Tuesday, September 1, 2020

1980 Topps/MSA Pepsi-Cola All-stars (The oddest of oddballs)

First off I need to preface this post by saying I do not own this card and will likely never own a copy of this card.  This is one of those cards of urban legend like the 1977 Reggie Jackson Topps card featuring him as an Oriole and not airbrushed as a Yankee.  The story goes that Mike Schechter Associates (MSA), you know the guys responsible for almost all the early 70s and 80s unlicensed baseball stuff, and Topps put together a prototype to submit to Pepsico for a possible promotion.  According to the story they produced 3 full, front and back, sheets of cards to present to executives at Pepsi.  However the deal fell through and the set was never released and, except for the 3 sheets, never fully produced.  As the story goes, only 2 of the sheets were returned to Topps and supposedly destroyed, however the remaining sheet was cut up and the cards made their way into the public.  So if Topps and MSA produced full size sheets they would likely have 132 cards on them and since the set is 22 cards that would mean there should be only 6 cards of each player in the set floating around.

A recent auction at Mile High Card back in Oct 2019 sold a SGC 9.5 example for just shy of $2,500.  Interestingly enough there aren't any Topps or MSA copyrights or logos anywhere on the card.  But the card does use the same photo from the 1980 Topps set and some of the same front and back elements.  It's too bad this was never fully produced it's a good looking card and sadly one I know I'll never add to the collection.  




Wednesday, August 26, 2020

2020 Topps Five Star Yount Checklist and Gallery

Robin is again featured in this very high end product.  I'll add images as I find them

2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY #/40
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Blue #/20
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Green #/15
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Gold #/10
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Orange #/5
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Purple #/25
2020 Topps Five Star - Silver Signatures #SS-RY Red #/1
2020 Topps Five Star - Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs #PP-RY #/25
2020 Topps Five Star - Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs #PP-RY Green #/10
2020 Topps Five Star - Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs #PP-RY Gold #/5
2020 Topps Five Star - Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs #PP-RY Orange #/3
2020 Topps Five Star - Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs #PP-RY Red #/1
2020 Topps Five Star - Dual Pentamerous Penmanship Autographs (w/ Yelich) #PPD-YY #/5



Tuesday, August 25, 2020

2020 Panini Immaculate Robin Yount checklist and gallery

Robin had a few cards to chase in the set, all pretty low numbered.  I'll correct card numbers once the cards start showing up.

2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3  Gold #/5
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3  Green #/3
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3  Platinum #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3 Printing Plate Black #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3 Printing Plate Cyan #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3 Printing Plate Magenta #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Hats Off #3 Printing Plate Yellow #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY  #/49
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Blue  #/25
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Gold #/3
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Platinum #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Printing Plate Black #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Printing Plate  Cyan#/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Printing Plate Magenta #/1
2020 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Triples #IT-RY Printing Plate Yellow #/1


Monday, August 24, 2020

2003 Fleer Rookies and Greats - Boyhood Idols Jersey Relic

Year: 2003
Manufacturer: Fleer
Set: Rookies and Greats
Card Number: BI-RY
Card Type: Insert Relic
Insert Set: Boyhood Idols Game-Used Relics
Relic Type: Jersey
Card Attributes: Serial Numbered, Piece of Authentic
Serial Number: 261/615

I miss the days of collecting in my youth.  Not that 2003 was still my youth, I mean I miss having Fleer and Donruss as real companies competing against each other and trying to one up each other and all the other competitors.  2003 would mark the start of the downward spiral that eventually would lead to the companies demise and in two year's would just be a brand of Upper Deck.  2003 also marked end of Fleer putting out a flagship set, unless you count Fleer Tradition.  But in those final years Fleer gave it a good go and put out some of the nicest trading cards in it's history.  But Rookies and Greats isn't really one of those sets.  It's still a nice looking set. The base set was small, only 75 cards, and there weren't too many inserts to be had and only one base parallel.  

Robin was featured in a couple of the insert relic sets.  The Boyhood Idols insert also had a relic autograph parallel, but Robin is doesn't have a card in that set.  This was a pretty choice card back in 2003 with the swatch being two colors, I'm sure I paid a premium for this card.  It's also got an odd print run of 615.  Why?  Fleer that's why.  As a matter of fact a lot of the inserts in this set have odd numbering.  



Tuesday, August 18, 2020

2020 Topps Archives Robin Yount Checklist

This year Robin is featured in the 1955 design and the card looks awesome.  One of my biggest complaints from Archives in year's past is that in the sets that Robin was included he gets featured in a set design from when he was an active player.  Anyways here is the checklist of cards to chase.  I'll also update this is any of the other cards end up having parallels.

2020 Topps Archives #29 (1955 Design)
2020 Topps Archives #29 Purple #/175
2020 Topps Archives #29 Silver #/99
2020 Topps Archives #29 Red #/75
2020 Topps Archives #29 Blue #/25
2020 Topps Archives #29 Gold Foil #/1
2020 Topps Archives #29 (Full Body Image Variation)
2020 Topps Archives - 1955 Mini Variation #55M-29
2020 Topps Archives - 1955 Mini Autographs #55M-29 #/20






Monday, August 17, 2020

2008 Donruss Threads - Century Proof Green

Year: 2008
Manufacturer: Donruss
Set: Threads
Card Number: 29
Card Type: Parallel
Parallel Set: Century Proof Green 
Card Attributes: Serial Numbered
Serial Number: 155/250

Donruss' last hurrah.  I have no idea why I really like this set.  Maybe it's because Donruss got away with what almost bankrupted Upper Deck.  This is an unlicensed set, but you can clearly see logos.  Sure not full logos, no team names, but still Robin's not airbrushed.  Maybe I like this set because Robin's all over it.  Relics, autographs, insert, parallels.  There's lots to chase in this set and I did.  There are 4 parallels for this set, Gold, Green, Platinum, and Silver Century Proofs.  The Green Century Proof Parallels are the most common being numbered to just 250.  Plus the Century Proofs are shiny and I do love shiny cards.  In 2009 Donruss, and all of it's acquired brands with it, would be bought by Panini and well you know how it is now.




Tuesday, August 11, 2020

1983 Topps Sticker #81

Year: 1983
Manufacturer: Topps
Set: Stickers
Sticker Number: 81

Oh so shiny!!! I'm a sucker for oddballs, even ugly little stickers like this.  And while they are not my favorite baseball collectible I think the hobby is better for having them in it and I'm also glad that Topps still makes them.  You'll notice the sticker was made in Italy on the back.  And for those of you who know your trading card history a little company called Panini is from Italy.  And as luck would have it Panini made these stickers, under license from Topps.