BIRTHDAY BOOLSHEET BLASTER: PART 13 - FIFTY CENT REJECTS D

THE NEXT BATCH OF FIFTY CENT REJECT CARDS FEATURES NAMES STARTING WITH D AND THERE WAS A JOHNNY DAMON BLOODBATH IN THE FIFTY CENT BOX

THERE WERE WELL OVER A DOZEN DAMONS WHICH SEEMS LIKE A LOT BUT THERE'S ANOTHER PLAYER IN THE BOX THAT BLOWS JOHNNY OUT OF THE WATER. JUST WAIT TILL WE REACH THE H'S. THIS IS STILL A WHO'S WHO OF ODDBALL 00S CARDS FROM THE PRETTY NICE (TRIPLE THREADS, FINEST, 1996 UPPER DECK) TO THE HIDEOUS (PLAY BALL, UD ARTIFACTS, THAT BOWMAN HERITAGE DISASTER). THERE WAS EVEN ONE CARD I NEEDED!

HERE'S A 2007 FLEER TRADITION CARD I INEXPLICABLY HAVE A WANTLIST FOR AND I NEED A JOHNNY. DO I REALLY THOUGH? DO I NEED A JOHNNY DAMON UPPER DECK ERA FLEER TRADITION CARD FOR A SET I WILL NEVER EVER COMPLETE? EH, IT'S ON THE WANTLIST I GUESS

HERE'S A BETTER JOHNNY CARD. A 1996 SPORTFLIX UC3 CARD. GET IT?? YOU SEE THREE??? MOAR PUNS ON CARDS, PLEASE! THIS IS NICE. I PREFER KANSAS CITY ROYALS JOHNNY DAMON TO COMPLAINING HE WAS ARRESTED FOR A DWI BECAUSE HE'S A TRUMP SUPPORTER JOHNNY DAMON

THERE WAS ALSO A HEALTHY PILE OF SHAWON DUNSTON CARDS BUT IT WAS HALF THE NUMBER OF DAMON CARDS AND THEY WERE ALL JUNK WAX-ERA BASE CARDS. EXCEPT THIS FINEST CARD, FINEST IS NEVER JUNK. THIS CARD HAS GONE A LITTLE GREEN BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AS MUCH WHEN THE BORDER'S GREEN TOO

90S INSERT CARD ALERT!!! HERE'S A 1997 UPPER DECK ROCK SOLID FOUNDATION INSERT OF CARLOS DELGADO WHO WAS ON A TON OF 90S INSERTS. THIS IS A VERY NICE LOOKING SET WITH THE HOLOFOIL AND BLACK MARBLE BORDER AND IS ONE OF THE MORE COMMON INSERTS FROM 1997 SO THEY'RE NOT DIFFICULT TO FIND. CARLOS ALSO HAD A COUPLE TRIPLE THREADS CARDS IN THE BOX, I SHOULD FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH OF THE SET I HAVE ONCE I'M DONE SORTING THESE OUT

THIS LEN DYKSTRA ROOKIE IS A CARD I ACTUALLY NEED, I HAVE 86 DONRUSS IN A BINDER AND EVERYTHING. IT WAS REALLY FUNNY TO SEE THIS CARD MIXED IN WITH ABOUT TEN 2020 DONRUSS RETRO 86 CARDS OF LENNY

BUCKY FUCKIN DENT ON TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CARD WITH THE SAME DAMN PHOTO. THEY'RE FIVE YEARS APART THOUGH AND THE 2016 ARCHIVES CARD IS ZOOMED IN SO THAT MAKES IT OK, RIGHT? NEW BUCKY CARD INCOMING IN 2026

GOOD: A TOMMY DAVIS 2001 SP LEGENDARY CUTS CARD I DIDN'T HAVE. EVEN BETTER: IT WASN'T IN THE PILE OF LEGENDARY CUTS I PICKED UP FROM THE CARD SHOW!

HERE'S A NEW SHINY CARD OF DANNY DUFFY FROM THE 2017 REHASH OF THE 87 TOPPS SET. I CARE NOT FOR THESE BUT I APPRECIATE THE SHINY

RICK DEMPSEY WAS NOT A PLAYER I EXPECTED IN THIS PILE BUT IT'S COOL. I THOUGHT THIS WAS AN INSERT ATT FIRST BUT I THINK IT'S ACTUALLY A 2005 DONRUSS SIGNATURE BASE CARD? I WAS UNAWARE THAT 2005 DONRUSS SIGNATURE EXISTED UNTIL NOW. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY PANINI DESIGN YEARS BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY SHOWED UP. ESPECIALLY THE MINIMALIST BACK WITH TWO TEAM LOGOS AND NOT MUCH ELSE. IT'S SORT OF UNCANNY

ROB DIBBLE MAKES AN APPEARANCE ON DONRUSS' VERSION OF A LEGENDS SET, 2005 DONRUSS GREATS. I DON'T KNOW WHY I NEVER GOT INTO THESE WHEN I WENT ALL GOOFY OVER ARCHIVES, UD LEGENDS AND FLEER GREATS. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE OF THE BABY BLUE AND SEPIA (??) DESIGN, MAYBE BECAUSE DONRUSS DROPPED DEAD SHORTLY AFTER THIS SET WAS RELEASED

HOORAY! A 2013 1972 MINI CARD! I COLLECT THESE! I'VE COLLECTED ABOUT FOUR OF THE RA DICKEY CARDS ALREADY BUT I LIKE FINDING THESE ANYWAY. DICKEY IS ONE OF A LONG LINE OF VET PITCHERS THE BRAVES PICKED UP OUTTA NOWHERE FOR A SEASON OR TWO. I REALLY HOPE CHRIS SALE THROWS 190 INNINGS LIKE RA DID  

THE LAST CARD OF THE D'S IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE WHOLE BOX. IN 1997 TOPPS INSERTED INTER-LEAGUE MATCHUP CARDS ON DOUBLE-SIDED FINEST STYLE STOCK WITH PEEL-OFF PRETECTORS AND EVERYTHING. THEY LOOK REALLY GREAT EVEN WITH THAT UGLY BAR OF LEGALESE AND COPYRIGHTS AT THE BOTTOM. THIS ONE HAS BRAVES LEGEND BRIAN JORDAN ON THE FRONT. GUESS WHO'S ON THE BACK?

THAT'S RIGHT, WE'VE GONE FULL CIRCLE WITH YET ANOTHER JOHNNY DAMON CARD. I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THIS IS A BRIAN JORDAN CARD HOWEVER. I NEED TO FIND A FINAL HOME FOR THIS CARD SO I CAN PERFORM THE RARE DOUPLE-PEEL MANUVER. FREE YOUR FINEST, FOLKS!

Card of the Week - 1/10/11

Card of the week time again. You think Chrome has curling problems? Wait 'till you get a load of this bad boy...

1997 Upper Deck Amazing Greats 

Frank Thomas

In 1997 the Golden Age of Inserts was coming to a close. The insert escalation wars would soon usher in Relic cards that would dominate and ultimately kill off the creative insert market. While the end was near, there were still many beautiful and ingenious inserts floating around in '97. Upper Deck's Amazing Greats was one of the nicer and weirder inserts around.

"Material" cards were beginning to be all the rage. Companies were trying to mimic real wood, canvas, leather, cloth, metal and all sorts of strange materials on cards. Once the faux material market had become saturated the only place to go was with real materials. Upper Deck went there with this 1:138 pack insert featuring a really really thin slice of actual wood fused with a plastic back. UD then printed the front image directly on the wood and topped it off with a holographic logo in the top corner. I'm not entirely sure what kind of wood is used, but it is real wood and you can feel the grain. The printing is surprisingly crisp considering it is on a very porous material. There is a die cut diamond in the middle of the wood for the portrait, which is printed on the plastic backing.

As cool as the front is, the back is also designed very well. A reverse of the front portrait is seen inside a similar baseball diamond that is surrounded by a colorful mottled background. On the right side is a dark panel with the Amazing Greats logo, the team logo and a short highlight paragraph. The whole thing looks fantastic. As crazy as this set looks, it was only the third craziest insert in base Upper Deck that year, after the die-cut, serial numbered to 500 Blue Chips and the inaugural Game Jersey cards. But I don't have either of those, and unless it was the Blue Chip Chipper (why the heck was Chipper Jones in a prospect set in 1997 anyway?) I wouldn't like it as much as this one.

This is one of those cards I remember exactly where I was when I pulled it. I was home from college and I took my grandmother to Kroger to pick up some groceries. They had a box of Upper Deck at the checkout aisle and I snuck a pack or two into the cart. Hey, I was in school and could still get away with it. She paid and I cracked open a pack right there in the store and saw woodsy Frank smiling back at me. I managed to avoid making a scene but was floating the rest of the day. The sucker curled up pretty quickly after pulling it out of the pack, I was freaking out that I'd accidentally crack it trying to get it flat and put it right back in the pack in between the rest of the cards until I could find something sturdy to protect it. Putting it in a toploader helps, but as soon as you take it out it tries to curl a bit.

I had to choose a card of Big Hurt tonight. Looking through the blogs I've seen a lot of posts about the BCS Title Game tonight. Most proclaim that they are rooting for the Ducks. As a proud fan of the Only Real Football Conference™  I feel obligated to support the SEC representative at the Fiesta Bowl with one of their greatest alums. Go Auburn! War Eagle! Or Tigers! Whichever one it is this week!