When I was growing up... baseball cards and bubblegum went together like bacon and eggs. That's probably why I'm such a huge fan of Bazooka baseball memorabilia cards from 2003 to 2006.
The bright colors and cartoonish designs compliment each other and are very attractive in a "7 year old baseball collector" sort of way.
That's why I was excited to see that Tony Gwynn was part of the 2003 Bazooka Blasts bat relic set. A seller had a seven card lot that included the Gwynn for $13.99 (+ $2.50 shipping), so I grabbed it.
The lot also included my 2nd favorite player of all-time, The Man of Steal. It's a shame he's not in an A's uniform... but that's kind of the trend with this particular group of cards.
I'll always picture certain players with certain teams... and in my mind neither of these players will be remembered for their time in the Big Apple.
Nope. When I think of New York, I think of Derek Jeter, Darryl Strawberry, Mariano Rivera, David Wright, and Jorge Posada.
And although he played for my beloved Oakland Athletics...
I'll always remember Johnny as a member of the 2004 World Series Champions.
The final card in my purchase is Mr. Rodriguez who spent twenty-one seasons in the MLB with six different teams. However the only team I care to remember him with is the Texas Rangers. By the way, Pudge's bat card was one of the more difficult relics to be pulled from this product. This card was inserted at a rate of 1:326 packs.
Personally... the only thing I don't like about these cards are the generic COA on the back. But in this day and age, can we truly trust any COA regardless of the words card manufactures print on a card? Did the wood come from bats used by the player depicted on the front of the card? Were the bats used by the children of Topps' executives? Are the pieces of wood actually from baseball bats?
For the price I paid... I don't care too much. I just look at it as I'm paying a few dollars for some really cool looking cards that take me back in time to a memorable period of my life... my childhood.
Happy Friday and sayonara!
Bazooka was such a great set. Cheap boxes with cool relics, inserts and parallels. Plus those blast cards have a foil parallel numbered to only 25!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to track down the foil parallel of Gwynn... but I assume it's outta my price range.
DeleteI like the Bazooka cards myself, great grab! Dropped a box for you today, rather 1/2 of a box. But it is all A's other than those SI for Kids I promised ya and a few well you'll see.
ReplyDeleteThanks John. I'll look for it and let you know when it arrives. I don't think I have any new Braves for you (since I haven't busted any new product), but I'll try to find some Elways for your collection at the next card show.
DeleteI always loved products like Bazooka and Topps Total because you might get players on cardboard you wouldn't have gotten on the flagship brand. Love the Yankee bats. Ive always been skeptical about whether or not they came from actual game used bats. But if theres a Yankee logo stuck on the card, I want it.
ReplyDelete