How the Mighty Have Fallen

When it comes to collecting, I consider myself to be somewhat patient. My budget requires me too. If I want something that's hot today, it might be a decade or more before I finally land it. But when it comes to iconic cards of the hobby, I'm certainly willing to wait.

If you were to go back in time about 15 years you'd find me watching Seinfeld, eating unhealthy amounts of Mr. Noodles, listening to Silverchair and Smashing Pumpkins and dreaming of getting a 1995 Bowman's Best Andruw Jones. At the time, the guy was a stud. There was no limit to what he might do for the amazing Braves. I don't recall exactly the price the rookie card reached, but I'm thinking it was around or over $100. That'd be 20 hours of flipping burgers and burning myself working fries for a single card, albeit a shiny one, of a guy who had a tremendous World Series debut. Add to the fact I lived in Canada where base Topps and Upper Deck were all that was found for the most part, and I wasn't going to be having any of it.

It was probably a good thing I waited. While Jones has put together a solid career overall, he didn't exactly pan out to be the phenom his early card prices demanded. As his strikeouts piled up, his stock in the hobby fell. Today he's bouncing from team to team, playing largely for up-side contract incentives.

Well, I finally got my 1995 Bowman's Best Andruw Jones rookie. The cost: $7.50. And that, friends, is why I don't prospect.

Although the card holds merely a fraction of the value it once did, it is still an important part of baseball card history. It was one of the first "shiny" base set rookies that still have a foothold in today's hobby. It's value plummet is also the thing of legend, comparable to Jose Canseco whose various 1986 cards were once worth more than $100 as well. But while Canseco's fall from grace can be attributed to overproduction as much as his fall in play, Jones is an example of raw, unproven skill that could never reach the hype.

The 1995 Bowman's Best set was at one time the hottest in the hobby. Not only did you have the Jones rookie, but there was Vladimir Guerrero and Scott Rolen as well. I picked up a Bob Abreu the same time as the Jones for an additional $6.00. One of these days I'll pull the trigger on a Guerrero to add to the Expos team set collection. However, I have a hunch if I stay patient for another few months I might save myself a few dollars. 

Super Sunday: Mail-Order Brides

After a three-week hiatus, Super Sunday is back, not that anyone's been asking for it. Super Sunday highlights oversized gems from the hobby. Okay, it's about oversized cards and such, not all of which are gems.

A couple decades ago, if you didn't want to subscribe to entire magazines you could subscribe to things like Sportscasters: oversized trading cards that would show up in your mailbox much like the Columbia House CD of the month. If you like what they offered, you'd keep them and pay via the old credit card. Smaller and much shorter than a magazine, these oversized subscription cards offered great information, just as long as you were hoping to get to the point.

These weren't reserved just for sports subjects, though. History got a chance as well. One such set is Panarizon's Story of America set. According to this site, the entire set consists of a whopping 2,256 cards (or 94 decks of 24 cards). The cards are copyrighted 1979.

I recently picked up a couple to stock up for Super Sunday. Here's the first from the pile:

1979 Panarizon Story of America "Mail-Order Brides"

1979 Panarizon Story of America "Mail-Order Brides" (back)

As Europeans first started coming to North America and colonizing it, most who came were men. That poses a major problem for a place that was looking to grow. This card describes how men enticed would-be wives to make the dangerous journey to the New Land.

The picture on the card front reminds me of high school. Whenever a new girl registered there was a swarm of boys around her vying for a little attention. The girls did the same thing when a new boy registered too. The result was many broken hearts and awkward moments as the new student quickly established themselves in any given clique. 

These Story of America cards pack in a tremendous amount of information for one roughly 4" x 6 " card. On the front there's a large picture as well as several icons at the top that show how the card fits into history. I also really like the map that shows what part of America the subject affected. 

The back offers a nicely annotated story that sums up not only the event in question, but also a fair amount of details. I could see it getting a little tiresome if one were to put together the entire set and try ploughing through a bunch at once, but read isolated as a single card, it's not bad at all. 

My fascination with Western folklore had me pick up a few other similar cards that I'll unveil eventually, as well as some other subscription cards. While I don't have any intention on completing any of these sets, they seem like a nice way to learn - much more exciting than the textbooks I had to read that came out around the same time.

The Inkworks Well Finally Appears to Be Running Dry

More than a year after going out of business, it looks like the flood of excess autographs might finally be on the horizon. But not until Razor releases one more set chalk full of them.

2010 Razor Ink Vault will be the company's final set that focuses on Inkworks autographs. Boxes will contain four random autographs plus an unopened non-sport box. This is up one autograph per box from the first Ink Vault release.

Last year's Razor Ink Vault was my favorite product to bust. Packed with value, even when you don't get a major name, the surprise factor and the breaking of a surprise box was a lot of fun. At $50-60 it was like paying around the original cost of the box (now deflated because most were closeouts of Inkworks leftovers) but with an additional trio of autographs.

This time around the price doesn't rise but you get one more autograph at the same price.

I do have a hunch that autographs from Inkworks' final release, The Spirt, could play somewhat prominently as it was put out just before the company went under and all were redemptions. This would likely mean that there's loads of leftovers as the expiration date was not at all flexible. Add to that that the set was a massive disappointment sales-wise (largely because the movie sucked so much rather the the product, which is actually an excellent set). At least if this is the case, the autograph lineup for The Spirit isn't that bad as it includes Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie King, Paz Vega and Dan Lauria, the dad from The Wonder Years.

With the first Ink Vault and Razor Ink Archives, Razor has already flooded the non-sport market with Inkworks autographs. This has had both pros and cons. Personally, I've been able to snag lots of autographs that were out of my price range before. But for dealers who saw some prices drop more than half, I can certainly see them being a little saddened by this.

I don't fault Razor for the market flood as they weren't the ones who produced the cards in the first place. They also didn't hold such a significant amount of autographs back.  These cards were always around. So whether they hit the market all at once or the trickled out as they had before, the idea of rarity was completely manufactured. Razor has stated that this is their final "Ink" release. If they bought a big chunk of Inkworks' leftover autographs then at least now people won't have to speculate how much more is sitting out there and the market can once again balance itself out.

2010 Razor Ink Vault Sell Sheet

Panini Confirms 2010 Playoff Contenders Basketball Rookie Ticket Autograph Short Prints

Yesterday Panini officials confirmed the following short prints for 2010 Playoff Contenders Basketball Rookie Ticket Autographs:

Limited to 649 copies or less:
Blake Griffin
Dante Cunningham
Earl Clark
Jonny Flynn
Stephen Curry
Terrence Williams

Limited to 499 copies or fewer:
Hasheem Thabeet
James Harden
Tyreke Evans
Jordan Hill
Brandon Jennings
Tyler Hansbrough

My Favourite Cards of 2010 So Far

Topps' Star Wars Galaxy 5 released this week. Others might be chasing the sketch cards and actor autographs, I'll be happy once I pick up a base set, slide them into some pages and admire the varied artistic styles within. Although I don't have a set yet, from the images I've seen online, these are my favourite cards of the year thus far:

Empire propaganda! The trio of base cards are courtesy of Cliff Chiang. Not only are the cards themselves gorgeous, but they capture the look and feel of WWII propaganda posters. And they're funny as hell. 

The hobby seems to be taking a liking to "propaganda" as of late. First there was the Propaganda inserts in 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Baseball. A similar-looking set of inserts was also included in the just-released UFC Main Event. Those cards are nice too, but the style is pretty much the same and gets repetitive. Chiang's Star Wars takes are true originals each time.

Star Wars Galaxy 5 base sets can be found for under $10 plus shipping. Boxes seem to be running at about $70 a pop right now, but will likely rise another $10-15 once stock starts drying up. If you're an art fan even in the slightest, the base set is one of the biggest bargains the hobby has to offer.

So You Want to Be a Sketch Card Artist?

Non-sport manufacturer Breygent posted on Non-Sport Update Magazine's Card Talk today that they were looking for some artists for some upcoming sets. Interested artists would be expected to produce anywhere from 25 to 100 cards for each set they are selected for. The sets in question:

• Golden Age of Comics
• Cartoon Sketch Series
• Woodstock Generation Poster Series
• Sci-Fi Horror Posters

If you're an artistic type who is interested in being consider, please send Tom Breyer an email at tom@breygent.com.

I think it's very exciting to see Breygent reach out to the collecting community to help build sets. The card-collecting base is extremely varied, especially in the non-sport end of things, so there's bound to be some folks with interesting styles amongst us. Are you one of them?

Six-Pack Breaks: 1991 Topps Archives "1953" Baseball

Topps has been playing upon its history for quite some time. Even when you go back to the 'Turn Back the Clock' subsets from the 1980s, you'll see that they've long been happy with showcasing their past. Topps took it to new levels in 1991 with the inaugural Topps Archives set, which would pave the way for the dozens of old-school themed sets that have followed in the nearly two decades since.

1991 Topps Archives Baseball reprints all but one of the original 1953 Topps Baseball set (174. Billy Loes is absent due to rights issues). It also adds several "new" cards including Ted Williams and Hank Aaron. While the original cards maintain their painted fronts, the added cards come in the form of black and white photos. 

I've had these cards sitting on top of my desk for some time. I grabbed a few packs online, I think for about $0.75 a pop. Seeing as how I'll never be able to afford some of the originals from the 1953 set, so this seemed like a cheap and convenient way to look at a few.

Pack 1:

55. Maurice McDermott, Boston Red Sox
309. Leo Durocher, New York Giants
72. Fred Hutchinson, Detroit Tigers
314. Joe Garagiola, Pittsburgh Pirates
262. Bob Oldis, Washington Senators
19. Mel Parnell, Boston Red Sox
238. Cal Hogue, Pittsburgh Pirates
222. Vic Janowicz, Pittsburgh Pirates
208. Jim Wilson, Milwaukee Braves
266. Bob Cain, St. Louis Browns
189. Ray Jablonski, St. Louis Cardinals
27. Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers

  
Pack 2:

112. Ned Garver, Detroit Tigers
17. Billy Hitchcock, Philadelphia Athletics
323. Wes Westrum, New York Giants
139. Sammy White, Boston Red Sox
82. Mickey Mantle - I guess it's all down hill from here ; )
143. Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox
182. Bob Hofman, New York Giants
137. John Rutherford, Brooklyn Dodgers
193. Mike Clark, St. Louis Cardinals
324. Vern Law, Pittsburgh Pirates
155. Dutch Leonard, Chicago Cubs
183. Stu Miller, St. Louis Cardinals

 Pack 3:

169. Dizzy Trout, Boston Red Sox
66. Orestes Minoso, Chicago White Sox
166. Bill Hunter, St. Louis Browns
296. Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers
104. Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
232. Dick Kokos, St. Louis Browns
22. Howie Fox, Philadelphia Phillies
282. Ralph Houk, New York Yankees
178. Jim Waugh, Pittsburgh Pirates
158. John Logan, Boston Braves
98. Cal Abrams, Pittsburgh Pirates
180. Virgil Stallcup, St. Louis Cardinals

Pack 4:

6. Sam Jones, Cleveland Indians
301. Harvey Kuenn's wad, Detroit Tigers
219. Pete Runnels, Washington Senators
250. Bob Wilson, Chicago White Sox
234. Ray Murray, Philadelphia Athletics
287. Mickey Vernon, Washinton Senators
209. Jim Greengrass, Cincinnati Reds
136. Ken Heintzelman, Philadelphia Phillies
115. George Spencer, New York Giants
252. Henry Foiles, Cincinnati Reds
243. Carlos Bernier, Pittsburgh Pirates
212. Jack Dittmer, Milwaukee Braves

  
Pack 5:

227. Morris Martin, Philadelphia Athletics
32. Clyde Vollmer, Boston Red Sox
2. Luke Easter, Cleveland Indians
36. Johnny Groth, St. Louis Browns
318. Curt Simmons, Philadelphia Phillies
13. Connie Marrero, Washington Senators
8. Clem Koshorek, Pittsburgh Pirates
91. Ebba St. Claire, Boston Braves
305. Carl Furillo, Brooklyn Dodgers
124. Sibby Sisti, Boston Braves
56. Gerald Staley, St. Louis Cardinals
3. George Crowe, Boston Braves

Pack 6:

126. Billy Connelly, New York Giants
249. Ed O'Brien, Pittsburgh Pirates
27. Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers (One of those times when doubles are fine by me.)
189. Ray Jablonski, St. Louis Cardinals
134. Rube Walker, Brooklyn Dodgers
208. Jim Wilson, Milwaukee Braves
229. Rocky Krsnich, Chicago White Sox
94. William Kennedy, Boston Red Sox
220. Satchell Paige, St. Louis Browns
171. Bill Glynn, Cleveland Indians
295. Phil Cavarretta, Chicago Cubs
233. Al Aber, Cleveland Indians

 I'll be the first to acknowledge that the slick feel of the cards isn't the same as the cardboard touch of old. Plus there's no rounded corners, added scribbles or faint initials to be found anywhere. Today's sets that celebrate the past, both in design and in content, are missing the ghosts of years past. They don't have the stories that the originals do.

Even still, these cards are gorgeous. The design is one of the best Topps has ever put out. I would have liked the additions to the checklist to have been done in the same painted manner, but the black and white photos are still very classy. It's not an ideal scenario but it works for me.

Today, the set is largely ignored.At least there doesn't seem to be a huge demand for it. Even still, 1991 Topps Archives is something of a milestone release, showing that the hobby loved heritage enough to warrant its own standalone release. The lack of lasting popularity might be in part to the fact that this set was somewhat ahead of its time.

Although I like this set a lot, I don't think I'll be building the set at this time so if anyone's working on a set or needs some of these, please send me an email and we can work on a trade. My wantlists are linked at the top of the page or you can click here.

In-Depth Preview: 2010 Allen & Ginter Baseball

A couple of days ago Topps released some images for 2010 Allen and Ginter Baseball via their Twitter stream. Now they've released the initial information for the whole shebang. At first glance, the formula hasn't changed much, but this is a set that has always delivered some quirky surprises and I suspect they'll return.

The base set will once again consist of 350 cards: 260 veterans, 30 rookies, 25 historic figures and 35 champions. The checklist didn't indicate the traditional 50 short prints, but I'd be shocked if they weren't there.

Mini parallels return in eight versions. Beside your basic mini, there's:

• Allen and Ginter Back (1:5 packs)
• Black (1:10)
• No Number (limited to 50 copies)
• Bazooka Back (#'d/25)
• Framed Cloth (#'d/10 - hobby exclusive)
• Wood (#'d/1 - hobby exclusive)
• Printing Plates 

Each 24-pack box promises a total of three hits. These include relic cards, autographs, cut autographs, Rip cards and printing plates.

In the relics department, the addition to the formula are Book Cards. These are those hard-to-display hinged cards. Each card, numbered out of 10, will include two autographs and two jersey swatches. The basic Framed Relics game-used checklist contains 66 cards.

The freaky hair cards return once again with DNA Relics. The checklist is certainly an intriguing one:

• Lugwig Von Beethoven
• Andrew Jackson
• John F. Kennedy
• John Adams
• Alexander Hamilton
• Jacqueline Kennedy
• Charles Dickens
• King Edward VII
• Ronald Reagan
• Abraham Lincoln

How one goes about certifying the hair of Charles Dickens, I don't know.

Coming off the success of the Woolly Mammoth hair card and the various nature cards from Upper Deck's Champs and Goodwin Champions comes Monsters of the Mesozoic relic cards. Dinosaur fossils! These relics will be limited to ten copies each. Topps will also be continuing the Logo Man manufactured patch cards.

The Framed Autograph checklist is big, running 85 cards. Sure there's regulars like Ryan Howard and David Wright, but color me most intrigued about the autograph of "The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" (that's how the card is listed on the checklist). I'm guessing it has something to do with this. Other non-Major League Baseball folks on the autograph checklist include:

• Alan Francis (Horseshoes)
• Anthony Gatto (juggling)
• Avery Jenkins (Frisbee Golf)
• David Blaine (publicity hound/illusionist who stuffs himself in boxes)
• Hans Florine (Climber)
• Hank Presswood (Negro Leagues player)
• Hubertus Wawra (Fire Eater)
• Judson Laipply (some YouTube guy whose video "The Evolution of Dance" has been watched nearly 150,000,000 times)
• Jordin Sparks ("American Idol" champion)
• Jim Zapp (Negro Leagues player)
• Ken Blackburn (paper airplanes)
• Kelly Kulick (bowling)
• Maholn Duckett (Negro Leagues player)
• Mike Parsons (surfing)
• Preston Pittman (Game Calling)
• Ryan Kennelly (Power Lifter)
• Randy Oitker (Archery)
• Ron Teasley (Negro Leagues player)
• Sig Hansen (fisherman, "Deadliest Catch")
• Shawn Johnson (Gymnast, "Dancing With the Stars")
• Summer Sanders (Swimming)
• Tyler Bradt (Kayaker)
• Tiago  Della Vega (World Record for fastest guitarist)
• Tony Hawk (Skateboarding)
• Tom Knapp (Shooting) 

I couldn't find definitive info on Dale Davis, Gary Stewart, Max Poser and Robert Scott. So if anyone wants to enlighten us, please do. Many of the autograph signers also have relic cards as well.

Rip Cards return offering the prospect of some nice goodies should the owner dare to tear. Oops, that was the tagline for Pinnacle Zenith more than a decade ago. Rip Cards will fall one per case and individual outer cards will be numbered to no more than 99 copies. Inside there's the possibility of the following:

• Red Autographs (85 cards, #'d/10)
• Mini Exclusives (50 cards)
• Mini Wood Exclusives (50 cards, #'d/1)
• Allen and Ginter Originals (30 cards)

Each box of Allen and Ginter will also have one box topper from the following:

• N43 (15 cards)
• N43 Relics (10 cards, #'d/25)
• N43 Autographs (10 cards, #'d/15)
• N43 Autograph Relics (5 cards, #'d/5)
• Cabinet (10 cards)
• Cabinet Relic Card (10 cards, #'d/1)

My personal favourite part of Allen and Ginter is the wacky inserts. I just recently finished my 2008 World Leaders set and am now looking at moving onto the National Heroes from last year's set. These inserts have always intrigued me as they're not terribly tough to find, can be found at a decent price and there's often nothing quite like them. Basic inserts fall one per pack.

This Day in History is a 75-card set that pairs a baseball player with a significant event that happened on their birthday. The 15 Baseball Highlight Sketch cards will probably look nice but are something of a yawn compared to the remainder of the inserts. Unless, of course, they're actually original sketches this year and not something copied with a 1/1 label like they were a few years ago. Other sets include Lords of Olympus (25 cards, 1:12), Monsters of the Mesozoic (25 cards, 1:12), World's Greatest Wordsmiths (15 cards, 1:24), National Animals (50 cards, 1:8), Sailors of the Seven Seas (10 cards, 1:24).

Finally, there's 10 Cut Signature cards and the return of the Allen & Ginter Code. It'll be curious to see if it takes more than a day or two to crack it this year.

2010 Allen and Ginter Baseball is schedule for a June 21 release.

Upper Deck Confirms Retail Exclusive SPs in 2010 Upper Deck Baseball

Today Upper Deck confirmed that they've included a handful of short prints as retail exclusives for 2010 Upper Deck Baseball. Wal-Mart packs have a Sarah Palin and a Pete Rose card while Target packs have a "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and a Yankees tribute highlighting the handful of World Series victories shared by teammates Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.

Upper Deck's press release didn't offer specific odds, but did promise they were "super-rare." I'll hold back a snide remark but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking something. 

Seriously, though, what's with this obsession with Sarah Palin. At least when Obama shows up on a card, he's President. Palin's on some news station and gets mad at Family Guy. She seems more like a political version of Paris Hilton.

Topps Million Card Giveaway Pros and Cons

You can officially start entering you Topps Million Card Giveaway codes today. In case you haven't heard of the promotion, Topps has fairly easy redemption codes (1:6 hobby, 1:1 jumbo, I believe) where you enter it in and the website reveals the card you've "won." The codes will be available in 2010 Topps Series One, Series Two and Updates and Highlights packs.

I just watched this promo video, which unveils a little more information:

I'm really liking that you create a little portfolio where you can trade the cards. This sort of innovation could really revitalize the trading aspect of the hobby as it's easy and painless. If it's anything like on eTopps, one user posts what they're looking for and what they're willing to trade for it. Another user can come along and choose to make the trade. With a couple of clicks, the cards have changed hands.

The video also states that each code enters users in a draw for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. They're also offering autographs from previous Topps sets.

So while the haul is nice, there's one massive drawback that I was wondering about as soon as the promotion was announced. In order to get the cards, you're going to have to pay for the shipping. Something tells me that there's going to be a whole lot of 1988 commons left over when the redemption period is over. Topps hasn't announced the rates as I type this, however I expect there to be some fine print posted on the promotion's website.

This is a huge drawback for collectors. Sure, I understand that the cost of shipping would be a lot. But then don't run the promotion. Why not just include every card from say 1975 and earlier and foot the bill. It would be the 1,000 Card Giveaway, which wouldn't sound as sexy, but it's a nice incentive. Topps did a similar thing in 2001. I got a redemption for a pack of 1983 Topps Baseball and didn't have to pay a thing. If it's a dollar or two, I'll be slightly more understanding, but if it turns out to be in line with their eTopps rates, I think a lot of the glimmer and goodwill for the promotion is going to be lost for about 999 000 people.

I Didn't Win the Super Bowl, But I'm Still Heading to Disneyland

I'm heading out of town in a couple of hours and won't be back until Wednesday (although I may find myself online on occasion). First off it's a couple of days of professional obligation and development at my region's annual teacher's convention. I'll be wishing this guy a happy 84th birthday as he's speaking at a session. Why to a group of teachers? I'm not sure.

Then it's off to Disneyland for 3.5 days with my wife, young children and mom. I'm super excited, not so much to return but to take my kids there for the first time. Better still is the fact they don't know they're going. They think we're heading to Grandma's house on the plane, not to meet Grandma here:

I hope to get the moment where they get the epiphany of where they're headed on video. I also heard that the planned relaunch of Michael Jackson's Captain EO might just be taking place this weekend. 

So if you actually notice a lack of posts, that's why.

I'll return with something on the craptacular Upper Deck variants. Maybe. Posada's got a purple fence. How enticing. Like eating a piece of stale, whole wheat bread. Without butter. Or jam.

Topps National Chicle Football Short Prints and Missing Cards Announced

Yesterday Topps confirmed 24 short prints in 2009 Topps National Chicle Football falling 1:6 packs each:

22    Johnny Knox
24    James Harrison
26    Clay Matthews
33    Josh Freeman
41    John Elway
47    Dan Marino
54    Chad Pennington
66    Cedric Peerman
69    Donald Brown
72    Jerious Norwood
73    Barry Sanders
74    Felix Jones
96    Ed Reed
106    Dustin Keller
116    Jared Cook
134    Jeremy Maclin
136    Devery Henderson
153    Torry Holt
168    Brooks Foster
177    Lee Evans
181    Derrick Williams
184    Bernard Berrian
190    Peyton Manning    
194    Chad Ochocinco

They also announced three cards that were not in the base set but were included in the mini parallels:
59 Jonathan Stewart
99 Brandon Pettigrew
191 Steve Slaton

Weird Science

As a kid, I never liked science. It was boring, involved way too many text book pages and not enough blowing things up. That being said, the connection between the hobby and science is actually quite awesome. Here's a recent find from Stargate: Heroes:

Bill Freakin' Nye, the Science guy. I think I was born about a decade too late. His show was great: funny, connected to life, things blew up. Heck, something as simple as changing his pitch would've put him in the TV Scientist Hall of Fame.

Bill Nye actually had a set from SkyBox back in the mid-90s. The base set is 94 cards large including dinosaur and planetary punch outs and crazy window clings (like the one shown above). There's also lots of random science facts and blurry images from the show. The bright colors definitely show off the fact they're from the mid-90s.

But Bill Nye isn't the only scientist to come to my collecting attention as of late. Earlier this week, this card arrived in a small lot of Topps American Heritage Heroes Edition Chrome parallels:

Carl Sagan was more my dad's kind of scientist. When Cosmos aired on PBS, we watched the show together when I visited him every other weekend. Well, I was there in body, at least. The pictures were pretty but little else made sense to my wee little mind. I might revisit the show one day or pick up a couple of Sagan's books, but I might not.

In looking up a video clip to illustrate the genius of Bill Nye and his ability to make science understandable and entertaining to the masses, I cam across the following mash-up that puts the words of both science guys to melody.

Brilliant! But now where's a Stephen Hawking card? He's got a Simpsonized action figure.

Random Pack Break: 2009-10 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Fat Pack

It's not very often that I buy packs of hockey cards that don't promise me some O-Pee-Chee nostalgia. Whilst at the Wal-mart checkout a couple of weeks ago I bypassed a jumbo pack of nostalgia for a shot, albeit a long one, at a John Tavares Young Guns rookie card by opting instead for a 2009-10 Upper Deck Series One Hockey Fat Pack. Thirty-two cards for $6 - I couldn't see how I'd go wrong.

Top Half:
173. Rene Bourque - Awesome start! Bourque is from just down the road where I live and is considered a "local boy." Not a bad photo on the card, either.

77. Kari Lehtonen
197. Shawn Horcoff - The most useless piece of trivia you'll read all day comes from the back of this card, "Horcoff set a new Oilers single-season record in 2008-09 for most faceoffs taken (1,756) and most won (947). Bring on Jeopardy!
64. Wade Redden
8. Tim Connolly
126. Nicklas Lidstrom
82. Eric Staal
Hockey Heroes HH16. Martin Brodeur - I wasn't a big fan of this design back in 1991-92 when they started it with Brett Hull. I'm definitely not wanting to see it now.

Netminders NET12. Evgeni Nabokov - At first I thought this was a mid-90s Fleer throwback. Not a fan of this design at all.

145. Teemu Selanne
95. Semyon Varlamov - Great photo!

13. Daniel Paille
140. Stephane Robidas
84. Chad LaRose
116. Jakub Voracek - Is it just me or is Voracek priming to play a little Guitar Hero with that pose?

102. Jeff Woywitka

Bottom Half:
17. Andrei Kostitsyn and his magic hockey stick.

79. Tobias Enstrom
47. Marc-Andre Fleury - this card belongs in "Add the Caption" contest

177. Daymond Langkow
200. Sidney Crosby "Checklist"
122. Johan Franzen
130. Shea Weber
Ambassadors of the Game AG18. Alex Kovalev - At first glance I cursed this card because I though Upper Deck had carried its ridiculous 20th Anniversary set  over from baseball. The design is too similar, and that's no compliment.

69. Nathan Horton
99. Eric Fehr
29. Mikhail Grabovski
181. Peter Budaj - Another great shot with the ice coming forward.. Upper Deck sure loves its goalies.

152. Joe Thornton
136. Dustin Brown
4. Zdeno Chara
188. Owen Nolan - So maybe he wasn't the all-time great that comes with the expectation of going first overall in the draft, but Own Nolan has sure managed to stick around and put together a solid, sometimes great, career.

No Young Guns (they're 1:7 packs) but that's fine. As usual, the base set is beautiful, filled with beautiful and dramatic photography. I got a good mix of names, including lots of upcoming Hall of Famers.The inserts - didn't like them at all. If anyone needs any of them, drop me an email.