Wax (Heaven) Pack

Mario at Wax Heaven sent a few cards my way to cheer me up and it worked. Like Mark at Stats on the Back, he sent the cards in little mini packs of three or four inside penny sleeves. Since it's a quick, easy and cool post, here's the first of three packs from Mario.

(note: I hit post accidentally so this has now become a live blog complete with embarrassing typos)

2009 Topps Attax Chipper Jones Code Card

Mario posted this card on his blog as part of his Attax review so the code has probably been used ages ago by now. I haven't taken the time to check out ToppsTown yet so I'm not really concerned. I'm going to to a review of Attax sooner or later so I'll leave the complaining about the back of the card for then. The front isn't bad as far as game cards go. If you're wondering about the numbers at the bottom, basically the gameplay is a game of War between the batter and pitcher. APBA it ain't. Chipper is somewhat unstoppable compared to some of the pitcher cards I've seen. Foil versions are even better statwise, so a Gold Chipper is probably one of the best in the set.

2009 Spectrum Chipper Jones

I don't like Spectrum and its $7.50 pack price or Kim Karwhositsface autographs. I do however like the shiny purple holofoil with what appears to be lasers zapping all over the place. The lasers appear to have zorched off Chipper's feet.

The backs look pretty good too, even if it does remind me a bit of UDX. Come to think of it, EVERYTHING Upper Deck has done recently reminds me of UDX. The lasers look more like those spotlights that they use in movie premiers and used car dealerships on the back. That's appropriate considering the set relies on Hollywood autographs extensively and the set is a bit of a lemon. I'll say it right now, though, THIS card looks mighty nice, even though most everyone (including me) likes to bash on the set. It's still probably going to be the only '09 Spectrum card ever featured on the blog though, so get a good look at it.

2009 Topps Heritage Greg Maddux

I wish MLB copied the NFL practice of signing players to one day contacts so they could retire with their long time team. I'm still going to hold out hope that he gets itchy and signs with some team midseason. Actually I'm really hoping he pulls a one game comeback with the Braves like Phil Niekro did in '87. Man, I love this set. I don't think orange, yellow, black and red with a blue uniform is really supposed to work together as far as color matching goes, but it looks good to me on this card.

The cartoon is hilarious. I can see Greg chugging away with his tongue hanging out as he steals that record breaking base. Check out that career stat line. Five THOUSAND innings pitched. Wow. The 2008 stat line is a little disappointing, but it's still not bad for someone who had the Padres' offensive offense backing him up. My favorite stat on the card? 355. One more than a certain juicy fruit fireballer from Texas.

Awesome stuff from Mario and there's still 6 more cards to show off. I tried to find some Cansecos to send him, but it's hard to find something The Completist doesn't have. I'll keep looking though, it's like a Holy Quest for the Oddball Jose. Thanks again Mario!