I never thought I would miss Upper Deck but I do. This is how Chicle should have looked. Design is flawless and the art is perfect. Maybe one day soon UD will return and we can all enjoy this set once more.
Speaking of Upper Deck, Matt also sent these.
Masterpieces. What can I say about this set? I could spend the next hour talking through the designs and variations that this set offered but I wont. I have nothing negative to say about this set, which is probably a first for me. Beardy of the Mojo Beard is making his own online unlicensed Masterpieces. Go check it out.
Now onto the unexpectedness.
MINIS!!
Six new minis for the set. Including another sweet black bordered beauty as well as a new dinosaur and lords of Olympus. I love this set!
All the above cards were wrapped up together but there was another small wrapped up package included.
On the front it says simply - Surprise :)
What could be in here I thought? What else could he surprise me with? For a start I wasn't expecting the minis so what ever is in this other package must be something really good.
I noticed that the package rattled when I shook it. Yes I shook it. I wanted to guess what was inside since it was pretty thick. The rattle suggested that it was a few cards in a snap case and so shaking it will probably damage the cards so I stopped doing that.
I did not expect to find this looking back at me when I ripped the package open.
A 2009 Topps uncirculated auto of my main man Adam Lind! Holy frack! This really was a HUGE surprise! Notice the tamper proof sticker over the top of the card that I'm awfully tempted to remove so I can remove the card and have a proper look but I wont. This is going to be the only Lind card I own that I have never personally touched. That sounded weird but I think you get what I mean by that.
Matt you have gone above and beyond! I can not thank you enough for all the cards and especially the Lind auto.
I have some things to send your way too but its going to have to wait for a while until I get something else to include that will be to the same standard of what you sent.
Oh by the way Matt is the same guy that's running this break. Please join up!
Thanks to some generosity from John I have finally gotten some new minis for the set!
Black bordered minis! Beautiful looking cards!
The final two cards featuring another favourite of mine, the National Animals.
Notice the lack of stats that you would normally expect to find. It also makes mention of his military service, which is interesting to see. There's also a small bit about his minor league and rookie year. They don't mention much about his 1948 season other than he slumped to .248 average. At the bottom of the card is an offer for a baseball ring. All you needed was three wrappers and 15cents and you would have been able to get an adjustable, durable metal ring with a white plastic emblem. I wonder how many of these rings are around now? Has anyone seen one?
Enough about the ring, back to Thomson. 1949 was a great year for Thomson. He had career highs in RBI's and BA. But no-one knows that stuff! I had to look it up online, thank you wikipedia. The Flying Scot is remembered mostly for one thing and that is the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World'. I'm sure you all know the story so I wont go over it again.
The picture at the top also features two other Thomson cards. On the left is the 1953 Redman that I wrote about a while back and the middle is a 1958 Topps that I picked up a few months ago. The reason I choose this picture is to show off the different sizes of the cards. The Redman is a Giant compered to the other two. The 58 is a standard size card and the 49 is tiny. I'm glad that cards nowadays aren't as big as the Redman because its a pain to store and takes up more that its fair share of the box its in. I'm a big fan of smaller cards so I quite like it but I'm not a fan of the shape, its too square as opposed to the regular mini cards from Ginter and T206 that have a more rectangular shape.
Overall the Bowman is cool! And its also the oldest card I own.
Shark Boy, Curry Man and Super Eric. What the hell can I say about these guys?! Anyone out there who is a wrestling fan knows that when someone takes a cheap shot at you for enjoying watching wrestling its because they have seen guys like this perform. These guys are aimed at kids and are mostly used in comedy or squash matches. I don't have anything good to say about any of these guys although Shark Boy did have his moments and Super Eric is much better as Eric Young.
Next are some WWE/WWF legends. Well they aren't all legends but they were some of my favourites from way back when.
In the top picture we have Kip James and BG James. In the WWE they were Mr Ass and Road Dogg Jesse James. Together they were the New Age Outlaws and they RULED!! Road Dogg had amazing mic skills and Mr Ass.... Well Mr Ass was his partner. Not like a life partner or anything just a tag team partner. They were part of the DX faction that 'ran' the attitude era of WWF or the Golden age as I like to call it. Also in the picture Gail Kim who is back in the WWE where she belongs. I'm going to step out on a limb and say that she is probably the best female wrestler around today (better than Awesome Kong) which is not hard to say considering the majority of female wrestlers are employed for one thing or is that two things? I tend to avoid female wrestling because its embarrassing to watch unless its a bra or panties match but that's for the pervert in me.
The bottom three are Vince Russo (Not a legend but a very hated man for various reasons) Jim Cornette, a legendary manager and promoter and Kevin Nash. Nash was one of the big guns in the mid 90's when he wrestled as Diesel. He was world champion in the WWF and from what I hear was well respected by all. He left for WCW and took over there making WCW the number one show. He came back to the WWE in 2001 as part of the invasion storyline when Shane McMahon bought WCW and brought them in to take over the WWE.
The bottom picture features Christian Cage, now back in the WWE wrestling as Christian. He has been very successful wherever he wrestled and is a big fan favourite. Next is Kurt Angle, the Olympic champion. He was one of my favourite champions when he was a heel (wrestling talk for bad guy) but when he turned face (wrestling talk for good guy) I sort of lost interest. Angle won gold for wrestling (the boring 'real' kind) back in 96 and was brought into the WWF in 98 as a clean cut all American that happened to have a superiority complex making him think he was better than everyone else. I remember going to a RAW event in Sacramento when he rode a milk truck into the arena and blasted Stone Cold and the WCW roster with a milk from a giant hosepipe. Oh its true, its true.
The other guys are referee Earl Hebner who was the official for the infamous Montreal screw-job. He was fired I believe for selling merchandise through his brothers business. Jeff Jerrett who didnt get the respect he deserved in the WWF. He later went on to establish TNA but has been plagued with injuries for a long time. Rhino, who was Rhyno in WWE was a former ECW wrestler and basically a monster in the ring. I can still hear good ol' J.R. scream "GORE, GORE, GORE" when Rhyno destroyed an opponent. Finally we have Booker T, he hit the WWF with the invasion storyline. He was basically a poor imitation of The Rock but later when he became King Booker he was very entertaining.
This post is much longer than I anticipated, unfortunately there is more so please keep reading.
Here are some of the TNA legends.
Jay Lethal who has a great gimmick going. Basically his act is Macho Man Randy Savage. Hes very entertaining because of this throw back act. Brother Devon and Brother Ray who were the Dudley Boys in the WWF. They were memorable for putting old women through tables. I'm not joking! Ray, or Bubba Ray as he was known once put Mae Young, an 80 year old through a table while jumping off the entrance ramp. This caused a little bit of controversy if I remember rightly. I just thought it was funny. Mae was fine and still make appearances.
The bottom pictures feature Scott Steiner on the left. Steroids is his middle name. The guy is massive! On the right we have AJ Styles who is has had some memorable feuds and title reigns.
The guy in the middle is the legendary Sting! This guy has been wrestling for as long as I can remember and has always been a joy to watch. He made it big in WCW and was their number one guy. He showed alot of loyalty to WCW and didnt jump ship to WWF when they bought the organisation. He doesn't appear to often due to his many injuries but when he does you can guarantee he will bring the house down. There has been some talk that the WWE are going to induct him in the WWE hall of fame. Since they own the back catalogue of WCW matches that feature him. I don't know if Sting will accept or not since he has never worked for the company. It will be interesting to see what will happen in April when the ceremony takes place. If he is inducted he will join greats such as Andre the Giant, Brett the Hitman Hart and Pete Rose. Yes Pete Rose is in the WWE hall of fame!
Nearly finished now...
Fuji also included an autograph with the prize and I'm thankful it is someone who I'm familiar with.
Eric Young is a wrestler who focuses alot on comedy. Scroll back up and you can see his alter ego 'Super Eric'. I enjoy the comedy aspect of wrestling although I'm aware that a lot of people don't. I like a good mix of story lines, wrestling and comedy in my wrestling whereas some just want to see the wrestling. Currently Young's persona is that of a mentally challenged individual caused by a bump to the head. He plays the part very well but wont get anywhere with it. There's no room at the top for a gimmick like this.
That pretty much wraps up my prize although Fuji did include a few Giants cards and also at the top of this post an autographed card of himself, which by the way is very cool! I now have two autos from the blogosphere. A Chris Harris one of one and the Fuji card.
Anyway thanks a lot Fuji, you made my day!
