1989 Topps Batman Movie Trading Cards Series I

 1989 Batman Trading Cards:  The Batman movie will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was the first great hero movie for me.  It was different from anything we'd ever seen before and while it's not what we expect in today's hero movies, it really hit the mark in 1989.  It was released on today's date that year.

Jack Nicholson's Joker was mean, fun, and a big reason the movie played so well.  His intensity served the character well.  I like the basic design of the set and the nice Batman logo.  Lots of room for the photos.  I would have liked some color on the borders.  Series 2 did give us that, but I'll share a pack of those later this week.

Michael Gough played a really good Alfred.  We didn't have the special effects we get today but they did a really good job giving us plenty of cool set designs and visuals.  The bicentennial parade led us to the climax/ending of the film.

I liked Kim Basinger as the love interest Vicki Vale.

The final fight scene (right) was good.  I don't think of Nicholson as a physical actor, but he and Michael Keaton did a great job.

Again, I really like these cards, and the movie brings back plenty of memories of a movie I still regard highly today.  Below is my sticker from the pack.  I do wish the art matched the Joker movie version.  But still cool.

BREAKDOWN:
10 – Total Cards
1 – Sticker

Random Wax: 2025 Donruss NASCAR 4 Hobby Box Packs with Auto

2025 Donruss:  It's Father's Day and we'll kick it off with a NASCAR post for all the dads who like seeing these guys turn left.  And I'm one of those guys.  Michael Waltrip only had 4 Cup wins in his career, but he was always a great fun driver personality in the sport and he's still active as a NASCAR O'Reilly Series (minor leagues) and NASCAR Truck Series commentator.  His best seasons were 1994 and 1995 when he finished 12th in the rankings both seasons, and he's looking great on this Red Xplosion Auto #/49.

I don't like saying it every time, but this is a boring design.  Just nothing going on on the fronts that scream NASCAR or fun.  Driver car number?  A little car design?  Tire design?  Race track design?  Give me anything people!  "Hurricane" Hocevar is always fun to watch because you don't know what chaos he might bring to the track.  He's only 23 and did get his first win this season and looks to make the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Jesse Love won the 2025 O'Reilly Series Championship (minors).  He's shown on a Red and Blue Parallel.  Two more young drivers appear on these Rated Rookie cards.

Not a fan of Spellbound but pop is a big fan of Kyle Larson.  These inserts allow you to spell out a driver's name if you get all of their Spellbound cards.  Larson has won 2 Championships and is the reigning NASCAR champ.

These Race Kings grown on me more and more though maybe a bit more color around the border would help.  But still, I like that Donruss brought back the cars.  Denny Hamlin is the biggest personality in the sport and for the all the great drivers NASCAR has, there just aren't enough drivers with the big personalities the sport craves.

After winning 10 races in the O'Reilly Series (minors) last season, Connor Zilisch is now a rookie at the Cup level.  He's on a Spellbound Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/199.

More youngsters in the sport.  Layne Riggs is one of the top drivers in the Truck Series.

And some all-time greats including three retired greats.  We get The King, Richard Petty, Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison both left the sport too soon.  Kulwicki won one championship but died shortly afterwards in a plane crash and Allison passed away at the height of his career in a helicopter crash.  Petty is the all-time winningest racer with 200 wins to go along with 7 Championships.  Joey Logano is no slouch winning 3 Championships of his own.

BREAKDOWN:

32 – Total Cards

5 – Retired Greats

4 – Red and Blue Parallel

2 – Race Kings

2 – Spellbound

2 – Rated Rookies

1 – Signature Series 

1 – Red Xplosion Parallel #/49

1 - Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/99

Random Wax: 2025 Topps Baseball

2025 Topps:  Ted William's stats are pure video game stuff but I'll cherry pick a few:  

1941: Batted .406
1942: Triple Crown
1943-1945: Served in WWII
1946: MVP
1947: Triple Crown

I've always been a fan of Nolan Arenado, who I know is nearing the end of his career but I'm hoping for a bounce back year.  He's already on pace for his most home runs since 2023.  Matt Chapman had 8 RBIs against the Cubs this month.   What has happened to Chicago?  Zach Wheeler is 36 years-old but he's having another great year for Philly.

What a start to Yoshinobu Yamamoto's career. 2X World Series winner, 1X World Series MVP and an All-Star nod.  And yes, he's doing excellent again this season.

Astros Team Card.  They have dealt with so many injuries this year and it's not surprising they are struggling.

Ronald Acuna Jr.'s bat finally started coming around...and he hurt his hamstring again...  ugh.  Looking good on this Stars of MLB card though.

Some horizontal goodness including this Checklist card featuring the Tampa Bay Rays on the front.

Anthony Rizzo helped the Chicago Cubs get the monkey off their back in 2016 with a championship.  I was okay being happy for Cubs fans who had suffered for so long.

Always enjoy League Leader cards.  Fun pack of cards with a good pull.

BREAKDOWN:

36 – Total Cards

6 – RC

2 – Stars of MLB

1 - Checklist

1 – Team Card

1 – Future Stars

1 – Call to the Hall

1 – League Leaders

Random Wax: 1991-1992 SkyBox Basketball - 3 Packs

91-92 SkyBox:  Karl Malone was nothing short of a beast.  The Mailman played 19 seasons and had career averages of 25/10/3 with 2 MVP trophies and 14 All-NBA selections.  He was also a 4X All-Defensive team member.  He was also incredibly durable playing 80 or more games in 17 of those seasons.  And you can add 193 playoff games, averaging 41 minutes per playoff game, on top of that.  That's amazing.  

Big man love!  Moses Malone's played 3 season in Atlanta and average 16 and 10 with the Hawks.  Another unicorn, Moses played 21 seasons leading the league in rebounding 6X and 7X leading the league in offensive rebounds.  He still holds the all-time offensive rebounding average for a career with 5.1 per game.  He was also a 3X MVP and 8X All-NBA.  Crazy great career. 

Three All-Rookie cards and all three were solid players.  Derrick Coleman was a big man with a soft touch.  He averaged 16 and 9 for his career and was a 2X All-NBA selection.

I like cards like this giving us highlights from the season.

A couple of my all-time favorite players in Larry Smith and Trent Tucker and I really like Terry Cummings as well.  Like Moses, Smith was a great offensive rebounder.  He once led the league in offensive rebounds and had a career average of 3.9, good for 8th all-time.

The backs were great.  Gerald Wilkins was one of the sharpest dressed men in the league and Karl Malone was an outdoorsman and didn't disappoint.

More great highlights and two of the great shot blockers of the era.

Dee Brown with the no look dunk!  Assume this is from the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest.

The fronts o fmy Best Single Game Performance pulls.

Centennial Highlights give us game history.

Such a great set and so much fun.  Reggie Lewis was the future of the Boston Celtics before passing away too soon at the age of 27.

BREAKDOWN:

45 – Total Cards

3 – All-Rookie Team

3 – Best Single Game Performance

2 – Centennial Highlights

1 – Checklist

Random Wax: 2024 Donruss Football

2024 Donruss:  I'm a big Christian McCaffrey fan and it was great seeing him healthy and play 17 games last year.  He led the league in touches from scrimmage with 413, the 3rd time he's done so in his career.  He's also a 3X All-Pro.

Tyreek Hill still hasn't signed with a team since being released by Miami.  He's still recovering from a major knee injury that included a torn ACL.

Taliese Fuaga has started 30 games in his two years in the league.  Malik Washington, on this Blue Press Proof Parallel, might be in line for more targets in Miami with Hill no longer there.  He has 72 career receptions.

Greg Rousseau has started his entire career with Buffalo and has 32 career sacks.

Great threesome here.  This design isn't my favorite Donruss look but I like it enough.  And it does have solid photography as well.

Retired greats!  A great way to end the post.  I like James Lofton so that was a fun pull but also happy to get Broadway Joe and Andre Rison.

BREAKDOWN:
30 – Total Cards
4 – Rated Rookie
4 – Retired Greats
4 – Blue Press Proof Parallel

Random Wax: Donruss Baseball 1991

1991 Donruss: What else can you say about Rickey Henderson?  He is the only player in the 3,000-hit club who never recorded a 200-hit season.  He holds the record for the most unintentional walks in baseball history with 2,129.  And Henderson stole three or more bases in a game 71 times in his career, including four steals 19 times, and five steals once, and on July 29, 1989, he scored four runs without registering a hit (four walks in four plate appearances) against the Mariners in Oakland.  Thank you interwebs and MLB.com.  And I love these All-Star cards from Donruss with great league logos on them.

Juan Gonzalez would have a breakout year in 1991 with 27 home runs and go on to lead the league in home runs in '92 and '93 with 43 and 46, respectively.  He also averaged .295 for his career which is great for a power hitter.  He had 434 career dingers and was a 2X MVP.

And we get actual game stats.  <clapping>

Always enjoyed the Diamond Kings from this era.  Hall of Fame Edgar Martinez ended his career with a .312 batting average, .418 on base percentage and 309 home runs.  Solid Rated Rookie pull as well.

Gene Nelson?  Yep.  A teammate of Rickey who helped the A's win the 1989 World Series though his 54 ERA in the Series belies his solid career in the MLB.  He was also a base stealer in his own right as evidenced by his career highlights writeup.

Steve Finley was a 5X Gold Glove outfielder, won a championship with the D-Backs, and was named to 2 All-Star teams.  He had 2,548 hits in his career.  That really surprised me.  Why didn't he get the honor of being the final card?  Fun pack with lots of fun memories.

BREAKDOWN:

16 – Total Cards

2 – Diamond Kings

1 - Puzzle

1 – All-Star

1 – Rated Rookie