Joy of a Complete Insert Set: 2007 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez

More Ginter inserts since I'm useless at writing no more.This is the same concept as the 2006 inserts, One player sketch per team painted on a tobacco sized card so Topps could give away the originals in Rip Cards. I like this set a little better than the 2006 version, although one or two of teh sketches look awkward (hello Jim Edmonds).

Some extra goodies to fill out the last page. Love the ripped rip cards that can be found for cheap!

And the back, pretty much identical to the 2006 back. Yawn.

Joy of a Complete Insert Set - 2006 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez Sketches

Yeah so everyone's posting Ginter right now... BUT ARE THEY POSTING SEVEN YEAR OLD GINTER??!?!?

I think not.

I'm really in the mood to drool over Ginter on the blog but this blog doesn't do ads and I'm not handing out free advertising to companies who hide their cards in the trash and don't bother to tell anyone. This ain't Pokemans, people. Don't hide cards in the trash. While the 2013 Ginter set is completely bloated with crap and has become ridiculous, the original 2006 set was quite spartan in comparison. Basically just the base set, minis, some parallels, autogamers, rip cards and this little set that was used as hit decoys. The cards are about the same thickness as the framed relics and autos. There's even a decoy card for the decoy cards that has an ad on it. Dick Perez painted one portrait for each team in the league for this set, and each one was done actual mini tobacco card size to add a degree of difficulty. They came out rather nice for being so small. I recently found the Huston Street card that had eluded me all these years so it's time to show off the complete set. I added some goodies at the end to fill out the page.

Some people like scans of the backs of the cards for some reason. Well, with this set, if you've seen one back you've seen 'em all.

Now you've seen 'em all.

Happy Birthday

I just announced major changes at the blog so my first post after that is finding something interesting on someone else's blog, getting an idea at 10pm, quickly rushing around to scan everything and getting a nice little caffeine buzz to help me write the post. So basically what I've been doing for years. Tonight we have a package from Captain Canuck.

PRETTY PINK PRINCESS PONIEZ

So basically I told Canuck that I was way overdue in sending him cards so he was not to send me any more cards period I really mean it don't do it. So, he sent me this instead. Which honestly I liked better than cards. My daughter already has this coloring but but now I have one. Mine! All Mine! To color just the way I like! Yay! I think I shall color Cap'n Canook's favorite pone first:

Rainbow Brite. I feel ok with posting this package finally because the cards I've had put aside for Canuck are finally inside of a bubble mailer and ready to mail as soon as I fill out the customs form. With a little bit of luck (ie. if I don't sleep 'till 2pm tomorrow) I'll have it in the mail along with a few other packages. 

The other reason I feel compelled to post this is because apparently it's Dick Perez' birthday today! Happy Birthday Dick! I wish I could paint pictures of ballplayers half as good as Dick Perez. The reason this is at all relevant in a post about a pony coloring book is that Canuck very deviously snuck this card into the book in express disregard for my 'no cards' request. 

1982 Donruss Diamond King Phil Niekro autographed by Perez. Ok Canuck, you get a pass this time. Not much to say about this other than it's amazing. The '82 DK set is one of the best subsets ever made and here's my favorite Pre-Chipper Brave. Signed by the artist! This painting really speaks to me now that I'm trying to be an artist myself. One thing it says is: Cap logos are hard. Shoot, caps period are hard. I hate drawing caps. So this is a hell of a thing to sneak in a coloring book, eh? But wait there's more. 

Eeyup. Murphy too. In the grand pantheon of Braves cards going back over 130 years, this card right here might be in the top 10. If you know of 10 other Braves cards nicer looking than this one, I'd like to see 'em. And look at that cap! PERFECT. Oh hey, what's this here wedged in between the Fluttershy picture and the Pinkie Pie word search? 

OH HAI JOHN SMOLTZ. Yeah Canuck sent three of these signed cards. With another perfect cap! He really is the best Braves card blogger ever. I almost feel bad for bipping him wi- oh, um. Nevermind. No bipping in his package! Happy Birthday Dick and may Canuck's Man U win this week. (they'll win anyway but hey it's the thought that counts)

2008 Heritage Insert Checklists

I got bored so I cobbled together the Wal-Mart and Target Heritage insert checklists from eBay auctions. Lots of overlap and no Braves. Also, if you see an auction advertising these cards as RARE!!! don't you believe it. One in every four packs, folks. Not rare. Probably easier to get than any given common if I took the time to do the math*. Oh well. I am going to go out on a limb and say that these checklists are good for both the Topps and Heritage versions of these cards. Anyone know if K-Mart has their own inserts? All the K-Marts near me closed down. One turned into a Sears, oddly enough.

Wal-Mart Dick Perez inserts:
HDP1 Manny Ramirez
HDP2 Cameron Maybin
HDP3 Ryan Howard
HDP4 David Ortiz
HDP5 Tim Lincecum
HDP6 David Wright
HDP7 Mickey Mantle
HDP8 Joba Chamberlain
HDP9 Ichiro
HDP10 Prince Fielder


Target T-205 inserts:
HTC1 Albert Pujols
HTC2 Clay Buchholz
HTCP3 Matt Holliday
HTCP4 Luke Hochevar
HTCP5 Alex Rodriguez
HTCP6 Joey Votto
HTCP7 Chin-Lung Hu
HTCP8 Ryan Braun
HTCP9 Joba Chamberlain
HTCP10 Ryan Howard
HTCP11 Ichiro
HTCP12 Steve Pearce
HTCP13 Vladimir Guerrero
HTCP14 Wladimir Balentien
HTCP15 David Ortiz

Oh, never mind on the K-Mart inserts. They have a shiny gold version of some of the rookie cards in the Topps set. Nothing out there for Heritage yet though. K-Mart never gets the good cards.

*Ok, I got bored enough to do the math. Considering the entire print run, these inserts are actually tougher than your basic common. But not a whole lot tougher, especially the Dick Perez cards. There's an average of one set in every 40 packs for the Perez and one in 60 packs for T205. 40 packs will get you about 250 base cards or so. 60 is about 375 base cards. Exclusivity saves them from being dirt common. SP's are still way more RARE!!! than these cards though. Yes, I'm really, really bored.

Heritage Retail Premiums

My second Heritage hobby box was packed full o' doubles, hobby wax got expensive due to stupid gimmick cards, and dayf is in set building despair. Big Box Stores to the rescue! Target and Wal-Mart both have exclusive insert cards in 2008 Topps to help push those packs and blasters out the door. Target has a fifteen card T205 style set, while Wal Mart has a ten card set featuring Dick Perez paintings. Topps had never had bonus cards in their Heritage product before, but apparently the market is so bad that they need a little extra oomph in their retail packs to get them to move off the shelves. Two more insert sets? Groan! Who needs two more insert sets? Well, check them out:

Yep, Target recycled the T205s but these are MINI cards! Joy!!! No, I'm not being sarcastic, I love the hell out of T205s and I REALLY love mini cards. I'd marry them if it wasn't a felony in my home state. Damn blue laws.

I pulled an Ichiro out of some Target packs I bought. It looks like they are inserted 1 in 4 packs. I'm assuming the blasters will have a box topper pack, but I haven't seen any Heritage blasters yet so I don't really know. This card is perfect. It's got the exact design from the T205 set, the card stock looks good, it even kind of smells like stale tobacco. Oh wait, those are the neighbor's kids smoking cigarettes behind the house. At least I hope they are cigarettes... Those kids need some cards. Wally World recycled their Dick Perez cards too, but look at the fantastic result:


Maaaaaaaaan that looks slick. It might just be the black border or the fact that I'm a Howard fan, but that card kicks booty. Bigboote, even. I think I'll have to work out the checklist from eBay auctions because these are a couple of sets I'd like to build. They're a heck of a lot better than the News Flashback set, that's for sure. Anyone want to trade a Penguin card for a T205 mini Vlad? A Clutter Family Shotgun Murder card for a Dick Perez David Wright? Anyone? Beuller?


I sure hope there's bonus packs of this stuff in the blasters. I'd rather build the set through boxes rather than having to deal with loose retail packs. I'll give Topps credit, they sure know how to reel in the suckers like me.