Cards Come in the Strangest Ways - Part 2

Aloha, everybody,

A few weeks ago I found a few cello packs of cards sitting atop my laptop, waiting for me to discover what was inside. 

They came as a surprise gift from the roommate. They were of a type I had never seen before, and were obviously of the repack strain. 

The fun that ordinarily comes from ripping packs slowly abated as each pack contained junkier junk wax and scrubbier scrubs than the last. After saying thanks, I let him know he'd be better off keeping his money rather than buying that brand of repacks. 

A few days ago a new brand of repacks were waiting for me atop my laptop. 

 That's right - Three packs of Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack - Baseball Edition!

I gotta say, USJP actually had a few humble surprises inside. No big time autos, no serial-numbers, but a little fun in every pack. 

There were a few cards from football, basketball and hockey. I've got no idea if Jose Theodore is any good as as far as goalies go, but he's got a boss Upper Deck card here...

Andre Reed's card features a great photograph here...
 

 But I'm not interested in cards from those sports. Cut to baseball...

 I love these early junk cards because they give us the funky hair and not cool mustaches, and the vintage uniform variations. Preston Hanna here is proof that the 'Lanta Braves invented the trucker cap. 

How about these old-timey Padre unis...

 

I can't ever think of Keith Hernandez without also thinking of his appearance on Seinfeld...
 

 One nice thing about these packs is they spanned a fair amount of years and brands, and they occasionally coughed up a player you and I have heard of.

Sure it's 1991 Upper Deck and who cares about that? 
But it's the Big Unit hurlin' one at you, in magnificent Mariners blue... 

Finally today, one of the best cards to come out of the packs. 

Billy Martin, manager of the New York Yankees...

How about that photo. Whatever is going on behind those eyes is not the game before them. 

No, Billy is thinking about the impending firing from Steinbrennar that he can literally feel upon his back, or he's wondering which bar he left his wallet in the night before. 

Either way, that Martin card is a gem. 

More on the repack junk coming soon in Part Three - The Final Repack

Aloha!



 

It's The Baseball Bengals!

Aloha, everybody,

How about those Bengals? They managed to snatch defeat from the hands of victory because a couple of players let their emotions get the best of them. 

Baseball players can become emotional as well. Some wear their emotions on their sleeves, causing meltdowns, eruptions and confrontations that everyone can see, affecting the outcomes of games, and sometimes, their careers and reputations. 

Today's post isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of these players. It's limited by my memory, my artistic license with the definition of a Baseball Bengal, and of course, by the cards in my collection. 

First up is the original Baseball Bengal. In yesterday's AFC playoff game, Bengal Vontaze Burflict laid out the Steeler's Mike Brown with a vicious head shot. The Georgia Peach earned a reputation for physically punishing opponents as well. 

Cobb was rumored to sharpen his spikes and use them as weapons against opposing players, and he didn't have any qualms about going into the stands to mix it up against the fans. 

Good ol' Billy Martin didn't mind a good dust up himself. He had numerous fights on and off the field, and he was supposedly traded away from the Yankees as a result of a drunken barroom brawl. 

As a manger, he regularly displayed his emotions for all to see, once engaging in a dugout shoving match with Reggie Jackson after yanking Reggie from the field in the middle of an inning. His numerous firings and re-hirings as Yankees manager became a running punch line for comedians. 

Brett wasn't exactly a hothead, but he does qualify as a Bengal because of his famous eruption after the umpires erased one of his home runs because they determined he had too much pine tar on his bat. 

Joss pitched two no-hitters and one perfect game. There's really nothing that points to him as an emotional powderkeg, but with a nickname like "the human hairpin", and that ever-lovin' mug that just seethes with, "Go'wan, I dare ya!", I figured I'd give him an honorary membership.

The next two players had one memorable clash that left impressions on both of their careers...

Robin Ventura made the mistake of charging the mound and challenging Ryan.  It was a young, star third baseman against a 46-year old. The Express promptly headlocked Ventura and mercilessly pummeled him. 

Andre Ethier has a well-earned reputation of letting his emotions get the best of him. A couple of seasons back, a photo went viral of Ethier shooting double middle fingers to the press, and he regularly overreacts when he feels pitchers are throwing at him, or umpires are cheating him on the strike zone.

Most recently, he went on a dugout shouting tirade against his manager Don Mattingly, in the middle of a playoff game against the Mets. 

However, no Dodger was a bigger Baseball Bengal than Milton Bradley. I know I have Bradley's Dodger cards around here somewhere, but I can't find anything quickly, so this will have to do...

Here's Milton in one of his numerous meltdowns; this time he's emptying a bag of baseballs on the field. Unfortunately for Bradley, he was such a Bengal that he had these outbursts with every team he played for, and he eventually wore out his MLB welcome. 

Finally, we have a Dodger who went Bengal at Wrigley Field, back in 2000.

 The confines may be friendly, but not all Cubs fans are. Someone snatched Kreuter's cap off of his head, which led him to blow his other top, and go into the stands. Numerous other Dodgers went Bengal as well, causing a near-riot. 

 I watched this game on TV, but I couldn't find any video of it. If you didn't see the game, you can imagine what a mess it was. In the end, 19 Dodgers were suspended - and Kreuter never did get his hat back. 

In honor of the Baseball Bengals, the Clash will take us out with White Riot! 

Aloha!

Prizes, Trades and Gifts Are What Makes The Cardboard World Go Round

Hey everybody,

Gotta get in a post about more great cards that graced my mail lately...

First up is a thanks, (but no pics this time).  HUGE THANKS go out to Patrick, the mastermind behind The Card Hobbyist.  If you like a blog that also features cool games with da shite prizes, Patrick's place is definitely in your wheelhouse.  As a matter of fact, I'm happy to say this is the second time I won a contest over there.

But why no pics?  Two reasons:

1. I won basically the same A & G Dodger cards in a box break at Tribecards a couple of weeks ago and I've already  posted them.  Yes, they were essentially doubles, but they were also doubly great because they were 2013 Dodgers, and they contained a second Puig RC!

2. Since they were doubles, I gave the cards from Patrick right over to my son, who was stoked to have his own Puig rookie.  Thus, those particular cards were not scanned are now stashed away securely in his binder. No pics, but double thanks for the great prize, Patrick.

The next batch does have pics. These are the result of my first trade with Nate, who is kinda new on the blogs.  Nate's site is Big 44 Sports Cards.  Nate's a stone Pittsburgh collector, so that means, you best have some Pirates or Steelers for trade.  But no Penguins, Nate?  To each his own.

Heck, I don't collect hockey myself, but here's a note for all you hockey collectors out there. I would love a hockey card from one of the baddest L.A. Kings to ever wear the uni...Tiger Williams.  I grew up on Tiger in the days the Kings wore the Purple and Gold of the L.A. Forum.  Did you know Tiger holds the all-time record for most penalty minutes?  Yeah, back in those days, the Kings were doormats of the league, but Tiger wasn't one. Tiger was bad- ass personified.

So I shipped some black and gold Pirates to Nate, and he sent over some cool stuff to me...

You can never go wrong with golden sparkle Kershaw

And you can't ever go wrong with Cobb on cardboard.  Here we get a fantastic portrait of the Georgia Peach. That sly glance of Cobb's says everything, but reveals nothing.  Also, limited number.  Sweet card that I hadda have.

Finally, comes a great gift I received a while back.   A gift - unexpected and out of the blue.  This was no simple PWE.

Supercool Bert, from Swing And a Pop-Up, came through once again and sent me another fistful of cardboard from the 1987 Hy-Grade "Baseball's All-time Greats" set.  Bert has now helped me to get the chase to under 10 cards.  I can't believe it!  Just 9 cards to completion.  Check my "What I Collect" page if you have any extra Hy-Grades lying around.  You just might have those final 9.

This Hy-Grade set is very cool.  It's big limitations are the simplified green border and cardstock thinner than Topps.  But the upsides are a checklist of baseball history and royalty, and the photography is mostly great.  It features quality early color photo technology and lots of close up photography.   In addition, the players are often shown in their primes and we get more than a few legendary stadiums in the background. 

Since the Dodgers are opening a 4-game series against the ELIMINATED team from the bay, let's start off with a Dodgers/Giants face off.

 You're gonna feel like you're walking down a wing in the baseball Hall of Fame...

How's about all that cardboard?  Pretty good, thanks to my fellow collectors.

Live Blogging Blaster Pack 3

Note 1. Josh D. asked a great question which gave me a great idea.  He asked if I was blasting this live on video.  Unfortunately, I'm not, but that's a great idea for next time. 

Note 2. I forgot to add one of the cards from the last pack. Here it comes first...

3D Ichiro! Can't leave that one out.

 Now on to pack 3...

 I'm currently in the midst of trade talks with a Fisk collector, so naturally the Fisk mojo is in the air.  BTW - I don't think I'm spoiling a secret by telling everyone the person I'm talking about is our community's brand new doctor.  Congratulations, Dr. Hoffman !!  :D

The Hawk is strictly business here.

This card is absolutely beautiful!

Whitey Ford was the third part of the 60's party trio along with Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle.

RC's galore in this blaster.

Closing the pack with bad-ass forever, Ty Cobb. 

Binder Page Heroes Vintage Style

Hello, everybody! Welcome to ATBATT's first post of 2013.

Although I didn't post in the opening couple weeks of January, I was certainly keeping active by reading everyone's posts and dropping the occasional comment.  One cool development I've noticed in our community is a movement toward vintage cardboard being discussed, chased and traded.

Nothing like a great vintage Dodger on great vintage cardboard

Carl Furillo is an unsung hero from those great old-time Brooklyn teams.  Sure, Jackie, Campy, Pee Wee and The Duke get all the attention, but steady Carl Furillo more than held his own.

This interest in vintage might be due to the disappointment a lot of us felt after the "relic scandals" of 2012. Who wants to pay a premium price - for a pack or a single - chasing cards with chunks of table legs or scraps from horse blankets being passed off as bat and jersey relics from our favorite players?

Maybe this renewed respect for vintage is just a part of a natural cycle in our hobby.  Fads like triple patch relics will come and go, but we'll periodically return to our hobby roots and the joys in cards that are not only about baseball history, but that carry history themselves.  The history of their past "owners" that we now join and take a part in creating. 

 Heres Sal "the Barber" Maglie.  He got his nickname by - yeah, you got it - giving batters such close shaves with the high heater.  Sal pitched for the enemy, and later, he joined the Dodgers and pitched for the Good Guys.

 

 Most of us have heard of fiery Billy Martin, and most of us probably think of him as manager of the yankees, feudin' with Reggie, Steinbrenner, and anybody else who happened to be in the room at the time. 

I'm happy to have a card from Billy as a player.  This '61 topps shows he played for the Braves, which means he was Hammerin' Hank's teammate.  

 Here's another cool '61.  I love this photo of Killer Killebrew.  He looks like a (baseball) hero, and quite often, he was.

Whatever the reasons for vintage getting more exposure on our blogs, it's great for a collector like me, because cards from old-time HOF'ers is one of my favorite things about our hobby.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of my fellow bloggers exposing me to their vintage cards and hopefully we'll all be getting some vintage-based trades going.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

Next Post:  B.P.H. Vintage Part Deux