3D x 3

In his latest Save Second Base contest, Collecting Cutch has asked us to show off some 3D cards.

There are a bunch if ways to go with this. Donruss Pop Up cards, Denny's Holograms, Topps Embossed, and more. 3D cards have been a part of collecting baseball cards for years.

It's also been a part of all facets of life. I remember getting cereal boxes that came with 3D glasses, or even a receiving a set of glasses to watch TGIF for a night of special 3D episodes as a kid. I remember watching Tim Taylor on Home Improvement shove a 2x4 into my living room that night.

About 10 years ago, it looked as if 3D TVs were the next big thing. The technology was actually very cool. But people didn't want to watch TVs with special glasses. I haven't heard much about 3D TVs in five or six years.

Recently, I bought a big box of cards of a social media marketplace. The contents looked good from the pictures, and I've had some really good luck with them in the past. This one ended up being pretty good too, as I've already made my money back while keeping the stuff I wanted, including a few Jasson Dominguez cards and a Vlad Jr. autograph.

However, there were a few cards in there that I'd say qualify as 3D cards.

The first that stuck out to me was this Tony Gwynn from Pinnacle's 1995 UC3. At first I thought this was an Upper Deck product, so I was surprised to see both Pinnacle AND Sportflix on the back. It actually says "Sportflix, a Pinnacle Brand." It looks like Pinnacle tried to make a higher end Sportflix? The card itself is nice and clean, and the 3D effect is fairly well done. There is no movement like a traditional Sportflix, but there's plenty of depth.

The next is a basketball issue, from 1996-97 Upper Deck SPx. This is the type of card I'd never find in the wild as a kid, but one I'd see in Beckett and want it. Not only is it diecut, but also hologram!? Be still, my heart. All that's missing is some clearcut acetate! The hologram itself is a bit more on the 3D side with a picture-in-picture effect with a headshot in the foreground and an action shot in the background.

My last entry is a bit of a stretch, as it's more of a 3D texture than card effect. There was a stack of these  bordered 2012 Gypsy Queens. Not really 3D, but the framed is raised and the card is set back within the frame. That counts, I think.

Be sure to check out Collecting Cutch all of October and support his annual Save Second Base event.

The kind of group break I like

I feel like "card Twitter" is always changing.

For a while, my feed turned into one giant classified ad. I went to work trying to turn off retweets and likes from certain followers, as that was usually the culprit of these showing up. I don't mind seeing these once in a while, but a constant barrage of sales, especially from people I don't know, got on my nerves a little.

My new challenge is now group breaks. I feel like every other Twitter post is from some sort of group breaker that I have no interest in following.

I like some forms of group breaking, but most of it isn't for me. I don't like the horror stories of getting zero cards shipped to you if there isn't a big hit. I don't like some of the shady business of cards getting swapped out for others, or something being opened off camera like that one dude did with the mini football helmet. I know the vast majority are good people, but I'm sure there are several who give them all a bad rap.

This is to not criticize those who participate in these sorts of breaks. It's the way many collect, and that is fine. If that's what makes you happy, then by all means.

I recently quote-tweeted one of these stories about group break shadiness saying that this is why I didn't like them, and Colbey from Cardboard Collections aptly pointed out "except my group breaks." Of course not! Here I am talking about what I don't like about these breaks, when I frequently have bought into group breaks hosted by Colbey or Nachos Grande. But to me, those are much, much different. I trust the people running them, and I trust they are running them as collectors and not big hit chasers. You always know what you're getting with these guys.

Colbey famously runs his "affordable group break" every month or so, and you always get every card of your claimed team. Recently, I had the Yankees + random second team in a 1995-ish product break. The second team I drew was the White Sox.

The highlight for me in this break was 1995 Zenith, and easily the best pull was this rookie (but not his true RC, which were in 1993) of Derek Jeter. The card looks amazing and I'm so glad it was pulled from the break.

1995 Summit was a fun part of the break. I've gotten some of these in trades over the years, but never would have found any growing up. I'm guessing they were in hobby shops mostly? They definitely weren't at CVS.

The third product was Sportflix, which was actually a pretty solid looking set in '95.

As I mentioned, my random second team was the White Sox, which I was pretty happy about because I figured Id'd get some decent Frank Thomas cards. Back in 1995, you wanted to pull cards of Thomas, Griffey, and Piazza. Those were the three. And luckily Thomas well represented in each product:

Pretty good!

And a good break. Colbey, I promise I'll stay in your breaks as long as your promise to keep shipping all the cards!

It comes so Naturally

I think many of us collectors share similar traits. We can't remember what we had for breakfast or forget one of the three items we went to the grocery store for, yet we can recall exactly where we were when we got a particular baseball card.

Recently, I came across this set that I own: 1994 Pinnacle Naturals. This was a 25-card set that came in a box, as well as with a serial number showing me what a rare set I had.

I remember when I got this set. It was the summer of 1996, when I was between 6th and 7th grade.

I had traveled with a friend and his family to Rochester, NY for a few days to stay with some of his family members. I remember playing wiffle ball in their yard, and going for ice cream with my friend's dad when my buddy went to bed for the night after a teenage fight with his parents.

As we loaded up the car to leave for Rochester, his dad handed us an unopened box of 1996 Bazooka baseball cards. We split the packs in half, and I set my watch alarm to go off every 10 minutes. When it did, we opened a pack.

On our way home from Rochester, we stopped at some sort of outlet shops, and my friend and I went into some random toy store within the outlets. There, we found a few card-related items. We split a box of 1993 Upper Deck to open for the rest of the ride home, and I bought this:

A 1994 Pinnacle Naturals boxed set.

I doubt it ran me more than $5-7, but I definitely wanted it after seeing it in Beckett a few times. I remember being torn about whether or not to open it, but ultimately, I caved and opened it up.

I remember the cards feeling very cold to the touch. They still do. And while the checklist is decent, I can't help but notice no Yankee. No Mattingly or Williams or Boggs or O'Neill. I thought that was a curious choice. Undoubtedly, I would like the set even more if the Yanks were represented.

I'm glad to stay I still have the set intact, and in the box. And I still have the memories that go along with it.

Now if I could only remember to take out the recycling tonight...

Contest winnings from Fuji

San Jose Fuji stole (well, he paid a little money) for some sweet 1996 Pinnacle Denny's sets from a dealer at his local flea market. He was nice enough to hold a contest for one of these sets, and somehow my name came up first. It usually comes up last in contest drawings, so I was definitely happy to win this one.

I had a lot of these cards growing up, as we had an old lady family friend who went to Denny's quite often. She's bring these cards over for me. They were always a blast to open, but I never collected a full set.

The 28-card set is full of big names. The hologram actually is a small video-type clip too. You can see a players complete swing, slide into a base, or in Ozzie Smith's case, complete back flip. It's a little different than their holograms of year's past.

I tried to scan so that you could see a snippet of the photo. Regardless, a truly awesome set from a truly awesome blogger. Thanks, Fuji!

Diamond Giveaway is cool, but not my favorite sweepstakes of all-time

Redeeming my Diamond Giveaway code last night made me fondly remember one of my favorite redemption programs of all time. Card companies have always held sweepstakes and redemption programs that make collecting a little more exciting. This was especially true when Upper Deck Collector's Choice hit the shelves in 1994.

Collector’s Choice was the Topps Opening Day of the ‘90s. It was Upper Deck’s $.99 pack that was the sister to their other higher-end sets. At a time when the prices of packs of cards really started to climb well above $1, this was a welcome brand for any kid who didn’t have a ton of money to spend on cards, like me. Packs were plentiful at the local CVS drug store. The base cards in the 1994 set were simple, and each pack also included a silver signature card, their version of the Topps Gold parallel set.

In 1994, Collector’s Choice had an instant win game called You Crash The Deck. It was a scratch-off card with a head-to-head game between players, and as a kid I remember being pretty amused by it. I don’t quite remember what the game itself entailed. However, there was also an instant win box with decent odds for a prize. Twice I won the same prize, an 8-card hologram insert set from the previous year’s Home Run Derby. The set was called Home Run All-Stars and featured some of the game’s biggest sluggers. I vividly remember sending in my two redemption cards and getting the sets back. I was a huge fan and it put the brand in good graces with me. In fact, I still have at least one of these sets.

In 1995, Collector’s Choice came out with two sets – SE and the regular base set. Unnecessary. But they morphed their sweepstakes game into the popular You Crash The Game insert series – in silver AND gold none the less. Not only were these insert cards pretty cool looking, but the rules changed from 1994. For example, if you pulled a Barry Bonds that said June 28 and he hit a home run that day, you could redeem the card for a prize. Remember, this was before the internet was mainstream, so if you pulled a card and the date had already passed, you had to do some serious legwork to see if you had won. I remember my local newspaper getting mad at me because I would keep calling and asking if Griffey or Bagwell hit a homer on a certain date. They legitimately told me to stop calling. 

They also had similar You Crash games for their other sports sets, and as a result, I ended up with quite a few redemption prizes from each of them. Usually it was a special card of the winning player, or even a 30-card set. In the coming years, they tweaked the rules from time to time, and one year their prize cards were even clear cuts (!!). I still have a Chipper Jones from that redemption.

Topps Diamond Giveaway is a fun sweepstakes, but for me, it hardly comes close to You Crash The Game. Although I could be singing a different tune if I unlock a 1952 Mantle. So I’d like to open it up to you. What’s your favorite all-time card redemption or sweepstakes?