Holo Grammys

It's the Academy Awards of music tonight but I don't really care. While your significant other scours People Magazine's website in the morning, here's a random bunch of holograms:

 1992 Denny's Grand Slam 26. Joe Carter

I remember begging my parents to take me out for pie and coffee when these were available. They just turned to me, told me it was a 30 minute drive and that I was too young for coffee as they sipped their instant "coffee." They neglected to mention that Denny's also had gross key lime pie. Denny's sucks. This set was the best thing the restaurant had to offer in 1992. 

 1995 Score Dream Team Gold DG11. Greg Maddux

I'm not sure why Score abandoned the shirtless grandeur of the Dream Team cards for holograms. I can't say that I mind either. The whole "Gold" label, though, doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

1993 Upper Deck Diamond Gallery 32. Wil Cordero

This card is a part of some oddball Upper Deck box set. I hadn't heard of it before and may have to track it down seeing as how it's an oddball hologram box set. Just 123,600 sets were made, which must make it extremely limited ; )

1997 Stadium Club Instavision Highlights I13. Andy Pettite

You can't capture the greatness of this card in a scan. Well, it is a hologram so it is instantly great, but that there hologram shows Pettite's hurling prowess. Yes, it's got motion technology without the creepy factor of Sammy Sosa's 1996 SPx card winking at me.

And now a trio of static non-sport holograms:

 Marvel Universe: Series One (Impel, 1990) MH1. Cosmic Spider-man

Although these are probably the most recognizable non-sport holograms (my guess is that it's due to the seemingly millions that are out there and just about everyone collecting the set at the time had one or two), I also rank them amongst the worst. Sure, they're shiny but there's nothing else going on. Plus, the card backs are identical for all five in the set. Yes, Virginia, holograms can be boring sometimes. Can anyone tell me what makes this Spider-Man, Cosmic Spider-Man?

 DC Comics: Series One (Impel, 1992) DC Hologram Hall of Fame DCH8. Superman

This card suffers somewhat the same fate as the Spidey above. It's pretty boring. However, at least with this set Impel wised up a bit and gave something of an interesting background. Too bad Superman's face resembles that of a stick man I doodled while waiting on hold yesterday.

Marvel Universe Series Three (Impel, 1992) H-5. Ghost Rider

Finally, Impel is getting somewhere. While I'm not a big fan of Ghost Rider, the way his motorcycle is popping out of this card is pretty bad ass.

Super Sunday: Kingdom Come Xtra #6

This week's over-sized beauty comes from the 1996 SkyBox Kingdom Come Xtra set.

The set was based on the blockbuster (for the comic world) series Kingdom Come that looked at a grim future for the DC universe. And while the story was great, it was Alex Ross' illustrations that really hooked me. Likewise for the cards. They're not the most informative, but each frame of the books and each card is a masterpiece.

Ross didn't stick to the familiar designs of the comic heroes and villains. I chose this particular card for this week because it showcases so many different character designs. You've got Superman and his racing stripe gray hair, a fully armored Green Lantern, an old-school uniformed Flash, cougar Wonder Woman and others.

The mid-90s were a great time for comic cards. There was lots of variety and sets based on short series as opposed to what have been made in the last couple of years that are driven largely by the promise of a sketch card and the base sets seem somewhat secondary.

Beginner's Luck

On Friday I made a rare stop to get some packs. After a dozen packs of 2010 Topps Series One Baseball, I came away with nothing too terribly interesting other than a solid start on a set. Here's the results of two packs of Rittenhouse Archives' LOST: Seasons 1 Thru 5:

Pack 1:

It's Boone! Not a bad start. Autographs are 1:8 packs. I'm really liking the vertical design Rittenhouse came up with. It does a good job of capturing the feel of the show. Also, the pictures are a lot sharper than those in the Inkworks sets.

Pack 2:

 Another autograph! That's two-for-two, kids. Not only that but both autographs are 'limited' by Rittenhouse standards, which make them rarer than about half of the rest of the signature cards.

I'd say I pillaged that box as there's likely only one autograph left, unless it was pulled among the few packs that were already sold. And don't worry, these packs were grabbed from the top of the pile. No shenanigans were going on.

Who Are These Masked Men?

A couple of days ago, I received an email from In the Game containing a brief peek at the upcoming goalie-centric 2009-10 In the Game Between the Pipes set and four of its subsets:

What I find so fascinating is that In the Game continues to produce excellent-looking products despite the face that they don't have an NHL license. You wouldn't even no it by looking at these. And they don't even do it by seeing what they can get away with, going to court and reaching a settlement later. 

No date for Between the Pipes has been announced.

2009 UD Signature Stars Baseball Is Live and with More Hat Logos

Yesterday some images of 2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Baseball started popping up. Now some 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Baseball has emerged as well. After much speculation, it looks like Upper Deck has tipped its hand: all things are go save for the actual logos and nicknames. Clearly these cards show logos and there's no real attempt of even hiding the fact. For the casual collector who doesn't bother following the legal wranglings of the hobby, they likely wouldn't notice any difference from Topps licensed cards. As evidenced by the Hanson, they've even come up with their own answer to the rookie card logo.

On the one hand, I give Upper Deck credit for making some nice looking cards. On the other, I'm really getting tired of them wanting to make up their own rules. Yes, they're a business that's out to make a profit, but they're not the rebel start-up that they once were.

Back in 1989 Upper Deck was something fresh and new. They really did revolutionize the hobby. It was easy to get behind them because they were forcing everyone to do a better job at producing cards. But more than two decades later, they're the establishment. They've got a massive market share in North America. These moves in baseball equate to me like a big, old flipping of the bird at Topps, Major League Baseball and anyone else who's bothering to pay attention. This is just the latest move of many that haven't been so much about competition as they've been about appearing petty to at least this collector. Other instances include the Sweet Spot Michael Buysner and the blatant ripoff of Topps designs masqueraded under the guise of O-Pee-Chee.

It seems obvious that Upper Deck is ready to fight with these baseball cards. Otherwise, why would they hold back releasing images? Just remember Upper Deck, you do hold an exclusive with hockey, which is going to make your argument seem a little superficial. But then again, maybe a small chunk of baseball is worth more than all of hockey.

In the long run, I find it difficult to see how Upper Deck will be successful in landing future licenses. By sticking their thumb up to baseball (not to mention the whole counterfeiting CCG thing), they're showing disrespect to the hobby that has made them what they are today. I know if I were a licensor with a brand name and image to protect, I'd be very leery when dealing with such attitudes. I may be way off base here, and if I am I'd love to hear different perspectives.

Update:

This card from the Signed, Sealed and Delivered insert set shows Upper Deck is still willing to mention the team names as well, not just the cities:

Gorgeous Portraits Highlight Set That Focuses on Italian-American Baseball Players

The National Ethnic Heritage Foundation and the Order of the Sons of Italy have teamed to produce a 100-card set that celebrates baseball's Italian-American Baseball Heroes. Available with a $49 donation, the 100-card set consists of original life-like oil portraits from a team working under the supervision of George Kotsovos.

The set has a print run of 10,000 and cards are printed with metallic gold foil. Card backs include biographical information and lifetime stats.

The checklist ranges from Hall of Famers like Joe Dimaggio and Roy Campanella to recent stars like Craig Biggio, John Smoltz, Mike Piazza and Jason Giambi.

You can make your donation here to receive the set. You can also go there to see a complete gallery of the paintings.

Here's a handful of what you can expect:

Awkward Cards: 1936 World Wide Gum 112. Zeke Bonura

So I'm taking a look around some auctions last night and came across a Canadian seller with a bunch of pre-WWII stuff. It was all priced out of my range but it was fun to browse and do a little studying up. Here's a 1936 World Wide Gum card that caught my attention, largely because I wasn't sure if it was a baseball card or not. With the newspapers in the background and the suit and tie, I wondered if it was a profile mugshot and some non-sport news set from the day.

If you ask me, Mr. Bonura looks like a youthful Joe Torre.

Here's the back:

"By golly, that looks an awful lot like the style of Goudey backs," I think to myself. I'm very unfamiliar with really old cards, so this was new. If you're taking an SAT exam and you get one of those relational questions, here's what Wikipedia is telling me:

Topps is to O-Pee-Chee as Goudey is to World Wide Gum.

I learned something new last night.

Here's where the awkwardness comes in. Let's zoom in on the text on the back, shall we:

So that's what they called it back in the day.

I guess I learned two things last night.

Lion King: Voltron Sketch Cards Coming From 5finity

When I was nine Santa brought me a massive box for Christmas. Could it have been that G.I. Joe Tomahawk helicopter I'd been asking for? Or maybe some off-road RC car with batteries that lasted about 10 before needing a charge. Nope. I got Voltron.

I watched a whole lot of TV growing up and loved just about anything that involved guns or lasers. But Voltron to me looked like some sort of Transformers rip-off. I never gave the lion robots a chance. It wasn't because the toy looked cool - it did - but probably more because my circle of friends was into G.I. Joe and Transformers and all of our parents knew this. My guess is Santa thought I'd be excited to have a Transformer-looking thing that fit my G.I. Joe figures. It was the best of both worlds in their logical minds. And that's the way it sometimes was behind closed doors. But, sorry Santa, I was a kid who loved the brands and Voltron just was no comparison for my shallow thinking.

Fast forward a couple of decades and now I see what I was missing out on. I'm no Voltron expert by any means, but now that I catch clips here and there, I'm wishing I at least gave it a chance. Lions, robots and lasers - oh, my!

Next month 5finity is releasing a series of Voltron sketch cards. And good luck finding them. The 999 packs 5finity had for dealers sold out in less than 12 hours. Another 300 packs will become available on the World Event Productions website on February 15 and sell for $22.95 each.

With more than 60 artists on board, there's bound to be a variety of styles and limited editions.

Here's the posted list of artists:
Amber Stone     
Andy Carreon    
Angel Gabriele    
Anthony Hochrein    
Ben Dunn    
Ben Glendenning    
Ben Hansen    
Brian Shearer    
Bruce Gerlach    
Bryan Turner    
Chad Cicconi    
Chad LaForce    
Chris Henderson    
Dan Schoening    
Daniel Campos    
Danny Kuang    
David Namisato    
Drew Moss    
EJ Su    
Eric Merced    
Fraim Brothers    
Frankie B Washington    
Gerard Conte    
Hanie Mohd    
Hayden Davis     
Howard Bender    
j(ay)    
Jamie Snell    
Jason Worthington    
Jayson Kretzer     
Jerry Gaylord    
Jeremy Treece
Jess Hickman
Jim Kyle
Joe Rubinstein
Josh Lyman
Juan Fontanez
Justin Chung
Kelly Everaert
Kevin Graham
Lak Lim
Lorenzo Lizana
Luis Diaz
Manny Mederos
Mark McHaley
Matt Minor
Melissa Uran
Michael Duron
Nathan Ohlendorf
Nicole Goff
Paul Ballard
Paul Gutierrez
Ryan Odagawa
Ryan Orosco
Ryan Wilton
Scott Rorie
Sean Moore
Sherry Leak
Ted Dastick
Terry Tibke
Thomas Tuomey
Tim Baron
Uko Smith

Although I couldn't find any record of pack-issued cards, Voltron isn't totally new to the hobby. Topps and O-Pee-Chee each produced tattoo sets back in the mid-80s. Panini also made a sticker album and set in 1986. A quick check of eBay also turned up a couple of video cards, presumably distributed with tapes or DVDs.

Super Sunday: Seabiscuit DVD Premiums

I'm going to start a new (hopefully) weekly feature called Super Sunday. It's where I'll look at some cards that don't fit the regular measurements. They might be regular sets like Tallboys or Star Wars Widevision or they could be oddball cards and non-card-related premiums. Whichever the case, if they're too big for traditional nine-pocket pages, they might find their spot on Super Sunday.

The week after Christmas I found myself in Walmart poking about through some sale DVDs. Rummaging over the $5 rack I came across a fancy version of Seabiscuit. I'm pretty sure it was made when Special Edition actually meant something with DVDs and came off after the mass release with all sorts of additional features and swag. Honestly, I don't remember much about the film other than it made me feel warm and fuzzy watching the underdog find success. I've got enough DVDs as it is so there wasn't much point adding this to the collection until I looked at the swag breakdown: Exclusive 32-page Photo Diary (meh), Senitype with Film Frame from the movie and matching photo (cool, but likely to never see the light of day), bookmark (which looks a lot like a poor man's money clip, perfect for a day at the track) and "Collectible cards featuring historical photos and background on the real characters" (sold!).

The picture on the back didn't mention whether or not it was a regular-sized card or a bigger, postcard size but I wasn't too concerned for $5. It turns out the cards are postcard sized, which seems fairly standard for oddball premiums unless a trading card manufacturer is involved and wants to advertise their sets.

In total four cards were included, each featuring a sepia-toned photograph on the front and a fairly extensive biography/historical account on the back. The card stock is fairly flimsy but still rather glossy. The trademark on the back shows the Equibase Company logo and shows a 2003 copyright.

You can click on the image for a larger version.

 Seabiscuit

 War Admiral

 George "Iceman" Woolf

The Match Race

Thanks for checking out Super Sunday. Hopefully with seven days to plan I'll have another one up next week.

Prospecting Gone Wrong: Grant Desme

Normally it's an injury or simple lack of elite-level skill that causes a prospect to leave baseball. As of today you can add a new reason: priesthood. Grant Desme, a 23-year-old prospect in the Oakland A's system has retired to join the ranks of the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict approves.

The A's second-round pick in the 2007 draft, Desme was the only 30-30 player in the Minors last year, racking up 31 homers and 40 stolen bases for Kane County and Stockton. Desme also struck out 148 times.

Desme has appeared in a handful of Minor League sets (including autographs):2007 TriStar Prospects Plus, 2008 Just Autographs, 2008 TriStar PROjections and, most recently, 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. I wouldn't be surprised if Desme gets a bit of a following due to the move, but anyone holding out on him becoming a star are bound to be disappointed.

Although not a Catholic myself, I've always admired athletes for sticking to what they believe in, Muhammad Ali being the biggest example. Would Jose Canseco fit in this category too, in some twisted way?