Bargain Bin Packs

After missing my cherished monthly hotel card show for awhile I was eager to return to it last Saturday. I had no real specific goals other than to hit the bargain boxes and add some 'bloggable' material. And I think I did that. I brought home some vintage stuff, some cards I simply thought were fun and some stuff I only bought because it ended up costing me about 20 cents apiece. That latter category would include these three unopened packs of beat up junk that I nabbed on a whim.

I don't remember these '91 O-Pee-Chee cards from when they were new.  But it's not a bad looking set actually. I'm sure someone out there knows if the 'Premier' designation means that these were something beyond a base set.

There isn't much to the backs, other than four separate logos. I had to look up Willie Wilson to see how long he played for Oakland. Turns out it was two seasons following his 15 year stint with the Royals. 

Side note: Did you know that there is a Willie Wilson running for president? I sure didn't. 

EDIT: Joe Shlabotnik's comment on this set got me to digging and I found a bit of background on this '91 OPC Premier set. This comes from The Cardboard Connection site's OPC page:

While O-Pee-Chee produced their traditional Topps-like set in 1991, they also expanded to a second standalone line. 1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier Baseball was one of the most hyped sets of the year, based largely on the success of 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey. The quality was noticeably higher. So was the initial price tag. But like most every set from 1991, it was vastly overproduced. Today, 1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier Baseball can be found extremely cheap. Historically, it's important because it marked a branching out for the brand. O-Pee-Chee Premier Baseball continued in 1992 and 1993 apart from the Topps line.

The same dealer's box yielded a North Carolina pack from the early 1990. I have no connection to UNC and so I figured that if I didn't get a Michael Jordan card I would get eight cards of strangers.

And I got a Jordan. If I was producing these I'd make sure there was a Jordan in each pack.

That's not a bad scan of the back below. it actually is that 'faded'. I don't know if it turned that way over time of if that's how it was intended to be. This Jordan, btw, is the only color pic used in the eight cards I got. Another thing that struck me is that one of the cards was #179. Seems like a lot of cards for a college set but the Trading Card Database has the checklist and the set runs over 200 cards strong including some 'specials'. 

The third pack was Pro Set hockey 91/92. Pro Set could really churn out product back then. But the thing about it was they had some excellent looking sets. The problem was people just got sick of seeing so many of them.

Not much to say about these other than they look pretty good design-wise, the ones I scanned featured some uninspired pics and the pack yielded no Rangers. But for the two dimes it cost me I won't gripe I guess.


Another side note: I read someplace that the Leafs are re-designing their uniforms. Really? The Leafs have a classic look. Even the sort of 'modernized' look that Wendel Clark is wearing from 25 years ago is pretty sweet. If they take the 'leaf' off the sweaters I'm going to be upset. And so will be lots of Leafs fans I'm sure.

That's it for the packs I got. But I went home with lots more that I need to finish scanning and post.

Monday Morning Quarterback #53 Chris Miller 1991 Pro Set Platinum

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see. 

NFL Info: Oregon Duck Chris Miller spent ten seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Falcons and Rams. He held the Atlanta starting job for five seasons beginning with his NFL sophomore year, 1988. He made the ALL Pro squad in 1991 but was injured and being phased out in 1993 by Jerry Glanville. He moved on to the Rams for a couple of seasons as the starter and a then was the Bronco's back up for a year before retiring to the college and NFL coaching ranks. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Fantasy Impact: In 1991 I opened the season with Jim Everett as my starter. I sat patiently was he failed to score a single point in the first five weeks of the season (TD-only league back then) and I muddled along at 1-4. I finally got sick of Everett, hit the waiver wire hard, and went through three other quarterbacks over the next month. I was 4-7 when I decided to roll with Miller over the final weeks and he had the two best QB weeks I had that season. I still missed the playoffs but I gained a little self respect. LOL

The Card:  I love everything about this card except the fact that the player's name isn't on the front. I know that some of the classic sets of the past had no-text fronts but if you're going to put the set logo there you might as well put the player's name there as well.

But that's a small quibble. I like both photos Pro Set used and the card has a decent layout on the reverse. No stats but stats are for base cards anyway. Swap out the huge Pro Set and NFLPA logos for team ones or helmets and this card is even better.

I'll always say Pro Set is the least appreciated card company ever.

Monday Morning Quarterback #38 Jim McMahon 1989 Pro Set

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see. 

NFL Info: Jim McMahon may be the most 'un-Brigham Young-ish' guy to ever play for BYU. But he did and he's in their Athletic Hall of Fame. In the NFL he was best known for his part in leading the  Bears to the Super Bowl win during the 'Shuffle' season of 1985. During a career that covered 15 seasons for six different clubs he was the full time starter in about half of those. While he never led the NFL in any significant categories and only made one Pro Bowl squad he did accumulate one impressive stat: he had a winning record of 67-30.

He is currently involved in litigation with the NFL over the effects of the concussions he suffered throughout his career.

Fantasy Impact: For me...none. I had him in 1989 during his one season with the Chargers and he didn't play. I had Joe Montana as my starter that season and I lost in our championship game. McMahon was one of six quarterbacks I had roster-ed that year. Back then, before the 'net made fantasy football so easy, our league had very big rosters (as did most others). Waivers were problematical. Once or twice a season we'd sit down at the local ice house (that's Texas talk for beer joint, usually with garage door style open front) after our city league flag football games and hold waivers. Out of town guys had to send me wish lists and hope they'd get a guy or two. So we had 18 or 19 player rosters to be sure we always had enough players.

The Card: Pro Set football sets are the butt of lots of jokes centered around errors and the over-production the company was guilty of back than. But I never let that lessen my enjoyment of them. The '89 set, while not as nice as the same year's Score offering, is pretty sweet. Maybe I was just happy to see someone giving Topps some competition.

They certainly packed a lot of info onto the back of the cards. Color photos on the backs were new then. And the fronts beat most of the Topps sets that appeared around that time.

Monday Morning Quarterback #14 (Tuesday Edition which accidentaly went up on Monday) 1992 Pro Set Power Dave Krieg

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see. 

NFL Info: I'll let Dave Krieg's own website tell his career story:

Dave Krieg got his start in college football as the 7th string quarterback at Milton College in Wisconsin. His break came in the fourth game of the season his freshman year when he was called upon to play. He threw four passes in his first game, three of which went for touchdowns. That sensational start enabled him to earn the starting quarterback position which he maintained throughout the remainder of years at Milton College.

His coach was so impressed with him that he wrote a letter of introduction to the Seattle Seahawks. Film cannisters were shipped to Seattle, Krieg was given the opportunity to try out with the Seahawks, and the rest is history! Dave Krieg played 12 seasons (1980-1991) with the Seahawks and seven seasons (1992-1998) thereafter, sporting the uniforms of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Detroit Lions, the Arizona Cardinals, the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans. In his years in Seattle, he was the club's all-time leader in 31 categories. His NFL career totals rank in the top 10 among all-time NFL quarterbacks in four categories: attempts (5,311), completions (3,105) passing yards (38,147), and touchdowns (261).

Dave Krieg was inducted into the Seahawks' Ring of Honor in 2004, joining only 7 other Seahawks in earning this prestigious honor.

Fantasy Angle: I had Krieg twice, in 1992 when he was a member of the Chiefs and he made one start for me on Jim Kelly's bye week. He didn't score a point. '92 was very forgettable. I was 3-9-1, easily the worst record I've ever posted. In fact I've only had two other seasons in which I finished as many as two games under the .500 mark. I had Krieg again for a few weeks in 1995 as an Arizona Cardinal and he didn't play during that season.

The Card: I loved the 'original' Pro Set issues of 1989 and into the '90s. Pro Set Power from '92 was an attempt (I guess) at a higher end set. The Krieg card is pretty nice overall. It has that borderless action shot on the front with a blurred background that makes Krieg stand out. Not much in the way of distractions on there either, just his name and the set logo. The use of a portrait on the back is a point in it's favor, beats the re-use of the front picture. No stats or bio on the back, just a few career notes. Not the best card in my fantasy football 'frankenset', but not the worst either.

Caption this.....

I meant to include this in my 100 count hockey repack post from a week or so ago. Rick Cornacchia is an Italian who played college and Junior hockey in Canada and then coached for a decade in the Ontario Hockey League. I may not own any less valuable card than this one. I mean, a junior hockey coach's card? Seriously?

But it does have the redeeming value of being quirky. Gotta love the causal conversation with the ref, eavesdropping trainer and soda drinking fan (or team official? usher?) in the background. It's so stupid, it's cool. For the curious here is the back:

And here are a few more from that repack:

This Gretzky card is actually the Kings' checklist from the Upper Deck set. And below are more goalies. I like goalies.

and finally... this was included as one of the 100 cards. I feel cheated, on multiple levels.

1991 Pro Set Fred Couples

My wife and I were at a University of Houston Awards Gala this past Saturday. They were auctioning off some great 'packages' to benefit the general scholarship fund. Three were golf related and contained signed Fred Couples items. My boys and I are big fans of Fred. I bid on a couple of the packages but I was left in the dust by the big spenders pretty quickly. Oh well.

This Pro Set card is one of several my sons received back from Fred after he won the Shell Houston Open in 2003 and became the first UH golfer to win the hometown tourney.