Some '74s

Miscut

Scratched

Waxed

Corner Chomped

Creased, Scribbled on, Dog Eared

Beat to All Hell

All Perfect.

Aliens on my wall

I've got all lazy this weekend so you'll have to wait for your Topps Series 2 Cobb pack. While fuzing around the interwebs I stumbled across this:

Gigantic Mars Attacks cards you can stick on your walls. These wall graphics are described as being kind of like FatHeads but not. These are made out of the, um, optimal media solution for sticking and unsticking without getting stuck whatever that means. They look pretty damn cool at any rate and with 55 subjects for sale, it looks like the entire Mars Attacks checklist is available including the horrible ones, the heartwarming ones, and my personal favorite. You can even pony up for the complete set. Topps has apparently given their approval for this and are also doing Wacky Packages and baseball card wrappers. I was initially worried about taking money out of Woody Gelman's kids' mouths by promoting bootleg alien horror wallgraphics but it's all licensed and legit. 

The really BIG ones are a little pricey at over a hundred a pop, but you can get one sized to fit your laptop for 15 bucks. I must say I'm very tempted. Now how about a new Topps Archives combo Mars Attacks/Dinosaurs Attack set Topps?

2010 Topps Series 2 - First pack, take two

Ok, I'm going to try this again. Here's the full post with no vanished images. Enjoy.

I got four packs of Topps Series two yesterday. When I first got to the shop, there were two packs left int he open box with Ty Cobb on the wrapper. The owner opened up a fresh box for me, I took one of the Tys from the first box and one pack each of the other wrapper subjects from the fresh box. The packs I got from the new box were... odd. I sort of wish I had picked up a couple more to see if the whole box was like that or if I am lucky at finding mutants. I opened the Babe first because he's the Babe.

586 Roy Oswalt

Roy in his last Topps card as an Astro. I've always liked Roy as a pitcher, I wish there was some way the Braves could flip Derek Lowe and a couple of prospects for Roy.

423 Brad Bergesen

I have no idea who this guy is. Man, I hope after a very nice selection of photographs in Series one, we're not back to the same pose on every card shenanigans Topps pulled a couple of years ago.

452 Allen Craig RC

I really like the new RC logo. The old one was too damn big and in your face. This one is more understated and doesn't walk all over the design.

480 Boston Red Sox

Team card blah blah blah. Where have I seen this picture before?

CMT71 Eddie Mathews Yo Momma

Awwww yeaaaah. I haven't finished the first one yet, but who cares. More Yo Mommas.

 VLC13 Eddie Murray Vintage Legends

This caused me to do a double take. Two 1964 Topps cards in the pack? It dawned on me that this was the anachronistic insert set new to this series. This doesn't look all that bad actually. Why Topps had to show off that ugly '87 Cy Young on the sell sheet I don't really know.

HWS24 Chase Utley History of the World Series

This insert set can go to hell. 25 cards and not one mention of any Braves World Series?? It's not like I'm an Astros fan bitching that my team's lone appearance was left out, The 1914 series was a miracle! The 1991 Series was the best of all time! This gets thrown on the pile with the "When they were Young" cards.

You sketch it card

I think these are one per box, same odds as a Red Hot Rookie redemption. I'd prefer the redemption. You can scribble on one of these and send it off to Topps, but there's an interesting clause on the back:

Sketches should be based only on photographs used in 2010 Topps or Bowman products. 

Well, there goes my 1981 Topps Al Hrabosky tribute. I need to figure out something suitably subversive to do with this thing.

568 Jarrod Saltalamacchia

The name on the back of Jarrod's jersey makes me lol. I don't recall ever seeing letters completely on their side on a jersey before. At least Texas didn't use tiny little squinchy letters on the back like Topps did with this card. The letters are so small it looks like they are etched into the foil.

488 Delwyn Young

When I first opened the pack I read Delwyn as Delmon and got horribly confused. Then I realized it was Delwyn and was still horribly confused. I vaguely remembered the Dodgers moved him to the Pirates but I didn't know he was an infielder. Maybe he isn't, this is the Pirates we're talking about. The pic on the card is awesome though so it was an enjoyable confusion.

417 Dallas Braden

Up your butt, A-Rod.

ToppsTown Attax Zack Greinke

I don't like this at all. I know I wasn't really enamored with ToppsTown. I redeemed a couple of codes, wasted a couple of hours and wasn't all that impressed to be honest. Still I'd rather have those things at least masquerading as inserts in my packs than a blatant advertisement for another product that doesn't do much for me either. These are one per pack, people. This Greinke is nifty and all but when you've got FIVE of them they will get real tedious real quick.

Yes, there were 12 cards in this pack. I don't know why. I thought I had gotten a retail pack for a second. For the record, in four ten card packs, I got 39 cards.  You figure out the math on that one.

Pick which pack you'd like to see next in the comments, Cobb, Mantle or Pedroia. I'm not posting on a holiday weekend if there's no one out there reading.

2010 Topps Series 2 - First pack

I got four packs of Topps series two yesterday. When I first got to the shop, there were two packs left int he open box with Ty Cobb on the wrapper. The owner opened up a fresh box for me, I took one of the Tys from the first box and one pack each of the other wrapper subjects from the fresh box. The packs I got from the new box were... odd. I sort of wish I had picked up a couple more to see if the whole box was like that or if I am lucky at finding mutants. I opened the Babe first because he's the Babe.

586 Roy Oswalt

Roy in his last Topps card as an Astro. I've always liked Roy as a pitcher, I wish there was some way the Braves could flip Derek Lowe and a couple of prospects for Roy.

423 Brad Bergesen

I have no idea who this guy is. Man, I hope after a very nice selection of photographs in Series one, we're not back to the same pose on every card shenanigans Topps pulled a couple of years ago.

452 Allen Craig RC

I really like the new RC logo. The old one was too damn big and in your face. This one is more understated and doesn't walk all over the design.

480 Boston Red Sox

Team card blah blah blah. Where have I seen this picture before?

CMT71 Eddie Mathews Yo Momma

Awwww yeaaaah. I haven't finished the first one yet, but who cares. More Yo Mommas.

 VLC13 Eddie Murray Vintage Legends

This caused me to do a double take. Two 1964 Topps cards in the pack? It dawned on me that this was the anachronistic insert set new to this series. This doesn't look all that bad actually. Why Topps had to show off that ugly '87 Cy Young on the sell sheet I don't really know.

Due to time constraints the second half of the pack will be posted tonight. Start thinking about which pack you'd like to see next.

Compromise

So I really want to finish off my 1974 Topps set now that I can see the finish line, but not going goofy over a new Topps release is against my nature. So, I did the sensible thing and compromised.

I went to the card shop and bought eight bucks worth of 1974 Topps:

And eight bucks worth of 2010 Topps:

So what do you want to see first?

DUUUUUUUUUUUKE

No reason, just Duke.

I lied.

Ok I care a little bit about Topps 2. I decided to do an eBay search for 2010 Topps Series Two and I did actually find a few things that interested me the tiniest smidge. I'm still going to act cool and be all like "Man, this new stuff is no match for the majesty of '80s junk wax! OLD SKOOL COLLECTAS REPRESENT" I'm suffering from a combination of crushing ennui and stubborn curmudgeonliness right now so don't expect me to be all exited over anything. My curiosity can certainly get the better of me though and I found out three things about Topps Series 2 I didn't know before today.

Cap cards have the July 4th flag logo on them this time. I still haven't actually seen a cap card in person yet, so while the ones from Series 1 looked pretty cool I have no objective proof of their coolness. These though... I dunno. I'm sure a lot of people are drooling over them right now but they seem a little cheesy to me, ya know? The ones from Series 1 had the fact that while they were manupatches they were at least kinda sorta authentic logos. These kind of caps are something they hawk on MLB.com to try to muster up a few more cap purchases. The other ones I can at least pretend they are authentic, these look like I could have picked up a cap at The Sports Authority and took a pair of scissors to it.

This is not an Attax card, this is a ToppsTown card. Or more accurately, ToppsTown cards are now Attax cards. I tried out the ToppsTown site last month and the two concepts were pretty tightly intertwined so I guess this is the next logical step. Topps seems to be marketing the crap out of Attax right now so all in all it makes sense. I'm not sure I like it, but it makes sense.

This I like. The 1974 Yo Momma card is of Willie McCovey. Not just McCovey, but his '74 Washington Nat'l League variation card. Sweeeeeeeet. This is the one thing I am truly excited over in Series two other than the J-Hey rookies. Unfortunately this card only reminds me that I am really close to finishing that '74 set. Aw man,  now the curmudgennui is back.

Topps Series Two is Live and I don't even care

I know. I'm sorry. I don't understand it either.

Sorry, this is a very depressing post. This always cheers me up:

What the ...

So I clicked on this auction. You know what auction it is. It's been on Yahoo! News for Pete's sake. Not sure where I found it, I've seen a half a dozen posts on this in the past couple of days. Anyway I clicked on the auction link and my reaction was this:

Whatever sucker eventually buys this better pray to Jeebus every single day that Stephen never ever meets Dr. James Andrews. And us old-schoolers still feel bad about all those Brien Taylor cards we bought. Ha!

Some early morning nostalgia from Strat-o-Matic

I woke up this morning and found an e-mail from Strat-o-Matic in my inbox. It was an ad. There was a big image in the ad:

The box art on the Hockey and Basketball games are the exact same as the games I bought in 1989. Awww yeah, nostalgia overdrive. I don't know what the hell that is on the Football game but my box is better. Here's the link to Strat-o-Matic if you are overcome by the memories of childhood and just have to buy a game. The prices are pretty good concidering my Basketball game cost me $40 in 1989 dollars.

If you're wondering why I didn't host a Strat-o-Matic contest when the blogosphere was awash in contests, all I can say is I must have missed an e-mail. Or deleted it as spam. It's all for the best because I probably would have "won" one of the computer games causing major internet drama. I'm really a Statis-Pro guy anyway to be honest about it.

An important announcement concerning Panini Sticker Albums

Acceptable: for a grown-ass man to clean out a store of all packs of Panini World Cup Stickers. I did this when I bought the last 5 packs from the Wal-Mart on Windward Parkway. The packs were there, I wanted some packs, so I bought 'em. The distributor will likely see how well they are selling and fill it back up soon if not put in a second gravity feed full of packs. That's just basic capitalism.

Not acceptable: for a grown-ass man to clean out a store of all packs of Panini World Cup Stickers and peel all the packs off of the sticker albums as well. Now everyone who buys an album (at $2 a pop instead of the $1 they charge for the non-sports albums) gets screwed. The albums probably won't get refilled now either. If you want the packs that badly, pony up for the whole album. Total dick move, whoever did this at the Wal-Mart on Mansell.

DON'T BE A DICK

DON'T PEEL THE STICKER PACKS OFF OF PANINI ALBUMS WITHOUT PAYING FOR THE WHOLE ALBUM

What is wrong withthis picture

Do you see it?

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of set collectors suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOO

OOOO

OO

O

h/t: Ballcard Mania

'74 Bomb

Mark at Stats on the Back sent me a package recently. Included was a pile of 1974 Topps big enough to choke a mule. And not just commonly scrubs I'm talkin' bout this:

Mark just asked for something nice in return, and less is more. I have a Jeremy Griffiths autograph, that's about as less as you can get. I'mma have to find something better than that though. The Winfield by itself made me cry. Yes, strong men also cry, especially if Dave Winfield is involved.

This is sort of causing a collecting crisis in the Dayf compound. Topps Series 2 will be out this week. I would not be surprised at all if the case breakers start floating eBay auctions by this afternoon or if a random Wal-Mart puts up a gravity feed out of nowhere. The thing is, I'm suffering from extreme ennui towards this year's card  crop and I'm wondering if I should just forsake the new stuff and focus on finishing the '74 set first. I have less than 75 cards to go and all the really big ones are out of the way now.

No, I am interested in some of the stuff Topps 2 has to offer. I like the Yo Momma cards. I wouldn't mind a few more codes to sit on until the Transmogrifier starts spitting out something good. I am especially interested in the 2020 Topps cards. I want to see how similar they are to mid-'90s inserts. Part of me is starting to think that it's just about toime to give up on all the new overpriced crap and just go full vintage. I've already given up on Chicle. Maybe I'll have to wait and see if Allen & Ginter snaps me out of my funk. 

You chose....

Wisely.

Unless you just really really want a Koji Uehara Topps206 short print. I've got four of 'em  now. Here's some nice un-priced scans of the front and back of the Play ball card.

Dig that crazy Sox logo.

This guy played for 14 seasons and I've never heard of him before. Also his name is Eric, not Don. And his nickname was Boob. Yes Boob. Apparently Boob McNutt was a popular Rube Goldberg cartoon back in the day, popular enough to get nicknamed after it at least. It's not very well known anymore though, which is why I hope no one sees that I have Boob McNutt in my Google search history. That's a mighty interesting image search, I'll tell you.

This card is in not overly terrible condition for being 71 years old. The slight paper loss on the back is a shame, but I've seen worse. And to think, I got it for the price of six 2009 Topps206 cards. Makes ya think.

Choose one

You have three dollars. 

Will you take this 1939 Play Ball card of Don McNair?

Or what's behind door number 1?

Choose wisely.

Favorite Artist -National Chicle pack 5

When I first started doing these favorite artist posts for National Chicle there were two things I didn't realize. I didn't know hat the eight packs I got would last me several weeks for one. I also didn't think that they would have to last me this long because I still haven't seen hide nor hair of them in retail outlets. Unfortunately, Topps series 2 comes out this week so Chicle might be on the back burner for me until after Ginter Madness subsides. I know I'e seen blasters of this posted on other blogs, so I guess my local distributors are just lazy about restocking right now.

At any rate, my favorite card from pack five was a no brainer. Here is the artist:

Jason Davies has done a ton of sketch art for Topps and has quite a few cards in the Chicle set. Unfortunately, after all that work Topps still didn't get the web site right in the box topper checklist. Www.daviesart.com goes to Martin Davies art web page. To get to Jason's just drop the www and put a j in front of the Davies like so:  http://jdaviesart.com/  It's well work the effort just to poke around in the gallery for coolness. Check out this Darth Maul. I'm not sure yet how I feel about Ryan Zimmerman in an Expos uniform.

The card I picked as a favorite from this pack was pretty inevitable even though there was a very nice Richie Ashburn in there.

Yeah, I couldn't not go with Murph. There's a lot to like about this card. The huge swing. The grandstand Chicle background. The powder blues. The thing that really struck me though was the red halo around Dale. I don't recall seeing another card in the set using that technique, but I like it. It's kinda like Dale is radioactive, which he may very well have been from 1982-1984. If I were to pony up for one of the original sketches that are being sold right now, I would very likely go for this one. I'm not going to link to the auctions until Joe wins all of his Reds players though. You people are smart, use that Google if you really want to buy some originals.

Joy of a Completed Page #16

Well, joy of a filled page at least. Here's some Topps Wiiiiiiiidevision cards from way back in 1997. This set was put out to cash in on celebrate the re-release of the original three films before Everything Would Be Ruined Forever.  I used to have a bunch of these, but a few made it into sheets and now those are the ones I have left.

These are the size of vintage 'tallboy' cards like 1970 Topps basketball and 1965 Topps football. Just glossier, shiner and a little flimsier. I think they are more or less supposed to mimic the aspect ratio of modern movies. They were the shazizzle back in the day though. Extrreeeeeeme Wampa close-up!

The back has the standard non-sports expository text and a second smaller sized frame from the film. Sometimes the pics on the back were better than the ones on the front. Don't worry, this was 1997 and that means inserts.

Topps Laser insert cards! Remember Topps Laser baseball? Well, they used the technology here in a more effective fashion. Topps took some scenes with holograms and lasered up the image to make it look more, um, insubstantial or something. The Visage of the Emperor is all slashed up by frikkin lasers! now. The fronts are foil and don't scan well, but it actually gives it a more creepy look to be honest.  Ok, so it's cheesy. SO IS STAR WARS WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT TOO HARD. Quit thinking and just groove on teh lazars!

Ah, Admirals. The redshirts of Star Wars.

Thirty years ago today something amazing happened

No, I'm not talking about Google's tribute to Pac-Man. I'm talking about something better.

The Empire Strikes Back was released.

The PC is fixed (suck it Mac users!) so many scans of Empire cards will be up before the weekend is done. In the meantime, enjoy this:

1958 Topps Football

Set size: 132 cards plus one Free Felt Initial offer card
Short printed High Series: None
Card Size: Standard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"
Corrected Errors and Variations: none
Best card: JIM BROWN ROOKIE CARD
Key Rookies: Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Jim Brown, Sonny Jurgensen, Jim Brown, Jim Brown and Jim Brown.
Subsets: Team cards
Gimmick: Coin rub trivia
Back ink colors: Red
League: NFL
Team Logos? No
Night Owl Style Nickname: The Oval set
Teams included in the set: Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins
Why I chose this card: I have a thing for huge fullbacks charging like madmen.



Thought I forgot about this series, didn'tcha? I FORGET NOTHING. I just lose track of it for months at a time. Today we have the 1958 Topps football set which looks to me to be a first draft of 1959 baseball. It's got an oval around the player instead of a circle, and no mod font without capital letters, but the similarities are there. This is a pretty straightforwards set. A meat & potatoes set. 132 cards, the whole set fits on one sheet. No errors or variations. The backs are sort of unconventional with white on red type and a scratch off cartoon that takes up half the card but they had to go a little wild somewhere. This would bet the perfect set to try to collect right? A real working man's set. Wrong. Two words:

Jim Brown

Jim Brown's rookie card is in this set. This is the greatest Vintage football card ever. Period. No arguments. It's the greatest, there are no Topps football cards better. Even Mohammed Ali says that card is the greatest. GREATEST KNOWS GREATEST AND 1958 JIM BROWN IS THE GREATEST EVER. So if you decide to go for this set one of two things will happen:

1) you will chase after all the inferior cards first and then get intimidated by the cost of the greatest football card ever,

2) you will go ahead and buy the Jim Brown, realize you hold in your hand the pinnacle of all footballcarddom and give up on the rest of the set because what's the point?

Jim Brown makes this set uncollectable by conventional set building standards. This is one set where it is perfectly acceptable to buy the set complete because otherwise it is an exercise in frustration.

Another fun thing to do for all you football card fans: When all the new football sets start coming out go on eBay and search for all the sick Mojo hits. The Tebow triple autopatch red parallel foil hologram 1/1 with real dried SEC championship game tears right on the card. Compare the price of that bullshitty card to the price of a Jim Brown rookie. Laugh and Laugh and Laugh at that poor deluded fool who just wasted his money on crap when he could have had the greatest football card ever in existence in this universe. It's hours of fun for the whole family!