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Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!!!

    Happy New Year to all. I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful 2011. May all your packs contain hits and SP's this year.





    Thanks to all of you who have visited The Pack Rip Cafe in 2010 and keep coming  back for more pack rips in 2011.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS



Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from BA Benny's Pack Rip Cafe


Check out my Christmas Post on BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier

   Hello all. I was visiting the Vend-O-Pack and there was one lonely pack sitting in one of the rows amongst some bad non-sports stuff. It looked like it was being punished being isolated from the other baseball packs so I had to liberate it from the machine. (Being 50 cents didn't hurt either)

1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier

#79 Fred McGriff (Padres)
#10 Mike Boddiker (Royals)
#40 Howard Farmer (Expos)



#71 Jimmy Key (Blue Jays)
#12 Barry Bonds (Pirates)



#87 Chris Nabholz (Expos)
#57 Kelly Gruber (Blue Jays)

Kind of fitting that a pack of cards made in Canada had more then half Canadian teams (4 of 7)



A couple of the backs.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
7
Teams Represented: 5
Rookie Cards:
0
Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
 0
Inserts:
0
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 1 (Bonds)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6.5 out of 10 Good on field photos,  nice design, no team logo.
Back Design:
 6 out of 10 OK design, colorful, not much information, big team logo.
Player Selection: 6 out of 10  Fair, after Bonds and McGriff it's so-so the rest of the way.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Fly Out to shallow right field. One keeper and a fair player selection doesn't get it done for me. The set does have some appeal to me though.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

2010 Panini Rookie and Stars Football

     Hey all. I was in Rite Aid today picking up some stuff for the house so I checked the card rack while I was there. They had only one baseball (a value re-pack which I grabbed) so I grabbed a couple of football packs.  I was very happy when I opened one of them so I decided to go back to back posts with NFL packs. You'll see why.

2010 Panini Rookies and Stars

#108 Louis Murphy (Raiders)
#134 Danny Amendola (Rams)
#105 Chaz Schilens (Raiders)



#8 Tony Gonzalez (Falcons)
#42 Brandon Marshall (Dolphins)
#136 James Laurinaitis (Rams)



#78 Davone Bess (Dolphins)
#35 Josh Cribbs (Browns)
#75 Thomas Jones (Chiefs)
#1 Beanie Wells (Cardinals)



#91 Drew Brees Game Used Jersey (Saints)
 That's right, a hit! If you count also you will see 11 cards, not the usual 10 as promised. My lucky day.



A couple backs.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
10 11 (Extra card)
Teams Represented: 8
Rookie Cards:
0
Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
 0
Inserts:
 1 (Brees Jersey) 
Hits:
1 (Brees Jersey)
Keepers for Me:
 1 (Brees Jersey)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6.5 out of 10 Good pictures but I prefer the background from the in game pictures, good design, team logo.
Back Design:
 7.5 out of 10 Nice design, team logo, good use of team colors, only last year and career totals for stats, good player factoid from 09 season, team logo.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, young talent and veterans.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Touchdown in the second quarter. (Solo Home Run). The jersey card from one of my favorite teams gets it into the end-zone. No other keepers hurts a little but a Brees jersey card rocks!


Thanks for Reading!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

NFL 1996 Pacific Crown Royale

    Hello again all. Today I go NFL with a pack from Pacific. The odd part is that the die-cut are the base cards and in this pack the regular shape is the insert.

1996 Pacific Crown Royale

#CR-86 Scott Mitchell (Lions)
#CR-54 Brett Favre (Packers)
   The old school team logos are great looking.




#CR-92 Charles Way (Giants)
#CR-56 Kevin Hardy (Jaguars)
  Charles Way was a big fan favorite here in NY. He was a fierce lead blocker who was very good at catching passes out of the backfield.



NFL Regime #NR20 Drew Bledsoe (Patriots)




A couple of the backs.


   Over all a cool looking set. The die-cuts look great and are quite sturdy. I couldn't find a check list to check for rookies so I am not sure. Hardy may be a RC and Way also but I can't say for sure. 
BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
5
Teams Represented: 5
Rookie Cards:
 ?

Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
 0
Inserts:
 1 (Bledsoe NFL Regime) 
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 1 (Charles Way)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7.5 out of 10 Good pictures, nice design, in game photos, great die-cuts, good foil work, old school team logo.
Back Design:
 6 out of 10 Nice design, no team logo, good player factoid, no stats
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, All good players and 1 sure to be HOFer.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: 12 Yard First Down Pass (Single). I very much like the fronts of these cards plus 1 keeper makes a first down. With 3 of the 5 cards being QB's it had to be passing.



Thanks for Reading!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

2005 Topps Bazooka Hobby Edition

Back today with another Bazooka release from Topps circa 2005. As usual, any non-keepers are available. 

2005 Topps Bazooka Hobby Edition

#26 Kerry Wood (Cubs)
#186 Felix Hernandez (Mariners)
4 in 1 Sticker #11 of 12 (checklist) Victor Martinez, David Wright, Justin Morneau, and Jason Bay



Mini #60 Lyle Overbay (Brewers)
Gold Chunks #88 Carl Pavano (Yankees)
#159 Brad Wilkerson (Nationals)


#199 Jeremy West RC (Red Sox)
#167 David DeJesus (Royals)

A piece of very stale gum, although bigger then the usual size.


Some backs.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
8
Teams Represented: 11
Rookie Cards:
1 (West)
Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
 2 (Gold and Mini) 
Inserts:
1 (4 in 1 sticker)
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 2 (4 in 1 [Wright] and  gold Pavano)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6 out of 10 Decent in game pictures, nice design, no team logos, some players in wrong team uniform.
Back Design:
 6 out of 10 Nice design, colorful, no pictures, no team logos
Player Selection:
 6 out of 10
Good but not great.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Infield Single. Two keepers with one being Wright plus one insert and two parallels just ekes out a single.


Thanks for Reading!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

1995 Topps Bazooka

    Hello again all. Today we go back to 1995 with a pack from the Bazooka series from Topps. I actually got this pack in a trade package from The Troll.

1995 Topps Bazooka

#6 David Justice (Braves)
#18 Ryan Klesko (Braves)



#96 Jay Bell (Pirates)
#101 Mickey Tettleton (Tigers)


#51 Tim Wallach (Dodgers)
Game rules card/spinner




BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
5
Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards:
0
Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
 0
Inserts:
0
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 0

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6.5 out of 10 Decent standard style pictures, no team logo or colors.
Back Design:
 3 out of 10  Not good at all, mostly about the game and little about the players, no team logo.  
Player Selection:
 4.5 out of 10 
Average. The check list for this set is decent but not in this pack.

FINAL OVERALL RATING:  Strike Out swinging. Pretty bland set with more concern for the game on the back then the players. This pack had a boring group of players. I have seen better from this set but not here today.


Thanks for Reading!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

2010 Topps Update Jumbo Rack Pack

Hello all. Things around The Cafe and The Buffet have been crazy busy so posts have been sparse but I found a little time to show off this Topps Update Rack Pack I scored last week. To save some time I am not going to type every card out but all cards are pictured so you can click on them to enlarge the images.
2010 Topps Update Jumbo Rack Pack

A Strasburg but I still haven't gotten the stupid #661 out of any of the packs I have opened so far.


 I like the All-Star subset this year, It fits in with the overall set design unlike in some years past.


 Has anybody noticed that they seem to place all the horizontal cards together in the packs? All the base cards above are available for trade.

4 of the inserts. More Tales of the Game Spahn, Attax Dunn, Turkey Red Johnson, and Peak Performance Weaver. It's kind of a bummer when I still need so many of the TR inserts and I pull a double. These 4 are also available.


The keepers for me. A Vlad, Grandy and Ike along with a CYMTO I needed and a MCG for the Mantle collection. The Kearns Gold is great too but he just looks a little funny in a Yankees uniform. I got a 1994 Cliff Floyd with the MCG code.


And now a surprise..........
.
.
.
.
.
.
 Andrew Bailey 2010 All-Star workout jersey card. (A's)
A Hit!! It's always fun to get a hit from a loose pack but I don't collect this particular player or team so he's up for trade too.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
35 33 (due to relic)
Teams Represented: 20
Rookie Cards:
 4
Sub Sets:
 3 (All-Star) 
Parallels:
1 (gold /2010) 
Inserts:
 8
Hits:
 1 (Baily Jersey) 
Keepers for Me:
 6 (3 players, 2 inserts, 1 gold /2010)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 8 out of 10 Good pictures, nice design.
Back Design:
 8 out of 10  Nice design, full career stats, good use of team colors, player picture, good factoid about player.

Player Selection: 7.5 out of 10 Good, Nice mix of stars and rookies.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: RBI Triple into the right field corner. A fun pack to open, a hit, some inserts I needed, gotta be a big hit.



Thanks for Reading!




Monday, November 15, 2010

1993 Flair Premier Edition

     Hello again Pack Rip Cafe readers. Today I return with a pack of Flair from the year of it's inception, 1993. This was a high end style card set without the killer high end price.

1993 Flair Premier Edition
These packs were actually shrink wrapped little boxes with a clear sealed pack of 10 cards inside.



#255 Bernie Williams (Yankees)
#243 Dave Winfield (Twins)
#93 Howard Johnson (Mets)
Three keepers off the top! I always forget that Winfield played for the Twins until I get one of those cards.


#300 Checklist
#234 Jim Deshaies (Twins)
#224 Darryl Hamilton (Brewers)
#213 George Brett (Royals)
     Brett is the king of this group and shares the top with Bernie Williams for the pack. I don't like when the checklist cards are included in the numbered set as I would rather have more player cards. This is the last of 3 in the set and may be the fanciest checklist I have ever seen.


#40 Joe Girardi (Rockies)
#138 Barry Bonds (Giants)
#29 Hal Morris (Reds)
    The Bonds is a nice card. I am not the biggest fan of his but his spot in baseball history, good and bad, can't be denied.


A couple of backs.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
10
Teams Represented: 8
Rookie Cards:
0
Sub Sets:
1 (Checklist)
Parallels:
 0
Inserts:
0
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 6 (Williams,Winfield, Johnson, checklist, Brett, Bonds)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7 out of 10 Quality action photos, very glossy, fancy foil work, no team logo.
Back Design:
 7 out of 10 Nice design, good action, photos, foil used on the back as well, not complete career but a dozen or so for the veteran players, very glossy, good player factoid, team logo
Player Selection: 8 out of 10 Great. Several legends and a few all-stars added in.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Bases Loaded 3 RBI  Double down the line. Six of ten keepers (even if one is a checklist) equals 60% in what was in it's day a high end product. While I am not sure if I would want a whole binder of these, they do stand out when mixed in a player collection page with a variety of different cards.



Thanks for Reading!

Monday, November 8, 2010

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars

    Hello all. Tonight I have a pack of 07 Future Stars Baseball.  

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars

#99 Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals)


#65 Johnny Damon (Yankees)


#38 Dontrelle Willis (Marlins)


#89 Chris Duncan (Cardinals)


A couple of backs.


BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards:
4
Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards:
0
Sub Sets:
 0
Parallels:
  0
Inserts:
0
Hits:
0
Keepers for Me:
 2 (Willis and Damon, the other 2 are up for grabs)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7.5 out of 10 Good pictures, cool futuristic design, sharp contrast, no team logo.
Back Design:
 6.75 out of 10 Nice design, team logo, only up to 5 years stats, no pictures, some wasted space.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, all quality players. Ironic that this pack of Future Stars doesn't have one rookie card in it. I am not complaining, just an observation.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Lead off Single into right field. 2 of 4 keepers and a nice looking cards scores a hit.           





Thanks for Reading!