Archive for Nolan Ryan

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200 1991 Topps Stadium Club packs for $16 shipped? Hell yeah!

Posted in Box / Pack Break with tags , , , , , on November 5, 2019 by Cardboard Icons

The other day a friend pointed out an item on eBay where a new seller was offering several lots of Medium Flat Rate boxes filled with 1991 Stadium Club packs for the mere price of 99 cents plus like $15 shipping.For a guy who collected when the product was brand new, and a person who loves the TSC line, you know I had to take a chance.

The box of packs arrived Monday night and the outer shipping box felt like it contained a load of bricks. And in a sense it did seeing as how many of these ultra premium, high-gloss full-bleed photo cards we’re stuck together.

No, literally, look …

There was very low expectation given the price point. And no, I’m not upset — the cards were practically free. Sure, it’d be great to build a high-quality set from the 200-plus packs inside the box (split almost evenly between the two series) but this was a cheap, fun way to experience a bit of my childhood that was ridiculously expensive at the time.

It took about four minutes to open and peel apart the contents of two packs. The first pack had a Nolan Ryan Tuxedo and I hit my first Frank Thomas only a few packs into it. But as I was reliving some of these memories, I decided to also have some fun.

First I stuck some packs in front of a space heater hoping that’d help loosen them up.

Nope. Didn’t work.

How about the old freezer truck?

Nope. That didn’t work either.

At this point I have opened about 30 packs of series one and have pulled two Nolan Ryan’s and four Frank Thomas cards, one of which came in an monster pack that also contained a classic Bo Jackson and a second-year Juan Gonzalez. Hell, such a pack in 1991 would have had about $50 worth of singles — remember, the Thomas was $25-$30, and Ryan wasn’t too far behind.

I plan to open the rest at some point this week. I still have low expectations, but if you’re so inclined you can follow the hashtag #91TSCBrickedBreak on Twitter to see some fun stuff. Perhaps I can build a set (albeit not even close to mint) and pull a half-dozen of each classic card from this iconic release.

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Elite Status: Iconic 1991-1996 Donruss insert sets complete with autos

Posted in Completed Sets with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2017 by Cardboard Icons

EliteLogo It’s been three decades since I opened my first pack of baseball cards. And less than five years into my hobby career, cards went from being just cards to being chase-worthy investments — at least that’s what we the collectors were being sold.

At the front of this movement was the almighty Elite Series insert set, which started in 1991 as one of the hobby’s most iconic chase sets to date.

Imagine if you will opening dozens, hundreds or even thousands of packs and see nothing but blue and green borders and then … bam, a bronze foil border card with a marble-like design embedded within and a serial number on back.

By today’s standards, Elite cards wouldn’t be much to gloat about, but in 1991, it was something most would only dream of.

My dream of pulling an Elite Series card actually came true in 1993 when I fished an Eddie Murray out of a pack at Target. As I’ve told people before, the story goes that I was opening a pack while my mom was paying for it and other stuff.  When I saw the shiny foil, I dropped an f-bomb that made everyone from my mother to the people in line to the cashier stop what they were doing and look my way. Hey, I was 13.

Anyhow, i eventually made it a goal to complete the first three Elite Series (1991, 1992 and 1993) sets including the autographs — a feat that was accomplished a few years ago and documented in one of my Beckett Baseball columns.

I’ve since moved on to the next three years. And while the passion to finish it came and went over time, I got the itch recently to put those next three sets to rest and with a little help from Tanner at CansecoCollector.com I was able to get the elusive 1995 Elite Series Jose Canseco that I couldn’t find.

And so, here is a visual look at the first six years of Elite Series Insert cards. You’ll notice that the dynamic of the set has changed over time. It started as an 8-card set with one legend and one autograph. Then next two years the base Elite set grew and continued to include a legend and autograph.  By 1994, the Elite Series set was scaled back to just 12 basic Elite cards — no more autographs or legends. Nonetheless, they were still special.

1991 Elite Series (base Elite’s /10,000; Legends Series /7,500; Signature Series /5,000)

1992 Elite Series (Base Elites /10,000; Legends /7,500; Signature Series /5,000)

1993 Elite Series (Base Elites /10,000; Legends Series /10,000; Signature Series /5,000)


1994 Elite Series (all /10,000)

1995 Elite Series (all /10,000)

1996 Elite Series (all /10,000)

Now that those sets are done, I’ll get to working eventually on 1997 and 1998, but I’m also turning my eyes to a few other insert sets from my youth that always intrigued me:

1992 Pinnacle – Team Pinnacle

1994 Score Cycle

1994 SP Holoview

1994 Flair Hot Glove

1996 Pacific Flame Throwers

 

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Thrift Treasures 63: Topps Sticker Packs!!!

Posted in Thrift Treasures with tags , , , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2014 by Cardboard Icons

IMG_5120One of the first sections I hit in most thrift stores is the toy section.  Why? Because many times I find little baggies containing baseball cards … or in this case stickers. Unopened packs of stickers to be exact.ThriftTreasuresLogo

In 2012 Topps brought back an oldie but goodie in the sticker album collection.  The album cost roughly $2.99 if memory serves me right and each pack containing eight stickers cost 99 cents.  I bought an album.  I bought some packs and let me kids get after it.  But I always felt like I never got my fill.   Topps brought the set back again in 2013, but I never really got into it. That is until this  this nice little baggie.

As you can see from this picture, this baggie cost $2.99.  And a quick count from the outside of the package revealed that there were 16 unopened packs of Topps Stickers within. At roughly 18 cents a pack, it was a no-brainer purchase.

So, without further adieu, here’s what the packs contained:

 

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To see more Thrift Treasures posts, click HERE

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Chasing dreams: the 2000 Greats of the Game autograph set

Posted in Hall of Famers with tags , , , , , , , on November 2, 2013 by Cardboard Icons

For more than a decade, I’ve been drawn to the greatness of the 2000 Greats of the Game autograph set.  I think I’ve shared the story before, but the very first pack of this product that I opened in 2000 contained the ONE card I really wanted from the set:  Nolan Ryan.  Yeah, I called my shot.  And yes, you’ve heard this before because I know for a fact that I’ve written about it before.

YazI toyed with the idea over the years of collecting the set.  It’s a gorgeous set, I know it’s highly collectible, and in my opinion, the checklist is absolutely stellar.  There are a few “duds” but that’s beside the point.  Most of the least-desirable cards can be had relatively cheap.

Well, it’s official, I’m declaring my war on the 2000 Greats of the Game gold-border auto set … with one exception, that Derek Jeter autograph that is limited to 150 copies.

Here’s my issue with the card:  It was a redemption only and was not released until 2001.  And not only is it a year older, it appears to have been made with a glossy card stock.  Eff that!  Part of the charm of the 2000 set is the smooth non-glossy texture.  It’s hard to describe, but it kind of feels like vellum paper.

Anyhow, I’ve added an updated list and made it public so that you can see what exactly I am missing.  Surprisingly, I am already more than half way to the set … although once I get to the short prints, I’ll be looking at some pretty pricey cards.  Lucky me.

 

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Icon-O-Clasm: Nolan Ryan Shouldn’t Have To Repeat Himself

Posted in Icon-O-Clasm, Instagram Portraits with tags , , , , , on February 23, 2013 by Cardboard Icons

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