Blaster Break 2015 Topps Stadium Club

Some highlights from a recent Blaster purchase of 2015T Stadium Club. I think I may have picked up a single loosey as well, can't remember.

The Sole Phillie in the 40 card bounty was or retired centerfielder - convicted criminal Lenny Dykstra.

As with most Stadium Club cards we have a nice shot - full bleed. The TSC design is minimal - showing of the photo more, but unremarkable. Dykstra is bundled up here, wonder if this is from a road opener somewhere. I am a fan of the Liberty Bell flair whenever it shows up on Phillies attire on a card - you can see it here on Dykstra's turtleneck.

Blaster All-Stars

I like to post Breaks in the form of an all-star team of the cards drawn. Sometimes it is the best players, but often it is the most interesting photo or card design/shot combo

Battery

David Cone
Tim Hudson
Hisashi Iwakuma
Ivan Rodriguez

I think we were pitching light which is how Iwakuma got the nod, but the rest of these shots are great.  I may return to the Cone card as part of our Year of the No-Hitter Series. The Pudge card needs to rank among the best in the set - I want this shot on a Carlos Ruiz card.


Infield

Chipper Jones
Orlado Cepeda
Hanley Ramirez
Bip Roberts

I like the Ramirez card as it is a nice nod to both his changing teams and changing positions. It is a card that pays off on the viewers baseball knowledge. Note I moved Hanley back to Shortstop for this posting as the position was left vacant by our 40 card blaster.

Including a handful of Black n White hots is a nice touch in the set. The entirety of Orlando Cepeda's career was probably in the color photography era, but it is nice to see the B/W shot here.



 Outfield

Bo Jackson
Joe DiMaggio
Deion Sanders
Dusty Baker

Lots of stuff going on here, The Bo Jackson card gives us an interesting candid shot -
Something that is hard to capture. I typically dislike any shot from behind the player but the Deion Sanders card is ok, there is action and it is with one of the premier basestealers of the era. Dusty Baker is getting a lead from 2nd or 3rd, which you don't see on many cards - also it is hard to pick up but this is a Gold insert.

The Joe DiMaggio B/W is apparently noting his reach 45 games in his hit streak. At the time this tied Wee Willie Keeler for the major league record - this is another card I would like to return to at some point.


The Bench (Inserts)

Ken Griffey/Ken Griffey Jr
Contact Sheet Miguel Cabrera
Luminous Trumvirate Starling Marte

The Griffeys card is a fun one, will probably see this one a lot in the next year especially come Father's day. Here I have presented the base and Gold for side/side comparison.

The two bottom cards are inserts that I don't understand.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac
Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Orlando Cepeda HoF Index
Joe DiMaggio HoF Index
Ivan Rodriguez HoF Index

Box Break: Panini 2013 USA Baseball Champions

This is box #2 of the Team Phungo Annual Black Friday Binge of cheap stuff from Dave & Adams Card World.

2013 USA Baseball #34 Mike Schmidt

I have a minor collection of USA baseball cards. There is typically an interesting selection of players early in their careers. The set has been published by Panini, UD and Topps in different years and  each has flavored the set with different inserts.

Panini has done a good job of putting together a nice looking base set for 2013. The base cards includes several players that have MLB connections. Mike Schmidt above was a coach for Team USA in 2009.

2013 USA Baseball #34 Mike Schmidt

The flip side of the card doesn't really get into much detail regarding Schmidt's role with Team USA.

The handful of other subjects in the set with Phillies Connections include Pat Burrell, Terry Francona, and Davey Johnson. Hall of Famers on the checker include Ozzie Smith, Frank Robinson, Barry Larkin and Frank Thomas. There are also a handful of cards of players either awaiting the call or in HoF limbo including  Mussina, Chipper, Junior, Nomar, McGwire, and Clemens.


Highlights

2013 USA Baseball 2012 National Team Signature #54 Parker Kelly. 

The autograph hit for this box was the above card of Parker Kelly. There are a couple of baseball players with the name but I am pretty sure that this card is of this Parker Kelly. Apparently he has committed to play for University of Oregon in 2015, His brother is Carson Kelly who is in the Cardinals organization - a 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft.
 

There are several parallels of autos in this set, This is from the Red Series which is serialed to /49.

2013 USA Baseball #143 Carlos Rodon (#d/25) 

2013 USA Baseball #143 Carlos Rodon (b-side)

The autograph cards are variations on the 2012 National Team Subset Cards that run from #126-#187. In addition to the autographs there are a number of other parallel versions. Above we have the A and B-sides of Carlos Rodon. The Southpaw was the 3rd overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Chicago White Sox.

Panini 2013 USA Baseball Jersey 
#39 Adam Plutko
#59 Hunter Morris
#38 Colton Plaia

Each retail box contains 3 relic cards, didn't do a lot of research on these, Plutko is in the Indians organization.

Pride Insert Cards
#21 Mark McGwire
#14 Michael Choice
#5 Gerrit Cole
#19 Chipper Jones

I am guessing these are the vanilla version of a card design that is used for patches and/or relics. I find the card to be attractive, however the 25 card checklist (numbered to 26, skipping 23) is just large enough to be larger than I would want to build. For me personally another drawback to the insert set is a lack of Phillies cards. 

I close the pix portion of this post with additional parallels cards from the National Teams Series portion of the checker. a couple of the above cards are serial numbered. The first two cards on the bottom row are advertisements.


The Vitals
1 Retail Box of 2013 USA Baseball Champions $13

Base 117/123 (95%)
Duplicates - more than 2 dozen

Yes, a single 24x7 (168 cards) box of cards failed to yield a complete 123 card base set.

Want List - 6
#20 Ben McDonald
#58 Robert Refsnyder
#62 Austin Maddox
#77 Blake Swihart
#100 Bubba Starling
#107 N/A
#113 Nolan Fontana
#124 N/A

Hits
Autograph - Parker Kelly
3 Relics - #38 Plaia, #39 Plutko, #58 Hunter Morris

Sources & Links
Phungo Mike Schmdit HoF Index

Cardboard Connection
Perfect Game

Snapshots 2012 08 08 Braves @ Phillies

Couple of snapshots from Phillies 12-6 loss to the Braves on Wednesday night.  Not many Highlights for a Phils fan to talk about so straight to the photographic evidence ->  

Dominic Brown

The recent callup and one time prospect was in the starting lineup. Brown doubled in the Phils big 5th inning. 

Tim Hudson First Pitch

I know this is blurry, but it was Tim Hudson's first pitch which Jimmy Rolllins knocked out.  Maybe a pitching guru can find a flaw in the mechanics there.

 Chipper Jones

Last night was probably the last time I will ever see Jones play.  In the final 2 ABs I got to see Chipper -0 wait for it.........Get intentionally walked.  Down 12-6 in the 8th I considered booing the decision and probably should have. 

Nate Schierholtz 

Another new Phillies player.  Might be the last time I feature him, don't want to be bothered with having to learn how to spell his name.

Michael Bourn

Now this is a name I would like to spell a lot.  Phils will likely be looking for a Centerfielder for 2013, Bourn is one guy I would love to see re-acquire.  Since I posted what Hudson looked like when he gave up a dinger, well I only thought it appropriate to post a phot of Michael Bourn looked like on the pitch when he homered.

etc

As noted above not many highlights for Phils fans. 
- Kyle Kendrick was putrid in the 2nd.  Through roughly 50 pitches - that is not an exagerration.      
- Despite tying the game in the 5th, never felt like Phils could sustain the comeback, due to the differential of talent in the bullpens.
- Dodger acquisition Josh Lindblom had a rough night.
- Utley had to run out a couple of balls - doesn't appear to be having trouble getting around.
- Erik Kratz didn't look real solid behind the plate - lots of dropped balls and foul tips.  I think Ruiz make the play at the plate in the 2nd. 
- Kratz is twice as big as Michael Bourn
- Even when the Phils lose, there is nothing like seeing Ryan Howard hit one of his epic home runs.
- I give the CBP Tacos a thumbs up.  Not gourmet or anything like that, but they are good for a light snack on a hot night.  I think they went for $4.75 each.

Swag from O No!!!, Another Orioles Blog

I desperately need to get caught up on trade posts, and will try and knock out a bunch of them in the next couple o weeks.  This unfortunately means that I will likely not dedicate the time and effort to them that they deserve.

Today we are looking at some cards I received way back in April from Ryan over at O No!!! Another Orioles Blog

2008 Topps Update #UH241 Chase Utley

2011 Topps Heritage #77 Chase Utley

Chase took ground balls during BP today for the Phillies.  We are past the quarter pole in the 2012 season and the Phils haven't seen either Utley nor Ryan Howard.  Hope we hear from the soon. 

The two cards above are just a pair of the many cards that Ryan sent over.  He knocked out several cards off my Phillies checkers,  and another pile of cards from the 2011 Heritage set.    

2003 Topps 572 Todd Pratt

1996 Topps 128 Curt Schilling

  Big Old Stack of 2011 Topps Heritage 

The 2011 Topps Heritage is a set that I am buiding by default, partially in the name of journalistic research delving into potential hot-boxes in last years set.  FYI I did not get a hot box.

For a look at my 2011 Topps Heritage Want List Click Here

My Phils Topps 1980s Collection Want List is Here. 

For access to all my want lists click here 

Phungo 5 With Cardboard Junkie

Today less is more and we have a special Phungo 4 edition of P5 with Braves authority Cardboard Junkie.  This may be hard for some readers to believe but DayF went into an extended rant on Q5 and I felt it warranted a separate posting.  Today we will handle the first Four Qs.

1) Do you have a date on your calendar when you intend to catch one
last Braves game with Chipper Jones?> I don't have a specific date picked out yet, but I have already paid
> for two vouchers for games, I got four tickets for a game from my
> uncle for Christmas and my father in law wants to go to a game. I
> should have plenty of chances to see Chipper as long as his knee
> cooperates. I am seriously thinking about going on August 16th, which
> is Chipper Jones bobble head night.

 2) Which would you rather draw an active or retired player?> I think I prefer drawing retired players. Reference photos for them
> are easy to come by and usually more interesting. Black & White photos
> are easier to sketch as well. I can think of a bunch of old-timers I'd
> like to draw off the top of my head - Yogi, Mossi, Hank, Ruth, Bouton,
> Cookie, Lemmer, Winfield... I often use cards as references and the
> portrait photos from the '80s and earlier are much better than the
> photos today. Today's cards have some great action shots but are lousy
> portraits.

Check this really well done and fun sketch card that was recently posted at Cardboard Junkie

3) The Return of 2012 Topps Archives - Interesting Idea or have we had
enough of RetroTopps?> I've always been a fan of the Archives set and I have either completed
> or gotten over 90% of the previous sets. However, Topps showed off an
> uncut sheet on Twitter a while back (image attached) and there are an
> AWFUL lot of repeat cards from the previous sets. If I collect it at
> all this year I'll probably just buy a complete set, but I do look
> forward to more autographs from retired players. Apparently Dale
> Murphy signed a bunch of cards recently!

4) Which Braves hitter is going to get to the Phillies Pitching in
this series?> Jason Heyward is a beast and Freddie Freeman is on fire right now. The
> guy you should be absolutely terrified of though is Chipper Jones.
> It's his last season, he knows it and he's on a mission. Hurt his
> knee, hits a homer on his first game of the season. Hurt his knee
> again, hit another homer when he came back. 40th birthday? Homer. Last
> game in Dodger stadium? Game winning RBI. If the Braves are somehow
> able to make it to the World Series, he's going to end up walking away
> with the MVP, I'm sure of it.

 

Scorecard

We will hand out a 3 for 3 for today - DayF has really covered his bases on the last question pretty much naming every Brave other than Jerry Royster, we will wait on the seris outcome to see if any of these players get to the Phils this week. 

Looking forward to seeing the Don Mossi Sketch card - I see it being one big ear.  And looking forward to a report on that Bobblehead Night if it falls together.

Looking Back 

Cardboard Junkie 2010

Cardboard Junkie 2009 

2012 Phungo 5 Postings
Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies Room.

Miami Marlins - 30-Year Old Cardboard

New York Mets - Paul's Random Baseball Stuff

Chicago Cubs - Wrigley Wax

Pittsburgh Pirates - Pirates Treasure Room

San Diego Padres - Padrographs

Oakland A's - The Fuji Chronicles

Seattle Mariners - Emeral City Diamond Gems 

Texas Rangers - Play at the Plate

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Best Pull - 3rd Quarter

For the 3rd Quarter of 2010 we have a couple of Hall of Famers a future Hall of Famer and a bunch of non-baseball cards.

July

2010 Allen & Ginter #73 Avery Jenkins

I am a frisbee fanatic so Mr Jenkins makes it into the playoffs.

2010 Allen & Ginter World's Wordsmiths mini # WGWS8 John Milton

Milton was a bit of a literary hero for me and my mates when I was younger and gets a shot in the Pull of the Year playoffs.
 

August

 2010 Allen & Ginter World's Wordsmiths #WGS1 Homer

If you blogging about Baseball you got to love a Writer named Homer.

2010 Topps Peak Performance #PP-60 Mike Schmidt

Phils HOF insert Mojo!

September

2009 Goodwin Champions Mini #112 Robin Roberts


More Phils HOF Insert Mojo.  I always enjoy minis and was very happy to pull this one of HOF Robin Roberts from a Blaster


Other qualifiers from September



2009 Goodwin Champions Black Mini Yogi Berra

 2009 Goodwin Champions Relic Chipper Jones


There you have a very competitive field from the third quarter of 2010.  Please vote in the comments.


A) Avery Jenkins
B) John Milton
C) Homer
D) Mike Schmidt
E) Robin Roberts
F) Yogi Berra
G) Chipper Jones


And Looking back there is still time to vote in the 2nd Quarter and 1st Quarter Best Pull playoffs.

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: JUNK FINALS!!

We are ready for the Junk of the Year 2010 Final.  I would like to thank everyone who has voted in the preliminary rounds, and semi-finals.  Thanks to all of the wonderful Phungo Readers we have two worthy contenders for 2010 Junk of the Year.

2009 UD Piece of History - Historical Moments #177 Microwave Oven Invented


I don't think the Microwave Oven needs any further comment

The other Challenger for 2010 Junk of the Year is this fine example of the lameness of 2008 Topps.

 2008 Topps #500 Chipper Jones

I have a poll set up to the right -->.  Please take your time to vote for Phungo 2010 Junk of the Year.

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Junk - SemiFinal #2

The Micowave won the first SemiFinal.  It is now time to hold the second semi.  This one comes down to Third Quarter Winner, T206 Ryan Howard and the Fourth Quarter champ Chipper Jones.

2010 Topps T-206 #257 Ryan Howard (B-side)


My complaint with this card is the caption on the back refuses to mention Pete Rose.  

This is the A-Side of the Howard Card.  

2008 Topps #500 Chipper Jones


This is a great example of lame photography in 2008 Topps.  I just think superstars should get great photos especially for cards that have hero numbers.

Please help Team Phungo pick the Junk Pull of the year.  For the Semis I have moved the voting to the side bar -->

The winner gets to face the Micowave Oven in the Final.

Cliff Lee back with the Phils??? and 2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Junk - 4th Quarter

Well Mr Lee is our featured Junk player for October 2010 and now there are reports that the Phils have reacquired Cliff Lee via Free Agency.  Awaiting info on how all this is happening.  Phils will either have to bump up payroll or move a big salary.  And the Phils said ti would be a quiet off-season.... 

Now onto the final Quarter Final for 2010 Junk.

The Junk of The Months for October and November are relatively recent, but I will repost them. I No Junk of the month for December yet, I will attach that to 2011, I think.


October

 2010 Topps Chrome #40 Cliff Lee

 Is Cliff Lee featured on more 2010 Cards with the Mariners then he actually pitched for them??


November

2008 Topps #500 Chipper Jones 



I just think a player of Jones' stature should get a better photo then this one.  This looks like something I would take with 4 year old Canon from the back of the lower level at Citizen's Bank Ballpark.  Cmon Topps if your going to give a guy a hero number - honor him like one.

For more info on these two cards click here.

There is still time to vote in the other Quarter Finals 

2010 1st Quarter
2010 2nd Quarter
2010 3rd Quarter

2010 Pull of the Year and Junk of the Year

We are coming up on the end of the Year and if you have been paying attention, I have been nominating different cards for Pull and Junk of the Month - please save the Pulling your Junk jokes for your own blog..

Well now it is time to Pick Pull of the Year and Junk of the Year.

And I would like to enlist the help of Phungo Readers in Picking Pull and Junk for 2010.  I plan on breaking this years picks down by quarters and having a playoff - March Madness style sort of.

But the first order of business is taking card of the last couple of months

October Pull of the Month

2010 Topps Chrome #192 Chris Heisey
Heisey is from back home area and Team Phungo has been keeping an tabs on him.



Honorable Mention

2010 Topps Chrome Orange #7 Mickey Mantle
Parallel Mantle Cards cannot be dismissed - I do dismiss those HR cards though.  .

October Junk of the Month

2010 Topps Chrome #40 Cliff Lee
Nothing against Lee and this is actually a fine card and photo, but well there is no real reason to commemorate his very exciting 13 games with the Mariners.  That and the one time I made a special trip to Baltimore to see Lee shut down the hapless Orioles he got lit up for four dingers.  

November Pull of the Month

2008 Topps #533 Kyle McClellan

More on this later - it should suffice to say there is a reason this isn't a scan but that I was very happy to pull this card.     

November Junk of the Month


  

2008 Topps #500 Chipper Jones 

This is another nothing against the player post - ok not much against Larry except how he always finds away to beat the Phils.   But this is just another example of Topps garbage Photography from 2008 Topps.  They really mailed the pictures in on this one - was this picture taken from the back of a section down the first base line or something. 

Well if you guessed I only opened one pack each of the last 2 months you would be correct.

Be back with Pull n Junk 2010 Playoffs in a little bit.


Past Pull n Junk of the Month entries
2010 September
2010 August
2010 July
2010 June
2010 May
2010 April
2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

2009 UD Goodwin Champions Bargain Blaster

On a recent trip to Target I found a bargain blaster of 2009 UD Goodwin Champions. The blaster was half price ($10.59 w/ tax). I hadn't opened many if any packs of Goodwin last year so I figured I'd give it a shot.

This blaster contains 12 packs of 4 cards each. The Base Set consists 150 cards followed by 40 short prints and then 20 super short prints - and then another set of mini-exclusive cards - I don't know you figure that one out. There are a number of parallels including a set of minis that fall about 1/pack.

The Goodwin set was probably developed to compete w/ Topps Allen & Ginter - and it shows. Lets take a look -

Phillies



Howard - Roberts - Lefty - Nice Selection there - 2 World Champions. 2 Hall of Famers. Good Lookin Cards. All of the Current Phils cards have the World Series Banner which is a nice touch. Some of the cards have a "special" team logo - note the Liberty Bell on the Robin Roberts mini.


HOFs & Minis
The Minis are Tex, CC, Junior, Phil Niekro, and Stinkin Jonathan Toews of the stupid Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

The HOFs Gwynn, Ripken, Ozzie, Teddy Ballgame, and Paul Molitor.

The Niekro photo is a familiar shot that we have seen in UDs other retro product, Goudey - That image was already borrowed from Fleer I think. UD was already mailing it in a year ago.

Griffey is card #1, which is only fitting as he returned to Seattle - the team for which Griffey was on the original UD #1 card back in 1989. As it turned out Goodwin Champions was one of UDs last Baseball products.
One More Mini


A Nice Black Bordered Mini of Yogi Berra. I am assuming that the special back minis have the black borders. This is a pretty sharp looking card of an Iconic player.


Plebians
MJ, Bobby Orr, Peggy Fleming, Dave Scott

Like Allen & Ginter GWChamps contains other Notables who were not blessed with the abilities to play the great game of baseball.

Dave Scott is the original Triathlete or something like that - this card is a Short Print, the picture is different then all the rest of the cards. The cards all have a criss-cross pattern to their Backgrounds. For whatever reason the Scott card is all the painting - or photoshop of the painting anyway. Peggy Fleming looks really evil in this picture.

Base Cards

I decided to show off the base cards by constructing an All-Star team from the blaster.

Battery

McCann, Liriano, Lincecum, Thome

Two of these guys are already in the playoffs, and the other two could also get in. Notice that the McCann card is one of the ones carrying a special logo. I stuck Thome in with the Pitchers and Catchers because it was where I had space to put a DH.

Infield

Pedroia, Jeter, Bill Hall, Morneau

Ok Bill Hall is not an All-Star, but he is a short print so he got the nod as the Blaster 3rd baseman. Both Morneau and Pedroia have won MVP awards, Jeter has not.


Outfield


Manny, Josh Hamilton, Johnny Damon, Ichiro

The Manny Card is pretty cool looking - You can see the storm clouds coming in on the edge of ending his Sunny LA Days. The Ichiro card is also a winner. I am pretty sure that the Hamilton card is straight out of Goudey.

Etc
Card back of Steve Carlton - one issue with GWChamps is the font on the back. It is plain goofy looking. the lower case T's are particularly odd. I do like that UD did go to the trouble of creating a back for these cards. Every other UD product has identical backs - this reduces the personality of a set. The Phils logo here is from the 70s era Phils teams for which Carlton played.

I paired the B-Side here with a 20th anniversary card - if you pick up an UD blaster from 2009 you are bound to find a few of these. This card the Red Wings winning the 2007-08 Stanley Cup. The photo'd player is Henrik Zetterberg I think.

Mojo


Chipper Relic- mojo. Not sure what the M stands for my guess is Memorabilia or Mojo.

Overall I enjoyed the blaster. The half price is key. 4 card packs always seem weak to me. but opening 12 of them with a good mix of oddballs and minis added to the fun. Unfortunately the box was marred by the fact that maybe half of the cards had a dinged upper left corner. Regardless it was still fun to open.

I picked up 36 cards from the 150 card base set (24%). The 7 minis were all unique vs the base cards giving me 43 of 150 (27% of a whacky FrankenSet). So I could consider building a set relatively cheaply.

The 5 cards of 48 from the 12 packs of 4 are - 1&2) the 2 short prints, 3) the Chipper Relic, 4) the 20th aniv card, and 5) 1 card forfeited from the Chipper pack.

I doubt I will go to the trouble of building the set. I will more likely keep about half for various collecting projects - Phils collection, Hall of Famers, Player Collections (Thome n Damon), minis, My WBC collection (Ichiro), and My Plebes Collection.