2013 Topps Opening Day baseball cards

I like Opening Day. It is a fun set and it is inexpensive. I can always pick up a number of packs in the UK, very reasonably priced and less than the expected $1.00 a pack price.
I have always liked the 3D Stars and have collected this great insert for a number of years. The blue bordered parallels numbered to 2013 are nice looking cards as well. In 2013 some interesting additions were included, which made some non- opening day collectors take notice, in particular the surprise picture variations and mascot autographs.

The 2013 Topps Opening Day Baseball base set has 220 cards. This includes 75 players who are not in 2013 Topps Series 1 set. The inserts, which are all 25 card sets, included: Mascots, Superstar Celebration, Opening Day Stars, Play Hard and Ballpark Fun. There are also 10 player autographs and 5 mascot autographs.
The variations can be found in 1 in 617 packs. There are currently 15 identified variations. For a full gallery look here at the superb Cardboard Connection who has images of all the variations.  
I have 6 packs of Opening day, each pack contains 7 cards.
I still need these Red Sox :
#41 Dustin Pedroia 
#42 Jon Lester 
#171 Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Pack 1:
#5 Eric Hosmer Royals
#70 Danny Espinosa Nationals
#97 Matt Cain Giants blue border 0803/2013
#197 Jhonny Peralta Tigers
#153 Andre Ethier Dodgers
#177 Chris Sale White Sox
#BF2 Josh Reddick Athletics

Pack 2:
#40 Carlos Quentin Padres
#86 Brandon League Dodgers
#130 Chase Headley Padres
#183 Fernando Rodney Bay Rays
#185 Curtis Granderson Yankees
#198 Ryan Howard Phillies
#M10 Swinging Friar 

Pack 3:
#22 Felix Hernandez Mariners
#46 Zack Greinke Dodgers
#112 Chase Utley Phillies
#121 Nick Markakis Orioles
#146 Alex Cobb Bay Rays
#155 Brandon Crawford Giants
#SC20 Prince Fielder

Pack 4:

#59 Matt Harvey Mats

#79 Tyler Colvin Rockies

#115 B.J.Upton Braves blue border 1192/2013

#119 Angel Pagan Giants

#126 Todd Frazier Reds

#171 Jarrod Saltalamacchia Red Sox 

#ODS6 Robinson Cano Yankees

Pack 5:

#2 Ricky Romero Blue Jays

#56 Josh Hamilton Angels

#158 J.J.Putz D-backs

#161 Dan Uggla Braves

#174 Kendrys Morales Mariners

#210 Will Middlebrooks Red Sox

#PH15 Andrew McCutchen Pirates

Pack 6:
#41 Dustin Pedroia Red Sox
#75 Trevor Cahill D-backs
#101 Adeiny Hechavarria Marlins
#148 Alex Rios White Sox
#176 Mariano Rivera Yankees
#180 Jason Heyward Braves
#PH23 Hanley Ramirez Dodgers

Not a bad series of packs. A few Red Sox, a smattering of inserts and numbered blue borders. No variations or autographs but those a difficult to find.

2008 Topps Series 1 baseball

2008 Topps are one of more easily recognisable sets from recent years. The cards have a bold white border and circular font on the top of each card featuring the team name. The Series One packs featured Man Ram standing in front of a Japanese rising sun.

2008 Topps is a 660-card set split between two series. Each has 330 cards.

The set is also most remembered for 'gimmick' cards. 

Card #234 The Boston Red Sox celebration card featuring New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani and card #FS1 Kazuo Uzuki, a fictional Japanese baseball player. Apparently not a 'gimmick' but an April Fools prank. 

The pack cost $1.99 and contains 10 cards in the pack, although if there is a relic card the pack will contain 8 cards.

There are no Red Sox that I still need from this set.

The pack:

#12 Jason Bartlett Twins

#46 Zack Greinke Royals

#52 Trevor Hoffman Padres

#118 Marco Scutaro Athletics

#127 Steve Pearce Pirates

#155 Carlos Zambrano Cubs

#209 Andy Phillips Yankees

#251 Dan Johnson Athletics

#272 Anthony Reyes Cardinals

#MHR525 Mickey Mantle Yankees

By far the best card in the pack!

2003 Donruss Estrellas

Totalmente en Espanoli

The third and final pack in the mini theme is Donruss Estrellas. These cards were produced for two years, 2002 and 2003, in 2002 they were known as Super Estrellas. The text on these cards is in Spanish.
The 2003 series consisted of 100 base cards, 5 insert sets and 25 different posters. The inserts are:
Estrellas (Stars),  
Poder de Cuadrangular (Power of the quadrangular Diamond?), 
Nacion de Origen (Nation of Origin),  
Leyendas del Pasado (Legends of the Past), 
Precision de Lanzamiento (Precision Throw), 
Thank you Google translate 
And a 5x7 poster, which is inserted one per pack.

The pack:
#28 Jeff Baker Rockies Novato 
#37 Jeff Bagwell Astros
#67 Roger Clements Yankees
#75 Bobby Abreu Phillies
#99 Eric Hinske Blue Jays
#PC1 Jason Giambi Yankees Poder de Cuadrangular
Adam Dunn Poster

What a great idea to include the poster that is also the complete checklist.
Bien hecho.

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.