A Kingsley Ransom

As I've mentioned here and there on this here blog, I used to be a fanatical NASCAR follower in my younger years.  In fact, during that time, getting me to leave the house on Sunday was like trying to bathe a cat.

As such, being the trading card collecting nut that I am, I built myself a large collection of auto racing-themed cards.  Through that avenue (and many a book), I developed a healthy knowledge on the history of the sport.  Unfortunately, as my interest in the sport waned, many of those cards were lost to the sands of time.

While sifting through the closet under the basement stairs last summer in a boredom-infused fit of cleaning, I came across one of those old binders and soon lost an hour or two flipping through the pages and reciting long-forgotten names.  Nostalgia bit me hard.

Since that time, I've been slowly but surely rebuilding my NASCAR card collection and, this time, I am going the same route as I did with my Cubs collection - one card of every person to compete at NASCAR's highest level, or at least as many as I can find.  Seeing as only a tiny portion of the sport's history since 1949 is covered by trading card manufacturer's, the great majority of racers have not been honored with their own 2x3 rectangle.

On the blogosphere, when it comes to NASCAR cards, Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History certainly ranks on the pole position.  His collection of both cards and die-casts are without rival and, apparently, so too is his generosity.  After making contact, he soon agreed to send me a few of his doubles..."a few."

 All told, I ended up with a whole heckuva a lot of new wheel-men for my latest project, which covered a wide expanse of brands, eras and collecting niches:

He included a healthy selection of legendary names.  You might know Donnie Allison for his involvement in one of the greatest finishes of all time, the 1979 Daytona 500, which ended in a brawl after the leaders wrecked on the final lap during NASCAR's live network debut.  The Allisons are one of the most prominent families in auto racing and his nephew Davey was no slouch either; if not for his tragic death in a helicopter crash in 1992, he might be discussed as one of the best of the best.

This is both a wonderfully joyous and sobering shot of Davey with his son Robbie (who is now a racer himself) not long before the accident.  Treasure life while you have it.

Meanwhile, Daytona 500 champ Tiny Lund (car #55) is another all-time great who's life was cut short, this time on the track while racing at Talladega in 1975.  David Pearson has the second most wins in the history of the circuit with 105... which is still 95 short of Richard Petty's mind-boggling 200.

These well-respected names are more so known for their longevity than their performance on the track, but they were certainly no slouches either.  Bailey, Marcis and Farmer were the Jamie Moyers of their sport, with their careers spanning several decades:  Bailey - 1962-93, Marcis - 1968-2002 & Farmer 1953-today (!!!).  While Farmer hasn't taken the wheel of a Cup car since 1975 and well into his 80's, he still competes as a weekend warrior on dirt tracks like Eldora Speedway, as this 2010 Press Pass single documents.

It's really quite difficult to wrap my mind around that one.

Speaking of being around for forever, there's a family name that is synonymous with the sport and has been represented on the track (on and off) by at least one member since the mid-50's:  Earnhardt.

Even the most casual of sports fans are likely familiar with 7x series champion Dale, aka the Intimidator; however, it was his father Ralph who got the family going on the track, starting his first race in 1956.  This particular card from Racing Champions came along with a die-cast model of one of Ralph's Fords, a common method of distribution for racing memorabilia.

Kerry, one of my personal favorites from my youth, is the first born son of Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr.'s half-brother.  While he has experienced a good amount of success in the developmental ranks, he never quite put it together in the upper echelons.  Meanwhile, his son Jeffrey has become the fourth generation Earnhardt to hit the track and is currently competing for Rookie of the Year honors in the Sprint Cup series with Go FAS Racing.  Apparently, he's also an MMA fighter, as if turning laps at 200mph wasn't enough thrills for him.

NASCAR has long been a family-oriented sport and as is the case with Kerry/Jeffrey, many a driver I grew up watching has now seen their offspring come up from behind and join them.  It's weird to feel old in my 20's, but watching the sons of drivers I grew up rooting for on the track certainly pushes that envelope.  

Jeb - son of Ward, Ryan - son of Dave and Chase - son of Bill are all currently competing at the Cup level, while Steve, son of Rusty, is a full-time competitor in the Truck series and has one Cup start to his credit.  

Time marches on.

Now, my love for auto racing was never just limited to stock car racing.  During that same time, I fostered a strong interest in the most recognizable race in the world, the Indianapolis 500.  This is an interest that never died, as I've made an annual pilgrimage to the qualifying sessions since 2003. True racers will compete in any vehicle that they can get behind and so, though their two entirely different forms of racing, there's quite a bit of overlap between NASCAR and Indy Car:

All of these men competed in each style of racing with various degrees of success.  A.J. Foyt is an all-time great in both series, while the rest definitely had their stronger suits.  Al Unser, Jr., a name synonymous with Indy, made a single, cameo appearance in the 1992 Daytona 500.  Dario Franchitti (this might be my favorite card in the entire package, with the Borg Warner trophy looking on in the background as he shows off his 3 victor's rings in Victory Lane at Indy) briefly forayed into the NASCAR world before turning back to the Brickyard.

Charlie Glotzbach, a four-time race winner in the Cup series, twice attempted to qualify at Indianapolis and twice failed (1969-70).

Meanwhile, both Steve Kinser and Scott Speed weren't particularly successful in either.  Though they both tried their hand at Indy and NASCAR, their greatest exploits came in other avenues of racing, Kinser in sprint cars and Speed in the old Champ Car circuit.  However, I think we can all agree that the latter has just about the best name ever for a race car driver, right?

LeeRoy Yarbrough is another guy who dipped his pen in both ink wells; however, the specific reason why I chose to highlight this card is because it is one that I had in my original, childhood collection.  Like the Ralph Earnhardt earlier, this too was distributed with a die-cast model of the car it depicts.  I remember wandering into Kaybee Toys in the Orland Park Mall way, way back when and excitedly picking out a stack of these Johnny Lightning "Stock Car Legends," a binge purchase funded by Christmas money and a clearance sale.

On that note, here are a couple of more cards that I know resided in that same childhood collection.  While the drivers were nothing of note (although, Hank Parker, Jr. is the son of Bass Master Hank Parker), I know that I don't have to tell you guys that thumbing through cards that instantly transport you back to those days of innocence is always a treasured experience.

Welcome back home LeeRoy, Buckshot and Hank!

Similarly, while I didn't have the following cards specifically in my collection, they still bring back those same warm-fuzzies because they show drivers which I was attached to at that time:

Johnny Sauter was a hot-shot prospect who won the very first automobile race that I ever attended, the 2001 ASA Late Model series race at the old Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, IL (which is now a Walmart... sad face).  As such, his name was immediately seared into my memory and, while he never ascended to his full potential in NASCAR, he was always a sentimental favorite.

As for Hermie Sadler, I always attached myself to the underdogs and independent drivers of the sport. Rooting for Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart was fine and dandy, but who doesn't love a good underdog story?  Thus, I often found myself pulling for guys like Hermie, with their small, once-car operations, lack of corporate sponsorship or manufacturer backing, odds longer than the race distance itself.

Now, I could easily stretch this post at least twice as long as it's already gone; but, I think I'll cap it here with a couple of cards that depict a local hero:

The Chicagoland area isn't exactly a hotbed of NASCAR talent - there have been very few Windy City residents to compete in the upper ranks of stock car racing, let alone succeed in it.  The man you see above, Tom Pistone is easily the cream of the crop when it comes to Chicagoans in NASCAR.  In a career that spanned from 1955-68, "Tiger Tom" won two races along the way to go along with 53 top 10 finishes and 5 pole positions.  Not too bad for a Yankee.

Amusingly, in 1960, he wore a life preserver and an oxygen tube in his car while racing at Daytona for fear of running into the lake in the middle of the speedway and drowning.  This has never happened, of course.  Also, his son Pete serves as the NASCAR analyst for many a local sports-talk station.

This card comes from the same set as the Tiny Lund we saw at the beginning of this post, the only set found in Billy's trade package that I wasn't, at least, somewhat aware of.  Apparently they're from a product called "Masters of Racing," put out by TG Racing, Inc. between 1991-92.  I might have to find myself a few more of these, both for their beautiful shots of super-vintage race cars and it's selection of more obscure subjects.  Thanks for turning me on to these, Billy!

The cover card for MoR, which was apparently distributed as a boxed set, courtesy of the Trading Card Database

Well, I mean, thank you for all of the awesome cards in general, Billy!  There was no way that I could show them all, but in the end, I ended up with an eye-popping 91 new drivers for my all-time NASCAR driver collection... ninety-freaking-one from a single trade package, which amounts to roughly 1/3 of my total accumulation thus far.  There's no doubt about it, this was the most productive trade I have ever made since I started this here blog.

Even still, Mr. Kingsley didn't stop there.  As you might know, his basketball collection is nothing to sneeze at either and, as a surprise, he also included a few new names for my Bulls All-Time Roster Collection, which I'll make sure to show off in the coming days.  

Billy, thank you for your overwhelming generosity and for keeping my stock car collection well-stocked.  I hope that my return package was at least half as intriguing as the one you sent my way.  To borrow a popular racing cliche, blew my doors off!

(I know this is F1, but it's a damn good song and still fits the mood!)

Big Z, Little Z - What Begins With Z?

John Lackey's shoulder has been barking (much like his mouth does on the mound) and his next start is going to be skipped in order to prevent injury; after all, the Cubs have a huge division lead and rest is more important than anything right now.  As such, Mike Montgomery will be making a spot start this weekend, with Trevor Cahill scheduled to fill in for more innings after Mike.  Considering the bullpen has already been fairly-heavily taxed lately, the Cubs wanted to add a little relief for their relievers.

Enter the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zastryzny.

Rob Zastryzny has been called up from AAA-Iowa in order to fill in.  The lefty has been pitching exceptionally well of late at Iowa (29.6% K rate since July 1) and is capable of going multiple innings, if need be.  Also, fun fact - the former second-rounder is the first pitching prospect drafted by the Theo Epstein regime to make it to the Major Leagues.

It's easy to forget with the constant stream of blue chip position players coming up and succeeding that pitching hasn't been a strong point for this organization.

 

Behold Z's only mainstream baseball card - 2013 Panini Prizm Draft Picks.  Hopefully the guy sticks around long enough to earn a spot in another set's checklist because Prizm is and always has been quite ugly.

However, Rob Zastryzny won't be traveling from Des Moines to Colorado (what a place for pitchers to make their MLB debut) alone.  Word trickled out late last night that the Cubs would in fact be purchasing the contract of, not one, but two hurlers from the minors in order to inject a little bit of fresh blood into the bullpen.  Coming along with Rob is another fairly unheralded prospect with a much easier name to pronounce:  Felix Pena.

 

Unfortunately, I was not prepared to add Pena to my CATRC binder, so this scan from GoSportsCards will have to do for now until I can track down a reasonably priced copy of one of his minor league cards, or if anybody happens to have one for trade.  Like I said, Felix has been unheralded and thus has never been included in a mainstream release.

Here's hoping my recently-ended Lendy Castillo saga isn't about to repeat itself. 

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, Pena has been pitching out of the pen for the I-Cubs this season, posting a 3.41 ERA and a 31.6% strikeout rate.  By all accounts, he’s got a big league caliber bullpen arm, but he has a tendency to lose command.  Will he be able to harness his powers, a la Carl Edwards in 2016?  We shall see.

One thing is for sure with these moves, between the new guy Rob Zastryzny and fourth outfielder/pinch hitter extraordinaire Matt Szczur, the Cubs certainly have the market cornered on players with too many Z's in their last names.  I wonder if the Cubs clubhouse attendant even has enough to keep up with the jerseys.

Welcome to the Show and my CATRC (well, soon enough for Felix anyway) newbies - good luck!

Will You Lendy Me Your Castillo?

Nevermind, I finally found my own!

When it comes to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection, there are very few gaps left to be filled in from the modern era.  In fact, since the establishment of Topps, there is only one player who has a standard base card in any of their flagship sets left for me to acquire (if anyone has a 1967 NL Rookies #576 card ft. Norm Gigon, I'd love to talk trade).  Of course, there are still a couple handfuls of players without that standard release left to track down, but you get the idea.

Narrowing this down a little further, when it comes to Cubs who played during my lifetime, I have at least card of every single one of them.  However, for several years, there had been one not-so-notable exception to that fact and it was an exceptionally frustrating gap:  a relief pitcher by the name of Lendy Castillo.

Thankfully, that dragon has now been slain and I have a card of everyone to don a Cubs uniform during my time on Earth (since 1989):

I have to say, this is a pretty nifty card to slay that beast with too; it features one of the local minor league teams during their brief time as a Cubs affiliate, a fact which you can easily see thanks to the prominent "Cubs" patch on Lendy's chest, and it's autographed.  Not to mention, it's a pretty sharp design.

Plus, this minor league single only cost me two bucks shipped - seeing as MiLB team issue singles are oftentimes be ridiculously priced, I think two George Washington flashcards for a Cubbie blue-ink signed copy is a pretty sweet deal.

I had intended to go to a Kane County game that next summer with as a volunteer for a local charity event, hoping that I might find a discounted team set from the previous year in the gift shop.  Unfortunately, that event was cancelled and I just kept kicking the can down the road.  Now, they're not even a Cubs affiliate anymore and Ebay had to suffice.

For completeness sake, let's flip it over and take a look at the back:

Obviously, the back is a not-so-subtle "nod" to 2012 Topps; I guess Grandstand can get away with that.

Anywho, if you can read that text, you might just be able to see why Lendy was such a difficult guy to track down for my CATRC binder.  As the statistical information notates, Mr. Castillo was a Rule 5 draft choice in December of 2011.

While there are some notable exceptions, the Rule 5 draft oftentimes leads to players who have no business being in the Major Leagues being stashed on the 25-man roster in hopes of discovering a hidden gem.  For every Johan Santana or Odubel Herrera who defies the odds and sticks, there are infinitely more Lendy Enrique Artiles Castillos.

Lendy during his time in the Phillies org, image courtesy of the Cubs Den

The Cubs were in full-on rebuild mode going into the 2012 season and there was no illusion of contention in the near future.  As such, the newly installed "Theocracy" was looking for any avenue to import talent into the desolate wasteland of potential that was the Cubs farm system, Rule 5 draft included.  When Major League wins don't really matter, you can afford to waste a roster spot on a potential sleeper prospect

The plan with Castillo was to keep him on the MLB roster for as long as needed and then continue to work on his development in the minors after his rights were fully secured.

The problem was that Lendy didn't know how to pitch... literally.  Signed by the Phillies as a shortstop out of the Dominican Republic in 2007, Castillo had never even toed the rubber until midway through the 2010 season.  In terms of prospect status, he was about as raw as a bloody steak... and just as good for your health, too.

It can't be fun to be teed off on day in and day out, image courtesy of the Cubs Den

With such little experience against even minor league pitchers, he didn't stand a chance in the majors, no matter how live his arm was (his fastball touched 96 mph), and he was promptly lit up like a Christmas tree.  All in all, over the course of 16.0 innings spread across 13 appearances out of the bullpen, Castillo posted a dismal 7.88 ERA and, though he struck out 13, he also walked 12 and hit 3 batters.  Clearly, even for a team on it's way to 101 losses, he was hard to stomach.

Like many teams do with Rule 5'ers, the Cubs stashed him on the DL for a long while as a means to pad out his necessary Big League stay, a common practice across the league for trying to hide such a player on the 25 man roster.  After the season, the Cubs sent Lendy back down to the minors to work on his control and no one batted an eye.

Unfortunately, several months later, the Phillies cried foul on the DL/roster manipulation and filed a successful grievance.  As a result, Philadelphia was awarded the Cubs Rule 5 draft slot in the 2013 edition of the event.  Nevertheless, the Cubs maintained the rights to the relief prospect.

Anyway, all of that brings us back to this card.  Lendy found himself on the Cubs farm, playing across three levels through the 2014 season.  However, he never really righted the ship with his control; his time in low-A Kane County was particularly awful, with a 6.58 ERA and 1.72 K/W ratio.

So, like many a Rule 5'er, his raw ability just never translated into measurable success on the diamond.  He was released after the '14 campaign and has continued to bounce from franchise to franchise since.  Currently, Lendy is an Akron Rubber Duck, toiling in AA with Cleveland.

All in all, seeing as Mr. Castillo was never a big ticket prospect, barely touched the Major Leagues and has been a minor league nomad since, he has never been included in a mass-produced baseball card set.  In fact, to my knowledge, he's only even appeared in one other MiLB team set; thus, my options for adding him to my CATRC binder were quite limited.

His only other baseball card... and a great example of the price gauging commonly found on minor league singles

But, luckily that's all moot now that I was finally able to get my hands on a Lendy that is both reasonably priced and nifty.  After all, it's only the 41st card in my CATRC binder to be graced with a John Hancock.

In the post Lendy Castillo-era, the Cubs have only made one true selection* in the Rule 5 draft and I think it's safe to assume that everyone who reads this will agree that picking Hector Rondon during the next go round in 2012 worked out much, much, much better.  It's a damn good thing that the Phillies took so long to file their grievance, otherwise they might have lost that pick instead of the '13 pick.

Staying off of the carousel is all well and good with me - selfishly, because as I've detailed in this very post, locating cards of these kind of middling/unheralded players isn't always such an easy task.

Not as easy as 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C...

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* The Cubs drafted Taylor Featherston from the Rockies in 2014, but it was part of a pre-arranged deal with the Angels and he was immediately traded for cash considerations.  They never intended to keep him.

Targeting Some Dodgers

There are thousands of trading card collectors scattered throughout the world and each and every one of us has our own method of collecting; some collect sets, others gather all the cards they can find of a specific player.  Meanwhile, still others build mini-collections based on specific characteristics of the cards (mis-cuts, pitchers at the plate, bunting, etc.) and some build up their stock on the value attached to their relics and autographs.  In short, there are different collecting strokes for every kind of collecting folk.

That said, I have yet to encounter another who collects in the same method that I do (except for one notable exception), in that they are attempting to acquire one card of every player to have played for their favorite team. 

Look mom, I'm unique!

This challenge wouldn't be too difficult for a more modern franchise like the Diamondbacks, the Marlins or even the Mets.  However, as a fanatic of the world's oldest continually operating sports franchise (to have stayed in the same city), I have plenty of players to chase from the earliest days of professional sports.

Another well-aged and beloved on the blogosphere franchise is the Dodgers, who were formed way back in 1883.  If a Dodgers collector were to pick up my mantle, you would think it would be an equally daunting task to amass one card of every Brooklyn/Los Angeles player, right?  Especially obscure and oft-forgotten players like Charlie Gilbert (on your left), a utility infielder for the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies during the 1940's.

Not necessarily.


You see, back in 1990 as part of their 100 years of being in the National League celebration (they were originally founded as an American Assoc. club), the Trolley Dodgers got together with every suburban white woman's favorite hangout - Target - to create an anthology card set to mark the occasion.  The content of this corporate sponsored checklist was filled up with every player to have donned the Dodger blue since that time, creating a massive 1,144 card set, which was distributed in perforated sheets at Dodger Stadium.

Of course, with any set that large, errors were made.  For instance, that is not the same John O'Brien pictured that played for Brooklyn (1891) and Chicago (1893); rather, that is John "Cinders" O'Brien who played in the Bigs at the same time, mostly for Cleveland. 

Furthermore, a few obscure names were forgotten and that's not to mention the fact that the set ignored the first 7 years of the franchise's existence.  Nevertheless, this has proven to be one of my personal favorite sets and quite useful or my CATRC - after all, there are several men who wore both shades of blue on the diamond who would have never appeared on a baseball card otherwise, or at least one that I can afford.

Unfortunately, these mini-oddballs don't show up in my neck of the woods very often, so I called out for help on Twitter.  Luckily, one of the most preeminent Dodger collectors on the world wide web answered my call, Stealing Home of All Trade Bait, All the Time.  Coincidentally, he had just dug up up a few sheets of the Target Dodgers and was more than willing to assist me.

I really can't say enough about how invaluable his help has been - like I said, many of the subjects simply have no reasonable alternative and, without these Targets, I'd have gaps that could never be filled.

For instance, the people designing the set couldn't even locate a picture of Cozy Dolan in baseball garb, instead opting for a super formal head-shot.  Well, okay, there are actually plenty of photos available of him on the diamond, he did have a 11 year career after all (two each with Chicago and Brooklyn).  Tragically, Cozy's career and life were both cut short after a bout with typhoid fever during spring training in 1907.

Meanwhile, Joe Schultz was apparently another player who was difficult for the set designers to track down a photograph; this shot must have been used for a wire service or something, back in the day.  It's not even a Dodgers shot - I think it's St. Louis... maybe?

The father of the Joe Schultz who went on to manage the ill-fated Seattle Pilots played for several teams in first half of the 20th century.  In fact, Schultz Sr. played for every National League club, with the exception of the New York Giants.  He split the 1915 campaign between our two spotlighted teams (only seven games with the Cubs; talk about obscure).

 

Continuing on the theme of photography, another added benefit to such a vast-reaching set is getting to see the old-timey uniforms.  I mean, can you imagine today's players wearing such a collar as George Magoon is sporting?  Hell, half of them don't even button the top two buttons these days.  Although, that kind of design feature might be useful when playing at Wrigley in April (brrrrrrr).

Also, Jesse Petty gives us a good, clear look at the National League's 50th anniversary patch, which was sported by teams during the 1925 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Senior Circuit.  Additionally, it appears as though someone started to obliterate the background of the reliever's photo, but quit halfway through.

 

Furthermore, seeing as the set is chock full of long-forgotten names from the annals of our national pastime's history, it provides a nice jumping off point to learn about some characters of days gone by.  For instance, Chicago native Roy Henshaw was lucky enough to come straight out of college and onto the Major League roster of his hometown club, despite his diminutive 5'8", 155 lb stature.  You just don't see many fun-sized moundsmen.

Unfortunately, it was that lack of build that kept Henshaw from ever claiming a full-time spot in the pitching rotation, due to lack of durability.  As Chicago's spot-starter/long reliever from 1933-36, Roy found his niche.  Eventually, Roy was traded to Brooklyn for Lonnie Frey.

With that, Stealing Home and his Target Dodger finds were able to add seven new names to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection; that's the most I've added to my CATRC binder at one time in many, many moons.

Even still, Stealing Home's generosity still had not run out.  As an added bonus, he threw in some extra Cubs goodies:

 

Some glossy, "premium" releases from the middle portion of the 90's.  I've always had thing for the Flair sets...

 

 

...some singles from the over production era...

 

  

...and some true, blue vintage in the form of a 1982 Topps single featuring short term Cub Joe Strain (25 games in 1981).   Who doesn't love bonus cards?

Anyway, while I love the Target Dodgers set for all the help it has provided me towards fulfilling my collecting mission, I don't know that I would actually want a set in the same vein for the Chicago Cub.  After all, it would kind of invalidate all of the work I put into my collation of Cubs, right?  Not that there's any talk of that happening... just a thought.  For now, I'm just happy that the Dodgers and Cubs have so much cross over!

My thanks go out to Stealing Home for helping a fellow collector in need.  Hopefully, you find your return brick of Dodgers to be at least half as fun to go through!

Even after all of that, there are still so many gaps that I can fill in my binder with Target Dodgers.  If anybody reading has some that they are willing to part with, I have a comprehensive want-list posted (link at the top of the page) and would be ecstatic to talk trade.  

I think there are a few of Dodgers collectors on the blogosphere, right?

Hits Hanging Loose

It's been a pretty chaotic week or so around the Wrigley Roster Jenga household.  As such, I ultimately have stayed away from the blogosphere for a little while.  I'm sure I could have jammed a post here or there over the course of that time, but you can't force art!

Ha - art.

Anyway, after surviving the start of the school year in a new building (still no students though) and traveling/attending (and ultimately, helping with the running of the event) and out of town wedding on Saturday, my schedule has calmed back down a little bit.  At least, until the next wedding, which is weekend after next.

Unfortunately, I missed the first annual National Baseball Card Day put on by Topps, as there was no way I could make it to a hobby shop on Saturday - as I said, I ended up as a pseudo coordinator on my friend's big day.  However, a few days before, I was able to secure myself a consolation prize:

 

It's no free pack of special baseball cards - but, it'll do.

This bit of splurging was little out of character on me.  The box cost me fifteen bucks with a promise of a guaranteed autograph AND a relic. Of course, the chances of those two items justifying the price point were pretty slim, but at least there were a few packs thrown in as well.  Anyway, curiosity got the best of me.

We'll save the hits for last (and why they ticked me off).  Here are the packs that were tossed in with the cardboard lures.

 

Hmmm, well, ONE of these is a foil pack and the other is a handy fire starter... I mean wax pack; but I guess I'm splitting hairs here.

Let's open up the Babe Ruth Collection pack (I'll spare you the 1990 Donruss - lord knows we've all seen enough of that).  Even though, as a Cubs collector, this Babe-centric set won't produce anything for my collection, at least it's something different and new to my eyes.  In fact, that is my first pack of anything from the rebooted Leaf brand:

 

While the set might be something different for me, the cards I pulled are awfully similar - all shadowy shots of the Colossus of Clout with a bat in hand.  I guess this is bound to happen with a set revolving around a single player, but still...

 

And the insert, which commemorates his 1924 American League batting crown.  Of course, the Great Bambino is and always has been lauded for his otherworldly power numbers; but, his .378 batting average far outpaced the field in 1924, good enough for his only batting title.

OK then, I suppose that's pretty unique.

Now, as for my promised factory-sealed fat pack:

 

Nothing particularly exciting and I'm pretty sure I have all my needs from this particular set; that said, I still enjoy ripping packs of baseball cards:

 

These were the only two Cubs-related cards that fit into my collection.  Former Cub David DeJesus sure looks weird in an Angels uniform.  Of course, he's not wearing any uniform at all these days.  Meanwhile, I'm fairly certain that I already have this "Sweet Swingin'" Billy Williams insert in my possession; but, just in case...

As for the rest of the pack, nothing too notable.  Here are the inserts and parallels that were included, in case anyone is interested:

  

Hey, that Ichiro guy turned out to be pretty good, didn't he?  Also, I think we can all agree that those "Pride and Perseverance" inserts are among the best released by Topps in recent times.

Alright, it's time for the main event:  the hits.  Did I pull the Mike Trout auto depicted on the front of the box?  Maybe that cut-auto that I've now pre-promised to Bob Walk the Plank??

 

Ooooh so close.

I'm not upset that I got some no-name autograph (hey, at least you can read it!) - that was pretty much fully expected.  What I am a bit miffed about is that all four corners are pretty heavily dinged up.  That's because Jose and his to-be-revealed relic friend were tossed into the hanger box loosely, free to bounce around like super balls.  I mean, being that they are the main attraction for this repack product, could we at least get a penny sleeve, for cryin' out loud?

 Where it really pained me was on the relic:

 

That right there is a beautiful double relic of sentimental Cubs favorite Mark Prior, featuring a swatch of game-used and batting practice-used material.  Personal favorite player, notable name, pitcher at the plate... what's not to love about this hit from Upper Deck's SP line?  In fact, it's much better than anything I was realistically hoping for going into this purchase.

Oh yea, the fact that it got beat up pretty heavily from being naked and afraid in that box...  harumph.

No matter, it's not like I care about resell value here.  I'm still very happy to have pulled this and I personally enjoy it just the same.  However, being that I forked over the price of a blaster box for this product, I sure would have appreciated a little bit more care when it came to packaging.

Has anyone else bitten on these?  If so, did you have the same problem, or was I just unfortunate?

Had I known this was going to be an issue "Prior" to my purchase, I likely would have opted out.  Also, clearly I'm not upset enough to resist making a mediocre pun!  At any rate,  I'm definitely done with this product.

In the end, at least I still got a pretty nifty Mark Prior relic out of it, dinged though it may be.  I guess that's just the way that the cookie crumbles sometimes.  At least the wedding was a blast!