M. I. A.

I am pretty irritated right now.  I wanted to do a post about a couple cards (inserts) I picked up last month.  Unfortunately, the cards have decided to disappear.  I cannot find them.

Oh sure, I’ve looked.  I feel like I’ve looked everywhere.  They’re just gone.  What really steams me is that I checked them off my list.  I’m not supposed to check them off until the cards are in their box.  Of course, I’m supposed to do a lot of things.

So, here I am looking for these two stupid cards.  They only set me back $1.50 for the pair, so it’s not some huge financial hit.  Still, it will gnaw on me.  I’m the woman searching for her lost coin.

Officially, I’ve already called of the search.  I’m not looking for survivors anymore; this is a recovery operation.  Rest assured, they’ll turn up.  They’ll be in my tax return file.  Or maybe they’ll be stuck in with the wrong set.  Maybe they’ll be under the couch.  I won’t know whether to be happy or angry.

Bonus Break – 1990 Bowman

In the past two weeks I’ve posted two other breaks of 1990 Bowman.  Since I bought three boxes, this will be the last one.  After a preview, a break, and another break, what is left to say?  Admittedly, there isn’t much, but this box did yield a little surprise.  As with the other boxes, this one (as part of the group) cost me $3.97 plus $3.00 shipping.

Stats

Normally I’m pretty good about keeping track of how many of each card I get from a box.  This time, since it’s box #3 of 1990 Bowman, I got a little lazy.

Base cards

The base cards of 1990 Bowman haven’t changed over the past two weeks, so there isn’t much point in showing a bunch of them again.  One card did catch my eye.  It was less about the card or the picture and more about the name…

333 Joey Belle

I wouldn’t have guessed that Albert Belle went by Joey at one time, but who am I to question 1990 Bowman?  I looked it up on Baseball Reference.  They know Albert goes by Joey.  I guess I’m just not in the loop.

Surprise

I promised a surprise, and here it is.  The top of this box had a folded advertising poster.  I’m not sure how common these things are.  Maybe every box had one.  All I know is that of my three boxes, only this last one had a poster.  It is about 10 x 14.  The ball point pen gives you a feel for the size.  It’s nothing fancy, but it made the box a lot more interesting.  The cards featured on the front are Rickey Henderson (left) and Will Clark (right).

Conclusion

The real purpose of this box was to see if I could get close to finishing the set.  After two boxes I had 451 different cards in the 528-card set.  Once this box was done, I had 513.  Box #3 gave me just about as many new cards as box #2.  It shouldn’t work that way, but that’s what happened.  At just 15 cards shy of the full set, I’ll probably finish it off with a trip to Sportlots.

Preview – 1998 Sports Illustrated Then & Now

Beckett Set Notes (verbatim from Beckett set page)

“The 1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now set (created by Fleer) was issued in one series totalling 150 cards and was distributed in six-card packs containing five cards and one mini-poster with a suggested retail price of $1.99. The fronts feature color photos of active and retired players plus 1998 rookies and prospects. The backs carry ratings for each player in key skill areas. The set contains the topical subset: A Place in History (37-53) which displays statistical compairson between current players and retired greats. Notable Rookie Cards include Magglio Ordonez. An Alex Rodriguez checklist mini-poster was randomly seeded into 1:12 packs. In addition, an Alex Rodriguez promo card was distributed to dealers and hobby media several weeks to the product’s release.“

Box Contents

24 packs with 6 cards per pack

Cost

$13.35 on eBay ($9.36 auction with $3.99 shipping)

Description

Here is Fleer’s shot at a pseudo-vintage set.  It actually took two recognized names to put out this product – Fleer and Sports Illustrated.

The foil packs follow the lead of the box.

Insert / Parallel List (taken from Beckett)

Art of the Game – 8 cards – 1:9 (insert)
Covers – 12 cards – 1:18 (insert)
Great Shots – 25 mini-posters – 1:1 (insert)
Road to Cooperstown – 10 cards – 1:24 (insert)
Extra Edition – 150 cards – 1:24 (parallel)

Comments

The year 1998 marked my (brief) return to buying modern cards.  I was mostly into Topps, but I did pick up a few packs of SI Then and Now.  I remember these cards as being a notch or two above the Topps flagship cards – very thick and very glossy.  To my 80s cardboard eyes, these cards were very impressive.  I’m looking forward to tearing into this box.  I think getting this box for under $15 is pretty good.