Some of the Sweet Stuff

Happy Easter!  I know today is a very big religious holiday for many of my friends and family members.  When I was a kid... it was more about decorating eggs, baskets of candy, and spring break.

I know this year Topps released some Easter themed parallels in their flagship Series 1 boxes.  But since I haven't opened any... nor have I acquired any of those parallels... I decided to celebrate with some candy related collectibles in my collection.

As an added bonus, I will rate the candy and players featured on the cards/collectibles using a scale of 1 to 10... with 5 being average.

1987 M&M's #23

Candy Rating: 7/10

Player Rating:  10/10

Peanut Butter M&M's are my favorite, but I don't usually go out of my way to buy them.  On the other hand, I am always looking for new cards of my all-time favorite athlete.

1984 Nestle #300

Candy Rating:  6/10

Player Rating:  7.5/10

Not a fan of Nestle Crunch Bars... but I do enjoy 100 Grand... so I'll rank it slightly lower than M&M's.  As for Charlie Hustle... not a fan of the person, but a fan of the player.

1984 Nestle Dream Team #21

Candy Rating:  6/10

Player Rating:  9/10

Another Nestle card produced in 1984, but a different set.  I prefer the one that parallels the flagship design.  As for the player, Lefty was my favorite pitcher when I was a kid.

1993 Upper Deck Clark Bar Reggie #C2

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Rating:  7.5/10

Can't remember buying or trying a Clark Bar, but it sounds interesting.  Not sure I'll waste my money or the calories on trying it out though.  On the other hand, I will occasionally go out of my way to buy a new Reggie for the collection.

1992 Topps Triple Headers #NL9 Bonds/Van Slyke/Bonilla

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Ratings:  8/10 Bonds, 3/10 Van Slyke, & 4/10 Bonilla

You're probably wondering how is this candy related.  Well... according to the box it once contained candy:

I'm guessing it contained those Smarties-like tart candies... which I'm not really a fan of.  But since I don't know for sure, the jury is out.  The ball contains two players I don't really collect and one that I do.  Not sure if this ball was ever corrected, but Topps mixed up the facsimile signatures for the Killer B's.

1991 Topps Superstars Stand-Ups Candy #18

Candy Rating:  2/10

Player Rating:  10/10

This plastic box featuring Mr. Padre once contained candy too.  Unlike the ball... I've seen the candy that was originally inside of this container.  Yup.  It's those Smarties-like tart candies that I don't like.  It's not quite as bad as Circus Peanuts, but they're pretty bad.

1987 Leaf Candy City Team #H3

Candy Rating:  5/10

Player Rating:  6.5/10

This card was part of a collaboration between Leaf and the Special Olympics back in 1987.  Although these cards weren't packaged with candy, people could obtain a three card pack with the purchase of two Leaf candy or gum products.

I had to look up what types of candy Leaf produces.  The only one that I've tried before are the Astro Pops... which were rainbow colored, cone shaped suckers.  I remember buying these as a kid, but don't really have any interest in eating them as an adult.

Roy Campanella is a legend, so I'll add his cards to my collection from time to time.  But to say that I actively seek his cards would be a stretch.

1990 Pacific Chocolate Bar Promo #NNO

Candy Rating:  ?/10

Player Rating:  10/10

Can't have a candy related post without showing off this candy related card of Gwynn.  Unfortunately, I've never tried one of these.  But if it's equivalent to your standard Hersey's chocolate bar... than I'd rate it a 6/10.  

Well that's all the candy, cards, and collectibles I have for today.  I probably could have dug out a few more, but I'm heading over to my brother's house in less than an hour and don't have the time to dig anymore up.

Happy Easter and sayonara!

Spot the Difference

When I was little, Highlights was my favorite magazine before I graduated to Boy's Life, Sports Illustrated, and Baseball Digest.  That's one of the reasons I've always found puzzles, word games, and riddles so fascinating.  Highlights was filled with activities for kids... and Spot the Difference was one of them.

You all know that routine.  There are two pictures that are almost identical with the exception of a handful of things.  Usually it involved a missing tree branch, an extra bicycle spoke, or an eye color change.  Today I thought I'd try it out with pages from my 1982 Topps Sticker album.

See if you can spot the difference...

Okay.  Okay.  Maybe this is a little too easy for adult collectors.  It's probably better suited for comparing some of those late 80's Donruss variations with missing "periods".

Unfortunately... I don't have any of those to show off today, so you're stuck with these four pages from my newly completed sticker album.  Here are the other three pages... 

In case you struggled with spotting the difference, here are the final four stickers I needed...

1982 Topps Stickers #34

1982 Topps Stickers #53

1982 Topps Stickers #105

1982 Topps Stickers #144

Last month, I showed off the sticker album and explained how it was incomplete.  Well Jon over at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts commented that he had a bunch of these stickers and offered to help me out.  A week or two later, they safely arrived in my mailbox.  It took a few weeks to adhere them to the pages, but the project is officially complete.

He also sent me this shiny and serial numbered Steve Largent:

2019 Prizm Blue Ice #284 (#'d 87/99)

I've been clinging on to the top ranking among Steve Largent collectors over on TCDB and this card gave me a little more breathing room.

Speaking of Largent... I recently purchased another one of his autographed cards of his last week after learning about it on The Angels, in Order.  Tom opened a couple of packs of 1992 Pacific football and mentioned that there was a chance of pulling a Largent autograph.  I immediately headed over to eBay and picked this card up for $10.80 (+ $6 tax & shipping):

1992 Pacific Autographs #NNO

The card back features Steve Largent and his glorious head of hair...

There's also a seal that this card is limited to 1,000 and that it was personally autographed.  However when I compared it to the one listed on TCDB, I noticed mine was slightly different.  Can you spot the difference?

Pacific was based out of Washington and probably had Largent sign a few extras in case some were damaged.  I'm guessing mine is not numbered, because it was one of those extras that somehow made its way into our hobby over time.

Well that wraps up another post.  Thank you Jon for the shiny new Largent and for helping me complete my 1982 Topps sticker album!  And thank you Tom teaching me about this affordable on-card Largent autograph.

Oh... I should also thank Night Owl since he's the blogger that opened my eyes to these Spot the Difference type of posts.  There might have been other bloggers who have done these as well.  If you're one of them, leave a link down below and I'll check it out.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

An Unsolved Mystery

Sports cards come in all shapes and sizes.  This often creates storage issues which can sometimes frustrate collectors.  I am not one of those collectors.  I'm all about adding new and different cards to my collection... and it's even more exciting if it's a mysterious card.

Bob over at The Best Bubble recently sent me another PWE with two new additions to my Tony Gwynn collection.  Both cards are about the size of a postcard (3.5" x 5") which means they are larger than your standard trading card.

#1:  1998 Upper Deck Jumbo #500

Beckett and Baseballcardpedia have a set on their sites that measures each card as being 5" x 7" jumbos... that was inserted into specially marked retail Series 2 blasters.

My 2008 SCD Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards pretty much says the same thing, but states that the Jumbos lack the metallic foil on the front and the hologram on the back.

The thing is... the card Bob sent me is not 5x7 and the foil appears on the front and the UD hologram is on the back.  

Other than the size, the cards appear to be identical.  Here's the regular sized version for comparison:

1998 Upper Deck #500

Anyone have any information on this postcard sized Gwynn?

The other Gwynn he sent me is a little less mysterious...

#2:  1999 UD Choice All-Star Game Jumbos #17

Beckett and Baseballcardpedia weren't very helpful.  But the 2008 SCD Catalog cleared everything up for me:

This card was issued with twenty other cards in a special box set sold at retail outlets.

There are two big differences between this jumbo and the standard size version.

#1:  The cards are numbered differently.

#2:  There's a 1999 All-Star Game logo in the upper righthand corner of the jumbo.

Here's what the regular base card looks like:

1999 UD Choice #137

And here are all four cards side by side for size reference:

Thank you Bob for these two new additions to the Tony Gwynn PC.  I always enjoy a good cardboard mystery.

It ended up being a fantastic week in regards to that collection, because a few days later I attended the Branham High School Flea Market and found these two Gwynns in the 6 for $1 boxes:

1990 Donruss Best of the National League #11

In 1990... Donruss released two 144 card boxed sets that highlighted the best players in baseball.  One set was dedicated to National League players, the other for the American League.  Both sets featured the same front card design as the flagship set, but swapped the red border for blue.  The card backs look different, but unfortunately... I forgot to scan my copy.

1998 Pacific Aurora Pennant Fever #1

I'm not a fan of products that contain inserts in every pack of cards.  Fleer did it with some of their mid 90's products.  Pacific did it too.  Collectors who opened up 1998 Aurora would find one of these inserts in every pack.  That's why I'm kind of surprised it too me twenty-four years to add this card to my collection.

Anyways... I'm not going to complain.  I was able to add four new Gwynns within a span of a few days... so it's something to celebrate.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Update

Mystery solved.  Jim (cards as i see them) has a Ken Griffey Jr. from this set that he received from Upper Deck after sending in wrappers, so these are indeed wrapper redemptions.  Thanks Jim!