Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius: September 2011

September 18, 2011

Cards From Jeff's: Coins, Coins, Coins

**In this series I highlight the cards purchased from Jeff's Sports Cards, the best card shop in Northeastern Kansas**

Jeff's had a nice new collection on display since the last time I was in the shop...a nice collection of 1964 Topps Coins.

There were 164 coins made for the set with 44 of them highlighting the All-Star Game selections. These were actually inserts into wax packs in the 1964 set and some of the higher valued coins include Pete Rose, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle. There are actually two versions of Mantle's coins, one with him batting righty and one lefty.

I purchased a Harmon Killebrew All-Star coin for $4.00 which seems to be pretty good from the listing I've seen.

1964 Topps #133 Harmon Killebrew

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September 15, 2011

Chain Of Screaming

Posted by Matt F. at 9:20 PM

September 14, 2011

Taking A Little Time Off

Posted by Matt F. at 11:55 PM

I'll be back on Monday...maybe during the weekend...who knows...until then, I'll give you this...all this My Little Pony talk reminded me of this...remember kids, "just do the heroin!"

September 13, 2011

Vic Power Card Of The Week: Heroe del beisbol Sticker

Posted by Matt F. at 9:30 AM

**In this series, we strive to collect a master set of all of Vic Power's cards.**

I've been out of practice in giving you a Vic Power card a week but I'll try to make up for that. Today's card is actually a sticker honoring Puerto Rican "Heroes of Baseball" or "Heroe del beisbol" as the card reads. I'm not sure which year this is from but the sticker looks to be recently made. This one came to me through eBay for $5.00

September 12, 2011

The Difference Is In The Details

Posted by Matt F. at 3:29 PM

I recently highlighted my Andy Pafko collection and I thought highlight the slight differences between two of my older Pafko cards. I'm speaking of my two "Salutations" cards. The first one was produced somewhere between 1939 and 1946 and features a "Yours Truly, Andy Pafko." These cards were one of the first series to use simulated signatures and they were available in vending machines.

1939-1946 Exhibits Salutation Andy Pafko

As you can see on the close up of Andy's baseball cap you can see the "C" on the cap for the Chicago Cubs.

Here's an even closer look:

And now we'll move onto nearly the exact same card but from a little later. This one was made somewhere between 1947 and 1966 and has the same salutation.

1947-1966 Exhibits Salutation Andy Pafko

But looking at Andy's cap you'll notice something is a little different. The "C" now seems to be an "O" or maybe a "D." One thing is for certain, the "C" that was once very clear has been modified.

Here's another extreme close-up:

This slight difference does play into the value of this particular card...the "C" version is worth slightly more than the later version.

Genius Covers: Web of Spider-Man #38

Posted by Matt F. at 8:33 AM

Today's cover comes from the May 1988 issue of Web of Spider-Man, which is the forth best Spider-Man series after, The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man, and The Spectacular Spider-Man. This issue was right in my wheel-house as a collector with its $1.00 price tag...meaning I could buy two issues with my $2.00 a week allowance. One time I tried to get my allowance twice in a weekend, once from my Dad and once from my Mom. It worked until I found out that, apparently, my parents talked about what happened during their day.

Fabian Nicieza wrote this issue which is mainly a big fight between Spider-Man and Hobgoblin. Spider-Man nearly looses after getting accidentally drunk when someone spikes the punch at a party that Peter Parker was attending. As you can see, this issue is also during the black suit/Venom period.

There weren't any great advertisements in this issue but here is the best single caption from the issue:

It reminds me to this great Ben Folds Five song with the lyric "Bass In Your Face!"

September 11, 2011

Dramatic Kent Hrbek

Posted by Matt F. at 4:46 PM

On a day full of drama, what would be better than a little dramatic Kent Hrbek:

The 5 Best From A 2011 Score Value Pack

Posted by Matt F. at 2:15 PM

In honor of the new season, lets open some Score 2011. This year's design has a sort of retro theme in my opinion that reminds me of the 90's designs...Here are the Top 5 cards of the 52 that I received in my jumbo pack for $4.98:

#1 -- I include Romo because he's from Wisconsin, like men, and he's my fantasy quarterback. If only he played for any other team than the Cowboys he would easily be my favorite non-Packer player.

#83 Tony Romo

#2 -- Pulling a Randy Moss as a Titan card is a weird experience. It would have been nice to see him in a Vikings uniform one last time. There are rumors now that he might end up with the Saints but after watching Thursday's game I'm not sure if the Saints needs another receiver as their offense looked pretty good, even in a loss.

#289 Randy Moss

#3 -- Ryan Grant made his return on Thursday and already has more rushing attempts than he did all of last season. Although he wasn't the leading rusher for the game [that would be James Starks who blossomed in the playoffs last year] it will be nice for the Pack to have a great 1-2 punch at running back.

#111 Ryan Grant

#4 -- Greg Jennings had a great start to his season with a touchdown and 89 yards receiving.

#107 Greg Jennings

#5 -- Success! I pulled the only rookie I was really looking for. Randall Cobb put his name towards the top of many football card collector's list after Thursday's game.

#377 Randall Cobb [Rookie Card]

September 10, 2011

Super Rare Vic Power Card On eBay

Posted by Matt F. at 11:29 AM

As I was doing my weekly trolling for new Vic Power & Andy Pafko cards for the collection, I came upon this yellow beauty for an asking price of $600:

It is a part of a super rare set made by a company in Kansas City, Rodeo Meats, in 1955 featuring players of the Kansas City Athletics. There are 47-cards in the set and Vic's bright yellow background and "never takes a bad photo" smile makes it one of the most sought after cards from the set. Here's a great little article on the set written by PSA.

September 9, 2011

Recounting Of A Brutal Blaster Opening

Posted by Matt F. at 9:30 AM

I've been putting this post off for quite some time. I would look at the pile of cards on my card sorting table and turn away quickly as if seeing something that was truly upsetting. Today, I am pulling myself together and summoning the strength to talk about my ripping of a blaster of Upper Deck's World Of Sports.

I'm not sure what I was thinking spending some of my income tax return on a full priced blaster to begin with. I think at the time [this would have have been mid-April] I was just so desperate for something new that I fell back into the warm embrace of Upper Deck no matter what product they were offering. I wasn't promised a jersey card on the box but an entire blaster of just base cards without inserts was dreadful. And I realize that whole generations opened packs that were just base cards but in today's collecting environment it's like going to a restaurant on the hottest summer's day and finding the restaurant doesn't have air conditioning.

In terms of getting some interesting base cards I did alright I guess. I was able to get the Tiger Woods base card but no Lebron. Along with Tiger, there were a few other cards of players just about anyone had heard of...including one infamous one highlighted at the end here.

#250 Tiger Woods

#304 Sidney Crosby

#62 Landon Donovan

#114 Hope Solo

#228 Nancy Kerrigan

But a huge majority of the set was of players and sports that you would never guess would be included. I guess I had hoped this set could be a set highlighting the champions of the world [like Allen & Ginter with photography]...I just didn't expect the top 15 lacrosse players or the top 10 female hockey players. What could have been.

As in the Field Level View review of the product, if you desire any of the cards in the set, buy singles and avoid packs.

September 8, 2011

What's Inside Five Packs Of 2009 Americana?

Posted by Matt F. at 2:00 PM

Here's what I found in five packs of 2009 Donruss Americana [purchased for 99 cents each at Target]. There was a lot of...

Who?

#94 Marton Csokas

A little of the ultraviolence...

#42 Malcolm McDowell

Brains! [Romero fans, please save your comments...I know his zombies don't have a taste for brains...they'll eat any part of a human...]

#52 George Romero

A Spencer Tracy relic! My first ever relic straight from an Americana pack.

Movie Posters #45 Boys Town/Spencer Tracy Clothing Relic #104/500

"and on his farm he shot some guys...badda boom badda bing bang boom."

#44 Stephen Baldwin

"You touch my sister again, I'll kill you."

#90 James Caan

And two packs later another relic! When I'm hot, I'm hot.

Movie Posters #50 Mrs. Miniver/Greer Garson/Teresa Wright Clothing Relic #325/500

My Andy Pafko Collection

Posted by Matt F. at 9:49 AM

UPDATED: 1-19-12

Here is my Andy Pafko collection. Thus far I have 26 cards and one autographed baseball. Andy played from 1943-1959 and is often included in contemporary sets, especially re-prints of Andy's 1952 Topps #1 card.

For some of these cards I have duplicate copies. That doesn't mean I'm not looking for more. Any and all Andy Pafko cards will be given a good home here. My needs list of fairly commonly found cards can be found HERE.

The Playing Years

1939-1946