BIRTHDAY BOOLSHEET BLASTER: PART 4 - GIANTS

BACK TO THE TEAM LOTS. UP NEXT IS THE GIANTS, THERE'S A WHOPPING 85 CARDS IN THIS PILE. LET'S DIVE RIGHT IN

THERE'S A TON OF 87 TRADED THIS TIME INCLUDING THE SURPRISING MATT WILLIAMS XRC. I FIGURED GUYS LIKE HIM WOULD BE PICKED OUT OF THIS BOX BUT SEEING HIM IN HERE MAKES ME THINK I MIGHT GET EVERYONE BUT MADDUX. KEVIN MITCHELL'S ANOTHER GUY I'M SOMEHAT SURPRISED TO SEE. POOR MATT REALLY GOT KNEECAPPED BY THE STRIKE. WHO KNOWS IF HE HITS 61 BUT HE MIGHT NOT BE AS FORGOTTEN NOWADAYS IF HE MADE A RUN. ALSO: ALL THESE CARDS LOOK GREAT IN THEIR OWN WAY. I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S THE BETTER CARD STOCK OR THE FACT THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN ALL THESE PICTURES A HUNDRED TIMES ALREADY BUT ALL THESE CARDS LOOK PRETTY SLICK. JIM GOTT SPECIFICALLY LOOKS LIKE HE'S BECOME TRAPPED IN A TRON-LIKE CYBER WORLD. MEANWHILE CHRIS SPEIER JUST LAUGHS AS IF TO SAY "FIRST TIME?"

1987 TOPPS TRADED COUNT: 7/132

OUR LARGE WAD OF 2002 TOPPS NETS US 19 MORE CARDS FOR THE SET. EVEN THIS EARLY ON IT IS OBVIOUS I WILL NOT COME ANYWHERE NEAR A COMPLETE SET BUT I'M STILL INTERESTED IN JUST HOW CLOSE I CAN GET. HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE ERIC DAVIS, JASON SCHMIDT AND A BOOF BONSER PROSPECT CARD

2002 TOPPS COUNT: 40/718

HERE'S THE GOOD CARDS. WE WILL START WITH 2000 PACIFIC BECAUSE ALL PACIFIC CARDS ARE GOOD CARDS. THIS ONE OF MARVIN BENARD IS A PARALLEL WITH RUBY RED FOIL. THIS WAS NOT AN INSERT, THIS WAS A BASE CARD IN A SPECIAL PACK YOU COULD ONLY GET AT 7-ELEVEN STORES. SOMEONE BOUGHT ONE OF THESE PACKS AND THEY ALL ENDED UP IN THIS BOX. YES, YOU WILL SEE THEM ALL BECAUSE ALL PACIFIC CARDS ARE GOOD CARDS. PROVE ME WRONG.IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALIZE THE NY LOGO IN THE BACKGROUND WAS METS, NOT GIANTS. I THOUHGT WE WENT BACK IN TIME FOR A MOMENT

I KNOW I SAID IN THE LAST POST I WOULD ONLY BE SHOWING OFF ONE OF THESE VICTORY CARDS BUT THE LOOK ON JT SNOW'S FACE IS TOO GOOD. HE IS PONDERING A DEEP MYSTERY. SOMETHING LIKE, "WHY DOES UPPER DECK VICTORY EXIST"

HELL YEAH PRISM SHINY CARD. THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER PRISM DESIGNS WITH THE LIGHTNING SHATTER EXPLOSION TEXTURE BEHIND ROBB NEN. THIS IS ALSO A GOOD EXAMPLE OF ONE OF THE PITFALLS OF LATE 90S CARDS: HOLOFOIL MANGE. A LOT OF 25 YEAR OLD CARDS WITH HOLOFOIL ON THEM HAVE STARTED TO EITHER SHED FOIL OR THE FOIL HAS STARTED TO BECOME CORRUPTED AND TURN BLACK. THIS IS NOT JUST A PACIFIC ISSUE IT'S ALL OVER THE PLACE ESPECIALLY ON FLEER AND PLAYOFF CARDS. IT DOES GIVE THE CARD A LITTLE PERSONALITY THOUGH

CHROME. I DON'T LIKE CHROME. I LIKE FINEST, THEY HAVE WEIRD DESIGNS. CHROME IS BORING. IT'S TOPPS BUT CHROME. AND TOPPS WAS CHICKENSHIT ON THE 2002 DESIGN AND GAVE IT SILVER INSTEAD OF GOLD BORDERS. EXTRA BORING

FLEER ULTRA ISN'T BORING ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEIR BETTER DESIGNS. THAT FOIL STAMP ON THE BOTTOM WITH THE NAME AND TEAM LOGO IS JUST AS HARD TO READ IN REAL LIFE AS IT IS IN A PHOTO. THE PICTURE IS GREAT THOUGH. JT SNOW UNDERHANDS A RELAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT. ALL THAT PONDERING ON THE VICTORY CARD DEVELOPED THE MENTAL TOUGHNESS NEEDED TO SURVIVE IN SUCH HARSH CONDITIONS

EVERY BOX HAS A HIT AND THIS IS OUR BEEG MOJO HITZ OF THE BULLSHIT BLASTER. A BARRY BONDS 2001 UPPER DECK TWIZZLERS BIG LEAGUE CHALLENGE ODDBALL. BIG LEAGUE CHALLENGE WAS SOME MADE FOR TV THING THAT IS LONG FORGOTTEN AND UPPER DECK COMMEMORATED IT BY INSERTING ONE CARD IN SPECIALLY MARKED PACKS OF TWIZZLERS. A LOT OF FOOD ODDBALL CARDS HAVE ROUGH EXISTENCES DUE TO BEING STUFFED IN PACKAGING WITH OTHER MORE ROBUST ITEMS BUT TWIZZLERS ARE PRETTY FLAT AND STIFF SO THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN HOW THIS CARD GOT MULTIPLE CREASES ON IT. I THINK THIS IS JAMMED IN A BACK POCKET DAMAGE RATHER THAN JOSTLED BY A WAXY ROPELIKE TREAT DAMAGE. NEVERTHELESS IT IS AN ODDBALL CARD OF BARRY BONDS FROM A SET I PREVIOUSLY HAD NO CARDS FROM. SPOILER ALERT: I'M PRETTY SURE THIS REALLY IS THE BEST CARD IN THE BOX.  THERE'S STILL A LOTTA COOL STUFF TO COME BUT YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO GO DO OTHER THINGS FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS WHEN I'LL BE DONE WITH ALL THESE POSTS

GOOD LOOKIN 80S'S CARDS ARE JUST GOOD LOOKIN 80S CARDS. 1983 TOPPS IS THE BEST OF THE DECADE AND THAT JIM WOHLFORD PORTAIT WITH A BACKGROUND OF PURE AZURE IS WONDERFUL. 1986 TOPPS IS JUST GORGEOUS AND JOSE URIBE IS CONFIDENT ABOUT HOW GOOD HIS CARD LOOKS. FINALLY WE HAVE THE ETERNALLY UNDERRATED 1988 SET FEATURING DAVE DRAVECKY AND HIS GIGANTIC HAT. IS IT A REAL HAT? IS IT A REMBRANDT? NO MATTER, IT IS SURELY A MAJESTIC HAT FOR A MAJESTIC CARD

AND NOW THE RANDOM JUNKWAX CARDS. YOU WILL NOTICE THE 1987 TOPPS CARD IN THERE. THIS IS A PURPOSEFUL CHOICE. THERE IS A TON OF 1992 UPPER DECK IN HERE WHICH IS ODD BECAUSE THERE WAS NONE IN THE METS PILE. SADLY NONE OF THE 92 UPPER DECK CARDS WERE NEEDED AS MY WANTLISTS FOR MOST 88-95 SETS ARE GETTING PRETTY SMALL BUT WE DIDN'T GET SHUT OUT THIS TIME! BEHOLD: A CARD I DIDN'T HAVE YET - 

1988 FLEER UPDATE DONNELL NIXON. UPDATE SETS ARE THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE. AS MUCH OF A MESS AS MY TOPPS TRADED SETS ARE THE DONRUSS FLEER AND SCORE UPDATE SETS ARE EVEN WORSE. AT LEAST THE TOPPS CARDS HAVE A WANTLIST. AND A BOX TO GO IN. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE REST OF MY FLEER UPDATE CARDS ARE. OH WELL, THERE'S NEVER AN END TO SORTING ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU KEEP PICKING UP LARGE PILES OF GARBAGE