JBF Epic Boxes: The End*

*because I've since received two more epic packages from Jaybarkerfan's Junk. 

Anyhow, this will be the finish of the two flat rate boxes from a few months ago. These were a blast to go through, and netted me a ton of awesome cards.

Pack 15

This is a cool Stadium Club Members Only team set card of Brien Taylor. Most of the set was in fact here, but I'm showing the "what could have been" Taylor. Not a bad design, although the gold chips easily.

Collector's Choice brings me back. It was my favorite set as a kid...affordable, cool inserts, parallels that weren't too obnoxious, and good designs. I miss these. They represented summer for me.

This has a crease, but I don't care. It's a sweet Jimmy Dean '92 oddball.

And the card of the pack? How could this SWEET ASS UltraPro hologram not be the card of the pack? There is just so much to this card.

Total cards in pack: 52
Running total: 551

Pack 16

Eric Hinske looks exactly like The King of Queens, right? Right?

Two sweet Mattinglys. Holy crap, look at that Select '95 Big Sticks. It's on fiyaaaahhh.

The final card of the pack? A Tino relic, baby! Can't end any better than that!

Total cards in pack: 33
Final total: 584

And there you have it! Almost 600 hundred cards between the two boxes. Wes, you are the man!

JBF Epic Boxes: Packs 13 & 14

Let's finish up these Jaybarkerfan Epic flat rate boxes! Oh, by the way, two more have arrived since I started posting these. I'll never be caught up!

Pack 13

What a bad ass outfield this would have been! They would have tracked down everything in the air, especially in their younger days. Looks like these shots were both taken at the same time on team photo day!

Just before these boxes arrived, I almost bought this card for $1 at the LCS near my mother-in-law's house. I didn't buy it at the time, and then it shows up? Spooky stuff! Great Yankees Stadium shot, by the way.

 

Pogs! Or bottlecaps! My generation called these pogs. They got really big around 1994 for a short while. I never got into them, although I did get a case of them in my Easter Basket one year. I also remember trying to collect all of the World Cup ones in 1994.

And the card of the pack? A Tino bat relic, of course!

Total cards in pack: 30

Running total: 458

Pack 14

Another relic! This sweet Jordan Shipley has two jersey swatches and a piece of football. I don't have anything like it in my collection. Wes always hooks me up with sweet Bengals.

This Mickey Mantle card has always meant a lot to me. When it first came out, my mom was at the mall and noticed a small card show going on. She bought it for me for $5 and was really proud of it.

Fleer Ultra Pro Debut!

A great SI for Kids card of the Great Bambino!

More pogs! I just need a slammer and I'm all set!

And my card of the pack? I don't know why, but I just love this old Fleer Mattingly. The red, white, and blue, plus Mattingly's iconic follow through just make for an incredible card.

Total cards in pack: 41
Running total: 499

JBF Epic Boxes: Packs 11-12

I need to do these posts faster. While I've been slow to do them, ANOTHER epic box from Jaybarkerfan found it's way to me! Sheesh. It'll take me 'til Christmas to get these up.

Let's look at team bags 11 & 12, shall we?

Pack 11

Let's start off with some truly attractive SP Authentic cards. Holy smokes these are nice. There is SO MUCH border, bit I gotta say, the white makes it look classy. I know a lot of people don't prefer a large border with a small photo, but these just look nice. They tried to give the photo a ragged look, which works ok. The photo has an interesting gloss. Think of the 1995 Topps Cyberstats parallels.

Primetime is too cool for Classic, and definitely too cool for pink borders. 

Could Fleer really not find a better third shot than Wade Boggs' butt?

And the card of the pack? This 1999 Stadium Club Mariano Rivera. Great shot. Great simple design. Love the muted team logo in the corner. Stadium Club was so solid in the late '90s.

Total cards in pack: 42 (appropriate)
Running total: 388

Pack 12

I'll start with a Tino, because any pack with a Tino is a good pack.

Yogi! While his quotes might be a bit overdone at this point, it's cool to have them immortalized on cards. This is the ever-popular "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical" quote.

Jeter. Classic pose. Man, I'm curious what his last Topps regular base card will look like in 2015. I say "regular base card" because you know he'll be in 9,000 other sets for the rest of his life. I'm a fan of Rivera's last card, and hope Jeter gets a good one too.

The card of the pack? Let's go with a darkhorse! 1995 Topps Finest Mike Stantley. This set wasn't as iconic as '93 or '94, but I like the bright colors and design. Someone took the fun out of this for me and peeled the unnecessary clear coating off of it already. Jerks.

Total cards in pack: 40
Running total: 428

JBF Epic Boxes: Packs 9-10

Two more of SIXTEEN total team bags that Jaybarkerfan sent me in his epic flat rate boxes full of Yanks. We are now on to box #2!

Here is how Pack 9 unfolded:

First up, another Mattingly oddball. I love his follow through on the swing. These KMart cards were always a favorite growing up. I feel like they came in a small box, like a deck of cards would. Can anyone confirm that?

A pair of Jeters I didn't have, nor had I seen. These were from my non-collecting years, so I appreciate the enlightenment.

And the card of the pack? It was tough choosing this, but I liked the cloth stickers a lot from 2012 Archives. I had actually traded this one away to someone who needed it, so the card karma gods hooked me back up.

Total cards in pack: 43
Running total: 308

Pack 10

Spoiler alert! Packs with a relic may contain less cards!

But first, this should be called the Topps Traded pack. There were near team sets of both 1986 and 1989 Topps Traded. From '86, all that was missing was Lou Piniella. From '89, two cards were missing: Bye Bye Balboni and Leon Sandcastle. Question - why were the backs of Topps Traded cards always lighter in color? To differentiate?

Next, a few cards from one of my all-time favorite sets (no joke): Tristar Projections. I love the look of the set. The scan doesn't do it justice, but the white is stunning. I love getting these cards signed too. They look awesome. Almonte is currently helping the Yanks as a 5th OFer.

Ugly Tino alert!!!! Circa!!! AHHHH!

Ok, for as bad as Circa was, Upper Deck SP was usually pretty classy. This Paul O'Neill is no different.

Here's the relic! It's also the card of the pack. Why? Simple! It's a Tino relic I didn't have. This one is super cool. It's from 2003 Stadium Club, and I love how the bat is shaped like the state of Florida, where Tino was born. Very, very cool card, and not just because it's one I needed! I appreciate when companies try to back a relic an odd shape. Helps make it more interesting.

Total cards in pack: 38
Running total: 346

JBF Epic Boxes: Pack 7

Let's show off another pack from the Jaybarkerfan Epic Boxes!

Let's start with two PC guys. I have both of these cards, but always love pulling cards of guys I collect. Two Topps flagship cards...can't so wrong.

I really like this Yogi! It's a photo I feel like I haven't many times, and the Noteworthy design is pretty cool.

A Brien Taylor Bowman gold foil RC! In the early '90s, this would have made me big bucks! I've mentioned it a few times as well, but I love these Denny's holograms. We have a family friend who used to always spoil me with a few packs of these every week.

This next card is awesome, although I'm sure at the time it wasn't quite as frowned upon as it might be now. The 60 HR Club. Will we ever see another player join it?

And the card of the pack?? A hit!! A Sterling Hitchcock jersey card, complete with a pinstripe (barely).

Total cards in pack: 35

Running total: 223

JBF Epic Boxes: Packs 5-6

Here are two more packs in the Jaybarkerfan Epic flat rate boxes that he sent my way a while back. Each pack was like a repack of my favorite team. It was a blast to go through.

I'll stop boring you with my gushing and show you team bags 5 & 6:

Pack 5

First up, a nice slew of Mattingly. I always loved that illustrated Upper Deck card.

This Ted Williams set is so underrated. I actually have this Bobby Brown card autographed, and it looks great. Just a simple, classy looking set.

So Ricky Ledee was supposed to follow Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio in the line of great Yankee CFers. He didn't quite pan out, although his tenure in the Bronx did have a lot of big moments, including starting the 1998 World Series. He also hit a HR and made a game-saving catch in David Cone's perfect game. The next year, he helped bring over David Justice in a trade. See? Ledee did a lot!

 And the card of the pack? This Ralph Houk! What a cool card. It's from 1987 TCMA.

Total cards in pack: 49
Running total: 147

Pack 6

This team bag starts with even more Jeters. I may need to do a postmortem and recap how many Jeters were included. There had to be 20 or so.

I love both of these cards. The Gardner...that's just a ball player. The Adrien Hernandez is cool too. Minor league cards are so much fun. Look at those ads! Hernandez was actually called "El Duquecito" or "Little El Duque." Unfortunately, he didn't have a very successful career.

The card of the pack? This 2013 Topps Target Red Parallel of Francisco Cervelli after a walk-off hit. I love the emotion. And look who is there to join Mr. Cervelli! An ARod cameo. Zippy Zappy, do you need this parallel? If so, it's yours.

 

Total cards in pack: 41
Running total: 188

JBF Epic Boxes: Pack 3

On to team bag #3 of the Jaybarkerfan Epic Boxes! Here's a sampling of my favorite cards from this team bag which, once again, was packed with more Yankees awesomeness than imaginable:

 

I always appreciate Jeter cards. Hey, did you hear he's retiring? I really like the shiny Spectrum card. I hadn't seen this set.

 What the?!? Where did these blue 1990 Donruss cards come from??

I don't know why, but these Topps Collectors' Series cards never get the respect they deserve.

Some GQ and Archives.

 

And my favorite card of the pack? Oddball city! This 1993 Hostess Donnie Baseball. Great card!

Total cards in pack: 42
Running total: 59