1991 Ballstreet Journal Full Panel Insert

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Ballstreet Journal

Card Number: 58

Card Type: Magazine Insert

Issue: #6, November 1991

The internet is pretty amazing.  Yes about half of it is filled with crap and advertising, but when you have a question the answer is usually out there to be found.  It's also a nice juxtaposition for the card featured today.  Because 25 plus years ago before the internet and at the height of the trading card junk wax/speculation era there were a lot of magazines that catered to the hobby.  There were magazine specifically for the speculators, which cards and products were hot, what rookies should you invest into send your kids to college?  And of course there were the price guides.  In 1991, I was still in high school and living overseas so I didn't have access to all the great publications that were being put out to help collector's.  But that's why the internet is so great, with a few key strokes not only did I find what issue of the Ballstreet Journal that this card came out of I found a few photos.  

With so many magazines competing with one another they tried to offer gimmicks to entice you into buying their issues and free cards was the main enticement.  From what I found each issue of Ballstreet Journal came with 10 of these insert cards that you could pull out and cut out the card.  Lucky for me I have an intact panel from the issue.  The other great thing about researching this card is I found something else to go after for my collection.  I also collect Frank Thomas cards and he just so happens to be featured on the issue that Robin's card is in.  

Another fun fact,  the back of the cards feature a trivia question about the feature player and the answer on Robin's card is wrong, Robin was still 18, not 19, when he broke into the majors.  The write up is also wrong with the same age mistake and the wrong year that Robin broke into the majors.  While Robin didn't get his first baseball card till 1975, he played his first major league game  April 5th, 1974.   

1992 Fleer Provision

Year:1992

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Flagship

Card: Base, Sub-set

Card Number: 708

Sub-set: Provisions

Donruss had Dick Perez and in 1991 Fleer entered the art card market with Terry Smith's Provisions.  The '91 set was an insert and Fleer crossed the insert over into their basketball and football sets as well.  I remember the '91 baseball inserts were super easy to find because they had black borders and stood out like a sore thumb in the packs when you pressed the wax paper to the side of the pack.  Yep I was a teenage pack searcher.  

In 1992, Fleer numbered the Provision set into the main checklist. In 1993 the art would get reused in the Barry Colla Diamond Marks Bookmarks - Art card inserts.  

The Provision cards are still some of my favorites from the junk wax era.  And I'm glad Robin got included in the second set.  Plus Fleer added a very nice write up on the back.

1992-93 Pocket Pages

Year: 1992 - 1993

Manufacturer: Pocket Pages Card Show Digest

Card Set: Pocket Pages Card Show Digest Inserts

Card Number: 23

Card Type: Base Magazine Insert

I've had this card in my collection for quite awhile and I always thought it was an insert or bonus card added to packs of 9 pocket pages.  Like a 10 or 25 pack you can pick up at Wal-mart or something like that.  I was curious exactly how they were distributed and there are quite a few cards in the set.  After a little research and checking a little more closely at the copyright on the back of the card I discovered I couldn't have been farther from the truth.  This card was a magazine insert much like the cards that were put into Baseball Card Magazine.   I don't have a personal copy of an issue of Pocket Pages Card Show Digest, but I can assume from the name it was a publication that listed nation wide card shows. I've found a few images to share here and archive for posterity.  In the center of the digest 6 cards were stapled into the middle.  The checklist over at the Trading Card Database looks to be incomplete, but this set alone looks to have over 50 cards in it and there are other Series' as well.  The cards also cover at least all 4 big sports.  Robin was in the November 1992 issue featured below. If you happen to know more about these cards and the magazine/digest they were in feel free to share in the comment and/or post links.

2005 Donruss Zenith

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Zenith

Card Number: 239

Card Type: Base

2005 a time when the shelves were packed with products.  Zenith was a tribute to the Pinnacle brand that came before Donruss' ownership.  Packs were about $5 each and boxes came with 3 hits.  There were tons of inserts and parallels in the set.  Out of the base cards only the Z-Gold parallels were numbered.   The card is pretty typical of the mid-range stuff Donruss put out in the mid-2000's and what Panini continues to put out today.  The player cropped and placed on a shiny background.  The Dufex parallels do look pretty neat though.

2008 Topps Sterling White Suede Parallel #227

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Topps Sterling

Card Number: 227 (RY11)

Card Type: Parallel 

Parallel Set: White Suede

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 25/50

I will be the first to tell you how much I hate the new trend in the trading card market.  The move away from affordable products with large base sets to hit driven, expensive, low card count products is one of the things that is slowly killing the hobby.  But back in the mid 2000's the higher products were more like going to a car showroom.  Most car companies have multiple models that are affordable and met different consumer's needs, and sure there was some overlap in the models and what they offered, but they also offered some higher end models for those clients that could afford it.  That's what the early and mid 2000's felt like.  For the most part the hobby was affordable with multiple, ok, a lot of products to choose from with some higher end stuff mixed in for those with a little deeper pockets.   Starting in 2006 Topps brought out a new Cadillac, Topps Sterling.  This was Topps' high end brand.  And it was nice.  The cards were fancy, the hits were pretty, and very low numbered, even if most players featured had lots of different cards.  And in 2008 with Sterling being HOF-centric and featuring player themed boxes, I loved it. Not enough to drop the $200-300 a box this stuff was going for, but definitely enough to seek out some of Robin's hits and all of his base cards.  The set featured a large base set with all cards numbered to 250.  You also got a few parallel sets.  The base being numbered to only 250 made the cards fairly rare, but not too expensive or hard to find, thanks ebay.  The next most common parallel is the white suede.  Numbered to just 50 copies and very, very white.  I've been slowly picking up these parallels as I find them for a decent price.  Robin has 11 base cards in the set so it been a slow process and I think I've manage only 3 so far, but the hunt is most of the fun anyway.

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Sepia Mini Parallel

Year: 2011

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Gypsy Queen

Card Number: 61

Card Type: Mini parallel

Parallel set: Sepia

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 81/99

I'm a sucker for gimmicks.  And the gimmick I'm the biggest sucker for are the tobacco mini's.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's the homage to the birth of baseball cards and baseball card collecting.  Pacific may have been the first to put out the first tobacco sized mini insert, but it was Topps' 2002 206 set that really hooked me.  I'll be honest they are one of my favorite inserts and parallels.  And I really love it when I can chase cards with Robin on them.  In 2011, Topps decided to cash in on the retro card market it had helped pioneer by creating a new retro-vintage card set with Gypsy Queen.  Robin was include in the set, and many since, and of course that means mini parallels and parallels of those parallels.  The 2011 set was a direct homage to the original Gypsy Queen sets from the late 1800's and the sepia parallel really kind of captures that.  Sure the black border parallels look cool, but I think the sepia has a great vintage feel.  

2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Red

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss/Playoff

Set: Playoff Absolute Memorabilia

Card Number: TT-173

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Tools of the Trade

Parallel Set: Red

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 029/250

2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia is one of those mid-2000's sets that really pushed the envelope in how many insert parallels you could put in a set.  It is a Donruss product after all and like so many of their products it's mind numbing to try and keep track of just how many parallels there are.  But that's what the Trading Card Database and Beckett are for.   Anyway, presented here is Robin's Red Parallel.  Actually this might be considered the base for Tools of the Trade, I'm not sure. There are at least two other base color parallels, blue and black, and they have lower serial numbering.  

Like so many of these base parallels from the mid-2000's it was designed with the relic and autograph parallels in mind.  So we get a small photos of Robin off to the left side.