I was one of many lucky bloggers to get a package from The Junior Junkie this week. He hit a few of my wantlists and threw in some surprises too. Here are some highlights.
I didn't know Topps had resurrected the Finest brand in 2014. When I first saw this I actually thought it was a Chrome 2015, it kind of looks like the 2015 set.
I did know that Topps had revised Stadium Club, and I had mentioned to Junkie that I didn't have any. He sent me a bunch, including this great Evan Gattis card.
Stadium Club is great but Upper Deck still set the standard for great candid shots in addition to action shots. I guess this type of shirt is something that screams 1990s?
He also sent me a few unopened wax packs. I have the complete 66-card set of 1988 Topps Sticker Backs, but I opened the pack anyway because some day I would like to go back and get the sticker books and put in the various stickers I accumulated. I actually had the sticker books when I was younger but did not save them like I did my card. The first card in the pack was Lee Smith, which caught my eye because even when I was a kid I had noticed that there were two error variations of this card. Well it turns out this is a third variation - a completely correct stat line!
The two versions I have had since I was a kid both have errors in the stat line. Both have the headings for a starter instead of a reliever, and one of them also switches the W-L and games pitched numbers.
Interestingly, I can find no mentions of any of these three variations
online. Tradingcarddb has one of the error versions in their scans.
There are four copies of the card on COMC, two each of each error
version. There is one error version on ebay. But a correct version on
Sportslots. I am guessing that the correct version is rarer.
Incidentally I do have extras of both error versions in case anyone
wants to trade for one.
mariano rivera is in my hall of famer collection
21 hours ago