Talk about a classic card.  I’ve not spent a lot of time lately working on my personal collection. Mainly I’ve been a slave to anything that interests me, and that isn’t exactly a good thing. But when I came across this card on eBay last week, I knew I had to have it for my Topps Number Ones collection.

I feel like I’ve owned this card before, which could have been the case. Nonetheless, I didn’t own this time last week so I had to purchase it for the mere $1.85 the seller was asking. The book on this is $40.

This card is awesome. It’s a real vintage card featuring three of the game’s greatest players highlighted for their home run achievements. What makes this card even cooler is the back, which displays how many home runs each player hit during each season. I love that after four season,s Babe Ruth had a whopping nine home runs for his entire career.

Remarkably, this card is in pretty good shape for being No.1 in the set. By the time the early 1970’s rolled around I guess kids were learning a thing or two about how to care for their cards. This one might be off-center, or miscut, whichever term you prefer, but the corners are decent, and there are no creases or evidence of rubber bands. Gotta love that.

Hate to be all negative and what not, but what the hell was Fleer thinking when they created this card? This is a 2001 Fleer Game Time “New Order” die-cut insert featuring Jason Giambi. Don’t get me wrong, the card looks pretty cool. I dig the die-cut job, and the holofoil on the right side looks nice.

But what the hell is the point here? Look at the lineup card filled out to the left. It’s for “Oakland,” and shows Giambi in the No. 3 hole, which is where he hit at the height of his career, particularly with the A’s. What’s “New” about that?

It looks like Fleer tried to create a “New” all-star-type lineup with Andruw Jones hitting leadoff, Nomar Garciaparra batting second, Giambi third, and Manny Ramirez cleanup, followed by Sammy Sosa, Ivan Rodriguez, Darin Erstad, Scott Rolen and Pokey Reese. Problems: Of the guys listed, only Giambi ever played for Oakland. and secondly, FIVE of the guys are not even in this friggin insert set, a 15-card billing that features all of the usual heavy hitters, but nowhere to be found are: Andruw, I-Rod, Erstad, Rolen and Pokey. Interesting, no?

Oh, an who the hell is Don Latham, the guy who is listed here as Manager? Was this HIS fantasy team back in 2000?

We’re now in our fourth year of Topps’ version of Allen & Ginter’s World Champions. The set is always a huge hit upon release. The design is rather simple, yet the resemblance to the century-old set appeals to all collectors. But over the last couple years, it seems like A&G is lacking something. Perhaps it’s the fact that the players featured on the card look too realistic. I recently rediscovered this 2006 mini version of Cap Anson I pulled a few years back. Isn’t this artist rendering almost more-appealing than some of the newer Allen  & Ginter cards?

Came home yesterday to a great surprise, a through the mail (TTM) autograph of Josh Hamilton. I sent a card — not this particular card — to Josh during Spring Training 2008 and had all but given up hopes. I actually sent him a 2000 Bowman’s Best “Teen Idols” insert card, which I thought would have been awesome to have signed because there is some irony there. Anyway, I’m happy to have received this 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update card in its place. Beggars can’t be choosers. This is the first TTM auto I’ve received in almost a year. I actually didn’t send any requests out this year because I was discouraged by my low return rate.

When the Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs a few weeks back, I openly stated that I was cheering for the Yankees to win their 27th World Series. It was a statement that drew a little criticism from fellow Red Sox fans. Well, now that the Yankees have won their freakin’ title, I can briefly enjoy the moment for it has re-ignited my hatred for the Yankees.

For the last five years Red Sox fans have had it good with their two World Series titles, and to some degree, a great deal of success over the Yankees. But I also feel that Sox fans have become a bit complacent in the notion that the team from Boston has been better in theory than the team from the Bronx, New York. This Yankee title should fire up the Red Sox Nation and put a charge into BoSox management to make the moves that will again put the Red Sox on top. Seeing the Yankees raise the trophy Wednesday brought back a lot of negative emotion for me, the same kind I felt in 2003 when Aaron Boone took Tim Wakefield deep in Game 7 of the ALCS. I would hope that those who call the shots in Boston feel the same way.

As for the true baseball fan in me, I will say that I am happy that Derek Jeter got his fifth ring and A-Rod his first. I am also pleased that with the team of hired guns, the World Series Most Valuable Player was a player who was on the outs, Hideki Matsui. However, I am saddened that the season is over and for the next six months there will be little baseball to be watched. I am just hoping that the MLB Network can give us something worth watching, not just replaying this 2009 World Series on a loop.

After waiting more than two weeks for my box of 1997 Topps Gallery, the box arrived early Wednesday morning via FedEx. I broke it LIVE on steaming video. Images of the cards will be scanned and shown later. Over all a pretty cool box, hope you enjoy it.

Also, there are a few other video breaks that can be seen at www.qik.com/cardboardicons. I recently broke a retail Blaster of 2009 SP Baseball (link), a Retail Tin of 2009 Sweet Spot baseball (link 1, link 2),  a discounted 2008 Stadium Club Blaster (link), and a 1996 Upper Deck Series 2. hobby box (link). And if you have not yet done so, you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cardboardicons. I send out a tweet minutes before each LIVE video break.

This is not pre-printed.

… I had to re-post this through the mail (TTM) success from like a year and a half ago. This is indeed an authentic Chase Utley autograph. Not pre-printed. Real. As in the Sharpie is ON TOP of the photo.

Lots of people have sent to Utley over the years, and in recent seasons, Utley has been sending back pre-printed cards like his buddy Ryan Howard. But this, my friends, is real. A card touched by greatness, signed by a World Series legend. Yes, I am the greatest. /sarcasm.

I know you’re sick of hearing the negative aspects of the hobby. But fact is it’s still interesting to point out where things started to go wrong. For example Topps really started to hurt the hobby when they created sets like Topps Tek. the inaugural version of this set is very  much in demand with player collectors, but subsequent versions like this 2000 Derek Jeter weren’t such a hit. The deal with Topps Tek is that Topps created the cards on acetate and then printed NINETY different variations. This Jeter is “pattern” No. 1 and features the MLB logo on the background. It is my belief, and I could be wrong, that this Tek idea of 90 variations spawned the piece of crap set called “Moments and Highlights,” which essentially is a set of like 50 players each with 50 different cards all serial numbered to varying quantities. Not everyone hates these Topps products, by aside from a couple of hardcore set and team collectors, these sets missed the mark.

I will say this though, Topps Tek looked a whole hell of a lot better than Moments and Highlights. The acetate cards are still pretty neat.

I hope Jeter is wearing a cup.

Derek Jeter was a spokesman for Upper Deck. In 2007, we saw the biggest gimmick in the history of sports cards when rival card maker Topps issued a basic Derek Jeter card that showed him striking out and then had images of Mickey Mantle and President George W. Bush Photoshoped into the background.

Well, the other day I unearthed this 2003 Topps Opening Day Derek Jeter and can’t help that Topps’ photo editor for this particular set must also have hated Jeter. It looks like Jeremy Burnitz is about to deliver a headshot to Jeter’s junk here. Also, I have yet to determine if someone Photoshoped the ball into Jeter’s glove. Notice Jeter is still waiting for the ball, yet it looks like it has already arrived. And from the angle we are given, the ball looks awfully white and somewhat out of place.

Another prospect box success story.

Here’s why I love keeping my cheap prospects separated: You never know what you’ll unearth. This is not the best Tommy Hanson rookie card on the market, but it happens to be the one and only one I own — and I didn;t really know it until I went digging through my prospects. For every 100 prospect cards that’ll never be worth the cardboard they are printed one, you find one card that makes the whole effort worth while.

Hanson should be on his way to earning 2009 National League Rookie of the Year honors, and this 2007 Bowman Heritage Prospects card shows Hanson without that scraggly goatee. Until I go out an acquire a Bowman Chrome rookie, this one will have to do for my personal collection.

This is the part 11 of an ongoing series. To see other parts in this series, click here.