1988 Pacific Eight Men Out trading cards

The second pack of this mini theme comes from 1988 and features pictures from the baseball movie 'Eight Men Out'. 

The movie is about the infamous 1919 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox (forever dubbed the 'Black Sox'). 

The cards are notable for a few reasons. The set has the only MLB licenced 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson card and also features cards of the actors, Charlie Sheen ( Major League), John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd ( Back to the Future) and for Walking Dead fans Michael Rooker.

I don't want to get in to some war about the best baseball movie, however 'Eight Men Out' stands very close to the top. Which makes me wonder why there hasn't been any other sets featuring baseball movies, besides this set and the recent Major League inserts. I would seriously consider a set based on 'The Natural' in the 1939 or 1940 Playball design.  

This Eight Men Out set has 110 cards showing pictures of the actors in the movie and actual pictures of the 1919 Reds and White Sox players. 

Each pack contains 10 cards and comes wrapped in a lovely wax wrapper shown above.  

The pack:

#8 Eddie Collins (Bill Irwin)

#9 Chick Gandil (Michael Rooker)

#20 Joe Jackson (D.B.Sweeney)

#50 Ray Schalk (Gordon Clapp)

#53 Chicago Stickball

#74 Not Guilty

#77 Who's Joe Jackson (D.B Sweeney)

#86 Bill Rariden Reds 

#97 Dickie Kerr White Sox

#102 Kid Gleason White Sox Mng

Just for the record-
1.The Natural
2. Major League 
3. For the Love of the Game
4. Eight Men Out
5. 42
6. Field of Dreams
7. A League of Their Own
8. Fever Pitch 
9. Bang the Drum Slowly 
10. Bull Durham
11. Moneyball
12. 61*
13. Million Dollar Arm 
14. Ken Burns Baseball documentary

1991 Conlon Collection

Three unusual /oddball sets to follow. 

 Firstly 1991 Conlon Collection featuring classic photographs from American photographer Charles Conlon. His collection of black and white portraits of thousands of players was turned into cards sets from 1991 to 1995 by Megacards in conjunction with The Sporting News. 

The set consists of 330 cards released in 3 printings. 

The first two printings, whilst missing the MLB logo also differ slightly in design. The picture remains the same but the top right banner reads Hall of Fame in the first printing, and HOF plus induction year in the second printing. Almost identical to the 2nd printing, the 3rd printing displays the MLB logo. The 3rd printing is the most commonly found. There are also subsets in the 1991 collection which includes Hall Of Fame (1-67), 1927 Yankees (100-125), 75 Years Ago World Champs (135-150), 75 Years Ago League Leader (151-164), Great Stories (165-176), Unassisted Triple Play (200-208), Trivia (225-229), All Time Leader (250-277), Most Valuable Player (300-317), and a Charles Martin Conlon Special Card (327). 

The pack contains 18 cards. This pack is the most common 3rd printing. 

The Pack: 

Moe Berg WW2 Spy

#11 Frankie Firsch HOF-1947 

#31 Earl Averill Indians HOF-1975 

#48 Ray Schalk White Sox HOF-1955 

#65 John McGraw Giants HOF- 1937 

#99 Fritz Ostermueller Red Sox 

#116 Charley O’Leary Yankees 

#133 Bill Dietrich White Sox 

#150 Carl Mays Red Sox 

#167 Paul Waner Pirates 

#184 Moe Berg Red Sox 

#201 George H. Burns Red Sox 

#218 Riggs Stephenson Cubs 

#235 Ivey Wingo Reds 

#252 Rube Marquard Giants 

#269 Spud Davis Cardinals 

#292 George Grantham Reds 

#294 Shanty Hogan Braves 

#320 Roy Spencer Indians

An interesting fact about Moe Berg, according to the back of his Conlon card- Moe was a language and mathematical expert. He also became a top WW2 spy, who gathered atomic information from German scientists. Add to this 12 seasons in baseball, what a wide and varied life he had. 

2015 Donruss Baseball Jumbo Pack

I purchased this 'Value pack' from a fellow collector in the UK, mainly out of curiosity. I think we should support Panini in their attempt to give collectors a choice over Topps. The baseball monopoly has allowed Topps to produce some half-hearted products in the past.

Panini has tried extremely hard with sets like Americas Pastime, Cooperstown, Golden Age, Prizm and even ultra expensive National Treasures. They appear to be thinking carefully about the collector.

I even liked the short lived Triple Play, although aimed at children, it was a refreshing take on card design.

That being said, Donruss cards from the 1980’s are not of the greatest design. The inserts; Studio, The Rookies and Donruss Preferred are by far the best in this set. I suppose we should be thankful they didn’t rehash '88 or '89 Donruss. 

There are a number of Red Sox base cards and inserts available:

Base
#59 David Ortiz
#60 Dustin Pedroia

#62 Xander Bogaerts

#151 Pablo Sandoval
#190 Wade Boggs
Inaugural 1981 Edition
#213 Dustin Pedroia
#220 David Ortiz

Rated Rookies                                       
#31 Rusney Castillo

All-Time Diamond Kings

#18 Wade Boggs
#20 Carl Yastrzemski

The Rookies

#1 Rusney Castillo

#6 Anthony Ranaudo

There are 30 Pro baseball Trading cards in the Value Pack.

The pack:

#40 Brandon Finnegan Kansas City RR

#60 Dustin Pedroia Boston

  

#65 Starlin Castro Chicago
#71 Joey Votto Cincinnati
#78 Corey Kluber Cleveland
#86 Justin Verlander Detroit
#95 Eric Hosmer Kansas City
#104 Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles
#117 Francisco Rodriguez Milwaukee
#127 Matt Harvey New York
#130 David Robertson Chicago
#135 Ryan Howard Philadelphia
#139 Gregory Polanco Pittsburgh
#142 Starling Marte Pittsburgh
#144 Gerrit Cole Pittsburgh
#145 Seth Smith Seattle
#155 Mike Zunino Seattle
#164 Evan Longoria Tampa Bay
#169 Yu Darvish Texas
#174 Melky Cabrera Toronto
#187 Kirby Puckett Minnesota
#190 Wade Boggs Boston
#214 Felix Hernandez Seattle 

Inserts
#7 Joe Altuve Houston Studio
#10 Dalton Pompey Toronto The Rookies
#15 Brandon Finnegan  Kansas City Donruss Preferred
#17 Taylor Ward  Collegiate National Team
#29 Mark McGwire St. Louis All-time Diamond King
#33 Yasmany Tomas Cuba Elite

So a couple of Red Sox. I'll take a Wade Boggs card any day. 
There is a number of  'hidden' variations in this set, which I didn't mention earlier. But there was none in this value pack.

2007 Fleer Ultra baseball

A 200 card base set, really top quality photography, high quality card stock  and a tonne of Rookie cards didn't save Ultra. Fleer bought Ultra to a halt after 2007. 
Some blame a selling device called 'Hobby Only' or as it was really called Fleer Ultra SE. While packs of Ultra, the retail version, sold for around $3.00, the Hobby only SE packs were priced considerably higher. Yes SE packs guaranteed an auto or game used, rookie cards, 'gold medallion' cards and  an insert. The concept didn't overwhelm collectors and it stopped, well in Ultra's case anyway.
This pack is not SE, just standard, run of the mill Ultra.
The pack contains 5 cards but is very thick for 5 cards.

The Pack:
#39 Tadahito Iguchi White Sox
#88 Jered Weaver Angels
#143 Zach Duke Pirates
#155 Brian Giles Padres
#UIM-22 Cal Ripken Jnr  Orioles
A big thick lump of cardboard

No great shakes but nice looking cards. 

2011 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects baseball 'Value Pack'

Yes this is one of those packs. There could be a Mike Trout Rookie card tucked within the pack. A highly sort after card. 

Let's not forget Dylan Bundy and a young fellow by the name of Bryce Harper. Their cards are all possibilities in this set. That is the beauty of Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects. 

There are also a number of Red Sox prospects available in the set.

Matt Barnes,  
Kyle Weiland, 
Blake Swihart, 
Ryan Lavarnway, 
Henry Owens,  
Tommy Hottovy and 
Jose Iglesias.


The 'Value Pack'  contains 12 cards, which includes 3 Bowman Chrome cards.

The pack:
#26 Brandon Laird Yankees
#34 Logan Forsythe Padres
#40 Dee Gordon Dodgers
#77 Matt Young Braves
#BDPP11 Mike Wright Nationals
#BDPP14 Archie Bradley D-backs
#BDPP14 Archie Bradley D-backs gold border 
#BDPP63 Brandon Nimmo Mets
#BDPP69 Jace Peterson Padres
Chrome
#13 Mark Hamburger Rangers
#BDPP74 Kyle Kubitza Braves
#BDPP36 Larry Greene Phillies refractor


Unfortunately no 'mega' hits but a fairly good cross section of future greats!
No bloody Red Sox either.   

2013 Panini Cooperstown baseball trading cards

There is only one reason I obtained some of these Cooperstown packs and one reason only- Colgan's Chip disks/disc*! 

*"Disk or disc? Disc, being short for discus, refers to anything round. However there is no consensus on the difference between disc and disk and in many contexts the two are used interchangeably. Disk is the standard spelling for computer-related terms such as hard disk and floppy disk. Disc is the standard spelling for phonograph records, albums, and components of plows and brake systems. It would appear that disk is more popular in the US and disc the preferred spelling in the UK. "  

Possibly not as exciting as some of the other inserts such as Lumberjacks, which may slightly change my first sentence to... 'there are only two reasons...' I am not a fan of the base cards, although the subjects are interesting a find the design a little off putting. 

The 165 disc (disk) set features players from both the modern and vintage era of baseball and lets face it anything card related that is round is oddball enough for anyone to want to collect a sample. So why not the whole set! 
Follow my progress collecting the disc here.

I have a retail box of the 2013 Copperstown, which contains 24 packs. There are 6 cards per pack including a Colgan's disc (disk).

Pack 1:
#12 John Baker Philadelphia
#21 Tony Lazzeri New York
#62 Casey Stengel New York gold 272/299
#69 Red Schoendienst St Louis
#78 Brooks Robinson Baltimore
Disc 93 Hoyt Wilhelm Chicago

Pack 2:
#45 Billy Southworth St. Louis
#52 Hal Newhouser Detroit
#94 Jim Palmer Baltimore
#9 Historic Ticket October 9, 1931
#10 Museum Piece Buck Leonard's spikes
Disc 61 Harry Hooper Boston

Pack 3:
#16 Carlton Fisk Induction
#27 Paul Waner Pittsburgh
#43 Bobby Doer Boston
#70 Jim Bunning Philadelphia
#85 Joe Morgan Cincinnati
Disc 87 Rick Ferrell Boston

Pack 4:
#2  Museum Piece Bob Feller first no-hitter
#8 Joe Tinker Chicago
#17 Satchel Paige Kansas City Monarchs
#66 Billy Williams Chicago
#74 Luis Aparicio Chicago
Disc 125 Orlando Cepeda San Francisco

Pack 5:
#9 Andre Dawson Induction
#35 Joe Medwick St. Louis
#50 Luke Appling Chicago
#59 Phil Rizzuto New York
#92 Reggie Jackson Oakland
Disc 11 Charles Radbourn Cincinnati

Pack 6:
#1 Luis Aparicio Venezuela International Play
#3 Tris Speaker Cleveland
#61 Nellie Fox Chicago
#76 Willie McCovey San Francisco
#93 Burleigh Grimes Pittsburgh
Disc 110 Hal Newhouser Detroit

6 packs down, 6 discs. Only 130 to go!

2008 Upper Deck First Edition UPDATE baseball

Wow what a long convoluted name for a baseball set. There are still three cards that I still need to complete this set, although none will be in this pack as cards numbered 301-500 are available in update:

 #183 Tim Wakefield, 

#190 Manny Ramirez , 

#259 Clay Buchholz

There are 10 cards per pack, 1 of these should be a Starquest card (and possibly a Yankee Stadium legacy)

The pack:

#313 Melvin Mora Orioles

#322 Sean Casey Boston Red Sox

#334 Orlando Cabrera White Sox

#368 Miguel Tejada Astros

#424 Alex Rodriguez Yankees

#442 Zach Duke Pirates

#469 Brad Wilkerson Blue Jays

#478 Carl Crawford Bay Rays

#496 Odalis Perez Nationals

#SQ-43 Derrek Lee Cubs