1980 Cramer Baseball Legends Limited Edition Series 1

   Hello all. Today we go back to 1980 with a pack who's players go back way further. There were four 30 card series that were each released in 4 successive years. These are from series 1 in 1980. I believe Cramer Sports Promotions was the company that later became Pacific Cards and these had a Pacific logo on the back of the wrapper but is mentioned no place on the cards at all.

1980 Cramer Baseball Legends Limited Edition Series 1

 #3 of 30 Rabbit Maranville (Boston Braves)

#4 of 30 Earl Averill (Cleveland Indians)

#5 of 30 Joe Dimaggio (NY Yankees)

#6 of 30 Mickey Mantle (NY Yankees)

    A great start. I never heard of Rabbit but he is one of only a few who batted over 10,000 times. The two guys on the bottom were decent players in their day.

#7 of 30 Hank Aaron (Milwaukee Braves)

#8 of 30 Stan Musial (St. Louis Cardinals)

#9 of 30 Bill Terry (NY Giants)

# 10 of 30 Sandy Koufax (LA Dodgers)

#11 of 30 Ernie Lombardi (Brooklyn Dodgers)

   Look at that, an extra card. I would say that there seems to be a pattern to the way these cards were packed, all in order. Ernie Lombardi is the only player in this back not in the hall of fame but if you look at his numbers, he probably should be. Nobody can complain about the players in this lot at all.

A couple of the backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 8 9 (Extra card)

Teams Represented: 6
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 3  (Dimaggio, Mantle, Aaron)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 8 out of 10 Good pictures, nice design, very old school look,  no team logo.
Back Design: 8 out of 10 Fun design, good player info, great player tidbits career stats only . 
Player Selection: 9.5 out of 10 Awesome, with 8 out of 9 Hall of Farmers you can't go wrong.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: 2 RBI Single up the middle. I really like these cards for their old school look ans legends checklist. 3 great keepers and still other all time greats make this a real fun pack plus an extra card. Even with no parallels, hits, inserts or any other special cards this set is still great.

Thanks for Reading!

2010 Topps Chrome Football

    Hello again all. I as a Jets fan am getting excited along with fans of the other three remaining playoff teams for tomorrow's conference championship games so I will go with a pack of shiny NFL cards today.

2010 Topps Chrome NFL Football

#C157 Mardy Gilyard RC (Rams)

#C191 Jeremy Maclin (Eagles)

#C81 Clinton Portis (Redskins)

Refractor #C68 Walter McFadden RC (Raiders)

A couple of the backs and a checklist from the pack.

    Not a bad pack but no cards from any of the final four teams.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 4

Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards: 2
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 1 (Refractor)
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 0 (All are in the freebie box so just email if you want any.)

Front Design: 8 out of 10 Good pictures, nice design, love the chrome, good use of team colors.
Back Design: 8 out of 10 Nice design, team logo, full career stats, good player info.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, all relevant players.

FINAL OVERALL RATING:  7 yard screen pass on first down (Infield Single). A refractor and decent players makes this a positive pack. Chromes are one of my favorites so that doesn't hurt.

Thanks for Reading!

1996 Ringside Boxing Series 1

    Hello all. Today we go into the ring for the first pack of Boxing cards here on The Pack Rip Cafe. I have no desire to collect boxing cards but for 50 cents in the Vend-O-Pack machine so I grabbed them for a little variety here today. Any cards I am not keeping are in the freebie box so if you want them just shoot me an e-mail.

 1996 Ringside Boxing Series 1

#13 International Boxing Hall of Fame Maxie Rosenbloom

#2 International Boxing Hall of Fame Willie Pep

#47 Tom Johnson

#35 Luis Ramon Campas

A card with the American flag is a nice surprise. The International Boxing Hall of Fame are inserts.

#36 Ralph Tiger Jones

#7 Alex Stewart

#11 Jorge Gonzalez

#R3 Melvin Foster RC

   The Foster is a rookie card, hence the R in the number.

A couple of backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 8

Teams Represented: NA
Rookie Cards: 1 (Melvin Foster) 
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 3 (Rookie and 2 International Boxing Hall of Fame)
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 1 (Johnson flag card)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 5 out of 10 Fair, Same background on most cards, not much in the way of action shots.
Back Design: 6 out of 10 OK, decent fighter facts, only one year stats and totals, too much blank space.
Player Boxer Selection: 4 out of 10 Below average.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Second round TKO (Foul Out).e I haven't heard of most of these fighters and a bland design make for a bad pack. The flag card and an 3 inserts get it to the second round before the TKO.

Thanks for Reading!

2000 Pacific Prism

    Hello all. Today we go back to 2000 with a very interesting pack. If you like parallels this is the product for you. These are the versions I could find.

Pacific Prism Base Card

Drops Silver (print run of 799)
Holgraphic Blue  sn'd /80
Holographic Gold  sn'd /480
Holographic Mirror sn'd /160
Holographic Purple sn'd /99
Pebbly Dots (print run of 691)
Premiere Date sn'd /61
Rapture Gold (print run of 565)
Rapture Silver (print run of 916)
Sheen Silver (print run of 448)
Slider Silver (print run of 334)
Texture Silver (print run of 448)
Tinsel Silver (print run of 331)
Woodgrain Silver (print run of 331)
   
    Lets see what I come out with. Be warned that they don't photograph too great. In person the have much more of a silver apperance and the background variations are more pronounced.

2000 Pacific Prism

#119 J. D. Drew (Cardinals)

   This is the base version. The camera flash reflects all the colors in the holographic like background.

#54 Damon Easley (Tigers) Purple 74/99

   Again the flash does some strange things with the purple background. The serial numbering is small and black just under the "2B"

# 123 Fernando Tatis (Cardinals)

   Base version again.

#126 Tony Gwynn (Padres) Rapture Silver

     Here is the Rapture Silver version. Same silver like color with a different grain.

#132 Freddy Garcia (Mariners)

    Back to base version.

A couple of the backs.

     All the backs look the same.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 5

Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets:  0
Parallels: 2 (Easley Purple /99 and Gwynn Silver)
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 2 (Easly, Gwynn)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 8 out of 10 Good pictures, nice design, awesome colorful holographic like backgrounds,  no team logo.
Back Design: 7 out of 10 Nice design, team logo,  fair player info, good layout, one year stats.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, 1 HOFer.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Double down the line. I really like these cards and love the backgrounds. Anybody who likes chasing rainbows will have a field day with this set as there are many different colors and background variations of each card.

   I am going to find a player to chase a rainbow but it wont be a superstar as they can be costly. Stay tuned to The Baseball Card Buffet for more of these and a chance to get some yourself in the near future.

Thanks for Reading!

NASCAR 2008 Press Pass VIP Retail

    Hello all. Today the Pack Rip Cafe offers up it's first foray into a pack of racing cards. I picked up 5 packs of assorted racing cards from a clearance sale and decided to show this one. I usually pick a pack, open it,  take pictures regardless of the contents and post the pack here. This time I opened all five and picked one to show off. You will see why I picked this one. (This pack was the last one I opened)

2008 Nascar Press Pass VIP Retail

#58 AJ Allmendinger (Red Bull #84)

    AJ is an up and comer on the Nascar circut who should continue to make some noise in the 2011 season. A nice shot of him in victory lane after winning the All-Star race qualifier.

#40 Chip Ganassi (Owner)

    Ganassi has had many championships in open wheel divisions and 2 Indy 500 wins by cars he has owned. Now he is trying to continue that success in Nascar.

#DB-MK Double Burner Matt Kenseth (Dewalt #17)

Race Used Fire Suit and Glove sn'd 071/100

    Sweet!  A dual hit. While the picture doesn't show it that well, the glove swatch shows some real wear from use on the wheel of Matt Kenseth's Dewalt Tools Ford. I love this card, its my first firesuit relic in my limited Nascar collection. These packs should have 4 cards but I guess the hit drops it down to 3.

The backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 3

Teams Represented: 3
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 
Inserts: 1 (Dual Relic) 
Hits: 1 (Dual Relic)
Keepers for Me: 1 (Dual Relic) The others are up for grabs. No trade needed, just ask.

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 8 out of 10 Good pictures, A small sampling but I like what I see. 
Back Design: 6 out of 10 Nice design, good factoid about the driver/owner, good pictures, no career stats is a bummer.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good

FINAL OVERALL RATING: A Win by 1 car length  (Solo Home Run). Two great and different types of relics along with two other good cards give this pack a win. I may have to go back and get some more of these.

Thanks for Reading!

Hidden Treasures (Baseball)

    Hello all. Today the Pack Rip Cafe ventures into the re-pack world with a pack of Hidden Treasures. I am not sure of the year for this pack but the back mentions that  redemption cards expire at the end of 2008. As you can see on the wrapper this is part of the "Worlds Greatest Card Chase" and you can uncover All kinds of Babe Ruth stuff or vintage stars or relics or autos or diamond tickets. Lets see what I have uncovered. 

Hidden Treasures

1990 Donruss #295 Steve Bedrosian (Giants)

1990 Donruss #341 Lloyd McClendon (Cubs)

1987 Donruss #137 Daryl Boston (White Sox)

   There is a big start. I guess the Ruth is at the back of the pack.

1987 Topps #1 Roger Clemens Record Breaker (Red Sox)

1988 Donruss #251 Gary Ward (Yankees)

   OK. Lot's of hidden treasure in that pack.

The backs.

 

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 5

Teams Represented: 5
Brands Represented: 2
Years Represented: 4
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 1 (Record Breakers)
Parallels: 0Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 2 (Clemens, Ward)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: NA 
Back Design: NA
Player Selection: 3.5 out of 10 Poor, after Clemens there isn't much.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Foul Out behind first base. Not much to say about all 5 cards from the junk era.

Thanks for Reading!



2010 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Value Pack

    Hello all. Today I go with another 2010 Bowman product in the form of a "Value" rack pack. I will preface this post with the fact that I am not a prospector so the odds of me being very happy with this pack are not great. I also don't think $5 for a dozen cards is exactly a "value" but I know this product is not cheap going in and I figured since a lot of people collect this stuff, I would buy one pack for the sake of this blog and maybe I will get lucky with some Mets and Yankees prospects for the team collections. As always, any non-keepers for me are up for trade.

2010 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Value Pack

    The top half of the rack pack has 8 regular cards while the bottom has 4 cards including the 3 promised chromes.

#BDP67 Tommy Manzella RC (Astros)

#BDP59 Drew Stubbs RC (Reds)

#BDP102 Ryan Kalish RC (Red Sox)

#BDP39 Fernando Salas RC (Cardinals)

 Four RC's right off the top. I figured there would be some RC's so that's always a plus. I don't know any of these 4 so that's a minus.

#BDPP85 Ryan Bolden (Angels)

#BDPP22 Nick Longmire (Cardinals)

#BDPP14 Addison Reed (White Sox)

#BDPP77 Josh Sale (Rays)

    Surprisingly I recognize a prospect. Josh Sale has some serious buzz as he enters the Rays system.

Chrome #BDPP83 Delino DeShields (Astros)

Chrome #BDPP20 Blake Forsythe (Mets)

Chrome #BDP24 Chris Nelson RC (Rockies)

    I like the shiny's and a good Mets prospect for the collection. DeShields name may sound familiar since his father (Delino also) played for 13 seasons for 5 different Major League teams.


And in between the chromes was this card.

#USAR-2 Cole Billingsley game used jersey (Team USA 16U) sn'd 719/949

    I was quite surprised when this jersey card popped out. I am happy to pull a jersey hit but a 16 year old high school player is not exactly my idea of a big score. This card does fit into my American flag collection though so I will keep it unless somebody really wants it and has an interesting offer.

Some backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 12

Teams Represented: 10
Rookie Cards: 5 ( Stubbs, Kalish, Salas, Manzella, Nelson) 
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 3 (Chromes) 
Inserts: 1 (Billingsley jersey)
Hits: 1 (Billingsley jersey) 
Keepers for Me: 2 (Forsythe, Billingsley jersey)



MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7 out of 10 Good in game shots on most cards, Nice layout, team logo.
Back Design: 6.5 out of 10  Typical Bowman design, good info, team logo, only 1 year stats.

Player Selection: 4.5 out of 10  Below Average, I know a few but not many.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: 2 RBI Double in the gap. A jersey card makes a solid hit and a chrome Mets prospect makes it even better but I can't go more then a double on this one.

Lets hear your ratings on this pack.

Thanks for Reading!

2010 Bowman Chrome

    Hello everybody. Things have been busy around here lately so I haven't posted a pack rip here on the Cafe since 12/18 but today I return with the first pack of 2011 and it's some shiny chrome goodness.

2010 Bowman Chrome

#30 Justin Upton (D-Backs)

#USA-6 Marcus Littlewood (Team USA)

#BCP200 Everett Williams (Padres)

All three backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 3

Teams Represented: 3
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Set Within The Set: 1 (BCP)Parallels: 1 (Team USA) 
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 1 (Littlewood for the American flag)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7 out of 10 Good in game shots, Nice chrome shiny factor, team logo.
Back Design: 6.5 out of 10 Typical Bowman design, good info, team logo, only 1 year stats.
Player Selection: 4 out of 10  Below Average, Upton is the only name I know.
Misc: Cards have that lousy chrome curl that has plagued Topps this year. This pack is not as bad as some but still not flat by a long shot.
FINAL OVERALL RATING: Pop Out to third base. Like many other companies, less product for the same price sucks. 3 cards down from 4 last year is a 25% decrease at the same price. Two players I never heard, curled cards, and not enough cards makes this pack an out.

Thanks for Reading!