1997 UD Jewels Part 2

Aloha, everybody, 

In the last post I said we would be taking a look at the inserts from this set, but I over-spoke, because I don't really have many inserts from the set. Certainly not the big-time inserts. 

Back then - just as now - it was hard as heck for me to pull the huge names and the big money inserts out of packs. 

What I do have to show are some of the base subsets and a few inserts. So those will have to do for our purposes. Let's get started with some of the tribute cards from the base set.

Subsets from this era, like Defensive Gems, rock because the checklists are full of HOFers.  

The drawback for our blogpost is the mirrored finishes that were popular back in the day don't reproduce very well on our scanners. 

On the other hand, those reflective and shiny cards still look beautiful in my hands 20 years later. 

For fans of the Wizard of Oz, here's one more. This one is from the Final Tribute subset...

The caption says this is 6/19/96, when Ozzie announced his retirement. 

Here comes more shiny in real life, but dark on the blog. This is from the Star Rookies inserts. Back then foil was used by almost every set. The foil shield here reads Major League Debut. 

Here's the back. How about Nomah with a single line of stats? They're his rookie year totals. 

Another Major League Debut card. I like Erstad, and dig this photo contrasted against the mirror finish, so he makes it into the post. 

Highlights was another subset filled with HOFers...

It's dark, but the caption reads " Paul Molitor joins the 3,000 hit club on 9/16/96". 

Here's the back of the Highlights cards. Kenny Lofton was very popular back then. The card honors the day he stole his 300th base... 

We'll close this out quick today because the Dodgers are playing the Yankees now. Time to focus on that. 

Speaking of Dodgers vs Yankees, today's final card will go to one of the biggest figures from the old LAD-NYY rivalry...

 Tommy's sayin', "I'll bet my '35 Seasons of Dodger Stadium' sleeve patch that damn Reggie threw his damn hip into the path of the damned ball!" 

Next time: More subsets

Aloha! 

Cardboard Countdown - One day - I Say, Just ONE DAY to Go!

Aloha, everybody,

This is it! I can smell the hot dogs and taste the over-priced beer. My team doesn't play until Monday, but tomorrow will be Opening Day for lots of other teams, so let's count down with the only two number ones that I could find in my collection...

And we'll close with (perhaps) everyone's favorite number one on one of my favorite cardboard issues ever...
 

Less than 24 hours to "Play ball!" Wooooooooo!!!!!
Aloha! 

Cardinals are Red, Dodgers are Blue. It's Valentine's Trade Bait, All for You!

Aloha, everybody, 


The weekend of trade bait mania continues.

1988 Topps #580

Mr. McGwire started out wearing Oakland green, but he made his biggest splashes wearing Cardinal red...

2000 Upper Deck Ovation

 Red is the color of roses, and the color of wizards...

1996 Leaf Limited #66 (Ignore scratchy penny sleeve. The card is glossy, shiny)

It's the enemy, but a day of Valentines. So I'll allow an exception or two, I figure.... 

1987 Fleer RC

1988 Fleer

 Wizards are red, but Benches are red too...

1974 Topps 300

  This uniforms been dipped in both colors, the red and the blue...

2005 Upper Deck Hall of Fame Essential Enshrinement 46/5

 Fergie Jenkins double dipped for the Rangers, and quess what-  he played twice for the Cubbies too. 

Here's wild card trade bait, for the basketball all-stars, bringing love in swatches of blue...

Aloha!

Trade Me (Almost) Anything: St. Louis Cardinals

Hey everybody,

Whew! What a week it's been for the Dodgers.  We had everything - and now, here comes the kitchen sink - the best team in the bigs, the Cardinals.

While Chris Capuaono is showing he currently doesn't have enough grit to shut down those Cards, let's see if these cards have enough grit to garner up a quick trade:
 

Here's a sparkplug that Angels fans know as well.

Nice card, Most Saves - Rookie

He's so good, he merits two cards.

Here's another former Angel, Jim Edmonds

Waitaminute - Yet Another Angel???!!?? Wow

 THANKS for reading, everybody!

 

ATBATT All-Time All-Stars Third Base

Hey everybody,

This post rounds out the infield for ATBATT's All-Star team.  Thanks to those of you who have followed this series.  It's been fun choosing the players and of course, it's a different way for me to show off some of my cards.

Here's an update of the previous position players I chose:

1. Catcher: Johnny Bench

2. First Base: Lou Gerhrig

3. Second Base: Jackie Robinson

4. Shortstop: Ozzie Smith

...and now..Third Base...

From a team full of legendary players, comes the Human Vacuum known as Brooks Robinson.  This was another tough decision to make, since I'm a Mike Schmidt fan.  Lots of times I'll take the side of the argument that Schmidt was the best third baseman ever, but in making this choice, I again went with the infielder who has superior defensive abilities over a big bat.  Heck, there's enough bombers on my all-stars that home runs should not be a worry.

 While Schmidt hit almost twice as many homers as Robinson, I give the responsibility of patrolling the hot corner to Brooks.  He holds the record for most games played by a third basemen (2,870), and he won 16 CONSECUTIVE Gold Gloves, finishing with the highest fielding percentage of all-time .971.

Robinson was no slouch with the bat, with 268 homers and 1,367 RBI's to his name.

Brooks also knows how to come up big in the postseason.  He played his position like few ever have in the 1970 World Series.  Orioles fans probably still talk about it in Baltimore's oldest bars.

Welcome to ATBATT's All-Stars, Brooksie.

THANKS for reading, everybody.

Trade Bait-y Loot From Tribe Cards

Hey everybody,

Well, we can all agree on at least one reason that Cleveland fans are cool - and that big, huge, wonderful reason is David over at Tribe Cards.  Last season David ran a very cool contest in which he opened packs of cards every day and then sent the loot out to all of us, his fellow bloggers and readers.  He's doing the same type of thing again this season, so be sure to stop by his blog, enjoy the reading, and participate in the fun.

I received cards from the Yankees, Cardinals and Tigers in the contest - and a nice fistful, I might add.  Let's take a look at some of the loot, all of which his available for trade...

I got a nice bunch of these oversize Donruss All-Star cards.  They measure 4x6 and here's the lineup:

Lou Whitaker (never mind the lurking Pinnacle card on the left edge.)
Ozzie Smith Cards
Tommy Herr Cards
Willie McGee Cards
Jack Clark Cards BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !
Dan Petry Tigers
Willie Hernandez Tigers
Dan Petry Tigers
Checklist

Above are a couple of cool Ozzie Smith's.  It's also the first look at the next batch of cards. These are very attractive all-star stand-ups.  They measure about 3 x 6.  Line up:

Tommy Herr  Cards
Ozzie Smith Cards
Jack Morris Tigers
Dave Winfield Yanks
Rickey Henderson Yanks

Below are the card backs...(left - oversize, right - stand ups)

Did I get regular sized cardboard? Yup...

I got an assortment of cards from the Yanks, Tigers and Cardinals.  That Dwight Gooden is the card that was squeezing in on Lou Whitaker's left flank.  

Thanks for the fantastic contest, Dave!  I'm very much looking forward to the 2013 edition.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

ATBATT'S All-time All-Stars Shortstop

Hey everybody,

Continuing with the greatest all-star infield ever, that's at least according to my humble little blog and collection.  Speaking of which, you might recall I mentioned these all-stars would be marginally determined by my card collection.  This is one such occasion. 

While I would accept an argument that Honus Wagner was a greater shortstop than Ozzie Smith, I only have two measly tribute cards of Wagner, and that would hardly be enough to fill out a post with some nice cards to look at.  Sorry Honus, The Wizard of Oz gets the nod on this one...

 

 Yankee fans might argue that Derek Jeter should have earned the pick here.  While I certainly have enough of his cards to fill out a post, Jeter was much more of a bat than a glove for the Yanks.

Jeter won several World Series rings, and put up impressive WS offensive numbers, but he was also surrounded by numerous other big bats on those Yankee juggernaut teams, which afforded much more of an advantage than Ozzie ever had playing with Ken Oberkfell and Darrell Porter. 

Ozzie was by no means a slouch with the bat.  He was an all-star 15 times, had 2,460 hits, and stole 580 bases!

 

 But I chose Ozzie over the polyglot of great shortstops in the modern era because he certainly knew how to use the leather out there.  He's got huge numbers for assists (8,375) and double plays (1,590) and won Gold Gloves for shortstop in THIRTEEN CONSECUTIVE SEASONS!

Great "D" will definitely get you included on my all-star team. Smith's career fielding percentage is a sick .978

Have you ever heard that famous home run broadcast call by Jack Buck, "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!" ?  Yup, that was from a tater blasted by Smith.

"Not only did I wear Number 1, St. Louis retired it after me."

THANKS for reading everybody!

Next post: Trades galore!