2012 Pete Rose Cards

I started seeing blaster boxes of "Leaf The Living Legend Peta Rose" cards last year. Only a few boxes and they were pretty expensive compared to Topps blasters. I wouldn't mind having pack but wasn't willing to put out for a blaster.

Last week I saw yet another variation of the Fairfield repack - the 250 card cube. These used to be available but it's been a few years since I saw one. The cube (really a rectangular plastic box) was sealed in an opaque shrink wrap which left the ends exposed. On one end was a pack of these Pete Rose cards. So, of course, I bought it. I haven't got through the rest of the cards, those will be for a later post.

If I had been asked, I would have though that Leaf was owned by Panini these days since Leaf and Donruss were co-companies in the past. But apparently not. Wikipedia to the rescue. Does anyone remember Razor cards? Brian Gray founded Razor Entertainment in 2005. The company produced high end sports cards. I remember some discussion of this company (maybe in Becket magazine) but didn't know much about it. In 2010, Gray acquired the Leaf name and the Leaf Trading Card company was launched and Razor shut down.

On to the cards. There are 50 cards in the set, with an autographed parallel of each. The pack had 6 cards, no autos. On the Leaf web site, the auto cards look like sticker autos. The cards appear to be a random collection from Rose's career, with a short explanation of the photo on the front.

I'd be curious as to what my readers think of these. Did you buy any?  would you?

I'm only going to show you the back of this one, since they all look the same, with the same photo of Rose on each card. Here's an exciting photo of Pete reading a newspaper, clearly early in his career.

Card #17. Here's Pete getting a hit at Shea Stadium on 7/25/79. Leaf, of course, doesn't have a license from MLB. They chosen the old fashioned way of airbrushing (or more likely these days, Photoshopping) out the logos. Clearly a Reds uniform however.

Card #23. Pete in action against the Braves in Atlanta on 8/2/78.

I was glad to get a couple of cards with Pete as a Phillie. No matter what you say about Pete Rose, he was part of the 1980 Phillies World Series winning team so he'll always have a special place in a Phillies phan's heart. I showed the back of this one because the text doesn't really have anything to do with the photo and it was easier to show it then try to explain it.

This is from a spring training game on 3/27/82, against the Dodgers, in the Phillies Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater. Anybody recognize that guy standing up?

Here's player/manager Pete scoring the game winning run in the 10th against the Giants on 4/19/85.

Fairfield repack plus bonus

Fairfield keeps coming up with new packaging for old cards. This is the latest.

The box had 4 unopened packs (2012 Topps Opening Day, 2011 Topps Chrome, 2007 Ultra, and 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum), 50 loose cards and a BONUS.  For $7.99.

I won't keep you hanging, here's the bonus.

It's a 2003 Fleer Collectable Hummer H2! These were sold in a blister back with a player card. It's 2.5 inches long and pretty detailed. There's one just like it on sale on eBay right now for $8.

None of the cards were as exciting as this but here's a sample.

1983 Donruss #400 Tom Lawless

Photographer's direction: "Tom, please look over my right shoulder and try for as vacant a stare as possible".

1984 Topps #497 Bud Anderson

 I never heard of this guy but if hair translated into talent this guy wouldn't have been huge.

1987 Sportflics #49 Fred Lynn

Did anyone actually like these cards? I don't. But Lynn is a Player I Collect, so I'll be keeping this.

1989 Fleer #285 Bo Jackson

This was a surprise. A common Bo Jackson that I didn't have.

1990 Topps Stickers #117 John Kruk

There were 8 of these sticker cards in the box including 3 Phillies I didn't have.

1991 Upper Deck #799 Bud Black

Here's a rare card, a pitcher batting.  Looks like maybe he got a hit.

2011 Topps Chrome #114 Carlos Beltran

Pretty good photo.

Song of the Week - Spirit In The Night by Bruce Springsteen

It was 40 years ago this week that I first (and unfortunately last) saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. He appeared with the E-Street Bad at Uncle Al's Earlton Lounge in Cherry Hill, NJ.

I was an immediate Bruce fan on the release of his first album "Greetings From Asbury Park" earlier in 1973. Here's a video of Bruce and the band playing "Spirit In The Night" in Los Angeles in the summer of 1973. This is either the 1st or 2nd song I ever heard by Springsteen (the other would be "Blinded By The Light"). Surely I heard this that long-ago August night in South Jersey.

Allen & Ginter Through The Ages

By through the ages, I mean the past 8 years of Topps Allen & Ginter. After cataloging two blasters of the 2013 product I was wondering if I had a card for the same player for each year of A&G. Turns out I do, but for only one player. And that player is Ryan Howard. No surprise it would be a Phillie. So here's 8 years of Ryan Howard. I'm not going to bother with the backs since they haven't changed.

2006

The simplest and, in my opinion, the best A&G design.

2007

Not much change beyond putting the year on the front.

2008

Mainly topography changes. The card stock is a bit whiter.

2009

Big changes for this year. The card has a border and the color wash background takes up more space. Different topography and the card front has only the player's last name, which will be the norm from here on. This year also saw the introduction of horizontal action cards.

2010

Another big change. A white border around a pale green background with the color wash on the background.

2011

Probably my least favorite design. There's way too much going on here with the gold border, the colored background for the text and the ornate team logo. Having a team logo at all is a big change.

2012

A bit simpler than 2011, and the team logo was dropped. Overly ornate borders are also the hallmark of Topps Gypsy Queen.

2013

The border is less ornate and I think the light blue border color is less distracting. The best design of the past three years. Too bad this is an action card since it's not directly comparable to the past years.

Random Cards From My Collection #48

Card 13086
2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #350 Jimmy Rollins

Comments on the card: A&G's third year and, I think, the first time they included the horizontal action cards.
When acquired: July 2009
How acquired: Paid $.42/card for a hobby box on eBay
Player's season: Although he led the league in plate appearances and at bats, Jimmy's overall performance slipped some in 2009. He only hit .250, his lowest average since his sophomore season of 2002. The Phillies did get to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row, but lost to the Yankees.

Card #1811
2001 Topps Traded #1 Sandy Alomar, Jr.

Comments on the card: Topps 50th anniversary year with the gold foil anniversary logo. I was a bit disappointed that Topps didn't have a special anniversary logo in 2011, as they did in 2001 and 1991.
When acquired: September 2001
How acquired: Paid $.23/card for a hobby box on eBay
Player's season: Sandy was a free agent signing by the White Sox in 2001. The long slow slide to retirement had already begun. He only appeared in 70 games, hitting .245.

Card #25520
2011 Topps Heritage #283 Danny Valencia

Comments on the card: Based on the iconic 1962 Topps wood-grained set. Don't you love the enormous All-Star Rookie Cup?
When acquired: March 2011
How acquired: Paid $.28/card for 2 blaster boxes
Player's season: After batting .311 in 85 games in 2010, the Twins gave him a full-time shot in 2011. He responded by batting .246 in 154 games and hasn't been a full time player since.

Card #31212
1984 Topps #305 Larry Bowa

Comments on the card: Nice 1980s design
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: In 1982, Larry was involved in one of the worst trades in baseball history, when the Phillies traded him and Ryan Sandberg to the Cubs for Ivan de Jesus. In his 15th year, Larry was still a full time shortstop in 1982.

Card #12127
1993 Select #13 Darren Daulton

Comments on the card: This was the first year (of 4) for Select. It was published by Score, meant as a premium card compared to the base Score set. Complicated design with lots of green. No gloss, no foil. That will come in 1994.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: As did many Phillies, Dutch had a great year in 1993. He led the Phillies to the World Series for the first time since 1984. It was really has last good year. Injuries will sideline him in 1994-1996.

Card # 12814
2009 O-Pee-Chee #535 Josh Hamilton/Justin Morneau/Miguel Cabrera

Comments on the card: Upper Deck was pretty much circling the drain in 2009 when they came up with this design pretty much ripped off from Topps. These cards show up a lot in repacks.
When acquired: July 2009
How acquired: Paid $0.22/card for two blasters.
Player's season: As the back of the card says, these guys were 1, 2, and 3 in RBIs in the American League in 2008.

Card # 30990
2002 Stadium Club #6 Bret Boone

Comments on the card: The release of Stadium Club was always anticipated by me each year. This was the next to last year, except for a brief resurrection in 2008. I really think Topps should either bring back Stadium Club, or institute a new full-bleed card.
When acquired: February 2002
How acquired: Paid $0.25/card for a hobby box.
Player's season: Bret had the three best years of his career from 2001-2003. 2002 was the weakest of the three but he still hit for a .278 average and 25 home runs.

Card #35085
1982 Fleer Stamps #109 Pete Rose

Comments on the card: I never saw one of these before seeing an auction on eBay.  They were sold as 10-stamp strips to a package. There were 242 stamps to the set.
When acquired: August 2012
How acquired: Paid $0.03/stamp for 34 strips, some in original wrappers.  Got 204 of the set.
Player's season: I'm guessing that this is from the 1981 All-Star Game. Pete was among 4 Phillies on the '81 NL All-Star squad along with Mike Schmidt, Manny Trillo and Dick Ruthven. I'm pretty sure that's Dave Conception sitting next to Rose. I think there were only 2 Astros on the team, Nolan Ryan and Bob Knepper. Any guesses? Phil Garner was also on the team but would have been as a Pirate. He wasn't traded to the Astros until after the All-Star break.

Card # 4085
1996 Collector’s Choice #276 Barry Larkin

Comments on the card: I had just gotten a new pair of glasses with plastic lenses with an antiscratching coating on them in 1996 when these cards came out. Due to some interaction between the coating and the lenses, these Collector's Choice fantasy team cards looked three dimensional to me. The red color would pop right out of the card.
When acquired: Don't know.
How acquired: Don't know.
Player's season: Barry would have been a good choice for anyone's fantasy team in 1996. He batted .298, hit 33 home runs, had 89 rbis and stole 36 bases.

Card #22091
2011 Topps Update #279 Trevor Plouffe

Comments on the card: Pretty good action shot of Trevor breaking from the batter's box.
When acquired: October 2011.
How acquired: Paid $0.06/card for two 500-card hobby boxes on eBay. The reason the cards were so cheap is that I really only ordered 1 box but the seller sent me 2. I let him know and he said, no problem, keep the second box. Even with 1000 cards I still didn't get the whole set.
Player's season: It's ironic that this 2011 Plouffe card came up. He played 81 games at mainly at shortstop and 2nd base. In 2012, he replaced Danny Valencia (above) at third for the Twins.

Jeff Bagwell cards binge

I started collecting Jeff Bagwell cards even before I moved to Houston so I've got a bunch of them already.  I recently won an eBay auction for 59 Jeff Bagwell cards for about $10. I only needed 20 of them, but most of those 20 are pretty good cards. This brings my Bagwell collection to 493 cards. Here's a sample.

These cards are from the early to mid 2000s. I think anyone of these cards is better than almost anything cards out today.

1999 SP Authentic #39

Full bleed photography with silver foil on the front. The backgrounds are a bit sepia tinted. With all that white space on the back, they put the card number at the upper left hand of the photo. Almost impossible to read.

2000 Bowman's Best #99

I had exactly 2 cards from this set. This card is a subset which I didn't have so it goes in the Reference Card Album.

2000 Topps Gold Label Class 3 #60

This was a high-end set from 2000. The base set was called Class 1. Class 2 and 3 cards were parallels with different surface treatments. Class 3 was the rarer and featured a deep gloss with a refractive edge. I had some Class 1s, one Class 2 but this is my first Class 3. Another one for the Reference Card Album.

2001 Upper Deck Ovation #28

Another pricy set. Ovation ran for a few years. The cards are of heavy stock with baseball seams embossed on the front of the card. This is only the second card from this set I have.

2003 Donruss Elite #113

Yet another set I didn't buy any of because the card packs were so expensive. Elite has a shiny mirror finish that never scans well. The only other card I have from this set is fellow Astro Roy Oswalt.

2003 Topps 205 #214

2003 Topps 205 is one of my favorite sets of the decade. I had bought 3 hobby boxes of this, 2 of Series 1 and 1 of Series 2. There are three Bagwell cards in this set. Two of them are card #204 which has a variation. I had both of them but not this one.

2003 Topps Chrome #397

I always liked the design and blue borders of 2003 Topps. I don't have many of the Chrome cards however. I actually don't have the base Bagwell card from the set.

2003 Upper Deck Play Ball #27

2003-2004 was the start of retro card designs. This was one of the Upper Deck entries based on 1940 Play Ball. Interestingly, 1940 Play Ball was produced by Gum, Inc. which after the war became Bowman, which was eventually bought by Topps. How did Upper Deck get the rights to this design?  Maybe the rights were just up for grabs.

2004 Absolute Memorabilia Retail

Another mirror finish set. I have a few of these but I've never seen the hobby version of this set. According to beckett.com, the hobby cards have a limited run and are presumably serial numbered.