I Am Not Immune (my one and only annual A&G post)

Yes, you heard me.  I, the fanatical Pittsburgh sports and general hockey fan, am not immune to the siren song that is Allen & Ginter's.  I am a sucker for retro looking cards, to which I have more than once acknowledged.  This years A&G is nothing new to the card collecting community, nothing different than what has already been done before, and is actually kind of stale in my opinion, but...I still love it.

I went a little overboard I think with a couple blasters, a retail box, and a handful of rack packs but hey, how else do you expect to complete a base set with all the SPs?  When the dust settled and the mountain of pack wrappers finally toppled over, I was left still needing 137 cards in the base set.  That's still almost 40%!!  I think I also decided to go after many of the insert sets, including most of the mini's.  No way I will be able to complete a base mini set...not with all the parallels that are inserted into packs. 

Here were some of my favorites...

 Nolan Ryan base card, looking all "I'm going to K you and there is nothing you can do about it".

 Roberto Clemente Highlight Sketch card.  Just awesome.

Hank Aaron base card.  If only I had a time machine...

What?  It's a card.  I didn't make it up.

 The Emancipation Proclamation from the Historical Turning Points set.  Look at Abe, just waiting to plunge that wooden stake into Dracula's cold heart.

 

 It's an old guy with a fish.  What is not to like about this card?

 There are a bunch of mini's to choose from but the old school Padres Tony Gwynn has to be my favorite.

And finally, Yu. Not You, Yu.  Looking like a high school kid, all nerdy and stuff.

Here is a list of what I need, along with a whole host of mini's that are on my Set Needs Page.

1 2 6 8 9 10 11 14 15 22 23 27 28 29 32 33 34 35 37 38 42 44 46 50 53 54 61 62 64 65 71 75 77 78 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 98 102 111 112 114 121 122 125 128 130 137 139 142 147 148 156 158 162 169 171 173 174 175 176 177 182 183 187 188 191 195 197 198 199 207 209 211 214 220 222 223 226 238 240 242 243 245 246 248 250 252 253 254 255 262 263 264 270 273 277 278 283 285 287 291 292 298 299 300 302 303 304 305 306 308 309 310 313 315 319 321 322 323 325 326 330 333 334 337 339 341 344 347 348 349 350

I have a whole slue of base doubles that I can trade...about a 100 or so, as well as these others:

SPs - - 301, 307, 316, 318, 320, 327, 332, 342, 346 (x2), 
Mini's - - 166, 249, 269
Mini SPs - - 335
Mini A&G Back - - 213
What's In A Name - - 35, 76, 83 (x2)
Historical Turning Points - - 8
World's Tallest Buildings - - 1, 2, 3, 7

If anyone wants to make a deal on any A&G, let me know.

Stay tuned for more updates on next weeks big community group break.

Box Break - - 2012 Topps Archives Baseball Blaster

(This is one of my lost posts that I started a few/couple months ago.  I have since over indulged on Archives and would be glad to help anyone else out on base set completion.  I even have them sorted in order if you can believe that.  This was my first exposure to the product back when it was "new".)


I don't buy a ton of baseball product.  Usually the base Topps series and maybe a few Heritage or a couple retro sets if they are out there (A&G or Gypsy Queen).  I am not really even a big fan of baseball as a whole and I've discussed that on here numerous times.  I still hold the Pirates near and dear to my heart but lets face it, they haven't really been the most fun to watch for, oh....the last 20 years or so.  Plus, I have a hard enough time not having a heart attack every time the Pens or Steelers are on.  I couldn't take another sport that makes me crazy.  So I generally sit idly by in the proverbial baseball corner and just watch the festivities of others.

But this year, Topps put out the Archives set which was supposed to be kind of a throwback to the Fan Favorites sets of old.  Instead, it has amassed what may very well be, as many haters as it has fans.  I will throw myself out here and join the masses of fans.  I really like this product.  So here is yet another in a long, and I mean very long, line of card blogger Archives posts.

First off, I am a sucker for retro sets.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because I know I probably won't be able to afford the real thing so getting something that looks old but isn't must satisfy some intrinsic need.  Generally when a retro themed set is released in hockey, I will dump hundreds or more in it trying to complete the set as they usually look quite good in binders (see Champs Hockey, Parkhurst Champions, UD Retro).

Second, there are quite a few designs that are thrown into this product making it as manically frustrating for design enthusiasts as it is wonderfully unique to set collectors.  The first 50 cards (1-50) feature the 1954 Topps base card design.  The player selection is also smattered with old school guys like Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, and Cal Ripken Jr.  The second 50 (51-100) are from the 1971 set, you know the all black border cards that are extremely condition sensitive?  These have guys like Lou Gehrig, Phil Rizzuto, and Ty Cobb mixed with Chipper Jones.  The third group of 50 (101-150) are from the 1980 set.  I can't say that I am a big fan of the 1980 design by any means but it is definitely an iconic 1980s set.  The original 1980 Topps set featured the Rickey Henderson Rookie, the Jesse Orosco/Mike Scott Rookie, and I think the Rick Sutcliffe rookie card.  The Archives version has the rookie card of Yu Darvish.  The next 50 (151-200) use the 1984 design.  That's the set with Darryl Strawberry and Don Mattingly rookies as well as a host of others.  I think I like this design the best because of it looks very similar to the hockey set from the same year only with squares for the players heads instead of circles.  It's a neatly positioned and uniform design pattern.

Thirdly, Topps still brought out what they are calling Fan Favorites and these are cards 201-240 and feature short printed cards of various players through history from various years, almost like a reprint.  Card 241 is also short printed but that's the Bryce Harper rookie.  Some of the players included here are Don Mattingly, Andy Van Slyke on his 1988 card, Wally Joyner on his 1987 card, and Will Clark on a pseudo-1986 card.  Somehow on these (inserted about 1:4 packs) I ended up with 2 Cecil Cooper #219s.  Weird.  There are also autograph versions of all of these which look awesome and they fall about 1:12 in the hobby boxes.  For some reason, Topps paid tribute to the ultimate utility man Jose Oquendo by giving him nine different auto versions, one in each position.

Fourth, I love the autographed framed mini set.  These are a tough pull at only 25 of each player but they look great.  Just like the mini GU or Auto framed cards in A&G, these too have the card encapsulated in a larger, see through frame.  I have seen the Nolan Ryan and the Ryne Sandberg ones in person and they are awesome.  I also saw a picture of someone who pulled a Reggie Jackson.  That one was sweet as well.

Finally, there are two different kinds of stickers and a 3D card insert.  The first stickers are the 1977 Cloth stickers.  There are 25 of these that fall about 1:6 hobby packs.  They feature a mix of current and former stars.  They are just what you think.  Cloth.  Just like the logo and trophy stickers from the Topps Sticker Albums (or even the Panini ones too).  The other stickers are the 1967 "floating head" stickers.  These also have a mix of current and formers stars but are less frequent at 1:8 packs.  The 3D cards are just awesome.  I used to have a bunch of these when I first started collecting but they have since gone AWOL.  I wish I knew where.  These look pretty close to the real thing and feature current players along with Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, and Al Kaline.

Oh, and for good measure...they even threw in a GU card.  Not bad for a blaster.

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions - A Little Bit Of Everything For Everyone

I don't normally do card release previews but when I read and saw these I just had to throw out my 2 Cents.  Upper Deck has decided, once again, to revive an old brand, that being Parkhurst.  This year, they will release Parkhurst Champions for the first time and from the looks of it, maybe not the last time either.  I know this might be old news to some of you but I just stumbled upon these little gems and thought I would share with those of you that are like me and 2 months behind. 

Parkhurst Champions is going to be another set that we all either love or hate and that is a retired player set.  Being that it is Upper Deck, we should get all the greats including Gretzky, Howe, Orr, Lemieux, and well that was it.  There were only 4 "greats" the rest are just "pretty goods".  The base card design is similar to the past Parkhurst retired player releases of Upper Deck in that it shows either a black and white or color photo of the player with a crisp full-bleed photo.  They also added a marquee of sorts at the botton with the player name and team that gives the cards a nostalgic yet higher end feel.  The base set is 100 cards and has an all-autographed parallel set. 

What I am interested in seeing is the Champs cards that have been inserted.  As most of the hockey collector's are already aware, Champs made a quick exit from Upper Deck's stable of releases after only 2 years on the market.  For those of us that have been building complete sets, the reintroduction of Champs to the market can be either a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it.  First off, it's not a regular release.  You can't go and buy packs or boxes and bust away until the cows come home.  The cards themselves will be the mini's, inserted at a rate of one per pack in the Parkhurst set.  Secondly, there are once again short printed versions, Green Backs (like before), Green Back short prints, Parkhurst Backs, and the rarest of the lot, Parkhurst Back short prints.  This makes a master set next to impossible. 

Also included are the mini signatures that have been a big hit with collectors because of their simple design, clean cut look, and of course on-card auto.  These will have a Red Parallel version #'d/5.  But what Champ's set would be complete without the world famous Fossils & Artifacts cards that are inserted once again at a rate of about 1:1,280 packs.  Those are always interesting once they finally start getting mailed out and go up on auctions. 

Another resurrection of sorts are the Parkhurst Masterpiece Sketches and Renditions series inserts.  Renditions are set to fall about 2-3 per box and will feature an artist interpretation of one of the many legends that don the checklist.  The Sketch cards will #'d/10.  There will also be a rarer black and white parallel in addition to B&W and Color autograph versions.  Upper Deck's Masterpieces was always a great set and holds traction in all sports.  I have always wondered why they haven't brought it back since it's popularity is sky high.  Now at least we will get a crack at seeing it again, even if it's only an insert. 

The most interesting thing about the set in my opinion are the Wire Image cards that are being inserted.  These feature the wire image photo of a major event by each player depicted.  I know a few collectors out there that actually have quite extensive collections of Wire Photos.  These used to be locked down by the services that sent them for many years but in the last 10-20, we have seen an explosion of original photography surface from larger organizational sales as well as private collectors.  Upper Deck has brought this idea to the card sets and featured some of these photos just like they were intended. 

 

Oh, and did I mention there were autographed versions of these as well?  Basically, there are autographed versions of everything in this set.  

My original plan was to only start with the main Upper Deck set this year and the O-Pee-Chee if there is one.  I think I may add this one to the mix as well.  Each box will have on average two "hits" one being an autograph.  There will be up to 5 wire photo cards with at least 1 being a multi-player photo, 2-3 Rendition cards with the potential for the Sketch or Auto version, and 20 Champ's mini-cards with endless parallel potentials. Already you can find pre-sells on these in the $70-90 range.  Release date is set for October 20th.

2010-11 Upper Deck Hockey is coming

What's that you say?  You have thousands, possibly millions of 1990-91 Upper Deck cards and you don't remember this one.  That's because it didn't exist (not to mention Iginla didn't have a card until his '94 SP draft pick card).  This is a sample from the soon to be released 2010-11 Upper Deck Series I Hockey.

Scheduled for November, Upper Deck is planning thier unveiling of thier flagship hockey set, celebrating 20 years in the making.  This is the design Upper Deck used to launch themselves into the hockey card market back then and they are bringing it back.  These will be featured as a base parallel set randomly inserted into packs at about 1/4 packs.  In the world of retro themed sets, I can think of a lot worse of a product to model these after.  In other words, for nostalgia sake, I like them.

The base cards will look very similar to their baseball counterparts, with the black & white photo adorning the bottom border of the card.  They typical full bleed action shots that we have all become accustomed to will also be there.  Other insert sets look to include a Clear Cut Lineage Set which appear to be acetate or at least "see through" and feature three players from a teams history and are serial numbered, Clear Cut Champions which look to be "diecut" around a Stanley Cup shape and numbered, the standard run-of-the-mill UD Jersey set that everyone is learning to despise, and the ever-popular Young Guns which should fall about 6 per hobby box.

Beckett has the release story over on their blog if anyone wants to check it out.  I am not a product previewer by any means but when I saw this, with the exception of their GU design, it got me excited to see the puck drop again (I know it has only been about a month but I'm going through withdrawal).