Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards V

This card is my second Griffey card of 2017, and it is from the 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions set and was a background variation of the base card. Griffey’s base card in the set has the same pose but the background is a sunrise (or sunset not sure) while this is the Moonlight Variation with a cloudy evening with a full moon behind him.

There were 15 cards with the Moonlight background and in addition to Griffey there was Ryne Sandberg, Grady Sizemore, Barrak Obama, Ozzie Smith, Tiger Woods, Ichiro, Gerry Lopez, Andy Pettitte, Cal Ripken Jr, Ryan Howard, Smarty Jones, Troy Tulowitzki, Chien-Ming Wang and Gordy Howe.

Had this card not been on my want list since 2009 I would not have bought it but it is one of those “I don’t know when I will see one again” type of cards.

Stop The Insertsanity.

I came across an insert that interested me for my Griffey collection but once I started to get in to the information of the insert I decided to just walk away. The set? The 2004 Leaf Exhibits insert set.

The set is based on the cards that the Exhibit Supply Company produced between 1921 through 1980. They produced a set nearly every year, or multi-year sets, until 1966 and then one set in 1977 and a final set in 1980. The Exhibits insert is based on the cards between 1921 and 1966.

The checklist contains 50 players and is made up of current (for 2004) and retired players but the kicker is that each player has at least 45 variations with AL players having a 46^th variation. To add to the difficulty is the cards are limited to the year the original cards were released meaning that the cards based on the 1921 release are #/21 through the cards based on the 1966 release, which are #/66. If that was not difficult enough there are variations of the variations, I know… we are getting in to Panini realm now. For example, there are cards based on the 1963 set (so they are #/63) but then there is a card with no name on the left, one with no name on the right, one with the name in black on the left, one with the name in black on the right, one with the name in red on the left and one with the name in red on the right. Uggg, now you know why I gave up before I even started.

The three images that I have included are just an example of how close the cards appear. From left to right they are 1947-66 w/ black name, 1939-46 w/right Yours Truly and 1939-46 w/left Yours Truly.

First Card Of The Year

I know it comes as no surprise but my first card purchase of the year is a Griffey card that I picked up on January 2nd. The card is a 1992 Stadium Club Ken Griffey Jr. #603 Member’s Choice parallel from the East Coast National.

I am a sucker for cards that are special editions or from a specific event, toss in that it is from one of my favorite brands (Stadium Club) and my favorite player and this was a complete win for me. This card is from the 1992 National Sports Collectors Convention that was held in Atlanta and contains a gold foil seal stating that. There is text above the National logo that I was unable to read but eventually figured out that it states “A Gloria Rothstein Show”

The cards were in 5-card packs that were wrapped in plastic wrap so they were not even really sealed. The card I picked up was not in a pack but I pulled up this image so you can see how they were handed out.

The Nickname That I Have Been Chasing

 

Last month I had posted about my decision to hold up on purchasing anything for my Ryan Bader personal collection until I could find his 2010 Topps UFC Nickname parallel. It was frustrating because they came around so infrequently on aBay and I just felt like this was the next card that I just had to have for my Bader pc.

After I posted about my frustration a fellow blogger came to my rescue. Raz from The Raz Card Blog pointed me in the direction of one of these cards that was available on COMC. I have never purchased anything on COMC so I hadn’t realized that it could be a useful tool for collectors. I purchased some credits and made an offer, which was accepted by the seller, and actually paid less than what the previous Bader nickname card had sold for on eBay.

Thank you Raz, I appreciate your help and I have now added a number of Griffey. Buhner and Bader cards to my COMC inventory. This Bader nickname parallel came in this afternoon with a number of other cards that I will cover soon.

Topps And The Parallel Rodeo

When I picked up the 2011 Topps Baseball blasters the other day I also grabbed a Heritage rack pack. All I have to say is that Heritage is not for me, I am not caught up in the appeal of the set.

I find it funny that there are a number of hypocritical bloggers out there, I will not point any fingers, who will rip one company for doing something and then gush about another company doing the same exact thing. Case in point, some people complain about Panini’s use of parallels. They will write entire posts about how wrong it is to include parallels and how it dilutes the set, creates delusional value and makes it more difficult for set builders but then the next posting will be about how amazing the 2011 Topps baseball set is and how Topps is doing things right. They do neglect to point out that Topps has added more parallels to the base set than Panini ever has, 13 to be exact and this does not include the inserts, insert parallels, retro related inserts, ToppsTown, Diamond Giveaway, relics, autographs and manufactured relics.



2011 Topps base set parallels:

Black Bordered (Retail Exclusive)

Black (#/60)

Diamond Anniversary

Black Diamond (Wrapper Exchange)

Black Diamond Auto (Wrapper Exchange #/60)

Canary Diamond (1/1)

Diamond Sparkle (Gimmick)

Diamond Embedded (Gimmick)

Gold (#/2011)

Platinum (1/1)

Printing Plates (1/1)

Silks (#/50)

Base Variations (Gimmick) - Multiple players sharing the same card number



Come on… is this really necessary?