Potentially Last Post of the Year

Tonight I'm going to show 2 of my more unusual items that I have.

While this looks like a normal beaten up MLB ball, it's not. It's a batting practice ball that I caught on September 30, 2003 prior to NLDS Game 1 pitting the Braves against the Cubs. I was sitting right beyond the outfield wall at Turner Field watching BP when Andruw Jones hits a ball and it bounces on the warning path and over the wall. I jump out of my seat and nab the ball one handed. I was lavished with cheers by the other people. This remains the only ball I've caught at a MLB game and even though it's a BP ball, I'm still real proud of it. Since this is a baseball card blog, I mightas well show some baseball cards.

This is an uncut sheet of the 1987 Commemorative Rookies Set that was inserted only into the 1987 Topps Jumbo packs. While the big name on the sheet is Mark McGwire, there's a few other recognizable names such as Mike Greenwell, Terry Steinbach and Billy Ripken. I personally just think it's neat to have a full uncut sheet of a set of cards. Someday hopefully I'll get this framed.

More Stuff (All Braves Edition)

Continuing on with the stuff that I have around my Parent's house, we'll do an All Braves Edition. There'll be a lot more Braves stuff as that's what I have the most of.  First up, we have a ball signed by koo-koo head himself Mark Wohlers.

This might have been another Christmas present, but I can't remember.  This is on a 1995 World Series ball as he recorded the last out to give the Braves their WS Title.  Next we have his battery partner, also on a 1995 World Series ball, Javy Lopez.

Here, you can actually see the World Series logo that's on the ball.  This is the only World Series ball I have that's not signed on the sweet spot.  I believe that I got this at K-Mart in one of those Mystery Ball packs and came out quite well.  Next are a couple of limited edition signed rookie cards that I have.  First up...

Here's a signed 1988 Donruss of Tom Glavine limited to 1988 copies.  I don't remember where I got it all I know is that I have it.  And to end this post, as all good posts should end...With Chipper Jones of course.  A 1991 Topps signed card.  This one is limited to 1991 copies.   You can never have enough Chipper.

Some presents of Christmas past.

I'm at my parent's house, far away from my scanner, so I'm taking this time to show a few things that I couldn't show you by scanning. All of these I've had for years and years.

First up:

Tony Gwynn autographed ball with a .394/94 inscription. This wasn't a Christmas present, but I actually got this ball at K-Mart. Yes K-Mart sold autographed baseballs at one point. It was in a pack of 3 or 4 auto balls. I got the Gwynn, Javy Lopez, Jose Oliva (RIP) and I want to say one more. Or maybe not. Anyway, I love the ball because it's a classy classy auto and a great inscription. Next we have

The freshly retired Greg Maddux. I got the card through the mail I want to say in 1997 or somewhere around in there. The ball is a 1995 World Series ball that I got for Christmas in either 1995 or 1996. This is one of my favorite pieces I own. Let's keep on keepin' on.
This is a Griffey Junior ball from around '92 - '94. I love Junior's looping signature. This was another Christmas present.
I think I got this Nolan Ryan ball the same Christmas that I got the Junior ball. Another great readable signature of one of the game's greats. And now, for one of my favorite things I own:

Oh Hammerin' Hank. I love this ball. It's a William White NL ball with a great sig from Hank. It looks like he had to go back over the "o" in Aaron, but still, one of the greatest pieces from one of the greatest of all time. I'll be posting some more as the week goes on.

Just like Ah-nold I'm BACK!

Exams are over, I worked out my scanner issues, everything is great.  So here's something I've been wanting to share for awhile.  I go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving and I occasionally get pieces of mail there still so it's not unusual to have some long lost TTM auto come back and surprise me when I go back.  This time I got a big surprise.  There was my SASE, but the postmark was from 2007 and somewhere in Florida, I don't exactly remember where.  I guessed that this just got lost in my Dad's closet and he found it cleaning.  I figured that it was probably some Devil Ray or Marlin that I sent to, but then got to thinking, I wasn't using my parent's address in 2007 so it had to be from 2005.  I knew at that point that it had to be something exciting for it to take a year and a half to two years to get to me.  So I open it up and see a form letter and this:

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?????????

CHIPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Needless to say I was quite excited.  From the form letter, it seems that Chipper takes all the mail he gets and sends any items back, which he did with me, along with a signed 5X7 photo that he signs while he's on the road.  In the gloom and doom of this Braves off season, just remember, we still have Chipper and he's a good guy.  And I think that counts for something.

Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean that I'm lost

Yes I used another Coldplay quote.  This is one of those posts that I do every so often just to let you know I'm here and yes I will be blogging.  I got a new computer so I haven't worked out the driver issues with my scanner and I'm in the middle of finals.  But yes I am here and yes I still write this blog.  

I'm around here somewhere

Yes, I'm still around.  Last week was a hectic week and my laptop crashed the week before, so I've been having some issues.  I do have a post coming sooner or later about a GREAT surprise I got when I went to my parent's house last weekend.

So Who's Going To Call The Games Now?

Pete Van Wieren announced his retirement from the Braves broadcast booth today.  He's been with the Braves for 33 years and was a huge part of my years living in Georgia and even in South Carolina when I could see the Braves still on TBS.  I personally don't think that it's just coincidence that it happened in the same year that Skip Caray died.   They had been partners for so long that it was common for them to finish each others sentences.  "The Professor" has spent the last year calling games on the radio.  

It's interesting to see that in the past few years that while the team has changed, the whole organization around the team has changed as well.  The old familiar broadcasters are gone as is the GM.  The pitching has dwindled, but the bullpen has been horrible as usual.  I'm hoping they trade for Jake Peavey and get another power hitter.  I'm looking forward to seeing Jordan Schaefer play as the kid can stroke and has put his HGH woes behind him.  The Braves also need to find a consistent closer and not have an entire bullpen vying for the spot.  They also need to figure out fairly quickly if Smoltz and Glavine can/are going to come back next year so they don't spend the first half of spring training trying to piecemeal together a pitching staff if they're not.  There's so many questions for next season.  Hopefully they can be answered.  The Braves haven't seen the post season since 2005 and haven't been to the World Series since 1999 (Eff You Jim Leyritz).  It'd be nice to see October next year.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  The Jim Leyritz home run was in 1996, not 1999.  1999 did feature another brutal moment when Jim Grey interviewed Pete Rose.

Mail Day!

I got a HUUUUGE package of cards from JV over at Treasure Never Buried which put a sizable dent in my sets.  I've updated my list accordingly and I've got at least one more trade coming in and once that one gets here, I'll update my list again.  Thanks for the trade JV.

2008 Tampa Bay Rays = 1991 Atlanta Braves

Congrats guys.  Let's see if you can win the World Series, unlike the 1991 Braves.  I'd also like to see a nice string of championships come your way.

A Response to Gellman over at SCU

I started to write this as a comment to his post, but it got a little long and I thought that it was worthy of it's own post on my blog.  Concerning Gellman's comment about the negativity, or perceived negativity on his blog as well as others, including this one. I think that's because most of us who blog, at least regularly, remember when the hobby was "pure" or however we choose to view it, using your term of choice. And a lot of us left the hobby for some amount of time or didn't do any more than pick up a retail pack or blaster every now and then at Wal-Mart or Target. And when we came back with an enthusiasm to collect for whatever reason and go to a hobby shop, if we can find one, for the first time in 5-8 years and are inundated with product that costs hundreds of dollars per pack, gimmick cards, terms like "mojo" and how quickly cards are flipped for cash or other cards and the arrogance, sense of entitlement and flippant attitude of a lot of younger collectors (as well as older ones) it can be kind of a shock. 

Now to use SCU terms, I understand there's a First World and a Second World and get the purpose behind both. I'm mostly a First World collector, but I dabble a bit in the Second World. But there's so much that's wrong with both Worlds, that there's enough negativity to go around. We've gone from having enough cases of cards in the early 90's to have a case for every person in China to now trying to make the most limited, most expensive product ever available. And I think we're heading towards a happy medium right now. Like Gellman said, I think there is a conscious effort on the part of the manufacturers, or at least Upper Deck, to make their product better and make the collectors happy. And I think what most collectors are looking for are being able to get their money out of the product they buy. Of course this applies a lot more to Second World Collectors than First World, but both are looking to get value, be it financial, emotional, sentimental, whatever, from their cards. And I think we're heading towards that. Some of that credit has to go to the Bloggers, both big and small. While we as a blogging community may not be able to sit and dictate where product should go, we have seen that the higher ups in the industry do take notice, read the blogs (maybe even this one!) and even comment on them or do an interview or two. Where the blogs make the biggest difference is in transparency. If there were no blogs and all we saw were Beckett's video breaks, the Beckett message board, Topps Rip Parties and all the other propaganda being spewed by the conglomerates then I think all you would have is a bunch of disappointed sheep. But the community allows us to agree, differ and discuss all of the aspects of the hobby and if need be, take someone to task for it. If the major players in the hobby are all in collusion, then there needs to be a neutral voice out there, speaking what everyone is thinking and until the invention of the Internet, this wasn't possible or if it was, it was available to a very limited group of people. Now with mass media, everyone can have a voice. Even if some are less prolific than others, it still allows collectors of all types to be heard by another collector at least which will hopefully will lead to discussion of the hobby in whatever aspect is being touched upon. Unfortunately, that does often lend itself to more discussion about the negative than the positive.

There is a lot of negativity in and about collecting on the blogs these days, but there is some good as well. The problem is that the negativity is more fun to talk about, it's more newsworthy and gets more people riled up. When there's a good story about one of the blogger's kids getting a pack of cards and being completely content with that David Eckstein base card or bloggers helping out other bloggers unsolicited, it goes unnoticed. Yes, there's a lot wrong with the hobby, but there's a lot of good being done and it often gets overshadowed because it's a lot more fun to berate Topps for a gimmick base card that no one will ever pull than to find the positive in the simplicity that a pack of cards can bring.

Playing Catch Up

I've had a couple packages come in over the past few weeks. The first was a trade from Bailey over at The Nennth Inning. I sent him some 2008 A&Gs and a couple Tim Lincecum cards for some 08 A&Gs I needed as well as a few Braves card with the linchpin of the deal being this beauty.

I also got the Falcons cards in from dayf that I won in a contest. My favorite of the bunch would be this one of Keith Brooking.



I can only imagine the off-color jokes that were being made during this shoot.

One of My Packs of 08 Masterpieces in My Blaster Only Had 2 Cards in it

This one

And this one
Won't UD ever get ANYTHING right?

My First Card From an Overpriced High-End Product

I got this from one of the group breaks over at Sports Cards Uncensored.  My first impression is that the card is really thick, but isn't as heavy as I thought it would be.  The design is very bland.  I wouldn't buy a whole box of the product unless I was guaranteed a good hit in every box.   So I'm glad to have the card, but I don't think I'll be buying a box of this anytime in the near future.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day A&G BlastARRRRRRRRRR!

Avast! ARRRRRR! Today be the day where all landlubbers get their sea legs, drink some grog and talk like pirates! It also be the day where Me pull out my Corsair keyboard!




Me was doin' some plunderin' today at the shanty and pillaged away from those scurvy dogs a blastARRRRRR of Allen and GintARRRRRRR! All me hearties await to see what pirate themed treasure was found!

First me found some cARRRRRRRds featurin' Team ARRRRRRRRange

Then me found a gem in this Pirate, Ian Snell, and it be black boardARRRRRRRRed

Me also ended up plunderin' a relic of that scalleywag David Wright
ARRRRRR!!!! Me wish me could make him walk the plank! But this pirate found even greater treasure in findin' the greatest Pirate of them all
HONUS WAGNARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

ARRR!!! All out of the same blastARRRRRRRRR! That's some fine booty there mateys. Fine booty indeed!

Updated

I updated my needs list to include my 2008 A&G needs.

Fantasy Woes

Not only did Chris Harris beat me handily last week in baseball, but thanks to a score adjustment today in my football fantasy league, I now have a tie for last week instead of a win.  

Hometown Hero

Back in elementary school in my hometown of Dalton, Ga., we would take field trips to the Crown Garden and Archives which held the historical records and other items of Dalton and for much of Whitfield County. On those trips they would often tell stories of Harry "Suitcase" Simpson. Suitcase was a Negro Leaguer who often has the misconception of getting his nickname from being traded a lot, but it really came from the press in 1951 in Cleveland thinking he looked like some cartoon character of the same name. He also was nicknamed "Goody" for being a nice guy and helping out people. Perhaps we should bestow that moniker upon Tony Romo now. But Harry is somewhat of a legend back in Dalton. Not only is he important enough to teach to children still, but he has his own stretch of road named after him. I've always wanted some of Harry's cards and until e-Bay, never really had the chance as most of the stores didn't and don't have a real plethora of '50s and '60s cards. So I made a purchase and it came in the other day.
I'm now the proud owner of a 1952 Bowman of Mr. Simpson. This is now the oldest card in my collection and it might be my favorite. Yeah, it's graded, but there's certain battles you decide to fight. I've never actually examined a real '52 Bowman up close and man are they stellar. I'm going to try and get more of Harry's cards if possible and he doesn't have a long checklist so it's easily doable. So here's to Harry Simpson, the pride of Dalton, Ga.

A Battle For the Ages

In the Baseball Card Blogger fantasy baseball league this week, which pretty much died before John Smoltz's arm, I'm facing Chris Harris of Stale Gum fame in the Semi-Finals of the playoffs.  Right now, he's up 5-2 but that could change after tonight.  I'll keep everyone informed on how this turns out.  If I can't beat him in blogging, maybe I can beat him in a fake baseball league.

2 Years Ago Today

Nomar did something significant enough to be included in an above average set produced by Upper Deck in 2008.

Below The Mendoza Line

Editor's Note: I had planned on writing this article, but after seeing the pull that Mario got, it made it that much imperative, at least in my mind, that I write it.

Way back when in 1990, I started collecting sports cards.  Now, 18 years later after starting and stopping a few times, I'm still collecting sports cards.  However, I have a problem.  I've opened thousands of packs, hundreds of boxes.  I've bought odd lots and trades away cards for other cards and money so I could actually eat dinner one night, but that's a story for another time.  Sheer quantity is not something that I'm lacking in.  However, one thing that I am lacking in is quality hits.  One would think that after opening pack upon pack, especially in this day and age with the proliferation of inserts, I would have a few quality hits under my belt.  Now, you ask, what exactly am I defining as a quality hit.  I'm saying that a quality hit is an insert, generally a relic, autograph or a card that is produced in small quantity,  of a star player, a player I like or a player from the Braves.  In all of my years of collecting, I have in my possession just 4 quality hits in 18 years.  Sure, I have a lot of other hits and I do enjoy getting those, but to have the hits be of someone in the upper echelon, be it in your own mind or in the mind of the public at large, just takes it over the top.  I will now tell you of my 4 quality hits:

1) 2002 Leaf Gold Clubhouse Signatures Javier Vazquez #ed/25

I got this out of a K-Mart retail pack back in 2002.  This remains the best hit I have ever gotten.

2) 2007 Allen and Ginter Luis Castillo Mini Bazooka Back #ed/25

Again, this came out of a blaster and is a quality hit due to my love of A&G and it being low numbered.

3) 2008 Topper Heritage Brooks Robinson Flashback Relic

Again, from a blaster and from one of my favorite old timers

4) 2008 UD Spectrum Green Chipper Jones #ed/199

Another blaster pull and a semi-low number of these were produced, but it is my favorite player.

Oh sure, I have many other pulls and a few of them come close to being quality pulls (ie. 2008 GU UD Derek Jeter jersey, but it just doesn't excite me.  If it had a pinstripe, maybe).  Most of everything I have are mid to low level players who either don't do anything for me, or haven't done anything in the major leagues.  I don't know if it's just my bad luck or what, but I've never pulled an autograph or relic of a Braves player or of a player I like.  I've also never pulled any 1/1 or anything numbered less than 25.  No printing plates for me either.  I truly do enjoy collecting cards and collecting sets, but the feeling when you pull a card of your favorite player or someone from your favorite team that is "rare", you really can't beat that feeling.  I'm sure all the Joe Collectors are reading this and thinking I should go buy a box of Triple Threads or Sterling or something like that.  Quite frankly, I don't have that kind of money to spend on less that 15 cards and I'm not guaranteed a hit of an exciting player.  So I'll continue to buy boxes and try and build my sets, while still searching for that elusive biggest hit ever.  I'm assuming that sooner or later the law of averages will eventually catch up to me and I'll pull an Eddie Matthews, Warren Spahn, and Hank Aaron triple cut signature from something one of these days.

The Best Thing About The Olympics on NBC

Is the return of "Roundball Rock" to broadcast airwaves.  "Roundball Rock" was written by none other than John Tesh and is more commonly known as the NBA on NBC theme.  Once the NBA moved to ABC, they didn't take the theme with them.  This was a bad move as the theme defines NBA on broadcast television.  Of course the best thing about the theme was when Conan O'Brien would put the theme to different scenes of "ER" and "It's A Wonderful Life".  Of course, YouTube has deleted all of those because of copyright stuff.  However I can inflict the theme upon everyone and have it stuck in your head all day long.

Packapalooza Extra!

Despite being warned about this product, I bought a few packs of Donruss Americana II 2 weeks ago. I'm not going to put you through cards of random 7th Heaven cast members or Danielle Rousseau from Lost, but I will give you what were my good pulls from the packs. And there were actually some good pulls.

Glenn Ford Used Material #'d/100
The back of the card says he had the fastest draw in Hollywood at 0.4 seconds. Of course, most of us know him better as Pa Kent in the original Superman movie. This is either a proof or one of the Silver Screen Swatches as it's numbered out of 100.

Todd Bridges Proof #'d/500I'm talkin' bout this proof card, Willis!

Elijah Wood Proof #'d/500
He looks like he's staring into your soul with 2 Eyes of Sauron.

Willie MaysThis card is here to remind you that Willie Mays was, and always will be, a pimp.

Random Friday Packapalooza, The Finale

After all this hooplah all day long, what can I possibly give you that will top all the packs opened today? What is it? Is it Triple Threads? No, that'd be too Joe Collector of me. Could it be Bowman Originals or Topps Finest? Nope, not that either. Friends, what I've got here is something that I could hardly contain myself when I saw that the hobby store had it. I got tingles when I saw that it was a fresh box and I picked the first packs out of it. 2 packs of this cost me less than 2 packs of 2008 Allen and Ginter Hobby would have cost me. Enough suspense. I plunked down cold hard cash for 2 packs of this:

That's right kids, 1982 Donruss. These packs are as old as I am. And it makes me feel warm when I open up really old packs. And the fact that these were box fresh and unsearched makes it that much better. Alright, lets see what we have

Pack #1
Puzzle Piece of Babe's ear
202 Tom Brookens
190 Whitey Herzog
7 Dwight Evans Diamond KingsDick Perez spent most of his time painting the mustache.

167 Joe Niekro
155 Rick Peters
583 Rick Leach
572 John Denny
560 Julio Valdez
57 Hector Cruz
46 Jack ClarkLove the brows.

34 George BrettIn the typical George Brett fielding pose.

212 Jamie Quirk
201 Steve Yeager
189 Sparky LyleAnother great mustache in this pack.

178 Jackson Todd

Pack #2
Puzzle Piece Babe's chin(s) and Donruss logo
148 Tom SeaverTom looking Terrific as always

136 Pedro Guerrero
125 Allen Ripley
113 Rickey HendersonRickey looks like Rickey is wondering why Rickey took a strike looking on Rickey's 3rd year card.

102 Ralph Engle
90 Bobby Grich
467 Johnny Grubb
456 Reggie ClevelandThe namesake of the Bill Simmons created Reggie Cleveland All-Stars.
444 John Harris
432 Barry Bonnell
421 Dave Concepcion
409 Tommy JohnShould be in the Hall of the Fame due to his surgical contributions to MLB.

147 Dick Davis
135 Lou PinellaSweet Lou in his slimmer days

124 Tony Pena

A great set of two packs. Hall of Famers, fan favorites, coaches and just goofy looking 80's styles. I really enjoyed opening these old packs and they were surprisingly cheap considering what packs of new stuff cost. I hope everyone enjoyed Packapalooza and I'll probably do this from time to time when I have a little time during a day.

Random Friday Packapalooza, Pt. 4

Along with the Goudey blaster, I got one of Allen and Ginter to help my set along. How did I fare? Well let's find out!

Pack #1
116 Mariano Rivera
203 Jhonny Peralta
263 Yadier Molina
27 Brad Hawpe A&G Back Mini
Crack the Code Ad
166 Bram Stoker

Pack #2
20 Vladimir Guerrero
184 Felix Hernandez
143 J.J. Hardy
World Leaders Mini Manmohan Singh India
223 Nyjer Morgan
72 Clayton Kershaw

Pack #3
57 Ben Sheets
40 Justin Upton
348 Justin Masterson (SP)
57 Ben Sheet A&G Back Mini
State Flags Wyoming John Buck
154 Jesse Carlson
273 Jay Bruce

Pack #4
67 Kevin Kouzmanoff
236 Alex Gordon
220 Erik Bedard
313 Harriet Beecher Stowe (SP)
187 Les Miles Mini
State Flags Nebraska Alex Gordon
Checklist 3 of 4
42 Luke Scott

Pack #5
131 Todd Helton
149 Freddy Sanchez
17 Kenji Johjima
198 Steve Holm Mini
217 Friedrich Nietzsche
286 Pat Burrell

Pack #6
239 Brian Bannister
270 Lance Berkman
267 Andrew Miller
315 Tom Glavine (SP)
298 Greg Smith Mini
State Flags Illinois Curtis Granderson
Checklist 4 of 4
252 Callix Crabbe

Callix Crabbe has to be the best name in the whole set, bar none.

Pack #7
204 Julio Lugo
150 Johan Santana
235 Dan Haren
180 Ryan Braun
169 Howie Kendrick A&G Back Mini
Crack The Code Ad
233 Pluto

Pack #8
120 Derek Jeter
93 David Eckstein
51 Brian McCann
304 Victor Hugo (SP)
108 Alex Romero Mini
State Flags Florida Lastings Milledge
22 Chin -Lung Hu

Nothing spectacular in these packs, but I'm not looking for inserts. I'm trying to complete my set. And guess how many cards I got I needed for my set? 0. Not even any of the flag cards. Oh well. At least I have some to trade. I've got one more installment of Packapalooza and I have been saving the best for last. Oh yes I have.

Packapalooza Commercial Break

I've been shamelessly plugging my needs list on occasion on here and have received many offers. If I haven't gotten back to you, I'm sorry. I've been here, there and everywhere the past few weeks. I'll try and get back to everyone I haven't contacted ASAP. But Dan from over at Saints of the Cheap Seats came through and sent me 78 cards I needed for my '08 Heritage Set. I'm working on getting his package together to send to him, but my list will be updated accordingly so everyone can see what I need now. Thanks Dan and yours will be in the mail soon. Packapalooza will continue in a little while.

Random Friday Packapalooza, Pt. 3

So after I hit up the hobby shop, I went to Wal-Mart for a few things that I needed as well as a few blasters. The first up is 2008 Goudey.

Pack #1
191 Frank Thomas
35 Rich Hill
15 Erik Bedard
145 Richie Ashburn
176 B.J. Upton
72 Magglio Ordoñez
20 Jeremy Guthrie
108 Corey Hart

Pack of Blandness except for Ashburn.

Pack #2
165 Ichiro
113 Glen Perkins
61 Victor Martinez
9 Jeff Francoeur
19 Phil Neikro
192 Alex Rios
88 Billy Butler
Yankee Stadium Legacy 2928 05/29/1960 Moose Skowron

Great pack. Frenchy and Knucksie make this pack. And I don't think there's ever been a bad card made of Ichiro

Pack #3
137 Catfish Hunter
85 J.R. Towles
87 Luke Hochevar
5 Chris Young Mini
166 Felix Hernandez
114 Justin Morneau
62 Brad Hawpe
102 Eddie Matthews

Another great pack. Catfish is a great pull as well as the mini, but Eddie throws it over the top. 2 vintage Braves in 3 packs.

Pack #4
59 Grady Sizemore
7 Mark "Show Me the Money" Teixeira
198 Vernon Wells
234 U.S. President James Monroe
48 Joe Morgan
178 Carlos Peña
140 Ryan Howard
36 Kosuke Fukudome

Fukudome, a US Prez and Tex in a Braves uniform. Another good pack. And I can't get a Joe Morgan card and not link to one of the best sports blogs on the internet.

Pack #5
33 Alfonso Soriano
163 Juan Marichal
111 Delmon Young
22 David Ortiz
152 Tom Gorzelanny
100 Chin-Lung Hu
161 Aaron Rowand
154 Jake Peavy

This is a disappointment after the rest of the packs. Not even Marichal could save it.

Pack #6
187 Marlon Bird
135 Dennis Eckersley
83 Hunter Pence
31 Pee Wee Reese
34 Derrek Lee
126 Mariano Rivera
74 Andrew Miller
YSL 2953 07/28/1960 Yogi Berra

Pee Wee, Yogi and Eck along with Mario's favorite player. Good pack.

Pack #7
71 Gary "I'm on waivers" Sheffield
109 Yovani Gallardo
57 Cookies and Creme Sabathia
5 Chris Young
190 Roy Halladay
138 Daric Barton
34 Derrek Lee
24 Josh Beckett

First Pack without an old timer.

Pack #8
97 James Loney
45 Nick Swisher
175 Vince "A tarp machine ate me!" Coleman
269 1936 Ryan Howard Mini
164 Noah Lowry
112 Johan Santana
60 Fausto Carmona
8 John Smoltz

Wonderful pack. Being able to remember the hijinks of Vince Coleman along with the '36 Ryan Howard and John Smoltz's smiling mug make for a great last pack. Overall, I might try and make a set of this. I like the design, the way the pictures look like paintings and the inclusion of older players. I wish there were more minis though. More Packapalooza to come!