2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Jumbo pack

Yes I know there are people posting 2010 Topps but I am in a little behind when it comes to 'fresh' product. Thankfully the word is well and truly out that I collect baseball cards - I have been trying hard enough to get it out there. The downside is the giggles and comments of a grown man collecting cards, etc. The upside is that friends of friends who visit the US bring back cards! This fine looking jumbo came from a parent at school, whose sister went to the US for a short break over Christmas. Thought you might like these she said as they were handed over.

I haven't received any of the Red Sox UH cards as of yet, so the good news is any Red Sox will be a welcome addition.

The Jumbo:

#UH2 Felipe Lopez Brewers

#UH51 Jesus Guzman Giants

#UH55 Ben Zorbist Bay Rays

#UH60 Brandon Inge Tigers

#UH86 Carlos Pena Bay Rays

#UH87 Jake Peavy White Sox

#UH88 Classic Combos Leyland/LaRussa

#UH98 Hanley Ramirez Marlins

#UH94 Jarrod Washburn Tigers

#UH101 Nick Green Red Sox

#UH105 Luis Valbuena Indians

#UH107 Anthony Swarzak Twins (x2)

#UH122 Classic Combos Youkilis et al.

#UH124 Delwyn Young Pirates (x2)

#UH128 Chone Figgins Angels

#UH132 Joe Thurston Cardinals

#UH140 Jack Wilson Mariners

#UH144 Ronny Cedeno Pirates

#UH148 Micah Hoffpaur Cubs (x2)

#UH147 Jayson Nix White Sox (x2)

#UH171 Trevor Hoffman Brewers

#UH179 Carl Crawford Bay Rays

#UH181 Zach Duke Pirates

#UH191 Ben Zorbist Bay Rays gold 1579/2009

#UH197 Dan Harden D-backs

#UH224 Takashi Saito Red Sox

#UH262 Jeff Niemann Bay Rays

#UH284 Mark Melancon Yankees

#UH309 Scott Podsednik White Sox

#LGU20 Frank Robinson Reds

#PP8 David Wright Mets

#TTT73 Matt Cain Giants

There is 2 Red Sox cards which isn't a great ratio, technically 3 but one of the cards is a classic combo with Youkilis but mainly pictures Derek Jeter.

This was a Bay Rays pack crossing the line with 5 cards including a gold border numbered card. Unfortunately 4 of the cards were duplicated. This may be common in jumbo packs and I have been lucky, as I haven't experienced this sort of duplication before.

1989 Topps Baseball Yearbook Stickers

In the new year, the Topps Premier League 'Official' sticker collection hit the shelves. A tabloid newspaper called the Mirror gave away 42 of the stickers for free. Six stickers per day for a week and included was a voucher to claim your free album. Although I wasn't able to get all the free stickers, I was able to claim 4 free albums.

I am a big fan of stickers, there are a few full albums(and empty ones) amongst my collection. I like the fact that they are tucked away neatly inside the book. I know that Brian from Waxaholic is a fan of stickers, he is so close to completing last years Premier League set.

So today I present the Topps Baseball stickers from 1989.
The disappointing thing about collecting Premiership stickers is that you discard the back. There has been some attempts at making them usable, quiz questions, trivia and making some sort of mosaic, but lets face it the manufactures have failed to find a way to make them anything but rubbish. They should look no further than the ingenious Topps sticker cards. Sticker on one side and a collectible card the other. Although they are not the photographic quality of the regular Topps cards, it solves the problem of the virtually worthless sticker back.

From this pack I receivedthese cards:

#14 Joe Carter Indians

#20 Dave Winfield Yankees
#42 Vance Law Cubs
#53 Darryl Strawberry Mets
#65 John Franco Reds

And you will have to excuse my ignorance as to who the players on the stickers are.

1990 Upper Deck Baseball

The third card pack from Jonathan in Toronto. The Upper Deck from 1990 is of a superior quality to the Fleer and Donruss helpings. The card stock appears to be similar however the photography is not. They have a glossy feel and holographic logo. The cards were enclosed in a sealed foil pack. The sealed foil pack would hopefully eliminate cherry picking of the best cards and resealing the packs.
There are 15 cards per pack and 1 holographic sticker.
There are still a few cards that I need to complete the Red Sox team set:

#57 Roger Clemens

#133 Marty Barrett

#321 Jody Reed

#343 Ellis Burks

#402 Rich Gedman

#461 Rob Murphy

#484 Dennis Boyd

#610 Mike Smithson

#694 Mike Rochford

#708 Tom Brunansky

#748 Tony Pena

#764 Mickey Pina RC

The pack:

#8 Angels checklist

#75 Bo Jackson Royals

#173 Mark Williamson Orioles

#189 Tom Browning Reds

#251 Bob Welch Athletics

#278 Milt Thompson Cardinals

#359 Mike Bielecki Cubs

#378 Ernie Riles Giants

#415 Mike Aldrete Expos

#440 Juan Berenguer Twins

#467 Todd Worrell Cardinals

#510 Dave Anderson Dodgers

#545 Todd Zeile Cardinals

#671 John Dopson Red Sox
#687 Lance Blankenship Athletics

Braves sticker

Finally a Red Sox but still not one that I needed to add to the collection.

1990 Fleer baseball

I don't have much luck with Fleer 1990. In previous attempts to secure Red Sox I have drawn a blank. Yankees a plenty though. This pack was sent by Jonathan in Toronto, it may be from a vending machine but there is no verification of this.
I still need 8 Red Sox from this set:

#266 Marty Barrett

#267 Mike Boddicker

#270 Rick Cerone

#274 Dwight Evans

#278 Danny Heep

#281 Rob Murphy

#283 Carlos Quintana

#627 Roger Clemens '86

There are 10 cards and a sticker per pack. There is also a possibility of a Sammy Sosa Rookie and the lesser known Ripken (Ripkin) error card.

The pack:

#105 Luis de los Sanos Royals

#112 Charlie Leibrandt Royals

#372 Mike Dyer Twins

#387 Gary Wayne Twins

#428 Luis Quinones Reds

#434 Scott Scudder Reds

#437 Jesse Barfield Yankees

#440 Greg Cadaret Yankees

#442 Bob Green Yankees

#450 Dale Monorcic Yankees

Yankees sticker

The less said about this pack the better. I refuse to believe that this is an un-searched pack. Four Yankees and a Yankees sticker?

1990 Donruss

Here's to the first pack from Jonathan in Toronto, who sent five packs all from the year 1990. I would imagine that everyone has collected the teams sets from this unique product
- orange wrapper, red border. I am guessing that Donruss either produced a hell of a lot of these cards or they are recycled by collectors (unwrapped, cherry picked and then rewrapped) as they are so readily available.
I don't need any of the 27 Red Sox cards from this set. There are 10 cards and 3 puzzle pieces per pack.

The Pack:

#81 Kent Hrbek Twins

#100 Lee Smith Red Sox

#185 Mark McGwire A's

#309 Walt Terrell Yankees

#401 Rene Gonzales Orioles

#441 Mark Grant Padres

#467 Jose Nunez Blue Jays

#564 Domingo Jose A's

#589 Kevin Bass Astros

#666 Ricky Horton Cardinals

puzzle pices 10,11,12

Hmm, pretty much what I expected from this set. In comparison to other cards such as Upper Deck from the same year, these cards appear very flimsy and the photography poor.

1991 Score Series 1

The third instalment of the Big B Junk Wax package. What a pack it is too! You just have to appreciate Scores attempts to join the big boys. They went all out in 1991 and included a host of inserts, or subsets as they like to call them. Rookie Prospects, First Draft Picks, AL All-stars, Master Blasters, K-Men, Riflemen, NL All-stars, No-hitters, Franchise, Award Winners and Dream Team. That is 10 inserts and the card fronts on the rest were one of four different colours. A massive 893 cards issued in two series.

There was also a special American Flag insert card (#737) to honour American soldiers in Desert Storm. If that is not enough for you, there are Chipper Jones, Mike Mussina, Carl Everett and Jeff Conine rookie cards and enough errors to keep the specific collector happy.

There are 16 cards per pack and a magic motion trivia card.

I still need these Red Sox cards:

#245 Tom Brunansky

#348 Phil Plantier RC

#393 Wade Boggs All-star

#655 Roger Clemens

#790 Tony Pena

#831 John Marzano

#859 Reuben Sierra Franchise

The Pack:

#7 Will Clark Giants

#82 Dave Martinez Expos

#98 Bill Landrum Pirates

#102 Jaime Navarro Brewers

#173 Jody Reed Red Sox

#176 Larry Sheets Tigers

#178 Chris Gwynn Dodgers

#179 Melido Perez White Sox

#293 Les Lancaster Cubs

#295 Kurt Stillwell Royals

#298 Glenn Wilson Astros

#300 Ramon Martinez Dodgers

#390 Rondell White Expos Draft Pick

#395 Cecil Fielder Tigers All-Star

#410 Bobby Witt Rangers K-Man

#415 Ken Caminiti Astros Rifleman

#45 Mini magic holo-magic motion thingy

Hey, hey a Red Sox, 4 inserts/subsets and yet still what a beauty of a set.

1991 Donruss Series 2

The second helping of the Junk Wax package from Brian.
There are still 6 cards I need to complete the Red Sox team set:

#234 Luis Rivera,

#367 Tim Naehring,

#430 Mo Vaughn (Rated Rookie),

#553 Mike Greenwell,

#665 Larry Anderson,

#680 Mike Boddicker

Series 2 card were released roughly 3 months after series 1 and started at number 387. There are 15 cards per pack and 3 puzzle pieces.

The Pack:

#724 Jose Vizcaino Dodgers

#727 Bob Welch Athletics AL Cy Young

#728 Gary Ward Tigers

#732 Vicente Palacios Pirates

#734 Howard Farmer Expos

#738 Kelly Downs Giants

#440 Chris Sabo Reds

#743 Dave Rohde Astros

#752 Terry Lee Reds

#757 Gary Wayne Twins

#762 Barry Bonds Pirates NL MVP
#766 Willie Randolph Athletics

#769 Rich Rodriguez Padres
#BC-21 Dave Stieb Highlights

#700 Checklist

puzzle piece 4,5,6

Surely the highlight of the pack, the checklist. I just couldn't bring myself to scan the puzzle pieces.

1989 Topps baseball

Brian from Waxaholic must have a box of these laying about the place. This is the third pack he has sent, immensely appreciated they are too!
There is still only one card that I need to complete the Red Sox team set and that is,

#155 Marty Barrett.

What 1989 goodness will be enclosed?

The Pack:

#52 Bob Brenly Giants

#146 Gary Pettis Tigers

#272 Ron Hassey Athletics

#355 Mark Langston Mariners

#300 Darryl Strawberry Mets

#315 Greg Swindell Indians

#393 Gary Carter Mets

#400 Alan Trammell Tigers

#427 Eric Show Padres

#428 Craig Reynolds Astros

#587 Mike Stanley Rangers

#588 Luis Alicea Cardinals

#660 Will Clark Giants

#786 Melido Perez White Sox

#775 Jeff Reardon Twins

Some soon to be Red Sox but none in the Boston colours. Coincidence or Tom Foolery with the sequential numbered cards?