Things Found While Looking For Other Things

Nachos Grande recently wrote a post about card collector organizational types. I am definitely a Type 3. Other than my Braves, vintage, A&G and Heritage binders, I have no clue where anything else is located in my house. Or even if it is located in my house. I don't think I've seen my 1995 Topps set since the late '90s. If you follow my Twitter feed, you'll know I had a small freakout trying to find some stuff Sunday night. I offered some 2001 Pacific football cards to Thorzul a while back and finally found these for him:

Before I found those cards, I looked through 80% of the card boxes in this house trying to find my stupid 2001 football cards. It was Vick's rookie year, I know I bought at least some of the damn things. When you have 5 boxes of cards, looking through 80% of your boxes is a relaxing afternoon. When you're a full fledged pathological cardboard hoarder, it's a tad more stressful. I managed to find full boxes of neatly sorted and organized football cards from 1999, 2000 and 2002 but no 2001. The absolute cruelest trick my collection played on my is when I found the 2001 Pacific baseball cards. I eventually found a small box of football stuff hidden away with about 100 Pacific football cards in them and I was able to pick out the 9 above. I also found a few other neat things last night I thought I'd share.

Found in the same box as the '01 Pacific, here's a 2001 Fleer Tradition Rookie Retro thread card of Santana Moss. I desperately wanted the Vick in 2001, but I pulled Moss out of a pack instead. So it is Santana Moss, and the swatch is from the jersey he wore in the Rookie Photo shoot, but it's still a very nicely designed card. I wouldn't mind seeing a base set that looked like this. Oh wait, that's 1962 Topps Football, actually.

I have a special binder full of nothing but non-sports cards I like. Unless it's a vintage card I will only put one card per set in the binder so it doesn't fill up to quickly. I think this will end up being the representative from the '89 Topps Batman set. The man directed Pee-Wee's Big Adventure! Believe it or not, this was not the best non-sports card I found.

This shiny 2000 Leaf Certified Mirror Red Junior Seau was mixed in a box full of oddball football inserts. Considering I wasted a good 20 minutes looking for a Seau card for my sadness post the other day, I was a little miffed to find the best Junior Seau card I could possibly have two days later. I could probably capitalize on tragedy and sell it, but while I am not opposed to liquidating my football collection I'd still want to keep this one. Because shiny. All you Check Out My Cards veterans out there need to give me a boot cam on dumping old '90s inserts online one of these days.

Ok, here's the badass non-sports card. I don't even need to say anything about this one. Just gaze in jealousy. The bestest thing I found was...

Three Mint In Package puffy refrigerator magnets of Cartoon Network shows inserted in boxes of Pop-Tarts in the early '00s. Cinnamon Pop-Tarts and a Diet Coke was my breakfast of choice back then and I really really like cartoons so I ate a lot of Pop-Tarts while this promotion was going. I think this is a complete set, but there may be a fourth cartoon I'm forgetting. I really wanted the Dexter magnet but ended up with about 5 Courage the Cowardly Dog magnets before finally landing the Dexter. Nowadays I am unabashedly proud of my Powerpuff Girls magnet and like that one best of all. Back off, boys!

The moral of the story: Don't promise cards unless you know where the heck they are.

Card Show Top 20 - #4 Rocket Robin

Item #7 off the FCB card show game plan:

7) One oddball non-sports card. Just one.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

1966 Topps Batman Series 2 "Red Bat" series

#27A Striking Out The Cobra

I am rendered speechless by this utterly perfect painting. Hang that thing up in the Louvre right next to ol' whats her face. Here's the back.

Here's the complete story on the back for posterity:

Dick Grayson was enjoying himself at the local ball park when suddenly the Cobra Gang appeared. Changing into Robin, he rushed into the game and struck many of the crooks out. The newspapers called it, "Robin's Shut Out Game!" 

Grant Morrison it ain't, but it works. Just don't think about it too hard. Your brain will ask questions. Like Why would a bank robbing gang of thieves crash a ballgame after a heist? Why would a gang choose a blue sport coat over an orange sweater as a uniform? Where the heck did Robin hide that suit before he changed? Did  1960's era ballparks even have phonebooths?

Don't think about all that. Just think of bad guys showing up at a ballgame and Robin doing his best Bob Gibson impression to save the day. Comic books are about the art, not the writing. The art here was provided by Topps regular Norman Saunders, who also worked on Mars Attacks and Wacky Packages. There were a bunch of Batman card sets released in 1966, this particular one has puzzles on the back:

Oh yeah, that's some nightmare fuel right there. I thought about maybe trying to collect all 6 puzzle pieces, but  this bit here is disturbing enough.

The Top 20 List:

#20 Reds' Heavy Artillery

#19 Blue MadDog

#18 Lil' Jimmy

#17 Real Fake '52

#16 First Topps

#15 Bogus Boog

#14 V103 Tree

#13 Sertoma Rico

#12 '55 Finishers

#11 Hey Shiny

#10 What the Dickens

#9 '60 Spahnnie

#8 Lonely '53

#7 Super Chief

#6 Original Frank

#5 Hoops Inspiration

#4 Rocket Robin

#3 Wizard Off Kilter

#2 Shenanigans Were Called

#1 The Holy Grail of Commons

Only three to go!

Finally! RIPPING THE ZENITH BUHNER CARD

Ok, here's what you've all been waiting for. and waiting... and waiting... and waiting... Ah well, time to regroup and move on. Anyway, I'm still having technical difficulties. The video doesn't work, but I'm plodding full steam ahead anyway and RIPPING THE BUHNER.

Well, not ripping it. I have a few implements of torture that should be able to open the sucker up if I try hard enough.

But first here's a grainy photo of my gargoyle, who vigilantly guards my PC from evil doers. His name is... well, it's a funny thing about his name really... I was given this gargoyle by my friend Josh a long time ago. One day I asked the gargoyle what his name was. He said to me, "What name do you like?" So I told him that I liked the name Harvey. I've liked it ever since I was a little boy. And he looked right at me and said "Harvey? Like Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize winning play?" And I said, "Yeah! Just like that!" And he said, "You mean Harvey, like the 1950 film starring Jimmy Stewart and Josephine Hull, based on that very play?" And I said "Yeah! Yeah! That's the one! Is that your name?" And he said, "What a coincidence, that's not my name at all." and went back to surfing on his laptop. The subject never came up after that, come to think of it... Oh well. Not that important. Ok, here goes!

Hmm... that's not working. Maybe this?

Nope. Rats. I was certain that would work. Better try the Xacto knife.

Presto! A perfect Rip Card Caesarian. Hold it... wait... what's that?

It's BATMAN! And he's got the card!

29 Jeff Bagwell - Now that's a pretty huge upgrade right there! Bone was a good player and all, but Jeff will be getting quite a few Hall votes before it's all said and done.

WASN'T THAT FUN?! Don't you wish I could rip some more of these cards? Guess what? I CAN!!! Thanks to reader Jason who traded me a few packs of this stuff I have SIX more cards to eviscerate today! HOORAY! Let's open the first pack!

Bah, there's a Dare to Tear instruction card urging me to rip the sucker to shreds. None of that for me! I've got... devices.

First up: Z67 Travis Lee rookie

Travis Lee was a huge rookie prospect in 1998, but his bat never really came around. The guy sure could play a mean first base though. Let's gut this puppy.

Bubble gum? What's that doing in there? Topps is gonna be pissed. They won a lawsuit to prevent that sort of thing. Actually, it looks suspiciously like a stick from Topps Heritage... hmmm. Let's see if I can pry the card out of Travis and chew gum at the same time.

51 Charles Johnson. Another decent pull in 1998, not so good now. It came out of Travis Lee though so I say it's an improvement. Batman sez... Next!

Z23 Juan Gonzalez

Nice card of Juan Gone in his prime. This card is so good it's on the freaking pack. The pack also shows CHIPPER coming out of it! Oh please ohplease ohPLEASE.

What the... a two dollar bill? That's random. At least I can go to Taco Bell and get lunch now. What kind of stupid card company would put MONEY in a pack of cards? It's like they know the product is crappy so they have to bribe us to buy their junk. Wait, there's a card in there too:

4 Sammy Sosa. Nice. Not the most popular guy right now but he's still a good player in my book. He's got a better shot of making the Hall than Gonzo, though it doesn't look great for either of them right now. I'm calling this a win.

Z38 Gary Sheffield

Everybody loves Gary Sheffield. It's a good thing I didn't have a vote on this joker or I would be dousing the card with lighter fluid and setting it ablaze. Wow, this card is really lumpy, what in the world could be in this thing WHOA

How the heck did a copy of Neil Gaiman's The Doll's House get in there? It doesn't seem possible unless the bloody card is a Tardis or something. I'm not complaining though, The Sandman is the shiznite. I didn't have this compilation either, so it fills a hole in my comic collection at least. But where's the card?

Ah, there it is. Inside the book. 75 Livan Hernandez. Ugh, a book of nightmares is a perfect place for this card. I know I still wake up in the middle of the night after seeing Eric Gregg calling strikes in my dreams. Time to open another pack.

Z46 Raul Mondesi

Man did he finish his career with a thud. I still remember that handful of games he played with the Braves. Ugh. Time to slice and dice, baby.

Holy crap! A Rykodisc 3 inch CD of Zomby Woof originally inserted into Guitar Magazine back in 1988! What is that doing in there?? These cards are fantastic! Well, except for the cards that is. Whoops, who's that in the gateway...

72 Bernie Williams. Well that makes sense, Bernie is known for his own jazz music. He doesn't throw in all sorts of rude, vile and un-PC humor along with it, but Frank never won any World Series rings either. Nice upgrade from Mondesi there.

Z52 Jim Edmonds

Weird. You can actually see the indentation of the inner card on the front of this one. Let's let that sucker out.

Hey, cool! My flash drive. I wondered where that thing had gone. Now I have the rest of my images for my long abandoned The 792 posts. Maybe I should fini- HEY SHINY!

SWEEET! Mike Piazza Green Epix! Awesome! Epix was a cross brand insert in Pinnacle products with Orange, Purple and Green versions. I'm not sure which one is more scarce than the others (if any) but according to my SCD this card is found in 1:11 packs. Or is that 1:11 cards? Who cares, I got the shiny!

Z15 Derek Jeter

Ooooh... this one's tough. This is a nice card of the Yankee Captain. Cool photo with him trying to tag the runner sliding into second. Ugh... should I rip this one? I just got a shiny card, I might be pressing my luck. Aw hell, I gotta do it. I still haven't gotten a Chipper yet.

Ut oh... a packet of generic Acetaminophen tablets, that's not a good sign.

Barf. 95 Shannon Stewart rookie. I shouldn't have gotten greedy on this one. Well, the Jeter is still mostly intact since I didn't rip it to bits like the packaging said. Can't win 'em all. Overall I did pretty good I think. XXX, Bernie, Sosa and a Piazza insert gives me over a 50% success ratio. And guess what...

I've got three more packs to rip whenever I get the stupid video working! WOOHOOO!!!

Till next time, keep on rippin'...

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

The vacation mindset is not leaving me without a fight, so instead of a novel-long treatise on 1936 Goudey, I shall instead post a Target promo sheet of Fleer Ultra Batman Forever cards.This was mixed in with a box of junk I bought a long time ago and now's the time to get some use out of the things with a post. Look, and marvel DC at:


Val Kilmer's big pouty lips artistically framed by a rubber mask!

Tommy Lee Jones eternal shame for stealing Billy Dee Williams' role!

Jim Carrey's horrifically tight costume that shows off his portion!

Chris O'Donnell's Bat-Nipples tht are as unnecessary as his character!

And absolutely no card of Nicole Kidman even though she's the only one whose lips, portion, nipples and shame I'd be remotely interested in seeing!

Here's the back of the sheet for completeness' sake. I now have an irresistable urge to buy Batman Forever cards at Target. They have a 3-D hologram in every pack!

Also to commemorate the latest battle for Batman Supremecy (Holy box office receipts, Batman!) Here is an extremely funny animated GIF of Christian Bale shooting the shit with Charlie Rose.

Also, here's the absolute drop-dead stupidest Batman-related thing I could find on YouTube:



Don't forget your Daily Batman!