2012 Topps – First Look

I’m sure I a little late to this party but I suppose that my opinion counts as much as anybody else’s here in cyberspace.First off, I like the design. I’m not in love with it but I like it. I think the surfboard thingy is a bit too large but it’s OK. I…

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From their 2011 album Valhalla Dancehall.

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Card #148912010 Topps Heritage #30 Jayson NixHe was the Rockies #1 draft pick in 2001. He’s with his 4th team in 4 years with a lusty batting average of .207.Card #180332002 Bowman Chrome Red #40 Ivan RodriguezI-Rod played 12 years for the Rangers befo…

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This is a movie about, well, about a man on a ledge. Sam Worthington plays Nick Cassidy, a cop unjustly convicted of a crime. He’s been sentenced to 25 years in jail, and as you might imagine, especially since he’s an ex-cop, it is not pleasant. He con…

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Many people collect vintage magazine ads. I don’t but I worked for 35 years for the company featured in these ads. Rohm and Haas Company was a large chemical company with a 100-year history when it was bought by Dow Chemical in 2009. Although it was a …

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I’ve had this song from a podcast since 2010 but iTunes only just played it the other day. This is an example of Indian-Pop music, according to Wikipedia. There isn’t an article on Manooghi Hi itself, but they are mentioned in the Indian pop article. “…

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Card # 24,9741988 Topps #520 Dave SmithThere once was a guy named Andy who blogged every single 1988 Topps card. It seems to have been removed from cyberspace. Too bad.Card #19,7491987 Reading Phillies ProCards #799 Kevin WardI bought this entire 26-ca…

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There are a number of players which I specifically collect even though they are not Phillies or Astros. These players go into binders rather into the boxes with the ordinary guys. I started this series of showcasing cards of players I collect some time…

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There may come a time when I can stop myself from buying these repacks but as long as I keep getting stuff I want from them I’ll keep buying them. These rack packs have 100 cards. They promise a relic in every 4 packs, but I haven’t seen one yet. I did…

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I’ve been doing a song of the week post since I started this blog back in early 2–8. I don’t like to re-post a song but this song came up in random play on iTunes and it’s so good I have to post it again. Also, the last time I wasn’t able to embed the…

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Card #14,7291989 Topps #563 Bill SchroederIn the dictionary, at the definition of “Square jawed” they have a picture of this guy.Card #15,8841992 Ultra #254 Mike LaValliereI think this is my favorite year for Ultra, a set that, over the years, I’ve nev…

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This is one difficult movie to watch but a good movie nonetheless. George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is a retired British spy who’s seen too much in his long career. His service has defined him, ruined his marriage and pretty much beaten him down. But he did…

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Perhaps you’re sick of 2011 Allen & Ginter. If so, you can skip this post. Go ahead, I won’t mind. I was in Target last Friday and they had a blaster box of A&G at 20% off the regular price. I probably shouldn’t have considering how much of thi…

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This is one sexy song.Baby, sweet baby, you’re my drug Come on and let me taste your stuff Baby, sweet baby, bring me your gift What surprise you gonna hit me with I am waiting here for more I am waiting by your door I am waiting on your back steps I a…

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Time for another random round of cards.Card #119581993 Topps Gold #773 Cliff Brantley There was a time when not all baseball cards had gold foil on them. Gold foil started to appear on regular issue cards in 1992 with Topps Stadium Club. In 1992 and 19…

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I was with the family doing our monthly grocery shopping in WalMart over the weekend. I always take at least a peek at their baseball card rack, pitiful as it is. I wasn’t expecting to see anything I wanted but they had a blaster of 2008 UD Masterpiece…

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The story in a nutshell: boy finds horse, boy loses horse, boy finds horse in the midst of a bloody great war. The boy is Albert, pictured above. He names the horse Joey and “raises him from a pup” as someone late in the movie says. Albert’s father had…

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I got this song from a podcast by KEPX radio. It popped up on iTunes the other day and sounded worthy of a post. It’s a catchy pop tune that I really like. They have a sketchy entry on Wikipedia which you can read here if you’re interested. The most in…

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Card #135541988 Score #304 Paul O’NeillThis was Score’s inaugural year. These early cards by Score are, I think, over-shadowed by 1989 Upper Deck but they did up the expected quality of a baseball card. They were printed on thicker white stock than Fle…

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This is a followup to this post.Kyle from A Pack To Be Named Later offered me the Richie Ashburn for the two Topps Manufactured Glove Leather Nameplate I had. Sweet.He also sent some bonus cards. Thanks, Kyle!2010 Topps Chrome X-Fractors #127 Jays…

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What I’ve read this year.Blind forensics expert Lincoln Rhymes takes on an old nemesis, the Watchmaker.I guess this book could be classed as speculative history. Sort of like alternative history fiction but written by famous historians. The various ess…

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My daughter and I are big fans of the books (we both listened to the audio books featuring the incomparable Simon Vance) and the original movies (in Swedish with English subtitles). We were unsure what another movie would bring but were looking forward…

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I had to get a baseball card post in here somewhere. Starting next year, I’ll post 10 random cards each Saturday, and maybe at other times depending on time. I’m trying to reach 1000 posts by the time I reach the 4th anniversary of the blog and I’ve go…

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Although the Tintin comics were published in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, they were popular around my house when my kids were growing up in the 1990s. My youngest son in particularly loved them and we bought him all the books. We all went to see the anim…

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The one review I saw of this said it was the best Mission Impossible movie so far. I don’t know if I agree with that but it was pretty enjoyable. The keynote of these movies is, of course, the action. The story really doesn’t matter much, except as a d…

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December 18Ty Cobb – 2005 Upper Deck ESPN Sports Century #SC-4The Georgia Peach was born in 1886 in Narrows Georgia. He played for 24 years, 22 of them with the Tigers. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936. He is often remembered as a surly and a…

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The last Neal Stephenson book I read was his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. I always look at his books but didn’t think I’d like them. I may go back and look at his past catalog now. This is a 1,082 page novel that just hurdles from front to en…

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This set by Panini (formerly Donruss) has been around for a few years. I’ve even bought a few packs before. It never fails to disappoint. Obviously, Panini wouldn’t have trotted this out in 2011 unless it has made money in the past. Who buys this set? …

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There haven’t been many movies lately in the theaters we’ve wanted to see. But between now and Christmas there are a few we want to see but probably won’t have time. We kicked off the holiday movie season with the new Sherlock Holmes movie. We all like…

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 2011 is rapidly coming to a close. I’ve been doing a feature all year where I feature baseball birthday’s of the week. This was really just an excuse to show off my collection. I need another gimmick for 2012. After not being able to think of any…

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I’ve featured Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger before. I was actually looking for something else by them but found this instead.  The song was written by a guy name David Ackles. I actually have the Ackles first album David Ackles which features thi…

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December 11Derek Bell 1996 Fleer Road Warriors #1Bell came to the Astros in December 1994 as part of a massive 12-player deal with the Padres. In 5 years with the Astros he batted .284 with 74 home runs.December 12Ervin Santana 2008 Topps Dick Perez #2…

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This is at least the third edition of Topps American Pie. The other two were in 2001 and 2002. For all I know this product comes out every year but I don’t think so. The past years cards were mostly baseball players while this set is mostly not. The se…

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Normally I like to feature songs that I have in my iTunes, but I’m going to make an exception in this case. This video was featured on the Time Magazine site as one of the top 10 creative videos of the year. It’s a fantastic piece of work. The backgrou…

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