Pacific even had a strong checklist game

I've mentioned a bunch how much I love the Pacific brand of cards. More so the late '90s Pacific versus the early '90s stuff, bit it's all good stuff in my book.

Growing up, I sort of looked at them as a second-tier brand. Most probably did as well. Most still do. For me, that started to change with some of their incredible looking insert sets later in the decade.

One that was really hard for me to chase down for some reason was the 1998 Pacific Invincible Checklist. This was an insert card that featured five(!) players, with Tino front and center. He's joined on the front by Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams, although Tino is the focal point after coming off his 1997 AL MVP runner up campaign.

The back has shots of staff ace Andy Pettitte, as well as Mariano Rivera. I'm surprised Paul O'Neill or Hideki Irabu didn't make it on this card, but there's only so much space.

What's cool about this checklist is that it's a full team checklist, from base cards to insert cards. They pack a lot of punch onto one card between five players and the full team checklist. It's a pretty great idea, if you ask me. I've never been one to like checklists, so something like this appeals to me more than a standard card listing names with check boxes. 

I'm not sure why this card was hard to pick up. I think I actually have it somewhere but didn't have it marked as a "have", so I snagged it (again) when it popped up for a low price.

A Series "Once" Trade

Back when 2019 Topps Series Once came out, I showed my spoils of two blasters. Amongst those, my two manurelics(?) were of Nationals, Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Go figure!

After posting them on Twitter, Cubs fan Once A Cub reached our and mentioned that he also has a Nationals collection, and offered to swap my manurelics for an Andy Pettitte he pulled. Worth it to me! So we made a quick trade, and I was happy when this arrived:

What neither of us realized at the time of the trade was that the Pettitte was a stamped version, numbered to 150.

He also sent a few other Series One inserts. I always laugh when I see images of the Niekros as Yankees. They were so old!

Thanks for the quick trade, Once a Cub National!

The rest of the PWEs from Japan

Yesterday, I showed the Tino Martinez 2003 Kanebo card(s) that Zippy Zappy zapped me from Japan. There were six other cards throughout the three envelopes as well.

These three are from from 2003 Topps Kanebo Japan Series 2, best I can tell. Interestingly, I don't see the Kanebo OR Topps logos on any of them, unless in Japanese, which is entirely possible. Topps is included in English in the legal language on the backs of the cards.

I like the looks of these cards in teal versus the blue in standard 2003 Topps. Actually, I'm not sure if I like the teal more, or if it's just because it's different than what I'm used to seeing. Probably the latter.

This 2009 O-Pee-Chee Derek Jeter has dotted lines along the edges and a blank white back, so I'm thinking it came on a box of cards of some sort, similar to the Topps Big League from this past year.

Now we've got two unique Japanes cards from 2016 BBM. This first of of Japanese lefty Hitoki Iwase. I have to be honest, I haven't heard of him, but I did notice he was born in 1974, which means he would have been 42 at the time of this card. He also had 402 career saves as of the time of this card. A little bit of googling shows he's the Japense Marino Rivera, as he's the NPB record holder in saves and appearances! Very cool!

Also, the Dragons logo makes me laugh every time I see it! That must be the least intimidating dragon ever. He should be friends with the mascot from my alma mater, Otto the Orange.

And finally, a Ceremonial First Pitch card Hinako Sano. Sano, no relation to Miguel, is an actress and model.

Pretty awesome couple of PWEs, ZZ. Thank you!

Johnny lights up the mailbox again

One of my favorite bloggers out there is John of Johnny’sTrading Spot. He’s always fun to follow, posting cards of vintage, card show pickups, and amusing posts like “shadow shots.” He also seemingly has an endless supply of cards that he generously sends out very regularly.

He is definitely one of my main sources for Tino cards, as he’s always on the lookout. He sent a few my way in a recent package, including two I didn’t have:

He was kind enough to label the Rediscover Topps as a “copper.” I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell. The Prestige was just one of those random base cards from a random set I would have never realized I needed. While there were some dupes in there, I still appreciate them. Here are a few of the ones I liked most.

Fleer Excel minor league cards were awesome. There were a lot of minors issues in the early ‘90s, I’m now realized. This Pettitte is definitely cool.

I showed a Melky Cabrera card yesterday, so why not another? I think this Bazooka design is very underrated. I liked Bazooka in the mid-90s, but wasn’t around for their short comeback around 2005.

Drake’s oddballs! Oh hell yes. Who doesn’t love these?

What a great card of NFL QB Brandon Wheeden. I definitely checked to see if he signs TTM, but all signs point to no. This card would look great signed.

Lastly, as he does from time to time, Johnny sent a few NASCAR cards for Joey. I gave him one before I could scan it – a cool picture of Kyle Petty’s Mello Yello car popping out of an Action Packed card. Joey goes, “Whoa-a-a-a-a suuhhweeet!” when he saw it and ran it up to his collection, so I’ll just have to show this instead.

Johnny, thanks as always!

Scribbled Ink is the best ink

A few weeks ago, Paul over at Paul's TTM Blog held a contest to rename his blog. The results?

Scribbled Ink.

Awesome! My lame name suggestion was something like "Paul's Card and TTM Blog". Really, me? Shocking that wasn't the winner.

Paul was cool enough to send me a batch of Yankees for participating. One of the neatest was this Bill Hayes autograph. I have a bit more to say on this and will save it for a future post.

I was also given my first batch of Topps Fire. Not sure if I'm in the minority or not, but I like these a lot. Probably because they feel like they are from the '90s. The Rizzuto is a gold parallel.

Mattingly cards were sweet. He always had great poses on cardboard.

Every time I come across this Andy Pettitte, I wonder what's he doing. I assume charting pitches or scouting reports of some sort.

Early Bernie images make me laugh. It's as if Dwight Shrute ended up being a multiple-time All-Star and World Series winner.

I won't lie, I'm glad this guy is back for the next three years.

And a few more of the guys I collect.

Paul, thanks for the great package. Best of luck at Scribbled Ink!

Pirates fans are good to me!

The two Pirates fans I regularly swap cards with - Bob Walk The Plank and Collecting Cutch - are very good to me. In fact, my last two "just because" card packages have come from them.

Last weekend, I showed off a few cards from Matt at The Plank. That same day, a bubble mailer from Brian at Collecting Cutch arrived.

Easily, the highlight was this sweet Didi Gregorius autograph from Topps Tribute. What a great card. I don't mind that he's featured as a Diamondback, as the red actually looks awesome. It's also a reminder of how well the trade has worked out for the Yankees.

Smile! You've got French's. I have 100% never seen this oddball set. It's awesome! Great looking cards, and tempting to try and get it dual-signed via TTM. Hmmm...

SI! I didn't have this Jeter cover, but remember it well. Love having it as a card. The Pettitte is cool too. I like the simulated stats on the back. In 1998, Pettitte went 16-11 with a 4.24 ERA and 146 Ks...a step down from the previous few years and his projection, but not too bad. I still get SI each week, but honestly it just goes in the trash most week. Who has time to read it?

Tino! I'll always love Collector's Choice

While I'm not the biggest WBC fan, it's hard not to love adding an additional new Jeter to the collection! Not a bad looking card, either. Nice, clean design. It's always odd seeing Jeter in another uniform. I guess I should get used to seeing him in one of those ugly Marlin hats.

Lastly, I really like this Diamond Kings Gary Sanchez. I think this set looked great.

Brian, thanks, my friend! I'll keep my eye out from some sweet new McCutchens!

Merry Wes-mas

I got my cards from the JBF Trade-a-thon. I claimed two cards, but of course Wes didn't sent only two cards. When would he ever send only two cards?

I absolutely loved this 1997 Donruss Studio Hard Hats insert set. I have the Bernie Williams and I really want the Jeter one day. For a card with a 5,000 print run, it's impossible to find. I have a saved eBay search, and it NEVER shows up.

So I had to jump at the chance to own another.

The second card I claimed was this shiny gold Andy Pettitte Bowman Prime Prospect. I am not familiar with this card, and had definitely never seen it.

I would have been happy if those were the only two, but Santa Wes had other plans. Like this:

And this:

And a whole bunch of other Yankees I'm happy to have. Lot of serially numbered goodness, and I really like the mini green refractor of Miguel Andujar. He's a very exciting prospect and could be the Yankees 3B one day.

Wes, you are the man. I have a a return pack for you which I'll be sending soon!