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(we had K.B. Toys in the mall where I grew up) but the recent trips I made there showed that the stores were horribly out of date and also the prices were very expensive.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.

The Yard Sale Cards: Baseball Junk Wax

I had planned to have this up a few days ago but in between being crazy busy at work, my five-year-old being sick which led to me subsequently picking it up, I haven't had much time to write the past few days. However, in my last post covering the yard sale find, I documented some of the vintage and early 80s cards I came across. Now, as is the standard with any typical yard sale find, these are typically brimming with junk wax. This was no exception. While sifting through the literal mounds of cards that were contained, I came across tons of 1992 Donruss, 1989 Topps, and the like. I'll spare the details of showing those but I will show of some of the more eclectic and my favorite junk wax finds.

Starting off with these seemingly innocent stickers. I wouldn't normally show stickers like this as they're a dime a dozen for the most part when it comes to junk wax bulk lots but there's one little thing that makes these special ...

If you flip them over and look at the back, they're O-Pee-Chee stickers! How four random O-Pee-Chee stickers showed up in a yard sale in rural southwest Ohio, I'll never know.

Some Topps Big ... I still have yet to find a way to properly store "oversized" cards like this. I've still got a box of 1989 Bowman to rip into that's going to give me a nice glut of cards this size.

Some nice cards from the pile of 1991 Topps, including some pretty awesome horizontal cards. My favorites are the Clemens and Fisk cards but also the Sandy Alomar card where it looks like he's floating in mid-air.

Here's an interesting card, a 1989 Donruss All-Stars Pop Up of Ryne Sandberg. I don't remember ever having one of these when I was a kid. I suppose if I could then I could pop it up and see what it looks like be then where would the fun be in that. The one thing that really made this neat for me is seeing the logo for the 1988 All-Star Game in Cincinnati on the back. I might have to keep my eye out for more of these as I think it'd be cool to get more of these pop-ups from that game.

I was pretty pleased to find this Willie Greene card in amidst the 1990 Bowman. Greene was the primary third baseman for the Reds from 1996-1998 and would also play a bit in the outfield. He was drafted by the Pirates in 1989 but never played a game for them (which makes this a fabulous zero-year card) and was traded to Montreal with Moises Alou and Scott Ruskin for Zane Smith in August of 1990. He never played a game for the Expos either and he and Ruskin were both traded to the Reds in December of 1991 along with current Nationals manager Dave Martinez for John Wetteland. Greene was with the Reds from 1992-1998 and probably had his best season in 1997 with a .253 average, 26 HRs, and 91 RBIs.

I've had the random itch recently to open a box of 1990 Donruss. Why? Not sure. However, if I want to bust something from 1990 though, Fleer might be a better choice. I always enjoyed this design with the ribbon at the bottom and the great photography.

Speaking of great photography, Upper Deck always had great photos (and still does to this day with their hockey cards). Tim Raines and Fred McGriff aren't officially on my player collection list but I will never turn down cards featuring them.

Here's a bunch of Topps Glossy cards. There's three from the 1986 All-Star set and a 1989 Roberto Alomar. I never gave a second though to these when I was a kid and always figured they were some kind of insert card from packs. As I'm older now, I definitely appreciate them more.

With big lots of cards like this, there's always some interesting stuff to be found, like these old school Stadium Club cards. The Robin Yount and George Brett cards are part of the member's choice line. Also, Wade Boggs in a batting cage and another nice card to add to the pile of Eckersley's I already have.

But finally, the star of the show as far as the junk wax goes ... these Collect-A-Book! I never had these as a kid I've seen these here and there online and I've heard people talk about them online but I still never had any until now. The variety here is crazy as well from Cal Ripken and Barry Larkin to Billy Williams and Yogi Berra and everyone in between. I think of all the things from the junk wax pile, these are by far my favorites.

2014-15 Panini NHL Stickers

I'm not much of a sticker person to be honest but a bunch of these packs were thrown in as a free gift from the same Dave & Adam's order that produced the Ghostbusters and Donruss boxes. There were eight packs taped together. I'm only going to open one pack here so this will be short and I probably won't have much to say about these.

Eberle was probably the best thing I got out of this pack. There's something about the western Canada teams I like, mainly because they're mired in relative obscurity since NBC doesn't carry their games. This must be some sort of insert or parallel, not really sure. Regardless, it'll go in my hockey binder.

Nothing exciting in the remainder of the pack with these cards. The players I know I kept and the rest went to my son so he can start a collection of them. I've saved the remaining packs for him as he really liked getting the stickers so it's a reward he earns when he's good. Overall, I wouldn't have gotten these but seeing as they were a free gift, I won't complain too much. 

You've Got Mail #30: 2x3 Heroes

It's always nice to get an unexpected PWE and that's just what I got from Jeff over at 2x3 Heroes, the Chi-Sox representative in the Super Traders group.

I'll start off with these Phil Ervin cards. He's one of the Reds top prospects and is currently assigned to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (gotta love minor league team names, right?) and is currently ranked 10th in their farm system. I dig both of these, especially the wacky looking blue refractor thingy on the left that looks like it came straight out of the 90s

Minis! These seems to be multiplying with every trade package. I really need to find binder pages to fit these, problem is I only need a few, not a whole box of them!

A few odd and sods with some stickers and a wacky packages insert from this years Topps set. My three-year-old son has already claimed the Cozart sticker. Luckily, he hasn't figured out how it works yet.

Behold a nice variety of stuff! I really like the Great American Ballpark card from Upper Deck (top left). It makes me wish that someone would make a set consisting of nothing but current and former ballparks. Panini, I'm looking at you as that would be gold! There's also a cool mascot card of Gapper in this batch.

This PWE closes out with a nice mix of old, new, and reprinted. I don't mind reprints all that much but at least note it on the front with a stamp or something. Also, I don't need reprints of the exact same card every year! Other than that little rant, this wraps up a pretty fun PWE.

Thanks for a nice envelope Jeff! Hope you enjoyed what I sent back your way.