1989 Hills Team MVP's

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Hills Team MVP's

Set Type: Box

Year: 1989

Card Number: 33

Card Type: Base

I'm a sucker for those late 80's early 90's box sets.  They were cheap and still are, but filled with stars and Hall of Famers.

Hills Department Stores put out two box sets.  This one and one the next year called The Hitmen. Hills was acquired by Ames in 1998, which also put out a box set this year.  Most of these sets have the players arranged alphabetically and that means Robin has the honor of being last in most of them.  Most of these sets have 33 or 44 players featured in them and that goes for a lot of the food issues too.  This may seem like an odd numbering for a card set, but only for those who don't know the printing process.  On a standard uncut sheet of standard sized baseball cards there are 132 cards per sheet.  That means you can put 4 full sets on a sheet if it's got 33 and 3 full sets if it has 44.  What that means is these sets and cards are plentiful and cheap.  But that's ok too. This is a really nicely done set. The cards are on premium card stock and have a glossy finish.

1992 Topps Gold

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Baseball

Year: 1992

Card Number: 90

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Type: Gold Foil

This post is a milestone for me this year.  One of my goals this year was to post more on my player collection blogs.  I also set a goal for myself to see if I could post more this year than all the previous years combined and this post makes the 93rd post on the Yount Collector.  If you take the time, and please don't, and add up all my previous posts that would be 92. So in one year I've more than doubled the content of the blog. It also helped that I decided to on how I wanted to format my blog by featuring each card or oddball in it's own post and to feature any news, like new cards etc.

So success!  And it took me a while to decided which card I wanted to feature on this arbitrary milestone.  I've been featuring lots of modern, post career cards recently so I figured why not go back to Robin's playing days.  And what better card and set to feature than the one that pretty much started the insane parallel craze of today.

1992 Topps!  The first year Topps introduced it's gold foil parallel cards and I remember these being hot.  Not that they were all that hard to find, but pre-internet it was hard to find the ones you wanted.  1992 also was the year Topps switch over to a premium card stock.

It's a great card even if it's a portrait and not an action shot.  Robin in the dug out, the bat cubby behind him, looking the part of the sage of Milwaukee.  And a kick ass moustache too.

2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Draft Class

Card Manufacturer; Donruss

Card Set: Elite Extra Edition

Year: 2004

Card Number: DC-5

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Draft Class

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 218/500

A cool, shiny insert from the 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition set.  Robin shares his draft class and this card with Fred Lynn.  Both players also made their big league debuts in 1974.  

The card itself isn't anything that special and even though all the cards in this set are numbered to 500 it was designed for it's autographed version.  Robin and Fred's autographed version is numbered to only 10 and I can say that I've ever actually seen one.

  Other notable Brewers in the set include Paul Molitor and Gary Sheffield.

2012 Panini Cooperstown HOF Classes Team card

Card Manufacturer: Panini

Card Set: Cooperstown

Year: 2012

Card Number: 24

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Hall of Fame Classes

It's always nice when a card you need falls into your lap.  Julie over at A Cracked Bat emailed me about a week or so ago and asked if the this was one of the cards on my Yount need list.  Indeed it was and all she asked for was my address.  Well I will be reciprocating eventually.

I had to look this insert set up to get the official name but these are called HOF Classes Team as opposed to the other set HOF Classes Induction Year.  I also discovered that these cards were retail blaster exclusives.  No wonder this card was so hard to find.  Robin had 6 or 7 cards in the 2012 Cooperstown set, including a base card and parallel, an auto and was in 5 of the insert sets.  Other than the auto this was the last card I needed for the set, so thank you very much Julie.  

2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia - Absolute Heroes

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Playoff Absolute Memorabilia 

Year: 2005

Card Number: AH-28

Card Type: Insert base

Insert Set: Absolute Heroes

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 086/250

It's probably a toss up, but if I was to make a bet I would bet on 2005 as being the year with the most parallels ever issued.  There were just so many.  With all the Donruss and Upper Deck sets with color, relic and autograph versions of many of there base and insert cards it can be pretty daunting.  Hard to believe that Topps was probably the one card maker that wasn't going overboard, yet.

That being said Robin's 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia - Heroes card is no exception to the parallel beast.  We have here the plain old, bottom of the barrel base card.  This card has foil board spectrum parallels, relic parallels, autograph parallels and relic autograph parallels.  And this base card is low numbered to boot.  

Like most of the inserts from the time that had all those parallels the card was designed with relic and autograph placement in mind.  Not that this is terrible card it's just that with out any bling most of the card is kind of wasted space.

2005 Fleer Skybox Autographics Greats

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Skybox Autographics

Year: 2005

Card Number: 80

Card Type: Base

Base sub-set: Greats

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 203/750

Contrary to the title this is not another autographed card.  Robin doesn't even have an autographed card in this set.  What Robin does have is this base card and two parallel cards.  The card does kind of look autographed with the bold facsimile auto on the front.

The set is fairly small with only 115 cards in the set.  The first 60 cards being of current players and are unnumbered. Cards 61-90 are labeled as Greats and are serial numbered to 750 and the last 25 cards are up and coming stars, I guess, also serial numbered to 750.  There are two parallel sets, insignia and royal insignia, serial numbered to 150 and 25.

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Silver Stitch Blue Ink Autographed card #d to 19!

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Sweet Spot Classic

Year: 2007

Card Number: SPS-RY

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Signatures Silver Stitch Blue Ink Parallel

Card Attributes: Autograph, Serial numbered

Serial Number: 15/19

Here we have the saddest of autographs in my autograph collection.  I will say I really like this card.  I really miss the Sweet Spot brand. The idea behind this card is pretty awesome.  You get an autograph on the sweetspot of a baseball mounted in a card.  Of course the idea was a good one, however using sub par leather, or maybe even pleather here has doomed this auto like so many others. The ink is slowly fading and being absorbed.  I haven't checked on this auto since I made this scan a while back so I'm not sure what stage of decay the card is in right now, but at least it was still readable.  This is also an insanely low numbered set, numbered to Robin's number and very, very thick.

I'm actually surprised Topps hasn't tried to copy this.  It looked like for a while it might do something like this with a manurelic back when it was churning out manufactured bat barrels and glove cards.

But still a great card in the collection, even if time is not on my side.

2001 Fleer Futures Bats to the Future Bat relic card

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Fleer Futures

Year: 2001

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Bats to the Future

Card Attributes: Bat relic

Here we have another great relic insert from the early 2000's.  Fleer pretty much stopped putting out a flagship set at the end of the 90's and started focusing on mid to high end, at least for the time, issues. Fleer Futures was one of those new sets that featured something a little different. Card companies in the late 90's and early 2000's were always trying to one up the other with new gimmicks and technologies.  The base cards in this set featured a rough textured surface with embedded sparkles and a quasi futuristic design.  I don't remember what this went for back in the day, but the going rate seems to be between 50 and 60 bucks a box.  I remember opening a few packs that were in K-Mart repacks years ago, I don't think I hit anything good.  

This insert was a listed feature on the front of boxes. The insert is three tiered with this bat relic being the second tier.  The first tier was the base insert, which will be featured here in the future, and the second tier is an autographed bat relic card numbered to fifty.

Like a lot of Fleer's relic issues from the early 2000's this card is unnumbered.  So when you look it up depending on where it's listed its given an arbitrary number based on the player name alphabetically or sometimes it's given the letter designation RY and listed alphabetically.  Since the base insert was numbered these relics are usually numbered with their base inserts number. In Robin's case here his base insert number is BF11 so this card is usually called card 11 in the set.  

The cards themselves look nice. There's no real futuristic coatings or materials on the front, but a little foil lettering. The overall design is futuristic I suppose, and the design works well with the round opening for the piece of bat. 

2014 Panini Classics Baseball Yount checklist and gallery

Panini Classics Baseball brings back the old Donruss brand and a really stacked checklist of autos and relics from the greats.  Sadly without logos.  After looking thought the checklist Robin has a base card and 19 other parallel and insert cards to chase.  Looks like most of the autos and relics will be very limited and of course that means a premium price although probably slightly less than a fully licensed product, but that doesn't mean they'll be cheap.

Here are all his cards I found while looking thought the checklist. If you noticed  one I missed let me know and I'll add it.

I'll also add some scans when I find examples of the cards later.

Panini Classics Baseball #113
Panini Classics Baseball #113 Timeless Tributes Silver Parallel #/149
Panini Classics Baseball #113 Timeless Tributes Gold Parallel #/25
Panini Classics Baseball #113 Timeless Tributes Platinum Parallel 1/1
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Lumberjacks Bats Signatures #18 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Lumberjacks Jerseys Signatures #18  #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Lumberjacks Jerseys Signatures Prime #18 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Lumberjacks Combos Signatures #18 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Lumberjacks Combos Signatures Prime #18 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Players Materials Signatures #22 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Players Materials Signatures Prime #22 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Legendary Players Bats Signatures #22 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Membership Materials HOF Signatures #17 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Membership Materials HOF Signatures Prime #17 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Membership Materials MVP Signatures #17 #/10
Panini Classics Baseball Membership Materials MVP Signatures Prime #17 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Significant Signatures Jersey Prime Gold #62  #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Significant Signatures Jersey Prime Platinum #62 1/1
Panini Classics Baseball Significant Signatures Bats Gold #62 #/5
Panini Classics Baseball Significant Signatures Bats Platinum #62 1/1

2001 Norstan Walk of Fame SGA

Card Manufacture: Norstan/Brewers

Card Set: Norstan - Brewers Walk of Fame

Year: 2001

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Stadium Giveaway (SGA)

This one's for Tony L.  

The Norstan Brewers Walk of Fame set was a stadium giveaway.  According to the Standard Catalog the set was giveaway on July 12, 2001, which makes sense since that's the date on the back.  The catalog also say that it was given away to the first 30000 fans, so there's are print run and the set had 4 cards.  The set was given away to commemorate the dedication of the Brewers Walk of Fame, which is pretty much the Brewers Hall of Fame and the first four inductees: Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, and Paul Molitor.  

1982 Police Issue - Milwaukee Police Department

Card Manufacturer: ???

Card Set: Police Department Giveaway

Year: 1982

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Base

Card Class: Giveaways

As a Brewers fan and a Brewers card collector there are few cards or card sets as iconic as the Milwaukee Brewers Police issues.  The sets started in 1982 and, at least in my home town, were given out at the 4th of July festivities.  The sets continued non-stop up into the early 90's and then every now and then a new set gets issued.  The early 80's sets are fun to store as the cards are larger than the standard size baseball card, by probably a good half inch in each direction.

This card comes by way of a trade with Tony L. over at Off Hiatus Baseball Cards.

He was nice enough to send me the whole team set, which is great, because not only did I get a complete team set, but I get to officially add a new Yount and Rollie Fingers to my player collections.

The Police issues are an interesting bunch of cards for a player collector. Since these cards were printed for each participating department and featured the department's name on the front and back there are literally tens to hundreds of possible variations for any given year.  Depending on how one collects that could mean lots of Younts to chase and since I consider each card from a different department to be a unique card that means I have lots of cards to chase.  And that's the way I like it. 

So thanks Tony for adding a new one to the collection.

2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Quad Player relic

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Ballpark Collection

Year: 2008

Card Number: 204

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Quad Swatch Memorabilia

Card Attributes: Relic

Relic Type: Jersey

Note: Also featured on card, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J J Hardy

By 2008 relic cards had become filler fodder for products.  Sure they were hits, but relics were and are now more than ever a dime a dozen.  Seriously you can find tons of relic cards in the dollar bins.  And quad relics can be hit or miss.  Usually it's a jumble of players from different teams sometimes united by a common thread like position, but sometimes it seems the card manufacturers just looked who they had the most swatches for and put them together.

With that being said, I think this might be one of my favorite relic cards in my Brewers team  collection and in my Yount player collection.  

Upper Deck's Ballpark Collection offered a lot of relics. Each box had 2 sometimes 3.

While quad player relic cards can be hit or miss they tend to work out great when the unifying theme is the team.  And this card works well because the swatches are all so different, well mostly.  I mean you get a pinstripe from the Hardy section and a nice gray piece of pants from the Yount.  And with Prince's swatch slightly askew it doesn't look exactly like Rickie's piece.  

I think the only thing that would have balanced out this card and made it better is if there was another retired Brewer on the card like Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, or Rollie Fingers.  That way you have the balance of old and new.  But I'm not complaining.

1977 Burger Chef Triple Play Funmeal Tray

Card Manufacturer: MSA

Card Set: Burger Chef Triple Play Funmeal

Year: 1977

Card Number: NNO

Notes: Full intact Funmeal Tray with complete team discs

If you have never heard of Burger Chef I wouldn't be surprised.  But at one time Burger Chef was second only to McDonalds in the number of restaurants nationwide.  Eventually Hardee's bought the company and the last Burger Chef restaurant closed in 1996.

In the mid 70's you get a Funmeal with that featured different teams and 9 player discs.  It's not too hard to find the discs, but finding whole trays, especially ones as clean and intact as this one, can be hard, but not as hard as you think.  The MSA discs are smaller than a lot of the MSA discs issued at the time and feature a few players not featured in some of the other regional sets.

Besides Robin Yount, you got Jerry Augustine, Jim Slaton, Charlie Moore, Von Joshua, Eduardo Rodriguez, Sixto Lezcano, Sal Bando, and Bill Travers.  

Inside the tray there was a baseball game.

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings Legends Bronze Framed Dual Relic card

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Diamond Kings

Year: 2004

Card Number: 164

Card Type: Insert relic

Insert Set: Bronze Framed Dual Relic

Card Attributes: Relics, Serial Numbered

Relic Types: Jersey, Bat

Serial Numbered: 030/100

Here is a set that's going to be featured over and over again here on the blog. That'll happen when you have a gazzlion parallels and variations in your set. It really is an incredible feat if you can keep track of them all. I can't and  I rely on keeping good notes on what I have so when I come across these cards I can figure out which ones I need.

This card comes in a whole rainbow of flavors. I'll hazard a guess without actually looking it up, but there are probably over 30 to 40 different versions of Robin's #164 card if you count all the color variations, relic and auto versions, and framed parallels. It's almost mind numbing.

But here we have a really nice dual relic.  And I really like the dual relics that have different kinds of relics in them like this one.  I apologize for the blurry image. This card is entombed in a screwdown holder and I wasn't going to take it out.  

Serial numbered to just 100. There is also a nice blurb about the artist and Donruss even tells you what years Robin had Diamond Kings issued for him

2007 Topps Triple Threads base card

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Triple Threads

Year: 2007

Card Number: 124

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 0939/1350

Triple Threads is one of those issues that it's the base that changes and the relics and hits seem to stay the same.  Robin has base cards in the first 3 sets issued from 2006- 2008 and then didn't get another base card until 2013.  Early in the brands days the base cards were numbered, but Topps stopped that a few years back.  Robin has card #124 in the set and gets all the associated parallels.

Not a bad looking card and it's an image that Topps didn't use too much. I like the feel of these card. It looks like it would take an autograph well and the red base cards make a pretty bold statement.    

2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Century Stars

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Throwback Threads

Year: 2004

Card Number: CS-48

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Century Stars

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 1471/1500

Some times I really miss all the different card companies being out there.  I don't mean card companies using old imprints. I mean back when Donruss was not part of Panini, when Fleer was not part of Upper Deck, when O-Pee-Chee use to copy Topps.  And I miss inserts like this believe it or not.  This is a typical insert from the mid-2000 by Donruss.  This base insert is an after thought. It was created mainly for the relic, autographed, and relic auto versions of this insert and that's why I like it. It's an orphan so to speak, the red headed step-child of the group. And even though this card is serial numbered it's still easy and fairly cheap to find.  Robin has all the parallels too. He has an autograph, relic, auto relic, prime relic (which I'm assuming is a patch piece), a prime relic auto, and also the Spectrum foil board parallel numbered to 100.   The relic was placed where the star is and the sticker autograph was run along the bottom part of the card.

I think I covet these base cards more than their parallels simply because I like that Robin gets included.  And for any player collector that's big.  I like the old mid-70's photo of a young Robin with a clean shaven, smiling face and old school Milwaukee hat. But I find it funny that Donruss chose to use the Brewers current logo.

2014 Stadium Club Base

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Stadium Club

Year: 2014

Card Number: 171

Card Type: Base

The newest Yount to land on my doorstep.  I just got my order from justcommons.com.  I tend to use the site to complete my Brewers team sets and to pick up cheap TTM cards.  I also pick up Robin's new base cards when I can for cheap. I love that if you spend $10 on the site, which isn't that hard, it's free shipping.  I ended up picking up a couple of these cards, one for my team set and of course one for the Yount Collection.  This year marks the return of Stadium Club and I have to say I like the design. It's pretty classic Stadium Club and while I don't like the price point or the whole 3 mini box per box structure, I like the design and the set size is small enough that it probably wouldn't be too hard to complete, but it's large enough to have a nice mix of past, present, and future stars in it.

Besides the base there are also 5 parallels to chase in this set and Robin has a buy back auto numbered to 5.  So far this is the only card from the set I've picked up, but I'm sure I'll start working my way through the parallels.