A Set That Moved

 I don't collect this at all, but what I had before moved pretty quickly...

2007 Topps football is a set I saw a bunch of in one of my earlier lot purchases - I think I ended up with about 300-400 cards from the set which has been reduced to less than 50 by way of trades. I have no idea what I really got in exchange, but obviously would have been for cards in my collection, so that is a solid turn around. Due to that, I am not too upset about getting 125 cards from the set here today.

Given the cards will move and we have some of the solid cards here including a bunch of the subset cards, that's good. Not too many have dupes in the 125, but there are a few.

Topps used this design across sports, so it is familiar, and the backs are set the same too.

As I said before with this set, like Magic cards, the black border can look nice, but knicks up very easily so condition can be an issue. Anyway, a decent set, so if anyone does collect and wants a start, let me know, or as always, check out my for trade cards at TCDB.

A Pack Out of 1986

 It's like opening a pack of 1986 Topps today with the cards we pull from the COVID lot, so let's see if there's anything worth keeping since I am pretty far along on completing the set.

Given I am over 90% of the way there on the set, happily surprised to get two needs knocked off the set - both Mets above.

Personal favourite card from the bunch though is Alfredo Griffin. One of those guys who always seemed to be enjoying playing the game, and always wore a smile. Although his longer, more productive run with the Blue Jays was his first from 1979 through 1985, it's his return trip to T.O. as a support player in 1992 and 1993 that I remember as a kid. Great that he was able to come back and be a part of the World Series wins given his first tenure ended with the disappointment of the 1985 playoffs and the loss to the Royals in the ALCS.

Pepsi Help

 Like yesterday's McDonalds cards with the obvious food tie in, today we get some drink tie in. Back in 1992, Diet Pepsi had a nice little set together with 30 cards, and though I have a few, I don't have too many, so happy to add a few more today.

As expected, you get the branding on the front and with some decent photos (Ozzie's being the best here), the backs could be a bit better. I like the stats, but instead of the fake signature, a little write up would have worked. At least you get a different pic on the back instead of reusing the front.

The real question is - do you prefer Pepsi, Coke, or does it not matter? For cards, I like these Pepsi ones, but in drinks - a slight preference for Coke, though I'd settle for Pepsi if there's no Coke to be had.

Adding Another Complete Set

 Sure, this is one I have 5-6 complete sets of already, but I am more than happy to collect added copies of the cards alone, let alone another set.

These are the 1992 Donruss McDonalds MVP insert Blue Jays Gold set. 6 of the key cogs from the World Series champs is absolutely a great little set - which is why I have a handful of them already.

A solid design for a McDonald's card, and a small enough set that you could get them back in the day from pack pulls, but even more, able to get them now fairly easily too.

Roberto has obviously lost a lot of his luster with more recent (well, since his Hall of Fame induction) allegations/behaviour, but Joe Carter remains a Toronto great, and Jack Morris may always be more of a Detrot Tiger given his long tenure there, but did well enough and played a pivotal role in 1992 for the Jays, that I still think of him more as a Jay.

Piazza PC

 Well, no surprise that if you have a player collection for baseball and you are talking catcher from 1990 on, it would be Mike Piazza.

The catcher of the 90s and into the 2000s, he was a star in Los Angeles, and though a tumultuous departure, he had success subsequently with the Mets as well.

He was offensively talented for the position, and a solid catcher behind the plate as well. If you look at his WAR statistics as a measure, he was slightly above with LA defensively, and then slightly below with his time on the Mets defensively, while offensively, he ended up a career 66 offensive WAR rating.

He wasn't a first year HOF entry as it took 4 years for his votes to grow from below 60% to above the 75% needed, but he did get there.

Card specific - hadn't seen these UltraPro cards with Mike, but apparently they were a limited print - and yes, this was when limited print meant 100,000. The cards were inserted one per box of 9 pocket pages, so it would take a bit to get them. A neat little card and set as you can see.

I will always consider him more so a Dodger as that is where he started, though he did end up spending more seasons, by one, in New York.

Early 90s Doesn't Mean Junk

 Though I will refer to the junk wax years by reference as that is what many refer to it as, I don't consider any of the sets "junk". Sure, they were overproduced, so everyone and their mother, sister and third cousin twice removed, could find them, but many of the cards are still "good". We will see some examples today.

Designs so familiar, we probably don't even need to mention the sets. 1991 Score was the set I first ever had an entire box of. It was fun busting an entire box in an afternoon, sorting and seeing what I had and what was missing. I remember the big ones I liked getting were the Dream Team cards.

I love the 1991 Studio set and happily will knock a few of the bigger names off the set here. Griffey Jr., not surprisingly, is a name very scarce to see in lot purchases as his cards generally hold some value - or get retained in collections as people reduce what they collect. He was such a strong figure - akin to Tiger Woods in the late 90s / early 2000s, or Michael Jordan to basketball, Gretzky / Crosby to hockey.

These are the stars for today though. The 1992 Nabisco set was all Jays and Expos. As much as I already have the Jays but would like to complete the set, and these are all needs, so good way to end!

A chance to end today's post with another TCDB PWE trade, this one with BarnabyCrosby.

The Gold Winner 1992 Topps cards may not be expensive, but the fact that they came random on points redemption, does make them a bit harder to get, so nice to pick a few up here.

The 1993 Fleer Atlantic is a set I hadn't heard of, and I have the only Jays card in the small set. It's basically the Fleer flagship design but with a gold border and background tint on the back as well.

The non-Jay is a 1993 Donruss set build addition.

A nice bunch of Jays mid-90s adds continue the PWE. I wouldn't be surprised if I might see one or two of these come up in the COVID lot, but time will tell on that.

Another PwerPlay Leaf card which randomly adds like yesterdays PWE, one card from this Leaf team set. Funny that the two recent offers happened to include one, but that works for me.

We also get to end with my first 2019-2020 Upper Deck MVP Silver Script cards with the since departed Toronto Kadri.

A great trade, and many thanks!

Not To PC

 To PC or not to PC, for some, that is a question. For me - it's just a no. Doesn't mean I'm not interested in specific players, just not a way to collect that I care for. Today, the lot provides a few cards for a few different players which I expect were player collections for someone at some point, but for me, it's whether I have any set help or error cards that I can pull for myself.

Albert Belle was a really good hitter during his time in the bigs, which lasted 12 years. 1991 was his first full season, and by time he left Cleveland after 1996, he had 5 seasons in a row of 30+ homers and 100+ RBIs. Though he was all of Hall of Fame ballot for 2 appearances, garnering 7.7% the first year before falling off after the next, it's likely the length of his career and having to retire at 34 due to hip problems, that stopped him from getting in. If his numbers held for another 4-5 years, he should have been able to get to 500 career homers which is a decent measure for getting in.

First ballot Hall of Famer who spent his entire career from 1973-1993 with Kansas City, Brett was synonymous with the team. That said, it's the pine tar incident on July 24, 1983 that many remember if picking one moment of his career. I was 3 at the time, so don't remember seeing it then, but the story lasted and highlights shown many times afterwards, that I remember it clearly from those.

A sad story for a great man - Kirby was another first ballot Hall of Famer. He, like George, spent his entire career with one team - the Twins of course, but his career was a shorter 12 years because of a vision problem that saw him lose sight in one eye forcing an early retirement.

Happily, he was inducted 5 years later, but sadly, he passed away at the age of 45. Showing the impact he had on people - his friendship with David Ortiz, who started his career in Minnesota, was enough impact for young Ortiz, that Ortiz wore number 34 in Boston in honour of that impact and friendship.

A solid career which started with the Jays, Fred had a great career that ended up short of the Hall of Fame - his best year being his last when he had about 40% of the votes to get in. Crime Dog was one of the most important trades in Toronto Blue Jay history - meaning, it was getting rid of him in exchange for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter in 1990 which propelled the Jays to their back to back World Series victories. Tony Fernandez went with Fred to San Diego in that trade...but Tony found his way back...twice!

Team bias - I never liked Justice, even with the great name. He was an Atlanta Brave when they were a despised enemy of the Jays in the early 90s. Never did come around on him, and though again, he had a great career, it wasn't quite there to get him into the Hall as he didn't last past his first ballot. He was definitely a highly touted rookie though, and one of the first from my time collecting as a kid that I really remember being a bigger deal.

So, as cool as it is going through this - much help for my collection? Not really - one set card keeper and 3 uncorrected error cards 0 but it's fun to reminisce about the players regardless.

We end today with a PWE trade with first time trade partner on TCDB, davschw13 who sent me a bit of everything.

Wayne, I needed as I have the 1990-91 O Pee Chee set, but wanted another copy for the error binder as it is a UER card. Leafs of course, being Leafs for the Toronto collection, and yes, I even received a Montreal card as I wind down on my needs for the 2000-2001 Mc Donald's set.

I had not heard of Compendium and had not seen any of these 2016-17 cards before receiving my first 3 here. The design is different, but I kind of like it. The silver scrip MVP is pretty nice too.

A great bunch of hockey cards, and nice little trade which I receive with many thanks!

In The Year 1994

 Another smaller group of cards, again all baseball, and here all about the 1994 year.

Bo Jackson as a California Angels player - yeah, not one that I remember really at all. He only played about 75 games with them in 1994, and that was the end of his MLB career. Of course he was always a Royal, though also spending time with the White Sox before the end with Cali.

Some prospect cards coming out too, including Trot Nixon who spent most of his career with Boston, but kept in the majors into the late 00s. He wasn't near Hall of Fame quality, but was a servicable hand for the team.

We also pick up a few Expos which will be short lived in my presence - well, might take a while to leave, but already have another home they are destined to make it to.

Not Too Puzzling

Interesting that the Jays decided over the All-Star break that they wanted to be a football team with their run output last night against the Red Sox. I doubt it's going to last, but great to see them have a fun game where everything went their way. Today's cards have nothing to do with blowouts, but they are baseball at least.

 I like the Donruss puzzles of the late 80s and early 90s. One I don't have complete is the 1992 Rod Carew puzzle.

Unfortunately I do have this puzzle piece, so no help there, or on the Walt card either. I am also slow collecting the 1996 Collector's Choice set which makes up the rest of today's cards, so some success with those.

Six keepers in that set, which is good, and I really like the Ozzie Checklist card. The background and colour combo may leave something to be desired, but a picture of Ozzie jumping to turn a double play is so classic for the man, that it does very well for the card.

You also get the award subset appearance of Maddux which is pretty nice as well.

I have to say, so far I am liking the split on the cards in this lot as the majority have been baseball and hockey, which are the ones I collect. If I can keep around 20% keepers overall, that would be more than enough to keep me happy!

Heroes In A Half Shell

We get some more late 80s / early 90s nostalgia with some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from O Pee Chee. 

I loved the cartoon and remember watching it many Saturday mornings. The movie was good, the video game was a bit frustrating (the first one), but the TV show was awesome. The cards above are in great condition - and honestly, went out in a trade as soon as I posted them on TCDB, so don't even have most of them anymore. Unfortunately, some of the cards for whatever reason were written on as you can see the backs below - so those will just be packing material instead...

Yeah, some tape damage too. The backs are nice though when considering TV show backs, the colours in all, are very reflective of the turtles and the show.

I still love the fact that Uncle Phil (James Avery) did the voice of Shredder for the cartoon - at least early on.

Unusual Ads

 As a card collector, the quirky and unusual always interest me. "Cards" like the following - which I had to scan twice to get the full open length are interesting (though I guess I could have taken a picture instead, but I always prefer scanning, but didn't want to break these apart).

2 intact sheets of baseball tattoos which were released by O Pee Chee. There are 24 sheets in total, but as it would work out, both of these have Blue Jays on them as you can see. So - the sheets being in tact, will make it into the Jays binder.

I do not remember these at all as a kid, and this is the first I can remember seeing them. No idea how well they work, or how they were distributed, but I picture them as vending machine purchases.

* Quick internet research *

Hmmm...apparently they were sold in "packs" with one sheet in each with a stick of gum. Now I know!

Keeping with the card unusual...

I always have a soft spot for these "inserts". Advert cards are a great little historical snap shot. In times like today with inflation on the rise, I always find it interesting looking at the old prices on mail in offers - kind of like how grandparents remind us of going to the store with a nickel and coming out with a bunch of penny candy - man prices continue to change.

I actually need the Yount Bowman card because...apparently there are variations with a difference between one and two asterisk marks on the back...lol...things are getting a little detailed in collecting these days, but also it begs the question - why did these cards have such minute differences in the first place?

A Bit of Each

 Pulling cards from this COVID lot has usually meant some kind of theme - same player, set, etc, but today, it's like a pack of assorted sports cards, which still works out just fine.

I really like that 1998 Sports Illustrated Then & Now set. I didn't know it existed until I got a fair number of the cards from a previous lot, but getting more here will be an awesome help too. Add to the fact it's Canadian-born Fergie, and that's like icing on the cake! May just be the one today, but it was a need, and brings me to 89/150 for the base set.

As for the 2001-02 Upper Deck Vintage, similar story - had a bunch in prior lots, and glad to see more needs knocked off here as I needed them all, though maybe not two copies of Sanderson.

Well, I said it was a bit of each, and that would mean the other big sports too. Sets I've seen with 1996-97 Upper Deck basketball and 1992 Pro Set football. My only comment for these cards is, I have no idea why the photo for Pickens was cropped the way it was with so much air space above him, but cutting off his legs at the same time.

Still a very solid "pack" of cards today.