2001-02 Vanguard Hockey

Well, well, A Pack A Day is still alive, look at that....

Today we bust a pack of 2001-02 Vanguard hockey from Pacific. At the time, it was a high end set, selling for, as you can see, $6.49 a pack. Today? .50 cents. We'll blame it on the economy.

 3 cards per pack...
Jeremy Roenick. These cards are super thick and very glossy. Kind of like a paint job on a '49 Merc.... 30 layers of candy apple red and clear coat...

 Marc Savard when he was a Flame, and not concussed...

 and an insert! V-Team member Teemu Selanne! Too bad he's not in a Jets jersey....

There you have it. I'd have hated to try and put this set together at $6.49 a pack. 100 card base set and 50 SP rookies. Ouch.

1991 Pacific Senior Baseball

Some time ago, I posted a pack of 1991 Pacific Senior League cards (here). I still had a couple of these sitting around, so I thought I would throw up another pack. I think you may recognize some of the folks in here:


The first scan (above) includes the pack this time (I forgot it last time). See the pastel purple and green with bright yellow and red? Yeah, it hurts my eyes, too. We have Leon Roberts (Pride) who played 11 seasons in the Bigs with the Tigers, Astros, Mariners, Rangers, Blue Jays and Royals. He was an outfielder who found himself standing on the mound for the Royals in 1984. His 1 inning netted him a (gulp) 27.00 ERA. Ouch. Frank Riccelli (Tropics) played for the Giants and Astros in the 70's (three total seasons). He had an overall 3-3 record with a 4.39 ERA.


The scan above shows Joel Youngblood (Sun City Rays) whom I remember from the Mets, though he also played for the Reds, Cardinals, Expos, and Giants during his 14 years in the majors. I have to say, he does not look 40 in that picture. Next is Mickey Mahler (Explorers). Mahler enjoyed eight seasons in the majors, playing for the Braves, Pirates, Angels, Expos, Tigers, Rangers and Blue Jays. He was arookie the same as Jack Morris. Seem to be a lot of pitchers in this pack. Bobby Tolan (Pelicans) had a 13-year career (beginning in 1965) in the MLB. He worked for the Cardinals, Reds, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and then for the Padres again.


Lenn Sakata (Pride) began his MLB career in 1977 with the Brewers and ended in 1987 with the Yankees. He also played for the Orioles and the A's, and ended his carer with an overall .230 avg. Dyar Miller (Sun Sox) enjoyed a 7-year run in the majors playing for the Orioles, Angels, Blue Jays and Mets. He had a respectable 3.23 career ERA by the time it was all said and done. Third in this group is Jim Marshall (Sun City Rays) played from 1958-62 with the Orioles, Cubs, Giants, Mets and Pirates. He played all over the outfield and when he wasn't doing that, he played first base.


Dan Boone (Explorers), who is descended from the Daniel Boone, and thus perhaps was a member of the most appropriate team for a senior player, pitched in the majors in 1981 and 1982 for the Padres and Astros. Then, in 1990, he came back to pitch for 9.2 innings in four games for the Orioles. Joe Pittman (Pelicans) played major league ball from 1981 to 1984 with the Astros, Padres and Giants.


Rounding out the pack, we have Alfie Rondon (Tropics) found himself in the senior league without ever playing in the majors. In his 1990 rookie year, he had only 1 error and batted a .356 average in 43 games. Last in the pack, we see Kim Allen. Allen played in 1980-81 for the Mariners. Ironically, his overall average for his two seasons was: .222...

(Statisical info provided by baseball-almanac.com)

1993 Pacific Nolan Ryan Texas Express

The pack for tonight is a 1993 Pacific Nolan Ryan 27th Season Texas Express pack. Pacific released two 110 card tribute sets to Nolan Ryan in 1991 and 1992, this is a third series of 30 cards that was put out to commemorate his 27th season in the league. This quarter pack has cards from the entire 250 card set inside. I picked this pack up at Arlington Stadium when I attended a Rangers/Yankees game in 1998.

See, that's an official 1998 Arlington Stadium price sticker. It would have been cooler if it had a Rangers logo on it or something, but oh well. I've been holding onto this unopened pack for a decade, I may as well brag about where I got it.

234 - 24 of 26 Seasons

The 24 of 26 is the number of seasons Nolan struck out 100 batters or more. This is the only third series card in the pack, it's different from the others due to the 27 logo, the pacific logo on the top right and the font used on "Nolan Ryan" on the left side of the card is slightly different from the other cards. Yes, I notice these things.

211 - Nolan Ryan Seven No-Hitters

The seven are listed on the back: 5/15/73, 7/15/73, 9/28/74, 6/1/75, 9/26/81, 6/11/90, 5/1/91. I'd normally link to the box scores on baseball-reference.com, but it's getting late.

115 - Nolan at Age 20

Ok, this is easily the coolest card in the pack. Nolan's styling in his Jacksonville Suns jersey.

130 - Number One

Number One is his first No-Hitter. Pacific reprinted the box score on the back. Looks like Bob Oliver hit a homer in that game!

169 - Texas All-Star

This card commemorates his victory in the 1989 All-Star game in Anaheim. The pack netted 4 second series cards and 1 third series card. At that rate you may as well just buy the high series set using the offer on the back of the pack. 30 cards and a special collector's box for $5.95! How can ya beat it?!

2001 Pacific Baseball

It shouts it on the front of the pack 'Pacific Ornaments'.

I was really hoping that this pack would contain one of the 24 Christmas ornaments cards. The pack says 2 in 37, so the chances are not bad. To some it is probably a stupid idea but the oddball in me was hoping....

Lets see-

113 Pokey Reece Reds

425 Bill Haselman Rangers

146 Larry Walker Rockies

450 David Wells Blue Jays

40 Javy Lopez Braves

178 Moises Alou Astros

354 Mike Matheny Cardinals

108 Danny Graves Reds

205 Blake Stein Royals

287 Glenallen Hill Yankees

440 Jose Cruz Jnr Blue Jays

319 Travis Lee Phillies

Nope.
No Luck. Not even a seasonal name.

Maybe next Christmas.



On an additional note
I am trying to find good homes for some of loose cards I have. Trades have been arranged with some of the teams but the Expos, Tigers, Angels, Twins, Yankees, Athletics, Mariners, Bay Rays, Rangers, Blue Jays, D-backs, Cubs, Rockies, Marlins, Dodgers, Pirates, Padres, Giants and Nationals are still begging to be place in a friendly environment.
I cannot guarantee they will be worth a fortune but they may fill some of the holes you have in your team sets.
E-mail me a line if your interested.

1991 Pacific Senior Professional Baseball

I probably should have scanned the pack of these things. The pack itself is white with aqua and pastel purple diagonal stripes across it. It is an actual wax pack, and it is ugly...

I don't know where to begin with this pack other than to say that these feature players who are members (or were in 1991) of the senior baseball league. The cards feature nice photo real estate with the team name down the left-hand side. The team logo is in the lower left corner and the player's name and position is at the bottom.


The backs are umm.. something akin to pastel green with purple accents. Seriously, who came up with THIS one!? The card number, Senior Pro Baseball logo, team name, player name and position take up the top third of the card. There is some bio info and Senior League Career stats in the middle. The bottom has player info (usually including some tidbit about the player's MLB career, but not always).


In no particular order, the cards in the pack are: Butch Benton (Pelicans), Jim Tracy (Tropics), Rick Peterson (Explorers), Ken Landreaux (Pelicans), Cardell Camper (Pride), Steve Luebber (Sun Sox), Jack Lazorko (Sun City Rays), Ron Washington (Explorers), Tom Zimmer (Pelicans), Jeff Jones (Explorers), Bob Galasso (Sun City Rays), Jim Willoughby (Pride).

Just for fun, here are a couple of the players on their MLB cards:

Marble Mediocrity - 1994 Pacific

This is one of the repeating series that I keep seeing as I open 432 packs of this stuff. I went in on a case auction with a friend. Well, all I can say is it was on sale.


This pack isn't bad for the HOFer and star content. And if they don't stick together too bad, it isn't a bad pack. Let's rip it...

311 Orel Hershiser
339 Troy O'Leary
250 Gary Sheffield
371 Dave Winfield
384 Mike Lansing
397 Jeremy Burnitz
470 Jim Abbott
259 Craig Biggio
284 David Cone
323 Tim Wallach
348 Robin Yount
234 Alex Arias

I like Pacific, they're a little different than the rest. This set is a decent design. I like the backs with the portrait photo and the stats & logo under the ripped edge. The one thing I think needed work is the font used for the names. And some of the color combinations are hard to read. But I guess after opening as many packs as I have, anything would be hard to read....

The 20 for $40 re-wrap: 1996 Pacific Prisms and 1998 Finest series two

So I've decided what the winner of my contest will get. You will receive every single card I've pulled in both the 20-for-$40 and the 50-cent cheapo wax breaks -- minus whatever cards I actually need on my wantlist. (I might even throw in a few extra game used cards, if that fails to satisfy the winner.)

Onto the packs!



1998 Finest

Base
John "C3P" Olerud
Kerry Wood
Harold Baines
Pat Hentgen
Joe Carter

Parallel
No Protectors (1:2) Brian Hunter


1996 Pacific Prisms

Base
Alex Fernandez

Insert
San Francisco Giants Team Card

Alex Fernandez is card #88, so our winner is "roof_god" who chose "87." To claim your prize, send me an e-mail ASAP.

The 20 for $40 re-wrap: 1998 Pacific Invincible

Reaching into our magic sack of junkwax comes this beauty: A pack of 1998 Pacific Invincible. In keeping with the spirit of Pacific, this entire review will be in both English and Spanish.

El alcanzar en nuestro saco mágico de junkwax viene esta belleza. Un paquete de 1998 Pacific Invincible. En armonía con el alcohol del Pacific, esta revisión entera estará en inglés y español.

There was always something a bit amateur-ish about Pacific, which was probably why I never dug them. In fact, this is the only the second Pacific pack (of any brand) I've ever opened.

Había siempre algo al aficionado-ish del pedacito sobre el Pacific, que era probablemente porqué nunca lo cavé. En hecho, éste es el único el segundo paquete Pacific (de cualquier marca de fábrica) que me he abierto siempre.

Invincible is a weird product -- and that's saying something considering that this is Pacific. You get five cards in a pack, but you only get one card from the 150-card "base" set. The other four cards are inserts -- three from the 220-card Gems of the Diamond set and either a fourth Gem or one of four different inserts.

Invincible es un producto extraño -- y ése está diciendo algo que considera que esto es Pacific. Usted consigue cinco tarjetas en un paquete, pero usted consigue solamente una tarjeta de la 150-tarjeta "base" fija. Las otras cuatro tarjetas son los rellenos -- tres de las 220-tarjetas Gems of the Diamond fijado y una cuarta Gem o uno de cuatro diversos rellenos.

Each of the base cards has a head-and-shoulders portrait printed onto a translucent window embedded into the card. The rest of the card is slathered in gold foil, giving it a late-90s insert feel to them. The Gems look like your average Pacific base set -- which is not meant to be a complement.

Cada uno de las tarjetas bajas tiene un retrato de los cabeza-y-hombros impreso sobre una ventana translúcida encajada en la tarjeta. El resto de la tarjeta es slathered en la hoja del oro, dándole una sensación del relleno de late-90s ellos. Las Gemas parecen su base Pacific media fijada -- que no se signifique para ser un complemento.

Once again, my co-host Virtual Don West could not be with me to open this pack. My satellite uplink was damaged and needs replacement, so I figured I'd fly him out here. Unfortunately I booked his flight on American Airlines, so he's still stuck at O'Hare.

De nuevo, mi co-anfitrio'n Virtual Don West no podría estar con mí para abrir este paquete. Mi uplink basado en los satélites fue dañado y necesita el reemplazo, así que calculé que lo volaría hacia fuera aquí. Desafortunadamente reservé su vuelo en American Airlines, así que lo todavía pegan en O'Hare.

Base:
David Justice
Remember when David Justice's '92 Diamond King was worth $15? By 1998, it was worth significantly less.

¿Recuerde que cuando El Rey del Diamante de '92 David Justice valió $15? Antes de 1998, valió perceptiblemente menos.

'98 was David's second season with the Tribe, after being dealt by the Braves at the end of Spring Training in '97. He led Cleveland to the AL pennant with a .329/33/101 season, only to regress a bit in '98 (.280/21/88).

'98 era segunda estación de David con la Tribu, después de ser repartido por el Braves a finales del entrenamiento del resorte en '97. Él condujo Cleveland al banderín del AL con una estación del .329/33/101, sólo para regresar un pedacito en '98 (.280/21/88).

Inserts:
4 Gems of the Diamond (four-per-pack)
Shane Halter
A do-it-all utility man, Shane played every position except catcher for the '98 Royals. (He even pitched an inning of scoreless relief!) On October 1, 2000, Shane -- now with Detroit -- became the fourth player in MLB history to play all nine positions in one game. He last played in the Majors with Anaheim in '04.

Un-E'L-TODO hombre para uso general, Shane jugó cada posición excepto el colector para el '98 Royals. (él incluso echó un turno de la relevación scoreless!) De octubre el 1 de 2000, Shane -- ahora con Detroit -- se convirtió el cuarto jugador en la historia de MLB para jugar las nueve posiciones en un juego. Él jugó por último en los comandantes con Anaheim en '04.

Chipper Jones
My second Chipper in as many packs! 1998 was another All-Star season for Chipper: .313/34/107.

¡Mi segundo martillo Chipper en tantos paquetes! 1998 era otra estación de la Todo-Estrella para el martillo Chipper: .313/34/107.

Orlando Miller
A one-time "can't miss" prospect with the Astros, 1997 was Miller's last year in the Bigs. Final career stats: .259/24/113 in four seasons with Houston and Detroit.

Un de una sola vez "no puede faltar" la perspectiva con el Astros, 1997 era Miller's el año pasado en el Bigs. Stats final de la carrera: .259/24/113 en cuatro estaciones con Houston y Detroit.

Rich Aurilia
Did you know that in 1997, Rich Aurilia hit the first ever interleague grand slam?

¿Usted sabía que en 1997, Aurilia rico golpeó el golpe magnífico del primer siempre interleague?

All in all, '98 Pacific Invincible is a set where the base cards look like inserts, and the inserts look like base cards. A blah product from a manufacturer that few of us have missed

Todo en todos, '98 Pacific Invincible es un sistema donde las tarjetas bajas parecen los rellenos, y los rellenos parecen tarjetas bajas. Un producto del blah de un fabricante que pocos de nosotros han faltado.

2000 Pacific Private Stock

This is the baseball version of the football pack I opened this weekend. This set is the same deal as before, the base cards are really thick with a computerized photo that looks vaguely like a painting and two mini T206 size cards per pack. There's not a whole lot in this set other than short printed Alfonso Soriano and Rick Ankiel prospect cards, but I'm a sucker for the mini cards. This pack was cheap though because it's the retail version instead of hobby. Plus Tony Gwynn's on the pack. How could I pass up Tony? Time to open.

114 Jason Kendall
104 Jason Giambi
PS-2000 14 Manny Ramirez
PS-2000 34 Alfonso Soriano
16 Cal Ripken Jr.

Sweetness. A gorgeous Ripken card and two superstar minis. Plus Jason Kendall as a Pirate. A real, actual bloodthirsty pirate. Arrrrrrrr...

2000 Pacific Private Stock Football

For this week's football pack, I went to the local overpriced card shop looking for a pack from 2000. Since Tom Brady has all but won me my fantasy league's championship (three games up, with three to go!) I wanted a pack from 2000 to try to pull one of his rookies. The store I got this from never clears out anything so there's plenty of old packs there for the picking. I found this pack and 2000 Fleer Tradition packs there, but I already have Brady's Tradition rookie. The odds are long in pulling any of the serial numbered rookies out of one of these packs, but what the hell. I really like the mini cards from this set so it's worth taking a shot.

13 Steve Beuerlein
56 Randy Moss
PS2000 Action 46 Isaac Bruce
PS2000 Action 7 Cade McNown
Gold parallel 40 Peyton Manning #036/181
86 Jerry Rice
83 Junior Seau

No Brady, but I got an awesome serial numbered parallel of his arch-rival. I'll bet there's at least 182 Peyton Manning player collectors out there. The pictures on the base cards are slightly blurred with an added canvas texture to make it look like a painting. The cards are actually smooth though and don't have the bumpy feel of a Diamond Kings or UD Masterpieces set. This looks good on some (Rice), not so good on others (Moss). There's a regular portrait on the back so they are not completely artsy fartsy. They are also really thick, these are heavy duty cards. Three out of the four base cards have Hall of Fame players on them, not bad at all. There are also two mini cards per pack designed to like like T206 cards. They do look kind of like an old tobacco card design, except for the gold foil and UV coating. Isaac Bruce is a nice card, but Cade McNown is a big busterooni. Then again, he dated Heather Kozar, so I only wish I could suck as bad as him. Heather left Cade for Tim Couch (why the hell didn't I ever learn to throw interceptions) and I'll bet he doesn't have a sweet Peyton Manning card like I do. Sucks to be you Cade, that'll teach you to park in handicapped spaces.

1996 Pacific Gridiron

Today we have a special pack culled from the depths of the basement. This pack is special because I got paged all night and I don't want to spend all day listing out an '88 Cello pack. Only two cards! I can mail this one in!

12 Jim Kelly
GG3 Bryce Paup

I had these cards still in the pack because I saved all my 4 pocket sheets for my Donruss Action All Stars. They look pretty much like big Pacific cards except there are no stats on the back. The base card backs have a newspaper theme featuring the Pacific Gridiron Review. Kelly's a pretty nice card, although the photo looks like they just blew up his regular Pacific card, not real crisp. Defensive beast Bryce Paup is the insert making this an All-Bills pack. Paup's got a better photo, but a horrible design, with the bottom quarter of the card covered in green foil stamping. Aah, the halcyon days of mid nineties trading card design...

1988 Pacific Eight Men Out

I went to the card shop to see if Topps Series 3 was out yet, but sadly it has been pushed back again. It's now set to arrive on Halloween, but I'm not holding my breath. I checked out their dollar box of oddball packs and found this. Today seemed like a great day to open this pack so I grabbed it. This set came out the same year as Pacific's Legends set and is based on the movie. About a quarter of the set is of actual players from the Black Sox, let's see if we pull one. A Shoeless Joe card would be sweet.


59 Kid Watches Eddie
67 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Racist
56 Kerr wins Game Six
39 The fix is on
65 Sign the petition
35 Hugh and Ring comfort Kid
109 Happy Felsch
90 Adolfo Luque
79 Judge Bastard Commissioner of Baseball
12 John Cusack as George Buck Weaver
72 The Trial

Not too bad, one player from each world series team, and a good assortment from the movie. I'm not thrilled about pulling two Kenesaw Mountain Landis cards, I'm not too fond of him as you can probably tell. Yeah, yeah, he saved baseball, cleaned up the sport, blah blah blah. He also made damn sure Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson would never have a chance to play in the majors so saving the league was a Pyrrhic victory as far as I'm concerned. The John Cusack rookie card more than makes up for ol' Sourpuss though. That sucker's going to PSA. I'll send it off right after I watch my DVD of Tapeheads. Mmmmm... Chicken n Waffles.

Ya know, Kenesaw would make a great Halloween mask. BOO! You're banned from baseball!