It's Embarrassing

I'm pretty organized... until I'm not.  There's a special place in my office where I put things like side projects, eBay and flea market purchases, and other random items like blogger care packages get added into the stack.

Over Spring Break, I started tackling some of the packages.  There were a couple of boxes from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot and Woody over at Sports Card Forum.  I sorted those cards, but they still need to be scanned and documented.

Last week, Reader X commented on a post that reminded me that he sent me a box back in January that I've been sitting on for far too long.  Well I opened it up and was blown away.  Like John and Woody's cards, they've been sorted... but not scanned.

Stuff is piling up, so I'm making their packages... along with padded envelopes from Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders, Bob over at The Best Bubble, PWEs from Jeremy at Topps Cards that Never Were and Adam at Thoughts and Sox, Ryan's advent calendar, and three new packages I received from Rod at Padrographs a priority on this blog.

I would take a photo of this stack I've built, but honestly it's embarrassing.  The fact that I have stuff dating back to last year that still needs to be documented is embarrassing.  It's time to sit down and hammer out some thank you posts.

I'm gonna kick things off with a twenty-seven year old item that I never knew existed.  But before I get to it, let's start with a cardboard appetizer:

1996 Zenith Mozaics #20

This mid 90's insert featuring dufex technology and my top two favorite baseball players of all-time were inserted at a rate of 1:10 packs.

The third player featured is Wally Joyner who spent four seasons with the Padres from 1996 to 1999.  He was their starting first baseman all four seasons, but I'm a little surprised that Pinnacle chose him over Ken Caminiti who won the 1996 NL MVP Award.

Okay.  Time to show off the main course:

1999 Salvino's Baby Bammers

Now I'm familiar with Salvino's version of a Beanie Baby.  But until I saw this staring at me from the bottom of Reader X's care package... I had never seen one packaged like this.

Every Bammer I had ever seen prior to this was sold individually and free from a carded back.  I love it!  It's items like this that I'd never buy... but I'll proudly display.  Unfortunately I don't really have any wall space in my office.  That means... I'll be taking this into my classroom and hanging it up there.

Can't wait to see how long it takes for one of my students or colleagues to see it and comment.  When they do, I'll say I'm proud to have a teddy bear version of my favorite baseball player and some guy named Wally.

Thank you Xavier!  Sorry it took me four months to open up your care package.  Hopefully it only takes me a few weeks to hammer out the highlights from the rest of your box.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Six Pack Sunday

Summer if officially in full swing.  We're past the halfway mark in the 2025 MLB season.  The Midsummer Classic is in two days.  And Mother Nature has cranked up the heat around here.

If I was a beer guy, today would be a perfect day for a six pack.  But I'm not... so instead I'll be cracking open six packs of 1996 Pinnacle Denny's baseball cards.

Each pack contains one "full motion" hologram and a card explaining how to view them:

Before we get into the pack break, there is one specific card I am hoping to pull.  This is also the perfect time to explain the different types of holograms inserted into these packs.

The main set contains twenty-eight players... one from each of the twenty-eight teams in the league (at the time).  The base card features a nice design consisting of the player's photo and name, along with a holographic "action shot":

1996 Pinnacle Denny's Holograms #15

In addition to the twenty-eight base cards, Pinnacle also produced ten Grand Slam inserts that were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:56 packs.

Even though he only had one career grand slam leading up to the release of this product, Pinnacle decided to include Tony Gwynn in this set.  Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of this card.  That's why back in October of last year, I purchase forty packs in hopes of eventually pulling one.

If I do, it'll go nicely next to this card:

1996 Pinnacle Denny's Grand Slam Artist Proof #4

Pinnacle created a parallel set of Grand Slam inserts.  The only difference is the tiny yellow "artist proof" stamp in the bottom lefthand corner of the card.

Okay... let's tear into my six packs:

Well... I didn't pull that insert of Gwynn.  But considering they're pretty tough to pull, that's not a big surprise.  I'm a little surprised that I pulled duplicates of Jay Bell.  Now that's beating the odds.

The only hall of famer I pulled was Jeff Bagwell.  There are a total of eleven hall of famers on this set's checklist, so I fell a little short of the average.

Switching gears... but trying to stay with the six pack theme... I wanted to show off some cool PC stuff I received in a care package from Reader X a couple months ago.

Let's start off with my beloved A's:

This is a solid six pack featuring two Reggies, two Soderstrom rookie cards, and the Bash Brothers.

Next up, my favorite National League team:

A very shiny Gwynn highlights this six pack that also contains a Jackson Merrill rookie card, two Tatis Jr. cards, and a pair of Joe Musgrove cards.  

Xavier also knows that I collect Los Angeles Lakers cards:

He has become my biggest source of Lebron James Lakers cards.  In addition to these three new Lebron cards, he also included a shiny D'Angelo Russell and a pair of Sparks.

There were a ton of Japanese baseball players in his care package.  It wasn't easy, but I narrowed it down to these six:

I could have filled this entire six pack with Ohtani's, but I wanted to spread the love around to guys like Kodai Senga, Shota Imanaga, and of course Ichiro Suzuki.

Xavier also knows I enjoy collecting guys like Clayton Kershaw, Greg Maddux, and Jose Altuve... along with inserts and parallels of hall of famers:

His care package included a nice stack of A&G minis.  Maybe one of these days I'll start my own Frankenset.

The last two six packs feature two Bay Area teams that I don't really go out of my way to collect... but some of my students do:

Whenever anyone sends me Giants, I usually stop to see if there's anything I want for my own personal collection.  This time around, I grabbed two.  I didn't have a copy of that Mays insert in my binder.  The other card I pulled was the Matt Chapman refractor.  He might be pictured as a Giant, but he'll always be an Oakland Athletic to this collector.

He also usually sends me a nice stack of Golden State Warriors, who I started collecting back in the early 2010's (until they started winning titles).  I ended up pulling the two Steph inserts and sliding them into my binder, but don't worry... he sent me a few other Curry cards for my students.

The final six pack of the day contains my favorite six from Xavier's care package (in no particular order):

2024 Topps Cosmic Chrome Galactic Greatness #GG-17

I have never seen this insert set before, but when I held this Rickey in my hand... I was in awe of its beauty.  

2024 Topps Allen & Ginter #224

I had never heard of John John Florence until reading the back of this card, but it's the newest addition to my collection of surfers.  Technically, he also fits into my collection of athletes born in Hawaii.

2024 Topps Chrome Update #153

Merrill started off his sophomore season smoking hot, but the past month or so he's struggled a lot.  I'm not worried though.  He's young, athletic, and will hopefully be the future of this Padres organization.

Speaking of Padres... how about a card of Mr. Padre:

2024 Topps Allen & Ginter #283

I almost swapped out the shiny Prizm Gwynn for this Ginter base card, but in the end... I liked the appearance of the doughnut and personalized wristband.

2024 Stadium Club Chief Fantasy Professionals #CFPRO-5

I haven't played fantasy baseball in years, but I gotta imagine Ohtani is the number one pick in almost every draft.  This guy is truly amazing in the batter's box and on the mound.

2024 Topps Update 1989 Baseball #89US-41

I'll wrap up this six pack and post with another Rickey Henderson.  This card represents more than just the all-time stolen base leader... it represents the 1989 Oakland Athletics... who won the World Series that season with the help of the mid-season addition of the Man of Steal.

Thank you Reader X for another thoughtful care package and thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post.

I'll be opening up more of these Denny's packs in hopes of pulling that Gwynn.  If any of you are building that set or are seeking specific singles, let me know down below in the comments and maybe I can help you out.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Unexpected Expenses & Surprises

Life is full of unexpected expenses and surprises.  Last month it was repairing my AC unit.  Yesterday it was replacing the alternator in my daily driver.  Oh man... what an adventure.

The story began on Thursday morning when I woke up early to hit up the Capitol Flea Market.  I noticed a slight hesitation when I tried starting my car.  It caught my attention, but didn't stop me from seeking treasures at my former favorite flea market.  The issue occurred again at the flea market, so I went straight to O'Reilly Auto Parts.  That's where I purchased my battery last summer.  They said it was fine, but that the alternator was dead/dying.  I immediately called my mechanic and he told me I could bring it in that day or tomorrow (Friday).

I was meeting up with some co-workers (we're all on spring break) for lunch on Friday, so I made plans to have my friend pick me up from the shop (after I dropped off my car).  We'd go to lunch and Trader Joe's, then she'd give me a ride home.

Unfortunately when I tried starting my car in the morning, the battery was dead.  Normally my portable jump starter would easily fix this issue, but it came up short.  AAA came to the rescue and got my car running.  However before letting me drive off... they had me turn on everything in my car (fan, lights, radio, etc.) and run the car for five minutes.  It lasted about three.  In other words, I wasn't driving my car anywhere until the alternator was replaced.

AAA originally sent out a truck that specializes in "jump starts", so they had to send out another truck to take me to my mechanic.  It was sort of embarrassing, because it sort of looked like my car was being repossessed.

Anyways to make an already long story... a little shorter... my mechanic installed a new alternator and had O'Reilly give me a new battery (it was under warranty).  As expected... it wasn't a cheap adventure.  Between that and the AC repair from early March... I had to dip into the rainy day fund.  But that's life.  It just means that I won't be making any large hobby purchases in the near future.

That's okay, because I have plenty of stuff to blog about... include some recent purchases I've made.  One of them was a 1996 Pinnacle Mint coin starter set I bought off of Greg over at The Collective Mind:

1996 Pinnacle Mint Football Coin Starter Set

Last month he left a comment on one of my Flea Market Finds posts where I bought the John Elway coin from this set.  We started exchanging some emails and he offered to send me what he had for free.  With the rise in shipping costs, I couldn't accept this offer unless I could pay him a nominal price for the set and cover the shipping.

I'm pretty stoked to add these coins to my collection.  I actually bought the 1997 and 1998 baseball coin sets back in 2023, but they didn't include this special coin display that Greg included.

He also tossed in a bunch of bonus material, some of which he mentioned in our emails.  The one I was most excited about was this awesome Brett Favre coin:

1996 Pinnacle Mint Nickel Coin #NNO

This shiny silver coin is so cool.  Pinnacle actually released a fine silver version of this coin, but you can easily tell them apart by looking at the back.  On the fine silver coins, they stamped the words "fine silver" under the word "CLUB".  According to this Beckett thread, both versions were inserted in packs.  However the fine silver coins came with a COA card.

The Favre was paired up with this Heath Shuler:

1996 Pinnacle Mint Nickel Coin #NNO

Pinnacle Mint also produced die-cut cards that collectors could match up with the coins.  Greg included twenty-one of them:

I'll definitely be hunting down the four remaining coins, but I'm not sure about the die-cut set.

Finally, he also sent me some cards for my PC's...

2024 Topps A&G Mini Exclusive #394

When I first pulled this card out of Greg's mailer, I just assumed that this card was your standard Ginter mini.  But in the process of writing this post, I discovered a very unexpected surprise.  This card was originally inside of his Masyn Winn rip card.

I completely forgot that he had damaged this card when he removed it and that I offered to give Shota a loving home in my Damaged Card PC.  What's even crazier is that I didn't even notice the damage and it's now sitting among the rest of my Imanaga cards.

Speaking of damaged, he also tossed in these miscut cards from the early 80's:

1981 Topps #472

1981 Topps #23

1981 Topps #323

These three look like they might have been lined up on the same sheet at one time.  Now they're lined up in the miscut section of my Damaged Card PC binder.

Next up is another card Greg pulled from his 2024 Topps Allen & Ginter box breaks:

2024 Topps A&G Foil Filagree #201

Yamamoto was outdueled last night by Paul Skenes, but he still pitched really well and is having a pretty stellar season.  This is a very nice addition to my collection.

Here's the third and final Ginter card that Greg sent me:

2023 Topps A&G Spotless Spans #SS-28

This card celebrates Rickey's 84 stolen bases before the 1982 MLB All-Star Game which took place on July 13th.  That's 84 stolen bases in 88 games.  To put that into perspective, the last time anyone stole 84 or more bases in a single season was in 1988.  The player?  Yup.  Rickey.

I don't remember this particular piece of baseball trivia, but there was a better than average chance that I attended at least a game or two when he swiped one of these 84 bases.

Oh and I almost forgot, here's another cool card from the 1996 Pinnacle Mint set that was part of this purchase:

1996 Pinnacle Mint Gold #9

I would have loved to pull this out of a pack back in the 90's.  These gold parallels were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:48 packs (or 1:3 hobby boxes).  This copy isn't in mint condition, but until I find an upgrade this card is going into my Brett Favre PC.

Thank you Greg for selling me the 1996 Pinnacle Mint Coin starter set and tossing in some really generous bonuses.  I spent about an hour scrolling through your "want" pages... but didn't come up with anything yet.  I'll start looking through your player collections next.

As for the rest of the people taking the time to read this post, I hope you encounter more unexpected and pleasant surprises in life than unexpected expenses.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!