2021 eBay purchase: Pacifically Legends

Pacific Legends: for three years this better-than-expected low-end product from the manufacturer that would eventually be able to produce cards of current Major Leaguers (in English, even!) offered collectors another way of collecting some of the legends and past fan favorites of the game.

The sets came up on my radar last Summer when I was able to grab a couple boxes of the '88 version among a bunch of other stuff (generally smaller boxed sets) on Facebook. Fuji bought one and I busted the other, coming one card shy of a pair of complete sets.

In talking to Fuji about his interest in these sets, I later found out that he decided to keep the box he got from me unopened, and then grabbed the full 220-card '88/'89 set on eBay to go with a complete 1990 set out of a box he did open. This was relevant to me since he generously sent me a near complete '90 set earlier this year.

Thanks to Cardbarrel and Spotlots I was able to finish up my second '88 set and knock out the remaining 90s I needed, leaving me shy just the '89 version. I thought I'd purchased just that from eBay a couple months ago, but it ended up just being something like 20% of it, so I returned it.

Then, in Mid-April what did I come across on eBay but the very same '88/'89 set that Fuji had purchased for himself, also at under $10 shipped.

I pulled the trigger and happily received this package not long after.

As a reminder, the 1988 and '89 products comprised one continuous set, with the former numbered 1-110 and the latter picking right up again at 111 through 220. By the way, a nice bonus of this boxed version was the pair of checklists, which weren't packed out as far as I can tell. I can't claim to have removed the sets completely undamaged from this unorthodox packaging, but I'm fine with how the cards look.

Since I did a long-ass video of my 1988 box break and that allows you to take a good long gander at those cards, I won't show any off here, but I did think it was worth doing some highlights from '89 since I had very few of these in my collection before this purchase:

The Tigers included HOFers Cobb, Cochrane, Greenberg, and announcer Ernie Harwell, whom you would be unlikely to see in a set made by someone else.

I grabbed a back so you could compare it to the '88s. The fronts and backs are pretty much the same between '88 and '89 with the power blue background color on the latter being the only difference; the '88s are yellow. I also thought the back of this Reggie would be fun to scan because "Reggie's Hall of Fame election appears certain." definitely made me laugh.

Here's a selection of some of the legends from the '89 set, all well known names. As you've probably noticed, art work was used for most of the pre-WWII players, possibly to avoid having black & white images mixed in, I'm not sure.

I thought it would be fun to show a few of the fun/interesting appearances as well, from fan favorites to an ump and another broadcaster. A Mad Hungarian, former Tiger, catcher/manager of the Seattle Pilots, and mutton-chopped dude who slugged 50 HR (not to mention an umpire nicknamed "Shag") definitely keep you on your toes!

Since I'm showing those off this evening I though it would be worth doing the same with the completed '90 set since I never formally did that previously, with just a few examples when Fuji sent me the main stack and then some of the ones I bought to complete it.

The Tigers this time included HOFers Bunning and Gehringer (the one UM guy I believe you'd find in all three series), fan favorite Horton, and also HOFer Kell, whom I'm including with this group because he was with the White Sox for all of three seasons, as opposed to seven with Detroit.

If you compare the fronts of the cards in the group above to the '88 and '89 versions you can notice a couple subtle differences in the top corners and "banners" on the bottom, but they're still pretty close. The backs give you more clues that you're looking at a different product, though, especially with the 110-card set starting things back at #1. Color-wise it's like an inverted 1988 card, plus you lose the kind of scroll design for the writeup/stats area. I think I prefer this one a bit more, but there's nothing wrong with the prior versions. Also, how amazing is it that Appling was still alive when this card was made? He passed early in 1991, a few months shy of 84 years old.

There were lots of great choices for legends to show off, like these guys. If you remember some of the membership of the '88 set then you might notice some repeat cameos here, like Aaron (#1 in both), Banks, and Berra, but it's kind of understandable since it doesn't seem like it was meant to be a third series, but its own thing.

There were lots of fun choices among the other fan favorites, though, and I figured at least a few of you would see one or more guys you remember fondly here.

So now I can happily call myself the owner of all three two three (yeah, we'll go with three) Pacific Legends sets from 1988-1990. I got to bust a box, do some old-fashioned set-building, and even sort cards from a previously unopened set, all for under $30. Money and time well spent for sure, once again with a very appreciated assist from Fuji.

On a related note I have two completed '88 sets (#s 1-110) available for trade should anyone ever be interested in dealing for one or both, so hit me up!

I had another eBay pickup arrive just today so that'll probably get its own post soon, plus I'll be trying to get back to the huge Sportlots haul, so keep an eye out for plenty of new cardboard soon. As for me, I'll be enjoying the satisfaction of filing these away in a box in my card closet.

2019 Sportlots purchases: Old Tigers' Day

It's a sunny, not-quite-so chilly Sunday afternoon here in Ann Arbor, plus my Wolverines had another nice game yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty good.  Why not keep up the good vibes with some cards?

The penultimate post in this series is kind of a grab bag of older Tigers that didn't warrant their own posts or necessarily fit in with previous themes:

We'll start with "Gator", a.k.a. William James "Gates" Brown, an absolute beast of a PH who spent all of his 13 MLB seasons with Detroit.  That indeed included '68 so he appears in the 1988 Domino's Tigers team set celebrating the champs from that year.  I grabbed this copy because the one I already had from what used to be a complete set was in rough shape.  I still need to track down a few more of these, including Mickey Lolich's card, which I believe I used for an IP auto.

Next is slugging 1B "Stormin'" Norman Cash, a Tigers mainstay after coming to Detroit from the White Sox via the Indians in an absolute steal of a deal.  His 15 years in Motown included five All-Star nods, a ridiculous '61 season in which he won the AL batting crown and socked a career-high 41 dingers (377 career) with 132 RBIs, and a very nice 52.0 bWAR.  Oh yeah, and he was another key player in the '68 squad.

My Cash collection is smaller than I'd like at just 18 cards, only four of which were made during his playing days, but that's what Sportlots is for!  I did add a vintage piece in the '73 Topps card you see above, then added modern issues from 2001 Topps American Pie (which, again, came up a lot in this series), 2005 Upper Deck Classics, and 2013 Panini Golden Age.  Don't be surprised if I add more vintage items to this bunch in the near future.

The next two guys are even more well known.  My collection of Cobb is fairly healthy thanks especially to generous traders, but I was excited to add a pair of beautiful Fleer Greats of the Game cards from 2001 and 2002.  As for Ernie, the voice of the Tigers, he doesn't have a lot of cardboard to chase, but I still came up with a younger Harwell on his 1989 Pacific Legends issue, plus the gorgeous 2003 Topps Gallery HOF.  The latter set really is a work of art, and kudos to Topps for including him here.

And here we have a couple more Tigers greats.  Heilmann starred for Detroit in the early part of the 20th century, spending 15 of his 17 MLB seasons with the Tigers.  He was an outstanding hitter for average, winning four batting titles and hitting .403 in 1923, and had a bit of power to spare, too.  Can anyone here guess when MLB implemented new baseballs?

Heilmann's .342 career average and 72.2 bWAR were eventually enough to get him in the Hall in 1952 after 13 years on the ballot, and almost 50 years later he appeared on the 2001 Greats of the Game base you see above.  It's one of only four of his cards I own, but as he can be found in many other products I like, that number may increase before much longer.

Last up today is 15-year vet Harvey Kuenn, an OF/IF who spent eight very good seasons in Detroit, where he accumulated eight of his 10 All-Star appearances, was the '53 AL Rookie of the Year, led the league in hits four times, and won the '59 AL batting crown.  He was flipped to the Indians before the 1960 season for Rocky Colavito, who gave the Tigers four nice seasons himself.

Up top he stars on a couple late '80s oddballs in '88 Pacific Legends and '89 Swell Greats.  The next two are reprint-style offerings from 1991 and 1994 Topps Archives.  The '91 set reprints 1953 Topps, though Kuenn's card falls in the "cards that never were" group mentioned by BaseballcardPedia--he didn't appear until '54, which is accurately represented by the 1994 card.

Finally, the last three comprise a trio of fun 2000s Upper Deck products focusing on past greats.  In order they are:  2002 SP Legendary Cuts, 2005 Upper Deck Classics, and 2007 SP Legendary Cuts.  Combined with what I already had, I now own 15 Kuenn cards, and hopefully I'll track down more of him as well.

With these done I'm down to one more post, a big one starring a single player, and I'm really looking forward to getting that one done since I know a bunch of you will enjoy it.  It'll take me a bit to put together so look for it in a few days as I work to try to get it done before my attention turns to COMC shopping this holiday weekend!

2019 trade package #20: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

A fun blast from the (relative) past hit my mailbox a week or two ago when I received a surprise PWE from Trevor of the excellently named Bump and Run Football Card Blog.  The first (and only other) time I showed off cards from him was way back in February of 2017, so this was a fun surprise indeed, plus what he sent was terrific:

The baseball portion was appropriately 100% Tigers, starting with a George Kell Archives base from 2016.  That leads to two horizontal inserts.  Ernie Harwell's 2013 Panini Cooperstown Voices of Summer appearance is the first card that caught my eye as I was opening the envelope and one I'm excited to have, especially since my collection of the legendary announcer is scant.  The Hall of Famer's voice was synonymous with Tigers baseball for generations of fans so I love this insert with a photo of him from much earlier in his career.

And the classic Tigers celebration didn't end there thanks to a 2017 Topps Update Postseason Celebration Red insert (#228/250) that honors the '68 Tigers, a team that gets lots of love from Detroit collectors. Winning pitcher and Series MVP Mickey Lolich (#29) can be seen hugging catcher Bill Freehan way in the back as the rest of the team converges to celebrate in St. Louis.  What a cool photo!

And now we get to the main purpose of this envelope as Trevor noted he'd "been saving up some Wolverines" to send my way.  The great news is that all were new to me except the Charlton RC, which I'm sure will have a happy home after one more trip via USPS to Jeff.

Other than that it's a RB/TE/WR bunch with some excellent college uni action.  #1 is power back Jarrod Bunch on his '93 Fleer base.  The reverse notes that he acted as a FB in '92, blocking for some 1,000-yard rusher named Rodney Hampton, which would be cool if I knew anybody that collected him.

Then there's a pair of Xtra Points Red parallels from Panini's 2017 Prestige:  TE Jake Butt and WR Amara Darboh.  I couldn't even tell you the last time I disliked a Prestige design, and as always the product kills it with beautiful college photos, with the nice bonus of the foil finish here.  Darboh makes a second appearance on another 2017 Panini-branded parallel:  Classics' Timeless Tributes Gold.  That's another outstanding design upgraded by a color variation, plus it's numbered 99/99 (last one!).

And now we return to the power backs.  Leroy Hoard was coming off his second NFL season with Cleveland when the '92 Ultra card you see above was made.  While his rushing TD total only went up by three to five in '91, he went off for nine more scores as a receiver, good for more than half his career output in that category.  I'll bet he wasn't brought down by the arm tackle, or even the airborne player in the very upper-left corner (check that out!).

Finally, campus legend Tyrone Wheatley gets in on the foil-y college uni insert trend with a Superior Pix Instant Impact card from his draft year of 1995.  I'm not sure if the obvious horizontal line going through the RB is a printing defect or just part of the process--I believe less obvious lines were common among Refractors--but it's the only flaw on an interesting card from the brand.  Considering how many similar cards suffer from airbrushing I'm glad to get the full uniform effect plus the iconic helmet--with stickers!

Thanks for thinking of me with this great group of Wolverines and Tigers, Trevor!  I'm getting close to sending you a return mailer that reflects your own eclectic PCs so I'm looking forward to returning the favor.