Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The middle child...

Well round one was a smashing success. A couple of people even read it apparently. Let's keep up the momentum with the next eight packs in random order...


Pack nine
+2 Anderson
+8 Blogger (Really?)
+2 Peralta SP (no scan)
Castro
Stanton
Braun
Todd
Total +12
A relic card of a blogger? Really?
I just sent in a package of various clothing items to Topps.
The sweat pants I was wearing for my first post. The stained t-shirt I wore during the Bipping of 2012. Socks from the 2010 World Cup all nighter... look for me in your favourite Topps products in 2015.
No autographs, please.

Pack ten
+1 Aaron
+2 Ryu
+2 Utley
+2 Bowler
+2 Maris Past time, -1 Yankee
Ryan
Clancy
Jennings
Total 8pts

Pack eleven
+2 Alvarez
+2 Gyorko
+5 Freddie!
Bogaerts
Snider
Dawson
Williams
Skaggs
Total +9

Pack twelve
+2 Stanton
+3 Griffey
+2 Athens
Harvey
Archer
Myers
Burroughs
Schefter
Total +7

Pack thirteen
+2 Mussina -1 Yankee
+1 Gattis
+8 Bruce
Dell
Choo
Dawson
Ripken Jr
Total +10

Pack fourteen
+4 Howard
+3 Kitty
+2 Olt
-1 Jeter
Santiago
Lake
McCutchen
Piazza
Total 8


Pack fifteen
+5 Utley
+2 Killebrew
-1 Gehrig
Cingrani
Stargell
Garciaparra
Gilligan
Rollins
Total 6pts

Pack sixteen
+1 Spahn
+2 Craig SP
+2 Biggio
Frazier
Ortiz
Raines
Robinson
Clemente
Total 5 pts

part three might be up tonight... if not, it'll be tomorrow morning.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Is it that time already?

Well, actually, it's waaaay past that time. It's Gint-A-Cuffs time. I've been waiting on the commish to make a couple of scoring rules. That finally happened, and then I fell asleep. Figuratively. For like a week or two.
Oops.
So here we go. With no fan fare or frills, may I present to the world, Gint-A-Cuffs VI. (I think)

Box topper...

mine was a pack of five red bordered minis /33 These are a case hit. (a rip off from Gypsy Queen)
 four points each plus a +1 for Upton = 21pts

Pack one? (these are out of order... but it'll all wash in the end)
+2  Altuve
+3 Sasquatch
+2 Festivals
Trumbo
Rosario
Romero
Uehara
Avila
Total +7
 Pack two
+2 Gray
+3 Clancy
+1 Mathews
-1 Hernandez Yankee
Verlander
Hosmer
Kaline
Gibson
Total +5


Pack three
+2 Pig
+2 Garcia
+2 Shea Stadium
Kershaw
Gyorko
Harper
Sullivan
Schoop
Total +6
 
Pack four
 
+??? not listed no numbered A&G back Hellen Keller mini
+2 Newsworthy
-1 Gardiner Yankee
Flores
Miller
Hernandez
Lambo
Guerrero

no idea on the total... (turns out it's +6 for no number and +2 for A&G)
Total 9 pts

Pack five
+2 Verlander
+3 Goldschmidt
+2 Taipei
-1 Rancic
Salazar
Scherzer
Paxton
Zito
Total +6

Pack six
+1 Gattis
+2 Ryu
+1 Murphy
+2 Jerusalem
Masterson
Sandberg
Abreu
Rizzo
Total +6

Pack seven
+2 Donaldson
+2 Molina
+2 Darvish
+3 Wolf
Fernandez
Cano
Cepeda
Williams
Total +9

Pack eight
 +2 Strawberry SP (forgot to scan)
+1 Teheran
+3 James Whistler
+1 Deion
-1 Snoop Lion. Snoop Lion???
Smith
Robles
Corbin
Total +6


more to come soon.....

Friday, September 19, 2014

Hockey cards even an Owl can love...

It's that wonderful time of year again. The leaves have changed their colour. The Braves have blown the division. And OPC hockey has been released into the wild. Just like clockwork. Consistency is comfortable.
 
Of course I'm all in after the set again. You knew that. So here are some pics to show what this year's set is all about.
 
The base card. Overly large borders. While the O-Pee-Chee logo has shrunk over the last few years, the team name has increased in size. Having both the team logo and name is a wee overkill. Photos are mostly closely cropped onto one player.
 
 The backs are purposely bland. When will Upper Deck look at the backs of an actual OPC hockey card ands realize they were never like this?
The addition of a second photo is new, but they re-use the same photo from the front. So it's completely useless. A lack of career stats is disappointing.

After a brief break last year, this year has the return of the 50 SP high number rookies and matching 50 SP high number legends. Again... this is getting old. It's been done. Move on.
 
 Thankfully with no real way of telling the rookies from the veterans on the front, they've added a way on the back. If you squint closely, in the fine print at the bottom, the printing number is different for the rookies than the regular base.
 Otherwise how would you ever know???

 The other SP's are the legends.
 
No such way on the back to recognize the old timers, so you'll just have to do it the old fashioned way.
Google.
 Would've loved career stats here...

Again, there is a retro parallel set.

I think this is one of the rookies... not sure though.

No helmet! So he must be a legend.

In the red-headed stepchild category. The foil parallel. Does anyone collect these things?

In an effort to make a foil something that's wanted... they add a black border and number them /100.

Found roughly two per box, there are mini cards modelled after some old tobacco era card that I'm waaaaaay too lazy to research right now. Cut 2 1/2 x 2 1/2, they're kinda cool.
 
By now, certain Owls may have nodded off... or are at least wondering why they've read this much babble about cards featuring people they've never heard of.
 
But here is the payoff.
 
For the third year in a row, OPC has inserted a 100 card sticker set.
 
Et voila.
 
 
 
 
 Oh yeah.... you're seeing it. See some more... a full page worth.

 
There are only four different colour varieties in the set. Stickers #1,5,9,13,17 etc are Green with Orange. #2,6,10,14,18... are Blue with Green. #3,7,11,15,19 etc are Red with Yellow. And #4,8,12,16,20 are the ever popular Purple with Pink.
It would be nice if there were a few more unannounced variations. But I'll take it.
If you zoom in on the top of the Jonathan Quick, you'll see an old fashioned OPC printers spot.
 
Awesome.
 
I wonder how they came up with this idea...
 
It's like if Henry Bucha had his way one night with Nolan Ryan.

+
 +

 
=

 
 
Hey. You never know. It was the '70's.