1999 Skybox Thunder

Holey crap.. these cards have short little raps on the back of each card.. they're so cheezy I'm embaressed for the players!

Here's some examples:

A-Rod's:
"A-Rod, You're in the House.. And You Ain't Creepin' Like No Mouse. You're Comin' Full Force With Speed, Power, and Unrelentin' Skillz."

FER-REALZ!

Here's some more:

Daryle Ward's
"You've Been Strikin' a Pose With the 'Stros, And We Like What We See, 'Bro. How 'Bout Some More of That, Yo."

Rey Ordonez's
"Man, Your Skillz on Defense are Intense, You'd Be a Better Infielder With Your Bare Hands Than Most Are With a Glove, Much Love."

Here's what I got:

#4 Daryle Ward
#25 Chuck Knoblauch
#35 Shane Andrews
#66 Matt Clement
#119 Bobby Smith
#176 Dean Palmer
#199 Rey Ordonez
#276 Alex Rodriguez

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 1.29
Beckett NM/MT worth: $3.10
Insert odds I beat: none
Most valuable card: # 276 Alex Rodriguez @ $1.50

2007-08 Topps Trademark Moves

I'm not too impressed with this set so far.. kinda boring.

Here's what I got:

#10 Tim Duncan
#20 Vince Carter
#21 Kevin Garnett
#26 Gilbert Arenas
#47 Magic Johnson

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 2.99
Beckett NM/MT worth: N/A
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: N/A

1997-98 Skybox Metal Universe Championship Preview

I love this Rasheed Wallace card! I saw him put in a lot of playing time for the Trail Blazers when he was here in Portland. I enjoyed watching him play, as long as the bastard kept his cool and didn't ruin the game for everyone. He led the league in ejections for at least one year, probably more. I also love the Crater Lake National Park scenic foil background in this card.. since I think it's the greatest place I've ever been, and it's right here in Oregon.

Here's what I got:

#2 Chris Mills
#4 Adonal Foyle
#21 Rasheed Wallace
#28 Terrell Brandon
#41 Kevin Garnett
#53 Rod Strickland
#78 Shawn Kemp
#13 Tim Thomas [future champions insert, die cut]

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 2.50
Beckett NM/MT worth: $7.25
Insert odds I beat: 1:18 [future champions insert, die cut]
Most valuable card: Tim Thomas [future champions insert, die cut] @ $3.00

1996 Pinnacle Summit Football

This set is a "collector's set". Nice, thick, heavy card stock, brilliant rainbow foil borders for the base set (you can't tell from the scan) and cool "chase cards". I'm impressed. Looking forward to opening some more of these.. I've got 4 more.

Here's what I got:

#83 Flipper Anderson
#103 Terry Allen
#119 Rick Mirer
#129 Rodney Peete
#136 Kevin Smith
#140 Reggie White
#156 Daryl Gardener [rookie]
#159 Simeon Rice [rookie]
#160 Eric Moulds [rookie, ground zero parallel]
#173 Walt Harris [rookie]
#185 Neil O'Donnell [quarter horses]
#195 Mark Brunell [quarter horses]
#195 Mark Brunell [quarter horses]

...yes, you CAN pull doubles out of the same pack. Now I know.

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 1.00
Beckett NM/MT worth: $10.00
Insert odds I beat: 1:5 [ground zero parallel]
Most valuable card:Eric Moulds [rookie, gound zero parallel] @ $6.00

2004 Playoff Honors Baseball

I grabbed a handful of these off of eBay for a good price. This set is full of fun serial numbered inserts. None out of this pack, but I have high hopes for the rest.

Here's what I got:

#34 Curt Schilling
#91 Morgan Ensberg
#120 Jose Vidro
#162 Phil Nevin
#177 Albert Pujols

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 1.40
Beckett NM/MT worth: $3.80
Insert odds I beat: none
Most valuable card: Albert Pujols @ $2.00

2001 Topps Enduring Freedom

Here's a curveball. My first non-sports pack(s) for the blog! I told you I'd have some non-sports eventually.

This set documented the beginnings of our nation's war on terror. Way back over 6 whole years ago when terms like "United We Stand" and "Don't Tread on Me" meant something again to us again for a short while. American flags were proudly displayed everywhere.. now if you have a flag sticker on your car and you park downtown, your car gets keyed. *sigh*

I got 5 of these guys so lets rip...

Pack 1:

#10 New York's Finest
#16 Arafat Gives Blood for Americans
#26 Former Presidents Unite at the Day of Prayer
#44 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta
#46 Bush Assures the Nation: "We Will Not Fail"
#51 F-15C Eagle - Fast, Maneuverable, Mighty
#89 USS Kitty Hawk Leaves Japanese Waters
#8 Old Glory [sticker puzzle back]

Pack 2:

#17 President Putin Addresses Russians
#21 Investigators Comb Pennsylvania Site
#40 Mayor Giuliani Gives the "Thumbs Up"
#50 F-16C Fighting Falcon Fires a Weapon
#59 Air Force Special Ops Fly Pave Hawk Choppers
#61 F-16s Deliver Fierce Firepower
#67 Army Special Ops - Troops at the Ready
#1 God Bless America [sticker puzzle back]

Pack 3:

#14 Chirac Leads France in a Moment of Silence
#22 Police Search Suspect's Home in Florida
#48 B-2 Spirit Bomber Prepares for Refueling
#61 F-16s Deliver Fierce Firepower
#73 USS Cole Returns to Action on the High Seas
#77 Britain's HMS Cornwell Heads to Oman
#82 Air Force F-16: Ready for Action
#4 Proud Brave and Strong [sticker puzzle back]

Pack 4:

#7 New York's Bravest Toil, Undaunted
#13 Ottowa Rallies to Honor America
#18 NATO Stands Tall Alongside America
#20 German Police Hunt for Clues in Hamburg
#35 Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor
#43 U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
#87 KC-135: Fueling Station in the Sky
#2 USA Home of the Brave [sticker puzzle back]

Pack 5:

#28 The National Security Council Convenes
#31 Rangel, Schumer, Clinton Meet with Bush
#37 New York Governor George Pataki
#56 B-52 Bomber Flies a Low-Level Mission
#58 AC-130 Spectre - Versatile, Heavily Armed
#80 Navy F/A - 18 Hornets in Formation
#85 Marines Head Out for Overseas Duty
#7 Don't Tread on Me [sticker puzzle back]

1997 Score Cleveland Indians

I'm a sucker for an unusual pack, in fact, that's pretty much my thing. So I picked one of these up. These packs contain 5 cards out of the 15 card Indians team set. The team set cards are like the '97 Score base set, except these have red foil on the bottom, have "Team Collection" printed on the back and are numbered "x of 15". I'm glad I pulled Brian Giles rookie since I have a few of his from the regular set and this one will stand out.

Here's what I got:

#2 Jack McDowell
#4 Dennis Martinez
#9 Sandy Alomar Jr.
#13 Jeff Kent
#15 Brian Giles [rookie]

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 2.25
Beckett NM/MT worth: $3.80
Insert odds I beat: none
Most valuable card: Brian Giles [rookie] @ $2.00

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces pack 2

I was hoping to eventually pull these presidential cards out of my favorite set, and here they are in my second try. These cards document them throwing out first pitches during their presidency.

Here's what I got:

#62 Luis Aparicio
#63 Stephen Drew
#75 Richard Nixon
#76 Bill Clinton

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: $ 2.99
Beckett NM/MT worth: $5.60
Insert odds I beat: none
Most valuable card: Bill Clinton @ $2.50

Favorite Card of the Week [1.18.08-1.24.08]

Michael Jordan had always been a pinnacle pull when I was a kid opening my '90-'91 Hoops packs.. and that has never changed and never will. Michael Jordan will always be the best card you can pull out of any past, present or future basketball card pack. It's exciting to see more and more MJ cards come out in current sets, including autographs!

If you think you own this card, you probably don't. The one you most likely have is numbered #282 and worth just a little less than this one. This one is from Fleer's '96-'97 European set which had a few more cards in the mix, making this one numbered #312.

1996 Topps Laser Football

When I saw this pack before I opened it, It looked like the cards were going to be oversized, but it had 4 regular sized die cut cards sandwiched between 2 oversized checklist cards to protect the die cut cards. These are my first laser cards so I'm happy.

Here's what I got:

#12 Brian Mitchell
#19 Neil O'Donnell
#37 Henry Thomas
#42 Willie McGinest

What it cost me: $4.25
Beckett NM/MT worth: $1.00
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: #19 Neil O'Donnell @ $ .40

2001 Upper Deck Minor League Centennial

This sure is an interesting set. It's chock full of hall of famers sporting their minor league uniforms in old grainy photos, along with prospects of '01 to fill the 100 card set. And if you're lucky, you'll find a Michael Jordan Minor League Memorabilia Card. When I pulled the Ozzie Smith, I was surprised to see he played for the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League. I'm from Portland, OR so I grew up with the Portland Beavers PCL team. And I've never heard of the Islanders.. it turns out they became the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1988. The road trips for the Islanders must have been hell.. but it'd be worth it to play minor league ball in freakin' Hawaii, and it turns out that, along with Oz, Barry Bonds and Tony Gwynn did just that.

Here's what I got:

#14 Jason Hart
#27 Jamal Strong
#53 Bill Hall
#79 Pat Strange
#81 Ozzie Smith

What it cost me: $3.00

Beckett NM/MT worth: $2.25
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: #81 Ozzie Smith @ $ .75, #53 Bill Hall @ $ .75

1996-97 Fleer Basketball Series 2 European pack 2

Here's what I got:

#166 Minnesota Timberwolves
#204 Samaki Walker
#212 Terry Mills
#213 Otis Thorpe
#215 B.J. Armstrong
#256 Dontae Jones
#264 Lucious Harris
#291 John Stockton

What it cost me: nothing!
Beckett NM/MT worth: $1.00
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: #291 John Stockton @ $ .30

Scan!!!

The pics of the cards I post will be much better now that I finally ventured out into the world and picked up a Visioneer OneTouch 9420 high-res flatbed scanner so I can start using actual scans of my cards rather than stock photos off the internet. Oh and I can scan squished fruit too..

1992 Pacific Football pack 2

It's a good thing these were free.

Here's what I got:

#26 Carwell Gardner
#38 Chris Zorich
#236 William Thomas
#237 Jessie Small
#247 Mike Jones
#258 Louis Lipps
#269 Nate Lewis
#280 Charles Haley
#291 Andy Heck
#301 Reggie Cobb
#302 Robert Wilson
#312 Russ Grimm
#313 Mark Rypien
#323 Ricardo McDonald [rookie]
#324 Joe Bowden [rookie]

What it cost me: nothing!
Beckett NM/MT worth: $ .85
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: #38 Chris Zorich @ $ .10, #280 Charles Haley @ $ .10
Yes, most all packs are a waste of time, but this one takes the cake! Worst pack of '08. At lease I remember Mark Rypien.. maybe I'll keep that one.

'07 Topps Total Football pack 8

So far, every color parallel card I've pulled from this box has a huge dent on the bottom left corner. Kind of upsetting...

Here's what I got:

#119 Sam Hurd, Mat McBriar
#167 Nate Burleson
#173 Michael Clayton
#208 Jeff Backus
#262 Roydell Williams
#283 Shayne Graham, Kyle Larson, Glenn Holt
#372 Jason Peters, Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker [red parallel]
#483 Aundrae Allison [rookie]
#505 Brandon Mebane [rookie]
#AW2 Drew Brees [2006 award winners insert]

What it cost me: $ .91
Beckett NM/MT worth: $9.10
Insert odds I beat: 1:4 [red parallel], 1:8 [2006 award winners insert]
Most valuable card: #372 Jason Peters, Derrick Dockery, Langston Walker [red parallel] @ $2.00

1996-97 Fleer Basketball Series 2 European

2 of these packs I got got free from someone on Craigslist along with the '92 Pacific football packs I mentioned earlier. I'll crack the first one today. This European set appears to be the same as the regular set except there are a few more cards to this set. Plus I think they released this set in 7 different languages.. these packs being of the English language set.

Here's what I got:

#160 Houston Rockets
#205 David Ham [rookie]
#214 Jerome Williams [rookie]
#254 Allan Houston
#255 Larry Johnson
#312 Michael Jordan [all-star]
#314 Karl Malone [all-star]
#5 Grant Hill [swing shift insert]

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: nothing!
Beckett NM/MT worth: $5.50
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: #312 Michael Jordan [all-star] @ $2.00

1992 Pacific Football

This is the first of 4 packs of '92 Pacific I got free from some guy on craigslist, among other things. I didn't know too many players when I was 11 and watching football, I only remember Irvin and Harbaugh out of this lot. What the heck.. they're free!

Here's what I got:

#5 Chris Hinton
#17 Mark Kelso
#18 James Lofton
#30 Jim Harbaugh
#31 Jay Hilgenberg
#43 Reggie Rembert
#44 Anthony Munoz
#54 Ed King
#55 Reggie Langhorne
#65 Michael Irvin
#76 Gaston Green
#90 Herman Moore
#101 Ron Hallstrom
#112 Drew Hill

Pack Stats:

What it cost me: nothing!
Beckett NM/MT worth: $1.40
Insert odds I beat: N/A
Most valuable card: Michael Irvin @ $ .25, Jim Harbaugh @ $ .25