The advent calendar adventure continues with the next six days of presents from SumoMenkoMan.
On Thursday, we left off with a bunch of packs and we'll continue with more...
December 7th
1997 Team Vans Pack
Although I've never seen these packs before, I am familiar with the set... because it features Steve Caballero's first card:
1997 Team Vans #1
I'm a big fan of him and his collectibles. During the lockdown, I discovered this card and picked it up on COMC for $12.75.
December 8th
The next two packs contain eight Ben Baller cards:
2021 Topps Chrome Ben Baller Packs
Three years after hearing Ben Baller's name... I still have no idea who this guy is. But I do own a couple of singles from this set. Never had the pleasure of opening up a pack. Now I get to bust two.
Here's what I pulled:
Pretty happy to pull a pair of guys I collect... and a decent rookie card.
December 9th
Day 9 features nine packs of Holiday Inn baseball cards from sixteen years ago:
2007 Upper Deck Holiday Inn Packs
Kerry reviewed this product back in 2011 on APTBNL.. but his pack only contained four cards. These packs contain eight cards:
The first five cards were the five Ripken inserts, while the final three cards were singles from the sixty card set. The remaining eight packs will go into the rainy day pack stash.
December 10th
Next up are two packs of 2021 Topps.... only these were the ones sold in Japan:
I'll be keeping one sealed for my unopened pack collection... while the other will eventually be reviewed and inserted into my Japanese trading card binder.
December 11th
The next present isn't something you open... it's something you wear:
At first glance, this looks like an ordinary tie featuring some San Jose Sharks logos, but upon closer inspection... it was actually designed exclusively for the 1995 NHL All-Star Game.
What's special about that? Well that game was cancelled due to the 1994-95 NHL Lockout, which makes this collectible kind of unique.
Another interesting thing about this tie is that it's individually serial numbered to only 360... which makes it a pretty rare collectible.
December 12th
The last advent item of the day is this figure produced by Topps in the late 90's:
1999 Topps Action Flats Barry Bonds
This oddball issue sort of flies under the radar. I remember the card shop I worked at had these. A decade later, I purchased a complete set of the 1998 Topps Action Flats football set, because it contains a Peyton Manning rookie card. But this is the first baseball version to enter my collection.
Here's a peek at the back of the box:
When you open it up, there are two parts. First is the trading card:
Topps used a different photo from the one used in the flagship set.
Then there's the flat figurine:
I love how it's modeled after the player's photo on the card, so when you put them together it look like this:
This oddball issue is kind of cool and since they were overproduced... they're really affordable. The only thing that's preventing me from picking up a complete set is the lack of storage space. But I have added it to my saved eBay searches, so who knows... you might see a few more pop up in future blog posts.
Well that's another day of awesome stuff from SumoMenkoMan. There are still thirteen days worth of goodies to go, so stay tuned.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
12 comments:
The Topps action flats are cool. I need to look at some of those. I like the different days format. Nice idea.
Lots of cool stuff to open up later. I'll be watching.
No way could I resist not opening the packs you've been given. I remember seeing your rainy day stash of unopened product, Amazing!
Voting for the Sharks tie.
I kept my action flats sealed.i couldn't let myself open it
michael d - those action flats kind of flew under the radar even back when they were released. but they are pretty cool... and unique. i really like how they matched up the figure with the photo on the card.
the angels in order - i've got a lot of wax packs lined up.
i need to create something similar to your junk wax wednesday.
johnnys trading spot - i kinda divide it up. like i have a japanese wax pack collection where i keep one of each unopened. the same thing applies to my non-sport wax pack collection. i've considered do that with sports too, but for the time being i only hold back on opening really unique stuff (like i saved one of those vans packs... the rest i opened up already).
elliptical man - it's such a cool item. it sort of makes me want to collect 1995 nhl all-star game memorabilia
matt - the box was sort of smashed, so it made it easier for me to open up. i'm like that with things like slus. if i come across certain figures and the packaging is clean, i'll keep it sealed.
Oh wow those "flats" are cool. Zero need for the figurine but I could see being tempted by the card.
Win, lose, or tie. Hilarious
That tie is sweet!!! I would find a special occasion to wear that to school on an annual basis. I have a gold tie that I wear to school the day before snow days. You can tell when the schools in Raleigh are going to get a snow day, because the weather forecast includes the word snow. That "Flats" figurine is cool. Might have to find a Cardinal or Ray.
Neat stuff here Fuji. Love that Sharks tie and the unique packs. I'm more interested in the Japan edition than Ben Baller. Hope you pull some stars out of the one you decide to open.
A serial-numbered tie? I was gonna say that it doesn't get more 90's than that, but after thinking about it for a second, I could just as easily see Fanatics doing something like that these days.
nick vossbrink - if i had to pick between the card and figurine, i'd pick the card too. but i do like how topps matched the figurine's pose with the photo
gca - lol nice. wish i would have thought of that
the snorting bull - snow days sound awesome! as for the flats, there's a mcgwire on the checklist
chris - i'm more interested in that (japan edition) pack too. saving it for a special occasion. the other will go into my unopened japanese pack collection
jon - i could totally see fanatics doing that with hats and ties. if they haven't done it already
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