Mystery Group Break Expo-se

I received some mail last week from Kerry of Cards on Cards as part of his 10th anniversary free group break extravaganza. Since by the time I signed up for the break, the Reds and Indians had already been claimed, I went outside the box and claimed the Montreal Expos.

The results of the base cards from the minor league Team Best sets. Brad Wilkerson is really the only player I recognize from this pile but I thought it'd be the nice thing to do to at least show the base cards, if only in passing.

I got two autographs out of the Team Best deal ... Peter Bergeron and Michael Barrett. Actually, there were two Peter Bergeron autographs, the other has already been set aside into the trade box.

The other portion of the break was some 1999 Stadium Club, of which I have very little. It was nice to see these cards, especially the Vladimir Guerrero. This also reminded me I might have to look into some of this years Stadium Club.

Of course, not only were there cards from the break but Kerry also threw in some bonus stuff, such as these really cool old Fleer stickers. I'm not really one for stickers but I will admit, these are pretty neat.

It took me a minute to figure out that this was actually a Leaf card, despite the fact it clearly says "Leaf 2005" on the top right corner. I can honestly say that this is the first card from the 2005 Leaf I've ever seen in my life. Also, it being a card from 2005, shouldn't the team be Washington since the Expos ceased to exist after 2004? All that aside, I really dig this.

The oddballs that were included were my favorite of the bonus cards. I never was a Toys R Us kid (we had K.B. Toys in the mall where I grew up) but the recent trips I made there showed that the stores were horribly out of date and also the prices were very expensive. I guess I should all them to the list of defunct retail store chain oddball cards I collect (places such as Hills, Revco, etc.)

I saw a physical Drake's product in the grocery store for the first time ever last week. Until I learned about the cards they put out, I'd never heard of them. The cards I've seen though for them have always been pretty cool and I'm always happy to add one to my collection. Also, a Tim Raines SI for Kids card? Sure why not. 

It's odd that I would mention Kaybee (or K.B.) Toys earlier and there just so happened to be a Kaybee Toys card in the package. It's from the 1990 Kaybee Kings set. Zellers I'd never heard of so I had to look it up on Wikipedia. It turns out that it's a defunct Canadian discount retailer and in 1982 they issued an Expos "pro tips" set that came in three panel sheets.

As much as I liked the oddballs and other stuff Kerry included, this card, by far, was my favorite of the package. Since Panini launched the Diamond Kings line, it's always been one of my favorites. The card stock, the variety of old school and current players, the beautiful inserts, and of course the fact that it feels like a high-end release at a pretty affordable price point. I've always enjoyed the Heritage Collection inserts and this card, such a simple card with a black background and the player in a gold circle to me just screams "awesome card".

That's a wrap on the group break. Thanks to Kerry for putting it together. It was fun to participate and I appreciate the cards you sent over.

You've Got Mail #28: The Junior Junkie

Before the birth of his new baby, TJ (aka The Junior Junkie), unleashed a massive mailing upon the cardsphere universe the likes of which I've never seen. I was the lucky recipient of one of the packages and it was loaded with lots of Reds goodies.

I'll start off with some Gypsy Queen from last year. The sad thing is that two of the five active players  shown aren't with the club anymore and Mesoraco is done for the season, again, after having surgery on a torn labrum in his shoulder. The Tony Perez card reminds me of an old Diamond Kings card from way back in the day with the artwork.

I don't buy a lot of Bowman so getting them in trade packages is pretty much the only way I get these cards. Nick Howard is one of the Reds top pitching prospects but he's still a few years away from the majors as he just made it High-A Daytona this season. I like Bowman cards but the one thing that bothers me about them is the way uniforms are photoshopped on the prospects.

Here's a batch of mid-90s Reds from Pacific Crown Royale. All three of these guys were mainstays for the Reds, especially Reggie Sanders, who played the first 8 years of his career with the Reds and then bounced around for another seven before calling it quits in 2007. Boone and Casey provided nice stability on the right side of the infield. After they left, it was a free for all until Phillips and Votto came around.

Behold Brandon Szymanski, the Reds second round pick of the June 2004 amateur draft. He's one of many in a long line of Reds prospects that flamed out. He never reached the majors in five pro seasons and the highest level he attained was 22 games at AAA Louisville. According to the awesome Baseball Reference, he had a .240 career average in 422 games with 53 home runs. Basically, here didn't really tear it up down in the bush leagues. Still, this is a pretty interesting piece.

Here's a couple of cool inserts from recent Topps sets. The "timeless talents" set is something I really like, especially since it shows both Joe Morgan and Brandon Phillips. I'm sure it does the same with other teams as well.

The rest of the package was a proverbial grab bag, which I actually enjoy. Here's another Johnny Bench card for my growing PC of his. I've slowly been accumulating Vada Pinson cards for some reason, perhaps the cardboard gods are telling me to add him to my PC list?  I'll have to mull that over as there are certainly worse players I could add.

As I said, there was a little bit of everything in the package. I surprisingly didn't have this Sabo card in my collection so it's a nice addition.

Now these are cool! First a Pete Rose all-time Diamond Kings card. It's pretty cool that Panini has decided to put Pete on their cards since Topps can't/won't/whatever. The Griffey card is one of the odd side projects I collect, cards from defunct retail chains. Kaybee (or K-B Toys) was a toy shop in malls during the heyday of mall but went out of business in 2009 and their assets were sold off to Toys R Us. I have fond memories of going to the local K-B Toys and searching through the aisles at wrestling figures and other assorted items.

Finally, some 1994 Topps Gold. John Roper was doing an autograph signing at the local mall in 1994 in conjunction with a card show one time. I purchased a 1994 Pinnacle card from a dealer for a quarter and went over and got it signed by him. Since then, I've lost that card as I'm pretty sure it was in my initial purge of my childhood collection about 10-12 years ago.

A big thanks to T.J. for sending these out. Best of luck with the new baby T.J. and I'll have some Mariners out to you as appreciation.