Bowman and Bubblegum

Boy, it’s tough to maintain Catch-Up September when I don’t post for a week or so.

Good news: I’ve been really busy
Bad news:  Not all of it has been card related
Good news:  Some of it is!
Bad news:  None of that is anything visibly noticeable on the ol’ bloggeroo

Good news: I also have two artists virtually locked up for my comic book (yeah, I’m working on a comic book on top of everything else.  Very hush, hush).
Bad news:  Conference calls galore.  Oh, and we have no idea how we’re going to distribute the sucker.

Good news:  An All-Topps Group Break is coming
Bad news:  Boxes have not been finalized, but hope to have more info soon.
Good news:  The much anticipated, long-awaited FREE group break will be happening shortly
Bad news:  Same as the Topps.

Good news:  I got a stack of cards from hiflew over at Cards From the Quarry in one of his world famous group breaks
Bad news:  That was how long ago?  And I’m getting around to it now?

Knott a lot of great players on the Padres

Yes this group break (I have one other one from him to get to shortly) was for 1998 Bowman and 2003 & 2004 Bazooka.  I’ve had precious little experience with these sets and figured the price was quite right to give the Friars a go-see.  I knew the odds of getting Tony Gwynns was slim, but what the heck. Cards are fun!

Above you see some highlights from the bubble gum based cards.  You’re not seeing triple. That’s three Jon Knott’s, one of which is some sort of mini SP variant.  I guess the photographer thought, “Well, we have the brick wall for a few more minutes, how about you lift that bat you got in your hands.  And give me a mean look this time.”  One thing I can say about this guy, he sure knows how to spell his first name right.

Below that trio you see a better selection.  Evidently, there were mini parallels and color logo parallels and probably mini color logos.  I’ll let you decide how well I did here grabbing the highly sought after Bazooka Joe color logo team card.  I imagined Bazooka sets as kid-oriented, but these don’t feel like kid sets to me.

I didn't know Dumbo played for the Padres. Ear much, Clement?

Ah Bowman.  Back when you were still trying to come up with original set designs instead of the generic crap you put out now.  I don’t mind this look. Not a classic, but not bad.  I think I should hold onto that Kevin Burford International Chrome.  You know, for when he makes it big.

Short but sweet on the team side of things.  Equally so on the player collection side as you’ll see.

On to the good stuff.

I think hiflew felt bad for me, because he gave me a couple bonuses, one of which is my 8th 2008 Documentary card.  I’m assuming people still don’t know the drill, so I’ll remind you that I’m compiling the Padres’ record for all the cards featuring Greg Maddux.

It’s not looking good.  I know there’s still 20-something more cards overall before we’re done, but starting out 4 games under .500 in my little game isn’t boding well.  Adrian Gonzalez is the 1B they’re talking about on the front.  Remember when he played for a non-powerhouse?  It gave them the lead, but the Mariners rallied and scored 3 in the 7th.
Padres card record:  2-6

Leaf Texas Tea

I loved these Black Gold cards.  Let me put that in present tense.  I love these Black Gold cards.  They were some of the fanciest AND schmanciest of all the cards.  I remember the thrill of seeing that black border amongst the gray. It didn’t even really matter who the player was.  Just seeing such a classy piece of cardboard in your pack was enough.

A little wider, but still a fine hitter

First thing that stands out to me here — That’s not Tony Gwynn’s signature.  Well, the back says it is from his original Topps rookie contract, but you know what I mean.  I’ll show you his “real” signature sometime soon.  Just a little tease, I’ve been slowly spending some of my Kobe money and I now have some experience with his signature.  But that’s another post for another time.

The back of the card shows the team splits for 1997.  I’m happy to say that in 9 games against the Cubs, Tony only drove in 2 runs and hit a paltry .265.  Compare that to the .487, 3 HR, 10 RBIs he managed in 11 games versus the Pirates.  I should stop talking about card backs I don’t scan.  How about that picture?  It kind of makes it look like he bats right handed, doesn’t it?

Thanks again to hiflew for the fun break.  As I mentioned before, I have another group break of his to get to soon, and my luck was much better that time around.  Let’s see how fast I can get to it from today.  Timer starts………NOW!

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