Cards Upon Cards From Cards On Cards

I moved into my house about 8 months ago.  At that time, there were a few people looking to send packages my way, but I wanted to wait until I got things semi-unpacked and I settled down.

Then I learned there was no such thing and let a couple know they could send away.

Madding from Cards on Cards was one of those people lying in wait.  He has this crazy habit of sending me things every once in a while and trading with me frequently.  This is one of those kind of random packages.  That’s why you’ll notice that all the Cardinals in my trade bait posts are already claimed.  I need something to send back his way.

Shiny goes in the middle when possible.

We begin our latest adventure with a smattering of basketball. A nice selection of current and former Bulls and a side order of Blake and Grant. Madding knows I won’t turn down cards of those non-Chicago players.  I think the Noah Production Line is a retail only parallel.  We got a review box from Panini and that didn’t have any cracked ice or whatever it’s called in there.

Don’t worry, you’ll see the rest of the Frank later

Here’s another cool Gamefly spokesman card, a couple of ragged filler Sutters, and some stickers that I needed for my album.  None of these completed a page, but I’m getting closer to finishing 2013 now.

background: Derek Lee – Former Star

Okay, on to the player collection stuff.  This here is one of the Starlin Castro Gypsy Queen Future Stars cards.  He has one in two consecutive sets. To find out which one this is, you either need to look at the back or just be familiar with the design for a particular year.  I have to do the former, but I’m not tellin’!

#100

I think I said previously that I wasn’t going to show these puzzle pieces until it was finished.

#101

But I lied.

#102

I’m still missing one more piece.  Once I have that, I’ll flip ’em all over and scan the whole page so you can see this same picture in its segmented glory.

Kerry Wood is greater greater than Pitcher

If I were to name this set, it would be the “Looking at porn through AOL on Windows ’95” set. Those pictures took so long to load. Yes, kids. The pictures took a long time to load.

All I can focus on is the “game chain”

You’re going to see some of these cards a few times throughout this post.  But, you know, with different players on them.  Players I collect.  Maybe by then, I’ll have something more to say.

Paint that corner

Yup, that seems about right.  Kerry Wood’s Legacy is one of looking disturbed and pissed off on his baseball cards. Fits perfectly.

Green Leaf. There’s a joke there?

I know it’s really hard to tell, but if you look closely at the Leaf foil stamp, yo might be able to make out the green coloring.  That means it’s a parallel.  Luckily, that green foil pops in person, so I had no problems recognizing it. Or appreciating it.

Woo! D.

Opening Day! It’s well documented that I usually prefer it to the flagship design.  Time will tell if 2014 continues that trend, but 10 years ago, it was true.

sweet horizontal card

This is actually one of two Kerry Wood cards in the Upper Deck set.  The other features him as a member of the Indians.  Wood signed a 2-year deal with Cleveland after the Cubs stated they wouldn’t resign him.  Too many injuries at that point.

On to the new Hall of Famers!  I don’t know who made the numbering choices for this playing card set, but a 4?  Only a 4? Someone wasn’t playing with a full deck.

Okay, this is a little better

I remember playing with an MLB card deck as a kid. I don’t know if it was this specific one, but it might have been.  By the way, Frank has one more card in the deck, a 7 of clubs. No respect.

batting glove underneath the fielding glove?

This is an interesting one.  I had to add this promo/broder card to my spreadsheet.  It’s a pretty nice looking broder, actually.  On the back, it advertises the 1993 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. I did not attend.

3 pictures, but not a triple crown winner

The award in question here is Frank’s first AL MVP.  The back compares him to a couple Hall of Famers…and Lenny Dykstra….

First base coach Frank approves.

“Yeah, I’d say Frank Thomas is the Team Leader.”  That’s all I would write on the back if I were a card back writer.  And that’s why I’m not one of those.

Swing through the pain

My love for Fleer Ultra is well documented.  When you love something, you have to take the good with the bad.  And this is bad.  Really, really bad.

Still need to find a place to keep this

Madding’s package contained more than a few pleasant surprises.  This oversized beauty is one of them.  I don’t know much of anything about SuperSlam, but I now have one of their promo “cards.” I would be surprised if it actually became an actual product, but they tried.

Psst. Your bat’s upside down

From big to little. Here’s a tiny sticker. One that won’t be going into any album.  Partly because I don’t have the corresponding album, but mostly because even if I did, I wouldn’t be attempting to complete such an older set.  I’m still focused on my 2013 sticker set, thank you very much.

Don’t forget to “diamond” your T

I don’t know if this truly is Bowman’s “Best.” I’m not a big fan of the yellow. It’s a bit obnoxious.  Good on them for trying something different, but just not my style.

Oh, good. It’s certified. No need to worry.

This is better.  Bland, but better.

Certify that!

Imagine how much better this card would be if the box in the background made way for an acetate window.

I will NOT peel off

Why didn’t the Select Certified have protective covers?  I guess Pinnacle just has that extra step of certification.

he’s depressed you called him “common”

I know virtually nothing about this year of Score cards, but it shouldn’t be so hard on itself.  This isn’t just a “common” checklist. It has a Hall of Fame player on it. Star checklist. Star.

Still ain’t peeling

Speaking of “common” cards, this is one of those years where Finest came in Bronze, Silver, and Gold with varying degrees of difficulty.  I’m glad they stopped that practice. Clearly this is a bronze, but Frank has a silver and gold (along with the even tougher parallels).

He wasn’t so Smiley after that

I opened a box of this stuff, but I guess I didn’t find Thomas in my 36 packs. I’m dreading having to find the Tony Gwynn from this set, because he’s one of the 5 super short printed cards needed to win the $1 Million prize.  Hmmm, I wonder if the print run was announced on those. If it’s less than 50, I won’t have to worry about it anymore….

the ball could use some etching on the outline

What’s better than Stadium Club? Stadium Club Chrome, of course. Even a blah design like this is made instantly better.

There’s the etching

What’s better than Bowman? Bowman Chrome, of course.  Well, also just about anything else, too. This 2001 design is pretty good one, though. It’s actually distinguishable and incorporates some color.

striking fear in…someone…?

Evidently Frank Thomas’ game face is a very, very tired one. One that asks, “Am I really happy in life?”

It’s closing in on me

Again, an acetate background would be killer.  Also less border. Much less border.

Still have some Maggs relics for trade

I think some card company is due to make some team leaders cards again. Honestly, I just want to see more subsets in general again.

Really Big Hurt

I believe this was part of some hobby store promotion. I could be wrong. I also don’t know how the promotion worked. Since the set is Flashback Fridays, I guess they had cards or packs on Fridays that most shops kept for themselves and sold on the internet.

Two that matter reach 500 home runs

Here’s another big surprise. Cabinet card big. I don’t know how to store this guy yet either. One of these days I’m going to have to buy some supplies for these oversized (and mini) cards.

Got the Jordan tongue move working

See, it’s a special edition, because the pitcher is batting.  And it kind of looks like he got a hold of one! The professor did hit 5 career home runs, but none as a Brave until 1999.

I bet the parallels look great

Pitcher faces are so ugly sometimes.

look out behind you

I’m getting a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vibe from this card. Either that or a Steve Urkel/Stephon Urkell vibe.

I vote blue border in 2015

Along with subsets, I’d like to see another colored border from the flagship set again.  I think we’re about due. The last one was 2008, right?

I wasn’t allowed to wear my uniform for MY senior photo…

Greg’s game face is also known as “The Friendly Neighbor.”

8weeP Sigs

Yup, that is one sweet sig.  Wait. Where’s the sig?  I don’t even see a cig.  Not sweet. Not sweet at all!

It’s supposed to look cut down the middle

Okay, I want another one of these some day.  I’m afraid to mess with this flapper card, but I want to.  There’s some sort of folding, puzzly type thing going on here and I want to make some origami.

Now, That’s not the entire package from Madding, either.  He also sent along nearly 50 new Tony Gwynn cards, which equates to about 1/7th of my collection, all in one big chunk.  I feel like that deserves a separate post.  So, that’s what I’ll do.  Sometime.  I also hope I can make it up to Madding in future return packages, because this is amazing stuff.