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. 2

Back in 1993, I bought a box of 1993 Leaf Series 2. I came close to completing the set, but alas never did. Imagine my delight when I looked in the bargain bin and found 1993 Leaf Series 2 packs 6 for $5! I couldn't turn it down. So here's 6 packs of 1993 Leaf with limited interruptions:

Pack #1
374 Jose Mesa
385 John Orton
396 Willie McGee
407 Charlie Lebrandt
302 Reggie Jefferson
338 Wes Chamberlain
439 Robin Ventura
430 Julio Vallera
411 Jose Rijo
345 Rene Gonzales
242 Ivan Calderon
253 Jim Abbott
264 Pat Listach
275 Phil Plantier

Pack #2
245 Roberto Alomar
224 Ryne Sandberg
323 Mark McGwire
312 Alex Cole
315 Shane Mack
241 Jose Canseco
240 Steve Cooke
229 Brian Jordan
356 Domingo Martinez
392 Larry Walker
328 Ozzie Smith
383 Darren Holmes
374 Jose Mesa
365 Frank Tanana

Good Pack. 2 Hall of Famers, 2 Cheaters, 1 Spitter and Atlanta Favorite Brian Jordan in a Cardinals uni.

Pack #3
415 Eric Young
426 Gary Redus
437 Carlos Quintana
338 Wes Chamberlain
394 Lonnie Smith
321 Kevin Mitchell
260 Gary DiSarcina
269 Barry Bonds
278 Tom Henke
438 Omar Olivares
327 Dave Nilsson
228 Joe Carter
239 Dave Hollins
250 David Cone

Notice how small Bonds was in 1993.

Pack #4
303 John Cummings
292 Chuck Finley
281 Daryl Boston
300 Dennis Martinez
313 Mark Gardner
287 Norm Charlton
278 Tom Henke
269 Barry Bonds
260 Gary DiSarcina
19 Chipper Jones Gold Leaf Rookie (!!!!!!!)
334 Scott Fletcher
431 Cal Ripken, Jr.
422 Mike Macfarlane
413 Willie Wilson

Ok, I could just stop opening packs right now and be happy. Pulling a Chipper insert from 1993 is incredible as well as it being a card I don't have. The rest of these packs will just pale in comparison to this one.

Pack #5
389 Jeff Reardon
381 Manuel Lee
401 Mike Moore
412 Pete O'Brien
402 Jose Lind
297 Ray Lankford
306 David Segui
315 Shane Mack
324 Mark Langston
384 Charlie Hough
291 Rickey Henderson
302 Reggie Jefferson
313 Mark Gardner
324 Mark Langston

Pack #6
329 Candy Maldonado
230 Brett Butler
242 Ivan Calderon
248 Mike Felder
263 Joe Oliver
274 Chito Martinez
285 Wade Boggs
296 Jamie Navarro
225 Ron Gant
409 Bryn Smith
420 Tim Raines
401 Mike Moore
412 Pete O'Brien
383 Darren Holmes

A really good set of packs. Cracking the gloss adhesion between 15 year old cards should be an event in the World's Strongest Man competition. I'm ecstatic over the Chipper insert. I'm not pleased by the collation however as there were lots of doubles and even a double in one pack. That might explain why I didn't complete the set in 1993. I've always like this set design, especially the backs with the player superimposed in front of their team's city skyline or a landmark. Donruss would reuse this motif from the backs as the main design in 2004 Studio. I also like the team logo holograms in the corners. More Packapalooza later!

Random Friday Packapalooza, Pt. 1

I ran down to the hobby shop today to pick up some pages for my binders and to maybe grab a few packs of Goudey as I haven't bought any this year. So I get there and Goudey as well as A&G were both 2 packs for $12. 2 for $12! Luckily, I was going right to Wal-Mart after that for some other things so I hoped they'd have blasters (foreshadowing). But I started looking around at the bargain packs and came across a few that I got. So throughout today, I'm going to be posting the packs that I got. To start off, we're opening up some 2003 Topps T205.
I never opened any of this when it came out in 2003, but I have a few of the cards that I aquired in trades or assorted lots. And I really wanted to open some of this, so 2 packs for $5. Better than either Goudey or A&G. Let's tear in.

Pack #1
53 Craig A. Biggio
77 Adam T. Dunn
24 Luis Emilio Gonzalez
30 Todd L. Helton Mini Brooklyn Back
TF13 Dynamic Duo Randy Johnson & Curt Schilling Triple Folder
125 Joseph P. Mauer
83 James H. Thome

Not a bad pack. I love Todd Helton with no facial hair. The Triple Folder is quite cool and a really neat insert. Now on to the next pack.

Pack #2
49 Carsten Charles Sabathia
103 Jason D. Kendall
18 Miguel O. Tejada
22 Mike Scioscia Mini Polar Bear Back
TF34 The Go-Ahead Run Jimmy Rollins & Pat Burrell Triple Folder
137 Jose Contreras
68 Frank E. Thomas
149 John J. McGraw

Another triple folder and an awesome John J. McGraw card. I'm really happy with the purchase of these packs. I love the full names with middle initials on the backs as well as the write ups. I might have to find a box of these in the future. Packapalooza will continue later today.

All Chromed Out

Today at Target, I spied what looked to be two recently opened boxes of 2008 Topps Chrome. What the heck I thought, so I fished around in the boxes and selected 2 packs from each. Here's what I came up with.

Pack 1
177 Daniel Cabrera
TCHC2 Joba Chamberlain Trading Card History '55 Bowman





















194 Adam Jones Copper Refractor
126 Rocco Baldelli
checklist 1 of 2

Pack 2
107 Alex Gordon
TCHC4 Prince Fielder Trading Card History 1934 Diamond Stars





















92 Adam Dunn XFractor
10 Cole Hamels
checklist 1 of 2

Pack 3
91 Derrek Lee
TCHC7 Ryan Braun Trading Card History 1960 Topps





















96 Jered Weaver XFractor
110 Aaron Harang
checklist 2 of 2

Pack 4
115 Joe Blanton
67 Roy Halladay





















80 Jorge Posada XFractor
145 Franciso Liriano


4 Packs. 4 refractors with one being numbered to 599. as well as 3 trading card history cards. Not a bad haul. Lots and lots of shiny cards for me today!

Pack Break: 1990 Collegate Collection Michigan State University

I got this pack from ChemGod over at Bad Wax for the contest that he held that involved the new forums that he's got running over there. Let's see if this is bad wax or not.

#177 Mike Eddington - Mike broke Kirk Gibson's MSU HR record in 1984 by hitting 20 HRs. He played one year of minor league ball for Oakland and that was it for him


#176 Steve Garvey - Oh look! A player that I know! Garvey won the NL MVP in 1974 and was a good all around player spending all of his time in the big leagues in SoCal with the Dodgers and Padres.

#175 Brad Lamont, Jr. - When this card was made in 1990, Brad set the record for most appearances by an MSU pitcher with 29. I'm glad he played a lot in college, because he never played anywhere after that

#174 Dan Masteller - Do I see a collation trend here? Dan was chosen by Minnesota 293rd overall in the 1989 amateur draft. He made the majors in 1995 with the Twins and had 71 at bats and hit a mediocre .237. He went back to the minors in 1996 and was never heard from again.

#52 Don "Zippy" Thompson - A hockey player! Zippy scored 5 goals against Michigan on Feb. 21, 1970. I can't find any info if he played pro hockey or not.

#51 Frank E. Pellerin - An assistant coach for the Spartan baseball team from 1953-1985, Frank saw more than 1,300 games played.

#70 Cordell Ross - Led the Big Ten in batting average hitting a whopping .461. Cordell never made it past high A ball in the Tigers organization.


#69 John Chandik - Another hockey player. Was one of the top 15 scholor-atheletes at MSU in 1963. Now teaches at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin.


As interesting as these people are, this is bad wax. Thanks chemgod!

Prelude

As sort of an intro to dayf's Topps '52 Rookies box break over at A Pack A Day, I'm gonna bust 2 packs of '52 Rookies right here, right now. So here we go.

Pack #1
#32 Ryan Rowland-Smith
#65 Carlos Gomez
#DFC7 Paul Lo Duca Chrome numbered 1507/1952
#37 Alexi Casilla
#176 Aaron Laffey
#163 Juan Gutierrez

Well I've heard of none of these prospects AND I got a Paul Lo Duca chrome. Paul just had arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out 4 to 6 weeks. The Nats are apparently talking to Johnny Estrada about coming on to catch. Good luck with that. Alright Pack #2

#99 Jason Miller
#57 Sean Henn
#98 Joakim Soria
#DF8 Miguel Tejada
#182 Shelley Duncan
#159 Edwin Bellhorn

Alright! People I've heard of. Both Yankees prospects, I know a bit about Henn and Duncan just because everyone seems to know about Yankees prospects. Whenever I hear Shelley Duncan I think of Sandy Duncan. And his first name isn't even Shelley! It's David. Shelley is his middle name. I want to hear the story of why he chose Shelley. Or why his parents chose it for him. Middle school must have been rough. Oh and I got a card of that roider Tejada. The poor Astros. Couldn't they have waited like a week before trading for him? Or made the trade contingent on the Mitchell Report or something? Hope they've got a backup plan if he gets arrested or something.