Random Rack Pack: 2013-14 Pinnacle Basketball

I recently picked up three rack packs of 2013-14 Pinnacle Basketball, I have to admit that I like the set. There are great action shots and the cards focus on the players and not an awkward design. The design uses a basic black background with the player front and center. The player is over a digitized blurred background image, though some do have a more clear background image. At the top left is the player’s position, along the bottom right is the player’s name, team and Pinnacle logo.

I got a nice selection of rookies, including Michael Carter-Williams, along with veterans and retired players, like everyone’s favorite Slam Dunk Champion Spud Webb. I pulled a couple of Museum Collection cards; Luigi Datome, Phil Pressey and Louis Williams.

I pulled one autograph, Rudy Gobert

 

There are some cool inserts that I pulled:
Awaiting the Call

Behind the Numbers

Big Bang

Jamfest

Position Powers

Scoring Kings

Team Pinnacle

Team 2020

Clear Vision

Random Rack Pack: 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen

I recently picked up a couple of rack packs of 2013 Gypsy Queen, I prefer the rack packs because they come with three packs and three White Framed parallels. I like this year’s Gypsy Queen, the only thing that I do not care for is the yellow backs, I would have preferred a more off-white color to keep with the “old time” feel of the set.

I pulled a nice selection of players ranging from rookies, to young stars and retired/Hall of Famers. I like that Topps mixed it up to include a bit of everything for collectors. One of my favorites being a couple of Fielders in Tiger stripes, well Tigers uniforms any way.

A trio of rookies, unfortunately the Padres Casey Kelley had Tommy John surgery in April and probably is out for the season and the D-Backs Adam Eaton is on the DL with an elbow injury and is expected to be out another 6-8 weeks. The Dodgers Paco Rodriguez is holding his own as a reliever with a 2.51 ERA over 14.1 innings and a 5-1 SO to BB ratio this season.

A couple of Mariners follow up. Kyle Seager is keeping the Mariners legit, he is leading the team (regular starters) with a .283 batting avg., 39 Hits and 17 RBIs. Jesus Montero on the other hand is having a difficult time right now. After a solid season last year big things were expected from him but if he keeps playing at his current level, .200 batting avg. I would not be surprised to see the team rush last year’s First Round pick (#3 overall) Mike Zunino in to the catcher spot.

I love the framed cards; the extra layer just adds something unique to the design. Each rack pack includes three White Frame parallels and these were probably the three best cards I pulled. Though any time that Reggie is pulled from a pack it is a good day.

What would a Topps release be without minis?

Hoes is currently playing in the Orioles AAA team in Norfolk and he is having another good season, the problem is that the Orioles outfield is pretty stacked with McLouth, Jones and Markakis.

Bill Buckner, what can be said about this guy? He played 22 seasons with 5 teams and had a very respectable .289 batting avg. and 2,715 hits but no matter how well he played he will always be remembered as the guy who misplayed Mookie Wilson’s single in the bottom of the 10th in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

Of course nobody remembers the two pitchers who gave up the 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game with 3 singles and a wild pitch with two outs before Wilson’s hit (Clavin Schiraldi gave up 3 singles and Bob Stanley threw the wild pitch to tie the game).

I was lucky enough to pull a green mini (1:50 packs), these are #/99 each. I cannot complain about who I pulled too, this guy had an amazing career in Baltimore.

The mini backs are a similar yellow to the base cards; the green mini has a green back.

I close out with a random selection of inserts. I pulled six inserts total but I grabbed these three to give an idea of what comes in the packs.

A Random Rack Pack 2012 Topps Magic Football

I decided to pick up some football cards just for the heck of it to have a variety in between my baseball and basketball pack ripping. A jumbo rack pack 2012 Topps Magic Football and a blaster of Topps Strata Football.

 

I will start with the Magic Football rack pack, which came with three packs with each pack containing 5 base cards and a mini card. The rack pack also includes 3 retail-exclusive blue parallel mini cards.

 

The design is the standard animation-style Magic card, a nice action card along with team logo, conference, player name and position. I do like the simplistic design, I think Topps is keeping a simple design to highlight the player and it really works. The backs are similar to previous years with player bio and each player has a “Magical Memoranda” which includes some player trivia.

 

I did not pull anything magical (pun), only one Seahawk and no Cardinals. I lead off with the undrafted Jermaine Kearse; his 7 receptions for 31 yards may not even keep him on the roster next year. LaMichael James was about the BIGGEST name I pulled, and while he only got in to 4 regular season games (in an over-crowded 49ers backfield) he ended up playing in 7 games, counting the final 4 games of the season and 3 playoff games, with 809 yards of total offense and a touchdown. Sadly his 2012 performance may be best surmised with the fumble in the Super Bowl. We will definitely see more of him next season.

I was lucky enough to pull the card of future Hall of Famer Titus Young. In 2012 this head case had three team incidents  resulting with 3 suspensions and instead of shutting his mouth he decided to turn to Twitter to air his grievances and demand his release. Detroit granted him the release, St Louis took a chance and signed him but within 7 days the Rams cut him and now he has cleared waivers and no team has shown any interest since he was released. Way to talk your way out of a pay check there Mr. Young.

 

The mini cards are just like the base cards… just cuter. The blue parallels are a retail exclusive parallel.

 

A couple of inserts;

I pulled two Supernatural Stars, Manning and Mike Wallace

 

Finally closing with a Charismatic Combo

 

I do not expect to pick up any more packs of Magic, they are ok but I just don't feel the urge to collect the set. I will try to get through organizing the Strata packs and scan them tonight so I can do a write up tomorrow.

Random Rack Pack: 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

I recently picked up a rack pack of Goodwin Champions to get a hands on look at the release. I know that some people do not care for mixed products like this but I think that it gives a little something for everyone. The down side is that without a MLB, NBA or NFL license any related athletes are stuck in relaxed poses and not in uniform as they should be depicted.  I like the mix of old and new, there are a nice selection of players from years past along with athletes that are still in the prime of their career. It makes for a very interesting pack busting experience.

 

I started off with a group of baseball players from the 1800s; Ross Barnes, Ned Hanlon and Billy Hamilton. A nice group here with two Hall of Famers, Hanlon and Hamilton, though it should be noted that Barnes is not in the Hall of Fame on a technicality, he only played 9 professional seasons and the Hall requires 10 total pro seasons. Sadly he played 4 years with the Rockford Forest Citys (1866-1870) but because there were no professional leagues at the time they do not count these 4 seasons as professional.

 

 Totaled up we have 3 players accounting for 34 professional seasons (plus Hanlon’s 18 years as a manger), 5 batting titles, 8 NA/NL Championships (plus Hanlon’s 5 NL Championships as a manager) and numerous records.

 

I followed up with Knute Rockne, a football genius who changed the game. He played at Notre Dame where he was named an All-American in 1913. Some people claim he invented the forward pass but that is not true, though he was part of making it an integral part of the game. After graduation he stayed on as the ND coach, over the next 13 seasons he went 105-12-5; his .881 win percentage is still the all-time winning percentage among college coaches. Toss in 5 undefeated seasons, 3 National Championships and a 1925 Rose Bowl win and you have one of the best coaches ever. You wonder how much more he would have added to his resume had he not died in a plane crash.

 

 A group of fighters up next, two real and one fake. Overeem has/had a bright future, there is still time but I guess we are going to have to wait until he is able to apply for his license in December. He had his shot at the UFC Heavyweight title but failed a testosterone test and now has to wait until his ban ends. Couture is one of my favorites, he helped bring MMA and UFC back in to the public after the banning of UFC in the early 1990s in the US. He is a classy guy and a champion. His records are amazing, 3x Heavyweight Champ, 2x Light-heavyweight Champ, the most UFC Championships, the most Championship fights, the oldest UFC Champ ever and he is in the UFC Hall of Fame.

The Hulkster may be in sports entertainment but he did the same for wrestling that Couture did for MMA. Hulk Hogan was the man that made the WWF a legitimate organization and he did body slam Andre the Giant (with some help from Andre). To see that he is still (sort of) wrestling at 59 is amazing, even if it is only TnA Impact.

 

A couple of Bean(e)’s, one walked on the moon and the other changed the way baseball players are ranked by teams and scouts.

 

I think Upper Deck missed it with Payne Stewart; they should have gone with a shot of him in his famous knickers. He was another person taken before their time by a plane crash, he was 42 when he died and you know he still had more championships ahead of him.

 

Mike Bossy, why oh why do you look like Alice Cooper? This is another card where I think that Upper Deck went wrong, this is Mike Bossy, arguably the greatest NY Islander ever, he is in the NHL Hall of Fame and he still holds NHL records 20 years after he retired. UD has an NHL license, why would they not put him in an Islanders sweater?

 

A couple of “suave” guys here, well Donnie Baseball looks a little 1980s GQ but he still looks good.

 

And then we have a “not so suave” shot here. When I first saw this card I immediately pictured the Roger Patterson Bigfoot pictures. Just the way he is staged reminds me of the Bigfoot shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of minis, including Iron Mike and Bigfoot-esque Larry Bird.

 

 

A Lady Luck green parallel of golfer Dustin Johnson.

 

 

I close with a Military Machines B-24 Liberator. These inserts are different from the base set, they have a smooth coating where the base cards are the old-school cardboard.

 

The B-24, not as famously known as the B-17, was actually better (to a point) than the Flying Fortress. The Liberator could carry a heavier payload, could fly faster and had a greater range but on the downside was more difficult to fly and when they were hit they tended to go down harder causing more death to the flight crews.

 

The Liberator was used in Europe, the Pacific and Indo-China by the US and her allies. Great Britain, Canada, Australia all had them in their arsenals because they had multiple uses on top of the bombing. They were used as spy planes, air and sea patrols, flying gas stations and transports. One was "lent" to the Soviet Union but they captured 73 other Liberators that were forced to land in areas held by Soviet forces. Even the Germans had a couple that had been captured and were used as spy planes over Allied lands.

 

The Liberator was retired by the military in 1944 when the B-29 Superfortress was released but they remained in use by the Navy until 1952 and by the Coast Guard until 1958. They were still being used privately until 2002 when one crashed while fighting a wildfire and the remaining planes were all grounded.

 

Random Rack Pack: 2012 Topps Chrome Baseball

I recently picked up a rack pack of 2012 Topps Chrome baseball, along with a couple of other recent releases, so I can take a hands on look. The rack pack came with three packs and three orange retail exclusive cards.

 

I was happy to pull a Diamondback, Justin Upton, and a double shot of young Mariners, Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager. The Mariners may be sitting in the basement of the AL West again but with a solid group of youngsters on the roster it may not be too long before we see the M’s proving to be a contender again, we may even see a .500+ team by the end of season for the first time since 2009.

 

 

With the Orange refractors I pulled a trio of pitchers. I have always liked David Price and besides last year he has been a solid pitcher on a Tampa team that seems to have found their stride over the past few years. I still have high hopes for him before his career is over. Kimbrel is a pretty good closer and he is still young but when it comes to cards pulling a closer is only slightly better than pulling a middle reliever. Anibal Sanchez, OK I really cannot find much of an upside for him. He began the season one win over .500 (he is currently 3 wins under now) and after a crappy start in Miami he has become even more craptastic since his trade to Detroit.

 

 

A Jake Peavy X-Fractor

 

 

And I close out with a couple of refractors of two ex-Red Sox

 

 

I can sum up the experience with a single word… meh…

I will stick with Bowman Platinum; I am addicted to that stuff

Random Rack Packs: 2011 Topps Chrome Football

Since I have been going through a lull in pack opening I grabbed two rack packs of Topps Chrome Football recently. Each rack pack contained 3 packs of Topps Chrome Football and 3 additional Orange Refractors.

Like my rack packs of Topps Prime Football that I opened last month almost every card pulled was either a Running Back (9) or a Wide Receiver (16 counting Tight Ends). Besides pulling an A.J. Green rookie most of the other RCs were disappointing including a number of players who have already been cut/waived or are close to losing their jobs. Last year it seemed like ever pack I opened always contained a Mardy Gilyard rookie and this year that bad luck has been replaced with Clyde Gates. To make it worse I pulled a base Clyde Gates refractor as well as an X-Fractor, talk about a disappointment.

To close out my pack break I pulled a Blue Refractor Ronnie Brown #/199, 6 Orange Refractors and 2 Bowman Chrome Rookies- Ryan Mallett and Ryan Williams.