Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Forget election coverage - I got cards!

Amazingly, my mailbox held a little box, wrapped in brown paper. Of course, I had to stop and think of what purchase I might have made that warrant such "discreet packaging." I couldn't think of a thing, and then I saw the return address - GCRL! And, just like Spiff, gcrl used the same box I had sent him for the trick-or-treat giveaway. (sidebar: Perhaps I should be very, very worried if I see one sporting dayf's return addy...)

I am developing this "scan all the cards" thing as I go. So, today's offering will add a few thoughts about the cards that were in the box. Or, some random thoughts that pop in my head as I look through these. The first grouping shows a Hafner "X" card, along with some vintage cards. The '79 team card has a strange bright green backing and is very thin... Not one I've seen before. We also have 80's and cards sporting various heroes-of-old. I love the Vizquel Diamond Kings card. I always thought the matted frame was a neat idea:


The Mark Clark "Electric Diamond" card is the first of these I think I have. I don't remember having the ED series from this year. They are cool, but not as cool as the other ED versions with cool sparkly foil. I love the Ovation cards - the embossed baseball is a great effect. The Tim Drew Fleer Ultra gold medallion die cut is sweet. I like the Why3K cards, but never understood the whole concept. I mean, WHY Why3K:


I like the UD Vintage Rookies card! That is cool! And, Branyan is caught doing a "Tiger" impression. Hey, I can't do it, so more power to him. Topps Stars Thompson card is popping with foil and pizzazz. Wait a second... Is that a White Sox card!? Hey, it's Thome! Excellent 'treat-in-trick-in-a-treat!!' A 2008 UD Xponential, no less! Bob Feller is there, too. He just had his 90th birthday. Great cards:


Ellis Burks tips his hat. Gcrl apologized for "all the Omar" in the box, but there is no need for that! Leaf Certified has a great look, though the border is a bit thick on the lower portion of the card. Got some Bartolo in there and several more Feller cards, too:


Next up is a slew of Jaret Wright cards. There are also some cards from '78. Not Topps, these are "Pre-UD-ripoff" original O-Pee-Chees. :-) I give UD a hard time about the whole OPC thing, but I don't mean much by it... I mean, heck, if can't beat 'em, steal their off-brand designs from the 70's, right? Hey, there's even a Schilling in the group - Micah:


Oh, we have the 'bad boy of baseball,' John Rocker. And, a small, round holographic logo sticker! Yeah, I have BBCADD... No, not some weird form of poetic metering! Baseball Card A.D.D... I like the cropping on the Wickman card - the ball is at the very top just about to come out of his hand. Very cool! Joe Carter! Super! Kenny Lofton in there, too. LOL, and both gcrl and Spiff sent me Chris Chambliss cards, though different types. What are the chances!? More Wright and Ovation - nice! I don't think I have the one of him in a golf cart. I think I'd remember that one. Then again, it's like having 7650+ children, I guess... You are bound to forget SOME of them:


Here are a bunch of '89 Upper Deck. I always like the clean look of these cards. Hey, a Fan Favorites Herb Score! Excellent! What is up with Matt Lawton? I would love to know who picked THAT shot to put on a card? The crowd looks painted in there, too. UGH:


Oh yeah, some 2008's. I really like the look of the '08 Topps, though the pictures could have been a tad bigger. More Joe Carter! I always was a JC fan. The UD Sweet Spots of Vizquel and Davis are nice looking cards, too, with the gold foil on them:


Alright! More Leaf Certified - cool! Hey, the silver and gold versions of Omar in the 2001 Pacific Private Stock. I don't think I even knew the PS came in various colors. Sam Jethroe of the Cleveland Buckeyes (Negro Leagues). In 1950, he scored 100 runs and stole 35 bases, though not for the Buckeyes. Smokin'. Fleer shows off its various flavors in this group. When Fleer was good, they were GOOD. When they sucked, they sucked bad:


Hello, Mr. Boudreau! Oh, and the Finley Platinum card is a serially numbered insert! Great stuff! We also have the UD ripoff of vintage Topps, too! :-) Man, we got some Thome in there, Feller, Branyan... Sweet stuff:


This next group is all about the Thome! I received more than my fair share of Jim Thome cards from gcrl, that's for sure! In a way, I know what dayf must have felt like seeing all those Alomar, Jr. cards... Except this is no trick! Or, was it? Were the duplicates part of some trick:


And, finishing out the box, we have MORE Thome cards! Now, I have to say, I think the Topps Gold Label cards were the shizzle! Great photos, super card stock, just the right amount of foil... Ohhhh yeah.... Maybe there *IS* a reason it came wrapped in a brown paper bag after all:


Thank you so much, gcrl! This was a lot of fun to go through the cards while posting them. Well, it was fun for me. I hope it wasn't TOO painful for the rest of you... Look at it this way: at least I took your mind off the election for a moment or two, right?

1 comment:

  1. glad you enjoyed them. the 79 team card was part of a mail in offer - i think it was topps wrappers - for the complete team card set. they did the same thing for 1980.
    i figured you would appreciate the thome/white sox trick/treat.

    ReplyDelete