What's in the box?

Monthly subscriptions boxes are usually gimmicky and Topps doesn't disappoint if you're into this sort of thing.  Back in April, I learned about their Future Stars Club, which is a monthly subscription box club for card collectors.

The subscription costs $24.99 + tax and members will receive a blaster box, a five card set, and a bonus item.

In April, we received an Opening Day blaster with a set featuring left-handed power hitting outfielders:

As you can see Topps managed to fit Yordan Alvarez into their set to attract rookie card collectors like myself.  The design itself is simple with a Topps Kids feel.  Here's a peek at the card backs:

I can't see green backs without thinking of 1977 or 1982 Topps.  And the bonus item was a Topps Future Stars Club patch which will probably get tossed into a box of miscellaneous items and forgotten until I dig it up in a few years.

I had originally planned to review the Opening Day blaster, but it never happened and the cards have since been sorted and scattered all over the place.  I can't even remember what I pulled which isn't a very good sign.

A few days ago, I received my May subscription box.  This month we received a 2020 Topps Series One blaster along with a five card set featuring National League Rookie of the Year Award recipients:

This bonus set reminds me of the 1992 Topps card design and features blue backs:

The bonus item is a Topps Future Stars Club sticker with a Bryce Harper facsimile signature on it.  As for the Series One blaster, I haven't opened it.  Without summer school, I'm sure there will be days when I'm bored out of my mind.  I'll save it for then.

Honestly... I was really hoping to receive a Big League blaster, but that isn't scheduled until next month.

Overall... this is just another one of those Topps "money grab" schemes, but if you're the type of collector who is planning on buying a blaster box anyways... then it's not too bad of a deal.  You're able to cancel your membership at any time.  And even though I'm not the biggest fan of retail wax, after factoring in the bonus cards... I made the decision to stick with it.

If you're interested in checking it out, click here.

Well that's it for today.  On Monday I have a different kind of box that I'll be writing about... along with some really cool autographs a fellow blogger sent me.

Until then...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Like Winning the Lottery

Regardless of whether or not you're a fan of hockey... or a fan of game used memorabilia cards, I think you will appreciate this post because it features an interesting hobby history lesson and a true piece of sports history.

Without further ado...

The idea of taking a piece of game-used memorabilia, cutting it up, and embedding it into a card might be boring to a lot of collectors in today's hobby.  Most aren't very rare and even when they are... we have to rely on the card company's certificate of authenticity or lack thereof.

It's kind of a shame, because there was a time when pulling one of these nifty and innovative cards made you feel like you won the lottery.

Today's post is about one of those cards.

Twenty years ago, In The Game purchased a pair of Georges Vézina game-used goalie pads.  He is one of the nine hall of famers inducted as part of the Inaugural Class of 1945 and the annual award given to the best goalie in the league is named after him.

The company quickly captured the attention of collectors when they decided to cut up the pads and embed them into cards.  It's one thing to cut up a Mike Trout jersey in this era, since he probably wears a dozen or more throughout a normal season.  But these particular pads are believed to be the only ones Vézina used during his time with the Montreal Canadians from 1917 to 1925.  If that's true, they're one-of-a-kind and many people felt like they should be preserved at the Hockey Hall of Fame and not butchered.

But the fate of these pads had already been determined and the hunt to pull one of these memorabilia cards was officially on.  As you might have guessed, the cards were very, very, very tough to pull.  They were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:2,400 which is 1:100 boxes.  I've never pulled anything quite as epic as one of these cards, but my buddy Nate did.

Check it out:

2000-01 Be A Player Memorabilia Vezina Memorabilia #V-9

Nate wasn't a huge card collector, but he'd bust a box from time to time searching for Sergei Federov cards.  Not sure if he found any in this box, but I'm sure he didn't really care after he opened the pack and saw this card.  I can't remember the specifics, but I'm guessing we both celebrated like he won the lottery.

He eventually donated the card to my collection... where it still resides to this day.  We joke about it from time to time, because I think I ended up giving him a box of Hostess mini powdered donuts in return.  Those delicious treats were key pieces of trade bait in several of our hockey card transactions.  Of course it wasn't an official trade.  Just two buddies hooking each other up.

The set honors a bunch of Vezina Trophy winners, which is why Patrick Roy is also featured on the the front of this card.  He won the award three times in a span of four seasons and is recognized three times in this set.  This particular card celebrates him winning the award in 1992.

Prices for singles have dropped significantly over the past twenty years, but they don't pop up on the secondary market very frequently, so building this set would be a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I might as well kill two birds with one stone and use this card as my Day 5 submission for Tim B.'s 7 Day Trading Card Challenge, which is to show off your favorite "other" sport card in your collection.

This Vezina was one of the first cards that came to mind when thinking about this particular challenge.

Here are a few others that were in the running:

Soccer: 1979 Topps NASL Stickers #23

My soccer collection is tiny with the majority of the singles being autographs or memorabilia cards of Chris Wondolowski.  None of them stood out to me as much as this forty-one year old sticker.

Olympic: 2009 UD Goodwin Champions Autograph #A-YA

Until they create a trading card of Evelyn Kawamoto (my mom's cousin), this autograph will be my favorite Olympic trading card.  Yamaguchi was my celebrity college crush back in the early 90's and a Bay Area legend.

UFC: 2016 Topps Museum Collection Archival Autographs #AA-AC

My favorite fighter is Jon Jones... and I do own an autographed card of his.  However I'd choose Arianny over him any day of the week.

Boxing: 1956 Adventure R749 #22

This card features Sugar Ray Robinson (one of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all-time) and Bobo Olsen (one of my father's all-time favorite boxers), which makes this my all-time favorite boxing card.

Wrestling: 2016 Leaf Originals #HH1

I'm a huge fan of the Leaf Originals wrestling autographs and it came down to my favorite wrestler, Ricky Steamboat and the guy who got me interested in wrestling.  It was a tough decision, but I went with the latter.

Surfing: 2009 UD Goodwin Champions Autographs #A-TC

Thanks to my cousins in Hawaii and movies like North Shore, I was very into professional surfing back in the mid 80's... and Tom Curren was my favorite surfer.  His autograph isn't much to look at, but this is hands down my favorite surfer card.

Horse Racing: 2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Authentic Collection #20

I don't really follow horse racing.  But do you really need to in order to appreciate a card like this?  I pulled this card out of a pack myself... and it definitely felt like I won the lottery.

Well that's all I have for today.  Here is your question of the day:

Have you ever opened a pack of cards and felt like you just won the lottery?

If not...

What's the best card (either sentimental or monetary) you ever pulled from a pack?

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Baseball's Oddest Fraternity

Rickey Henderson isn't just one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all-time, he's also a member of Baseball's Oddest Fraternity.  What's that?  Well... according to the Wall Street Journal, it's a rare group of MLB players who throw left-handed, but bat righty.  Switch hitters need not apply.

1998 Donruss Signature Series Significant Signatures #NNO

2016 Topps Tier One Autographs #T1A-RJO

Randy Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Rube Waddell, and Carl Hubbell are members of this fraternity as well as members of Baseball's Hall of Fame, however Rickey is the only positional player to be a member of both clubs.

2015 Gypsy Queen Autographed Relics #AR-RH

2014 Gypsy Queen Autograph #GQA-RH

According to this ESPN article, only five non-pitchers (as of 2015) in MLB history have played in 1,000 or more games while throwing left-handed and batting right-handed.  In other words, it's not very common.  Why?  Well...

If you're a left-handed kid, you're probably bummed that you're not usually allowed to play four out of the nine positions.  But at least there are a few advantages when stepping into the batter's box.  First off, you're one step closer to first base.  And since most pitchers are right-handed, left-handed batters get more opportunities to see the ball better.

2017 Topps Definitive Collection Autographed Relic #DCAR-RH

So why did Rickey decide to start swinging the bat from the right side of the plate?  Well when his brother would drag him down to the local baseball field to play, that's how all of the other kids hit... so he watched and copied them.

2018 Topps Diamond Icons Autographs #AC-RH

As Brian over at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary pointed out a couple of Sundays ago... can you imagine how many more ground balls he might have beat out had he batted lefty.  Regardless... Rickey still had a super successful career.  He ended up with 3,055 MLB hits and a .279 career batting average.

2014 Topps Class Rings #CR-14

Tomorrow is the anniversary of his MLB debut.  On June 24th, 1979 he started in left field against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum and hit a double off of John Henry Johnson in his first at-bat.  The next time up, he hit a single and then proceeded to steal second base.  Not too shabby of a start to one helluva career.

By the way, I may not have made it out of Little League... but I also fall into the category of batting right-handed while throwing with my left hand.  Plus... I actually was allowed to play second base for several years... however I'll save that baseball oddity for a future blog post.

In the meantime...
 

What are your favorite or least favorite memories of The Man of Steal?

I'll never forget going to the Oakland Coliseum as a kid and rooting for Rickey.

1984 Mother's Cookies #28

Until the day he was traded to the New York Yankees, he was my favorite player and probably the favorite player of most kids my age living in my neighborhood.  It seemed like he'd get on base at least once or twice each game.

1982 Topps #610

After that he was guaranteed to terrorize pitchers and entertain fans as he slowly crept further and further away from the bag, while dangling his fingers, before taking off...

If by chance you are too young to have seen him play and are not quite familiar with just how good Rickey was, here's a SB Nation video that does a pretty good job of summing things up:

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Spring Cleaning and Feeling Good

Spring cleaning is finally coming to an end.  I'm in the final stages of cleaning out my bathroom, office, and half of the garage.  It's been hard on the back, but refreshing and satisfying to the mind.

If things go as planned... I will have everything sorted and ready to either dump, donate, or sell by the time I lay down tonight.  It's truly a great feeling.

But before I head into the garage, I wanted to quickly show off a pair of packages I recently received as well as promote a contest being held by one of our own.

First up is my very first Keston Hiura memorabilia card that Greg over at The Collective Mind sent me:

2020 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection #CCR-KH

I remember seeing it on his blog back in March when he busted four retail boxes of Heritage.  This pairs up really well with the rookie card collection I've been putting together of Hiura.  Now I just need to pick up a reasonably priced on-card autograph to complete the Sports Card Trifecta.

Thank you Greg for keeping me in mind when you stumble across guys like Kurt Suzuki, Tony Gwynn, and Keston Hiura!  It's much appreciated.

Next up was a thoughtful package of cards from Duff over at Comatoad on Cards.  He broke things down into four categories:


Category #1:  Cards for Fun

If Daniel Mengden's mustache or Coco Crisp's afro isn't fun, I'm not sure what fun is.


Category #2:  Olympic Leftovers

Duff had wrote a post about extra Olympic cards he had laying around and I had showed an interest in quite a few.  These are only part of the cards he sent.  A few of these cards will be featured in a future post.  Stay tuned.


Category #3:  SI for Kids

SI for Kids cards rule.  Where else would you find cards of Stanford's Logan Tom or UCLA's Keira Goeri?


Category #4:  Awesome Padres Cards

I'm always excited to receive San Diego Padres cards... especially when it involves a Tony Gwynn card I didn't own.  I've been trying to track down all of the Oakland A's and San Diego Padres Diamond Kings cards.  Now I'm one step closer to reaching the goal.

Thanks Duff for this very generous package of cards.  I love how you divided things up for me into little team bags.

I'll wrap things up by promoting a contest being held over at Welcome to Chavez Ravining.  He's giving away a few different prize packages, including a pack of 2020 Topps T206.  It's simple to enter.  All you need to do is comment on his contest post with the card or set that jump started your collection.  There are opportunities for you to earn bonus entries, but you can learn about that by clicking here.

Well that's it for today.  Gotta finish cleaning up.  Happy Monday and sayonara!