1990 Score Series 1 Football

1990 Score Footbal Ser. 1:   This was a really fun pack.  The design isn't necessarily my favorite but at the time it was fun and different.  I'm pretty sure I opened up a ton of this back in the day.  This Junior Seau is great.  I don't remember this card but it features a good action photo as well as it being Seau in that USC jersey.  

This pack is part of another Amazon buy where I picked up 100+ cards in unopened packs.  That number ended up being seven packs and I was happy with what I received.  Junk wax yes but I knew going in that's what I was getting for my $10.  Vance Johnson and that TD celebration is definitely something I remember from back in the day.

Plenty of defensive firepower here.

These trivia cards are always fun.  Jacoby Jones (Ravens) now has the record at 108 yards set against the 49ers.  This Marino is a great way to end this pack.  Between him and Seau this was a really good pack.  Can't wait to show off some of the other football packs I grabbed.

BREAKDOWN:

16 – Total Cards
2 – 1990 Rookie
1 – Ground Force
1 – Magic Motion Trivia

Random Wax: 2019 Topps Update

2019 Topps Update:  There's more concrete rumors of the return of baseball.  In what shape and time frame is still to be determined but it's still fun just having the discussion.  I like the update packs with the All-Star Game cards.   These are always favorites of mine.  This guy is a great player.  His and the Astros legacy has been tarnished mightily of course.  I'd love to see some if these great young players bounce back with really good seasons.  Definitely a story worth watching.

I'm already a big fan of Freddie Freeman but the more I hear him like when he was mic'd up during the all-star game I like him even more.

Verlander happened to be pitching to Freeman when he was mic'd up.

I like the '84 throwbacks and Perennial All-Star cards.  The Bryce Harper cards made sense while this year's Rhys Hoskins inserts are a head scratcher.

I really lke that photo of Avisail Garcia.  Not sure why but hey it works.  Joe Kelly hasn't quite excelled in L.A. but I'll always remember him for his great work for the Red Sox in their World Series victory over those same Dodgers.

Some nice photos on these horizontal cards - especially that Pence.  A Fun pack of cards.  Hopefully we'll get more details soon on MLB is hoping to do.  

BREAKDOWN:

34 – Total Cards
1 – RC
6 – All-Star Game
3 – Veteran Combos
1 – 1984 Topps
1 – Rookie Debut
1 – Homerun Derby
1 – Perennial All-Stars
1 – Welcome to Philly
1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel

2004 Topps Star Wars Heritage

2004 Topps Star Wars Heritage:  May the 4th be with you...  Had to.  Grabbed this as part of my recent eBay purchase of non-sport packs.  This set was the first to cover the first six Star Wars movies.  It keeps with retro design and card stock from the sets from the original trilogy.

Each movie's cards takes on a different design and/or color.  I pulled one Star Wars (blue star field), two The Empire Strikes Back (silver), one Phantom Menace (red) and one Revenge of the Sith (blue/no star field).  Normal screen grabs you'd expect but I like the overall designs and photos.

 A couple from The Empire Strikes Back.

The dialogue on the back doesn't necessarily jive with the photo on the front. This is the back of the first Empire card just above.  Below is from the Phantom Menace back and again doesn't match the front.  A little different.  A fun pack.  I could see grabbing more of these or at least key singles.

BREAKDOWN:

5 - Total Cards

2 - The Empire Strikes Back

1 - A New Hope

1 - Phantom Menace

1 - Revenge of the Sith

1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball Series II Pack

90-91 SkyBox Basketball Series II:  I was getting bored with what's left at the local store so I went on Amazon and purchased unopened packs of basketball and football cards.  Each was just under $10 and guaranteed at least 100 cards.  With the photos you knew you were getting junk wax which I am good with.  This Series II pack of SkyBox was a pleasant surprise.  With the documentary on the last season of the Bulls dynasty filling the sports void right now, which I'm thoroughly enjoying, it was with great fun that I pulled the GOAT.  

I've always liked the design on these for some reason.  It's got 80's written all over it but I'm all in.  I've busted a series II wax box before and I'm itching to do a series I break.  The birthday is coming up so who knows.  These guys were both workhorses under the basket in their time.  It was a shame neither got a ring as they were traded prior to their respective clubs getting a championship.

You get a mix of cards from both series in these packs but these NBA Draft, team checklists and coach cards are unique to Series II.  I really really like those team logo cards. I don't know what the heck I'd do with all of them but I'd figure it out.  Probably end up in a binder.  

 I'm very happy with this pack.  Like any packs from any year they can be hit or miss.  This one is definitely a hit.  It'll be fun showing off the other packs over the next month or so.  Sir Charles makes an appearance as well below to round out this pack.   

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards
2 – Coaches
2 – Team Checklists
1 – NBA Draft

2019-2020 Mosaic Basketball

2019-2020 Mosaic Basketball:  My weekly trip to Wal-Mart was very fruitful yesterday.  I've never heard of Mosaic but low and behold there were hanger boxes of these sitting there.  And guess who I pulled?  Yep.  Still doing pretty good percentage wise on pulling him.  I might have to sell my Zion stash sometime soon.  This card sold on eBay for $25 or more in the first few days this release could be found.

These are green and reactive orange parallels.  I'm not sure what the orange is reacting to but maybe it is these two stars.  There are a ridiculous number of parallels in this set.  Heck I'll just list them out - Base Mosaic, Silver, Camo Pink, Genesis, Green, Reactive Blue, Reactive Orange, Red, Blue #/99, Purple #/49, Orange Fluorescent #/25, White #/25, Blue Fluorescent #/15, Pink Swirl #/11, Gold #/10, Green Swirl #/10, Pink Fluorescent #/10, Black 1/1.

These are shiny cards - think optic, chrome.  I'm not a fan of the design and shiny cards as a whole aren't my thing.  I actually thought, for no good reason, this would be more along the lines of the Elite basketball cards.  Price point was almost $18 for this hanger box and those things are going for crazy prices as well.  

Some decent inserts.  Retired greats always make me smile.  How many championships did DJ when?  Yep 3 - but only 2 were with the Celtics.  He was still with Phoenix when Boston won their first championship of the Larry Bird era.  DJ's other came with the SuperSonics in 78-79.  Most folks forget that one.  Everyone wants to be excited about 7 foot 5 inch Tacko Fall from Senegal.  He's not wowing us yet but when he does Taco Bell endorsements are sure to follow.

Mosaic does let us see players in their new team unis like these two guys.  Rose was having a good year with the Pistons and and Anthony was doing OK in Portland.  The backs on these are pretty nice as well.  Zion makes this a fun pack and would I pick up more?  Probably just for the chase and it's all about finding one of the thousand parallels of those Zion cards.

Another nice insert here and my favorite card of the pack.

BREAKDOWN:

20 – Total Cards
4 – Reactive Orange
2 – RC
2 – Retired Greats
1 – Team USA
1 – NBA Debut
1 – Old School
1 – Jam Masters
1 – Green Parallel

Back Issue! - A Comic Magazine

Back Issue! Magazine:  Back Issue! is put out by TwoMorrows which also has other comic magazines.  I saw this Firestorm offering on a post and thought I need to check this out as I'm a big Firestorm fan. I bought this and two other magazines from the site.  Each was just under $6.  This is the only one I've read but I'm very impressed.  It focuses on comics of the past bringing together writers, artists and other contributors.  Each are interviewed which gives great insight into what helped shape these characters and books.  The Firestorm article was 23 pages long!  And this is standard magazine size and the font is not large by any account.  That gave the writer, who was very knowledgeable, plenty of time to dive in to the entire run.  I was blown away and it was a great trip down memory lane.  Bottom line is I wanted to share this for anyone who may be interested in this type of reading.    

You can see a preview of this issue here on the TwoMorrows website.  There are a ton of back issues available and newer issues run about $10.

I found out about Back Issue! from either the Fire and Water Network page or the Firestorm Fan page - might have even been on their Facebook offering - but I can't find the original post.  I think it is the former but either way big shout out to both. 

1978 Grease Series 1 Pack

1978 Grease:  Another pack from my Bob Rewak ebay store purchase.  This one is Grease with the lovely Olivia Newton-John.  I'm sure there are others in the movie as well but boy did she leave an impression on young lads like myself.  And the music video to Physical hadn't even been released yet!  But Black Leather Sandy was a knockout!  This is a fun movie I always enjoy.

The design on these is great.  I love the Grease logo as the car.  The cards numbers on the front is again a fun addition like we saw on the King Kong cards.  Maybe that was a 70's Topps thing.  Series II cards had green borders.

The pack comes with a sticker as well.  In this case I got the sticker twin to one of my base cards. 

The backs had a piece of a puzzle or a generic write-up like this one.  There was also a piece of bubble gum in the pack that somehow never broke in the last 42 years.   

These are fun cards.  It helps that I like the movie of course.  The centering can be way off but that is another 70's thing.  The screen shots are fun and take you back to fun moments in the movie. I really enjoyed this pack and I'm glad I picked this one up.

BREAKDOWN:

8 – Total Cards

1 – Sticker

1 – Piece of Gum (Whole)