CUSTOMS BLASTER - PART 2: CAN'T PASS 'EM UP BASEBALL STARS

I'VE BEEN VERY GOOD ABOUT MOSTLY PICKING UP WANTLIST CARDS ON THE SITE EXCEPT WHEN I NAB AN OLD COMIC IMAGES CARD OF A DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS LADY WITH ENORMOUS BOOBLES BUT SOMETIMES I SEE A SUPER DUPER MEGA STAR CARD AND I CAN'T LET IT PASS BY. HERE'S THREE BASEBALL GUYS I KEEP GETTING DESPITE THERE BEING NO WANTLISTS

CATEGORY - SUPERSTARS

FIRST GUY IS SOMEONE I ACTUALLY COLLECT 

1992 SCORE RICKEY HENDERSON

WHEN I WAS FIRST COLLECTING CARDS I TRADED A 1981 TOPPS RICKEY HENDERSON AT SCHOOL FOR SOME NONSENSE. I QUICKLY FIGURED OUT HOW BADLY I GOT CHEATED AND HAVE SPENT 40 YEARS MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME. I ALREADY HAVE A PILE OF BASE CARDS FOR ALL THESE GUYS SO WHEN I PICK UP STAR CARDS LIKE A MAGPIE I TEND TO GRAVITATE TOWARDS HIGH END OR ODDBALL CARDS. BUT SOMETIMES A BASE CARD BEATS OUT THE FANCY STUFF

1998 SPX FINITE RICKEY HENDERSON

HERE'S ONE OF THOSE HIGH END ONES. SPX IS BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR HOLOGRAMS BUT IN 1998 UPPER DECK GOT TIRED OF DEALING WITH THAT MESS AND SPX TURNED FINITE WITH A LITTLE FOIL STAMPED WINDOW FOR A GIMMICK. THIS ONE'S A LITTLE OFF CENTER WHICH HAPPENED QUITE A BIT AND ADDS A BIT OF CHARM TO THE CARD. THAT'S NOT THE ONLY GIMMICK THO

SERIAL NUMBAZ! THAT'S THE ACTUAL FINITE GIMMICK AS EACH CARD WAS FINITED WITH THAT NUMBER PLASTERED ON IT. THIS ONE'S A BASE CARD NUMBERED TO 9000 BUT SUBSETS COULD BE NUMBERED ANYWHERE FROM 2000 TO 7000. YOU CAN SEE ALL THAT MESS FOR YOURSELF. I'M ACTIVELY COLLECTING THE HOLOGRAM VERSIONS OF SPX BUT THIS NUMBERED SET IS MORE A CURIOSITY FOR ME. I'D KINDA LIKE TO PICK UP AT LEAST ONE FROM EACH SUBSET BUT THAT IS WAAAAAAY DOWN THE PRIORITY LIST 

1998 PINNACLE PERFORMERS RICKEY HENDERSON

HERE'S A SOMEWHAT OBSCURE ODDBALL SET IN THAT IT'S A REIMAGINING OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S PINNACLE XPRESS SET THAT ALSO CAME OUT AS ONE OF THE LAST RELEASES BEFORE PINNACLE WENT BELLY UP. THE GIMMICK WITH THIS SET IS THERE WAS A SWING FOR THE FENCES CONTEST WHERE YOU COULD MATCH A CARD WITH THE LEAGUE LEADER FOR HOME RUNS WITH A CARD WITH THE NUMBER OF HOME RUNS THEY HIT AND WIN A SPECIAL INSERT SET. UNFORTUNATELY PINNACLE WAS OVER BEFORE THE SEASON WAS SO THE WINNER CARDS ARE OUT THERE BUT NOT TERRIBLY EASY TO FIND. I JUST LIKE THE DESIGN OF THIS ONE, IT'S VERY COLORFUL AND WORKS WELL WITH RICKY SPEEDING THROUGH THE CARD

1998 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED RICKEY HENDERSON

I LOVE THESE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED CARDS BUT THEY'RE NOT A SET I'M EVER GOING TO BOTHER COMPLETING. THERE'S USUALLY SOME GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY ON THEM LIKE RICKEY DOING SOME FIELDING DRILLS HERE

1998 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED THEN AND NOW RICKEY HENDERSON A PLACE IN HISTORY

THIS ONE'S A SUBSET FEATURING RICKEY AT THE TOP OF SOME ALL TIME LEADERBOARDS. RICKEY IS OBVIOUSLY AT THE TOP OF THE STEALS CATEGORY BUT IS ALSO FAR AND ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE ON MOST LEADOFF HOME RUNS. THIS SET IS ANOTHER REASON WHY I DON'T BOTHER WITH FLEER SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, IT'S ONE OF THREE SI SETS RELEASED IN 1998 AND IT'S NOT EASY TO TELL ANY OF THEM APART. POSSIBLE FUTURE FRANKENSET PERHAPS?

1993 FLAIR RICKEY HENDERSON

I DIDN'T APPRECIATE FLAIR AT THE TIME BUT DANG IT'S A BEAUTIFUL LOOKING SET. ELEGANT DESIGN, GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AND JUST A TOUCH OF FOIL STAMPING. THEY'RE JUST PRETTY! IT'S ANOTHER SET I'LL NEVER COMPLETE BUT THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH HOARDING SOME STARS

THE NEXT GUY I DON'T OFFICIALLY COLLECT BUT I MIGHT AS WELL AT THIS POINT

1996 ZENITH BARRY BONDS

'GOOD OL' BARRY BONDS, HOW I HATE HIM' SEEMS TO BE THE HOBBY'S OPINION ON OUR DEAR HOME RUN KING AT THE MOMENT. THIS IS FINE WITH ME BECAUSE I CAN PICK UP BONDS CARDS EASILY ALMOST ANYWHERE. AND I DO, OH BOY I DO. ZENITH IS A WEIRD BUT ATTRACTIVE SET AND POKES MY 90S NOSTALGIA BUTTON WHEN I SEE IT. OH I MISS THE DAYS WHEN HIGH END CARDS WERE MERELY THREE TIMES AS THICK AS REGULAR CARDS AND DOUSED WITH FOIL AND A THICK GLOSSY CLEAR COAT INSTEAD OF BEING SOLD IN BOXES OF THREE CARDS FOR FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS

1998 FLAIR SHOWCASE BARRY BONDS

FLAIR SHOWCASE IS ONE OF THOSE MULTI-LEVEL FRACTURED SETS WITH SEVERAL TIERS OF PARALLEL CARDS THAT ALL JUMBLE TOGETHER IN MY MIND. I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE LOWEST LEVEL BASE CARDS BUT WHO KNOWS REALLY. IT'S EXTREMELY SHINY AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS

1998 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED THEN AND NOW BARRY BONDS LEGENDS OF TODAY

THIS IS FROM THE SAME SET AS RICKEY ABOVE BUT THERE'S NO WAY OF TELLING THAT. MOST OF THE OTHER CARDS IN THE SET HAVE 'LEGENDS' PLASTERED ON THEM BUT NOT THE PLACE IN HISTORY CARDS! MY POOR BRAIN CAN'T COMPREHEND ALL THIS 90S WEIRDNESS BUT BARRY ABOUT TO MURDER A BASEBALL I UNDERSTAND

1998 FINEST  BARRY BONDS

FINEST! THIS STUFF I DO COLLECT ALTHOUGH I DON'T REALLY HAVE A HANDLE ON WHAT EXACTLY I'M COLLECTING YET. I'VE BEEN PICKING OUT RANDOM FINEST OUT OF DIME BOXES WHEN I SEE IT FOR YEARS AND THERE'S NO NEED TO STOP NOW. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST LOOKING FINEST DESIGNS AND I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO PEELING THIS CARD ONE OF THESE DAYS

1997 PACIFIC BARRY BONDS

I'M MILDLY OBSESSED WITH PACIFIC CARDS FOR THEIR WILD BASE CARDS AND EVEN WILDER INSERT CARDS. THE 1997 SET HAS A HEALTHY SLAB OF FOIL ACROSS THE LEFT BORDER WHICH IS A TAD AWKWARD ON MOST CARDS BUT LOOKS AMAZING ON THE HORIZONAL ONES. BARRY IS MASHING DINGERS IN A 3D FOIL MATRIX ON THIS CARD. IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE GILDED SOME OLD-SCHOOL COMPUTER GRAPHICS

1997 ULTRA BARRY BONDS

GREAT GOOGLEY MOOGELY CARDS LOOKED SO GOOD IN 1997. A WATER LEAK BRICKED MOST OF MY 97 ULTRA CARDS SO GETTING SOME REPLACEMENTS IS ALWAYS NICE

1996 STADIUM CLUB BARRY BONDS TEAM TSC

I HAVEN'T BEEN FOCUSING ON STADIUM CLUB CARDS RECENTLY BUT SHORT PRINTS ARE ALWAYS ON MY RADAR. THESE TEAM TSC CARDS WERE INSERTED ONE PER PACK AND FEATURE TWO LEVELS OF FANCY FOIL. RAINBOW FOIL FOR THE NAME AND HOLOFOIL FOR THE BORDER. THEY LOOK VERY SNAZZY AND THE RAINBOW FOIL CAN VARY FROM CARD TO CARD 

1997 STADIUM CLUB BARRY BONDS STADIUM SLUGGER

1997 STADIUM CLUB SNUCK IN SOME SHORT PRINTS AS WELL. SERIES ONE HAD A TSC 2000 SUBSET FEATURING SOME YOUNG STARS WHILE SERIES TWO HAD THESE STADIUM SLUGGERS FEATURING THE HOME RUN HITTING USUAL SUSPECTS OF THE MID-90S. THEY DON'T LOOK AS GOOD AS THE TEAM TSC CARDS BUT THEY'RE ONLY A THIRD THE SIZE OF THE 96 SHORT PRINT SET SO IT'S NOT AS HARD A SET TO BUILD

THE LAST GUY NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION

1993 FLAIR KEN GRIFFEY JR. 

IF YOU SEE A GOOD GRIFFEY CARD YOU GRAB IT. PROBLEM IS THE GOOD ONES ARE USUALLY ALREADY PRE-GRABBED. THAT JUST MAKES THE ONES YOU GET ALL THE MORE SPECIAL. HERE'S ANOTHER FLAIR CARD I MANAGED TO GET WHEN A LIST OF THEM WERE POSTED THAT I MANAGED TO GET TO FIRST

1997 PACIFIC PRISM INVINCIBLE KEN GRIFFEY JR. GEMS OF THE DIAMOND

WEIRDO PACIFIC CARD ALERT! THESE WERE INSERTED INTO PRISM INVINCIBLE PACKS SO YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THERE WAS ONLY ONE OF THE WEIRD FOILY ACETATE WINDOW CARDS IN THE PACK. THE WORDS PRISM, INVICIBLE, GEMS AND DIAMOND ARE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ON THIS CARD SO I HAD A HELL OF A TIME FIGURING OUT WHAT IT WAS FROM FOR THIS POST AND I SHALL GO ON TO IMMEDIATELY FORGET ONCE I HIT PUBLISH. THERE IS A LITTLE GEM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CARD THOUGH. THE ONLY REASON I WAS ABLE TO WIN THIS CARD IS BECAUSE THIS WAS THE SECOND ONE POSTED. GRIFFEYS ARE TOUGH, MAN!

1997 STADIUM CLUB KEN GRIFFEY JR. STADIUM SLUGGER

WE END OUR JOURNEY WITH ANOTHER STADIUM SLUGGER SHORT PRINT. THESE WERE ONE PER THREE PACKS SO THE WHOLE SET WAS POSSIBLE OUT OF A COUPLE HOBBY BOXES WHICH AIN'T BAD AS FAR AS SHORT PRINTS GO. I LOOKED THROUGH MY STADIUM CLUB BOX TO SEE WHICH ONES I ALREADY HAD AND SOMEHOW I HAVE NONE?? WHICH IS ABSURD BECAUSE I KNOW I PULLED SOME FROM PACKS BACK IN THE DAY. SO NOW I HAVE TO FIGURE OUT IF THEY ARE HIDING IN MY INSERT BOX OR A DOUBLES BOX SOMEWHERE. AT LEAST I HAVE TWO OF THE BEST NOW

UP NEXT: OUR FIRST TASTE OF CHAOS

Happy Birthday to me

Today's not actually my birthday, I was on my hiatus/vacation/Braves grieving period when that happened. But I did get a little cash on my birthday and I treated myself to a little somethin somethin. Nothing big just THE GREATEST CARD OF THE JUNK WAX ERA THAT LED US TO A NEW GOLDEN AGE OF HIGH END RIDICULOUSNESS that's all no biggie

Yeah, the Griffey. Upper Deck's Andy Pafko. The card people willingly rip $150 boxes of junk wax in hopes of finding. Only took me 24 years but I finally gots it yo. And like most of the rest of my collection it's a little flawed and therefore uncollectable by today's standards which is just how I like it.

I guess I could have spent what I paid for this on one-eighth of a mini box of Triple Threads...

Nah. Junior's just fine.

2009 Allen & Ginter Box Break: Pack 12

HEY! What happened to pack 11? Howcome I skipped from pack 10 to pack 12? It's simple, dear reader... Pack 11 required scans of five cards. Pack 12 required only three. Since I only had 43.8 seconds this morning to scan and upload cards, I went with pack 12 so I could get something posted today. When was my last A&G post anyway? People have Gint-a-Cuffed cases since I posted last.

148 Brad Lidge
127 JD Drew
90 Bobby Crosby -1 points
24 Steve Wiebe
38 Troy Glaus
AGHS22 Ken Griffey Jr. Sketch +3 points
50 Pat Neshek mini
NP44 Yuniesky Betancourt NP
Crack the Code ad

Awww, how precious. What a lovely Junior sketch card. I can't stay mad at Griffey, can I? YOU BET I CAN. Go insert a sockeye where the sun don't shine you backstabbin' money grubber! Oh, and guess what Ken, Braves are in second place and your M's are in third. HAH! I don't care if Seattle has the better record. BRAVES ARE IN SECOND PLACE!!! Garret Anderson is playing just as old as you are anyway.

The Mr. Neshek mini is making it into the official mini binder just for Pat's pivotal role in cracking the Ginter Code. Being the prestigious #50 I'm sort of apprehensive on who is going to get bumped* out of the book. The rest of the cards are kinda meh. I can't remember if Bobby Crosby dings me a point or not. I'm going to wait till half the box if ripped and then re-examine all my Gint-a-Cuff points when I have a couple hours to spare. I'll post my point total (which ain't nowhere near Beardy's 8000 for that one box) and then try to keep up with the points after that. I'm literally typing this post up during a break in my ICND-1 class.

There is one really good card other then mini Pat: The Steve Wiebe Donkey Kong champion card. Donkey Kong was a favorite of mine back in the day and I suuuuuuuucked at it. How he manages to kick ass on that machine I'll never know. I still can't even get past level two on a MAME emulator. He also looks less douchey than Billy Mitchell looks on his card. Steve came real close to breaking the DK record, but got tripped up by a power outage and the dreaded kill screen. Read all about it here.

* Is everyone clear on how my A&G mini binder works? One card per number, any year. Do I need to do a post on that? CAUSE I'LL DO IT SEE IF I DON'T

Pacific Gold Crown Die-Cut Tribute to Griffey Jr.

Yep, I jinxed it.

WHY CAN'T THERE BE ONE FREAKING BRAVES SIGNING THIS YEAR THAT ISN'T FRAUGHT WITH NEEDLESS DRAMA

Now Griffey hasn't decided, and might be going back to Seattle and blah blah blah. The beat writer seems to think he'll still be a Brave but he's as fed up as the rest of us. At least Kelly Johnson settled his arbitration case.

So anyway, I dug up my Griffey cards yesterday and found a treasure trove of whacked-out '90s inserts. I hadn't realized before now that I had 4 of the 7 Griffey Pacific Gold Crown Die-Cut cards. I'm missing 1995, 1997 and 1998 but 4 ain't bad. This was one of my favorite insert sets inthe '90s and they still look pretty good today. If anyone has an image of the three I'm missing let me know and I'll put 'em all up for posterity. I found a few cards from other players so you can get a good look at the designs.

1995

All the die cut designs were the same so if you've seen one you've seen 'em all. The first set had flashy holographic foil with the player's name stamped at the bottom in a weird Lord of the Ringsy font. Kind of like Papyrus, but not. This is one card I just can't seem to track down.

1996

Ah, the classic design. In my opinion this is the best looking of all the sets. The crown and foil name are stamed with plain gold foil with the player's initials making a pattern. In this case, KG. This is Pacific at the top of their game.

1997

This is a classy looking set too, with a gold crown and a Stadium Club looking stripe at the bottom with the player's name. The textured foil is radiating out of the crown and the position is stamped under the team logo in Spanish and English. They tried something new this year too:

Triple Crowns. Not a fan of this set even though it was much harder to find than the regular Crowns. Sometimes more is less.

1998

Classy went out the window for this disco design. There's textured gold foil diamonds at the top with silver holographic foil in the background. This card is perfect '90s excess. There was one classy Crown this year though:

'Nuff said.

1999

Pacific toned it down a little, but this set is still pretty out there. There's a pebbled texture on the crown, team logos inside the crown and gold foil and silver holofoil all around the border. I like how the holofoil makes the player's name pop out, even if it is in a space age futuristic font.

2000

Dogs and Cats... Living Together... MASS HYSTERIA. A complete explosion of holofoil with fireworks and 2000 all over it. If you're going to go over the top, THIS is the way to go over the top. My favorite design after 1996.

2001

Back to the classy. This one's a little busy with the rainbow background haunted with Pacific and team logos and the the gold foil border, but the flat gold and blue foil crown looks nice. This one is numbered 30/100 so I think it's a parallel. Plain ol' boring Gold Crowns have red foil. But wait, there's more...

HOLY CRAP AUTOGRAPHS. If Griffey doesn't want to sign with the Braves, I'm sure the Big Hurt wouldn't mind coming to the ATL...

Decision Day

Most likely by the end of the day Ken Griffey Jr. will either be a Mariner or a Brave. Things look hopeful for the Braves as Atlanta is close to Griffey's home in Orlando, the Braves have more money to spend, Atlanta is in a better position to contend for a playoff spot and Griffey reportedly initiated the talks with the Braves though a phone call to Chipper Jones. I'm terrified of jinxing it though so I don't want to seem overconfident. There's a very good chance he could sign with Seattle and that would be ok. He's probably going to sign there anyway. He started his career there and it would be a nice homecoming. Nope. not gonna get cocky and jinx it. Nope. Not gonna.

Oh who am I kidding.


Fuck You

Fuck You

Fuck You

Aaaaaaaand...

Fuck

You.

Griffey a Brave?

Spring training officially kicks off for the Braves in 12 hours but the Hot Stove is still warm. After looking like he was going back to Seattle a couple of days ago, Ken Griffey Jr. is being targeted by the Braves as a platoon partner for Matt Diaz in left field. Nothing is certain right now as there were rumors Seattle was close to signing him just yesterday. Frank Wren has confirmed the interest though, and David O'Brien has spoken to sources today that believe that Atlanta is Griffey's first choice. It makes sense for both the Braves and Junior. The Braves desperately need a veteran bat in the outfield, and the payroll is too tight to take on any huge contracts. Griffey gets steady work and will be close to his Orlando home. His son is playing football this autumn and his daughter plays basketball on a team in Atlanta. Until the contract is signed you can't trust any of these rumors flying around especially not in this offseason. It would be really cool to see Junior with the A on his cap even though he won't have a Manny-type impact on the team. Then again that kind of impact can go both ways.

I'm sure Mariners fans out there will be just as infuriated with the Braves if Griffey signs with Atlanta as I was with the Dodgers for filching the fink Furcal. It would be a nice story for Griffey to go home to Seattle, but this wouldn't be the first time Junior has sported a Braves uniform...

Don't forget his pops played here, and Bobby Cox was the guy who traded for him.

Card Of the Week 6/09/08

600

Card of the Week can't be anybody else tonight. Five other guys have done what Griffey just did: Barry, Hank, Babe, Willie and Sammy. He'll probably pass Sammy by the end of the season. This card is one of the nicest looking ones I have. I'm not sure what set it's from to tell the truth, the copyright date says 2002 but that could mean an Upper Deck 2003 series one. It's an amazingly well designed card though, it looks more like desktop wallpaper or a poster than a trading card. I got this card a few years back from a guy who followed me back to my car after I bought some cards at a flea market. I wasn't too happy about the guy pestering me, it was hot and I wanted to get in my car and out of there. He was talking about small pile of relic cards he had and how he could make me a good deal. I didn't want anything to do with him, that is until I saw this Griffey. Now I would not recommend making a habit of buying cards off some guy following you around in a parking lot but c'mon, look at this card. I got it for ten bucks and the guy didn't even knife me or anything. A great card of a great player. Here's to seeing more homers from The Kid in his career. Many more homers. Like, maybe a hundred and sixty three more would be nice. I think he can do it too.

One for the Reds fans

I'm in a good mood today so here's a card of Griffey hitting an RBI double off of either Jason Shiell or Tyler Yates on August 5, 2006. How do I know this? That's Marcus Giles manning second base for the Bravos. The patch on his uniform was worn in 2006 to commemorate the Braves' 40th anniversary in Atlanta. The Braves are in away uniforms and only made one trip to Cincinnati in '06, from August 4th to the 6th. Griffey hit not one but two doubles in the game on the 5th, the only one where he got a two-bagger in the series. I can't tell from the play by play which one was the stand up double, but it doesn't matter as both drove in a run apiece and the Braves lost by 2 runs, 6-8. Griffey wasn't the only one on the card to knock in some runs, Giles hit a two run homer out of the Great American Ballpark that day. Before a certain blogger gets cocky, the Braves came back to win the next day to both avoid a sweep and win the season series 4-3. Griffey still battered the Braves that year, hitting .304 with 4 RBIs, 5 runs scored and a homer off of Smoltzie.