The Grady Bunch 2: More Baseball

When Sport Card Collectors reader and fan Grady M sends a box of goodies, he really sends it.

It's packed with every sport including wrestling. It's got tons of variety and plenty of shiny stuff as he knows I am a fan of.

I know many bloggers and collectors are not fans of Panini's baseball products, but I will emphasize again that I am.

This Rickey Henderson is fire. It's numbered to his career home run total. So shiny!

Good mix of pink players, red and purples

Some insert pinks

Let's sing it together, BABY PUCKETT DOO DOO DOO BABY PUCKETT DOO DOO DOO BABY PUCKETT

SHINY PUCKETT DOO DOO DOO SHINY PUCKETT DOO DOO DOO SHINY PUCKETT

Okay enough with that. One would guess it's stuck in your head by now.

I found two of these 2010's Decades Best inserts in the box and even found an unannounced parallel....

Seems like a fitting parallel.

Well, that does it for Post 2. One more post to go. The final post from this box relates to one player and one player only. Question is, can you guess it?

The Collector And Rod

Mail days have been trickling in just enough to keep the blog posts flowing.

Chris over at The Collector ran a series of freebie Fridays that has overtaken the blogosphere and I was fortunate enough to score a few cards from it.

Alonzo Mourning Pro Visions towards my set chase.

My boy John Starks!

And a 90's insert with Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Thanks Chris for the mail day!

My next mail day arrived in two separate envelopes from Rod over at Padrographs. He had two cards up for grabs one day for my PC so I luckily was able to land em.

This Kirby Puckett is not only a great looking card with a nice photo, but it crosses a need off my set chase.

I have always been a Contenders fan, so grabbing an autograph Draft Ticket was a just because. I also know a Texas fan I may RAK it to. You know, Pay It Forward.

Thanks again Rod!

I hope to repay the favor at some point and give back to the blogging world. I have been thinking of a way, just gotta lay it out better and make sure it's limited to only bloggers.

Unsolved Mysteries Episode 2

This blog post series is about unraveling unsolved mysteries from a card lot my mother-in-law bought me from an estate sale. What you are about to see isn't a breaking news broadcast or some new releases. There is a lot to go through here so whenever possible, I will try to condense down some of the graphics and whenever possible, real cards from the actual lot (well all of them are from the actual lot but let's have some fun with it) will be used for pictures.

Someone, somewhere can help me uncover the mysteries within this lot. Let's take a look and maybe one of you, will help me solve some mysteries.

*insert creepy music and theme song*

The location is still completely unknown where my Mother In Law went to grab this lot of sports cards other than it was a Estate Sale. Belief is, it was somewhere isolated as nobody grabbed them before she did. It may be the only explanation on why someone wouldn't have grabbed this lot before she showed up three hours after it started. Or maybe it was because the cards were more than they were expecting? Or was it a government conspiracy? I guess we will have to tune in to today's round and maybe you can help solve this mystery.

These Fleer All-Stars inserts are from 1993. They have a fairly decent design that would have fit better as a base card design than a 90's insert. Darren must know that or knows something possibly relating to this lot. Nobody makes a bluffing face better than he does.

Three Diamond Kings but only one Gallery of Stars. Mystery written all over it....

Two mid-tier players when it comes to the hobby and a more powerful one in Greg Maddux. Why would Greg had been left behind with two mediocre hobby power players?

Never knew that Jose Rijo was a League Leader....

Did the owner of these cards collect Nomar or the Red Sox? Or did the candy entice him because it came with an Upper Deck card? Or maybe he just liked the red licorice and the card was a bonus. It's a Twizzler of questions that need to be answered.

Some early 2000's Upper Deck hockey Young Guns. I don't know any of these players but Young Guns are Young Guns. They have to have some value or do they...

This was the one and only Donruss Classics card in the lot and is numbered of the great Stan Musial. But, why was he alone that day? And why Stan?

Shiny cards never get left behind...then why were they?

At one point Mark was a Hobby Master than he fell into some trouble later on his career. It's still a mystery on why he did what he did...

This Mike Piazza insert contains 4 out of 6 known steroid users in what was supposed to be called a Superstar Summit. It seems to me it needs to be renamed because real Superstars don't cheat, but what would you call it?

 

Back To Back Mike Piazza inserts to finish today's look at the lot. Did this collector have luck pulling Mike or did they collect him?

This does it for Episode Two of Unsolved Mysteries. There is a lot of unexplained findings here with even more mysteries to unravel. Tune in next time and Perhaps YOU, can help solve a mystery.

1997 Upper Deck UD3 Baseball Pack # 4

This makes pack # 4 out of 24 and we are back on track with hitting the good players. Today's pack consisted of some pretty solid ones as you will see as you read on.

This also marks 12 cards out of 60 for the set so doing well there so far too.

Pack #5 will roll out tomorrow!

 

Thoughts on today's pack are welcomed!

Breakin Wax:1989 Donruss Baseball 1-Pack Break

Kickin off my week of Jammin JDcard retro breaks, is the one and only pack that wasn't from the 90's but is an iconic one and definitely an overproduced one. Time to rip open a pack of 1989 Donruss baseball.

In every pack of 1989 Donruss baseball, you get 15 cards and 3 Puzzle pieces. Jammin JDcards currently has them for .50 per pack. You can't go wrong with the rookies you could land, especially my boy Griffey. You can find this one and all retro packs HERE.

Here are my three puzzle pieces:

Now it's time to roll out the cards!

Brett and Fisk great finds!

And the rest of the best.

Overall, not a great pack and no Griffey, but for 50 cents, I still find it a great bargain with some of the players I pulled.

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TOPIC:
Easy, what are your thoughts on '89 Donruss?

Breakin Wax:1989 Upper Deck Baseball 1-Pack Break

Every time I think about ICONIC products in my era of collecting, one that keeps popping up is 1989 Upper Deck.

The product that put Upper Deck on the map and one that kicked off what would turn out to be an amazing company that put out some pretty amazing products over it's 26 years. Upper Deck may not be the powerhouse they once were, all because of licensing and other companies know that, but they are still putting out their A-Game with every release. Personally, I like to go back and bust older Upper Deck product to remember what once was and hopefully will be again someday.

So let's go do that. Let's remember what Upper Deck put out for baseball. Some incredible stuff. Let's get rip my final break from my Graded Greats box. Bring on the 1989 Upper Deck baseball pack!

In every pack of 1989 Upper Deck, there are 15 cards and at least one hologram. Packs now can be found for a bargain at under $3. You can find rookie cards of Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio and what I consider to be the most iconic card in Upper Deck history, the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. If you don't own one of those, you need to make that a center point of your collection. Everyone needs one.

The design, if you hadn't seen it, was a bit different compared to the newer Upper Deck products. Newer ones provide us with wide open photography, these have a border. But, a fun border. On the right hand side the border consists of outfield grass and infield dirt. Or that's the way I see it. Team logo runs on the side as well.

The photography is like most UD photography, fun. Most products in that era featured "player only" photography, but as always Upper Deck thought outside the box and used game shots.

This particular card is for my Yankees PC.

 

Here is what the back of the card looks like. It comes with Upper Deck's "Seal Of Approval" as I call it with the "counterfeit proof" hologram.

I was a bit surprised to find this damaged card in the pack. Luckily it wasn't a Griffey......

But none of my pack was a Griffey....

I saved this card for last, it was my favorite from the pack. Kirby was an amazing player to watch and I really like the photograph on this card. It truly captures the games strategy.

And my hologram, well two holograms, are both from the SF Giants. Gotta love holograms.

 

Overall, nothing big here. I got a new Yankees PC card, a Kirby Puckett card, and a hologram that I can use in my collection. I wished I had hit one of the big rookies but I guess that just means I will have to go back and try again :)

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TOPIC:

What are your guys thoughts on 1989 Upper Deck? Where do you rank it amongst iconic brands/products? Do you own a '89 UD Griffey rookie? Let's hear that and other thoughts you may have!

Off Hiatus Baseball Card Blog Mail Day

Recently, Off Hiatus Baseball Card Blog celebrated their 1 year blogversary. As a way to celebrate, he sent out many packages to readers who listed off what they collect or would want for a mail day. I of course listed NYY and Ken Griffey Jr.

Later that day, he emailed me asking if I would prefer something off my most wanted list instead of the Yankees and Griffey. If not, he would still send Yankees.  I couldn't say no to the most wanted list. My most wanted list is my main wants in the hobby and if I have a chance to knock some cards off that list, I will take it any day.

Fast forward a few days and these four rookie cards arrived helping me knock four more off my list

Wade Boggs. You could technically call this a Yankees PC add too.

Same thing for "The Rocket"

Always wanted a Kirby, I mean, who wouldn't. The guy was one of the greats.

 

And finally, Jim Kelly's Rookie. Now that I have Kelly in hand, only Marino and Young remains for rookies I need from that era.

Awesome mail day overall and a big thanks goes out to Tony for his generosity. If you haven't checked out his blog yet, you are missing out. Go give it a view today!!

Flashback Product: 1985 Fleer Baseball Rack Box

24 rack packs per box
Key Rookies: Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett

Boxes run around $300. These are hard to find!