I Live In A Metal Universe

I can make a Top 10 list of my favorite base card designs of the 90's, and I guarantee that 1996,1997, and 1998 Fleer Metal Universe all make the list.

That says a lot.

When @dan_haas found out my passion for this product, he said he had some to send me and did so.

When the mail day arrived I couldn't wait to open it up. How cool of a way to ship this to me? Original box (which I am keeping)

And the cards inside of the packs still. I am keeping an empty wrapper as well.

Here is a look at some of my favorite images from this group that Dan passed along to me.

Vlad always played like he was out of this world.

I wouldn't mind being left alone in the woods with Pedro if a bear attacks. He would just throw a fast ball and we would be good.

Tim Salmon under the ocean sea. Makes sense to me though I think adding an actual salmon to the background would have been even better.

 

If I can imagine the perfect card for a Seattle player, this is the one.

And I am showing Tino, just because. Tino was one of my favorite Yankees.

I need to update my set needs for metal now that these have arrived. So far, I am chasing sets for all years of baseball and football. Haven't decided if I can do the basketball ones with MJ and Kobe prices and hockey since that's my least favorite sport.

Thanks again to Dan for the mail day!! Really appreciate the set help.

Thoughts on your favorite card above or if you like Metal Universe in general in comments today.

REVIEW:2021 Topps Dynasty Baseball

First review of the new year is a product from last year.

Topps Dynasty was a product I could only dream of opening, but here I am opening it. There isn't much to this product other than trying to find one incredible card. The kind of product that can make your collecting dreams come true.

Did mine? Well, let's see:

Every box of 2021 Topps Dynasty comes with one card. That's it. Each box comes with an encased autograph patch card or cut signature numbered to 10 or less. Boxes....hoping you are sitting down.....cost $720 or so.

So here we go...

Hall Of Famer Pedro Martinez. Beautiful patch, though I will never get used to seeing him in anything not Red Sox.

 

Card back.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Box is really up there in cost and is a short break, but some of the hits you could possibly pull could double or triple your money back. You just have to get lucky. 

I don't think Pedro quite covers the cost of this box, but the card is so gorgeous regardless.

Thoughts on this product is welcomed in comments below!

Blast From The Past:1995 Flair Baseball Series 1 Pack Break

In 1999, a flick with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone called Blast From The Past came out. It was about a scientist named Calvin Webber who was played by Christopher Walken, that took his pregnant wife in a deep underground fallout shelter in 1962 when he thought a nuclear war was imminent. During that time, their son Adam played by Fraser (who seemed to had been in every late 90's movie) was born and was exposed to only the culture of 1962 in the shelter such as the music and TV shows of the time. Life was accustomed to not being at the surface. 

Fast forward 35 years later, their supplies and food was running low so someone would have to come above ground and take a risk to get new products. That was supposed to be Calvin, up until he was ill from stress from his one visit to the surface. So his son Adam would have to venture out in a world he had never met.....

This segment takes a look at products that may have been hidden in a underground fallout shelter for over 20 years and now just coming back out to be rediscovered....by me. Guess you can call me Adam even though my name is Matt. These are products I opened when I was first collecting and is a Part Of My Past, but may not have a memory or a Origins story to attach to them. Most products I post on here will, but some won't and those will be covered in this new segment.These products will be between the years of 1995-1999 only.

Let's just hope my experience with these breaks is better than Adams first visit to the surface.

So let's take a Blast From The Past with a one pack break of 1995 Flair baseball Series 1!

 

Each pack of 1995 Flair baseball comes with 9 cards. I landed this pack for less than $1 in a pack lot I won that actually included two of these. One I am keeping sealed.

Here is a blast from the past, the card back with odds.

I bought a lot of Flair back in 1995. Between the 1994 and 1995 design, I was sold on 1995. I didn't buy much baseball though as my focus at the time was on football but I did pick up a few packs just simply for the design alone. I still have a few of those cards kicking around so these will add to it.

Let's take a look if I had any success pulling any inserts.

Tommy Greene played for three teams between 1989-1997. He currently is a post game analyst for the Phillies and finished 38-25 with a 4.14 ERA.

Trevor Hoffman played for 18 seasons for a multitude of teams including 15 for the Padres alone which is where I know him from best. He was 61-75 with a 2.87 ERA.

Raul Mondesi played for 7 teams including my Yankees over a 13 year career. He hit .273 with 271 career dingers.

My arch nemesis Pedro Martinez pitched for five teams in 17 seasons. He was most known to me as a Red Sox pitcher who always started up trouble against the Yankees. but, he was very good. Went to multiple All Star games, led the MLB in ERA many time, led AL in ERA and won a World Series title. 219-100 and with an ERA of 2.93 is how he finished his career.

The Crime Dog Mcgriff played for six teams in 18 seasons. He was a five time All Star, World Series Champion and a 2 time Home Run leader. He batted .284 and fell just short of 500 home runs with 493. I think he should un-retire just to get to 500.

Karl Tuffy Rhodes didn't play in the majors long. It's probably the 13 home runs and the .224 batting average that didn't help.

Mike Munoz was 18-20 with a 5.19 whopping ERA

Reggie Sanders played for 8 teams in roughly 16 plus years. But, for me he wore this Reds uniform and that's where I know him best from. He was an All Star in 1995 and won a title in 2001. He had 305 Home Runs and a .267 batting average.

 

And finally, Tony Longmire who had a short career with a 3 home runs and a .285 batting average.

Overall, Pedro, Hoffman and Mondesi carried the worth of the break. Well, besides the most important part to me, the nostalgia. Nostalgia runs deep with both the designs, smells (who doesn't smell the cards?), and players. I don't always recognize all of the names in baseball as my collecting back then was football focused, but quite a few I do still.

Hope this Blast From The Past brought you back as well. There are many more to uncover in this series.

Unsolved Mysteries Episode 1

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. I swear that song could have been used in the movie Halloween it's so creepy. It gives me the chills still*

My mother in law had driven to a remote location where they held monthly estate sales and she went there looking for some furniture. That's when she walked through the door and immediately noticed this pile of cards. She stuck them under the table knowing she would go back once she found out a price.

She went looking for someone to ask how much when a man walked over to her.
"How much for the sports cards?"
The man told asked her, "Do you plan on taking them all?"
She politely responded, "yes."
"Well then, how does $25 for them all sound?"
 "Sounds good."

She hadn't expected quite a deal on them since most of the times when she hunts down cards for me from these kind of lots and they are $25 for each item. She was afraid she would have to leave some behind, but now she didn't. Whoever this man was that day, he had given her a blessing. But why? Was he trying to just get rid of them? Were they all base cards? Were they all damaged? Or was there more to the story.

We need to solve this mystery and find the answers by looking at what the contents were.

A almost filled base set of 2002 Ex baseball.

Why is it almost filled? Why not have finished it? Mysteries Unsolved.

Four incredible looking NASCAR die cut inserts. Why would you toss these in the box? What kind of cruel monster would just toss these and not keep them?

Is this a memorabilia card? Or is it a plain insert? Hmmm...

Two hologram cards I haven't ever seen but now want a set of. Were these purposely planted in there?

Brett Bodine autograph was a first random find. There were some cards in screwdown holders that were the best of the box, but why have this random card without a sleeve tucked into the box unprotected?

Rickey Henderson....enough of a mystery.

Who are the Expos...another mystery.

Why was a Boomer Esiason rookie card just tossed in there? Very random as it was the only '86 Topps card of the lot.

Kobe Bryant insert? I am Starstruck by why he would do this.

Four Triple Doubles. The mystery is deep here when it should be three to make it a Triple.

 

And to end this section, a player I have never heard of. Was he missing in action or was I when he played baseball?

This does it for Episode One 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.

The First Unraveling

It's time to reveal Cube #1 in my box of goodies from Wes over at Area 40 blog. I won't be showing off every card from each of the cubes, just the key ones from each.

I will say though that these cubes gave me so many mixed emotions. They brought me back to my childhood collecting, they showed me things I haven't seen before, there were surprises and never ending fun in each one. If these were sold in stores, they would sell like hot cakes! Especially for us bloggers who I know would enjoy opening something like this. Wes Repacks....

This cube kicks off with Jose Reyes at the top. Not sure which Upper Deck product this was from, but once again I always enjoy a clear full bleed photo from Upper Deck.

Jo Adell has a bright future with the Angels and this is another card for my rookies PC of him. As always I am chasing the next big rookie..hitter that is.

Speaking of talent, how good has this guy been since he has been with the Nationals? This is my first rookie card of him. Glad to finally have one. Normally I don't chase pitchers, except Randy Johnson but there are many reasons for that, but if they fall into my lap I will take em.

I got Bip'd!

San Diego Chicken. As creepy as he looks, I have been wanting to add some of these older versions of this card. The only one I have is the newer versions.

I hadn't seen these Mascot Madness hologram inserts til my last Wes mail day. I may try to build this set now. Youppi is a new one I didn't have.

Pedro Prism. I have always loved this line. Both 1994 and 1995 looked amazing for football and baseball. I am still hunting down my 1995 Prism football set and still need the gold parallel of Rodney Hampton from it.

Some IP and TTM autographs. Gary Gaetti, George Foster, Bill Fahey, and Gabe Gagne. These old school guys really know how to sign. However, out of these names, I think Gaetti is the only one I actually watched play.

After looking through Cube 1, I felt like Santiago on this Gallery Of Stars card.

My face widens even more as we go on. Lot's more to see from the Cubes.

Random Card On My Desk:2001 Fleer Tradition League Leader Pedro Martinez

90's Flashback:1998 Upper Deck Collectors Choice StarQuest One Star Pedro Martinez

For a low end product, I think StarQuests were some of the more fun inserts in the 90's. Some years looked better than others, but still, they all were fun to collect.