Six Pack of Stadium Club Part 4

Six more really cool Stadium Club base cards from the 2015 product.  Not really a theme last night, but six really cool cards.  Here they are:

#13 Ernie Banks - Cubs

I like some of the off the field cards that Topps included in this product.  This Ernie Banks card was really cool.  I remember a few years before he passed away the Cardinals made a big push to get Stan Musial a Presidential Medal of Honor.  I did not realize that Ernie Banks had also received this honor as well.  Really cool card and awesome honor for Mr. Cub.  

#259 Greg Maddux - Braves 

If we are going to go off the field then how can you not include this great photo of Braves great Greg Maddux playing golf.  That's a great 1990s outfit in the picture too.  Are those denim shorts?  I am not sure if Maddux is in the same league as Smoltz on the gold course, but he still looks like he knows what he is doing.  Curious as to where this picture came from.....

#279 Joe DiMaggio - Yankees

This was a card that I noticed the second time I flipped through the set.  I like baseball numbers.  You say Joe DiMaggio and the number that pops in my mind is 56.  As in 56 game hitting streak.  However, the 45 is a significant number in that record.  Before DiMaggio set the mark for the longest hitting streak at 56 games, he bested the former mark of 45 which belonged to Baltimore Orioles star "Wee" Willie Keeler.  Cool card that has really grown on me.  

#282 Fred McGriff - Braves 

The Crime Dog had a really cool swing with a great follow thru.  It's not quite Ken Griffey Jr., but I would recognize this swing anywhere.  I always felt like Fred McGriff would have been a little bit more important if he had not played in the steroid era.  He was never a guy who hit 40 or 50 home runs, but he did hit 30 to 35 every year.  A bunch of those 35 home runs seasons came years before players like Canseco really escalated the home run totals.  

#290 Dwight Gooden - Mets 

Just a really cool picture.  

#298 Larry Doby - Indians 

Really cool card with Larry Doby and Jackie Robinson.  Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, but Doby was not far behind.  Really cool picture of the two of them together.  

New Ginters

I have always really liked the Allen & Ginter cards.  They are part baseball card and part mail catalog encyclopedia.  That's how the original Ginter cards were designed though and Topps always gives a really good effort with making this recreation as close to the original as possible.  Last year I spent a few posts steering my readers through my favorite non-sport Ginters which included the likes of D.B. Cooper, the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, dogs, flags, and so much more.  That's a huge link.  This year's Ginter offer much of the same as previous years.

This year's insert sets feature World's Capitals, Fighter Jets, and Parties (not shown, but they're there) ...........

There are some baseball inserts too.  I think these Pastime's Pastimes cards look sharp with the dark background and the white writing and frame around the player picture......

Of course there are hit cards too.  I did not land an autograph in my box, but I did have three relic hits.  I had two baseball hits with a Joey Votto and David Price.  My non-baseball hit belongs to Mike Pereira who was the head of the NFL's referees and then did some TV work after his career with the NFL.  I had never heard of him until I pulled his card, but he sits on some sort of Fried Chicken Sofa and gives shouts out to kids watching football....

Here are my hit cards......

and then there are the cards from the base set.  There are young players, old players, swimmers, weight lifters, comedians, ESPN personalities.  Chuck Todd.  All kinds of people.  Here's a look:  

Lastly, I would like to offer this piece of advice.  After you have opened up your packs of Allen & Ginter, sort back through your cards carefully and check through all of your cards.  You never know.......

when something that's looks ordinary, is going to turn into something that is extraordinary.......

Facebook Trade

I completed a trade with an awesome trader on Facebook last week and scored some sweet cards in the process.  Ryan Marcus King Dee is definitely worth an add if you are looking for a good trade.  This was actually a purchase/trade, but Ryan is always awesome to deal with and he also runs a mean box break.

So, let's start off with the big card in this deal.  I added a really sweet piece to my Triple Threads collections with this 2008 Joe Diamggio 6 piece relic.

2008 Topps Triple Threads Joe Dimaggio 6 Piece Relic

The card features four pieces of jersey with pinstripes and two pieces of bat in the middle.  I haven't really dabbled too much with the Hall of Famers in this set, but this is always a good place to start.  I picked up a few other smaller pieces from Ryan too to help out with my Prince Fielder/Miguel Cabrera cards.  I actually traded a nicer Prince relic and broke it into a few relics that I didn't have in my collection.  I love the Lineage cream colored jersey.

2012 Topps Heritage Prince Fielder Jersey

2011 Topps Lineage Prince Fielder Jersey

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Prince Fielder Jersey 

Picked up one final card in this trade from the 2002 Topps Chrome set.  This card is a dual jersey of Mike Hampton and Ben Petrick.  It's technically a 2000s card, but I have always kind of liked these cards and have a few others from this set.