1996 Fleer Ultra Inserts

By the mid-1990s, most sets boasted insert sets. It is still a staple of cards being made today. In 1996, nobody embraced the insert set more than Fleer Ultra. I'm pretty sure that they advertised that there was an insert card in every pack. They way to do this was to have lots of insert sets. In 1996, Ultra had 17 different inserts, each having 10-20 cards and each having a gold parallel version. I'm including in this count the ultimate insert set, a parallel of the base set itself, which had 600 cards.  I've got 11 of them, including one of the gold parallels.

Ultra Gold Medallion #600 Mark Grace

The Gold Medallion parallel had been around for a few years and was a part of every Ultra set produced after this. They used different techniques every year to make the parallel different. In 1996, the technique was to make the background of the card gold foil. The back of the card was the same as the base set.

Ultra Call To The Hall #7 Cal Ripken

This 10-card set was inserted in a 1:24 ratio in Series 2 packs, this was a relatively tough pull. I bought this one on eBay in 2003 for $2.75 (including shipping). Today you'll pay at least $4 (plus shipping) for it.

Ultra Call To The Hall Gold Medallion #1 Barry Bonds

The gold parallels were much harder to pull, this one was inserted 1:240. I paid a hefty $12.89 for this in 2004, when Barry Bonds wasn't the pariah he is today. There is only one currently on eBay at $19.95.

Ultra Checklist #10 Matt Williams

Even the checklist cards were inserts. At 1:4 packs, this 20-card set (10 in each series) was an easy pull. I got this one in a pack. There are a lot of these on eBay, in the base and Gold versions. On eBay it looks like the the base card has gold foil and the Gold version has silver foil.

Ultra Diamond Producers #9 Cal Ripken

This was a 12-card set, inserted 1:20 packs in Series 1. I pulled this from a pack. Right now, the entire set is going for $12 on eBay. Fleer used a lot of different printing techniques on these sets. This one features a holographic foil background. I haven't looked at the entire checklists of these sets, but, based on the ones I have, I suspect that the same group of players is featured in most of them.

Ultra Fresh Foundations #1 Garrett Anderson

A 10-card set inserted at 1:3 in Series 1. You can get the whole set for $6. Chipper Jones looks to be the only worthwhile card.

Ultra Power Plus #2 Barry Bonds

This gaudy card is from a 12-card set inserted 1:10 packs. I bought the entire set in 2003 for $5. The background is multi-colored foil. The whole set is $21 now. Not too many of the Gold versions available.

Ultra Prime Leather #9 Tim Salmon

The card front is textured to simulate leather and the Prime Leather logo is embossed to suggest a brand. I pulled this from a pack. The 18-card set was inserted 1:8 packs. Lots of these available at reasonable prices.

Ultra RBI King #5 Jim Edmonds

A 10-card set, inserted at 1:5. Another one I pulled from a pack. Nothing special beyond silver-foil lettering on the front. A large selection available on eBay.

Ultra Respect #7 Cal Ripken

Another 10-card set, this one inserted at 1:18 in Series 2. I bought this for $6.02 in eBay in 2003. The text on the front is printed in raised holographic foil. The little sparkles in the print are the holographic effects. There are a lot of these up on eBay right now and you can get the whole set for about $8.

Ultra Season Crowns #8 Cal Ripken

This looks like an elaborate die-cut, or perhaps, laser-cut card but it's actually printed on clear acetate. This was a 10-card set inserted at 1:10 in Series 1. I paid $2.00 (plus shipping) for this in 2004. It's about the same price now on eBay.

That's all I have. While I was looking these up on eBay I found the Gold versions of most of them at reasonable prices so maybe I have another post later.

Random Cards From My Collection #29

Trying to kick-start the blog here. This is an easy post to make.

Card #28961
2011 Topps All-Star Set #NL4 Cliff Lee

 This was a set Topps sold in a blister pack featuring All-Stars from the 2010 season. I got this in May of 2011. I didn't see this set in 2012.

Card #18517
2004 Bazooka #119 Scott Rolen

Topps revived the Bazooka brand in the mid-2000s but I guess it didn't catch on. I always liked this set.

Card #19943
2010 Topps 206 #149 Scott Kazmir

And why shouldn't an Angel have some sort of halo?

Card #22378
2004 Donruss Team Heroes #327 Steve Carlton

Another 2004 issue featuring a Red, White and Blue color scheme.

Card #34080
1991 Fleer #500 Ken Caminiti

The infamous Fleer Yellow set. These cards are difficult to scan and have the yellow color come out right. The back always comes out too orange.

Card #26211
2005 Zenith Z-Bats #ZB-35 Roy Oswalt

I've never understood bat relic cards for pitchers. But I like this card anyway.

Card #22403
2004 Donruss #326 Kevin Millwood

After compiling a 57-45 record in 6 years with the Braves, he was signed to a big 2-year contract with the Phillies. He was 23-18 in 2003-2004 with the Phillies for $20MM.

Card #507
1989 Score Young Superstars II #5 Paul O'Neill

O'Neill had a 17-year-career with the Reds and Yankees ending in 2001. In his 5th season, Score still considered him a young superstar. What a jaw line!

Card #32738
2012 Gypsy Queen #263 Eddie Murray

I thought that the 2012 version of Gypsy Queen was nicer than the 2011 version. But I'm wondering how many retro-sets Topps needs.

Card #10176
2008 Upper Deck Star Quest #11 Carlos Lee

I detested these Star Quest cards in every version they came in.

Song of the Week - Are You Here by Corinne Bailey Rae

My daughter is always bring home new CDs for me to listen to. I jump through them and if they sound nice, I add them to iTunes. Since I've got a lot of songs, I don't get to hear any individual song too often. One thing about doing a song of the week for the blog is I get a chance to really listen to a song and look up something about the artist.

I don't listen to the radio at all so I have no idea if Rae is popular here but she's pretty big in England. You can read about her here. I really like this song. At the beginning of the video she tells us a little about how she writes a new song. Interesting.

Movie Review - Looper

If you've seen the trailers for the movie you know the premise. In the future (which is 60 years from now) they invented time travel and made it illegal so only criminals use it. The criminals use it to dispose of people they want killed. For reasons hardly explained, just stated, it's difficult to get rid of bodies 60 years from now. They hog tie and hood their victim and send him to the past (which is the year 2044, some 30 years in our future) and have someone prearranged to kill him

Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a looper, a guy who kills these losers from the future. One day, they send Joe his future self (Old Joe, played by Bruce Willis) to kill and Old Joe gets the drop on him and gets away. And all hell breaks loose.

The movie was pretty good. I hadn't read any reviews prior to seeing it but looking it up on Rotten Tomatoes, I see it's got a 94% rating. Pretty good for sure.  But if you go there are several things your going to have to deal with:

1. Why don't they just kill the victims in the future and dump them through the time machine in the ocean?  I can think of several plausible science fiction reasons why, so just let it go.

2. How in the world does Joseph Gordon-Levitt turn into Bruce Willis in 30 years? Nothing plausible comes to mind.

3. Why do many of the vehicles in 2044 look like 2012 cars with solar cells and weird hoses all over them? The year 2044 appears to suck big time. I'll be 93 by then so maybe I won't care.

4. Time travel? Go with it.

The central theme of the movie is the difference betwee what motivates Joe and Old Joe. They can't understand each other because a gulf of 30 years lies between them and they are not the same person. Joe doesn't really care about the future. In a voice over early in the film he says people with long-term vision aren't likely to become loopers. Old Joe looks at his past self and can't believe he was once such a shallow jerk. But the longer Old Joe survives in the past, the more uncertain his past (in the future) becomes and the less sure of himself he becomes.

The best line in the movie is when Joe and Old Joe are really meeting for the first time and Joe wants to know what's going on. Old Joe (Bruce Willis) says some thing like "To tell you that we have to talk about time travel. If we talk about time travel we'll be here for hours making diagrams on the table with straws. So let's not talk about time travel".

1992 Pinnacle Rookies

Here's another 1990's Pinnacle set with all the 1990's goodies, except for a great checklist. The players are a mix of flame-outs and players that had long, but not necessarily, flashy careers. I got the whole set, in an unopened box back in February.

Luis Mercedes - Free agent signing by the Orioles in 1987. 3-year career with O's and Giants, 70 ABs, .190 career average.

Scott Cooper - 3rd round pick by Red Sox in 1986. Played for 7 years, 5 with the Red Sox. He was a 2-time All-Star

Pat Listach

Certainly a good choice for this set, he was the 1992 AL Rookie of the year. But in another 5 years he never had a year nearly as good as his first.

Kenny Lofton

Although he was a 17th-round draft pick in 1988, he is one the best players (with Alou) in the set, Lofton was runner-up for the 1992 AL ROY Award. Probably a Hall of Fame player. He had a 17-year career with a career batting average of .299 with 622 stolen bases (15th on career list). 6-time All-Star, 4 Gold Gloves and 95 games played in post season.

John Doherty - 19th round pick by the Tigers in 1989. In 5-years he had a winning record, 32-31 with 9 saves.

Andy Stankiewicz - although only a 12th-round pick in 1986, I remember him being a well regarded rookie in 1992. Never really a full-time player, he compiled a .242 average in 7 years.

Derek Bell

2nd-round pick by the Blue Jays in 1987, he had an 11-year career with a .276 career average and 134 home runs.

Gary DiSarcina - solid if unspectacular player. Played his entire 12-year career with the Angels.

Roberto Hernandez

1st round pick by the Angels in 1986, I guess he has a shot at the Hall. He played for a lot of teams in a 17-year career where he picked up 326 saves (13th on all-time list).

Joel Johnson - 3-5 record with 2 saves in 5 years, I never heard of him.

Pat Mahomes - 6th round pick by the Twins in 1988. I'm not too familiar with him but he managed to have a winning record (42-39) in 11 years.

Todd Van Poppel - Another pick rookie sensation in 1992 as he was the A's 1st-round pick in 1009. I'm not too impressed by a 40-52 record over 11 seasons.

 Dave Fleming - Another short-timer (5 years) but a workhorse, appearing in 116 games with a 38-32 record.

Monty Fariss - Rangers #1 pick in 1988, washed out in 3 years.

Gary Scott - Who? 67 games in 2 years with a .160 BA.

Moises Alou

Another guy I have to say has a shot at the Hall. He was the 1st round pick by the Pirates in 1986. In a 17-year career he hit .303 with 332 home runs. He was a 6-time All-Star and win a World Series title with the 1997 Marlins.

Todd Hundley - The Mets 2nd-round pick in 1987. 202 home runs and a .234 BA in 14 years. Tarred with the steroid brush in the Mitchell report.

Kim Batiste

The only Phillie in the set, he was the Phillies 3rd-round pick in 1987. He never became anything more than a part-time player in a 5-year career.

Denny Neagle - he had a 13-year career with a 124-92 record. Impressive to me but apparently not to the Hall of Fame nominating committee.

Donovan Osborne - another 1st-round pick, this time by the Cardinals in 1990. Compiled a 49-46 record in 7 years. 

Mark Wohlers

A big part of the Braves organization in the 1990s, he compiled a 39-29 record with 119 saves and a 3.97 ERA.

Reggie Sanders

Another pretty good player who will become eligible for the Hall this year. He had a 17-year career with 305 home runs, 304 stolen bases and a .267 batting average.

Brian Williams - 1st round pick by the Astros in 1990. 26-38 with 6 saves in 9 seasons.

Eric Karros

Karros was the 1992 NL Rookie of the Year. He was the Dodgers 6th-round pick in 1988. He had a 14-year career, mostly with the Dodgers, hitting 284 home runs and a career .268 BA. Good but not good enough for the Hall.

Frank Seminara - 12-9 in 3 years.

Royce Clayton

Another 1st round pick (Giants in 1988) and another 17-year man. Solid player but no Hall for him.

 Dave Nilsson - 8 years with the Brewers, toiling in obscurity.

Matt Stairs - He was a free agent signed by the Expos and went on to a 19-year career, the last of the players in the set to retire. He hit 265 home runs and had a career BA of .262. He was with the Phillies World Series teams of 2008 and 2009.

Chad Curtis - a 10-year, average career.

Carlos A. Hernandez - Another 10-year player but who only appeared in 488 games in that stretch.

1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown

Back in June I bought this card for 25 cents at a card show.

It's part of a 30-card set issued by Pinnacle. It has everything you want in a mid-1990s baseball card. Star player, check. Full bleed printing, check. Gold foil, front and back, check. Full color photo on the back, different from the front photo, check. I liked it so much I looked on eBay to see if I could get the rest of the set.

I found an unopened set for $8.50.  The cards came in a rack hanger.

The cards were in a cellophane wrapper. Just look at this checklist!

I wish this package had a price on it. I think if I had seen this in 1993 I would have bought it immediately. Every single player on the list is a player I collect. Here are a few more cards: