Flashback Product of the Week: 1988 Pacific Eight Men Out

The 1919 Black Sox Scandal will always be one of the most talked about events in sports history.  This is where eight members of the Chicago White Sox came together and decided to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series in exchange for a large payday from gamblers.  At the end of the day though, neither the players nor gamblers came out with much money.  Despite being found not guilty in court, those eight players were still banned from baseball.  “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is probably the most well known player to have been banned.

Author Eliot Asinof wrote a book released in 1963 titled Eight Men Out.  It retold the events of the whole Black Sox Scandal.  In 1988, director John Sayles made a movie based on that book.  Actors John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd, and Charlie Sheen all had major rolls.  The film for the most part was well received.  For some reason, this movie doesn’t come up that much when fans talk about their favorite baseball movies.

Pacific made a 110-card set based on the John Sayles movie.  You can buy these cards by the box or factory set.  Not only does the set feature shots from the movie, but it also contains cards of the actual men involved with the Black Sox Scandal.  The “Shoeless” Joe Jackson card is one of only a few licensed by MLB.  Other key cards include Charlie Sheen and John Cusack.  This is probably one of the most educational sets on the market today, and you can easily pick one up for under $20.00.  I really like the way these cards look.  Especially the cards of the actual players.  They have these red borders with black/white photos.

(8) Million Card Giveaway Redemptions

I just redeemed all (8) Million Card Giveaway redemptions I pulled at the Rip Party last night and here is what I received.  I’ll start with the oldest.

1954 Topps #147

1972 Topps #23

1972 Topps #307

1978 Topps #227

1979 Topps #72

1999 Topps #109

2002 Topps #210

2007 Topps #632

The March 2010 Philly Show Report

This morning I ventured out in the rain to the Valley Forge Convention Center to attend The Philly Show.  I’ve been going to this show for 7+ years and always find it to be pretty good.  MAB Celebrity brings in some nice signers for the show, and I think they have finally realized that bringing in athletes who play for the Phillies, Orioles, and Eagles draws a lot of collectors.

One thing I would like to get out of the way is the small communication problem MAB Celebrity had with collectors.  Saturday’s autograph guests included: Tyler Green, Bobby Shantz, Von Hayes, Jim Bunning, Dickie Thon, Jim Palmer, and Cal Ripken, Jr.  When I arrived, the sign downstairs had Jim Palmer crossed off and said “Canceled due to weather.”  The sign upstairs where you first walk in had Palmer on the list, but nobody crossed him off.  I remember a few collectors were angry because they paid the fee to get into the show and then found out Palmer wasn’t coming.  This is just a small communication problem that should have been fixed easily with a simple Sharpie.  Dickie Thon was suppose to be signing autographs at 1 p.m., but then they got word he was delayed because of the weather.  I had purchased a ticket for him to sign my bat, but decided to return it because nobody knew when he was going to arrive.  I’m glad to see MAB Celebrity was willing to refund collector’s their money when an athlete can’t make it on time or cancels.

I was able to get some good shots of the players that arrived while I was at the show.  I got Hayes, Bunning, and Green to sign my bat.  Take a look!

Former Phillies pitcher Tyler Green

Former Phillies pitcher and now Senator from Kentucky Jim Bunning – Bunning pitched a perfect game in 1964

Former Phillies outfielder Von Hayes

Bobby Shantz – 1952 AL MVP

Cal Ripken, Jr – The Iron Man!

Now lets talk about the cards.  The Philly Show is filled with dealers selling vintage stuff, but if you do a little hunting you’ll find some booths containing more modern stuff.  I picked up the following two singles for my collection.

Dan Marino 2001 Topps Rookie Reprint Jersey – the chance of finding one of these in a hobby pack is 1:1159

John McGraw 2002 Topps T206 bat

The Philly Show wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t bust some wax.  I ripped (3) boxes of 2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Football, (1) box of 2009 Leaf Limited Football, and (1) pack of 2009 Bowman Sterling Baseball.  My best hit from the Leaf Limited box was a Shonn Greene auto/multi-colored patch #’ed/149.  The Bowman Sterling didn’t yield anything too big other than a Freddy Glavis Prospect card for my Phillies collection.  I had the most luck with the ’09 Ultimate Collection Football.  My first pack yielded a Michael Crabtree rookie on-card auto #’ed/99 (pretty nice start).  The second packed contained a Brandon Pettigrew rookie on-card auto #’ed/399 (rookie for the Lions :().

Now lets talk about the third and final pack of ’09 Ultimate Collection Football.  I opened the pack and saw a plastic sleeve.  Flipping through the base cards I come to this BEAST!!!!!!!

On the front: Bo Jackson/Barry Sanders/Emmitt Smith/Earl Campbell

On the back: Gale Sayers/Franco Harris/Roger Craig/Billy Sims

I pulled an Ultimate Eight Signatures card serial numbered 1/4.  This is the second most valuable card I’ve ever pulled from a pack.  I went nuts when I pulled this thing and I’m still feeling the rush after seeing it.  Ultimate Collection is a real hit or miss product.  I would call this a definite HIT.  The Philly Show has a few dealers that sell wax.  I purchased all my boxes today from Marty Davis of Marty’s Sportscard Exchange.  He is a dealer from Tennessee, and he always seems to have the best prices on wax.  I have pulled several good cards from his booth.

Overall, I thought it was a great show.  Pulled some good stuff, picked up a few singles, and got some in person autographs.  I highly suggest you check it out if your in the area.

The next show is Sept 24 – 26.

2010 Press Pass 8 Seconds Box Break & Review

I never thought I’d see an entire product based around professional bull riding.  Yesterday Press Pass sent over a box of their new 8 Seconds Trading Cards that feature a ton of stuff from the PBR (Professional Bull Riders, Inc).  The PBR was founded in 1992 and the sport has been growing steadily ever since.  With 21,000,000 fans and a 98.9% growth rate since 2002 it seems like the PBR is here to stay.  My box was loaded with some crazy looking characters.  Many of the bulls have some funny names like Chicken on a Chain, Hammer, Code Blue, and Booger Butt.  It was quite the entertaining rip.  Here’s what I got!

Design:

8 Seconds probably has the best western theme a card set has ever had.  To me, a lot of the cards look like a “WANTED” poster you’ed see in an old western movie.  In the past, some of Press Pass’s products have made it difficult to read the serial numbers but with 8 Seconds the numbers jump right out.  I also like the fact that Press Pass includes a picture of the relic they cut up for their “Rider Relics” cards.  This is something that hasn’t been down for awhile and just ads to the authenticity of the card.  In fact, the last time I opened a pack that contained a picture of the actual relic on the back was in 2002.

Price:

Boxes of 8 Seconds can be found for $40.00.  Until now, the PBR hasn’t had that many cards for collectors.  Its difficult to say whether this is a fair price or not.  We will have to see how collectors respond next week when this product is released.

Hit Quality:

Each hobby box contains 6 hits on average (3 autographs & 3 relics).  Many of Press Pass’s racing products don’t contain six hits per box, especially ones that have 24 packs.  This being their first PBR release, I think they really wanted to give the collector something.  A lot of the relics are multi-colored too and may not necessarily be hard to pull.  I received the following hits:

• Tater Porter Black Ink Auto
• Brendon Clark Black Ink Auto
• Ryan Dirteater Blue Ink Auto #’ed/75
• Sean Willingham Red Event-Used Shirt
• Joe Baumgartner 3 Color Event-Used Shirt
• Wiley Petersen Gray Event-Used Shirt #’ed/50

Overall:

Overall, I give this box 3.5 bull skulls out of 5 (1=poor & 5=perfect).  If your one of the 21,000,000 fans of the PBR I’m sure you’ll enjoy this product.  It will be interesting to see how The Hobby reacts to these cards.  For $40.00 you have the chance of pulling 6 nice looking hits.  Will they be worth anything, I guess time will tell.  Of all the boxes I have reviewed for Press Pass, this was probably the most difficult.  There isn’t much to compare it too.  Many people didn’t think UFC cards would take off and look at the prices of those early boxes.