Heavy Metal

There's a lot to the resurgence of the Metal Universe set.

Most of it can be attributed to #23 on the Bulls. But even before that, it seemed like some cards from the greatest decade of collecting, the 1990s, were gaining some steam.

It makes sense. Current card releases are uninspired, rehashing the same subject matter over and over. Vintage cards are great, sure, but the yearly odes to the past are tiresome and for this collector, have made me less enthusiastic about old cards. They are forced upon us over and over in large insert sets year in and year out, making it impossible to know what year the reprint set is actually from. It's easier to lean on the past than make something new and special and out there. No Topps brand is willing to take a shot on something crazy.

Something like Metal. Some that makes Topps Fire look tame.

The end all, be all set for Fleer/Skybox Metal Universe franchise is 1997. That's fairly commonly agreed upon across all sports.

It all started with 1996, which was pretty nuts in its own right, but 1997 brought it to another level. From there it started to spiral downward a little bit, fizzling out after the 2000 issue.

But what a five year run it was!

With that, I wanted to rank each Tino Martinez Metal Universe card, as he was fortunately included in each set.

5. 2000 Metal

This was pretty boring. Can't change my mind. Gone were the unique designs, and instead this was just a metallic texture. This is what Topps Metal 2020 would look like, except it would be a reprint of a 1952 Mantle with the metallic texture. Actually, that's not a bad idea. You can have that one for free, Topps.

4. 1999 Metal

I didn't dislike the design. I liked how big and bold the player's last name was. However, all the designs were the same. If it varied a bit more, or brought in more color, there was untapped potential.

And bonus points for Precious Metal Gems if we need to justify the design using parallels!

3. 1998 Metal

Good effort. Fairly fun set by putting players in landmarks in their team's city. Very back-of-1993-Leaf-like. Tino squatting on St Patrick's Cathedral? Pretty cool. Different. The little head shot is interesting too.

2. 1996 Metal

Great card. Vibrant design. Tino on fiyah. I won't lie, if Tino was in a Yankees uniform here, it might be #1. The team name lists him as a Yankee, but he's still shown as a Mariner. Come on, Fleer! You spent all this time on the design. Bust out the air brush.

The Platinum parallels weren't the worst.

1. 1997 Metal

Duh. As a whole, I'm very high on this set. But I think the Tino is pretty medicore compared to some dudes who have terminator hands or are getting picked up by Godzilla. Maybe throw in some dynamite or something? I'm not even sure what's going on here. I think it's lightning? Maybe lightning extending from he bat down through Tino's body?

But still. It beats out 1996 for me because of the uniform and the fact that something wonky is going on here.

Long live the '90s and these amazing, wonderful, ridiculous card designs.

Lumberin' Around

Once in a while, a Tino card on eBay pops up that is rarely ever seen. I check a few times a day, so I have a pretty good grasp on what's rare to see in a given search.

Last week, a card I never recall seeing came up. It's not particularly rare, at least I don't think. According to baseballcardpedia, it fell 1:36 in 1998. Yet here I was, staring at a card I don't think I've ever seen on the site.

The price tag was $3.49 + $1.00 shipping. There was even a 'best offer' option. Not wanting to miss out because I wanted to get it for $.50 cheaper, I just hit buy it now. Why risk it?

The card in question? A 1998 Fleer Lumber Company insert.

Crazy that a seemingly run-of-the-mill insert just never came up. There's one on COMC, but as with any "one" card listed on COMC, the price is really high because It'S tHe OnLy OnE LiStEd oN tHe SiTe. On eBay, the cards of the other guys in the set don't go for crazy prices, so they can't be that rare. The Ripken just sold for $3 and $1.50, respectively. Griffey and Gwynn just went for $4. If it was truly a short-printed or hard to find set from '90s, those would go for a lot more.

But I hadn't ever even seen this one.

And it's a great card. Tree rings to represent lumber. Simple idea. The rings are embossed as well, which gives the card a cool texture.

After the arrival of the two cards below, I now sit 26 away from 1K.

And while I've been putting a dent in my chase, I'm really now down to cards that just don't seem to ever pop up.

Should be a fun last 25.

While I wait for Ginter...

As I'm anxiously awaiting my first look at the 2019 Allen & Ginter Tino Martinez, that didn't stop me from bringing in a new Tino to my collection. Although it's 17 years old, indeed it's one I needed.

Fleer slash Skybox put out a few interesting sets, and one of those was the EX brand. I always sort of liked them, as they had an acetate-type feel for them, and often had all or a portion of the card as clear cut. I love clear cuts.

While I have several copies of the base card, this is an instance where I had no idea that a relic existed. Truth be told, it looks like Fleer had some leftover bat pieces laying around, and essentially just cut out a weird shape on the base card and found a place to stick a bat relic. It's not integrated into the card particularly well.

I had never seen it until it popped up on eBay, and with just 43 copies made, that's not surprising. While perhaps not low by today's standards, during this time it was low.

Now I'm ready for some 2019 Ginter.

A Super Ball

When I was younger, I definitely called The Super Bowl, "The Super Ball." It's the same thing my six-year-old is doing now.

I also called The World Series, "The World Serious." These names are confusing for kids.

On another note, this post is about a super ball. In fact, it's the shape of my latest Tino Martinez pickup from 2003 Fleer Hardball.

This is a platinum parallel, #'d to just 50. I say just 50 because there aren't too many low-numbered Tinos out there.

Despite not particularly liking the set, when I saw this for a buck, I had to snag it. It's not often I get to add a Tino this rare to my collection. Yeah, I'd have to call this a super ball.

As for the Super Bowl, give me the Eagles, please.

Please.

1,000 is so far off

While I always thought I'd get to 1,000 unique Tino Martinez cards, now I'm not so sure.

According to Trading Card Database, there are 2,246 Tino cards out there. I'm not sure how accurate that is or not, but 1,000 out of the 2,246 seem daunting.

My collection growth has really slowed because it's just not easy to find them anymore. I do regular eBay searches for new ones, but many left for me are very high end or rare. Otherwise, it's dupe after dupe.

So when one shows up for a buck with free shipping, I pounce. It's especially satisfying when it's a semi-rare numbered card. In this instance, a 2002 Fleer Platinum Parallel #'d to 202. This marks Tino #832 for me.

It's an unremarkable card from an unremarkable set, but it's another inch closer to 1,000. Maybe I'll get there one day.

Focus Pocus!

One of my goals for ages has been to organize my Derek Jeter collection. I don’t think I’ve purchased more than 10-15 Jeter singles since I got back into collecting. Nearly every trade package from my blogging friends tends to include a Jeter or two, and as a result, I’ve accumulated several hundred. For that, I thank all of you!

I don’t have the final numbers yet, but it’s been a great first use of my new card sorting tray!

During my COMC Black Friday order, I decided to take a quick browse for some cool looking Jeters I knew I didn’t have. I added two to my cart:

The first one was what really caught my eye. It’s a 2001 Fleer Focus insert called Focus Pocus. Fun! The card itself is very shiny. I knew without checking that I didn’t have it.

The second was from 1997 Circa. The insert itself is from the Circa Boss set. It’s got some texture to it and the text is a bit raised and bumpy. Sort of like an old Goosebumps novel. However, I admit I was disappointed by the card itself. It looks better in the photos than it does in hand. It just felt a little lackluster. Still, it was just a throw-in to a large purpose, and was a card I didn’t have, so I’m happy.

I don’t see myself really buy more Jeters outside of the eventual autograph, but it’s not a bad strategy to throw a few into large COMC orders. However, hopefully my blogging friends will continue to include Jeters once in a while in trade packages. That’s where my collection has grown most!

RBI Kings

I know that the RBI doesn't have the same significance among baseball stats as it did years ago. A lot of it has to do with the lineup around a given player, a variable not really considered for a long time. Assuming they put up the same batting lines, a cleanup hitter with some .400 OBP guys in front of him is going to have more RBIs than a cleanup hitter with a bunch of .300 OBP guys a head of him. More men on base should mean more RBIs. Easy.

Also - it's dumb that an RBI is awarded on a fielder's choice, but not on a double play.

Regardless, one still has to be a good hitter to collect a chunk of these so-called runs batted in. And in 1997, Tino Martinez was just that. He hit 44 HRs and drove in 141 runs. That's pretty damn good, RBI stat flaws or not.

In most instances, Tino hit fourth that year with a combination of Derek Jeter (.370 OBP), Wade Boggs (.373), Paul O'Neill (.399), and Bernie Williams (.408) ahead of him. Four guys with OBP percentages over .370 = lots of RBI chances. Plus Tino drove himself in 44 times.

One constant with Fleer Ultra over the years was an insert set called RBI Kings. Despite consistently driving in over 100 runs, Tino only appeared in the 1998 set after his monster year.

Still, it's one of the better looking RBI Kings inserts that they made. The pinks and purples make for a card color combination not frequently seen in my Tino collection.

A tin of Jordans

How many people had this baseball card tin growing up? I seem to remember getting it in the early ‘90s, and that it came with a few random packs of cards in it. It’s remained in my collection for over 25 years, and I frequently changed the contents growing up.

In high school, I think I put all of my Michael Jordan cards in there, and that’s still what resides in the tin today. I have all of my Jordans stashed in there, as a few are in top loaders, and the more common are in a few teams bags, which is stupid because it’s been thrown around over the years, so the lesser Jordan cards basically all have dinged corners.

Here are a few of my favorite MJ’s from within the tin.

This is the greatest basketball card I own. I received a box of 1995-96 Fleer Ultra for Christmas in ’95. It was a great set, and these Gold Medallions fell one per pack. They were awesome, with the full gold background. The 1996 baseball set had these as well. This was right after Jordan came back to the NBA as well, and to me, is just an iconic card from and iconic time for basketball cards. I’m so glad this card fell out of that box.

There was also this cool Double Trouble insert from the same set. What I liked about the inserts is that they could also include the Gold Medallion emblem, which increased the rarity and “book value.” I think I remember Beckett using a 3-5x multiplier for the Gold Medallion versions.

The ‘90s had some wacky inserts, as we all know. Number Crunchers from Hoops were pretty cool!

Fleer Metal was – and is – badass. This was from the Nuts & Bolts subset.

I’ve professed my love for Upper Deck Collector’s Choice You Crash The Game many times, and luckily still have the ’95-’96 redemption sets in both silver and gold. I always loved the shot of Jordan shooting the jumper in the Bulls’ black uniforms.

Collector’s Choice silver and gold sigs were fun too!

This was the first Jordan I actually pulled straight from a pack! It was from my Christmas stocking.

And of course, I have some MJ baseball cards. The ’91 Upper Deck SP is a classic. I lusted after this card in my cousin’s binder for years, and finally when he moved houses, he gave me this card, along with a binder with the complete 1989 Topps set.

I also have this cool oversized card of MJ from when he returned. I think it came from one of those repacks – an assortment of packs and a commemorative card.

Lastly, in seventh grade, I smelled pretty damn good, let me tell you. Why? Because I rocked Michael Jordan cologne. This is the official pin that came with my purchase.

So while it may say “Baseball Card Tin”, this is really a tin full of the greatest basketball player ever.

SuperTraders #29: Angels In Order

I’ve had quite a few PWEs show up lately, which I love. I need to get back to sending them out! Especially with my extra 2017 Topps cards sitting around.

My latest PWE came from #SuperTrader Tom of Angels In Order. It was a fun one! My favorite card was a 2007 Fleer ARod insert. I won’t lie, with all of these boring 2017 Topps inserts (other than Five Tools), I’d do anything for more of the crazy inserts that were around when there were multiple brands. This one isn’t as crazy as some, but still feels like it compared to 2017 Topps Salutes.

 

I can say I never collected any MLB Showdowns when they were out, and this is one of the shiny ones. It looks better than my scan would indicate.

This Salt Lake Bees set is just so cool!

All-time fan favorites needs to make a comeback…and include Tino! That is my wish for 2017.

Here’s the rest of the PWE. Great assortment of nine cards, Tom. Thank you!