Cards For a 3 Year Old

It's official, Miss Hailey May is 3 years old.

As part of her birthday bonanza, Hailey announced that she wanted baseball cards, and not just any cards. She wanted Angels, Adam and her current favorite Billy. So, after a long day of "school" where she got to wear the Birthday Crown and eat mini-cupcakes, Hailey returned home in search of her cards.

Here's the bounty, 7 cards of excitement and wonder. 4 Halos, 2 Adams and a chrome Billy!

She requested another Jered to add to her Masterpieces Weaver, she loves the bright Red jersey and I figured she could use a Halo star from the past.

And of course we needed another Vladdy, bonus points for the smile.


As for the non-Halos:

I would have been pleased if the Angels had picked up Dunn this off-season, but my daughter would have been thrilled. She's a big fan of her Adam cards and now has 4.


I'm not sure how it happened, but Billy Butler has supplanted David Wright as her current favorite player. Almost on a daily basis she asks me when she's gonna get a new Billy. I figured we'd go chrome, after all you only turn 3 once.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic birthday.

But finally, a little love for Night Owl, who is lamenting his not being able to find any 2009 Topps blasters. I know the pain of not being able to find the new stuff, so here's some pics to hold you over.



Hope you enjoy.

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Free Halos from Dubbs!

Thanks to the generosity of Dubbs from Cheese and Beer, I now have a crapload of new Halos cards to add to my collection. As a collector who was absent for more than half of the 90's, these cards were just what I needed. I either hadn't seen or didn't have huge number of these cards.

The scan below is a very small glimpse of what arrived.

From Cards

Nothing beats cards from the Classic baseball traded set, a playing card from 1993 Baseball Aces, a DeWayne Buice Toys "R" Us 1988 Collector's Edition Rookie, a Deshawn Warren Angels Top Prospect with Deshawn rocking the circular shades and headphones, a Jorge Fabergas 1994 Rookie Prospect with an image of Jorge chasing after a passed ball, a Ryan Hancock Top Prospects card with Ryan tossing an orange and a holographic Halos logo from the early '90s.

Oh yeah, and a Luis Polonia card that I needed for the collection. Super Sweet.

From Cards

In all there were over 80 Angels cards. Thank you Dubbs! You are truly a generous and much appreciated provider of Halo Happiness.

Go Halos!

2009 Topps Blaster Bonus: What the Hell Is It?

My ever-loving wifey was at Target today and in a moment of weakness, purchased me a blaster of 2009 Topps. I quickly looked at the box and saw mention of this on the side panel, but gave it little thought. However, when I opened the box, a special package fell into my hand first and here is that pack's contents:

WTF? A Mickey Mantle 1956 World Series "Historical Commemorative Patch". The card is the 2oth of 50 such patches.
I haven't a clue as to what these are or why they are in this year's blasters. Was another manufactured patch really a necessity for this year's Topps product. I'm not sure if I prefer this over a piece of Ronny Paulino's pants or not.

1992 Stadium Club Collation: The Saga Continues

When we last left off, I was lamenting that 88 of the 150 cards I had opened up out of 10 packs of '92 Stadium Club were duplicates. As soon as I returned home today from the J-O-B, I got to ripping. At this point I was almost rooting for my own demise. I was looking forward to pulling a 4th Mickey Morandini, not to mention a 5th or 6th Jose Oquendo. The packs did not disappoint.

Here are the results:
85 Doubles, so 170 of my cards were simply duplicates of one another. Among the doubles, Jose Canseco Member's Choice, my lone Angel duplicate Joe Grahe and a seriously sweet Ruben Sierra card.


46 Triples, so 138 of my cards were triplets. Among the highlights, Frank Thomas looking cheerful, Darryl Strawberry as a Dodger and Doc Gooden chasing himself around the basepaths.



19 Quadruples, so 76 cards were doubles of doubles of doubles, or something like that. The highlight of the quads, 864 pounds of Kirby Puckett (weight estimate based on reported weight of 216 pounds on the back of the card).


For a total of 384 cards that are in some way or another multiples of each other. As a comparison, I managed to grab 138 cards that had no duplication. Wow. I don't heart 1992 Stadium Club. Not one little bit. Well, that Ruben Sierra card is fantastic. So maybe just a little bit.

Was Collation Really This Bad in 1992?

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. You don't have to worry that all of those threats from your mother have come to fruition.


I never quite had the money to buy a whole box of cards in my younger days. We're talking no boxes of 1988 Topps, let alone a box of Stadium Club. So in my boredom this winter I picked up a box of 1992 Stadium Club for 5 bucks. I figured if nothing else, it would just be fun to rip open 28 packs filled with 15 cards. Hell I'd buy Topps Opening Day if a box cost me only 5 bucks.

After 10 packs, I noticed a bit of a trend and I stopped ripping open packs. What was this trend you ask? Well, obviously you failed to read the title of this post. I got a frickin' crapload of triples and doubles.

10 packs, 150 cards yielded the following:
Mike Benjamin x3
Willie Banks x3
Willie Wilson x2
Scott Leius x3
Mickey Morandini x3
Roberto Kelly x3
Harvey Pulliam x3
Luis Aquino x2
Jose Uribe x2
Jose Offerman x2
Billy Spiers x2
John Kiely x2
Tom Gordon x2
Charles Nagy x2
Dave West x3
Steve Buechele x2
Shawon Dunston x3
Gary Redus x3
Jose Oquendo x3
Jim Austin x2
Cris Carpenter x3
Greg Litton x3
Mark Guthrie x2
Tim McIntosh x2
Vicente Palacios x2
Mel Rojas x3
Kirby Puckett x3
Delino DeShields x2
Jay Bell x2
Paul Faries x2
Kelly Downs x2
Kevin Appier x3
Dan Plesac x3
Mark Gubicza x2
Chris Bosio x2
Fred McGriff x2

HOLY FRICKIN' CRAP! 88 of 150 cards are duplicates. Maybe I'm naive, but that's amazing. I'm almost scared to open the other 18 packs. I'm afraid I might get sucked into some type of Super Premium Cardboard Vortex.

Nostalgia is nice, but damn if this was what buying a box was like in 1992, I'll stick to 2009, heck I'll stick to retail in 2009.

I Heart Ervin!

Ervin Santana has signed a 4 year deal with the Angels. The deal kept the two sides out of arbitration and could lead to the Angels buying 2 years of free agency from Santana.

I love the deal, because I love Ervin. His 2007 was horrible and had many people questioning whether he'd be able to get it together, but after a very strong 2008, I really hope he's got it all going in the right direction now. As it is, Ervin is the youngest pitcher in MLB with 50 wins. 300 is right around the corner.

What good is this post without cards? Well, we'll never have to ask that question. Here are a few from my shoebox, in all their plasticy protectiveness.

Allen and Ginter 2006


2006 Bowman Originals buyback of 2004 Bowman Heritage 24/62


2006 Bowman Originals buyback of 2005 Bowman 64/67


2005 SPx 287/350


2006 Topps Triple Threads 16/50


2004 Donruss Elite 28/50

Go Halos!

Déjà Vu on Cardboard: 1999

I've never opened 1999 Stadium Club, until last night that is. After a few packs a sensation overtook me as I looked at a card of Marty Cordova..."Hey, I've seen that before!" No, it wasn't one of the MANY doubles I got in the box, it was a Sandy Alomar Jr. card that was pulled a few packs earlier.

So first we have Sandy.

From 1999 Stadium Club

Sandy in full gear with the helmet still on, blocking the plate and making the out against the Twins and Marty Cordova. Well, apparently the photographer stayed in position, because later we find this.

From 1999 Stadium Club

Apparently, Marty is sliding in safe now. Or is he? Is the same play, with Sandy just spinning out of the way after making the tag? We may never know.

Just to add to the confusion, we have another similar shot, most likely from the same game.

From 1999 Stadium Club

Terry Steinbach sliding in safe. Notice the same scuffed dirt mark that appears in all 3 photos. It's the magic of Stadium Club. This is better than Documentary, you don't even have to have been at this game to see three of the highlights of it all.

So there is a taste of the fun that is 1999 Stadium Club Series 2. What's that? You'd like to see more? Well that can be arranged. Head on over to Weekly Box Break, a Bay Rat North West production, with a meager assist now by myself. Hopefully you'll enjoy. My posts can't stand up to his in style, but hopefully you'll see something worth coming back for. So go!! NOW!

WEEKLY BOX BREAK

Superstitious? Nah, the Greatest Halo #13

There's not exactly a star-studded list of former Halos who wore the number 13. Former MLB manager Bobby Valentine, who was less than spectacular as an Angel, a partial season for Jim Leyritz, and more recently Edgardo Alfonzo's 18 game stint of awfulness.

So who is the greatest #13 in Halo history?

A 1990 All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner, Lance had forearms like most people's legs. Lance only spent a couple of years with the Angels, but he easily wore #13 for the longest and did it the best. So here's to you Mr. Parrish, black cats and opening umbrellas indoors be damned!

Go Halos!

The Pursuit of Polonia Continues

My love of all things Luis Polonia is no secret. In fact, his 1991 Upper Deck card that was later signed by him in person, is one of my favoirte cards in my entire collection. So while I've been obsessed with finding new products and new Halos for 2009, I still keep coming back to the Pursuit of Polonia. Over the last couple of weeks I've acquired or found a few more Polonia beauties. Here they are, in all their glory, chronologically.

1991 Topps

'91 Topps got a lot of attention for the photography and an attempt at competing with Upper Deck, but unfortunately Luis did not get the super photo treatment. Still I like the card's color combos a team script at the bottom.

1992 Topps

Definite photo improvement here. Luis on the run at Yankee stadium, the moment befor he propels himself on the slide into second. Always nice to have a player in midair on card.

1993 Upper Deck

The front is cool, with Luis dropping down the drag bunt towards thrid, added bonus for finally being in a home uniform. I much prefer my Halos in the home whites on my cards. The real fun here though is on the back.

It's batting practice, Luis is wearing the flapless helmet, he's got the Oakley blue shades, and of course he's running the bases with bat in hand. Awesome!

1993 Donruss Diamond King

That's right, Diamond King. The cynic would say, "Damn the Angels really sucked in 1992", the optimist prefers to say, "Holy crap! Best. Diamond King. Ever.".

1993 Mother's Cookies

Gotta love the Mother's Cookies cards that you'd pick up at the stadium on "Baseball Card Day". To show the extent of my Polonia sickness even back in '93, I have multiple Polonias from this set, yet no doubles of any other player. I can remember convincing my parents to stay for the entire game so I could search for extra packs that people left behind after the game. A good look at the old enclosed Big A back in 90's.

There you have it, more Polonia Perfection.

Go Halos!

Halo(ness) From The Pursuit of 80's(ness)

Like many others, I was the recipient of a nice stack of cards from John at The Pursuit of 80's(ness).

The cards were from a number of different sets and decades. I chose 9 cards of random(ness) in an attempt to represent it all.

The Impaler

Vladdy in all of his awesomely coiffed good(ness).

Just Torii being Torii

Torii showing off his happi(ness) upon becoming a Halo.

King Fish

The right fielder of much legendary(ness) for Halo fans.

More Upstream Madness

Tim showing off his friendli(ness) with Chili Davis

Sandy Alomar

Alomar representing the 70's with a bit of drowsi(ness).


Carew, he of much confusion over his Jewish(ness).

Reggie Jackson

Nothing beats his Naked Gun awesome(ness).

Frankie

Hopefully his departure doesn't lead to 9th inning crappi(ness).

Chili Davis

Back of the card kooky(ness).

Put it all together and you've got a package full of Halo kick butt(ness).
Thanks John.

Go Halos!