You've Waited Long Enough

Okay, you've waited long enough.  The Packs Gone Wild series of posts, brought to you by Marck, of the Collective Troll blog, has now reached the Hot Russian Space Chicks phase.

I'm not quite sure how many cards are in this set. This pack is part of Series 3.  Okay, I do know something about these cards.  And a bit more.

Nothing says Space like a Saturn V.  In flight.  On the pad.  It doesn't matter.  Admit it.  We all flipped through the Estes catalog, dreaming of a multistage liftoff, trying to figure out how to pay for handfuls of C and D engines.

I guess little Boris and Mikhail would spend their nights looking through their Esteskovich catalog, hoping to someday buy and launch an Soyuz TM 2.

David Letterman's uncle?

I know that you're waiting for the Hot Russian Space Chicks.  I'm sad to say that this pack doesn't have any. The best that I can do is this shot of Kathryn Thornton.  She's on the left, joined by Thomas Akers.  At least that's what it says on the back of the card.

This could be a new amusement park ride.  I don't know what they'd call it, though.

Does anyone else wonder what Alan Kalter was doing during the 1970s?  My wife thinks that Rusty looks like Robert Redford. 

Alan Kalter, of Late Night announcing fame

Something not too smart about bringing bees into a small, enclosed area for several weeks, without the ability to open the door and shoo them out.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."  Before it became popular.

So there you go.  Your Hot Russian Space Chicks edition of Packs Gone Wild.  For what it is worth, I've never pulled an auto or a relic from any pack.  I'm a loser.

Packs Gone Wild - Part 3

Ooh, another round of "Packs Gone Wild".

The last two baseball packs from the box.  1988 Score and 1994 Fleer.  If those don't want to make you run and hide under the covers I don't know what would.  I really don't want to know, thanks.

17 cards in the pack and a Magic Motion Trivia Card.  That's some good value.  Oh, and the cards are "Photo Quality".

I spared you seeing the fronts.  But the Brian Downing is about the best of them.  Really.  Photo quality?  It is a photo.  Note the pretty rainbow.  Modern cards don't have anything on this set.

The backs?  They're actually halfway decent.  Clear stats, a splash of color and a nice tight head shot.  All of the players in this pack were wearing hats, with the team logo that is very clear.

Well, do you?  Hint: Hank Aaron Breaks Babe's Record.  That's all I'm going to say.

I'm glad that Score tightened it up in subsequent releases.


Now, on to the Fleer.  I don't remember these.  Fleer, too, has run the spectrum of quality.

This time they don't disappoint.  Nice photos.  The cutting quality is just fine.  The cards weren't quite square on my scanner and at first I didn't take the time to either rotate them or crop them properly.  Later on I got lazy.

Eck.  No, not Ecch.  Eck.

A young Manny.

A big Kruk.  Oh, is there any other kind?  Speaking of kind, that wasn't.  Sorry, John.

The backs are nice.  Clean. It could have been busy, but it wasn't.  Glenallen Hill sounds like a very tony subdivision.

One of the insert sets.  Or chase sets.  Or parallels.  I'm not quite sure what Fleer called them in 1994.

And another subset.  I didn't even take the time to figure out what "Four In One" was.  Or is.


After typing that, I had to read the back.  He's the answer to a trivia question.  Four HRs in in a single game.  And 12 RBI, too.  Both are records.  September 7, 1993.  Look it up.

Next up, if I think of it, hot Russian Space Chicks.  Maybe.

Packs Gone Wild - Part 2

Yes, another post concerning the "Packs Gone Wild" package that Marck sent.  I only share his name, not his handle (The Collective Troll), so that you'd all see what a horrid mistake his parent's made at the hospital when they named him.  Now, that isn't nice of me.  Perhaps it was the recording secretary that added the extra, and unnecessary C to his name.  I'll have to ask him about it some time.

On to the packs...

1988 Topps American Baseball.  I guess that these were manufactured and sold in the British Isles and across Europe.

Nothing says American Baseball like a Yankees card.  And a base burglar at that.

And yes, another Giants card.  No, I'm not trying to tick off the Night Owl.  I'm trying to be a bigger man and subtly congratulate the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series.  I was rooting for the Rangers.

Wow.  Topps went all out on the backs.  Year stats.  Life(time) stats.  Autograph.  Cartoon with trivia.  And some "Talkin' Baseball" which explains some of the more common events about the game.  Like a Triple Play.

Then a nice pack from the 2004 National Trading Card Day.

For some reason I assumed that they'd all be baseball cards.  I was wrong.  12 cards in the set.  4 sports per set.  3 cards per sport.  1 set per pack.  Easy to complete the set.  Good photos, a nice mix of sports and players.  Decent design.  Clean.  Good to get the kids hooked on.

We have American Football.  This one was selected for Louis.  It is a Lions card.  They don't get much respect.

Here's a Rocco for Marck.  Maybe Marck could donate that pesky C to Rocco.  He could use another one. Roccco.  It just rolls off the tongue.

The Shaq is for me.  Not so much because I like him, but he's been recently spotted near my town.

And another for Louis.  The kid does play hockey, you know.  And his dad is a voluminous blogger.

And that's another post from the generosity that is The Collective Troll.

Still more to come.  I've got some 1988 Score, 1994 Fleer and some hot Russian Space Chicks*.

* Disclaimer:

I haven't opened the SpaceShots pack yet.

I don't know if there are any cards of Russians.

Or of Russian Women.

Or how attractive they are.

It is just a tease.

Packs Gone Wild - Part 1

Moons ago, like back in February moons ago, Marck, The Collective Troll, and I discussed his big, insane pack break.   I called it "Packs Gone Wild" in an email to him.  I found some 1964 Topps Giants cards that he was looking for and sent them off in March or so.  In September he sent me a box of stuff.  Packs, singles, more packs, and more singles.

So, I'll start off showing some of what he sent.

Three coins, and two of them are Giants.  A Hall of Famer helps balance it out.

I think that I have the Orel Hershiser coin.  Now to find it.  It isn't with my OH cards, because it just doesn't fit in the binder.


Moving to another decade, another Topps offering.  The one-eyed kid grows his hair.

I actually like these cards.  Decent action shots.

Eight years before the bat cracked, but swinging big.
.

The backs, meh.  I'm not so crazy about these.  I know that it is a game, but I'm not even going to try to figure it out

So, there's the first installment of "Packs Gone Wild".  Keep waiting.  Hot Russian Space Chicks will be featured in the near future.