1999 Skybox Molten Metal Xplosion inserts

I was watching a number of items from one seller, who was off loading a few cards mainly from brands such as Pinnacle, Skybox, Score and Fleer. I was intrigued by the of number of more 'interesting' cards advertised as inserts, however the seller was asking ridiculous prices and not surprising very few, if any, were snapped up by collectors in the UK.
Patience however is a virtue.

I'm not sure what to make of these baseball cards, if you can call them that. They are more like a printing plate.

They come from the 1999 SkyBox Molten Metal set.

The 1999 SkyBox Molten Metal set was issued in one series and distributed in six-card packs with a suggested retail price of $4.99. The set features 100 of the game's top veterans in the Metal Smiths (cards 1-100) subset with an insertion rate of 4:1 pack; 30 of today's power hitters in the Heavy Metal subset (101-130) inserted one per pack; and 20 of 1999's hottest rookies in the Supernatural subset(131-150) with an insertion rate of 1:2 packs. The cards are silver-foil on 24-point stock and enhanced with additional holofoil and wet laminate.

These cards are from the SkyBox Molten Metal Xplosion parallel set

Randomly inserted in packs at the rate of one in two, this 150-card set is
parallel to the base set printed on metal stock with added etching, rounded
corners and foil stamping. A promotional card featuring Kerry Wood was
distributed to dealers and hobby media several weeks prior to the product's
national release. This unnumbered card can be readily identified by the text
"PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE" running diagonally across the back.

Although it wasn't the sample card that I was able to pick up, instead 7 'metal ' cards:

#15 Ruben Rivera Padres

#24 Sean Casey Reds

#32 Ray Durham White Sox

#34 Richie Sexson Indians

#75 Eric Karros Dodgers

#145 Sammy Sosa Cubs

#146 Kerry Wood Cubs

Not sure which genre of collecting to place these. Oddball, gimmick, parallel, inserts, alongside printing plates? At first I thought that Skybox must have had a hell of a time disguising these to ward off would be pack searchers. But the weight of these cards is not dissimilar to some of the blanks inserted in more recent Upper Deck products, roughly 3-4 regular cards.

2010/2011 Match Attax Football

They're back. Slightly different but still collectable.
This year there are 465 cards to collect. Thankfully for those of us who like cards in a nice tidy order, Topps chose to number the cards - in the top right hand corner.
Of the 465 there are 360 team base cards, that is 16 base cards and 2 foil cards for each of the 20 Premiership teams. Plus 20 manager cards and 1 referee card!
Topps introduced a further 'chase' card set called Showboat foils. There are 20 Showboat to add to the 60 Man of the Match rainbow foils and 4 100 club rainbow foils.
There are 5 limited edition cards scattered around 1 per in collectors tin, collectors magazine, starter packs , 'Lucky Packs?' and an edition of Match magazine.
Some retailers have Club Crest foil cards in special 7 card packs.
There is also a 100 signed silver foil Rio Ferdinand cards and 1 signed gold card. Good Luck finding those!
I purchased 6 of the retail card packs, which contain 6 cards and a foil team crest.

Pack 1:

#68 Brett Emerton Blackburn Rovers

#102 Ricardo Gardner Bolton Wanderers

#321 Frederic Piquionne West Ham

#324 Carlton Cole West Ham

#369 Damien Duff Fulham Showboat

#447 Alex McLeish Birmingham City manager

#R9 Fulham Crest

Pack 2:

#19 Brad Friedel Aston Villa

#66 Keith Andrews Blackburn Rovers

#207 Ji-Sung Park Manchester United

#213 Javier Hernandez Manchester United foil

#295 Pablo Ibanez West Bromwich Albion
#352 Greg Halford Wolverhampton Wanderers

#R1 Arsenal crest

Pack 3:

#20 Carlos Cuellar Aston Villa

#49 Keith Fahey Birmingham City

#58 Gael Givet Blackburn Rovers

#81 Stephen Husband Blackpool

#194 Yaya Toure Manchester City

#457 Chirs Houghton Newcastle manager
#R11 Manchester City crest

Pack 4:

#10 Jack Wilshere Arsenal

#271 Heurelho Gomes Tottenham Hotspur

#269 Frazier Campbell Sunderland

#312 Daniel Gabbidon West Ham
#360 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Wolverhampton Wanderers
#365 Charlie Adam Blackpool showboat

#R17 West Bromwich Albion crest

Pack 5:

#65 David Dunn Blackburn Rovers

#164 Paul Konchesky Liverpool
#177 Ryan Babel Liverpool

#199 Edwin Van Der Sar Manchester United

#335 Hendry Thomas Wigan

#355 Matthew Jarvis Wolverhampton

#R8 Everton crest

Pack 6:

#134 Jack Rodwell Everton

#145 Mark Schwarzer Fulham

#246 Rory Delap Stoke

#332 Ben Watson Wigan

#410 Fernando Torrez Liverpool Man of the Match foil

#454 Roy Hodgson Liverpool manager

#R13 Newcastle crest

I have no affiliation to any premiership team, so for the fourth year running I will collect the whole base set.

Through the contacts I have made in the USA, Fulham appears to be the most popular team amongst American collectors followed by Everton. Wondering whether Liverpool will rise in popularity if the Boston Red Sox owners planned purchase of the club goes through.

Topps Attax STAR WARS Edition

Police Academy was a fine product of the 1980's. The first was the best, the second pretty funny but they should have stopped there. Three was stupid, four even worse. Then Steve Guttenburg decided enough was enough and jumped ship after the fourth instalment. They continued to squeeze that winning franchise until it bled...5th, 6th, Mission to Moscow (7th), TV series, Dog Academy and there is talk of an 8th with Steve Guttenburg safely rescued and back at the helm. Topps, I fear, is squeezing as much as possible from the Attax brand:

Premiership Match Attax (4 series)

Bundesliga Match Attax (2 series)

Slam Attax (2 series)

Match Attax Extra (4 series)

Match Attax World Cup edition (1 series)

Baseball Attax (2 series)

NFL Attax (?)

Basketball Attax(?)

and now Force Attax.

When I saw these I thought why, but that little Star Wars nerd that resides inside me bought four packs. My boys, who pay no attention whatsoever to any of my other collecting pursuits, saw them and without hesitation 'awwed' and 'arred' over them. So in this respect a success for Topps and the continuing Attax brand. Unfortunately they are not the original Star Wars (I mean episode 4, 5 and 6) but the more recent animated series 'Clone Wars'.

If you are familiar with the Topps Attax cards, you will know they are used as a game. Each card has a defence and attack number. There are 190 cards in the Force Attax set to collect, the usual special insert foils are available -Star foils and Force Master rainbow foils and an album with pocket pages, game mat and checklist also available.

I retrieved the four packs from my sons to give you a taste and share the Star Wars goodness enclosed within.

Pack 1:

Y-wing Starfighter

General Grevious Starfighter

Clone Trooper

Clone Trooper Denal

Count Dooku Star FoilPack 2:

Mace Windu Rianbow Foil

Bail Organa

Luminara Unduli & Barriss Offee

Yoda & Clone Trooper

Bounty Hunter

Pack 3:

Ahsoka Tano & Barriss Offee

General Grievous & Magnaguard

Clone Trooper Waxer

Asajj Ventress & Super Battle Droid

Asajj Ventress Force Master rainbow foil

Pack 4:

Obi-Wan Kenobi & Commander Cody

Embo

Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi

Commander Wolffe

Padme Amidala & C-3PO

Some great looking cards that we have come to expect from the Attax brand. The Obi-Wan / Anakin card my personal favourite.

Where will the Topps Attax brand go next?
What Attax cards would you like to see Topps produce?

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats

The 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats is an unappreciated set of cards. I love them for their simple design and their underdog status. I would like to think that I will be at a stage in my collecting habits, when I have completed some of my other baseball pursuits, attempt to collect a unique set such as '61 Fleer. Considering the set includes such names as Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Cy Young and Honus Wagner, presumably because Topps had the current players under contract, it is possible.
The complete set is 154 cards and are numbered in 'alphabetical ' order. The set was issued in 2 series; cards #1 to #88 in the first series and #89 to #154 in the second. The first series packs contained team and pennant stickers showing past World Series winners. The Fleer Sticker Project shows both these superb stickers in their glory.
I already have 9 of the '61 Fleer set and this card #52 John Kling is a great addition.

1955 Red Man Tobacco Card

Chewing Tobacco conjures images of the Wild West, spittoons and Back to the Future. I believed that 'smokeless tobacco' was a thing of the past. How wrong I was. In seeking some information on the Red Man brand I discovered that chewing (and spitting!) is still widely practiced.
Baseball cards had not been included in Tobacco products since 1920, until 1952 when Red Man issued a set of cards, attractive big cards measuring 9cm (3.5 in) by 9cm with a 1cm (0.5in) stub at the bottom. The stub could be removed from the card and 50 stubs exchanged for a Big League Baseball cap in the team of your choosing.
Red Man chose to keep all the baseball information on the front of the card and use the back to advertise their product. For four years, 1952 to 1955, Red Man included baseball cards in their chewing tobacco. If you want to drool a little bit at a amazing collection of the entire 4 year run take a look at this blog.
The 1955 set included 25 players from the American League and 25 from the National League.
I was able to purchase this card #20 Pete Runnels Washington Senators with the stub. Unfortunately the cap offer expired on June 15th 1956.
Red Man tobacco products are still available( in only the top quality stores naturally ) but baseball cards have been replaced by fishing lures.

2009 Tristar Obak

I was fortunate recently to get hold of a 'blaster' of 2010 Obak. Blaster may be stretching it a little, as most of the box contained a large L-shaped block of foam. There are 4 packs within the blaster, each pack containing 6 cards.
The base set consists of 119 cards, 5 of which can only be collected through Tristar Prospect Plus packs. I don't really know enough about Minor League ball to speak confidently about the cards but I like the modern/vintage sets.

Pack 1:

#15 Neftali Feliz Oklahoma City Redhawks

#29 Angel Villalona San Jose Giants

#48 Robert Forrest Jacobs Asheville Tourists

#53 Ike Boone Mission Reds

#60 Joe Wilhoit Salt Lake City Bees

#38 Ron Necciai Bristol Twins T-212 Pack 2:

#64 Gregg Jefferies Jackson Mets

#73 Bud Hillerich and Pete Browning Louisville Slugger

#76 Mike Coolbaugh Columbus Clippers

#89 George H. Rawlings

O-EX3 Barack Obama

#29 Steve Dalkowski Rochester Red Wings T-212

Pack 3:

#36 Al Rosen Oklahoma City Indians

#44 Steve Dalkowski Rochester Red Wings

#59 Gary Redus Waterbury Reds

#74 Alexander Cartwright 'alleged' inventor of baseball

#84 Francis Scott Key

#37 Grover Lowdermilk Mattoon Giants T-212

Pack 4:

#2 Robbie Grossman West Virginia Power

#3 BJ Hermsen GCL Twins

#8 Junichi Tazawa Portland Seadogs

#13 Tim Beckham Bowling Green Hot Rods

#43 Oscar Eckhardt Mission Reds

#5 Michael Ynoa AZL Athletics T-212

Hooked ! Mainly by the names of the players and teams. I have to get some more 'Loudermilk' cards as well as Bristol Twins. Pity the team isn't called Bristol City Twins.
As usual all the cards are up for trade.

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?