Random Wax: 1988 Fleer Baseball (3 Packs)

1988 Fleer:  Tony Gwynn led the league in batting average eight times.  He hit over .320 in 13 seasons.  He was a .338 career hitter with a .388 on base percentage.  Just crazy greatness.

A couple more Hall of Famers in Cal Ripken Jr. and Dennis Eckersley.  Mike Greenwell was no slouch in the hitting department, playing 12 seasons with the Red Sox ending his career with a .303 batting average and .368 on base percentage.

SuperStar Specials are fun cards.  I wish we had more like these today.  I know Topps tries with team and checklist cards, but I also want something closer to these.

We love Fleer stickers and the '88 design was great with different options.

Cincinnati traded Jeff Montgomery to the Kansas City Royals for Van Snider after only one season.  Yep, didn't know who he was either.  KC was the clear winner there as he played 12 seasons for the Royals ending with 304 saves.

Kent Tekulve's walkout music, Rubberband Man, was a classic as was the Pirates unis.  He talks about it some here.  Ron Gant looking 12 and Joe Niekro and the lost art that is the knuckleball.  I always like pitchers who threw it.

The backs of the stickers were just as much fun.  A color photo would have been better, but I'll take it.

More greats from the era.  I'll always take an Eric Davis card and always wonder what if...?  Fun design, fun set and so many fun memories of these players.

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards (3 Packs)
3 - Stickers
2 – SuperStar Specials
2 – Major League Prospects

Random Wax: 2020-2021 Illusions Basketball

20-21 Illusions:  Some of Donovan Mitchell's numbers are down slightly this season but the Cavs are the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  I hope they do well in the playoffs.  They have a solid starting five who are obviously gelling this season.

I have a soft spot for Illusions, especially some of the older designs.  First time I'm showing this pack and wow does it age well.  Mitchell has raised his game, Morant is one of the most athletic players in the sport and Doncic is still crazy good and now a Laker.

We get retired greats on some of the inserts.  These Living Legends aren't my favorites but I'm not complaining.

The Saddiq Bey is an Orange Parallel.  This pack only had 12 cards but I'm definitely happy with it.  I also get a nice Trae Young pull.  The Hawks will likely be in the play in tourney, but they aren't that good this season so I'm not really sure what to expect out of them in the playoffs. 

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
3 – RC
1 – Retired Great
1 – Living Legends
1 – Orange Parallel

  

1992 Pro Set Racing NASCAR (4 Packs)

1992 Pro Set:  This set gives us one of Jeff Gordon's earliest cards.  He does have earlier cards as far back as 1987.  Gordon is a NASCAR legend.  He won four championships, he finished top five in the standings 11 times, and won a total of 93 races.

These cards are a pretty simple but I'm good with the design.  The name sits in what could be thought of as part of a race track and the Pro Set logo includes a checkered flat.  No borders can be tricky but these look good.  The photos are fairly varied as well.  Allison, Schrader and Martin finished 3rd, 9th and 6th respectively in the 1991 NASCAR standings.

We get Rig or hauler cards which are always fun.  I really like these.  This is Davey Allison's.

There are also Legends cards which include legends like Marilyn Green who was the first Miss Winston as well as drivers like NASCAR greats Junior Johnson and Cotton Owens. 

Team cards are nice as well.  

Crew cards highlight team personnel like crew chiefs, the pit crew, and engineers.

A good on track photo of the cars on these Card cards.  I picked up these four packs on eBay.  The price was great, and the seller took a while a to ship.  I was wondering if they were having second thoughts.  I'm very happy I grabbed these.  Fun cards and plenty of great drivers.

A Miss Winston Card. Renee White held the title from 1996-2001.  

I really like seeing the haulers.  Something about them is fun.

Some drivers get a horizontal card. I like this one.  It looks like Michael Waltrip's photo is on the side of a hauler or promotional banner.

Dale Jarrett would go on to win a NASCAR Championship in 1999.

The backs are great.  Nice write-up, photo and stats and player/team info.  Alan Kulwicki would go on to win the 1992 NASCAR Championship.  He is the last driver/owner to win a championship.  Sadly, he would die in a plane crash the next April.

BREAKDOWN:

48 – Total Cards

11 – Crew

8 – Legend

7 – Rig

3 – Car

2 - Team

1 – MRN Radio

1 – Miss Winston

2024 Upper Deck Marvel Studios Series 2: Cinematic Blaster

Studios Cinematic 2024: Chris Hemsworth does a great Thor.  I've always been a fan of his character though I do believe his character went too far with the over-the-top humor.  Still, Hemsworth does a great job.

I really like this shot with all the chaos in the background.  Thor: Love and Thunder is not a movie I care for.  I thought it had a lot going for it, but it went with too much comedy which overshadowed what good it did have.

The base set here continues numbering from Series 1.  Like Series 1, the designs are the same which are fine.  I like the middle design here the most.  The other is design is okay and reminds me of a Fleer Ultra look.

These are pretty simple, but I really like the card and concept.  As a kid I had a Marvel lunch box so this takes me back.  I like the Lunch Box Legends cards.

Here are two UD Debut inserts.  The one on the right is an Outburst Parallel.  I like the UD inserts. 

UD Canvas are nice cards and something we see across Upper Deck sets.

This is the Jumbo Parallel I pulled.  They are okay but I have no idea what to do with oversized cards.

The backs are fine.  I like how the set's focus on the actors as well as the characters from the movies.  I like the appearances listing as well for some reason.

Specifically, this set showcases cards from the Marvel movies Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  

These inserts aren't bad.  We have UD Portraits, Dazzlers Green and 1995 Collectors Choice SE Retros.  The Collector's Choice is my favorite though I wish they had gone with white borders.

I always liked the Lady Sif character and thought they could have done more with her and the Warriors Three.  I like this set but I'm more excited about Series 1 and the television shows covered there.  

Fun box of cards.  I'll pick off singles, but I won't be doing full blasters.  We'll end it with Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff/Scarlett Johansson who is always fun and a favorite of mine.

BREAKDOWN:

35 – Total Cards

3 – UD Debut

1 – Jumbo

1 – UD Canvas

1 – Dazzlers Green

1 – Outburst Parallel

1 – UD Portraits Gold

1 – Lunch Box Legends

1 – 1995 Collectors Choice SE Retros

2022 Topps Red Sox Team Set (Blister)

Xander Bogaerts was a 4X All-Star and 5X Silver Slugger award winner, including 2021, during his time with the Red Sox.  He also won two championships in Boston.

Evoldi led the starters in WAR (4.3) and ERA (3.57).  JD Martinez led the league with 42 doubles.  I purchased this blister pack team set in July of 2022.

I thought I was going to get a Braves - Red Sox World Series but Houston eliminated Boston in the 2021 ALCS.

Vazquez and Dalbec were 2021 starters though I'm not convinced their combined on base percentage was above .300.

Devers delivered 38 home runs and 113 runs batted in in his fifth season.

Christian had some fun highlight moments in 2021 and his photo feels appropriate.  These blister packs were found at Wal-Mart and each had 17 cards.

Great photo and 2021 was probably Enrique's (Kiki's) best season of his career.

This team really had a good mix of young talent with a few veterans sprinkled in.  Feels like they needed just a bit more pitching and health to have gotten by Houston.

I like the 2022 design.  Kind of feels more like Bowman but it works.  But no matter, this fun team and some nice photos make it a good set to own for a Red Sox fan.