Harder To Find Than It Should Have Been

Sometimes randomly searching for something that you have randomly searched for 100 times pays off. I have no idea how many times I have searched every site I can think of for this, and it finally popped up on Sportlots, for $1.25 and cheap shipping ($1.75 for 4 cards), no hesitation, sold. Still not sure why a card numbered to 999 was so hard to find, but I was very happy to add Stubby Clapp's (80 grade name by the way) only Team Canada Cardboard appearance to the collection.

Weird TCDB Trade

I mentioned in my Sportlots posts that my last two trade packages from the States never showed up. Well, after over a month, one of them actually arrived, and looking at the postage date, it wasn't the post office, it was the trader either forgot to mail it out, or waited until he got his package to mail mine out. Either way I am happy it finally arrived as it checks a lot of boxes off the want list.

Custom Card: 1996 Upper Deck SP - Ryan Hanigan w/ Parallels

I love doing customs, especially when I am happy with the result, and I am very happy with this one. Instead of modifying an old scan, I built this from scratch, obviously using 1996 SP baseball, one of my favorite designs of all time, with a few tweeks. Foil is nearly impossible to duplicate digitally, so that is gone giving it more of a 2007 SP Rookie Edition feel. Also gone is the gold foil border, replaced with a black border, trimmed with gold. Another foil element was the SP logo, which I redid adding the gold faux-foil border as well. The last thing that bothered me was the team name. I replaced the all caps team name with something more normal, and added the full position instead of the abbreviation.

Sportlots Set Help

Continuing the impossible task of the 2011 Gypsy Queen Mini Photo Variations. The shipping was high on these, but the actual price was reasonable when spread out over a few cards. I had never even seen the Gibson before so that really sold me on making the order. These bring me up to 17 out of 100.

1996 Sp Box Break Summary

I have to say, this was a pretty outstanding box. Out of my 30 packs I hit the above Cal Ripken (1:45 packs) a die cut Special FX (1:75 packs) and a die cut Marquee Matchups (1:61). There no way I am doing the math to figure the odds of getting all three in a single box. As far as the set build, I got 167 out of 188 with 57 doubles (including a couple triples). Collation was weird as I got a ton of White Sox, Red Sox and almost no A's, Rockies and Marlins.

1996 Upper Deck SP Trade / Wantlist

Want List

Main Set: 87, 89, 100, 122, 125, 127, 131, 135, 139

Trade List

Main Set: 16, 17, 18, 19, 24, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 59, 60, 61, 62, 67, 73, 79, 82, 90, 111, 118, 129, 130 ,133, 134, 136, 140, 141, 145, 146, 153, 160, 163, 168, 172, 174, 176, 179, 186, 187, 188

Special FX: 13, 14, 23, 25, 28, 32

Marquee Matchups: 2, 4, 8, 13, 15, 19

Special FX Die-Cut: Roger Clemens

Marquee Matchups Die-Cut: Jeff Bagwell

Cal Ripken Collection: 20

Last Updated: Feb 16, 2017

1996 SP Base Highlights

Continuing on with the 1996 SP box break, highlighting some of the more interesting base cards. A nice double exposure card of Ken Caminiti, this was something that Upper Deck did quite a bit of and something you don't really see anymore.

Retro Box Break Preview - 1996 SP

I hadn't ripped much wax in a while, and after being scared of by the high cost of 2016 Upper Deck CFL and having a good paypal balance after selling of a few old PS2 games, I decided on a box of 1996 Upper Deck SP. One of my favorite design of the 90's, or really ever, I guess I am a sucker for wood grain. I started with 5 packs and stopped to make a post, might as well spread it out as my posts have been few and far between, and have a cold Banquet while I do it.