1995 Upper Deck Denny's baseball cards

When I purchased nine cards from this set I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I knew that Denny's was a restaurant, naturally I have watched American TV programs and Denny's is mentioned regularly. I had to research on the interwebs to find out more. My favourite from the Denny's menu is called:

'The Grand Slam Burrito'.
All your favourite ingredients from the Original Grand Slam-two scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes with syrup topped with melted American cheese and hand wrapped in a large flour tortilla. Grilled and served with crispy hash browns.

My arteries started to close just reading about it.
The only equivalent I can find here in the UK is the Little Chef. The restaurants can be found up and down the country usually located in motorway services, sweet escapes from the driving madness, truck drivers and tiredness. Motorway services are also, on Saturdays, full of travelling football fans moving from one stadium to another. The Little Chef offers a range of healthy salads, drinks and an American Style Breakfast for £6.75. Described as

Two rashers of bacon, a generous portion of free range scrambled eggs and two of our famous breakfast pancakes drizzled with sweet maple flavoured syrup.
Have a nice day!

There are 28 cards in the set, so I am presuming the cards were given away with a meal. Either one at a time or the whole set. This is not an usual practice, my children have collected all manner of items from McDonald's, Star Wars cards from KFC and plastic figures from Burger King. I'm not sure that Little Chef even has a child's meal.

However the cards from Denny's are of the holographic variety. Not really a new innovation in 1995. The backgrounds are exactly the same with a portrait of the player in front of the same crowd. Impressive cards but Mike Piazza smiles and then frowns at you, depending on the way you hold the card. Bret Saberhagen does the same. Both men are sporting moustaches. Spooky!

The cards I received were:
#4 Albert Belle Indians

#5 Jason Bere White Sox

#6 Roger Clemens Red Sox

#9 Andres Galarraga Rockies

#13 Barry Larkin Reds

#15 Don Mattingly Yankees

#20 Mike Piazza Dodgers

#22 Bret Saberhagen Mets

#28 Matt Williams Giants

1995 Score Series 2 Baseball

Another couple of pack purchases that seemed like a good idea at the time.

The base set contains 605 cards.This was broken into series 1 and series 2.
There are inserts in Series 2: 18 Airmail, 12 Double gold champs, 110 Hall of Gold and 12 Rookie Dream Team.
There is a parallel set: Gold Rush.
There are 12 cards per pack.

Pack 1:

#332 Ryan Klesko Braves

#380 Al Martin Pirates

#404 Alex Cole Twins

#413 Royce Clayton Giants

#445 Manny Ramirez Indians

#458 Roger Salkeld Mariners

#480 Allen Watson Cardinals GOLD RUSH

#503 Norberto Martin White Sox

#544 Kirk McCaskill White Sox

#581 Duane Singleton Brewers

#572 Moises Alou Expos

#586 Nate Minchey Red Sox

Pack 2:

#336 Kevin Mitchell Reds

#408 Dennis Eckersley A's

#417 Pat Listach Brewers

#438 Jay Bell Pirates

#445 Manny Ramirez Indians !

#458 Roger Salked Mariners !

#466 Willie McGee Giants GOLD RUSH

#503 Norberto Martin White Sox !

#544 Kirk McCaskill White Sox !

#572 Moises Alou Expos !

#586 Nate Minchey Red Sox!

#592 Aaron Small Blue Jays !

Pack 3:

#336 Kevin Mitchell Reds !

#341 Travis Fryman Tigers

#374 Rene Arocha Cardinals

#377 Mark McGwire A's GOLD RUSH

#408 Dennis Eckersley A's !

#474 Juan Guzman Blue Jays

#479 Milt Thompson Phillies

#498 Ken Ryan Red Sox

#529 Duane Ward Blue Jays

#578 Robert Perez Blue Jays

#578 Robert Perez Blue Jays !

#603 Checklist

Pack 4:

#362 Jim Eisenreich Phillies

#387 Darrin Fletcher Expos

#420 Tim Salmon Angels

#439 Juan Gonzalez Rangers

#448 Gary DiSarcina Angels GOLD RUSH

#467 Doug Jones Phillies

#505 Howard Jones Rockies

#515 Billy Hatcher Phillies

#546 Sterling Hitchcock Yankees

#562 Barry Bonds Giants

#576 Ernie Young A's

#584 Dave Staton Padres

Pack 5:

#359 Lenny Harris Reds

#385 Chris Sabo Orioles

#423 Craig Biggio Astros GOLD RUSH

#425 Kenny Rogers Rangers

#435 Walt Weiss Rockies

#441 Rickey Henderson A's

#462 Luis Polonia Yankees

#482 Bernard Gilkey Cardinals

#487 Cory Snyder Dodgers

#492 Pat Rapp Marlins

#493 Brian McRae Royals

#519 Sandy Alomar Jr Indians

#535 Jeff Branson Reds

#592 Aaron Small Blue Jays

#595 Steve Dunn Twins

#563 Mo Vaughn Red Sox

Wow this was a real weird one. Firstly a poor selection of Red Sox 4 cards(inc 1 double). Secondly a pack full of doubles and thirdly, count the number of cards in the last pack ...16! That's right 16. I kid you not.

1995 Pinnacle Japanese baseball card

When I busted some packs of 1995 Pinnacle Zenith Edition baseball cards recently purchased from e-bayUS I pulled this Japanese Hideo Nomo Rookie card. I have posted the packs in 'Pursuit of Red Sox'.
I cannot find a checklist for this edition, let alone any information on this card. There is no mention of any 'special' insert mentioned on the packs. From another pack I pulled Hideo's rookie card-this card is not the same card with Japanese writing, it is a completely different card. Were these Japanese cards common to this set or is it a 1 of 1 card? I remember the hysteria in 2001 around Ichiro cards. Was there a similar reaction to Hideo Nomo?
Interesting, certainly. Stumped, definitely. No longer thanks to Chris Harris!

1995 Pinnacle Zenith Edition Baseball

Despite my searches for some information on this set of cards, in particular the Zenith Edition, I have come up with very little. As can be seen from the wrapper there are chase cards. They consist of: 18 Z-team, 18 Rookie Roll Call and 18 All-Star Salute.
There are 6 cards per pack and a checklist for the chase cards.

Pack 1:

#7 Bernard Gilkey Cardinals

#27 Dennis Eckersley A's

#47 Jeff Bagwell Astros

#54 John Valetin Red Sox

#114 Gabe White Expos RC

#134 Derek Jeter Yankees RC(?)

Pack 2:

#31 Eric Karros Dodgers

#61 Ken Griffey Jr Mariners

#81 Paul Molitor Blue Jays

#109 Wil Cordero Expos

#129 Juan Acevedo Mets RC

#149 Nideo Nomo Dodgers RC

Pack 3:

#3 Andy Benes Mariners

#13 Carlos Baerga Indians

#53 Joe Carter Blue Jays

#96 Rusty Greer Rangers

#146 Alex Rodriguez Mariners RC

#17/18 Frank Thomas White Sox All-Star Salute

Pack 4:

#33 Frank Thomas White Sox

#63 Kevin Appier Royals

#76 Mike Piazza Dodgers

#83 Randy Johnson Mariners

#106 Vinny Castilla Rockies

#126 Joe Vitiello Royals RC

Pack 5:

#40 Kenny Rogers Rangers

#70 Mark Grace Cubs

#90 Robin Ventura White Sox

#122 Mark Grudzielanek Expos RC

#142 Antonio Osuna Dodgers RC

#48 Hideo Nomo Dodgers Japanese Card

What the? What is this Hideo Nomo card? Not to get side tracked, there was 1 Red Sox in the 5 packs, which is a poor showing. Greg will be pleased my Dodgers magnet was at full strength again. Also have a look at the numbers on the cards in each pack, there appears to be a distinct pattern.

1995 Topps Embossed

There is something that shows was was wrong about the baseball card companies attempts to try 'something new'. That was the 1995 Topps Embossed set. Even the inclusion of a GOLD fail (sorry foil) card in each pack didn't ignite the collecting world. I was looking for cards that I had never opened and purchased 5 packs of these cards.
There are 140 cards in the base set.
There are gold and silver variations of the base cards.
There are a parallel set called Golden Idols, gold naturally.

Pack 1:

#40 Andy Benes Padres

#41 Dean Palmer Rangers Gold Idol

#64 Mike Greenwell Red Sox

#88 Mark Whitten Cardinals

#108 Tim Salmon Angels Silver

#116 Ozzie Guillen White Sox Silver

Pack 2:

#9 Jeff Kent Mets

#14 Ruben Sierra A's

#61 Darren Daulton Phillies

#95 David Cone Royals Silver

#101 David Justice Braves Gold

#122 Mark Langston Angels

Pack 3:

#43 Kevin Appier Royals

#44 Brady Anderson Orioles

#49 Wade Boggs Yankees Gold Idol

#56 Tom Pagnozzi Cardinals

#90 Andres Galarraga Rockies

#107 Mark McGwire A's Silver

Pack 4:

#13 Ryan Thompson Mets

#24 Moises Alou Expos

#48 Chuck Finley Angels

#68 Devon White Blue Jays Gold idol

#81 Kevin Tapani Twins

#93 Mike Mussina Orioles

Pack 5:

#5 Pat Hentgen Blue Jays

#7 Jose Valentin Brewers

#19 Paul Molitor Blue Jays

#34 Ivan Rodriguez Rangers

#59 Rev Sanchez Cubs Gold idol

#75 Ozzie Smith Cardinals

1 Red sox from an ugly baseball card set.

1995 Score 'Summit Edition'

There are 200 cards in the base, which includes 15 Bat speed, 5 Special delivery and 7 Checklists.

There are the inserts 200 Nth Degree, 20 Big Bangs, 15 New Age and 9 Club.

The pack:

#152 Steve Rodriguez Rookie Yankees

#182 Will Clark Bat Speed Rangers

#32 Kirby Puckett Twins

#29 Greg Colbrunn Marlins

#192 Mike Mussina Special Delivery Orioles

#97 Randy Johnson Mariners

#55 John Olerud Blue Jays

There is a big message on these cards about Be Strong. Don't do drugs. Then they go and name the inserts so they sound like some sort of drug.

Nth Degree, 21 Club, New Age and Big Bang. I mean come on! That is just careless!

There are no Red Sox in this packs, although confusingly a Red Sox uniform with a Yankees logo. Traded perhaps?