Baseball packs from the Alley family

In the early days of this blog, back in 2008, I was contacted by a reader whose boys were mad football (soccer) fans. They supported Everton and had difficulty purchasing football related items and since I was in the United Kingdom would I mind sending some soccer 'stuff' their way. In exchange they would send me some baseball 'stuff'.
This seemed like a nice arrangement, so I duly obliged and send football magazines, stickers, packs and a badge or two.
Little did I expect to receive a large assortment of baseball packs in return.
Packages go back and forth between us about two or three times a year, when new football cards or stickers are released a package works it way to North Carolina and then a baseball package will find its way to Westgate-on-Sea. I look forward to these surprise packages immensely, always jam packed full of baseball pack loveliness.
This Saturday another Alley pack arrived on my doorstep.
The contents:
5 packs 2013 Topps Heritage
3 Jumbo packs of 2013 Opening Day
6 packs of 2013 Opening Day
2 rack packs of 2013 Topps Series 1
2 packs of Topps Series 1
1 block(60 cards)  of 2013 Topps Series 1
1 pack of 2012 Triple Play
1 pack of 2012 Opening day
1 pack of 2011 Opening day
1 rack pack 2011 Bowman
2 packs 2011 Topps Chrome
1 pack of 2008 UD First Edition
1 pack of 2008 Topps
1 pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra
2 packs of 1989 Donruss

So there is some junk wax, who cares, these are packs of baseball cards.

You just have to love the internet and how it connects people from all over the world.

What will 99p buy you in baseball cards?

A load of crap possibly.
Readers from the UK might have seen this lot on e-bay recently. A 1000 cards with a starting price of 99p. Who wouldn't bid? Well everyone obviously because I won with a bid of 99p.

So what exactly did I get for my 99p?

A complete set of 1995 Topps,

A box of 1993 Donruss Series 1,

A box of 1993 Donruss Series 2,

5 Topps 1974 ,

8 Topps 1975,

19 Topps 1978,

1 Topps 1979,

1 Donruss 1983,

1 Sportsflick 1986,

1 Upper Deck 1989,

97 Donruss 1990,

1 Topps 1990,

30 Donruss 1991,

36 Fleer 1991,

1 Fleer Sticker 1991,

15 Score 1991,

4 Topps 1991,

74 Donruss 1992,

2 Fleer 1992,

27 Leaf 1992,

19 Score 1992,

104 Topps 1992,

7 Upper Deck 1992,

108 Donruss 1993,

89 Hostess baseball 1993,

13 Topps 1993,

4 Upper Deck 1993,

2 Fleer 1994,

1 Topps 1994,

12 Stadium Club 1994,

20 UD Collectors Choice 1995,

10 Fleer 1996,

12 Fleer Ultra 1996

28 Score 1996,

11 UD Collector Choice 1996,

200+ Topps Total 2004,

8 National Card Day 2006,

That is the bulk of the cards. An unusual mix considering there is two complete sets, possibly three, and the ever popular early 1990's cards, that appear to be common all over the world! There was also about 20 top loaders, a packet of card protectors and roughly 20 hard cases too.

There was a number of unusual items enclosed, hidden deep within the box.
A set of Civil War Leaders complete set of 32 cards in a plastic case,
A limited edition #to 240,000 1991 Front Row Draft Picks complete set in a plastic case,
A Mickey Lolich Detroit Tigers Gold embossed card?
A 1996 Fleer promotional card,
A 1996 Upper Deck Promotional card,
A slabbed 1994 Upper Deck Fold outs Cal Ripken ,
a Number of Frank Thomas cards from various years -all encased in hard covers.

Is there method to the madness of this collector? There are very few Red Sox, Pirates or Dodgers cards but plenty of White Sox pretty much together in a pile and Yankees cards again together. There are a number of cards badly beaten but in top loaders, a few more cards covered in sticky back plastic (for protection?) and a number of others that look as though they have been used to soak up low grade oil.

So a load of crap then?

Vending machine Junk Wax

Many, many months ago, I was desperately searching for trading partners and was unable to find a good home for some teams. The pile of cards continued to build, my plea for collectors wasn't working so I ventured on a different route. Message boards. There were two teams in particular that were growing faster than others, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Colorado Rockies. There were some very nice cards and a number of game used/memorabilia cards that screamed to be housed in a friendly environment. Very little response, except to send a list of the cards and they would think about it. After roughly 10 requests there was a positive response from Jonathan in Toronto, of all places, that put the wheels of trading into motion. Jonathan explained that there was a vending machine in his local bowling alley that was well stocked of Junk Wax. He and his friends would buy packs of 1999 Upper Deck from the said vending machine and then go home and run simulations all night on how teams made from one pack of cards would fare against another.

Sounded like a pretty good Friday night; bowling, packs of cards, baseball simulations, throw in a pizza and some beer and it's the perfect night.

So in February 2009 the 200+ Blue Jays made their merry way to Toronto and I was happy. For those of you who participate in these types of blind trades, sometimes nothing is returned and receipt isn't acknowledged. That is the way it goes. There is a happy ending to this tale, out of the blue in November, Jonathan e-mails to say sorry, he was clearing out and remembered that he had agreed to send some cards. Last week some Junk Wax arrived from Toronto. Five packs from 1990 that I will bust in Pursuit of Red Sox. He also enclosed two Topps sticker packs that I hope were bought from the vending machine he mentioned. A vending machine full of baseball cards that is something that I would like to see.

The Rockies are still building too, they remain homeless.