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Monday, May 27, 2013

My Top 6 Favorite Baseball Starting Lineup Figures (Non Ken Griffey Jr Pieces)

It's been a while, but I counted down but favorite non Cowboy football pieces, now here's my top baseball pieces sans Griffey who will get his countdown at a later date.


#6
1989 Baseball Greats Hank Aaron/Eddie Mathews
A precursor to Classic Doubles, these came even before my time that I collect starting lineups. I did remember a store in our local mall carried these and of course had these for outrageous prices. I picked this up on Ebay a few years ago and it's in pretty decent shape for it's age. I would love to pick up the entire set. Love the packaging, design, and player selection. Can't go wrong with this dangerous Braves duo.

#5
1996 Derek Jeter FP
Personal preference, maybe if I was a hardcore Yankee fan this would be #1, and I'm sure the ones below this pale in comparison considering this is a rookie piece of arguably one of the most important Yankees of all time, but honestly, it's the only reason I ranked it. The piece is rather....boring. I dunno..it's a boring batting pose to me. It was a super difficult piece to find, and this was an Ebay purchase a year or two ago. Still the importance of the piece is enough to make the countdown.

#4
1997 Classic Doubles Cy Young/Greg Maddux
Classic Doubles....love em. Combine Cy Young with one of the most dominant pitchers of the 90's and you got yourself a winner. I never found this at a store while I was initially collecting. Had to buy this off Ebay years later.

#3
1995 Cal Ripken Commemorative Streak Figure
Commemorating one of the most impressive streaks in sports history, this piece was pretty popular back in the day. I love the piece as it showcases Ripken in the uniform he wore on the very first game of his streak. I was a kid while Ripken broke "The Streak" so it brings back great memories of what was such a great record.

#2
1989 Baseball Greats Mickey Mantle/Joe Dimaggio
Fun Fact. When I was a kid, my mom actually bought me the loose versions of these figures at a garage sale. Naturally of course I played with them and rendered them valueless. It wasn't until many years later that I would reacquire this back, this time still in package. I bought this together with the Aaron/Mathews. It's Mantle/DiMaggio. Enough Said.

#1
Team Of The 90's: The Best Players of the Decade
In my opinion, hands down, THE BEST set EVER made. Yes the steriods scandal eventually damaged this decade, but still, it is what it is. This was MY decade. The decade I grew up in. The players I grew up with. Piazza, A-Rod, Griffey, Gwynn, Maddux, McGwire, Alomar, Ripken, Bonds. I hunted for their SLU's, I collected their cards, I played video games wanting to use these players, i watched their SportsCenter highlights. I believe if I recall this was based on fan votes but I'm not 100% sure on that. I love multi player sets and man did Hasbro hit a Grand Slam with this one. Honestly I can say, it's probably #1 overall out of my whole SLU  collection.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Game Used Greatness: Prince Fielder 2013 Game Used Jackie Robinson Day Jersey

Every year, Baseball commemorates Jackie Robinson Day by each team wearing special jerseys with Jackie's #42. It's a cool tribute to the most influential baseball player of all time. I used to own a Rajai Davis Game Used Jersey from Jackie Robinson Day, but I sold it earlier this year. I think it's safe to say Prince Fielder is a little bit of an upgrade from Rajai Davis! I won this last Sunday off MLB Auctions, and it was worn this year on April 16th. Prince didn't have a good game at all (0-5), but I don't really care. He wore it, that's all I care about! It immediately becomes my best baseball game used jersey in my collection. It goes great with the autograph game used bat I have of Prince as well. Here are some additional pics!


Saturday, May 11, 2013

Sentimental Favorites: 99-00 Upper Deck MVP Kevin Garnett Game Used Souvenirs

The Grant Hill Feel The Game Jersey Card was my 1st Jersey Card, The Steve Young Ovation a Piece of History Football was my first pack pulled memorabilia card, but my first ever memorabilia card was this card right here. Today it's hard to get excited about a card that just has a piece of a game used basketball. I mean, who knows if KG even touched, but this card was very awesome back in 1999. These were pretty tough pulls out of 99-00 MVP and I found this at a card show and yes I believe I paid $40 for it. I was in amazement that I finally owned a card directly linked to game used in a professional game. It would be the beginning for me, of my game used craze. It was also a time when game used wasn't so overproduced that cards like this WERE special. It all started for me with this card and though most of my other patches, jerseys have been sold off, this card remains in my collection today.