Look who's laughing now.

My take on the Topps/MLB deal, later tonight.

The Great Raul Hunt.

The mission: To find as many Raul Ibanez rookie cards out of a pair of recently purchased junkwax boxes. It would be a tough job, but I had an obligation to my readers to find the Raul's, for good or ill.

Box #1: 1996 Bowman








Base Set: 188 of 385 (48.83%)
47 doubles
2 triples

Parallels: 24 Foils (one-per-pack)

Inserts:
2 1996 Bowman's Best Preview (30 cards, 1:12) C. Baerga, C. Jones
1 1996 Bowman's Best Preview Refractor (30 cards, 1:24) NOE-MAH!
2 1996 Minor League Player of the Year Candidate (15 cards, 1:12) R. Rivera, G. Alvarez
1 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle Reprint (one card, 1:48)

Autogamers: NONE

RAUUUUUUUUUL's: 2

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Box #2 1996 Bowman's Best




Base Set: 106 of 180 (58.89%)
24 doubles
6 triples

Parallels
2 Refractors (1:12) J. Buhner, T. Greene

Inserts
1 Mirror Image Atomic Refractor (10 cards, 1:192) Alomar/Relaford/Biggio/Castillo
1 Bowman's Best Cuts (15 cards, 1:24) ManRam
1 Bowman's Best Cuts Refractors (15 cards, 1:48) M. Piazza
1 Bowman's Best Cuts Atomic Refractors (15 cards, 1:96) M. Piazza
1 Mickey Mantle 1952 Bowman Chromium (one card, 1:24)

Autogamers: NONE

RAUUUUUUUUUL's: 1

George Brett FTW!

And no, this has nothing to do with baseball cards.

An non-parallel, non-game used, non-autographed insert that will not suck.

UPDATE: My laptop is still out of commission. It'll be a few days before I get it back and I'm resorting to posting from my parent's house.

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Pity, the humble insert. In an era where autographs of obscure Single-A relievers, or a card with the crotch of some backup catcher's pant leg pass as "Big Mojo Hits," the plain-vanilla insert has become a mere afterthought. Granted, the card companies haven't been putting much effort into them lately; but every once and a while, they come up with a concept that makes even the most jaded Hobbyist stand up and take notice. For 2009 Updates & Highlights, Topps may have come up with such an insert.

'09 TU&H will feature a 30-card insert set done in the style of World War II-era propaganda posters (think "Rosie the Riveter," and "Loose Lips Sink Ships" kind of stuff). The posters are the work of Boston-area artist Chris Speakman -- a self-described "Lifelong lover of sports with a passion for history." I describe his work as completely original and kick-ass.

Speakman's been producing his propaganda posters for years now, and most of his work has a definite Red Sox flavor to it. However, he's begun to branch out into the other MLB teams as well.

Check out his website at sportspropaganda.com

Stale Gum Places Lap Top on DL.

BARRINGTON N.J. -- Stale Gum has placed Lap Top on the 15-day Disabled List with a broken left hinge, an injury that has been bothering it the last few days. The injury is not blog-threatening, and Top hopes to be back in action in about two to three weeks.

Stale Gum manager Chris Harris noticed last Saturday a small protusion coming from the lower-left corner of Top's LCD screen, but kept him in the game. It wasn't until he attempted to shut Lap Top down for the evening did he notice something.

"I was posting to YouTube the first part of my 2009 Topps Magic Football video break, when I tried to shut down for the evening. But the screen was stuck," said Harris. "I knew it was bad, and that's when I called the Geek Squad."

To replace Top, Harris said he will continue to update his blog by driving to his parent's house and using their computer; but warns his fans on to expect too much original content for the next few days.

The cardblogosphere continues to amaze.

I want to give the cardblogosphere, and the rest of the alternative Hobby media, a great big pat on the back.

Not only has a cardblogger already cracked the 2009 Allen & Ginter code, but minutes later Wax Heaven scooped everyone.

At the time of this posting, no other Hobby media outlet has published this news. Great job.

On-Location Box Break: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (Part Four)

UD's MJ Fail.

Directly from the press release...

“Michael Jackson was a unique entertainer whose performances routinely exceeded expectations as he continually tested the boundaries with his music and dance,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “After witnessing the outpouring of love at his memorial, we knew the public would appreciate this commemorative collection to celebrate his larger-than-life persona. Both sport and music fans alike will no doubt reminisce about the memorable halftime performance.”

So naturally, the death of Michael Jackson calls for a set of gimmicked inserts in a baseball card set no one cares about; stamped with the logo of another baseball card set no one cares about; commemorating an event that happened at a football game; and to add a little extra to the creep factor, it's in a product marketed to "The youth baseball fan."

Look at that last clause again: Michael "Jesus Juice" Jackson is in a baseball card set MADE FOR KIDS!

Great job Upper Deck!

On-Location Box Break: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (Part Three)

On-Location Box Break: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (Parts One and Two)

Part One:



Part Two: