one of my favorite places on the planet, Fenway Park!  I can't think of a better way to spend a warm summer evening than that.

Pearl Jam's been my #1 favorite band for over 25 years now, and I've been seeing them live just about every chance I get for the past couple of decades.  I've lost track but I've probably seen them at least 20 times at this point, and I haven't had anything but a thoroughly enjoyable time at any of those shows.

The guys have played Fenway Park four times now, twice in 2016 and twice this past week, and I have been fortunate enough to see all four shows.  Why am I bothering to mention this on a card collecting blog, though?

Well, just as they did last time through in 2016, the band printed up a set of trading cards to commemorate their shows this summer!  For $5 at the merch stand you receive a pack of ten cards plus a sticker.  I'd never stand in the ridiculous lines before or after the show for these, but since our seats were directly above a stand I grabbed a couple of packs with no line while on a quick beer/bathroom run during the show.

On the back we find that there are 60 total cards in the set, ten cards of each of the six band members.  There's also a 61st card featuring producer Brendan O'Brien, as well as three versions of the one-per-pack sticker.  A genius idea for a band touring in professional ballparks if you ask me.  Based on the prices these things have fetched historically on the secondary market, many seem to agree.

Pearl Jam and trading cards, two of my greatest loves, combined into one product.  Let's see the cards...

The last set back in 2016 took its inspiration from 1991 Topps baseball, this time it's 1990-91 Hoops basketball!  A simple design to replicate, one that's instantly recognizable to most collectors, and a set that harkens back to the band's early days.  Seems like a perfect choice to me.

Despite having less than 100 total basketball cards, I actually do have a handful from 1990-91 Hoops, so here's one for comparison.  I'm sure those of you that spend significant time making custom cards may have some gripes, but to my untrained eye I think they did a good job with these.

I didn't bother scanning in the backs since they don't have true card backs, but rather all 60 cards together make a giant puzzle.

One thing I am impressed by is that the band actually produced three entirely separate sets of cards for their shows this summer at Safeco Field, Wrigley Field, and Fenway Park.  I assumed they went the easy route and just printed up the same set three times, changing out the logo in the lower right for each city, but I found they actually produced three unique sets with different photos as well.

I know these aren't for everyone, if you don't like the band you've probably skipped right through this post (if you even clicked it to begin with).  If you enjoy their music though then these are a cool collectible item.  Even if you're not a Pearl Jam fan, just think of your favorite band, and now imagine that they released a set of cards to commemorate an event you attended.  You'd buy a pack, right?

On a personal note, I was psyched to see Jeff Ament break out the stand-up bass as the band treated the crowd to one of my personal favorites last night, Nothingman from their Vitalogy album.  Something about hearing tens of thousands of people sing at the top of their lungs in unison gets me every time.

Eight cards into the pack here, and it's a very Eddie Vedder/Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament-heavy pack.  Three band members haven't even shown up yet, which means I'll be missing representation from someone with just two cards left here.

Ah, there we go, drummer Matt Cameron.  Formerly of Soundgarden, though he's been playing with Pearl Jam for 20 years now.  Truly one of the best.

Last card of the pack, and I'm glad I didn't get skunked on pulling a Mike McCready.  Well, I missed out on a card of keyboardist/organist Boom Gaspar.  No offense to the guy, and I enjoy his contributions to the group, but if I was going to whiff on someone he'd have been my pick.

Here's the sticker insert.  I believe these are the same across all three 2018 sets, one sticker for each city.

Well, that's all I've got for today.  I've got the day off from work, but I hear it's supposed to be about 175 degrees (we like to exaggerate here in New England), so I'm probably going to nurse off this hangover sorting cards in the air conditioning and listening to records.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed this mix of trading cards and America's greatest rock & roll band!

Dime Box Dozen - Labor Day Edition

I hope everyone here in the States is enjoying a nice Labor Day holiday today.  A day off from work seems like a great opportunity to get through another dozen Red Sox cards from my buddy Nick of Dime Boxes...

This is my first look at 2017 Topps Inception.  Actually not a bad looking design at all in my humble opinion.  These are a bit on the thicker side as well, giving them a weighty feel.  Looks like a box of this goes for about $120, I'm guessing this is high middle tier as far as Topps releases go?

Here's one I was surprised I didn't yet have a copy of.  Turns out I had a couple of parallels of this early Bogaerts Bowman card, but not the base version until Nick sent his latest delivery my way.  Adding this to The Trading Card Database I see that I've been surpassed as the #1 Bogaerts collector on the site recently.  Only by a card or two, looks like I need to get off my butt and scan a few in to get back on top.

This Metal Universe insert scanned terribly, as most all cards with this volume of foil seem to.  You'll have to take my word that in hand this is a nice-looking Mo Vaughn.

Here's a shiny insert from when Topps went crazy there with their 1987 design.  I think these shiny refractor versions may have been offered in some sort of promotional pack.  First one I've seen in hand for sure.

Sweet, always love a new Mookie Betts card.  This one tripped me up a bit as I assumed it was an insert or variation, however it looks like for certain players Panini just used the '84 Donruss design for their standard base card in the 2018 set.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it from what I could tell.  Awesome card regardless!

I featured a Hostess card in my last Dime Box Dozen post, and here we have another.  I honestly never seem to run across these box-cut cards in the wild, whereas Nick seems to all the time, so I'm grateful that he thought of me as a home for Mike Torrez here.

I've received quite a few of these Donruss Team Heroes cards from Joe Shlabotnik over the years; this may be the first one I've gotten from Nick, not sure.

This one's...interesting.  From the 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History set, these Cut from the Same Cloth inserts are serial numbered and feature some small foil team logos in the middle that almost look like little coins.  I had already returned to collecting before this set was issued, however I have zero recollection of these whatsoever.

I always enjoy a nice colored border parallel from the 2009-2014 "white border" run of Topps flagship sets.  Especially cool to get a rookie card of Jose Iglesias, who I was particularly fond of during his time with Boston.

Since I showed the 2018 Donruss Mookie Betts that borrowed the '84 design, it only seemed appropriate to do the same with this Manny Ramirez.  I'd give the nod to Manny between the two of them, however it's not a fair contest given that Donruss actually produced the Ramirez and could show team logos and use team names.

A mid-'90s Topps Gallery John Valentin is the penultimate card in today's post.  Don't have too much to say about this one, but the colors are bright and vibrant at least.  Speaking of bright and vibrant...

...we'll close it out with this Topps Chrome Prism Refractor of center fielder Jackie Bradley, Jr.  I'll never tire of acquiring Topps Chrome parallels in all their varying degrees of colorful and shiny.

Today's grouping of cards is also significant in that it takes me over 2,000 Red Sox cards in my inventory on The Trading Card Database.  It's been a long slow process moving things digitally speaking between Zistle and TCDB, but I finally feel as though I'm picking up some real steam.  In reality, this is probably about 1/4 of the total Red Sox cards that I own, but it's still a significant number to me.

I've got enough cards left over from Nick's last package for two more of these posts I believe.  I should have the next batch up sometime before the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

Buyback Franken-set: Randoms

For tonight's Buyback Franken-set post, I simply reached into my backlog of buybacks and pulled ten singles completely at random.  Let's see how I did...

1987 Topps #16 - Pat Clements

A nice '87 Topps Pat Clements gets us rolling this evening.  Clements was in heavy use out of the Bucs' bullpen in 1987, making 55 appearances for the club, all of which came in relief.

Had a '73 Twin in the binder in slot 16.  Neither card is exactly a jaw-dropper.

I see no reason to make a change.

1975 Topps #244 - Bull Buckner

A nice buyback here, maybe my favorite of tonight's grouping.  If memory serves I picked this one up on Sportlots a long while ago now.  This one's got to make the binder, right?

Not so fast, as Billy Buckner draws a brutal match-up with the 1979 "We Are Family" World Series champions Pittsburgh.

Another great example of just how difficult it's getting to crack the franken-set a couple of years in here.

1988 Topps #698 - Brad Havens

The Dodgers dealt Brad Havens to the Indians just 9 appearances into the 1988 season, and he'd finish out the year with Cleveland.  While I enjoy the 1988 set generally speaking, I have no particular attachment to this card.

Havens is pitted against Juan Bernhardt of the Seattle Mariners.  Honestly, based on that sweet "trident logo" alone...

...I'm sticking with the Bernhardt.

1979 Topps #552 - Jose Morales

From 1979 Topps, we have Jose "Two Bat" Morales.  A bit of an under-rated contact hitter, albeit with little power, Jose swatted .314 for the Twins the year before this card was printed.  In over 1,400 career plate appearance, Morales was a .287 hitter.  Not too shabby at all.

Had a 1990 buyback in slot 552 of the franken-set binder previously.  You know what the deal is here.

Morales bumps his way into the franken-set binder, and Mike Smith becomes likely the first guy with a gold tooth in my 1990 Topps buyback set quest.

1983 Topps #199 - Marty Bystrom

For slot 199, we have a battle of Phillies pitchers.  Tonight's contender is Marty Bystrom, who went 6-6 in 1983, his last full season as a starter for Philadelphia.  He's pitted against...

...Willie Hernandez.  Willie won the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1984 (albeit with the Tigers), which makes this a pretty significant buyback if you ask me.

No contest there.  It was over before it started for poor Marty Bystrom.

1975 Topps #496 - Pepe Frias

Second '75 buyback of tonight's post, and it's a Montreal Expo!  In 70 plate appearances Pepe hit a career low .125 in 1975, ouch.  I'm surprised he had a job for '76 and beyond with numbers like that.

Airbrushed Juan Beniquez stands in Frias' way as the franken-set goes.

Pepe's in, airbrushed Juan Beniquez is out.

1988 Topps #358 - Rey Quinones

Rey Quinones had career best stats in 1988 for games played, at bats, runs scored, doubles, triples and home runs.  This one slides right into pocket 358, which was previously empty!

1973 Topps #75 - Vada Pinson

Really like this '73 Vada Pinson.  Vada's great league-leading offensive seasons of the '60s were a distant memory by this point, but I really enjoy the photograph Topps selected for this card.  Unfortunately Pinson runs up against a buzz saw with respect to the franken-set:

Easily one of my favorite buybacks to date, period.

George Scott all the way.

1989 Topps Traded #81T - Randy Milligan

Here we have Randy Milligan's 1989 Topps Traded card.  The Pirates traded Milligan to the Orioles in the 1988 off-season, thus his inclusion in the 1989 Traded set.  Unfortunately being a Traded card means...

...that Randy is not eligible for franken-set induction.  Off to the rejected box for Randy.

1989 Topps #390 - Darryl Strawberry All-Star

Last card for tonight, certainly a fun one.  That's a whole lot of blue right there, and Strawberry was a big name when I was coming up as a kid collector in the late '80s/early '90s.  Easy to see why Darryl was included in this 1989 Topps All-Star subset, as he really tore it up in 1988.  He led the league in home runs, slugging percentage and OPS that year.

Lou Piniella's 1974 release has been holding down slot 390 for quite a while.  I think it's time...

...for a changing of the guard.

Since this one is part of a completed page, here's a look...

...at what the page looked like before Strawberry battled his way in.

Here's the page now.  I like how the Strawberry and Hershiser cards at opposing corners offset each other.

Well, I wouldn't say I had the "magic touch", as I ended up with just one new number for the franken-set and one new buyback for my 1990 project out of this lot of ten.  Oh well, I enjoy all of the rejected buybacks as well.  I'm closing right in on 1,200 total buybacks since I began this project, crazy...

Franken-set Progress: 620/792 (78%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 84/792 (10%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 489
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,193