Another Crappy Pack Break staring 1991 Donruss

So this morning I dedicded to reach back into my repack box and pull out another crappy pack for you all to enjoy - and guess what? I found a doozy - here we go with 1991 Donruss Series 2. Are we all ready for some hot garbage? Here is the pack rip in order pulled.



Gleen Davis

Dave Parker MVP

Carlos Martinez




Luis Quinones

Bert Blyleven

Mike Harkey

Carlos Martinez

Luis Quinones

Bert Blyleven

.... wait...

did I just pull doubles of three dudes consecutively? oh yea - think I did

Mike Harkey

Fernando Valenzuela Highlight

Scott Cooper

Yup - another Harkey

Andres Thomas

Ben McDonald

Todd Burns

So yea - another shit stain of a pack of baseball cards.

Glenn Davis was a nice player in his time as was Valenzuela - Blyleven had a great career as did Dave Parker in his heyday - but none of these guys make this pack a success. Just awful

A really shitty pack of 2003 Series 1 Topps

So I bought a repack box who knows how long ago and I still have half of those packs chilling on my desk - So sitting here, after realizing my hit count - I figure maybe I shouldn't be so lazy - give the people what they want - A Bad Wax pack break - Then once I grabbed a random pack and started scanning, I remembered why this wasn't posted yet - it was just such a shitty pack.

I think we all know that 2003 Topps is the Rocky Dennis of baseball cards - Cher probably loves it, but the rest of us just think its really ugly and want to know why nobody just got rid of it at inception.

I figured that I would start the post with the "best" card of the pack - Harmon Killebrew Record Breaker - now don't get me wrong - he has one of the most bad ass names I can think of and was a hell of hitter - but much like this set - Harmon has never been accused of being terribly good looking.

and
its
all
downhill
from here



We've got a former Met/All Star (I think he was an all star once or twice at least) Melvin Mora - Interesting fact on the back - he hit lead off homers in consecutive games once - but the fact about Brady Anderson is more interesting - Brady achieved the same feat on both ends of a double header! Exclamation points make it seem more exciting.

Next up we have Jon Lieber - I know - you thought I said this was a shitty back - you must be stuck in 2001 when Jon was 20-6. Hey even I got laid before high school was over - we all have our moments of greatness.

A "Fat Toad" (Thanks George)

Other than ole Harmey, We have now reached the best player in the pack - and he has a ladies name. Can this dude still play outfield at all? If that answer is no - please Mets - do not trade for this guy.

Mario Likes this one, but he's the only one

See guys? Just wasted 2-5 minutes of your time that you will never get back. Blogging is dangerous - now go do something risky to make your day better... something like

- Pee standing up with your eyes closed
- Blow a line of coke off something that really should be sanitized
- See Transformers 2

And with that - I'm outta here

Take it easy

10K

Wow -

Over 10,000 hits now. In less than 7 months 10,000 times this site has been looked. that means 10,000 times people have come here and thought "Wow, that's a cool card", "I'll see if he wants to make a trade", "This is a good place to masturbate" and so on...

And thank you all for that. I'm very happy that through everything that has happened that I have found my little place in this community. I know that everyday I look forward to the time I get to spend reading all of the blogs - I know I don't comment a lot - but rest assured, I'm out there taking it all in - and I am thrilled that you all do the same.

Take care now

Stephen

09 Topps From JayBee

A few weeks back I sent JayBee the Steve Carlton SP from the Series 2 of Topps - you can help him out with that pursuit here. In return he sent me 30 cards towards my Series 2 st - they are all (1 omission) as follows.

First up are the base cards. Topps really did redeem themselves this year with a super nice looking card that is both modern in look and feel while not being to flashy or crowded. Kudos Topps

Chad Qualls - This guy has been merely good for one of my fantasy teams - That league I am completely sucking ass in though, so what does it matter?

Oliver Perez - speaking of sucking ass...

David Murphy - I don't know too much about this guy - decent hitter, some pop - serviceable outfielder - but this is a great shot of him heading back to the dugout after scoring a run - like the full stadium in the background.

Chris Iannetta - A disappointing season thus far for a guy who seemed to finally turn a corner

Donald Veal - yup - nothing to say about this dude



Chris Young - I feel like this dude will never really harness his star potential - just cannot make consistent enough contact.

Trevor Cahill - hot Shot rookie with Oakland - something tells me he will have a good career - most of these young dudes from Oaktown usually do

BJ Ryan - Thank you for sucking and allowing me to pick up Scott Downs in a few leagues.

Freddy Sanchez - is one of the best hitters in the league that no one could care less about?

Edwin Moreno - I remember watching him the first week of the season against the Mets _ I do not however remember anything he did

Yovani Gallardo - my my this guy is going to be good isn't he?

Johnny Damon - He just keeps on hitting doesn't he? I still like him better with a beard - but then again, I like everyone better with a beard

Kenshin Kawakami - Am I right that he is really frustrating to have on your team - so many times I feel like I have seen him pitch really well one inning then completely screw the pooch the next - hes the Asian Ollie!



Next up are the Topps Town cards - I did not scan Daisuke Matsuzake because fuck him and his shitty pitching. Thats why

We'll play a little a game seeing who of these dudes are on pace to be in the Hall of Fame - assuming the keep pace of their careers

Daisuke - No way
Mark Teixeria - I say yes
Todd Helton - yes
David Ortiz - no
Chase Utley - yes
Dustin Pedroia - too early to tell
David Wright - too early to tell but I am leaning to yes - so I am biased - whatever
Justin Upton - too early to tell
Manny - before the scandal - yes - now - no way
Jimmy Rollins - don't think so



Next up we have a group of Turkey Reds

Cy Young
Ryan Howard
Ryan Doumit
Matt Kemp



Finally we have some career best cards of some guys who were pretty good.

Walter Johnson - yup pretty good
Honus Wagner - yup, pretty good
Lou Gehrig - went to work everyday
Jackie Robinson - he was notable for something...

Speaking of Jackie Robinson - in first or 2nd grade I had to write a small report on who my hero was - I wrote that Reggie Jackson was my hero for being the first black baseball player in the Majors - whoops.




So thank you JayBee! The want list is now updated for anyone who is inclined to help!

09 Upper Deck Series 2 Box Inserts & Autogamers

So I didn't realize that I had not posted in a week. Blogger has been a pain in my ass of late and my patience has been very low - anyone else have this issue? I have to do all of my posting in the Edit HTML box - if I got to compose, it will not allow me type anything - also, I keep getting locked in at the log in page -

Whatever - I got it to work now.

So anyway, I picked up a second box of UD series 2 - missing only 2 cards from that set now which is very nice - here are all the inserts and hits from said box,

The team USA cards received are for Tommy Mendonca, Mike Minor, and Micah Gibbs - The only one of these dudes I know of is Mike Minor who was the 7th pick of the Braves - who really I don't care about anymore because they aren't good - Congrats Atlanta - you are now LESS hated than Philly!



Next up we have the O Pee Chee preview cards. You know I like this set - its classic, clean - nice design, classic card stock - but 6 cards in a pack? I have no choice but to call bullshit - I'll just buy a completed set on ebay in a month after someone busts a few cases for the 6 hits that won't be worth $14.

So we got Johan Santana, Mark Teixeira, Josh Hamilton, and Jonathan Papelbon. As a Mets fan I am of course digging the Johan. Tex has come up huge after (another) slow April. Josh - did anyone else see the article on The Onion about how his former drug dealer is upset that he is now playing baseball becuase he had so much "Junkie Potential"? It was fantastic - I'm all for guys quittin the shit, but I wish he wasn't all about the God stuff. Finally - Papelsmear - any card that doesn't have that "I just won the World Series, I'm gonna shit on the field" picture is good by me.



Carlos Villanueva gold 95/99

Who said nothing exciting ever happens?!



20th Anniversary Buy Back Rich Gedman - wow between this and the Carlos Villanueva card I've not gotten 2 corner stone collection hits in one box!



All right now - time for the good stuff -

oh wait - its UD Series 2?

The hits are gonna suck?

Really?



Yup.

AJ Griffin Auto
Ryan Lipkin Table Cloth
Alex Romero ball gag slice
Charles Johnson Spankerchief

Ugh

Adrian Gonzalez and Robin Ventura GU Cards

When I went to grab my 2nd box of 09 UD series 2 I took a quick look at my dealers binder of game used and autos binder and found a couple of cards for a pretty sweet deal.

First up is my favorite all time Player Robin Ventura - This is my first game used card of his and comes from a 2001 Upper Deck set - This is great because it has a piece of a White Sox Jersey and a Mets Jersey with a stripe - I am really happy about having this card in my collection now!



The Next card is Adrian Gonzalez from a 2004 Topps Set - Don't know much of this card besides its a minors jersey it looks like - really just thought it was a neat card so I grabbed it - this one is up for trade if anyone is interested.

So grand total for these 2 cards - $6 - can't go wrong with that

Some B Mets Autos

Last Thursday I spent 4 innings with the Binghamton Mets on their way to a 16-2 loss in the pouring rain. All of that kinda sucked - it was 1030 AM - the beer wasn't very cold and it wasn't Yuengling - the Hatfield deli was not open, so no pulled pork breakfast - the lines for hot dogs were about 40 kids long each - all in all not a good morning to be a 28 year old dude alone at a minor league baseball game.

But I was able to get a few cards signed (cards courtesy of Paul's Random Stuff). Paul will be getting his own copy of each of these cards plus Shawn Bowman who I lost the 2nd card of, so I only had him sign the one for Paul -

Here they are in the order received
First up was Josh Thole - he remembered be from the bowling day and again, was a real pleasure - got to talk to him for a few minutes about getting a day off and Brad Holt - He signed for everybody and really is the nicest guy I can remember on one of these B Mets teams - Murphy and Carp were always nice, but you can tell that with Thole he really enjoys all of everything

Next up is Stephen Clyne who pitched poorly and wasn't nice, wasn't mean - just kinda grunted and moved on - but he was still nice enough to sign

Finally Roydrick Merrit - This dude didn't even grunt... but still - nice enough to sign.



I will be getting more players as the opportunity presents itself. Thanks again for the cards Paul!

2009 UD Series 2 box packs 12-16

to wrap up the worst box break in blogging history (this is the last time I scan all the cards then do posts a week later - feel so disconnected from the cards now) we see the final hit of the box which is Matt Kemp - This guy is earmarked for GCRL whom I am still indebted to. I am going to be picking up a 2nd box in hope of finishing my set on Friday - I will probably just do a hits scan out of that box since we really have seen what this set is about - so thanks for everything ya'll

Upper Deck Series 2 box packs 7-11

Here we go with scans from packs 7 - 11 - a couple things of note -

We have Alex Rios shown below - if you go to you tube and search Alex rios Fans there is clip of him telling a middle age man heckling him to fuckoff. it won't let me embed.

the Chutley card below is numbered /99

Ryan Jackson is projecting as a 2nd round pick - and now I have a piece of his shirt.

So now we have seen half of the box - what do you all think of the cards? I know my analysis isnt all that good, but I know the scans look nice - what do you think?

2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Want List

2 boxes down - lets see what I need

905, 1002

Wow - only 2 cards missing - let me know if you can help!

2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Box Packs 3-6

Here we are with packs 3 through six of the Upper Deck Series 2 box.

The first cards we see here are a team USA guy not named Strasburg and 2 guys that are toiling on the mound of my random fantasy teams, Chad Billingsly and Johnathan Sanchez. I've been on the billingsly train for about 3 years now, so it's nice to see him really succeed.



The first traditional hit of the box is a dual auto/GU card of Team USA's Mike Minor - I did a very little amount of research on him and it looks like he is going to be a first round pick this year - so thats good - maybe a team collector out there will be happy when I trade this one away after you draft him!



Finally - a bunch of scans from the set - I love that almost all of the Royals cards have them in those blue unis - They are hands down my favorite ones in the set. At the bottom you will also see another O Pee Chee card - this one of Ichiro and this one not boring - a definite step up from that last one we saw.

2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Hobby Box Packs 1 & 2

Few weeks back I picked up box 1 (of 2) that I will be busting of 09 Ud Series 2. I dont know what it is - but I love this set. The quality control does suck as I had 4 mangled cards in the box that are on their way to be replaced, but once these cards are in pages - I love looking through this set. This takes me to a question before we get to the cards?
How do you prefer your cards to be sequenced in a set? Do you like the randomness or Topps or do you like the team set a la Upper Deck? I think that I favor the UD approach by team/rookies/checklists etc...It's almost like reading a story about the season. What do you think?
The first package in the box was a buyback auto of Jim Morris from a 99 UD product - My dealer said this was the old dude that the movie "The Rookie" was about. Keep in mind that I get this card while the guy who opened 2 boxes of this stuff while I was also in the store got a Tim Hudson GU/AUTO and a Griffey Auto as his bonus hits. This card is certainly on the block. At least its an on card auto.Just a few base cards here - Chipper for Dayf and the Captain, Tex for people who like boring Yankee cards and backdrops, Nate Mclouth for Dayf and the Captain, and Carlos Pena for his family back home - your little boy made the show!Next up we have our first met - the most aptly named man in history of sport, JJ Putz (yeah I mean like that slang for cock). I was excited for him but 20% of me thought it could be a huge failure - and so far he has been. Now - I scanned all of these Team USA guys and dont know why - none of them are named Strasburg. I did pull my one buyback card and at least it was a Met - Take a look at Nails, Lenny Dykstra. Does anyone else think these are stupid? It's not like 1089 Ud is so hard to come by that these buybacks are a treat or anything. Finally, we have from pack 2 a Carlos Beltran Award Winner card and the first O Pee Chee preview card - a boring ass shot of Matt Holliday playing grab ass in the outfield. Nothing makes me excited for a set like shitty photography!More to come! Also - Packages just went out to anyone waiting except you Jeff - that goes out on payday cause its gonna be a few bones to ship.

Presents from the Troll

A week back or so I received an email and subsequent package from Marck @ the Collective Troll. Mark was VERY generous in sending me a bunch of cards needed for my 2007 Bowman heritage, 2008 Topps Heritage, and 2007 Topps 52 Rookies Sets. Let's take a look.

First up for the original set that won't die - 2008 Topps Heritage We've got base cards of Preston Wilson, Dan Wheeler, and Phil Hughes. You will also see a New Age Performer of John Lackey (who is pitching really well as I type this - it's 6/4/09 as this is being written) and a Then and Now card featuring Orlando Cepada and Magglio Ordonez.



Next up was a group of 07 52' Rookies - This is a set that I am getting closer and closer to finishing - I would officially say that the end is in sight. Of the cards here, the only player of I have even really heard of is Jack Cassel - but I love them all for the spots in the binder they will fill.



Now Mark didn't only base cards - there were also a handful of inserts. There were 2 Diamond Flashacks - Maggiol Ordonez and Paul Lo Duca. I miss Paul as a Met if for no other reason than he was the only guy on the team you could always count on to play with a little fire. Next up there were some Dynamic Duo inserts. Lets pit them against each other.

David Murphy and Jarrod Saltalamacchia - I'll take Salty for position scarcity
Alex Gordon and Billy butler - Again, I'll take Gordon for position scarcity - 1st baggers like Butler are a dime a dozen
Tim Lincecum and Nate Schierholtz - No contest gotta go with Lincey



Next there were a bunch of 07 Bowman Heritage cards - of the ones received I chose to highlight 3 pitching aces and some rookies.

Of the Rookies received 3 have come on to really make impacts for their teams - josh Hamilton, John Danks, and Glen Perkins - and actually Michael Bourne too - Dallas Braden and Curtis Thigpen are still working on sticking at the Big Show. Three pitchers who not only have stuck, but could be perennial Cy Young award winners are Roy Oswalt, Dan Haren, and Rich Harden - I would love to have any of these arms in a Mets uniform.



Finally, a bunch of prospects I don't know anything about - so I just scanned three of each color. Enjoy



So Marck - Thank you very much - some heritage and Rays are on their way to you!

A suprise from the Night Owl

I can;t help but think that when writing "Surprise from the Night Owl" that what follows should be something like a letter to Penthouse.

Fortunately tough, thats not how Greg rolls over. How he does roll is by being in humble estimation - the creme de la creme of all baseball card bloggers and supreme amounts of generosity.

Greg recently parted with a handful of 2009 Topps Heritage cards for me to help finish off the set that will never die. Thanks to Greg though, its now on life support as I get closer and closer to finishing. Greg was even kind enough to part with some dear Dodgers for me. I chose to scan the ones below by the scientific means of choosing every other card. Isn't that wild?

I have to set my favorite card of the bunch is the Utley New Age Performers. I really like the set and I think that Utley is the best 2nd baseman in baseball (sorry Ian Kinsler).



So Greg - Thank you kindly and once I get my shit together I Promise to reciprocate.

Suprise package from over yonder!

A few weeks back I received a surprise package from john over at the Pursuit of 80s Blog across the sea. John was kind enough to let go of a few Mets cards for my team collection. While there were a lot of cards in the lot I didn't have - Here are a few that I thought were extra awesome.First up anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows that I love me some Robin Ventura (to the tune of him being my all time favorite player). Unfortunately - while Robin was playing I was not collecting (ahem, while he was playing for the Mets) so I don't have many cards of him in a Mets uniform. Now I have a 2000 Fleer Focus and a 1999 Topps Finest (with UV coating) to add to the player collection. Next up we have Mike Pizza chillin' in front of a scroll from 200 Fleer Showcase. This is really an ugly card. How does this happen? What does a scroll have to do with baseball? Because this a Consummate Prose card? The back calls mike a "Master of wooden Disaster" - hardly groundbreaking stuff there. I would like to relay a small Piazza story here if I could though. The singer Meatloaf is a huge Mets fan from all accounts I have heard. In an interview of Meat I read when he released Bat out of Hell III he stated that the first song "The Monster Is Loose" came to him while at a Mets game. Piazza was coming up to hit and was slumping when Meat heard the equipment manager yell to Mike "C;mon Mike, the Monster is loose!". Good stuffNext up is a 1999 Fleer Ultra John Olerud card. I am a sucker for the Ultra line and wish that UD would do something about bringing some Fleer back into our lives. Just a nice card of John at the plate doing what he did best. A fact about John that I did not know is that according to the back of his card, John never played in the minors after he was drafted. hmmm.Next we have a 2008 Bowman Fernando Martinez. Another player I am invested in due to his time here in Binghamton. It's been great to see him play up at Citi Field although i don't think he is destined to stay there this season - something tells me once Church is off the DL Fernando will find himself back in Buffalo.
Finally, we have a 2007 Bowman Heritage prospect card of mike Devaney - This card is going straight into my Bowman Heritage Binder as it was needed for me set.
So John - Thank you for the kindness of just sending these my way - I know my recent self well enough to say that I will get something back out to you - but it probably will be a bit of time until that happens. My card room right now is a mess and its a bit tough for me to get trades together unless its out of a se ttha tI have already in order and such - but I will keep ya in mind for any Jacoby's or other cool Red Sox stuff for you!