tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12204510.post2079589368652666443..comments2024-03-17T20:47:46.386-04:00Comments on Nachos Grande: A Baseball Card Blog: Delivery Time! More from Johnny's Trading Spot!Nachos Grandehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02911007368272468591noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12204510.post-55257313444446616342014-03-07T17:03:14.999-05:002014-03-07T17:03:14.999-05:00The different color foils were definitely parallel...The different color foils were definitely parallels. I don't recall the odds of any of them, but I really wasn't paying attention because, by then, I already hated parallels and, with Pacific, they were easy to ignore (foil is foil, right?) and didn't seem to carry a premium on the aftermarket anyway. There was also blue foil, in addition to gold, red, and bronze, IIRC.<br /><br />I was probably the biggest Pacific fan in my collecting neck of the woods. Their entre to a card license was cards in Spanish, which I loved. Of course, once they had the license, they ditched that pretty quickly. Their cards, though, were always innovative--pushing the other companies to up their game--and generally attractive. I think they had the earliest die-cuts (and, with Pacific Crown, certainly the first full set of nothing but die-cuts). And the Invincible line--with the plastic insert--were some of the most gorgeous cards I've ever seen. Unfortunately, Invincible was a high-end product and, since, Pacific didn't sell as well as Topps, Fleer, Donruss, UD, and Score, dealers didn't stock them and they were impossible to find...even at shows. They were also the first to sell cards in packs of just one card--an attempt, I guess, to keep their high end cards "affordable" by the pack.<br /><br />For my money, the greatest thing about Pacific was player selection. Pacific was consistently the place to go for players who, otherwise, never got a card--middle inning relievers and third string catchers and the like. At least it sure as heck seemed that way. They were kinda Topps Total before there was Topps Total and they were much better at it, honestly. As someone who likes to build team sets, I found Pacific indispensable...especially in football where, with the large rosters, so many players never get cards. Pacific even had an insert set in some of their high end products. Oh, they did lots of inserts but the ones I'm talking about, themselves, weren't much to look at--far more plain looking than the base cards--but they had tons of obscure players and players on teams they otherwise never got cards for. Who had Roberto Pentagine as a Met? Only Pacific and only in that insert set. It was an impossible set to put together, too. And, of course, Pacific did the Legends set and the Senior League set and other specialty sets.<br /><br />The difference with Pacific, I think, was that Michael Cramer was a collector and fan himself. You don't see that at most card companies. I mean, I like some of the things Panini has done and I think they've earned an MLB license, but they've totally missed the point on their Pacific issues and it shows. Sadly, for Mr. Cramer, it was the time of investors and not so much of collectors.<br /><br />I probably have tons of 800 count boxes of Pacific cards you could use. Not much of the high-end stuff, but certainly their flagship (and Online--which was one of the ugliest sets ever but, again, lots of players you didn't see on cards otherwise), but they'd be buried in my attic somewhere. If I ever dig them out, I'll certainly send you some.Stubbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07010142558613227433noreply@blogger.com