Random Rips

There are three places that sell cards in town, besides Wal Mart, K-Mart and the, well, that is it. The three are two memorabilia stores, one which sells packs of Topps of various ages, and a few old Donruss and Fleer packs from the 1980s, the other a store specializing in football.

But the other is a pawn shop. I never would have thought to look there until I saw an Upper Deck banner, and stopped by. They have a huge selection of old cello (post-wax era) of all four sports. So every once in a while I stop in to pick up a few packs from my between-collecting eras to get an eyeball on card sets I have never seen in person before.

First up, a jumbo of some '05 Bowman. I think. The "highlight" if you will, is a thick goldish Felix Pie, my second thick, goldish Felix Pie out of two jumbos. Bowman has such ugly designs, but always has the first card of prospects it seems.

Next up, a pair of packs of '07 Bowman Heritage, which yielded a shiny thick Manny...

and an autograph of a guy named Blake Johnson. Never heard of him, but an auto is pretty cool anyway. I like the Bowman Heritage, despite what I just said about Bowman designs.

Then it was time for some Select 1996. The highlight of these ugly ass cards was a gang rape of one Ken Griffey Jr, one of my favorite players when I was a kid. Goddamn these are ugly cards. I was not collecting in 1996. If I was, this might have done it for me.

Then on to a pack of Donruss 1995, the highlight being a Tom Gordon. It is only a highlight because he played for the Sox for a little while.

The it was time for some more modern stuff, in the form of a jumbo of 2003 Topps. I pulled a Robby Cano, which despite being a Yankee, is a rookie, and rookie cards are always cool.

Holy cow! Another Felix Pie!

And a shiny Chrome Shane Victorino. I didn't know he played for the Dodgers. Me likey. A chrome of a player I have heard of. That almost never happens.