Complete sets: 1987 Woolworth's Topps

A little bit more than two years ago I received a ridiculous large flat-rate box from blogging legend BA Benny as part of our final trade before he closed up shop.  I showed off pretty much everything he sent to some degree, but there was also a very nice number of complete sets, many of the oddball box variety, and I slowly got around to posting those in their entirety.  The last time I posted one was last July, about nine months ago, but these were on my mind again recently because I'm going through everything I have to get my major PCs all scanned.  That means you may see a few more of these posts in the near future (where "near future" equals maybe less than a year this time).

Today's set is another small boxed offering from their heyday of the 1980s.  Topps produced a number of highlight-type sets in a partnership with retailer Woolworth's; I'm young enough that I didn't experience the store at the height of its fame but old enough to at least know a bit about it.  The 1987 set celebrates some highlights from the 1986 season including career milestones, league leaders, award winners, and especially that year's World Series.

The cards are glossy and feel more rigid than something comparable like a Tiffany issue.  The fronts don't include much besides the player's name in very tiny writing, the set's logo, and an overly large white border combined with another yellow border inside.  The backs are done in yellow/gold and purple and briefly explain the highlight.  If I had my way the front border wouldn't be so obnoxious and the face of the card would give some sort of inkling about the highlight instead of nothing at all.  That said, the player selection is pretty good since this is a highlight set.  Tony Gwynn is my only PC player in it, but there's other cards that make it worth scanning the set!

Here's the box pretty much as it arrived to me, e.g. with a little bit of character:

And here are the 33 cards in this oddball offering, fronts and backs!:

I hope some of you find these interesting because I still have more to show off!

Complete sets: 2006 Topps Rookie of the Week

It's been a few months since I last posted one of the complete sets sent to me by the legendary BA Benny in his last trade package to me before signing off (and more than a year since that mammoth trade).  Short of content for the moment, I thought it might be fun to look at another set, with this one being much newer than the last.

Today's set is Topps' 2006 Rookie of the Week promotion.  According to BaseballCardPedia (always a wonderful source for more info about sets), "This 25-card set was distributed exclusively through Topps Home Team Advantage dealer network. A new card was available each week, and to acquire that week's card collectors had to purchase a pack of Topps cards from their local HTA dealer.  Each card is a reprint of the player's Topps rookie card, but with a different photo then the original."

The same set/different picture is something Topps had started doing more of around that time, especially with the contemporary Fan Favorites set, which are far superior to the more recent Archives product that focuses on just a couple designs.  The monopolists did a pretty nice job of player selection overall, with its 24 different players (more on that shortly) comprising mostly retired HOFers along with a few modern stars.  As you'll see, nobody in this set will raise any eyebrows in 20 years.

Here's a look at the 25-card set:

The first group starts with Topps Baseball Tebow, Mickey Mantle, naturally, and then another eight Yankees right aft--oh wait, he's the only Yankee in this group of nine!  Wow, that's actually kind of nice.  I think Topps did well to jump all over the different decades instead of making these a lot more predictable and going chronologically.  The alternate photos are pretty good too.  I do have to laugh at the pair of assholes Bonds and Clemens going back-to-back, though. 

First things first--I love that Killer, and the design guys understood the history of the product enough to make his card look great even with alternate images.  The rest of the group sticks to stars from the 60s-80s except for Ichiro, who'll join the other guys in the Hall soon enough.  Of the formerly multiplayer RCs with other players cropped out appearing in this set--Ryan, Ripken, Seaver, Bench, and Schmidt--only Schmidt's card really looks weird after the edit, so that's a plus.  And hey, still no other Yankees so far!

With Jeter's impending retirement, this is another group that will be 100% HOFers very soon--and by the way, I in no way argue against his inclusion here.  My hat's off to Jeter and his excellent career, in addition to being a rare star that never really acted like a douche or got caught in any terrible scandal.  I love the choice of Gibson as well since he really doesn't get enough hobby love nowadays, plus he's one of just four pitchers in this set.  The trio of 83s that went consecutively--Gwynn/Boggs/Sandberg--was a cool outcome, though I'm not sure if it was done on purpose.  And finally, my only real complaint about the set:  a second Mantle card.  Topps, we get it--you're obsessed--but in a set this small, would it KILL you to give us 25 different players?  At least you're consistent in your suckiness.

This is still a fun set to look at once in a while, though, and I'm curious to hear some opinions from those of you interested in enough to comment, so have at it!

Complete sets: 1987 Donruss the Rookies

In the wake of the few completed sets I was showing off in my recent posts, I thought it would be fun to keep things going with a boxed completed set.  Today's is one of many that came to me in a ridiculously awesome trade package from BA Benny a few months ago.  It's one of the many gems of 80s junk wax:  Donruss' 1987 The Rookies boxed set.

Look at that shiny gold foil!  It almost makes up for the pattern of baseballs that hurts your eyes.  The Rookies set came into existence the previous year, and that also included 56 base cards and a HOF puzzle card, this one of Hank Aaron.  It featured some popular players such as Bonds, Bo Jackson, and Will Clark.  The powers that be at Beckett decreed at some point that cards hailing from boxed sets like these couldn't be considered true RCs, so the term "XRC" was born.  It's comforting to know that the definition of "RC" is still as nebulous today as it was then.

Not bad, Donruss, not bad:  McGwire, Seitzer, and Nokes were 1-2-3 in the AL Rookie-of-the-Year race.  In fact, the set includes cards of six of the top seven AL vote-getters--Toronto's Nelson Liriano tied Tigers pitcher Mike Henneman for sixth with one point.  On the NL side, four candidates, including eventual winner Benito Santiago are represented.

There's still time to turn back, the shrink-wrap is intact!  Considering this set was in my retirement plans (I'm rich!) I hope you all appreciate what I'm doing in ripping these open.  By the by, McGwire was on top and Bo Jackson was at the bottom.  The cards arrive out-of-order, but I always have fun sorting through them to put them in their proper order in cases like this.  As you can see, the differences between these and the regular base set include some sort of hue of green for the border instead of black, plus the signature "The Rookies" logo in the bottom-right corner.

Ok, let's get on to the cards themselves:

Sometimes when looking at rookie-themed sets I like to take an unscientific look at how well the manufacturer did picking players who'd have above-average careers.  To that end, of the 55 rookies profiled here, I count

• 1 HOFer:  Greg Maddux
• 2 borderline HOFers except, you know, steroids:  Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro
• 4 Hall of Very Good-ers:  David Cone, Fred McGriff, Benito Santiago, Matt Williams
• 13 fairly productive players:  Ellis Burks, Mike Greenwell, Mike Henneman, Bo Jackson, Mike Jackson, Mark McLemore, Matt Nokes, Luis Polonia, Kevin Seitzer, John Smiley, Terry Steinbach, B.J. Surhoff, Devon White

That's 20/55 right there, and there's still a decent handful of guys that played 10 or more seasons, meaning at least half the set is pretty good.  While no card in this set is especially drool-worthy, the Maddux is a nice addition to his collection, and some of the 80s/90s stars like McGwire, Seitzer, and Greenwell bring back great collecting memories for me.  As far as I'm concerned, that's the mark of a great set.

I still have a nice treasure trove of BA Benny boxed sets to get through, so it may not be long before you get to see another one right here!

Completed sets: 2011 and 2012 Topps Prime Nine promotions

You might remember that I put up a series of posts highlighting my fantastic last trade with legendary blogger BA Benny back in March.  In the very first post I was so overwhelmed with all the complete sets he had sent me that I decided to just take a quick snapshot of all of them together (mostly in boxed-set form) so I could return to posting them individually later.

Well today I'm ready to show a couple of them off, and I decided to do both of these at once because they're relatively small at nine cards each, plus they're related--the complete versions of Topps' 2011 and 2012 Prime Nine promotions.

First up is the 2011 set, which was subtitled "Player of the Week Refractors."

Topps chose nine players--one for each defensive position, of course (which means no DH!)--and then listed nine reasons each was worthy of the selection:

Happy belated Jackie Robinson Day, everybody!

The set works pretty well if you don't think of it as Topps' version of the All-Century Team or something like that.  And obviously they didn't do that or all NINE cards would have been Yankees.  Anyway, these are shiny, Refractory, purdy cards that were available at select hobby shops that year for collectors that pulled their redemption cards (two per hobby box, says SportsCardRadio).  I complain about redemptions pretty often, but a card that drives collectors to hobby shops to pick up free cards they don't have to wait for is a logical way to do it, and for this I salute the company (a rare honor these days).  And to keep the lovefest going, I'm even willing to say that the player selection here is pretty reasonable as well.  Personally, I would have gone with Ripken over Jeter, but Jeter's plenty deserving himself, so I'll abide.

The following year, Topps went homerunnier, Yankee-er and curvier with its Home Run Legends set:

Chrome cards are bendier than Bender "Bending" Rrrrrodriguez!

Each player in this series had made it to the 500 HR list at the time except Pujols, who's still around 25 shy as of today.  Conspicuously absent are players such as Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmeiro, though it's very likely they were left off due to lack of collector interest.  The strangest snub to me is Ken Griffey Jr.--throw him on there instead of Jackson--you've got enough freaking Yankees as it is!  Junior is one of only eight players to reach the 600+ mark, while Reggie was a self-important strikeout machine.  At least Topps deigned to include a few non-Yanks, including one of my favorite legends, Frank Robinson:

McGwire still owns the rookie record with 49, though at least Robinson went on to a much, much more storied career.  And what a card from last year said holds true today:  no active player is anywhere near his 586, with Pujols being the next big threat.

Also, it's nice to see Banks get a little more recent hobby love.  His 512 HR tie him with Eddie Mathews for 21st overall, and that total best such legends as Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Chipper Jones, and Carl Yazstrzemski.

All in all, I'm happy to declare both of these promotional sets a victory for Topps.  They're shiny Refractors that came from a fairly well handled promotion and highlight some players that deserve plenty of attention (and Reggie Jackson).

I'll scan more of the sets Mike sent my way in the future when my posts get boring or I'm lacking for content--and if you go back and look at that first post, you'll see I have plenty left!

2013 BA Benny Bonanza part 6: best of the rest

Previously:  Part 1 (complete sets), Part 2 (Cal Ripken Jr.), Part 3 (Detroit Lions), Part 4 (Tigers base/inserts), part 5 (Tigers hits), Michigan Wolverines (TMM)

I'm back today with the last few items from BA Benny's crazy large trade package, 2013 edition.  Today's post has a very loose theme of "oddball stuff."  Some of it maybe could have fit in with previous posts, but I thought a week's worth of posts (including the one on TMM) would be fun, plus this stuff does sort of go together in a fun way:

We'll start off with a complete set I didn't include in the first post, since it wasn't boxed and made a good fit for today's.  These M&M's cards hail from 1987, when the licensing rules were apparently different since you see no team logos but full team names are used.  This 24-card set is split up into 12 panels with two cards separated by a perforated edge.  Even in hindsight the player selection is quite good, and when your worst player is 1980s Tony Pena, you probably did a nice job with the checklist.  A few of my favorites, of course, are included, especially Ripken and Gwynn, plus Tiger should-be-HOFer Jack Morris.  Very cool for an oddball item.

Here's a fun assortment of other stuff.  First, there's a three-card 2009 Heritage Advertising Panel that Mike included because it features the Tigers at the bottom.  Next is a jumbo '84 Donruss of Sweet Lou!  On his right is Michigan babe-o-rama Kate Upton--

I'll be in my bunk...

in A&G Mini format.  Next we have one of Fuji's custom cards that he sends out with every trade; Mike had a few, so now I have one, though I know I'll be able to earn my own soon!  Next to him is a Leaf stand-up card of the Iron Man, celebrating the 1986 All-Star Game at the Astrodome.  The AL won that one 3-2 in a game that featured Tigers Lance Parrish and Lou Whitaker (who homered) as starters and Alan Trammell and Willie Hernandez as reserves.  Finally, there's a Fleer Extra Bases oversized card of former Detroit SS Travis Fryman, who's a guy I still collect because of his quality play for the Tigers while in Motown.

Mike also included two five-card packs of 2007 Topps Flashback Fridays cards.  I opened both because I wasn't sure if they would differ at all, and they didn't, so I have extras of all five of these available, plus all four that aren't Griffey are up for grabs as well.  It was fun busting a couple packs and pulling good players like these!

Lastly, there was a graded card in the package--Tony Gwynn's 1985 Fleer base card.  Trust me, I've seen lamer junk wax cards get graded.  I think I'll find a fun and creative way to blast this out of the slab, which I would have done even if the front wasn't cracked.  Take THAT, Beckett!

Mike, for the last time, thanks once again for a fantastic, entertaining, and nearly endless trade package full of stuff I had a complete blast sorting through.  And once again, readers, in honor of Mr. BA Benny, KEEP ROCKING YOUR CARDBOARD DREAMS!

And next it'll be back to business as usual with a couple more excellent trade packages, so stay tuned!

2013 BA Benny Bonanza part 5: Tigertown part 2

Previously:  Part 1 (complete sets), Part 2 (Cal Ripken Jr.), Part 3 (Detroit Lions), Part 4 (Tigers base/inserts)

The other day you got to see a very tiny portion of the great Detroit base and hits Mike sent me.  Today I'm showing off a stunning array of hits that would be sure to boggle the mind of any Tigers collector, and that goes double for yours truly:

Wheatland was the Tigers' #1 pick in 2000, a prototypical wasted high draft pick after another prototypical wasted season.  Think Detroit could have done something with those who were drafted a bit later, such as Chase Utley or Adam Wainwright?
The Triple Threads Cabrera is a nice addition for a single-color swatch, and as an added bonus it's #d 01/36, making it a big win for me.
The Bonderman, along with the one below, gives me four hits of the former Tiger looking to reboot his career with the M's.  We here at TMV (i.e., me) wish him a happy and successful comeback!
Mike included two Zumayas in this package, but the one below is a double; this new one gives me six hits (including an autograph) of the former fireballing phenom.
The Pudge is somehow my first hit of any kind of him.  It's possible I had one in the past but sold or traded it, but that doesn't matter because this one, picturing him as a Tiger, is a total keeper!
The Maybin is a nice shot of him in a USA Futures Game jersey, something I know Mike was big into among his various collecting pursuits (the USA theme, not the Futures Game).
The Avila GQ jersey is a double but will make for excellent trade bait.
I had a Nate Robertson Beam Team auto just like the Jones, but like the Gum Time man himself, I don't know if I can stand to keep anything of Jones, one of my least favorite closers ever.  It's a gorgeous card, though, and will also make for quality trade bait.
Magglio is a guy I seem to attract hits of for some reason, and when they're high-quality like the above dual-jersey and patch below, I'm happy to get more!

The highlight of this scan is the Tram bat front and center.  The design isn't showy but it highlights the two most important aspects effectively:  the player photo and the relic.  Make it three relics and five hits overall for the Tiger SS legend.
Sheffield wasn't a favorite of mine before, during, or after his brief Tiger career, but at least this is a fairly cool relic which could make for a good trade item for a fellow Detroit collector maybe?
Originally a Mets draft pick, Cedeno spent a forgettable 2001 in Detroit, with a nice number of steals against a league-leading number of times caught stealing.  Any other Tigers fans interested?
The Torres is one of the more unique manu-"relics" you'll find, in the vein of actual and manufactured ticket stubs, really.  This Baseball Weekly box score celebrates his first career MLB hit (a triple) and RBI, the lone run in a loss to the Indians on April 7, 2002.  The Detroit lineup is so devastatingly bad it makes me want to cry--so bad, in fact, that I want fellow Tigers and baseball fans to share in my misery:

• LF Bobby Higginson (Detroit had to suffer three more years of his reign of terror)
• SS Shane Halter (Made Tigers fans want to hang themselves.  Get it?)
• C Mitch Meluskey (Played eight games for the Tigers in between seasons with Houston after being traded to Detroit)
• 3B Dmitri Young (A fat, belligerant diabetic who collects cards.  So what's his Beckett ID?)
• DH Dean Palmer (The only quality player here, though he played only four games in '02, and 26 the following year before hanging 'em up)
• 1B Randall Simon (Led the team in HR with 19 FERCRYINOUTLOUD)
• 2B Jose Macias (One of the suckier sucks that ever sucked, so of course I pulled a rare autograph of him years ago)
• RF Wendell Magee ('02 was mercifully his last MLB season.  HIS NAME IS WENDELL, of course he was gonna suck!)
• CF Andres Torres (Didn't show much during rookie year audition, but did win a ring with the 2010 Giants and scored himself a FA deal with them again late last year after a stop with the Mets)

Hold me, guys, I'm starting to have flashbacks...

Finally we have a Bowman auto of former pitching prospect Andy Van Hekken, a Michigan native drafted by the M's in the third round in '98, two picks before the Bombers landed fellow Michigander Drew Henson.    He came to Detroit in a deal for one of my all-time favorite Tigers, Brian Hunter, then pitched in five 2002 contests in his only career MLB action.  He at least has a win to his name, so he's got that going for him.

This staggering pile of hits was completely unexpected and easily one of the highlights of the whole package. I'll sort through what'll stay and what'll go and get things scanned accordingly soon.  I also have one last post related to this package so I can tie up some loose ends, and I'll get on that very soon--likely tomorrow.

Once again, thanks for all this ridiculousness, Mike!  There's no trade package like a BA Benny trade package!

2013 BA Benny Bonanza part 4: Tigertown part 1

Previously:  Part 1 (complete sets), Part 2 (Cal Ripken Jr.), Part 3 (Detroit Lions)

Today I'm tackling part of the largest portion of the package that Mike sent me:  the Tigers.  Today you'll get to see a mere fraction of the base and inserts he sent me, and then hopefully soon, I'll get to the hits!

So here's a sampling of some of the best Tigers cards Mike sent, though again, you should keep in mind that there was a LOT more where this came from!

I was going alphabetically but it sure looks like I put the best stuff at the top so far!  I'm especially excited about the Blue Avila Refractor (#074/199), Cabrera Heritage Refractor (067/563) and Fidrych parallel (075/250).  I certainly appreciate the new Cobbs, too.

The Fielders and two Grandersons look great, but the real highlight here would be the Kalines.  The numbered Triple Threads is a nice enough addition, but the 2011 Update SP is very cool, featuring a beautiful shot of a young Mr. Tiger.

And here's some more winners:  three guys that won a World Series ring, and one I hope does very soon.  Nothing against the pair of numbered Triple Threads cards, which are great, but the Chrome Generation Now insert is the tops in this scan (and probably this whole post).  Why?  It's #d 01/99!

This package had some of everything, and here I decided to show off a few of the vintage cards (all from the 1970s) and a few HOFers too.  Definitely a nice group, including "Wahoo."

Here's a few of my favorite inserts Mike included:  a Masterpieces Green of former top prospect Andrew Miller, a few Topps Golds, a parallel of Charlie Furbush (hehehe!) #d 12/50, a CopperFractor of Clete Thomas, and a five-spot of minis.

I thought I'd showcase this 2004 Fleer Platinum Cabby insert by itself since I had to scan it front and back anyway.  It's a cool folding card made to look like--surprise--a scouting report.  Points for all three bits of analysis, which continue to be true today.  If anything, the "hitting" category understated his potential, obviously, since the "crown" he earned was of the triple variety.  One nit to pick:  what's with the weird indentation on the left half of the inside to the point where part of the text goes over the fold?  Otherwise, this is a very unique insert and a great addition to my Cabrera pile.

Thanks again, again, Mike!  I can't wait to get these mixed in with the rest of my Tigers and see where I stand with all of these players.

If you liked this stuff, please feel free to head over to TMM to see the Wolverine portion of the BA Benny Bonanza (and in just one post!).

2013 BA Benny Bonanza part 3: I ain't Lion

Previously:  Part 1 (complete sets), Part 2 (Cal Ripken Jr.)

Today's post will focus on the Detroit Lions portion of the package.  While I recently declared the team dead to me, Mike did include a couple keepers, plus some very nice trade bait:

We start with a few base cards, an insert, and a couple nice RCs.  The mini is TE Brandon Pettigrew, the Suh is, of course, his 2010 Topps RC, and the Delmas is #d 450/999.

Mike sent a ton of pretty nice Lions hits, and while none of these are players I collect, I'm betting they make for good trade bait or COMC fodder!  The Fitzgerald/Williams is #d 026/100 (too bad they couldn't have waited a year for Calvin Johnson!), the Young 067/499, the Pettigrew/Williams 314/500, and the McMahon (remember him?) 073/850.

Here's a few more tradeable hits.  Calhoun was a pretty good RB out of Wisconsin but couldn't cut it in the NFL.  Stanton is a Spartan so it was no surprise that he sucked.  Still, he was better than Joey "Blue Skies" Harrington!  A second Derrick Williams dual card pairs him up with former Buckeye Brian Robiskie, and that card is #d 193/250.

And now for a couple keepers:

I believe this is one of those cards you can get from retail stores where the package promises you a card/jersey swatch guaranteed.  The card says Topps on it but the back says the piece was put together by a company called "Vintage."  It's designed in such a way that the back can pop out so you can stand up and display the card.  I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Megatron, the game's current #1 WR, so I have no intention of letting this go!

This is one of the more oddball items that was pretty obvious from my initial teasers of the package.  Sanders was another Lion that was easy to respect and admire due to his obvious skill, professionalism and lack of ego, just like Johnson.  The card is an oversized Action Packed Mammoth issue from 1994 and is numbered to an ultra-rare 16018/25000.  As with anything else made by AP, parts of the front are raised to give it a unique feel.  I decided to open it to make it easier to scan and enjoy, and I'm glad I did.  You can even almost make out the Lions logo in the left-middle of the back, which is whiter than the rest of the back.  Also, a stamp on the front lists him as a "'94 Rookie Member" of the NFL Quarterback Club, which seems like a goofy award for a RB, but whatever.  This is simply a fantastic portrait of one of the greats of the NFL and Detroit Lions.

So for the third (or so) time, thanks, Mike!  I'll keep at it and get to the rest of the package very soon.

2013 BA Benny Bonanza part 2: the Ripken way

Previously:  Part 1 (complete sets)

Yesterday I showed off a bunch of sets Mike sent me, but today I'm getting much more specific because he sent an extremely generous stack of Ripkens, including a couple eye-poppers:

There was a great mix of base and inserts, low-end and high-end.  And perhaps nothing he sent was as high-end as that guy tucked down into the bottom-left corner--your eyes don't deceive you, that's a '93 Finest All-Star of the Iron Man, and I'll just say that those don't come cheap these days.  Besides that, there's plenty more to like here, especially the Turkey Red insert and a numbered Tier One base.

I didn't just throw all the best stuff into the first scan though--check out the goods here!  Plenty of nice inserts and even a couple samples.  A double of the EMotion card was included if any Cal fans would like it in a future package.  The Total Bases insert is great and is numbered to 5000, but my favorite in this bunch is the outstanding Elite Back to the Future card, featuring a HOFer on the front and this future star on the back:

Recognize that guy, Jeff?   I like this comparison despite the fact that the guys ended up playing different positions and were different types of hitters.  Despite those factors, both are fan- and team-favorite winners who brought a lot to their respective teams, and I hope Konerko doesn't get passed up for serious Hall consideration due to his quiet, steady production.

Here's a few more nice pickups:  a trio of horizontal inserts, a mini-ish Topps and a true mini from 2001 Private Stock (you know, from before Topps swiped the idea and went all Apple on us).

Finally, there were these.  The first is one of a pair, so again, if a Ripken collector would like one, please let me know.  It's a "23 Karat Gold" card that I'm probably going to send to Glenn Beck, and it celebrates his most famous accomplishment:  the Streak.  I don't know anything about "WCG," but this is a fun oddball addition to my Cal collection that I never would have known about if not for this trade.  The other is a goofy case with Rip's name on it, filled with a 1990 Topps card.  This is the perfect way for me to display one of my better Cals, so I'll take advantage of it soon!

There are plenty more Ripkens that were in this package that I didn't show off because they're junk wax or I already have them or I'm just plain lazy, but in Mike sent me something like 60 different Cals, which is 100% awesome.

Thanks again for the trade, Mike!  I'll be back very soon with part three, whenever I decide what that might be.