6 in 30 - Five Dollar Binder

Every so often Atlanta Sports cards sells binders full of sheets and cards for five bucks that were likely picked up in a large collection purchase. This is just fine and dandy as I am constantly on the lookout for cheap binders and pages. The actual cards are an afterthought with me. Last time I went to ASC on my lunch break (a couple of weeks ago now, I'm really behind in everything) they had a few and I found a doozy. Normally they are filled up with random junk commons or a crummy football or basketball set from 1992, but I found one with about 8 sheets 2/3 filled with vintage commons from 1972 and 1974. They were selling similar cards in their quarter box so the '74s alone would have cost more than the rest of the binder. There was a lot of neat stuff in there actually, some football, some junk wax star cards, a bunch of hockey and even some golf and Desert Storm cards. Here's 6 in 30 to memorialize the binder before it gets cannibalized for my Obak set and Yo Momma cards.

1974 Topps Rookie Infielders

There were a bunch of neat early '70s cards including a couple of Braves and a Frank Tanana rookie, but I didn't even notice this Frank White rookie until my final flip through the binder.

1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA Checklist

I've never even seen a WHA hockey card, but there were two of the checklists in the binder. This one is kind of jacked up with the wax stain and the diamond cut, but the other one is GEM MINT baby. I wish I had some WHA cards so I could check it off.

1986 Topps Dave Winfield All-Star

Ever since I got that '76 Winfield from Troll, I've been mildly obsessed with Dave to the point where I've been making a point of checking for his rookie when I hit a card shop. I almost bought a '75 mini Winfield at the flea market last weekend but there was a bad ding on the left side and the guy was talking about book value the whole time I was there.

1987 Phil Niekro

This was the very last card I needed to finish my '87 Topps set. I already had about a half dozen of 'em but they were in my Braves collection (Knucksie is ALWAYS a Brave, regardless of uniform) and not in my set. Silly, no?

1990-91 Topps Doug Gilmour

One of my favorite all-time SportsCenter commercials is where Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick are talking about tough guys in sports while applying makeup in the restroom. "Mark Messier's tough... Doug Gilmour's tough..." This card reminded me of how nice this set is. Maybe I should drag it out of mothballs and see if I can finish the thing.

Topps Desert Storm Canada Sticker

The Desert Storm cards more than anything else dates this binder to about 1991. Only then would people actually put these things in pages. Among the numerous cards of tanks and planes, I got a General Stormin' Norman and a few flags. After pondering deeply (well not too deeply, there was a time limit here) I went with the flag. Gotta love the Leaf.

6 in 30 - Basketball edition

The Hawks beat the Celtics! In Boston! Holy crap, the Hawks might actually be good! (Watch them go 2-19 after this post) To commemorate this momentous occasion, here is a 6 in 30 from an ancient basketball binder.

1993 Upper Deck Team MVP box set Dominique Wilkins

This card came out of a small box set Upper Deck put out in 1993. That blurry thing behind 'Nique is a hologram. Can you comprehend how ridiculously amazing this card looked in 1993?

1977-78 Topps Artis Gilmore

Artis Gilmore is probably my all-time favorite non-Hawks basketball player. Include his ABA stats, and he's got 24941 points, 16330 rebounds, 3178 blocks and the highest field goal percentage of all time (.582, .599 in the NBA). Plus, he has the best hair ever in the history of basketball. Yet, he is still not in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Why? Because all Halls of Fame are worthless wastes of space and should be nuked from orbit. Only after packing all Hall of Fame voters into a rocket and shooting it into the sun, of course.

1970-71 Topps Basketball Walt Frazier All-Star

Why? Beause Clyde is the best. And the card is big. If you have big cards, you have an obligation to show 'em off occasionally.

1992-93 Fleer Larry Johnson Rookie of the Year insert

This is a neat card of Grandmama. I have a soft spot for basketball cards, and in the early '90s I was a Hornets fan thanks to LJ and 'Zo. I even have a hideous teal and purple Hornets windbreaker in the back of the closet I plan to bring out of retirement as soon as my kids are old enough to be mortified by the fact that theur father is wearing something so awful in public.

1992-93 Upper Deck Stacey Augmon 6 million point man

Stacey was my favorite Hawk after 'Nique and Doc left the team. It's sort of odd how a player whose greatest strength was his tenacious defence would end up being known for scoring the 6 millionth point in NBA history.

1992-93 Fleer Charles Barkley All-Star insert

Just 'cause Sir Charles is cool.

6 in 30 - '90s Random Crap Binder

The World Series has made me a nervous wreck. That and all the caffeine I drank today. To wind down and relax I'm doing another 6 in 30 post and maybe drinking large amounts of intoxicating beverages. I actually pulled the cards for this post a while back, but am just now getting around to posting them. That's why you may recall that one of the cards was traded away a while back.

These 6 were pulled from the binder of random 90's insert cards I put together a loooong time ago. Back when '90s inserts meant something. There were baseball, football, basketball and even a page of racing cards in there, but the ones that caught my eye were all baseball (sort of). I'm not sure if this is the proper methodology for this excercise, but the way I've been doing my 6 in 30 posts have been to flip through the binder really quickly and then pick out the top 6 cards that caught my eye. Only aseball caught my eye this time so hat's what ya get. Here's my 6:

1996 Leaf Limited Rookie Derek Jeter

I know, I'm complaining about the Yankees and then posting a Derek Jeter card. However, this card is amazing. AMAZING! Mid-90s high end, baby. This here might be my favorite insert set of all time. Leaf Limited base was mind blowing enough in 1996, but the logo with shiny holo-rays beaming out of it is just sick. Not a bad player on this one either...

199something Collector's Choice Jose Canseco Crash the Game Gold

I forgot the year on this one and have already mailed it off to Mario. 1996 or 7 I think. This was a contest UD had back in the day. Pull a card, and if the player hit a home run during the series listed you get a prize. The reward for the gold cards was a clear card of the player made out of acetate with a frame around the picture. Again, crazy stuff for the mid-90s.

1992 Upper Deck Willie Mays Baseball Heroes

Willie freakin' Mays with the signature moment of his career right here. Of course every time I see this play I hear Lou Brown in my head:

Nice catch Hayes, Don't ever f**king do it again.

1996 SPX Cecil Fielder

If you think Leaf Limited was cool in 1996, holy crap these were WAY cooler. Die cut two hologram insanity. I refused to buy any of the one card packs but I picked up cheap singles whenever I found them. Wax Heaven just opened a box of these suckas and I'm jealous. Why oh why can't anyone put out a card like this anymore...

1996 Leaf Steel Johnny Damon Gold parallel

Wild and wacky stuff came out in '96 didn't it? The gimmick in this set was that one card per pack was made of steel. I always wanted to buy a box and put it in my carry-on bag as I went through the airport. When the metal detector went beep, I would then be forced to open the entire box in the security line and I could share my Mojo hitz with the dude waving around the metal detector wand. Nowadays that'll get you tazed and sent on a wone way trip to Gitmo. Here's Johnny Damon's gold parallel Steel card. I scanned the back, because the front won't scan worth a crap. It's a shame too, because I peeled off the stupid 'protective' coating on the front.

1992 Upper Deck Deion Sanders SP

Prime Time! Falcons and Braves! How could I not pick this card?

6 in 30 - 1983 Topps Binder

It's pretty damn hard to go through an entire 792 card set in 30 seconds. Dinged Corners granted me 30 extra seconds to go through my 1983 Topps set and I still didn't get through the whole thing. Good thing I had four of the cards in mind before I even opened the binder. Here are six cards from the 1983 Topps set that make me happy and as a bonus I spared you the Braves. Of course I might just post the team set one of these days, that was the 1982 National Leage West Champion roster you know...

Rollie Fingers

The first time I completed this set, this was the last card I needed. I couldn't find it anywhere and then my mom bought a rack pack for me to give to a friend for his birthday. Rollie right on the top. There was some, uh , substitution performed on the packs in that gift if I remember correctly. That kid ended up stealing me blind when I brought my cards to school that year though so don't feel sorry for him.

Billy Martin

This was a tough choice between Billy and Earl Weaver. Earl had the crazy hair and big grin, Billy had the shades/stache combo that made him look like a refugee from a '70s cop movie. The little tiny cross under the A bushed Billy over the top.

1982 Brewers

The Brewers went to the Series in '82, Robin Yount is a bad, bad man and holy schneikes look at Vokovich. Just look at him. Soak it all in.

BONUS: Personally checked checklist!

Jim Kaat Super Vet

This is a fantastic subset, it's too bad Topps only did it once. Wait, they did a Then & Now thing in 2001 or 2002 Topps Traded I think. What I'm sayin, is they need to do it again. I want a card with 1993 Chippah and 2010 Chippah in next year's base set. I picked eventual Hall-of-Famer Kitty Kaat for two reasons: Washington Senators and he was the only guy in the subset with a picture from the '50s if I'm not mistaken.

Rod Carew and his Headband

Not the first and not the last time I'll say this....

I GOT MORE ACTION THAN MY MAN JOHN WOO AND I GOT MAD HITS LIKE I WAS ROD CAREW

Tony Gwynn RC

Best rookie in the set, hands down. Also: one of the goofiest action shots evar on a rookie card. Ya got a nice view of Tony's bootie at least. Awwwwww yeaaaaah.

Now go vote in the poll over there and tell me what to do.

6 in 30 - Feetsball edition

Her's another binder for Dinged Corner's 6 in 30 game. I picked my old football binder for this one. I put most of this one together in the late 90's so it's a nice time capsule of my favorite players back then. Here's my 6:

1983 Topps Walter Payton

Payton got the first page in the binder so that gives you an idea of how high I hold him in esteem. I love the '83 Topps football design too, especially the team name at the top. Excellent card of an all-time great.

1994 Eric Zeier Georgia Football Schedule

Eric was the Dawgs' QB while I was at college and I was always rooting for him in the NFL. Too bad he never got a real chance to start for a team. He didn't look too bad in the few games he got to start.

198something Topps Hershel Walker 1000 yard club

I forgot to check the year on this thing before I put it back in the binder. As a Gerogia Fan, you gotta love Hershel. No, really, you gotta. It's a law down here. If you are caught being a Bulldog fan and not liking Hershel you get arrested and put on one of those Cool Hand Luke chain gang thingys. I miss the 1000 Yard Club inserts that used to be in every pack, but I don't think they'd work nowadays. One per pack insserts kinda suck in the 21st century, just look at ToppsTown cards.

1996 Classic Visions Emmitt Smith

Lots of shiny holofoil and glowy outlines surround Emmitt. Even though he's from (gak) Florida, dude could RUN.

1990 Fleer Jerry Rice All-Pro

The streak of Bulldogs and running backs ends! This is a pretty nice early '90s insert if I do say so myself. I'm a huge fan of Jerry Rice. After watching him utterly ruin my Falcons for years I think I have Stockholm Syndrome or something. Best wide receiver ever.

1992 Pro Set Brett Favre MVP insert

Yeah, I like Brett Favre. Even though he's a complete pain in the ass nowadays. Hey, he was drafted a Falcon. I have misguided loyalties. This card was an insert from 1992 Pro Set which is when Pro Set started to fall apart. This card looks nice though.

This card isn't from the binder, but is instead the card used for my countdown over there. '92 Upper Deck looks a lot better than '92 Pro Set. I need to quit looking at these old cards from the '90s before I get interested in them again. I don't have time for that stuff right now. More 6 in 30s to come eventually, some baseball ones too!

6 in 30 - Red insert binder

Dinged Corners has laid out a challenge to take a binder, flip through it and pull 6 cards in 30 seconds that make you happy. Since most of my binders hold sets I had to find one a little more interesting. Behold, the results from my red "mostly unfinished insert sets that I would like to one day finish but I haven't taken the time to put the wantlists up so people can trade me the cards I need" binder:

2004 Topps Presidential Pastime Jimmy Carter

An insert set loosely based on the practice of Presidents throwing out he first baseball at an important game, and for the president who shows up to Braves games all the damn time they show him sawing wood. This amuses me.

2003 Play Ball '41 Reprints "Soupy" Campbell

You think I chose this because my surname is forever associated with soup. Delicious, delicious soup. No it's because the guy's real name is Bruce Campbell.

2003 Topps Record Breakers Chipper Jones

Chipper Jones smashing a plate glass window to free the Braves logo imprisoned inside.

2003 100th Anniversary Fall Classic Program - 1948

Maybe not the best insert set of all time, but in the top 10. Plus, I actually have a copy of this program.

2006 Signers of the Constitution Ben Franklin

I'm still waiting for Topps' Signers of the Treaty of Paris insert set so I can complete my Franklin American Revolution signature set.

2008 Upper Deck Presidential Predictors John Stewart Whoopass card

Do I even need to explain?

Other 6 in 30s:

Heartbreaking

Tribe Cards

SpastikMooss