1997 Pinnacle NASCAR Random Group Break (Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliottt, Jeff Green)

1997 Pinnacle:  I was part of a random group break of '97 Pinnacle last year and somehow ended up with some of NASCAR's greatest drivers.  Dale Sr. is the highlight though of course Jeff Gordon is no slouch.  And Bill Elliott is a great driver as well.  Not sure how I got this lucky but I'll take it.  Classic look from Dale in this photo.

Great look at the colors and look we associate with Dale Sr's car.

Plenty of cool cards.  

A legend, Dale Sr. was a seven-time champion.

Pinnacle tinkered with different designs.  Some work.  Some make you wonder.  Not saying these are bad.  Just different.  But Intimidator is right.  Dale was just that.

The NASCAR Dayton Duels are tonight on Fox Sports 1.  These will set the lineup for Sunday's first race of the season in Daytona.

In turn 4 on the way to victory maybe?  This legend had 76 wins in his career. 

Jeff Gordon seemed the antithesis of Dale Sr. but was no less a competitor.  Jeff Gordon won 93 races and four championships.

UNRIVALED: EARNHARDT vs. GORDON is a great documentary any NASCAR fan should watch.

A Jeff Green pull.  I'm a Scooby fan so I'm happy.

Bill Elliott, a one-time champion, had 44 wins in his illustrious career and won a crazy 16 Most Popular Driver awards.  His son Chase is a favorite of mine in the sport today and also had a championship on his resume as well as five Most Popular Driver awards.

Elliott also had off track pursuits.  Or maybe this was his attempt at making a track.  That Gordon below is a Spellbound insert.  And what does that "R" help spell out when other Spellbound cards are combined with it?  NASCAR.

1980 Topps Superman II Rack Pack

Topps Superman II: Happy Valentine's Day?  Well I do love this movie.  One of the best superhero movies in my opinion.  I was eleven when it came out and it hit all the marks for me.  This is a rack pack I recently picked up.

The design here is one I like.  The movie logo, red outer border, and yellow inner boarder look good together. Still plenty of space for the photo too.

These cards, like many of the era, are rife with bad centering.  I feel for anyone trying to collect a centered set of anything from back then.

I call these character cards and they make up cards numbered 2-11.  Not bad and provide good close ups of the cast.

What really made Superman II for me is the bad guys and gals.  Superman had foes who could rightly challenge him and Terence Stamp as Zod was amazing.  He was very commanding and how you want a badass bad guy to be.

Zod, Ursa and Non made-up Superman's foes.  Ursa was played by Sarah Douglass and boy my eleven year-old self had a thing for her.  Well, I think I still have a thing for Ursa.

Did I tell you I had a thing for Ursa?

I showed off cards from the '78 Superman movie last week.  I like the original but Superman II is definitely the best of that franchise.

The backs are fine.  They either have parts of the puzzles you can make with the backs or write ups like this one.  The write ups are fine keeping you informed on what is going on in the movie.  Some also have thoughts from actors and actresses.

Superman's love interest in in trouble.  I always thought Margot Kidder did a good job in this movie.  

The special effects in 1980 weren't what we're used to today but in 1980 we were happy.

Non was the brute of the three.  As if that wasn't evident.  I don't think he actually had any lines in the movie.

The happy couple together.  This is a good movie.  Our 1980 selves were able to see some of the first really good battles on screen between heroes and villains which was fun.  This was a great trip down memory lane. 

BREAKDOWN:
48 – Total Cards
5 – Character Cards
2 - Checklist

2022 Illusions Football Blaster

2022 Illusions:  I'll be rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs today but I think the Philadelphia Eagles are the better team overall, especially on D, and will take home the championship.  And a perfect day to show off some football cards I'm seeing for the first time.  Just found them this week on local shelves.

I normally like Illusions and I do like this year's design.  Some offensive powerhouses here.  Loved seeing how well McCaffrey did after trading for the 49ers.  Mixon had a down year and fans are wishing he had run the ball more in their playoff lost to the Chiefs.  After an MVP caliber season in 2021, Cooper Kupp had injuries cut his 2022 season in half.

Plenty of rookies.  Olave had a great year for the Saints catching 72 balls.  James Cook rushed for just over 500 yards and Travon Walker registered 3 1/2 sacks for the Jaguars. 

Some QB love.  Scans never do these justice.  Check out a photo here to get a good look.

Green parallel on the left and some type of parallel on the right that I'll never know.  It really irritates me when what parallel I have isn't obvious.  This is either a Diamond, Dots, Emerald, Orange, Starlight, or Sunburst parallel.  The backs, while nice looking and colorful, are a bit meh with no stats.

The King of Cards is a nice looking acetate insert. Illusionists is also an acetate.

Good box of cards.  I like the design and had a good pull.  We'll end it with Tom Terrific who knows a thing or seven about championships.  Everyone enjoy the Super Bowl today!

BREAKDOWN:
36 – Total Cards
9 – RC
4 – Green Parallel
2 – Illusionists
1 – Amazing
1 – King of Cards
1 – Something, Something Parallel

 

2023 NFL Hall of Fame Class

2023 NFL Hall of Fame:  I always enjoy NFL Hall of Fame selections and all the talk that goes with it.  The 2023 class was released this week.  No arguments with any of them.  I don't always think about every players as a Hall of Famer when I watched them play but that's why there are smarter guys than me helping vote these guys in.  This year's class was defense heavy but Joe Thomas headlined the class in my opinion.  Elected his first time on the ballot he was a six-time All-Pro, Pro Bowl selection every year he played and a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team.  I always got a good vibe from the guy and no matter how bad Cleveland was he was a class act and a beast on the offensive line.

Zach Thomas waited a while for his induction but he was a 2000s All-Decade team pick, five-time All-Pro, and seven-time Pro Bowl selection.  Happy to see him get in as well and well deserved.  Just took too long.

Ken Riley is a guy I knew about growing up.  He was always talked about amongst the best corners but somehow never made a Pro Bowl but was selected as an All-Pro once.  Still talked about as one of the greats I'm happy to see him join elite.

I could say a lot about all these guys.  I watched Joe Klecko growing up and wow how is Don Coryell just now getting in?  Such an innovator and many offenses can thank him for where the league has gone.  Again, no issues with any of the selections this year.  I know these selections don't mean as much to others but I always enjoy it.  Congratulations to all those who made it into the NFL Hall of Fame.

1978 Topps Superman

 1978 Topps Superman:  Somewhat quiet day of sports with no football so let's do some Superman.  DC announced their new slate of movies and TV shows this week, that will essentially reboot the DC universe.  Can't wait to see what we get.  Like most nine year-olds, I was stoked to have a superhero movie in 1978.  Superman was one I really liked though as an adult I'm surprised it didn't bore me a bit.  It tends to have a lot of setup and icky love story.  Great photo on this first card though not a scene I remember per se.

I definitely liked Superman II much more than this offering.  Still I really like this one and all the characters which were done really well by the actors and actresses portraying them.

The love story played a major part in this movie.  No issues.  Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder had great chemistry.

The movie facts on the back are somehow interesting.  Nothing is earth shattering but they provide good information.  Ursa..Superman II...I'm forever in love...just saying...

My sticker, which has the requisite gum stain from any pack from Topps in this era.  This was a fun pack.  Eleven cards isn't enough.  I definitely wanted more but these are good enough to wet the pallet.  I'll be grabbing some Superman II cards sometime soon.  The shot of Clark Kent on this last card is very simplistic but I really like it. 

BREAKDOWN
11 – Total Cards
1 – Sticker

Random Wax: 1990 Donruss Baseball (3 Packs)

1990 Donruss:  Can never go wrong with Greg Maddux or 1990 Donruss which is one of my favorite sets of all-time.  This four-time Cy Young award winner was so fun to watch.  I know masterful is used to describe him and I wouldn't argue any.

Another Hall of Fame guy named Boggs and some guys with power from the era.  Gant would go on to hit 32 homeruns and .303 at the plate in 1990.  I like Gant and felt sorry for him.  He got hurt after the '93 season, didn't play in '94, and signed as a free agent for 1995 with the Reds.  Would have been fun watching him win a championship with the Braves that season.

Love the old Dick Perez Diamond Kings.

The MVP cards are pretty lackluster.  That background makes me shake my head.

Maddux was only getting started.  No matter how good his '89 season was we had no idea what was to come.

Kruk was so much fun.  Lots of good hitting going on here.  Who was named an all-star the most?  Tony Fernandez five times while Kruk and Grace were all-stars three times.

Always liked that Bart Giamatti card.  Speaking of the Braves' World Series title in 1995, here's game 6 offensive hero David Justice.  The all-star cards in this set are favorites of mine.  Also a big fan of Dave Stewart.  Fun cards and great memories for me.

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards (3 Packs)
3 – Puzzle
3 – MVP
3 – Diamond Kings
2 – Rated Rookie
1 – All-Star
1 – Commissioner