Christmas Packs, Day 6

 Another day, another Non Sports Pack.  This one is from 1993 and features acts that performed (or lip synced) on American Bandstand.  Hosted by the eternal teenager Dick Clark.  He passed away at the age of eighty three in 2012, but you can watch Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve tonight on your local ABC station.  The pack featured seven performers and a Dick Clark through the years card.  Of the seven performers I had heard of six of them and listened to music by them.  Johnny Maestro, was the lead singer for Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge, best known for their performance of Jimmy Webb's The Worst that Could Happen.  Nicolette Larson is best known for her cover of Neil Young's Lotta Love.  She became a country star and had several hits in that genre. 
Teddy Pendergrass, rose to fame as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes before embarking on a solo career.  He was paralyzed in a near fatal car crash, but continued to record for several years. James Brown, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business and The Godfather of Soul had a storied career as a solo artist.  He recorded so many great songs, including I'm Black and I'm Proud.  Paul Revere, dropped his last name (Dick) when he became an entertainer.  He ran several restaurants in Idaho, when he went to pick up hamburger buns at the local bakery he met Mark Lindsay, who went on to become the lead singer of the Raiders.  B.J. Thomas, is probably best known for Raindrops Keep Fallin on My Head. from the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  He had a long Contemporary Christian Music Career.  Marie Osmond, the only Osmond sister, half of Donny and Marie.  Now best known as a weight loss spokesperson.  I had a crush on her for many years, (I may still).  Out of all the performers in this pack only two are still alive.  The seventy six year old B.J. Thomas and the fifty nine year old Marie Osmond. 

Christmas Pack, Day 5

I had picked up a box of 1988 Fleer baseball so I could see how many copies of the Tim Flannery surfboard.  I have opened the first pack.  I got three Hall of Famers, Ozzie Smith, Ryne Sandberg, and Kirby Puckett.  I really like the Kent Tekulve card. 

Christmas Cards, Day 4

 I took all the packs out of the boxes and put it in to this box.  The packs are all spread out throughout the box.  I bought a blaster of Gallery at Target before Christmas.  The first pack from the box is the four exclusive Artist Proof Parallels.  I wonder whom I will get in my pack.  Andrew McCutchen, Shohei Ohtani, Freddy Freeman and Aaron Nola.  I have at least heard of all of the players in the pack.  I will be using all the cards that I open a for a contest after they are all open.  Watch for details coming eventually.

Today's pack, ROCKCARDS

I picked up some cheap boxes from the 1990's before Christmas to give  myself.  One of them was ROCKCARDS from 1992.  It seems to be mostly hair bands from that time, although in this pack I noticed one older rockstar.  It is a 288 card set, with a art card and a contest entry card in each pack.  No chance of winning anything since the contest got over in 1992.  Onto the cards

The wrappers are holographic foil, so right away you know these are ROCKCARDS.
















Each pack has a contest entry card, the card also includes an offer for a poster and something else, one is a dollar and the other is three fifty.  This art card looks like something that was album art for a band with some kind of devil angle in it.

 These were the bands I had heard of and a few that I listened to at the time (and one I still do).  Bon Jovi, Poison, Winger, Megadeth, Winger.  This pack also has an elder statesman of rock in it, it features Rick Wright of Pink Floyd fame.















These were the bands I had not heard of, but after reading on Wikipedia here is what I know.

• Exodus, have been around since 1985 and last released an album in 2014.  They have been have multiple lineups and only have one member who has been on every album.
• The Sisters of Mercy took their name from an cut on Leonard Cohen's first album.  They have been around since 1980 and last produced an album in 1990.
• Testament has been around since 1983 and has shared a lead singer with Exodus.  They are a thrash metal band from Berkeley, California who are still making albums, with one released in 2016.
• Junkyard formed in Los Angeles in 1987 and is still making music having released an album in 2017 and will be performing tomorrow, December 29, here in Portland. 

 This is the back of one of the individual cards.  Chris Gates is one of the members of Junkyard.

One thing I like about this set is it is giving me the chance to expand my musical horizons.  I will be exploring some new music in the coming months.

No duplicates so far, hopefully I will be able to make a complete set.

 For some reason I gave myself a pack of football cards.  It started off with a card of my favorite quarterback Russell Wilson.  There are several names that I recognize from my youth. 

 I got a goodly number of packs for Christmas so I have decided to open one per day.  Today's pack is 1981 Fleer, the first year back for a brand from the sixties.  It was a pleasure to see that the first card was a Padre, Dennis Kinney.  Lots of very familiar names to a sixty one year old baseball fan.  This is a pack from before parallels, inserts and such.  It was from time when I was not actively in the hobby, this may be the first pack of 1981 Fleer I have ordered. 

Merry Cardmass

 I got a few boxes and packs for Christmas today.  I still have a few more coming in the mail.  I have a question for you all.  Should I rip them all at once or parcel them out over the year.   I will leave it up to you.  That box on the front right corner of the table is a box of 2018 Gallery.  There are packs I have never heard of and packs that I am looking forward to opening.  

Padrographs #1114 & #1115

I have been searching for cut autos of deceased Padres I need and then combining them with custom cards that I have made.  John Sipin from 1969 was the first one I did this with and recently I picked up a couple of more 1969 Padres.

#1114, Joe Niekro pitched in thirty seven games for the Padres in 1969.  He came to the Padres in a trade from the Cubs in April of 1969.  He spent the majority of the season with San Diego and after the season he was traded to the Tigers.  I bought a business card which Joe had signed and sandwiched it between a custom front and back that I made. 

#1115, Sonny Ruberto appeared at catcher in nineteen games for the Padres in 1969.  He had come to the Padres with John Sipin in a trade for Jerry DaVanon in May of 1969.  He hit .143 which must be while he spent 1970 in the Padres minor leagues before being traded to the Reds at the end of 1970.

New Padrographs

 Francisco Mejia, #1112.  Francisco Mejia came to the Padres in a trade involving Brad Hand.  He is the Padres catcher of the future and one of the top prospects in the game.
Alexei Ramirez, #988.  I have had this for awhile but I had never featured the card on the blog.  This is a custom card from a few years ago that I mailed him, he signed it and sent it back.
John Sipin, #1113.  Sipin played in 68 games for the Padres in 1969 and eventually played nine seasons in Japan.  I have sent him multiple copies of the card and he has never responded.  I found a signed index card on ebay and made this card.  I learned a lesson that I need to glue around the hole also, along with the edges.