Flashback Friday! Ripping Some Old School Wax

Happy Friday everyone - and with it being Friday, let's do another Flashback Friday post!  For today's pack of cards, I have a 17 card pack of 1992 Fleer baseball.

I don't recall buying all that much of the 1992 Fleer set (I think I OD'd on the bright yellow 1991 set and so I mostly avoided the next year's edition).  That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what the pack holds - and with 17 cards within the pack, there should be some fun to be had!

Here's what I got...in the order I pulled them.

52.  Ruben Amaro, Jr.

First card...fairly simple design, much more "classy" than the 1991 yellow tragedy.

348.  Eddie Zosky
215.  Junior Ortiz
661.  Henry Rodriguez

Prospect cards are always fun, right?

707.  Designated Hitters:  Wade Boggs & Harold Baines

Fleer's Super Star Special cards were a favorite of mine back in the day.  Donruss tried to do something similar with this year's set but it felt lacking due to the absence of team logos.  Fleer was able to do it right and as a result, some of the Super Star Specials cards are pretty darn cool.

414.  Joe Oliver

First Reds card of the pack.  I'm not even sure if I own this one - score!

42.  Dennis Lamp
604.  Tony Fernandez
341.  Dave Stieb
462.  Eric Karros

The backs of the cards are pretty nice as well - I especialy like the large write-up that some of the younger players (without a lot of career statistics) get.

522.  Kim Batiste
397.  Rick Wilkins
22.  Joe Orsulak
645.  Francisco Oliveras
355.  Francisco Cabrera
122.  Rudy Seanez
24.  Arthur Rhodes

Well, the back half or so of the pack was kind of dull but overall it still a fun little rip.  I won't be collecting this set though - so most of the cards are available for trade should someone be jonesing for a 1992 Fleer common.

Barry Larkin Collection 609: 1999 Upper Deck Encore - #23

Barry Larkin
Year:  1999
Brand:  Upper Deck Encore
Card number:  23

The 1999 Upper Deck Encore set was a partial parallel set of Upper Deck's flagship release from the year.  Luckily for Larkin collectors, Barry was indeed featured in the 180 card set (Sean Casey and Greg Vaughn were the other two Reds featured in the set).  There is also a FX Gold parallel of every base card in the set (including Larkins) which is numbered out of only 125 copies.  I don't (yet?) own the parallel but for now I'm simply pleased to have the regular base card in my collection.

The card itself isn't bad.  I never heard of the Encore set prior to obtaining this card but I did buy a few packs of the 1999 Upper Deck flagship set back in the day...and that's enough for me to like this card alright even if I feel that the design aged rather poorly.

Finding Time for an eBay Win!

Now that I am in full-fledged "dad mode" with a baby son, I find that while I don't have much time to sort (or scan) baseball cards, I do have quite a bit of time to use my phone to browse the internet...and sometimes that means I end up on eBay.

Those eBay visits?  Once in a great while, I buy something that I want - and while I've only actually purchased a single card since the baby arrived, I'd say it's a nice one for a lone purchase.

For $5.50 (including shipping), I can't really complain about that triple relic...though if I were to complain it would have to be about the rather boring bits of cloth!  Still, it's a nice card from an expensive set that I will probably never open on my own.

Even better for me, the seller included a few freebies including this pretty cool Joe Morgan card which was new to me.

The rest of the freebies - that Opening Day Reds' parade card is also rather neat and I'm glad to now own it!

Not a bad little haul...but getting back into the habit of browsing eBay could quickly become an expensive idea.  I'm not sure that is so wise for me to do right now!

Barry Larkin Collection 608: 1999 Pacific Private Stock - #110

Barry Larkin
Year:  1999
Brand:  Pacific Private Stock
Card number:  110

When Pacific Private Stock came out, I didn't buy much of it because of the high price point (and the fact that I was barely out of middle school and had no income to speak of).  That's too bad though, because today I really like the set but it's hard to find new in box! 

The design of the Larkin card is quite nice - the team logo on the bottom along with the rainbow foil make for a rather fancy looking card.  The back is a little bit weird in that you get a single box score as the main "chunk" of statistics...but I kind of dig the uniqueness of the design (kudos toPacific for trying new things, am I right)?! 

Delivery Time! Back in the Trading Saddle with Collector's Crack and a Real MLB Game!

Hi everyone, I've missed you! 

My little baby is taking up almost all of my free time but I think my wife and I are starting to get into a bit of a more comfortable routine.  In fact, things have been going well enough lately that I was able to take my dad to the Reds/Pirates game in Pittsburgh for Father's Day. 

We had great seats along the first base line (row 1) and got to witness an amazing play by Billy Hamilton in the field (plus a Reds' win which was awesome).  The only bad news about all that was that I got some sort of terrible sun poisoning...it has HOT that day!

I should also give the Reds credit for signing autographs for the kids on Sunday.  In total, I witnessed five different Reds signing for the kids including the aforementioned Billy Hamilton.  I'm not an autograph hound so I didn't even try to get one (I didn't bring any sort of pen or ball or baseball cards) but it was fun to watch the kids get all excited.

Now that the big trip is over with, I am hoping to slowly get back into my various hobbies.  I have been playing my PS4 late at night while the baby sleeps (mostly Fortnite and Assassin's Creed if you were wondering) but now it's time to dive back into the baseball cards as well.

For today's post, I'm pleased to show off the highlights of a swap I made with Mark over at Collector's Crack.  About a month ago, Mark showed off his end of the trade - but he hadn't sent my end yet so I'm not that far behind in my posting of the contents of the envelope!

Mark sent me a few assorted Reds cards including this rather awesome Drew Stubbs triple relic/auto card.

I don't Stubbs (he wasn't a Red for all that long) but I can admit that this is a nice looking card - especially that left-most patch (it's some raised red stitching).

Mark also sent me a pair of interesting insert cards featuring the Reds.  The first also features a Padre (of all teams) but I'll forgive it since it's a new Ken Griffey, Jr. card for my collection.

The final card of note is another insert, this one featuring only Reds though.

It's interesting to me that this is a Donruss product (hence the inclusion of Pete Rose) but also that there are all sorts of official team logos present.  Maybe Donruss could do that back in 2008 when this card was produced?  I don't know the legalities of the card...but I do know that it's a very cool card commemorating one of the best baseball teams of all time!

Thanks for the trade, Mark!  And thanks to all of you for sticking with my blog through its rather quiet times.  The whole not posting every day is something that is taking some getting used to for me...but hopefully it will mean better post quality coming from me in the long run.