JBF Week: Fried chicken, anyone?

Wade Boggs is the man. He's a HOFer. He signs TTM. He loves beer and fried chicken. He retweets his fans showing off sweet cards of himself.

I also noticed how Biggs is fiddling with his mitt. I remember seeing him do this all the time. I always felt like his glove looked so old, like he had had it for years. I'm not sure if it's the case, but that's the impression I was given.

This is my first Boggs relic, and I love it. It's a very cool looking card with a Chrome-type feel to it. I like the big block letters all over the card. The swatch is a decent size as well. I'm sort of tempted to send it TTM, but I don't think I want to risk losing it.

JBF Week: Can we have Mike Lowell back?

In 1999, right before spring training, the Yankees acquired lefty SP prospect Ed Yarnall from the Marlins for 3B Mike Lowell. It honestly wasn't a bad trade at the time. Yarnall was a highly rated SP prospect, and Lowell was an up and coming 3B. The Yanks had just extended Scott Brosius, and didn't have an immediate need for Lowell.

Top prospect for top prospect. Not a bad deal, right? Plus, I had seen Yarnall when he was in AA (played for the Binghamton Mets before going to the Marlins in the Mike Piazza deal) and was a big fan of his.

Well, Yarnall never really amounted to much. He had a handful of appearances with the Yanks in 1999 and 2000, and then was sent to the Reds in the Denny Neagle deal.

Lowell, meanwhile, went on to be an All-Star, Gold Glove, and World Series winner in Florida, then was sent to Boston, where he was a key cog on the 2007 World Series team. Who knows what would have happened if he stayed in NY, but man, did that trade come back to haunt the Yanks!

JBF, thanks for the memory with this sweet auto!

JBF Week: Bring Bazooka back!

In 1995 and 1996, I was hooked on Bazooka baseball cards. The packs were just $.50 a pack, and included a piece of Bazooka gum as well. They were lumpy packs since Bazooka isn't flat...it's more rectangular with some dimension.

Anyhow, the cards were definitely geared at kids. The 1995 set had some sort of weird game on it. I was 12 at the time, and had no interest in playing whatever card game it was, which to me, confirms that kids don't want to be pandered to. They just want to collect a fun set that they can afford. At $.50 a pop, I remember buying a ton of packs.

There were no fancy inserts. The 1995 set had a "Red Hot" insert which was actually tough to pull. But there were no hits or autographs. I just hoped to collect all the Yankees.

That summer, I went on vacation with my friend and his family, and his dad surprised us with a box of 1995 Bazooka. Every ten miles, we opened up another pack. What a great way to help pass the time in the car!

Anyhow, my point is, we were 12, and we just liked busting packs, seeing who we got, trading for cards we needed, and chomping on a good piece of gum.

In the mid-2000s, Bazooka made a comeback, but here is a prime example of the card companies losing their way with youngsters:

Relics!

Now, don't get me wrong, this is actually a super cool card, and Mickey Rivers is the man. I love having this card! But it just shows that modern-day companies feel the need to complicate all products with "hits."

I can't help but think back to that August, 1995 trip and remember how simple it was to just open packs and not be disappointed with the contents.

JBF Week: I shall call him Mini Me

I've grown to like Topps Minis over the last few seasons. I like this type of mini a lot more than A&G or Gypsy Queen minis.  I actually don't really know why. It's the same card, just smaller. I guess I've always liked to see the same thing, just downsized. After all, I loved Topps Micros in the early '90s.

The above Brett Garnder and CC Sabathia were from 2013 Topps Mini. The Gardner is #'d to 63, while the CC is #'d 5/5, which is awesome. I've actually found that these are fairly affordable online, and I've picked up a few for trade packages from time to time.

Here is another batch, courtesy of the same JBF package. I might need to try and complete this team set!

JBF Week: Always turn your cards over!

 

The relic card above of former Bengals WR TJ Houshmandzadeh came with a bunch of other cards, but I'm going to focus on this one first. It's a nice card in its own right. A very shiny, orange refractor with a jersey swatch from TJ's Pro Bowl jersey. I like that the photo shows him at the Pro Bowl as well, complete with a Hawaiian lei around his neck. Nice touch.

When I turned the card over for more info, I saw something I didn't expect to see. In fact, I didn't notice it the first few times I looked at the card, but once I re-examined the entire package, this jumped out at me:

In my defense, it's hard to see! Here's a closer look:

Um, yeah. This card is a 1/1 jersey! I felt awful for not noticing at first, but it just goes to show what a valuable lesson it is to check your cards! I know we've all overlooked a Topps sparkle or photo variation. It's fun to discover elements of a card that make it rarer than you first thought, and well, it doesn't get much rarer than this. 

The lesson: turn your cards over!

JBF Week: AJs for AJ

My Bengals collection has grown immensely since Jaybarkerfan found out I support the team. I have a really nice binder of AJ Green cards going, and he often includes some nice Bengals hits and cards with his packages to me. While I don't think I'll ever dive fully into football collecting, I love having these Bengals cards of current players.

Mostly, after really just seeing baseball cards, it's fun to see what football products are out there. Some are really nice. Some make baseball cards look like crap in terms of design or production value. Mostly, it's just enjoyable to see the diversity in sets and brands.

Here are a bunch of Bengals recently sent my way in various packages:

JBF Week: Small and Shiny

Jaybarkerfan had a "claim this card" promotion on his blog a while back, and I was lucky enough to reserve this Topps mini Ivan Nova jersey relic. I love the Pinstripe, and very simple design that the card entails. Being a mini card, there isn't a lot of wasted space, but this feels well done...almost like a base card with some jersey. Sometimes inserts are designed with the intent of leaving space for a relic, but this one doesn't feel that way.

But was that all he sent? Of course not! This is JBF we're talking about it. He dominated this package with refractors and other shiny cards. It might not be a great scan, but these cards were blinding all next to each other!

 Wes also included a really nice Phil Rizzuto card for my Rizzuto PC, as well as two cards from "National Trading Card Day." With JBF, it's always National Trading Card Day!