The Buck Stops Here!

I hate child molesters.  I hate animal abusers.  And I hate people who go out of their way to make others miserable.  However... I don't hate Joe Buck.

Don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not a fan of his broadcasting skills, but "hate" is just too powerful of a word to describe the way I feel about the guy.  But there are a number of sports fanatics who have no problem hating Joe Buck.

Which is why, I scratched my head when I saw that Topps added him to their 2015 Allen and Ginter checklist.  I understand the inclusion of Olbermann, Schefter, and Gammons.  But Buck?  Maybe it's because he has a pretty good sense of humor...

Or maybe it's because Topps knows that there are weird guys like myself who will buy their silly relic cards of unpopular broadcasters.

Last week, I was shopping at my favorite online card shop who offers free shipping if you spend $25 or more.  As usual... I was a little short, so I added this card to my cart, because it was on sale for $1.50:

2015 Allen and Ginter Relics #JBU

Too bad it wasn't a buck.  Then I could have said... I found a Buck for a buck.  Get it?  Oh never mind... I told you I'm weird.

Anyways... speaking of bucks... buckstorecards, author of Sportscards From The Dollar Store sent me a very cool card for my San Jose Sharks PC:

2013-14 Panini Prime Rookie Showcase Swatches

#RS-THE (#'d 10/25)

This card is beautiful.  Seriously.  If you're familiar with Upper Deck's shadow box cards, then you'll appreciate just how gorgeous it is.  It's hard to see, but the white in the background is actually a piece of Hertl's jersey.

He also shipped me some other Sharks' base cards and this 2014 Topps Chrome Mini Green Bay Packers team set:

Can't say for sure... but I'm guessing these cards are worth much more than a Buck.  But honestly... even if buckstorecards sent me a Joe Buck base card, it would have been appreciated.

Thanks Douglas!  Give me a few weeks... and I'll put together a little care package for you.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Eight Elegant Turkeys

A few weeks ago, I was taking a stroll around my neighborhood and witnessed this...

It was a beautiful sight.  One that immediately reminded me of Turkey Red trading cards.  And since today Americans will consume over forty million turkeys, I figured I'd show off ten that won't be eaten anytime soon.

2007 Topps Turkey Red #15

Ah... the amazing artwork.

2012 Topps Turkey Red #99

The orange glow at sunset.

2005 Topps Turkey Red #310

The legendary swing of my favorite baseball player.

1985-97 Perez-Steele Great Moments #62

The sweet 'stache on a catfish.

1985-97 Perez-Steele Great Moments #3

The cabinet card of the gentleman who broke the color barrier.

2007 Topps Turkey Red #141

The generous gift from a retired blogger.

2015 Turkey Red Style Cabinet Card

And wrapping things up are this amazing pair of autographed cabinet cards of the gentleman who broke the Pacific barrier.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Thank you to all of you who take a few moments out of your day to check out my blog.  I hope all of you are enjoying some quality family time, hours of entertaining football, and of course some very delicious turkey.

Expired and Desired

These days... I don't buy and break many boxes.  However when I actually do... there are few things worse than pulling a redemption card.  You can spare me the arguments for companies using them.  I've heard them and still dislike them.

But there was a time... when I actually looked forward to finding one.  Back in the 90's... before relics and autographs took over the hobby, card companies would insert exchange cards into their packs every now and then.  And believe it or not... it sort of felt like you hit the lottery if you found one.

The first one I remember chasing was the 1992-93 Upper Deck Trade Card, which could be redeemed for the ultra hot Shaquille O'neal rookie card.  A few years later, I remember beating the odds and pulling a 1995-96 Skybox Metal Skymint exchange card.  These were inserted into one out of every 360 packs and could be sent in for a special coin card of Joe Sakic.  The following year, they produced one for Brett Favre too.

Back in 1996, Favre was at the top of his game.  He had just won his first MVP Award and Skybox produced another highly sought after exchange card.  This time it was part of a special five card insert set that highlighted different cardboard technologies for the era.  Four of the five cards were found in packs of Skybox Premium and Skybox Impact.

However the final insert required collectors to acquire two different exchange cards... one from each product.  Today... the Skybox Impact exchange cards are pretty plentiful, however the ones out of Skybox Premium are very hard to find for a couple of reasons.

#1:  They were tough to pull.  Possibly one per case.
#2:  The ones that were pulled back in the day were redeemed.

Go ahead... check for yourself.  I've only come across a handful over the past seven years and they all commanded a decent dime.  Then earlier this month, I found one with a Buy It Now price of $.99 (+ $2.71 shipping) and after a few clicks of my mouse... I have finally crossed this sucker off of my wantlist.

Imagine that.  A seven year search for an expired redemption card.  Crazy, right?  But it's over and now my 1996 Skybox Brett Favre MVP set is officially complete.  

Here's what it looks like...

#1: Foil

This is my least favorite card in the set.  It's pretty much Skybox's version of Black Diamond.

#2: Acrylic

This card is pretty sweet.  But aren't most sports cards that are made from plastic?

#3: Lenticular

This was the card Skybox sent you if you redeemed both exchange cards.  If you like Sportsflics and Kellogg's cards, then you'll appreciate the 3D effect this card gives collectors.  It's hands down my favorite card in the set.

#4: Diecut

This card is hard to appreciate unless you're holding it in your hands, but Skybox did an amazing job with this card.  I know it would defeat the purpose, but I kinda wish they matted this card on another piece of cardboard... sort of like UD Masterpieces.

#5: Leather

Last, but not least is the card made from leather.  If I wasn't such a "lenticular" lunatic... this card would be my favorite.  I mean... just look at the scan.  Kinda makes me feel like card companies have regressed over the past two decades in terms of cardboard technology.

One thing they've mastered though... is their use of redemption cards:

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

How Close Were You?

Your guesses have been documented and it's time for my student's cardboard inspirations to be revealed.  Let's see how accurate they were...

#1: 1987 Topps

Ten people submitted guesses and eight were correct.  As a collector who busted a ton of this product in the 80's, the card back was a dead giveaway.  The front?  Not so much.

#2: 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen

This was probably the easiest one out of the bunch.  Nine out of ten got this one correct.  I'm not exactly sure what contest Comatoad was entering, but this doesn't even remotely resemble 1956 Topps.

#3: 1984 Topps

80% guessed this one correctly.  This one was tricky, because the 84 design doesn't have the team name continuing along the top.  However... the box and the start of the name along the left side definitely resembles that design.

#4: 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes

I was truly surprised that only two people answered this one correctly.  This was one of my favorite submissions among all of my classes and it stood out to me better than the 84 or 87 Topps designs.  Maybe it was the team's logo that threw everyone off.

#5: 1983 Donruss

Half of you guessed this correctly and two others guessed its sister set: 1982 Donruss.  I personally had no idea what design they used.  The captain of the team submitted the cards without the original and I was clueless.  I made them dig through their folders, so I could figure out the set.

#6: 1990 Score

I had a lot of trouble with this design too.  However as soon as I saw the back, the answer sort of popped into my head... but that's only because I had prior knowledge.  I highly doubt I would have guess this correctly like 50% of you did.

#7: 1982 Topps

The double hockey sticks were a dead giveaway and eighty percent of you seem to agree.

#8:  2015 Topps

According to everyone's guesses... this was the most challenging design.  Only one person guessed it correctly.  The huge square in the bottom righthand corner on the front and the timeline on the back totally would have thrown me off.

Well... it's now time to see who won the contest... but before I reveal the winner, here are the actual cards each of the eight teams used for this project:

And the winner is...

otherwise known as...

Jedi Jeff

Congratulations Jeff!  You answered seven out of eight designs correctly and edged out Josh, Adam, cynicalbuddha, and Patrick who each submitted six correct responses.  I'll start building your prize package and get that shipped out to you (hopefully) sooner than later.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.  I had a lot of fun reading your responses.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Rub You the Right Way

Six years before Johnny released this...

Topps released this...

It's a shame that my local convenience store didn't carry these, because I would have been all over them.  Actually... I take that back.  I was in the seventh grade and the idea of rubbing these all over my Pee-Chee folders probably would have led to some serious bullying incidents.

But now that I'm well into my 40's, I'm secure enough in my manhood to show off and share some of my rub-downs.  Let's start off by taking a closer look at the pack...

Each cellophane pack contained a stick of bubble gum...

a checklist...

a set of directions...

and two sheets of rub-downs...

There are a total of thirty-two sheets in the set... with each sheet containing three or four players.

After busting the entire box of thirty-six packs, I ended up with one complete set... which happens to contain a total of 112 players.  Out of those, I counted a twenty-two guys that have been enshrined in Cooperstown.

But only one sheet contained three hall of famers...

In addition to popular baseball players, Topps also included a bunch of floating pieces of equipment.  While most sheets contain four or five, this particular one led the pack with a total of six pieces of equipment...

And although I was a little disappointed that Topps left Tony Gwynn off of the checklist, it was cool to see them include a Strawberry rookie oddball issue...

Unfortunately... collation kind of sucked in this box.  I ended up coming up six sheets short of a second set.  However, my loss is your gain.

If you're interested in owning this 1984 Topps Rub-Down starter set, I'll be throwing it into my contest's prize package.

If you haven't already entered... click here.  Well that's it for now.

Happy Friday and sayonara!