PressTine II - Ohtani's Re-Pack Revenge! Whatever...

Sure I'll name drop for page hits...

There was an unfortunate lengthy delay in getting this story written. Life sometimes gets a little too lifey, and then creativity suffers... Over the last few weeks, I started working at my new job, combined with the continued difficulty of going from a 6 year live-in relationship, to a (temporary) cross town relationship -while sharing one car- hasn't been the most convenient thing I've ever done... But she has a new car and I may finally get to sleep again!

Hobby-wise, I'll once again express my distaste at the "Rookie Card Craze" (Late 20-teens edition) as it's made buying cards at the retail level nearly impossible. Or at least a lot less fun... A few years ago, Kris Bryant... Last year, Judge... This year...

I don't like that in the heart of baseball season, both the Targets and the WalMarts only have Basketball and Football cards in stock. And an ample stock of that as well...

You know, I don't remember Stephen Strasburg causing this level of fuss back in 2010... Of course I wasn't buying retail often, and pulled a Strasburg Chrome Autograph redemption pretty early on (from a Hobby shop) and stopped buying anything other than 2010 Topps after that...

But it was a much different card climate eight years ago...

And now we have this card market... Where there are no cards at the market!

So in life you adapt... 

Repacks are cheaper and just as fun. You'll get some hits (foreshadowing!) and a whole lot of crap. Just like with buying any current product. Only there isn't the overwhelming disappointment when you're done, because you had zero expectations going in on a re-pack. You can only do better than what you expected to get!

Try that with retail packs of 2018 Bowman...

After my fun Dollar Tree purchase a few weeks ago (which you should read about here!), I decided to go back and see what else PressTine packed in their re-pack packs! After all, I only bought seven of the (around) 30 packs the Dollar Tree had for sale. When I went back a week later, there were still 10 left. So I bought them all...

That's 300 mostly crappy cards for only $10!!!

(Take that any Blaster EVER!)

And this photo would look a great deal better had it not been dark in the folks basement, and flash took away most of what I wanted in the shot... We all make sacrifices in life...

Anyways.... 

Here is the Top 85 cards in 10 Packs of PressTine Re-Packs for $10!

#85 - Danny Jackson - 1988 Topps Traded

No!

No! No! No! No!

I got this same terrible Danny Jackson card in 5 of the 10 packs of re-packs packed in Dollar Tree tonight! I will not stand for this! So I now invoke the Danny Jackson clause! Which I haven't yet defined...

So, just how many 1988 Topps Traded boxed sets were broken for PressTine?

#84 - Danny Jackson - 1991 Topps

I guess it means that I wont feature any duplicate cards in this Whatever, that were featured in the last Whatever...

However, I like this photo a lot better... But, Whatever...

#83 - Chien-Ming Wang - 2013 Topps

Wang was a great starting pitcher for the Yankees during the early 2000's. Then he got hurt and ineffective, bouncing around between teams trying to resurrect his career. However this card has more of a symbolic value to me. It was around the time of this card's release that I decided that I really don't like the Washington Nationals.

I tried really hard...

Knowing that this is what became of my beloved Montreal Expos was tough to handle. Yes, they were a good -and somewhat winning- ballclub, that looked to have a decent stretch of sustained success. But watching them win didn't make me happy. It made me resent the team for what it now was. I liked some of the players... Jayson Werth and his glorious mane... Stephen Strasburg with his tantalizing potential and recurring health problems... Bryce Harper with his perfect hair and giant ego...

And the Lerner's money... 

Yeah... I really don't want the Nationals to win. EVER! 

Just as Babe Ruth cursed the Boston Red Sox for nearly a century, I want the Expos curse to haunt the Nationals. Who are to never win a World Series. I wont be greedy, that curse only needs to last until there is Major League Baseball back in Montreal. If that's ten years or 100, I just don't want to celebrate the World Champion Nationals as long as Montreal doesn't get anything other than a couple of token Spring Training games every March.

And I don't think that's wrong...

#82 - Willie Wilson - 1981 Topps

Not a great card for one of the greatest base stealers of all time. Wilson had one hell of a career in Kansas City, then Oakland, before wrapping things up with the Chicago Cubs. Too bad this card is so boring, I'd love to rank it higher...

#81 - Dustin Pedroia - 2016 Gypsy Queen

At least ahead of this garbage...

#80 - Jacque Jones - 1998 Bowman

One of my least favorite Bowman designs ever. I appreciate the inclusion of a position on the card front, but to make that almost twice as large as the team logo has irked me for 20 years... To his credit, Jones was a big part of the Twins early 2000 success, so his cards are still appreciated.

#79 - Rick Matula - 1981 Topps

There's just one place you need to go for all your Matula needs...

Matula City!

(Matula City)

My... Where did you get that lovely Matula?

(And if you don't get this, LEAVE THIS BLOG IMMEDIATELY!!!)

#78 - James Steels - 1988 Donruss

A speedy outfielder (who couldn't hit) with an appropriate name... Too bad he didn't work out so there would never be the headline: "Steels leads the N.L. is steals!"

#77 - Jason Isringhausen - 2013 Topps

Wow, Isringhausen was still pitching in 2013? One time member of the mid 1990's New York Mets Future Aces, that also included Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson. Isringhausen outlasted them all, however that came as a longtime closer, as his arm didn't respond to the workload of a major league starting pitcher for nearly 20 seasons.

#76 - Rick Aguilera - 1988 Topps

See Isringhausen, about ten years earlier... 

#75 - Rob Deer - 1986 Fleer Update

Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, Deer took a great deal of heat for being an all or nothing batter. Home runs or strikeouts, very little else. In today's game, that level of (non) production gets you a five year $50 million dollar deal!

Rob Deer was ahead of his time! 

And that "Sully" sleeve patch rules!

#74 - Jeff Reardon - 1992 Diet Pepsi

Reardon is pitching for the Red Sox here, though it's very hard to tell... The first round of PressTine Re-pack packs had the Eckersley from this set (and I got another in these ten), so without doing one shred of research, I'm going to speculate this was a set showcasing major league closers. Free with your purchase of canned Saccharine!

#73 - Charlie Hayes - 1993 Leaf

A rather dull action shot from one of the very first Rockies games ever played. Colorado opened the 1993 season in New York at Shea, where this photo was taken. It's blurry, but a nice view of the Rockies inaugural season sleeve patch is shown.

#72 - Bill Swift - 1987 Donruss

A few years before Swift was one of the Rockies first dependable starting pitchers in their early years. In their current years, they'd still like to find a couple of dependable starting pitchers...

#71 - Paul Konerko - 2001 Fleer Tradition

Or 1956 Topps... How did Fleer get away with blatantly stealing this design? They did go bankrupt less than four years later...

#70 - Tony Castillo - 1994 Pacific

I still really like 1994 Pacific...

#69 - Ron Robinson - 1986 Fleer Update

Robinson's cards always amused me. He just looks like a big dopey guy who happened to become a major league pitcher. He should have spent his entire career with Cincinnati. His last few cards as a Brewer are hard to accept.

I'd also like to mention how much I liked photos of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia during the 1980's. The upper-upper deck looked so dilapidated due to the multi-colored red, orange and yellow seats. That looked somewhat worse given that half of them would be stuck in the down position, making them look missing. By the time I saw The Vet in person, the entire stadium had been re-done with deep blue seats. That all looked unfortunately uniform...

#68 - Steve Finley? - 1992 Topps Gold

It's really hard to read, but the gold foil bar at the bottom of the card reads: "Mark Davidson". The former Twins backup outfielder did play a couple of seasons with Houston after being traded from Minnesota in 1989, but this is most likely not him. It doesn't look a whole lot like the Steve Finley I watched play for nearly 20 seasons either. But that's what the card back says!

#67 - Marty Cordova - 1996 Topps

While writing this story, I was listening to the Kansas City Royals beat the crap out of the Twins on the radio. (I'm listening to baseball on the radio again these days, as the folks house has no cable TV or internet. This is the method I used to follow baseball some 30 years ago, and is a novel flashback to the easy days of being 13 years old.) Today (not the day you're reading this) is Marty Cordova's birfday. To celebrate, Minnesota's radio announcers, Corey Provus and 1987 and 1991 World Champion Dan Gladden, told the story of how Cordova once fell asleep in a tanning booth and had to go on the disabled list.

Both of them laughed and laughed about how half of Cordova's face peeled off...

Well, that's rather dickish!

Happy birfday Marty, I always liked you!

#66 - Walt McConnell - 1989 ProCards

McConnell looks either highly arrogant or in mid fart...

#65 - Albert Pujols - 2011 Bowman

The real card isn't as linty as this scan. But ranking this low on the Whatever, I didn't feel that spending a great deal of time cleaning it up was prudent...

#64 - Tony Clark - 2006 Fleer

Fleer as made by Upper Deck... Sigh...

After a decent decade or so in the major leagues (mostly spent with the hapless Detroit Tigers), Clark left Motown for Slow-MoTown (Phoenix). Then he became very active with the players union and eventually was named to lead the powerful organization. So when the next work stoppage happens (and I fear it will happen in the next few seasons), this is the guy to blame. Only because I don't have any cards to show of the owners of the 30 major league teams.

Except for Derek Jeter, but let's not go there...

There have been rumblings that the players are again unhappy (Ahhhhchoooo Kenley Jansen) over free agency not being as lucrative as it used to be. I guess it would be too much to ask for players such as Jansen to understand that after decades of being burned by huge free agent contracts given to aging players who almost without fail, cannot live up to the dollar amounts given, they are wising up to these insane loses, and just not playing along anymore.

That's not collusion, that's common sense.

And it will be up to poor Tony Clark to navigate those stormy waters...

#63 - David DeJesus - 2013 Topps

That is not going to be a good landing... Under all of that nice and fluffy Wrigley Field ivy is solid red brick, crushing outfielders spines for over a century! At least he made the catch, and hopefully the impact didn't make him drop the ball...

#62 - Ralph Garr - 1994 Ted Williams Card Company

These were nice! It's too bad the Splendid Splinter didn't keep his set of retired stars and minor league prospects going. The Ted Williams Card Company put out some really nice cards for that one year... But what else happened in 1994? Oh yeah, the World Series ruining strike/lockout... Which also ruined a lot of things. The Ted Williams Card Company for one... (And the Expos...) It took the hobby a few years to recover from what the strike brought, and I'm not sure the steroid fueled home run chase of 1998 was the right answer in the long run.

But that's not Ralph Garr's fault.

#61 - Travis Lee - 1998 Ultra

Purple works well for the Rockies... 

It looks terrible on the D-Bags...

#60 - Art Howe - 1983 Topps

Oh No! Shea Stadium is sinking! At least art looks stable...

Though I'm not sure HOWE!

I am so funny!

#59 - Len Dykstra - 1991 Topps

The reason why Shea is sinking is because they don't have grubby Dykstra holding it up. Shoulda never traded him to your rival Phillies (for Juan Samuel?). I know, the timeline doesn't work at all, but a post bulk-up Dykstra looked like he could have held up a stadium...

And today his record shows that he just may have held up...

Oh nevermind...

#58 - Brooks Kieschnick - 1997 Finest

After finding the promised high profile career as a Cubs first round draft pick in 1993 fleeting at best, Kieschnick tried his (left) hand at pitching. And found moderate success with Milwaukee as a situational lefty who still played the outfield and pinch hit on occasion. Sure, every year a handful of backup infielders, reserve catchers, fifth outfielders and Jose Canseco take the mound in extra inning mop-up roles to help the team, but Kieschnick did both with regularity for a few seasons. He never was the power hitting outfielder the Cubs envisioned, but he has a semi-decent major league career when it looked as if he would flame out young.

Which reminds me of someone today...

******

Because, much like a Hollywood movie, 

the sequel to any mildly-successful first effort is usually a bloated mess...

Let's take a break! 

From the second PressTine Whatever and get all sidetracked and look at some other packed packs of re-packs. These brought to you by the fine folks of "Championship Collection!"

They've chosen to latch onto the Ohtani craze by commissioning Panini to make a small set of Leaf Ohtani cards to insert into their re-pack blasters. Containing 10 or so assorted packs, plus a "limited" Leaf Ohtani card for $20.

Ok, I'll bite...

Championship Collection is put out by a company named: "MJ Holding" out of Illinois. As soon as I read MJ Holding, all sorts of Denver, Colorado marijuana jokes popped into my head... "I need some MJ... You holding?" Nope, just taking advantage off the hobby's current obsession...

I did buy one of these in Denver a few months ago, but was pretty let down by what was inside. I needed a WalMarts card fix the other night, and they were (MJ) Holding, so I picked up my second of this flavor...

A nice enough Ohtani card, sporting his former Japanese League uniform. I guess Panini couldn't spring for a Japanese baseball license either... NO LOGOS FOR YOU!

Oh, Whatever...

******

So, back to this!

#57 - Tim Belcher - 1994 Stadium Club Rainbow Foil

Nice shot of the old Tiger Stadium press box. I forget about Belcher's stint with the White Sox... The former #1 overall Draft Pick of the Minnesota Twins (who refused to sign with them) is associated with only two teams in my mind. The Los Angeles Dodgers (for their World Series win in 1988) and the Seattle Mariners (who he joined for the stretch run of Seattle's 1995 season).

I know there have been more, but those are the ones I remember...

#56 - Gene Larkin - 1990 Topps

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Larkin!!!

#55 - Gene Larkin - 1987 Fleer Update

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Larkin's Rookie Card!!!

#54 - Kevin Ritz - 1996 Donruss

Joining Bill Swift as a stalwart of the mid 1990's Colorado Rockies rotation, was the Detroit Tiger castoff, Ritz. Nothing exciting going on here, but I have a sentimental feeling for card of starting pitchers that Coors Field (and Mile High Stadium before it) chewed up and spit out...

#53 - Jay Baller - 1986 Fleer Update

There are so many directions you could go in making fun of this guys' name! But I'm gonna take the high road and not insult him at all.

That would be a No Baller...

#52 - Mike LaValliere - 1988 Topps

LaValliere is a catcher who's cards have always had a home in my collection. Something about him that I just liked. Plus this card showing a nice amount of Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, adding a lot of bonus...

#51 - Andy Van Slyke - 1994 Ultra 

Both LaValliere and Van Slyke came up in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, but ended up playing more with Pittsburgh. I was always a fan of Van Slyke. Back in the 1980's and 1990's, his witty quips were highlights of any Pirates story. Despite his outspoken nature getting him into trouble, later in his coaching career.

#50 - Rance Mulliniks - 1981 Topps

Rance has one of my all time favorite baseball names. And while I'm a big fan of the Milwaukee County Stadium seats behind Mr. Mulliniks, I'm needing a little convincing that he is actually in Milwaukee County Stadium, when Topps took his picture. The shadows don't quite line up. His uniform and hair helmet have a very hard edge around them, leading me to question what Topps was up to more than just airbrushing almost 40 years ago...

#49 - David Segui - 1996 Upper Deck

1996 Upper Deck was a very nice, and rather underrated, set in the lineage of 1990's Upper Deck baseball. A very simple and clean design (though a tad high on the unnecessary bronze foil), and great photography throughout. Even a simple shot of our Expos starting first basemen is made more dramatic by the impact of baseball to bat.

This card should be ranked higher...

#48 - Robin Ventura - 1992 Topps Gold

I did not have this card before (other than locked up in a sealed 1992 Topps Gold Factory Set), and am glad to now own it. From his earliest mainstream cardboard appearance, in 1988 Topps Traded, I've collected Ventura cards. While not his most spectacular, this is still very nice!

#47 - Kent Hrbek - 1991 Donruss

Hrbek is shown here getting ready to strike out at a rather unattended game at Yankee Stadium. I've long been harsh in my judgement against Minnesota's local sports heroes. (Just ask Mauer...) I simply don't buy into the double standard of lowered expectations since they were born within X miles of the home team's stadium. Could be just me...

And oddly enough, this recent junk wax re-exposure has me softening the anti-1991 Donruss stance. 

It's still miles ahead of 1991 Fleer...

#46 - Dwight Gooden - 1997 Finest

Wow... Gooden as a Yankee... Just doesn't look right at all...

#45 - John Fishel - 1989 ProCards

Fishel had a cup of coffee with the 1988 Houston Astros, witch gave him a few major league cards. I distinctly remember reeling in a Fishel from a pack of 1989 Fleer, during the height of "Fuck-Face Mania", and deciding that I would collect Fishel just because of his name...

Thanks to PressTine, I have my first minor league Fillet-O-Fishel.

That was really stupid...

#44 - Roberto Alomar - 2011 Topps Lineage

2011 Topps Lineage was one of the first "Mix of Current Players and Past Legends" card sets of the recent era, that I actively collected. Despite my irritation with the card backs not featuring any stats... A near criminal oversight by Topps... The set didn't go over favorably with collectors, then was revamped and put out as the far superior Topps Archives set, starting in 2012.

Personally, I blame the fact that Topps chose Joe Mauer to represent the product on advertising, wax boxes and wrappers... This set was released with a concussion...

Alomar? Always been a big fan of the Hall of Fame second baseman... I'd really like to acquire some of his higher end cards for my collection someday...

#43 - Dan Quisenberry - 1988 Donruss

How could anyone not like Dan Quisenberry?

#42 - Jeremy Guthrie - 2004 Playoff Honors

While I have very little of this set, I've always liked the base cards for 2004 Playoff Honors. From the few I've seen, the photography was really nice. (All lint aside...) I need to work on locating the Twins, Rockies and Expos from this set, as well as some of the other stars I want to add to the 2004 binders. One of the years least collected...

#41 - Jason Kendall - 1996 Topps

I do not like the 1996 Topps design at all. A monotone duplicate image, squished into an unnecessary nameplate made for some weird looking faces, on close up cards. As far as the main image goes, I like it just fine. Always a fan of chain link fence backdrops for cards, coupled with a green tarp and a half action/half pose picture, and the whole composition just works...

Except for the squishy blue Kendall Head attached to his right thigh...

Oh Topps...

#40 - Jimmy Key - 1989 Donruss

Toronto ditched their road powder blues in favor of traditional grays for the 1989 season. So I'm thinking this photo was taken way back in Spring Training 1988. That background looks much more Dunedin than anything American League... Though it's tough on the eyes, all that blue works for a team named Blue Jays...

#39 - Tom Candiotti - 1986 Fleer Update

Give it up for the Knuckleballers!

#38 - Scott Cooper - 1996 Donruss

If a card company wants me to like a card of a Card, 

pack the Card card with bat and helmet racks in re-pack packs.

Simple!

#37 - Mitch Williams - 1991 Leaf

I really liked this flavor of Phillies home uniforms. And I've always liked Mitch Williams...

#36 - Ken Reitz - 1982 Topps

It's too bad that in-focus photography wasn't invented until 1990, because seeing all that awesomeness behind Reitz would have more than made up for the horrible miscutting job Topps did on this card. I'm still waiting for Topps to "invent" a quality control department...

#35 - Shin-Soo Choo - 2013 Topps

Good thing this picture came in focus! It's too awesome to be blurry!

#34 - Dave Henderson - 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition

Has Henderson ever been photographed without looking absolutely overjoyed? I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Hendu without a massive grin on his face. Even if he dropped this ball, I'm sure he'd be happy he did it.

And all sortsa extra bonus points go to that sweet 1991 Toronto All Star Game Logo on the card.

#33 - Shannon Stewart - 1996 Topps

At least Stewart's head looks less squishily strange than Kendall's does... And he appears over a nice card background, with chain link and a batting cage over his shoulders. I can see why they aren't, but those subjects appearing in better focus would have really made this card move up the list. Even without the "Future Minnesota Twins MVP Candidate" tag hanging over him...

#32 - Ken Griffey Jr. - 2007 Topps Update

Put Griffey with the Mariners and this card moves up an easy 8 spots to his Mariners uniform number... As big of a Ken Griffey Jr. fan as I am (and always will be), I still have a hard time seeing him with Cincinnati. Though this is still a great shot of contact from his sweet swing.

#31 - Jake McGee - 2011 Bowman

Dust off some of that scanner lint and you'll find a nice rookie card of a current Colorado Rockies bullpen anchor. And that's enough for this high ranking.

#30 - Jon Perlman - 1989 Topps

Who?? Wasn't he married to Carla from Cheers?

Either way, this card is criminally underranked. You've got a not only a sweet batting cage, but a nice peek at the Cleveland Municipal Stadium upper deck. And it's pretty much in focus. For a set as lame as 1989 Topps, this is a great card...

#29 - Ryan McMahon - 2014 Bowman

Funny, I wasn't expecting to find a current luke-warm prospect in these packs. Especially a Colorado Rockies prospect. Predicted to become a star in the Denver media, I watched McMahon flail away in his first shot at major league pitching last season, and he's done nothing to establish himself this season. Despite ample opportunities... I still hope he can become the slugger some have predicted.

After all, the Rockies are going to need someone to replace Nolan Arenado when he signs with a different NL West team, after next season...

Allegedly...

Whew... I'm getting tired of all this Whatever... 

******

Ohtani Break!!!

Not so much... But why dont we take a break from PressTine's re-packs and see what MJ is Holding? I can only speak to what I've pulled from 2 MJ Holding Ohtani Re-Pack Blasters, most of which was filled with lame packs of 2016 and 2017 Topps. However, both blasters had two packs of 2017 Honus Bonus Fantasy Baseball Game Cards.

Unlicensed, yet interesting... I think there will be more to say on these cards in the future...

In addition to these, both Blasters contained a MINIMUM of FIVE packs of 2013 Panini Triple Play. Cards so awful that MJ Holding threw those five packs in for free, not even counting them against the advertised "10 factory sealed packs inside"...

And just how awful are they?

If I was Matt Dominguez, I'd sue Panini for ever printing this abomination...

Still trying to bleach Panini's Triple Play from memory, I was a little bit excited to see this among the rest of the repack drek:

Hmmm... I've liked Panini's Cooperstown sets in the past, and low and behold, a "Hobby" pack amongst all this retail! You don't see that very often...

Oooooooooooh.... What could possibly be inside????

Well, expletive expletive!!! It's that Roberto Alomar autograph I was wanting earlier! 

On Card Signature!

Serial numbered 107/125!!

Thanks Ohtani!!!

******

Ohta-Whatever...

#28 - Cubs Leaders - 1987 Topps

Cey Trout... Kinda sounds like a set up for further dialogue... They are probably talking about how overproduced this set really was...

#27 - Kelly Mann - 1990 Score

As a youngin' I got a kick out of a guy with the last name of Man(n) having a "woman's" first name. Either way, I liked this picture, and have been trying to figure out the identity of the mystery Half-A-Padre standing behind Mr. Man(n).

#26 - Ryan Rayburn - 2013 Topps

This picture is all sorts of awesome! It's also begging for alteration... You could do any number of things to the yelling fans behind the fence... For example, the outreaching hands to the left of Rayburn could be offering up a nice piece of pie? Provided that fat imitation Randy Orton in the Pirates shirt didn't grab it away from them first... Maybe the angry looking chick on the right side of the card could be spitting on the visiting team's outfielder, which would then draw the ire of the Tigers' sunglasses sporting supporter standing behind her...

So much going on here... I shoulda ranked it higher...

#25 - Andres Galarraga - 1997 Pinnacle New

Pinnacle New was a really stupid concept, but the photography and color on the cards were top notch. According to Pinnacle lore, after 1997 Pinnacle Series 1 was released, for whatever reason, the company scrapped all plans for Series 2. Instead coming up with an entirely different set and just calling it "New."

Within a year, Pinnacle Brands filed for bankruptcy. Pinnacle New showed they were creatively bankrupt well before that...

#24 - Ted Simmons - 1986 Topps Traded

Nice! A Ted Simmons card I didn't previously have!

#23 - Devon White - 1992 Topps Gold

This card (base, not the Gold parallel) was featured prominently in advertising for 1992 Topps. And why not? Floating helmets are definitely cool!

#22 - Andy Larkin - 1997 Upper Deck

1997 Upper Deck has always been one of my favorite sets. Even the semi-ugly foil subsets are still kinda nice... One day I plan on exploring the whole set in depth on here... There's so many great cards to note...

#21 - Rick Aguilera - 1999 Metal Universe

When I hear the term Metal Universe, I envision a festival with Anthrax and Megadeth headlined by Slayer...

I never bought any of this set, 1999 was in the middle of a down period for buying cards. 1999 Fleer Tradition was such a nice set, that won the dollars in my Fleer budget over the multitude of Metals and SkyBoxeses... So this Aguilera (and his nearly Topps pitching face) is one I've never even seen before. While not great, it's cool enough for #21...

#20 - Walt Weiss - 1990 Score

Slick fielding shortstops typically got good action photos on their junk wax cards, and Weiss was no different... He is nearly leaping out of his stirrups to avoid a collision with unknown Yankee. Stomp him on your way down! No, wait, I actually liked the Yankees more than the Athletics in 1990...

My how things have changed almost 30 years later...

#19 - Phil Niekro - 1986 Topps Traded

I also never get tired of seeing Grandpa Niekro plugging away, soft tossing a knuckler while nearly 50 years old... Today's game really needs more Knuckleball pitchers...

Maybe R.A. Dickey has another comeback left in him?

#18 - Donnie Hill - 1991 Leaf

Future Minnesota Twins utility infielder Donnie (don't call him Benny) Hill, about to apply the tag on a Tiger foot at old Tiger Stadium. I've always liked this card a lot. Good action, nice color and the old style Angels uniform was something I was a fan of until all the ridiculous directions the Angels went as the 1990's progressed...

Thanks Disney...

#17 - Jack Morris - 1992 Topps Gold

Probably ranked a little low due to the significance of this card (also new to my collection, disregarding the factory set) and his role on the 1991 Twins. Congrats on making the Hall of Fame Morris, I've never believed that he shouldn't be in, despite the nay-sayers...

And that 1991 Twins 30th Season jersey sleeve patch is forever burned in my memory... Nice to see it appear on a card, almost in focus and almost in full!

#16 - Kent Tekulve - 1989 Score

Tekulve's career was just about wrapped up, and 1989 marked the end of seeing his cards in wax packs. (Save for his awesome cardboard appearance with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1989 Topps Traded set...) I'd quickly miss the quirky mid-submarine motion photos almost as much as his giant 1980's sunglasses he wore while pitching...

#15 - Walt Weiss - 1995 Upper Deck

Ranked a little bit higher than 1990 Score due to the better photo, better card set, better team (Colorado Rockies, in their last season at Mile High Stadium) and an Expos cameo... Even if Marquis Grissom was out, he made Weiss go horizontal to make the return throw to first... Oh and there's the always awesome 1994 MLB gold patch on Grissom's sleeve!

This card should have been ranked higher...

#14 - Carlton Fisk - 1988 Topps

Despite looking as if he may have just struck out, this is one of my favorite Fisk card photos... I've mentioned in the past how much I love shots of the yellow rails throughout the green box seats at Comiskey. Which compliments the green border and block White Sox that are obscured by Fisk's bat. All in all, a really great card...

#13 - Henry Rodriguez - 1997 Topps Chrome

Again, the actual card is nowhere near as linty as the scan shows... Chrome/Finest/Foil cards are just a pain to scan decently, so I give up on them quickly... Rodriguez came to the Expos in -yet another- Montreal salary dump trade. This time with the Dodgers! Never given a chance to play everyday in Los Angeles, H-Rod starred for a few seasons in Montreal. Becoming a 40 home run slugger that few predicted. While I can't recall his name being directly associated with PED use, given that era and surprising production, I cannot fault an eyebrow being raised...

#12 - Terry Leach - 1990 Score

Four Baggers old friend Terry Leach shown here slinging a sinkerball for the Kansas City Royals, after his 1989 mid-season trade from the New York Mets. (The Royals must have decided they needed another submariner after releasing Dan Quisenberry a year earlier...) This photo was taken perhaps a split second after the photo used on his 1989 Score Update card. They look almost identical when placed side by side, but the 1990 Score has a little more lean to it...

#11 - Keith Hernandez - 1986 Fleer Baseball's Hottest Stars

I never had a card from this box set before, so it's a welcome addition. I've also never been a Keith Hernandez fan. And those voyeuristic TV hair coloring commercials with him and Oscar Robertson creeping on some dude trying to get some, doesn't help his cause either... Yet this card brings me back to those horribly overproduced late 1980's boxed sets that both Topps and Fleer liked to flood the retail market with.

Almost wish Topps would do stuff like that today... The Targets and WalMarts could have nicely designed themed box sets that may sell a few... Of course they'd screw it up and miss the point entirely...

#10 - Doug Drabek - 1992 Topps Gold

This batch of PressTine seemed to average a 1992 Topps Gold common or semi-star in every pack. And while I don't care a whole lot about Topps Gold, getting that variation on some of my favorite cards from the 1992 Topps set is welcomed. There's a big buncha great Three Rivers Stadium going on here!

#9 - Jay Payton - 2004 Donruss

That's right! Jay Payton was once a Colorado Rockie! I'd forgotten all about that... It's no wonder the way Dan O'Dowd cycled through players from 1999-2005, before calming it down and making the World Series in 2007. He tried and tried, traded and traded, bringing all sorts of failed prospects and retread major leaguers through Denver before finally letting the teams he drafted gel for a while. Which kicked off the most successful stretch in Rockies history...

Since this is on the internet, you can't see me making air quotes as I associate the Colorado Rockies with anything resembling "success"...

#8 - Todd Walker - 1998 Ultra

Watching his entire career unfold always brought the question to mind: "Just who did Todd Walker keep pissing off?" He never found a steady home, despite producing... Granted he could never win over Cranky Tom Kelly, but he could hit! Both the Twins and the Rockies quickly gave up on him, as well as a whole buncha other teams. (The Reds, Red Sox, Athletics, Padres, etc...) I thought he hit fairly well for a second baseman...

#7 - Ryan McGuire - 1997 Upper Deck

When the Red Sox and/or Yankees needed a star, they'd simply call up the Expos and offer up a couple of prospects that looked great on paper, but couldn't produce on the field. McGuire came over from the Red Sox in exchange for someone making more than minimum wage and promptly did nothing as an Expo. Although he did have nice card photos. His 1998 Ultra is an all time Expos card favorite of mine... (It was taken in Coors Field!)

#6 - Rich Yett - 1989 Topps

There are probably a few cards in this Whatever that could switch places with Yett... Yet, it's one of my favorite pictures in all that PressTine offered up in the 10 repacked packs. The blue and magenta (I work in printing, that is NOT pink!) provide a really nice border for a photo of the Cleveland Indians playing a game at the local high school. While never a big success in the Majors, Yett hung on a for a couple of seasons, including wrapping up his career in 1990 with a forgettable stint with the Minnesota Twins. I remember reading about Cranky Tom Kelly lobbying to keep Yett as Spring Training was ending... Bad call on his part, yet Yett still makes #6 on the Whatever!

#5 - Jim Beattie - 1987 Topps

If you haven't noticed, there was a real lack of blow away awesomeness in the 10 repack packs. The first 7 had so much more to offer... Jim Beattie makes #5 on the Whatever because of a big chunk of chain link fence... Yup. That and his mesh back M's trucker hat...

#4 - Tim Salmon - 1994 Upper Deck Generation Next Era

Or whatever these inserts are called... It's funny, I'm not sure if they were a retail exclusive in 1994 Upper Deck, but with all of the hobby wax from that set that I bought back in 1994, I never once pulled any of these inserts. Shame too, because Upper Deck really had something with their 3D head turning hologram gimmick (1994 SP Holoviews use it PERFECTLY). Excuse the lint, I didn't feel like spending an hour cleaning it up in Photoshop, but the scan did not do this card justice...

#3 - Jake Woods - 2004 SP Prospects

Whole lotta red going on here... Jake Woods never panned out as a prospect, but he got a nice card out of the process. Though Upper Deck could've done better by including a different photo to ghost behind him. The same image repeated twice is kinda dumb...

Sure seem to be pulling the Angels today...

#2 - Mark Trumbo - 2011 Bowman

Big fan of this photo! Every so often, Topps figures out how to properly crop an image, and this is the perfect example. And in a nice twist on the usual outfield shots, none of the outfield wall or scoreboard advertising was blocked out. Great news if you like the Los Angeles Times, Stanley Tools, the MLB Network, Fox Sports or Budweiser!

Almost makes you forget how one dimensional of a player Trumbo became in his "Home Runs or nothing!" career... At least the Baltimore Orioles are paying him well...

And if this card needed more of a bonus, the scoreboard is also touting a "Photo Finish! Result: A Three Way Tie!" I feel the same because number one in this whatever is...

#1 - Mo Vaughn - 1999 Topps Gold Label

You know Upper Deck, had you designed the Jake Woods card the was Topps designed Mo Vaughn, you could've taken the top prize in the Whatever... You need a minimum of TWO photos to make that concept work. Not just one... Topps Gold Label were really nice cards when they came out in the late 1990's. So nice that I even allowed an Angels card (with those abysmal Disney logos) to win this Whatever. They were also more expensive than I wanted to spend money on. So I purchased very few.

So that is that... The top 85 cards in the second round of packs of PressTine re-pack packs...

Sure was a whole lotta Angels on top...

Okay Ohtani... I got the message that you're sending. It simply cannot be coincidence that the 4 cards I liked the most out of these 300 are Angels. When I clearly don't like the Angels...

I'm not yet sure just what that message is, but obviously something is up...

******

As I said at the beginning of this story, (which I started writing almost a month ago) my life has gotten far too busy and hectic to do a whole lot other than go to work and tend to personal matters all over my new old home town. I'd like to say that will be calming down soon, but in reality will probably get even more hectic over the next 2-3 months before finally calming down a bit...

So I need to start writing shorter stories!

For example...

In interest of fairness and equal time, here is an abandoned gas station!

The was located at roughly highway 694 and Silver Lake Road in St. Anthony, MN. I took this photo on September 18, 2015, while riding as a passenger, allowing the rare decent out-of-right-car-window picture. Obviously it had been used as an auto repair shop in it's recent past, it still retained enough awesome gas station-ness to be awesome!

A drive by of the site last week (No, almost a month ago...) showed an all new gas station had grown out it's ashes...

Going off my quick drive-by's, both last month and nearly three years ago, I'm wondering weather this was a demolition and rebuild, or if it was an adaptation of the existing building?

Huh?

At least it was short!

******

Oh.... And One More Thing....

I'll be taking a good chunk of what I said about Ohtani-Mania snapping up all the retail wax temporarily back. Either through good timing at the Targets and WalMarts, or just blind luck. I've actually been able to find a decent amount of 2018 Stadium Club over the last few weeks.

After buying the above Blaster, Laura and I went home and opened the 8 packs up. I let her open the second one and afterward she said I was going to be very happy with the contents of this pack... Not only did she get a nice Nolan Arenado base card, but also...

I don't know who Victor Arano is, but I'll gladly take his autograph!

Laura opened the second pack in the box because I was already beaming over what was inside the first pack...

Now that's a cool Angels card!

What does the back have to say?

Damn... Not only is it a rare Instavision insert card, but the Black Refractor parallel, numbered 5/25!

No offense Ohtani, but at this point in your career, I want the uberawesome rare card of your teammate over yours.

Nothing personal.

The more I think on my recent retail and Angels luck, Ohtani understood that I wasn't a big believer in his MLB ambitions. I was intrigued, but skeptical of Ohtani pulling this off. It never had been done before, and I was quick to be righteous when he went down to injury. Tommy John Surgery could (and still can) destroy his career, and everyone who hoarded retail wax and spent a fortune gambling on Ohtani's success would have been bitten by overhype.

Which hurts the hobby in the long run...

But enough about that Ohtani... I'll be pulling for you, and I will keep all of your cards I get... But you've got several years to go before you prove yourself to me...

Unless you start sending me good Expos, Twins and Rockies hits...

And I think I'll have more to say on 2018 Stadium Club in the future...

Trout?

He's a welcome addition to my permanent collection!

And the new #4 on my Top Retail Pulls of All Time!

One in 6,947 packs... 

Thanks Ohtani!!!

******

And Dollar Tree's have been completely sold out of PressTine for weeks...

Damn you Danny Jackson!!!