WOW Factor: A Crazy-Loaded Prize Package from Iron Lion Collectables

I mostly avoid high-end cards. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than five or six bucks for a pack in my whole life and the idea of dropping hundred on a box of fancy-deal product with the hopes of landing something rare and cool just doesn’t do much for me. Of course, plenty of other folks do. And a brand new shop in Colorado Springs (home to more than just Brewers prospects with terribly skewed statistics) carries all kinds of this stuff. THE IRON LION is opening this Saturday, Feb 17. In the run-up to their opening, they have been doing a bunch of give-aways and breaks on their facebook page. Encouraged by the Daily Dimwit, I threw my hat into the give-away ring.

This happened right around the time I was called out of town for all that awful family stuff that has consumed most of the last three weeks. I had planned to watch a facebook break and give-away of some Bowman’s Best stuff, but got distracted and forgot about it. The next day, the Dimwit messaged me on Twitter telling me I had won, saying something like, “WOW!!!!”

Ok, I thought. I checked out the video on facebook when I had a moment, just glancing at it, and saw that I had been picked out of over 100 entrants. So maybe that was the wow? I hate to say that I didn’t care about the prize, but with everything going on, it just wasn’t a priority. It wasn’t until later, when I watched the video, that I understood the wow.

But let’s build up to that!

First off, it was two boxes.. or mini boxes or whatever the hell. A big stack of Bowman’s Best 2016 packs and a few packs of Panini Absolute football.

Some of these base card names I recognize…

And I certainly know Dan Fouts, one of the numbered cards I got. That Josh McCown is out of 25. I am unfamiliar with him, but know enough to be certain that if he is a former Browns QB… as in a QB that the Browns did not want anymore, he must be terrible.

In the Bowman product, the base is split between vets and rookies and prospects.

Here’s ol’ Mike Trout. I must admit, these cards are very sharp. The effects and photos are very well-defined and the foil shimmer adds to the almost 3-D effect.

Here is one of the prospect cards, Mr. Universeandbeyond, Aaron Judge. These use the same basic design as the vets, just with the team logo “slash” thing in the background going in the other direction.

And, of course, there were refractors. Lots of ‘em. I got some decent vets, including Trout, Rizzo, and this Kenta Maeda RC. I also the Scwarber and Aaron Nola RCs fractor-style.

And then some prospect fractos. Number 1 pick Mickey Moniak was probably the top find here.

And then some inserts.

And some more inserts, with one having that “cracked” foil effect. I think that’s what they call a “Superfractor.”

And a blue parallel of Michael Conforto, who had a pretty good season last year with the Mets.

And what I assume is the box’s promised base superfractor Atomic refractor.

And a pair of very cool 1996 Best tribute cards.

Now let’s get to the hits…

T.Y. Hilton patch card, numbered out of 25. He has made four straight Pro Bowls, so that’s not bad. UPDATE: This card has been traded.

Kenny G!!! According to Pro Football Reference, this fellow played for the Lions last year, but also signed a four-year deal with the Titans before the season? Anyway, he seems to have a sense of humor. UPDATE: This card has been traded.

G’s nickname is Babytron, a play (I assume) on Megatron. Laquon Treadwell is nicknamed Megaquon. He was a first round pick in 2016.

David Johnson ball/jersey/helmet(?) card. How do they cram a helmet sliver into a card? Anyway, he was real good in 2016, but missed most of last season.

Bowman’s Best promises four sigs per box. Here is sig one: Padres prospect Anderson Espinoza. (UPDATE: This card has been traded.) Not much I can say about him. This, honestly, is the kind of stuff I would expect from these high-end products. Cards shiny as hell, relics that look bonkers, and autographs of fringe prospects. If this prize package ended here, I’d be perfectly happy with it. But things are about to get crazy. Buckle up, kids.

Here was the big Panini Auto. I recognized the name, but didn’t realize he was the top draft pick last time around and seemed to impress people in his rookie season with the Bears. It’s numbered out of 100.

Nolan Arenado is just 26 and probably the best third baseman in the game. He’s a regular 2-3 win player on defense and has claimed two home run crowns and three Silver Sluggers over the past three years. An absolute stud.

And here is a World Champion stud! Carlos was just 22 years old last year and missed part of the season with an injury, but still hit .315 with 24 homers to lead the Astros to the world title. The sky is the limit for this kid, and I was thrilled to add his signature to my collection.

Back to football… A redemption card! I haven’t been in possession of a redemption card since I pulled a Signature Rookies voucher for a Shawn Respert autograph. This was back when I still followed the Bucks and I was thrilled to pull it. Sadly, Respert didn’t do much in the NBA and had his career cut short by stomach cancer. So will this yield me something better???

Whoa! A Dan Marino etched crystal card? Damn. And a one-per case insert at that. I’ve looked these up online and they look hella-sharp.

So what can top all of this stuff? How can this package get any better? Let’s count it down!

THREE

TWO

ONE…..

BOOM! ANOTHER Correa autograph, the Superfractor variety, numbered 25/25. This was pretty stunning. It’s probably the most valuable modern card I’ve ever owned. It’s the kind of card that makes one of these boxes actually worth the sky-high price tag. This, dear readers, was the WOW. UPDATE: This card has been traded.

And now, I don’t really know what to do. I def want to keep some of the Best cards and the Arenado auto and the first Correa auto. But I am more than willing to spread the other stuff around to those who would appreciate it more than I. I have no interest at all in football cards (save for Bo Jackson) and as long as I have one Correa auto to keep, I’m be glad to swap the fractory version.

So that’s a lot of product up for grabs! I’m not QUITE so generous as to do simple blind trades for the big stuff, but I’d be interested in creative swaps. I don’t want to sell them and I’d prefer to keep things within the blogging circle, as opposed to posting on a trading forum. I am in need of some major Topps baseball rookies for my set-building. Like the ’76 Eck, the ’79 Ozzie, the ’82 Ripken… oh, and that pesky 2011 Trout.

Any suggestions? Any offers? Anyone want to share in the WOW?

Throwin' it Back to the Mid-90s on Black Friday

I hate Black Friday. Only once in my life was I working a retail job on Black Friday… I was in high school and worked at Shopko. I worked at the one-hour photo counter and I remember people running… RUNNING… after the doors were opened to get to the BIG DEAL sale item in the electronics department. It was a VCR marked all the way down to $50. A little part of me died seeing grown people do that. Thankfully, I never had to see anything like that in person again.

So I stay in on the day after Thanksgiving. Except this year. My wife was working and I was bored, so I went to Goodwill. They were, unknown to me, actually having a sale, but it was only marginally more busy than usual. I’ve had pretty good luck find cards at this location but I’d never found anything quite like this. A bunch of mid-90s premium lots – kept in hard plastic boxes. I picked up a few – and a 1990 Score factory set – and was surprised when my total only came to $25. Seems that everything was 25% off. Nifty! This means my 1990 Score set only cost me $3.50. About a tenth of what I paid for it new when I was eight years old.

These purchases came with a bit of mystery. Were these full set? Randos? Did they match the clippings packaged with each box? I ended up being presently surprised. The first one I opened was the 1995 Leak Limited box. It contained a full base set.

These cards are shiny as hell but, I’m sorry to say, I don’t dig them too much. I don’t mind shiny, but the photos are way too straightforward. It is, to me, kind of a blah-looking set. Although it’s one of the few sets I’ve known that actually uses holographic foil for the card numbers. That was the ‘90s… the foil-overload era.

But that was not all in the case. I also found a set of the gold semi-parallel set. These are barely distinguishable from the base set, only with a slightly different tint to the shine. I also found a set of the “Bat Patrol” insert (WOW CREATIVE). These actually might be the best-looking of the bunch so far. 

  

And then I found these four gems…

Now these I dig. This is a wooden-fronted Lumberjacks insert set. They are actually printed on real wood, which makes each card unique in appearance. They are numbered out of 5,000 and were seeded one in every 75 packs – steep odds way back when. I’ve already had claims put in on the Mondesi and the Cecil, and I’m going to keep the Piazza and the McGriff.

Next was the 1995 Upper Deck SP box. This one was missing only the Derek Jeter. The first 30 cards of the set are die-cut.

Yeah! Brett and Nolan bad-ass. And check out this Hideo Nomo rookie card… probably one of the hottest cards of 1995.

I like this set. It’s got some great and clever photography.

 

How often do you see Ozzie Smith booting a grounder?

Or Rod Beck about to beat someone’s ass?

Or Ray Lankford upside down?

But this is probably my favorite card in the set. Pure and beautiful mid-90s baseball.

This one came with some inserts as well. 

The Platinum Power set is missing just one card. Although I really fail to see the appeal in it. That background… blech.

  

I preferred the pair of Special FX cards – another tough pull. I got a Jeff Montgomery and this Piazza. Hold it at an angle and he smiles as you. Creepy!

The last mystery-ish box was labeled “1994 Sportflics Rookie & Traded.” I knew that this one had an A-Rod rookie in it and was sorely disappointed when it turned out to be one card (guess which one?) short. 

Still, this is a fun set. It had lots of Brewers and a few big names. Checking back in my issues of Collector’s Sportslook that I salvaged from the basement recently, I learned that Pinnacle (who owned the Sportflics name) had nearly canceled this set in the wake of the 1994 players’ strike. They ended up giving it a limited release and it was – well into the 1995 season – a very hot item. My June ’95 price book lists the set at $50 with this Matt Williams insert listed at $20.

Oh those wacky ‘90s.

But my favorite get of the day was probably my 1990s Score set. As I mentioned early, I had one of these when I was a kid and flipping through these was a lot of fun. This one here…

… this was well worth the price of the set alone. I’m glad to have one of these back in my collection.

Odd thing about this set is the weird printing mistakes on some of the green-bordered cards.

Too much black ink, I suppose. A metaphor for the card industry in 1990 if there ever was one.

Aside from the Score set, I’m going to pluck through these for some choice players and leave the rest for trades. See something you fancy? Lemme know.

New Trade Partners Wanted!

One of my favorite parts about being involved in the card blogosphere is the TRADING. I've done some swapping on the Blowoutcards forums as well and, while it has been pretty helpful, it's more regimented and less fun and creative than blog swapping. I had a burst of trades when I first got into blogging and it really helped me to make some connections and get hip to some great writing. But since then, things have mellowed a bit. So, I want to make some new connections! Open new doors! Sleep around (metaphorically)! 

If you've got some spare Topps base card laying around, I might need some of them! And if you've got some particular baseball stuff you collect, I can probably dig some of it up. I have just updated my Topps want lists, which can be viewed here. I am trying to build complete sets all the way back to 1974.

But I also have some other stuff that you might be interested in! Digging through some boxes, I found this signed photo of Bob Feller that I have no room on my walls for...

I also have a small collection of political autographs - senators and governors mostly, even a couple of world leaders. I got these all via TTM and am very willing to part with them, since I've come to the conclusion that all politicians are beneath contempt. It's a bi-partisan group (although the GOP replied at a far better rate than Dems for some reason), and I can come up with a grand list if anyone is interested.

I don't want any of this crap anymore. If you're down for it, and maybe have some stuff you're sick of that you think I might dig, let's make a deal! 

2014 Topps Series Two Box Break

I don't have the energy for an intro. On to the haul...

Base Card Notables!

Matt Garza. I know the Brewers are were in first place and everyone is excited panicking. And they do have an exciting team and I think they are going to be a contender sooner than people might think, but this ain't their year. Part of the reason they've gotten off to such a hot start is because Dr. Matt Garza has been pitching like an ace. He will regress and the pitching staff will trouble this team all season long. 

Josh Willingham. 'Ham has actually been out of baseball since 2014. I'll admit though, I had to check to see if he was still around. He has a career OPS+ of 120, which is far better than I would have guessed. Why did I post a card of a guy about whom I am so ignorant? I liked the picture. 

Andrew McCutchen MVP. Cutch has dropped way off since his '12-'15 run of four straight top-3 finishes in the MVP voting. It's a shame. He's an exciting player and seems like a good guy. 

J.A. Happ. Nothing sensational about this card, but I was looking for an excuse to mention that I went on a couple of dates with Happ's cousin. She was nice and all, but we were not a good match. I met her at this real dirt-bag bar in Milwaukee, but she ended up not being a dirt-bag kinda girl. C'est la vie. Our first date was to dinner, where she told me her cousin was a Major Leaguer. I will, somewhat ashamedly, admit that the only reason I asked on a second date was because her cousin was a Major Leaguer. Why she accepted, I have no idea. We went to a movie and never talked to each other again. 

Corey Hart. An unfamiliar uni Brewer! Hart missed the entire '13 season with an injury before catching on the Mariners. He didn't do much there, or in Pittsburgh, where he finished up his career. 

INSERTS!

Let's get the stuff I covered in the series one post out of the way first.

Mutilated Minis. These look even worse than the series ones. Although I did get a Yount and a Braun, which I will put into my Brewers collection. Up for grabs, Tulo (56) and Dom Brown (86)

Future is Now. Wacha (31), Billy Hamilton (36), Xander (41), Walker (44), Jarrod Parker (50), Freeman (52), Gausman (58)

Power Players - Chris Davis, Tex, Josh Hamilton

Red foilies - Prado (349), Reyes (356), Reddick (416), Verlander (450), Corbin (611), Blanks (640)

Gold, #/2014, I got a lot of these for some reason, no Brewers though :( - Ed Jackson (361), Ryan Zimmerman (378), Ed Lucas (387), Gentry (477), Kobernus (443), Morrison (490), Rasmus (571), Josh Hamilton (575), Jenrry "Grounded for Life" Mejia (591), Aliva (633)

 Slate/black/whatever - Addison Reed (551), 8/63

Saberstars - 2014 was the first year that Topps added WAR to the back of the base cards. I like the move and would welcome more advanced stats as well. To celebrate, they put out this pathetic insert set that lists a player's war and discussed it a bit on the back. so, fine, whatever. But can we talk about the design here? Sabermetrics... so, like, computers? Yeah! But what people from 1977 thought computers would look like in the future. Oh, and that dial in which the WAR number is shown? Yeah, that dial does not relate at all to the number. Matt Carpenter has a seven and his goes up to about 9 o'clock. Robby Cano had a six and his runs almost to 11 o'clock. Let's just call this the "BEEP BOOP BEEP" set. Cutch (4), Donaldson (5), Carpenter (6), Cano (7), Miggy (8)

Future Stars that Never Were. 2014 also saw the return of Future Stars. I wasn't wild about its use in the base set (it was a foil stamp, I wanted a big ugly colorful graphic), but this is a really cool idea - to go back and retroactively assign Future Star status to old cards. These are the hella-thick insert of the set, I like the others from this break, I think they are the best-looking inserts in the bunch. I got a Schmidt and an RA Dickey, as well as a gold-bordered Jose Canseco numbered 80/99. 

Buybacks. Two more here, and two pretty decent players as well. Bill Madlock (55) and Ron LeFlore (80), both from 1980. Series 2 uses a bigger 75th Anniversary stamp, which is easier to read and looks nicer than the little ones in series one. Both are up for trade. 

Barf relic. In the FIRST DAMN PACK I found this thing. I dislike closers in general and, even though he's a Brewer now, I have no use for this thing at all. I'd like to do a box break and pull an auto, just once. I'll pulled autos, but never from a box. 

SP. I think this is the only one I got in the bunch. I've reserved time at the local observatory so I can use one of their NASA-grade telescopes to read the tiny code numbers on the back of each card, so I'll know for sure then. The only reason I noticed this one is because it's a series one card that showed up in my series two box. Is that normal? Anyway, it shows him in his Futures Game uni, which makes it rare. Anyone interested?

So, there you have it. My three boxes of fun and fury. Now I gotta find some money for 9-pockets to hold all these beauties. Blood bank, here I come!!!