Delivery Time! My Second Priority Mail Box from Last Week - This Time from 2x3 Heroes!

As the post title (not-so) eloquently states, this is the second Priority Mail Flat Rate box that I received last week.  I already showed the contents from the first (Reds and Pacific cards) during most of the past weekend.  Today, we begin our tour through the second box...this time from Jeff over at 2x3 Heroes.  What did this box hold?

Jeff ran a contest during December (if I recall correctly) where he basically gave away tons and tons of cards (something like $200 worth of postage when all was said and done)!  In fact, I don't even know how I ended up with so many mini packages of cards - maybe I won some of the smaller contests?  Maybe I got lucky?  Maybe Jeff can't find anyone else to dump Reds on?  No matter what, I don't care because I just got myself a boatload of cards to sort through!

By my count, there are seven team bags full of cards.  Over the next few posts, I plan to take one team bag at a time and show off some of the highlights.  I can also say that I'll be keeping a bunch of the cards - and others will be going out in future trades as a sort of "pay it forward" kind of thing that Jeff has started.

Since this is the first post, I decided to go with the smallest team bag to look at (after all, it's also Monday morning and who wants to read a big long thing in the morning)?!

The first team bag ended up being all Pirates.  Despite the Pirates defeating the Reds in the one-game fake playoffs last year, I still don't hate Pittsburgh.  In fact, I actively root for them against all teams except my Reds.  In the team bag there was at least one card from 11 different sets - but I have narrowed the cards down to my favorite four Pirates in the bag.

#4:  2010 Topps - Ross Ohlendorf

Ohlendorf has a funny name which is probably reason enough to put this card on a countdown.  However, I happen to like the yellow border with the dark background - the yellow and black fits the Pirates perfectly!  I also like this as a horizontal card since Ohlendorf's leg kick is so wide.  Good stuff by Topps - and it also makes me miss this set as I loved the 2010 flagship!

#3:  1993 Fleer Ultra - Kevin Young

I'm a sucker for the Fleer Ultra brand (something that will be even more obvious in a moment).  I don't like the early Ultra as much as the turn-of-the-century Ultra, but I can appreciate this card!  Look at the flying helmet of Young's!  Pure awesome (even if Young does look a bit like a tool with one arm having a sleeve of some sort and the other arm bare).

#2:  2006 Fleer Ultra - Zach Duke

Another Fleer Ultra card!  Again, this isn't the highest point of the Ultra line (I still prefer the late 90s / early 00s stuff) but it's not a bad card by any stretch of the imagination.  As I mentioned a few days ago, I want to work on collecting some of the various Pacific sets, the same could be said for some of the Fleer Ultra sets (and some of the Topps Stadium Club sets).

#1:  1993 Upper Deck SP - Jeff King

You can get to #1 on my countdown by representing a set that I have virtually no cards from or by having a rather unique photo.  In the case of this list's #1 card, both criteria have been met!  I greatly enjoy the image (even if it does seem a bit crooked - even though I realize it isn't) - and I enjoy getting a set representative from the 1993 SP set.  The only thing I don't really like is the yellow and black squares on the left side of the card - it makes it look a bit too much like a racing flag for my tastes (or maybe the Maryland state flag).

That's it for the first packet of cards - but there are still TONS more to come!  Thanks for the fun box to sort through Jeff!

Delivery Time! S.Mack Talk Lays the S.Mack Down on S.ome UD Vintage

Thanks to the recent group break here at Nachos Grande, I have quite a backlog of trades to showcase on my blog.  However, time is limited tonight (it's the final evening of spring break for me and I have plenty of stuff to do that I put off all week).  Because of my procrastination, here's a quick PWE courtesy of Jimmy over at the new (to me anyhow) S.Mack Talk blog.  It's a fun name for a guy who collects all things related to Shane Mack!

Anyhow, Jimmy sent me three cards - two of which are from the 2001 UD Vintage set (a set that I am currently working on).  Unfortunately both cards are tainted with Cardinal sink but what do you do when you need 'em?

Speaking of needing them, here's the up-to-date of what I still need out of the 2001 UD Vintage set.  As you can see, I'm missing a ton of cards yet!

Upper Deck Vintage Wants:  1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 47, 50, 54, 60, 62, 63, 65, 75, 79, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 103, 106, 108, 110, 11, 112, 113, 116, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 133, 137, 140, 141, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 153, 156, 160, 165, 166, 167, 168, 171, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 179, 180, 186, 188, 190, 191, 192, 196, 201, 203, 205, 206, 209, 211, 214, 217, 219, 220, 221, 232, 233, 234, 235, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 249, 250, 252, 256, 257, 259, 262, 264, 265, 268, 270, 273, 274, 276, 277, 279, 281, 282, 286, 291, 293, 294, 297, 298, 299, 300, 303, 308, 310, 314, 318, 324, 326, 332, 335, 337, 338, 345, 346, 349, 353, 357, 359, 361, 362, 363, 364, 371, 372, 379, 383, 385, 386, 387, 388, 390, 396, 397, 398

Happily, the third card (also from my want list) was this 2013 Topps Chasing History insert card of Tony Cingrani.

That Cingrani certainly eases the pain inflicted by an otherwise all-Cardinals PWE.  However, when you are  a set collector you don't have the luxury of choosing which teams you want cards from...gotta have 'em all!

Thanks for the quick trade Jimmy!  And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!

Now you'll have to excuse me as I try to quickly cram in some more grading, lesson planning, etc. before school starts back up tomorrow.  When's summer vacation again?

Barry Larkin Collection 245: 1989 Baseball Card Magazine - #17

Barry Larkin
Year:  1989
Brand:  Baseball Card Magazine
Card number:  17

In 1989, Baseball Card Magazine issued a 72 card set that was an obvious homage to the 1959 Topps set.  The card is printed on rather flimsy stock, but otherwise it's a nice looking set (assuming you like the original '59 design of course).  Larkin's card has the black background but the Baseball Card Magazine set actually featured all manners of background colors as well as a few "special cards" such as this Fence Busters card (image taken from here).

The set also includes some "rookie stars" cards with my favorite being this Ken Griffey Jr. card (image taken from here).

Overall, despite the cheap card stock I like the Barry Larkin quite a bit.  I do wonder who BCM managed to use the Topps design without ever acknowledging Topps on the cards though!  I also like the black background with the Reds' bright red jersey in the photo of Larkin - the color combination comes together quite well (and it looks a lot better than a yellow or pink background would have looked)!  All things considered, this is one of my favorite Barry Larkin cards from 1989 - and it's definitely one of the nicer "oddball" cards in my collection.

Delivery Time! Heeeerrrreeee's Johnny! (More Pacific Sets Reviewed!)

I'm back with the fourth (and final) post detailing a recent trade with John from Johnny's Trading Spot.  John sent me a bunch of Reds - and a bunch of turn-of-the-century Pacific cards.  As you may recall, I've decided to go after a bunch of Pacific sets in the near future and so I asked John to send me any cards that he had (from any team).  In the second post of this trade, I opened up a big batch of Pacific and made a list where I decided which sets were of high priority to me.

For the record, here is that list:

Initial Pacific set rankings ( in order of desire - subject to change though!)
Definitely want to collect:
1999 Pacific Invincible
2000 Pacific Aurora
1999 Pacific
2000 Pacific Vanguard
Probably want to collect:
2001 Pacific Private Stock
2000 Pacific Prism
1998 Pacific Crown Collection
1998 Pacific Paramount
Take 'em or Leave 'em:
1998 Pacific Aurora
1998 Pacific Online
1998 Pacific Omega

Now, I want to go through the final brown paper wrapped packet of cards (which are all Pacific goodies) and see what other sets I might add to the list (and possible move sets up or down as I find new cards to look at)!

Our tour through the final stack of Pacific cards begins with a 1996 Pacific card.

I think this year is probably a bit too early for me to try and collect the set - I'm guessing it'd be nearly impossible to track down potential trade partners.  That said, based on the John Smiley it is a rather good looking set.  Since this is a  Reds card (one of the few Reds Pacific cards that John sent), it's a keeper whether or not I try for the 1996 set.  For now, I'll put this set at the top of the Take 'em or Leave 'em category.

Next up, a 1997 Pacific card (again only one copy to look at).

Unlike the 1996 set which I like, this one does nothing for me.  Sometimes Pacific got the foil effect right, other times it looks more like a fairy threw up on the side of a card (this is a case of a puking fairy for sure).  This set manages to rank one spot higher than the 1998 Pacific Omega set and that's it.

Not all of the Pacific cards in the final stack were from different sets (as compared to the first stack of Pacific).  In fact, the next set chronologically in the pack was another big stack of 1998 Pacific Crown Collection.  I had this set in the "probably want to collect" category and now thanks to John I have about 25 different cards from the set (though I still have to figure out the gold/silver foil issue).

Back to new sets (to me), here's a 1998 Pacific Revolution.

I guess the Revolution brand was full of sparkle and glitter!  However, unlike the 1997 Pacific set which looked like a fairy puked on it, I like the sparkle of this set well enough.  I do wonder if that is supposed to be some sort of ninja star design in the background though.  This set will make it into the "probably want to collect" list.

This stack of cards also held seven different 1999 Pacific Revolution cards.

To be fair, if I'm going to get seven of one year and only one of the other year, I'm glad I got seven 1999 cards!  I like this design a lot better - the gold as the key color with silver sparkle accents works much better for me.  I also like the slightly larger team logo bubble at the bottom - and the player name is MUCH easier to read.  This set makes the "definitely want to collect list."

The next set to make an appearance in the stack (and that didn't show up in the previous stack) is the 1999 Pacific Paramount set.

The 1998 Pacific Paramount set is ok but that 1999 Paramount set is much, much better!  I love the clean, classy design with the white borders.  I don't love the foil names but thanks to Topps, I'm at least used to it (and you can read the names quite easily).  This set shoots up to the bottom of my "definitely collect" list.

Continuing through the package, we next come across a pair of 1999 Pacific Prism cards.

I put the 2000 Prism set fairly high up in the middle tier - but I don't think this set is quite as good (which is weird because the 2000 set doesn't feature large team logos which I usually prefer).  I guess it's the all foil background design being loud, yet boring, that ruins the 1999 set for me.

Another new 2000 set, the Pacific flagship set.

I like this set a lot.  Sure, it's simple but sometimes that is quite alright.  This set looks quite a bit like the 1999 Pacific flagship, though I like the 2000 set much, much more.  This set moves into the second spot on my list of sets to collect (it's also a set that I did buy some of as a kid so that will help when the time comes to see how many cards I actually need from the set)!

You would think by now that there couldn't possibly be any more Pacific sets that I have yet to show between the two posts.  You might think that, but you'd be wrong!

Here's the 2000 Pacific Paramount set.

This is another relatively simple, relatively class design that I happen to dig.  I don't really know if I prefer it more or less than the 1999 Paramount set...for now I guess I'll say more since it's the "newer" of the two set.

Unbelievable as it may seem, there's yet more Pacific sets in the trade box from John.  Here's the 2000 Pacific Crown Collection.

This is a pretty set too (basically a hybrid of the 1999 and 2000 Pacific Paramount sets really).  I think for the '99 & '00 Paramount and this set, it will really come down to which set has better photography.  For now, I'm going to slot this set in between the two Paramounts but that is definitely subject to change.

Finally, we end with one more set - 2000 Pacific Revolution.

While I liked the 1999 Pacific Revolution set, the 2000 set is back to a fairy vomiting all over the cards.  In fact, this looks like a fairy being electrocuted threw up on the cards.  It's a tremendous mishmash of sparkle, weird designs, and the number 2000.  There are no team logos but there is the word revolution embossed on the left side of each base card for no apparent reason.  I can't see myself chasing this one anytime soon...

Current Pacific set rankings ( in order of desire - subject to change though!)
Definitely want to collect:
1999 Pacific Invincible
2000 Pacific
2000 Pacific Aurora
1999 Pacific
1999 Pacific Revolution
2000 Pacific Vanguard
2000 Pacific Paramount
2000 Pacific Crown Collection
1999 Pacific Paramount
Probably want to collect:
2001 Pacific Private Stock
2000 Pacific Prism
1998 Pacific Crown Collection
1998 Pacific Paramount
1997 Pacific Revolution
Take 'em or Leave 'em:
1996 Pacific
2000 Pacific Revolution
1999 Pacific Prism
1998 Pacific Aurora
1998 Pacific Online
1997 Pacific
1998 Pacific Omega

Wow, thanks for the great trade John!  By my count, that package had at least one card from twenty-one different Pacific sets!  That's an awesome way to sample a lot of sets without having to resort to opening hundreds of packs!  I must admit that it's a little daunting how many sets I put in the two upper tiers of sets that I would like to collect...but at least now I have a start in terms of figuring out the various Pacific sets!

As for anyone else, if you'd like to trade be sure to check out my want list and make an offer (and now you know what Pacific sets I'm also looking for - and I'd trade for almost any Pacific inserts as well since I don't have many of those yet)!

PS:  I bought myself a box of Pacific cards not too terrible long ago...and it's from a set that isn't listed above (and one that I don't know how much I'll like/love/hate)!  You'll have to stay tuned to my blog to see what that box is though...it's sitting on my shelf unopened at the moment but I have a feeling that will change before too long!

Barry Larkin Collection 244: 1990 Fleer League Leaders - #22

Barry Larkin
Year:  1990
Brand:  Fleer League Leaders
Card number:  22

The 1990 Fleer League Leaders set has 44 cards in it split evenly across the two leagues.  The Cincinnati Reds have two representatives in the set (the second being Eric Davis).    Unfortunately, other than the basic 44 card checklist, I couldn't find much information about this set.  It appears it was a standalone set (no one lists it as an insert for the Fleer flagship set) but I couldn't actually verify that.  I suppose (given the boring design) that it is sort of fitting that this set has been all but forgotten.  Heck, the Reds logo on the back is printed in pure blue...things like that make for a set to basically beg to be ignored.  If this set came out today, I don't think anyone would purchase it...and based on how little information I could find, I don't think many purchased it back in 1990 either!