2001 Topps Stadium Club Play at the Plate Dirt Relic set Completed!

It's been a long time coming that this Jeff Bagwell card is finally in my hands. Years ago when I was looking for something new, something different to collect I stumbled across the dirt relic cards from 2001 Stadium Club. I thought it was a pretty cool idea and surprisingly, one that has been reused before...at least to my knowledge.

The cards themselves were only seeded 1:10 packs, however they were exclusive to Home Team Advantage stores. This in itself limited the audience of collectors that would even have a chance of  pulling on of these cards. Seeking out the cards several years later I found that some of the cards weren't that that hard to find. Most of the "common" cards could be had on eBay, while others I had to look a little harder for, a little longer for. Turns out that several of the cards in the 10 card set were packed in as exchange cards and I'm guessing many of the cards went unexchanged.

Jeff Bagwell, #PP06 was one of those exchange cards. Makes sense now of why it took me so long to find this one last card I needed to complete the set. Also turns out that Chipper Jones' card was mislabeled as #PP06, but his card too was an exchange card.

I find these cards to be a good conversation piece with non-baseball card collectors. I've had several friends and family members who've seen these cards in my collection ask me about the cards, why putting dirt inside a baseball card makes it so collectible and so on. I know these cards (and their brethren, Kings of the Hill) don't "book" for much...but I stopped collecting cards for their value and looking through Beckett a long time ago.

Now that this set is complete, I can shift my focus to picking up the Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez Kings of the Hill dirt relics to finish off that set. I also can't wait to actually find the rest of these dirt relic cards so I can put Bagwell amongest his peers.

3D Fireworks

During my heyday of collecting cards (the 90's) there was no shortage of gimmicks. In the mid-90's Pinnacle Brands brought back the SportFlix brand. At least to me these sets never really gained much of a following within the hobby, but I have always enjoyed things that were a bit different.

Lenticular cards are nothing new. However there are certain sets that use this card technology that I like and the 1995 Detonators set found in SportFlix is one of those. I'm not sure why as it tends to have a gaudy design, but it's a set I started building years ago when I was hosting group breaks on a regular basis.

For years I only had one card from the set (Frank Thomas), but it was enough to make me want more. However like many things, this set fell on the back burner, so much that I forgot about it. Recently however I had a few virtual bucks burning a virtual hole in my virtual pocket so I decided to see what cards from this set I could find. My results yielded 3 cards shipped for less than 3 bucks.

So there you have a few more pure 90's cheese I've added to my collection. The insert set is only 9 cards deep so that leaves me with 5 cards left. My want list has been updated.

A few more - 2002 Fleer Authentix Ripped Jersey

While I wait for 2013 Topps Series 2, Gypsy Queen, the Sticker Album and A&G to release, I'm taking the time to work on a few insert sets I've always been fond of.  I know the whole jersey/relic card thing has been beat worse than a back alley hooker, but in 2002 when Fleer introduced their new line of cards called Authentix I was hooked.  The base cards were different looking and the short printed rookies had mini "ticket stubs" embedded in the card as part of the design.  Brilliance I thought.  Then I saw the Ripped Jersey cards and I was in love.  There was just something about the horizontal design combined with the embedded fake ticket stub that I loved.  I also wasn't sick of jersey and bat cards in 2002.  I never gave putting the set together much of a serious thought, but lately it's been on my mind so I've sought out looking to fill the many holes in my set.

I ended up finding a few for a decent price, but why oh why do some sellers want to charge $3+ to ship one single card?!  Some of the lesser name players in the set can easily be found, but shipping usually kills it for me so I pass.  So for now I'll just show the deals that I did find...

I love the colorful ticket stub on the A-Rod card. I can't remember if this card is a SP or not, but it usually commands much more than I paid.

I believe the Bagwell is a SP as I don't see it listed for sale as often and I got into a mini bidding war for it.  Wonder if I was bidding against the Dimwit?





Normally if a Brave is in a set I'm building, then I'd want two - 1) for my Braves collection and 2) for the set.  In the case of Andruw, I'll just keep to this one card for the set.



It seemed as if most of the jersey pieces in this set were plain boring white, so it's nice to have a black piece to break up the white consistency.

This is actually quite a big set of cards, so if you have anything from it to trade or can find something for cheap at your LCS, please let me know.  You can find my want list for this set HERE.

January 2012 Group Break - 1998 Pinnancle Performers packs 15-24

This post will finish out the box of 1998 Pinnacle Performers.  Let's see what else is in the box.

Pack 15:
#001 Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners)
#075 Javy Lopez (Braves)
#091 Alan Benes (Cardinals)
#146 Derek Jeter (Yankees)

#099 Brett Tomko - Peak Performers (Reds)
#114 Todd Greene (Angels)
#058 Jim Edmonds (Angels)
#068 J.T. Snow (Giants)
Swing for the Fences points card

Pack 16:
#120 Fernando Tatis (Rangers)
#112 Derrek Lee (Marlins)

#140 Cal Ripken Jr. (Orioles)
#063 Craig Biggio (Astros)

#015 Nomar Garciaparra - Launching Pad (Red Sox)
#073 Brady Anderson (Orioles)
#031 Randy Johnson (Mariners)
#013 Andruw Jones (Braves)
Swing for the Fences Wild Card

Pack 17:
#024 Tony Clark (Tigers)
#023 Mo Vaughn (Red Sox)
#066 Carlos Delgado (Blue Jays)
#144 Mike Piazza (Dodgers)
#113 Mark Kotsay (Marlins)
#041 Sammy Sosa (Cubs)
#089 Rafael Palmeiro (Orioles)
#074 Eric Karros (Dodgers)

Pack 18:
#009 Derek Jeter (Yankees)
#095 Neifi Perez (Rockies)
#044 Andres Galarraga (Braves)
#064 Ken Caminiti (Padres)
#014 Hideo Nomo (Dodgers)
#145 Tony Gwynn (Padres)
#121 Ben Grieve (A's)
#101 Karim Garcia (Diamondbacks)

#023 Jim Thome - Swing for the Fences (Indians)

The Nomo card has stamped across the front "Traded to the Mets" and since there is more than 1 of this card it'll go in the Mets stack.


Pack 19:
#090 Edgar Renteria (Marlins)
#018 Vladimir Guerrero (Expos)
#095 Neifi Perez (Rockies)
#129 Aaron Boone (Reds)
#108 Bartolo Colon (Indians)
#026 Jose Cruz Jr. (Blue Jays)
#070 Garret Anderson (Angels)
#060 Chan Ho Park (Dodgers)
Swing for the Fences points card

Pack 20:
#020 Darin Erstad (Angels)
#021 Albert Belle (White Sox)

#036 Tino Martinez - Peak Performers (Yankees)
#093 Mark Grudzielanek (Expos)
#077 Todd Hundley (Mets)
#136 Homer Bush (Yankees)
#116 A.J. Hinch (A's)
#141 Alex Rodriguez (Mariners)

#021 Tim Salmon - Swing for the Fences (Angels)


Pack 21:
#052 Charles Johnson (Marlins)
#046 Rickey Henderson (A's)
#059 Mark Grace (Cubs)
#147 Jeff Bagwell (Astros)


#123 Kerry Wood (Cubs)
#076 Pat Hentgen (Blue Jays)
#002 Frank Thomas (White Sox)
#083 Kevin Brown (Padres)
Swing for the Fences points card

Pack 22:

#019 Barry Bonds (Giants)
#035 Jim Thome (Indians)
#029 Andy Pettitte (Yankees)
#109 Bob Abreu (Phillies)
#137 Brian Rose (Red Sox)
#071 Rondell White (Expos)
#061 Justin Thompson (Tigers)
#080 Sandy Alomar Jr. (Indians)
Swing for the Fences points card

Pack 23:
#010 Jeff Bagwell (Astros)
#050 Ryan Klesko (Braves)
#044 Andres Galarraga (Braves)
#043 Will Clark (Rangers)
#092 Bobby Higginson (Tigers)
#107 Kevin Orie (Cubs)
#135 Bobby Estrella (Phillies)
#115 Edgardo Alfonzo (Mets)

#009 Travis Fryman - Swing for the Fences (Indians)

Pack 24:
#009 Derek Jeter (Yankees)
#065 Richard Hidalgo (Astros)
  
#007 Jeff Bagwell - Big Bang #0452/2500 (Astros)
#114 Todd Greene (Angels)
#146 Derek Jeter (Yankees)
#091 Alan Benes (Cardinals)
#075 Javy Lopez (Braves)
#001 Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners)
Swing for the Fences points card


The Big Bang cards are foil etched and look pretty good.  This was a good pack to finish out the box.  Half a box to go before this months affordable group break is all over.