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.

iCardz Remembers Canada's War Contributions With Gorgeous Promo Cards

Today is a day where we remember those who fought for our countries and continue to make sacrifices for freedom and the good of humanity even today. Last year iCardz released their first set, Lest We Forget: D-Day, which celebrated the Canadian contributions on the beaches of Normandy. They're also putting the finishing touches on America at War: WWII, which I previewed in September. The manufacturer is also busy getting a follow-up Canadian set ready for the new year: Canada at War: WWI and WWII. To launch the set, iCardz produced a series of promo cards that were distributed in packs attached to a recent issue of Legion Magazine, a Canadian publication that celebrates the country's military and its veterans.

The promo set has a total of 20 cards plus two headers, one for each of the wars. iCardz was kind enough to pass along two of the promo packs to share. They each contained eight cards, seven from the numbered set and one header. Doing some quick math, it'd take three copies of the magazine and a little luck to complete the set. The cards are also skip numbered, so figuring out what you need could be a little difficult. Thankfully, some fine folks over at Non-Sport Update's Card Talk did their homework. The complete set of Canada at War: WWI and WWII promos has the following cards:

LM26
LM27
LM29
LM36
LM40
LM46
LM48
LM55
LM60
LM61
LM63
LM67
LM68
LM70
LM71
LM72
LM96
LM114
LM118
LM125
WWI Header
WWII Header

Design-wise, these cards are gorgeous. The photographs are intense and help tell the story of the wars. The images are sharp and appear to be digitally colored. The name plates and choice of fonts are both very classy. Red plates and backs are for WWI and WWII is accented with blue. Card backs are text driven and contain lots of information.

iCardz project manager Alastair Grant did let me know that these promos do not totally reflect the quality of the final cards. He mentioned the promos were printed in-house, which explains some of the chipping on the edges. The final release of the set will see improved cardstock printed on recycled paper.

Here is a look at some more of the Legion Magazine promos:

 

iCardz has an excellent site for their products that not only has info on the sets but links and content that compliments the cards.

Random Pack Breaks: Pondering 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter Baseball

I think it's safe to say that there's at least a two hour drive between my home and the nearest place where I could find a pack of 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter. So I was pretty stoked to come across four packs in my travels back home. While I may be missing out on the Gint-a-Cuffs goodness, I still offer everyone this single patriotic pack.

 

147. Coco Crisp pondering why he hasn't Tweeted on Twitter in a while.

 

229. Mark Ellis pondering why he has to pose for this friggin' card. 

 

195. Kevin Kouzmanoff pondering tonight's finale of So You Think You Can Dance (yes, when this photo was taken months ago he was future pondering).

 

32. Jeremy Bonderman pondering how he's going to spend the shiny quarter promised to him by Jim Leyland for hitting the side of the big red barn with the ball in his hand. Little did Bonderman know that the ball was rigged by that prankster Miguel Cabrera with a remote control device, ensuring that Bonderman will indeed miss the big red barn, miss out on Leyland's shiny quarter and lose all confidence in his pitching.

 

27. Chien Ming Wang pondering why he'd score -1 in Gint-a-Cuffs.

 
 

 251. Carl Crawford pondering pounding someone in the head with this bat if they don't hurry up and paint this darn picture.

 

161. Lil' Justin Morneau pondering the meaning of pondering. And what to have for a snack. 

 

NP19. Erik Bedard pondering Mitsou.

I'm pondering what a cool pack this was - two Canadians out of eight cards. No unicorns or William Wallaces, though.

The Genius of Jenkins

Last week Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius sent over an unexpected package of Canadian Hall o' Famer Fergie Jenkins. And what a treasure trove they were. I've long been a fan of the weird and strange things that oddball sets bring. They're something different and out of the ordinary. Make said oddball joys of a more vintage variety and I'm all squealy with cool card goodness.

The first work of cardboard art is this 1972 Kellog's card. It measures right in between a regular card and a tobacco card so it's a little smaller, but man does this set pack a lot of info. The front shows a happy Ferg chilling in front of some empty bleachers. Wait a second. The bleachers have depth. They're in 3-D! On the backside you get the best of all worlds: headshot, full name (Ferguson Arthur Jenkins), career stats, 100-word biography, important biographical info and licensing. Now why can't a lot of modern sets offer that kind of information?

Skip ahead one year and you've got the next card in the package - 1973 Kellog's. The cereal folks have another keeper of a design, although this set is noteable for not having the 3D backdrop. It's a pity too because the sky would have worked well with it.

Matt also included another more mainstream addition from the same year. It's a 1973 Topps Fergie. Here he's in a posed wind-up position looking like he's just been told to look at the birdie the photographer's holding to the side of his shoulder.

Jumping ahead in time we arrive at the over-sized 1985 Donruss Champion set. It measure's 3 1/2" x 5" and looks a lot like a postcard size-wise. I hadn't seen this set before but I like it from first glance. Fergie's looking strong on a distinctly Donruss frame. On the back his stats are matched up with Cy Young. While I get the point of comparing then "new" guys with old timers, comparing the strong Jenkins with the legendary Young makes the Canadian look bad.

The lone "modern" card MAtt sent over was an insert from 2001 Upper Deck Decade 70s - Arms Race. I like the foil front but the American patriotic color scheme doesn't really work when the subject isn't an All-American. I didn't bust any packs of the set so I'm not overly familiar with it, but them more I see of Decade 70s the crazier I think it is - in a strangely good way.

So thanks again, Matt! All Fergies are good Fergies and these are some stellar Fergies!

Mega-Box of Joy from gcrl

From the on-going journey of catching up and checking in comes some highlights from the Mega-Box of Joy sent my way from gcrl.

There were

Expos looking to make the catch,

 

and others making the catch.

There was

 

 

Matt Stairs making a fool of himself and

 

Matt Stairs making a fool of himself (I think someone at Pinnacle Brands in 1998 hated him).

There was

 

famous Canadians and

 

not-so-famous Canadians.

Finally, there was

old set needs and

new-ish set needs of old guys.

Thanks, GCRL!

A Day at the Movies: King of the Hill featuring Fergie Jenkins and the Chicago Cubs

King of the Hill

Filmed over the course of the 1972 and 1973 seasons, King of the Hill is a laid back yet informative look at Fergie Jenkins, the only Canadian in the baseball Hall of Fame, and baseball in general as it was at the time. Interestingly, there's lots of talk of big contracts and baseball becoming a big business, just as we talk about them today. Perhaps it's a timeless thing. Yet there's still lots of nostalgia and history in the documentary.

If you have an hour to spare, check out this little slice of Canadian filmmaking.

In the Game's Special Offer With a Handful of Autographs From Canada's World Junior Champs

In the Game has announced a special "Super Box" offer to coincide with Canada's five-peat at the World Junior Hockey Championships on Monday.

For $79.95 you get 30 packs of 2008-09 Heroes & Prospects Hockey and one of nine specially stamped autographed cards from Canada's gold medal-winning roster. Here's the autograph breakdown:

• John Tavares (30)
• Thomas Hickey (50)
• Alex Pietrangeo (50)
• P.K. Subban (50)
• Jordan Eberle (40)
• Tyler Ennis (50)
• Angelo Esposito (50)
• Zack Boychuk (50)
• Cody Hodgson (30)
  

A rundown of the math shows a total of 400 Super Boxes will be produced.

Here's a link to the order form.

I'm In Love: O-Pee-Chee Edition

It's been probably five years since I've worked on a current hockey set. Baseball is my first love and when it came time to pare down the card buying, hockey went quickly. To add to my disinterest, Upper Deck got an exclusive license. While they're not doing a horrible job, it's made things a little too boring and predictable. When they acquired the O-Pee-Chee brand three years ago I was in shock and disbelief. I'm a sucker for tradition and O-Pee-Chee always belonged with Topps in my mind. I still have a hard time accepting that Upper Deck is now making OPC cards, kind of like I'm not buying TSN using the old Hockey Night in Canada theme.

That said, 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey has me collecting the sport again. Specifically, it's the no-frills 38-card rack packs I'm finding at Wal-Mart that have me collecting hockey again. With a 600-card base set, OPC is a monster to piece together. That's without getting into the final 100 cards being short prints. But at six bucks a pop, these rack packs make set building fun and managable. My wife doesn't object or even give me a dirty look when I slip a couple packs into the cart - that's how impressive the set is.

I'm making the purchase knowing full well there's no autographs, game-used or buybacks. I could care less. Give me a reasonably priced set with a huge checklist and I'm going to look at building it. Even when the design is merely "M'eh" like this set. I want to track the current rosters, last year's stats and learn new players. I want to sort and organize. I want to enjoy the set. There's a few inserts, but they're pretty mundane and add a simple flash to the packs. And while I normally loath players in one uniform and the logo being another, it's part of the OPC tradition. I think the traded lines would have made the touch even better, but I'm not complaining too much.

What these packs show, though, are just how much we're paying for autographs and game-used. Wal-mart has six-card regular packs with the slim possibility of hits at $3.00 a pack. That's $0.50 per card. The rack packs are 38 cards for $6.00. That's about $0.16 per card. So for a chance at a hit, which in all likelihood won't pay for two more packs, you're paying triple the price. You'll probably get more short prints and inserts, but it's not worth three times the price - at least to this set collector. So there's a little number crunching to show what the cost of hits are - even when the majority are plain white jersey swatches and signatures from average players with little upside.

If, by chance, you're working on the 2008-09 OPC set too, I've got a handful of doubles if you want to send me your list. My wants are still pretty big but can be found here.