Oh, Those Yankees To Be Chased

Last week Topps released the check list for their upcoming 2015 baseball release. After perusing the check list, I was pretty impressed with the Yankee that will be in Series 1. In case, you haven't seen the list, your buddy at the Sports Room has you covered, or specifically, the dudes at Cardboard Connection have you covered. You can check the list over here:  http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2015-topps-series-1-baseball-cards

For me, these are the only cards I am concerned with:

Base
1 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees
17 Brian McCann - New York Yankees
21 Brett Gardner - New York Yankees
45 Carlos Beltran - New York Yankees
142 Masahiro Tanaka - New York Yankees FS
152 Michael Pineda - New York Yankees
224 Bryan Mitchell - New York Yankees RC
225 Jacoby Ellsbury - New York Yankees
278 David Phelps - New York Yankees
302 Martin Prado - New York Yankees
304 Shawn Kelley - New York Yankees
307 Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees
319 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees BH
343 Shane Greene - New York Yankees

Archetypes Set Checklist

A-2 Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

A-10 Babe Ruth - New York Yankees

A-12 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

Archetypes Relics Set Checklist

AR-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

AR-MR Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

Archetypes Autographs Set Checklist

AA-MR Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

Archetypes Autographed Relics Set Checklist

AAR-MR Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

Birth Year Coin and Stamp Set Checklist

CS-07 Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees

CS-10 Reggie Jackson - New York Yankees

CS-11 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

CS-17 Babe Ruth - New York Yankees

CS-22 Masahiro Tanaka - New York Yankees

Career High Relics Set Checklist

CRH-MTA Masahiro Tanaka - New York Yankees

CRH-RC Robinson Cano - New York Yankees

Career High Autographs Set Checklist

CH-DB Dellin Betances - New York Yankees

CH-HK Hiroki Kuroda - New York Yankees

CH-JPO Jorge Posada - New York Yankees

First Home Run Set Checklist

FHR-04 Robinson Cano - New York Yankees

FHR-05 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

FHR-28 Don Mattingly - New York Yankees

FHR-40 Deion Sanders - New York Yankees

First Home Run Medallions Set Checklist

FHRM-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

FHRM-DM Don Mattingly - New York Yankees

FHRM-DS Deion Sanders - New York Yankees

FHRM-RC Robinson Cano - New York Yankees

First Home Run Relics Set Checklist

FHRR-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

Free Agent 40 Set Checklist

F40-3 CC Sabathia - New York Yankees

F40-5 Goose Gossage - New York Yankees

F40-11 Reggie Jackson - New York Yankees

Free Agent 40 Relics Set Checklist

F40R-CS CC Sabathia - New York Yankees

F40R-RJ Reggie Jackson - New York Yankees

Free Agent 40 Autographs Set Checklist

F40A-CS CC Sabathia - New York Yankees

F40A-RJ Reggie Jackson - New York Yankees

Free Agent 40 Autographed Relics Set Checklist

F40AR-CS CC Sabathia - New York Yankees

F40AR-RJ Reggie Jackson - New York Yankees

Future Stars Pin Manufactured Relic Set Checklist

FS-07 Masahiro Tanaka - New York Yankees

FS-08 Dellin Betances - New York Yankees

Gallery of Greats Set Checklist

GG-3 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

GG-19 Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

GG-21 Joe DiMaggio - New York Yankees

GG-22 Babe Ruth - New York Yankees

Gallery of Greats Relics Set Checklist

GGR-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

Highlight of the Year Set Checklist

H-1 Lou Gehrig - New York Yankees

H-2 Babe Ruth - New York Yankees

H-3 Babe Ruth - New York Yankees

H-11 Roger Maris - New York Yankees

H-12 Roger Maris - New York Yankees

H-24 Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

Highlight of the Year Relics Set Checklist

HYR-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

In the Name Relics Set Checklist

INT-DB Dellin Betances - New York Yankees

INT-DJ Derek Jeter - New York Yankees

Inspirations Duals Set Checklist

I-3 Don Mattingly - New York Yankees
Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees

Inspirations Dual Relics Set Checklist

IR-TM Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees
Don Mattingly - New York Yankees

Inspirations Dual Autographs Set Checklist

IA-TM Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees
Don Mattingly - New York Yankees

Inspirations Dual Autographed Relics Set Checklist

IA-TM Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees
Don Mattingly - New York Yankees


MLB Silhouetted Batter Logo Pin Manufactured Relic Set Checklist

MSBL-14 Masahiro Tanaka - New York Yankees

Robbed Set Checklist

R-3 Jacoby Ellsbury - New York Yankees

Strata Cut Signatures Set Checklist

SCS-DZ Don Zimmer - New York Yankees

SCS-JD Joe DiMaggio - New York Yankees

SCS-PR Phil Rizzuto - New York Yankees

SCS-RM Roger Maris - New York Yankees

Strata Signature Relics Set Checklist

SSR-CS CC Sabathia - New York Yankees

SSR-MR Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

The Babe Ruth Story Set Checklist

BR-6 The Home Run King New York Yankees
BR-7 MVP in '23 New York Yankees

BR-8 Murderer's Row Member New York Yankees

BR-9 The Called Shot New York Yankees

BR-10 The Babe becomes a media star New York Yankees

So, this list actually impresses me as a Yankees collector. There are a lot cards for me to chase this year and this is just Series 1. The past couple of years, there wasn't a lot of Yankees cards released in the Flagship brand, especially relics and autographs. This season, I have a few cards to chase. 

I definitely want to get my hands on the dual Don Mattingly/Mark Teixeira cards. If only for my Teixeira PC a well as the Jeter cards for my Jeter PC. But, if I could get my hands on a cut signature or two, I would be one happy Yankees fan.

Every year I want to try to try and get every single Yankee card Topps releases, especially in the Flagship brand, but I always find myself falling short every year. I'm going to try my best to complete the Yankees run on Series 1, 2 and Update. 

If you want to check out your team or the complete checklist, click on the link above. Series 1 is set for release on Feb. 4th, 2015. Happy hunting.

My First Derek Jeter Pick Up

When I first got back into collecting cards back in 2003, one of the players I wanted to collect was Derek Jeter. At that point, Jeter was already an all time great. He had won 4 World Championships, was a World Series and an All Star Game MVP. He was at the top of his popularity, Which was why collecting Jeter was, and still is quite difficult.

Want an autographed baseball? Prepare to shell out over $300.00. His autographed cardboard routinely goes for anywhere from $100.00 to $300.00. Even his game used cards are priced at a premium these days.

Back in 2003, I went to the Hofstra Sports Card show on Long Island. I was looking for anything Yankees, like I still do. I just went in without a game plan and dove into boxes and looked until I found something I wanted and bought it.

On this day, I found this card at a table that had a bunch of other patch cards. I was pretty uneducated about cards, especially patch cards and paid what the lady asked without negotiating. These days, I would have tried to haggle her down from the 30.00 I paid.

Still, regardless of what I paid, it's my very first Jeter pick up as well as my first patch card and it remains in my collection. It's one of my favorite cards in my Jeter collection and I don't see myself parting with it anytime soon. I have since added cards to my Jeter collection, but this one is my favorite.

There Are Just Somethings You Just Don't Do...

Sometimes I just don't get us as humans. We say stupid things, we don't care about each other as a whole and we act like we are better than everyone else. Why? I understand that if we don't look out for ourselves, who will but there has to come a point when we need to step back and think about what we are doing.

Case in point. During last night Yankees/Red Sox game (and I don't mean the Michael Pineda incident. I have been hearing about it all day), Xander Bogaerts of the Red Sox flipped a ball toward a young man in the stands. Check out what happens.

Really? Really? Dude, you couldn't let the kid have the ball? That gesture would have meant the world to the boy and your selfishness ruined the experience for him. Oh, you wanted a baseball that you could have gotten at a sporting goods store for 15.00? Well, why didn't you say so? That makes all the difference then.

And this isn't the first time I have seen such lousy behavior from adults at a baseball game either. Check out the behavior of these fine upstanding citizens:

It's things like this that make me pray that they trip over the steps on the way out of the stadium.

 I don't understand it. You have to know that there is a young kid right next to you that the ball was obviously tossed to. I understand that you might have lost your manners in the thrill of seeing that baseball come toward you, but if you see a sad kid next to you, just be a sport and make the kid happy. There is nothing special about a foul ball or a ball that was tossed in the stands by a coach, bat boy, the 3rd short stop or umpire.

In the video from last night's ball game, you clearly see the guy who stole that baseball look in the kids direction after he caught the ball, so you have to figure he knew what he did. The couple in Texas that claim they knew nothing, I'm not buying it. The kid is crying right next to them. And that dude in Florida ran away as soon as he caught the ball.

I'm not going to sit here and say I never got in a shoving match for a ball. But that's with adults who tried to push me out of the way when a ball came near me. Your competitive juices start to flow and it's on like Donkey Kong and I usually win those shoving matches.

However, I always look around to see if there was a kid in the scrum. I would much rather hand off the ball to a kid that tried to get the ball than keep it myself. I know when I was at a young age, catching a ball meant everything to me. It never happened, but if I could make a child's visit to a baseball park memorable and all it took was to give up the baseball, then I'm all for it. I've done it before and will always do it. It's just the right thing to do. Especially if you caught multiple balls. Keeping one is fine, but do you really need 3 or 4? Make believe you're the Santa Claus of baseball and start handing baseballs off.

But, for every overbearing adult I see that tries to get a ball, I see things like this that make me reaffirm my belief in mankind.

Too bad some adults just don't have the manners that Ian obviously has.

Yankee Autograph Goals. Always Changing For Me

I had taken a bit of a hiatus from chasing autographs for my Yankees collection. I was OK with getting the players I need on certified cards, and actually, I still am. But after the thrill of getting Hideki Matsui on Saturday and looking at my Yankees autographed baseball collection, I decided to list a few players I really want on baseballs.

My Yankees autograph collection currently stands at 42. My ultimate goal is to have 100 signed Yankees baseballs by the end of the year. I'm close to 50, so that is my immediate goal. Get to 50. I try not to get just any player on baseballs either. Baseballs are pretty expensive, so I try to get the better players on balls, although I do have a few players that may not qualify as such.

To get to my goals, I've compiled a list of Yankees (both former and current) that I would like to pick up signed baseballs of, either in person, through the mail or even trade or purchase. Some of the players on my list might be close to impossible, but that is not going to stop me from at least trying.

Derek Jeter

Of course, I am going to start the list off with the most difficult and expensive autograph to obtain. Jeter has been very tough for me because I have never, ever seen him sign anywhere. By that, I mean when I'm around. I never seen him sign at Yankee Stadium or any time I've seen the Yankees play in Seattle when I go there to watch the Yankees. I've heard stories about how he has turned people down in public and how he will have people line up when he leaves George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa and sign maybe ten autographs.

Depending on the item, Steiner Sports has Jeter signed baseballs, starting at a ridiculous $645.99. eBay has Jeter signed balls for around the $300.00 and up mark, but you're taking a risk there as you don't know who is selling legitimate autographs.

Getting a Jeter is going to be almost Mission: Impossible. Que the music.

Paul O'Neill

I've always been a huge fan of the "Warrior". He's in my top 3 of all time favorite Yankees. I'm considering starting a player collection of him. He's great as a broadcaster for the Yankees on the YES Network. I want to add a signed O'Neill baseball to my collection.

I know O'Neill is a willing signer. Just trying to find him is the hard part. The New Yankee Stadium is difficult to get autographs as the players don't have to leave the Stadium to get to the parking lot and drive away. I'm not sure if it's that way for broadcasters, but with someone with Paul O'Neill's stature, I'm sure he has a spot there.

I've seen through the mail successes for O'Neill, but I struck out when he never returned my baseball. I'll try again, sending a photo and a baseball card instead. I'm hoping he makes a free appearance somewhere.

Mariano Rivera

Another all time great Yankee who I need in my collection. Rivera is a willing signer, just at the right places. If you watched Being Mariano, you will know what I mean.

Rivera is another player who was signing through the mail, yet he never returned not one baseball, but 2 baseballs I've sent in the last 5 years in care of Yankee Stadium. Just because of the type of person he is, I am still kind of holding out hope that I will eventually get them back. Maybe they got mixed up in all the mail he got and is still going through them, sending back the requests, I tell myself. I also tell myself that the Easter Bunny has a gold chocolate bunny for me.

I do think I will eventually get to add Mo to the collection. He has been doing signings recently. He did a free signing during the winter that I didn't go to because I would have had to stand out in 15 degree weather, but I am now regretting I didn't go, even though almost 1,000 people showed up for it. He also did a signing at the last card show I went to. Steiner Sports was sponsoring it, hence the $299.00 price tag for his autograph. He's making appearances. My time will come.

Andy Pettitte

Getting an Andy Pettitte autograph in my Yankees signed ball collection is a must. Pettitte is another who is going to be difficult as he rarely makes appearances and really doesn't sign at the Stadium when he does show up. At least, not that I have seen.

Pettitte is another who was signing off and on through the mail in care of Yankee Stadium and is another Yankee I sent baseballs to at different times and struck out on. I really have to stop sending baseballs to players in care of Yankee Stadium. I almost always lose them.

Pettitte may be one I have to either trade for or purchase as I don't see him making appearances and if he does, he may be pricey. I'm always looking for the best prices on stuff, so I more than likely wouldn't go that route. I do hope I can add Pettitte eventually.

Jorge Posada

May even be more difficult to get to sign than Derek Jeter. I've heard horror stories about asking Posada to sign, even hearing him turning down children. I try not to listen to stories like that. Unless I see it for myself, then you take these stories with a grain of salt.

Posada has been showing up at Yankee Stadium events lately, so I'm holding out hope that he may eventually do a signing somewhere. I'm sure he will also be an expensive autograph, but as the catcher for multiple World Series winning teams and he may even be a borderline Hall Of Fame Candidate, I may actually go against my beliefs and pluck down the cash for him.

Rich Gossage

Goose has always been a friend to the autograph community. I have sent cards and an ice cream mini helmet to him in the past and he always returned the items with his signature on them. For some reason, I have never sent a baseball. I can't explain why I haven't, but I need to rectify that. He is also a great signer in person as I have gotten him on an 8x10 at a free signing and was very friendly.

I had heard a rumor that the through the mail signings were going to come to an end, but the last time I checked sportscollector.net, he was still signing as long as you sent a donation to BAT. If Goose signs a ball for me at 20.00, I will gladly send the donation to him. It's a great cause and I will get the autograph that I need for my collection.

Phil Niekro

Although Niekro's time with the Yankees was short, he's a Hall Of Famer who won his 300th game as a Yankee so I want him in the collection.

He is another willing signer through the mail. He charges 20.00 to sign a baseball, so I will be sending one and the donation out to him soon. I want to get him before he stops signing.

Dave Winfield

Winfield was one of my favorite Yankees growing up. The guy was an RBI Machine and one of the very best outfielders I have ever seen play. He could rob home runs from you or throw you out from the warning track at home plate. I have to add Winfield to my Yankees signed baseball collection.

Winfield doesn't do autograph signings, at least none that I have seen here in the NY area. I had seen him sign through the mail in care of the Baseball Hall Of Fame, but I don't think I have seen a success in a while. He was another that required a donation to sign. At a very affordable $10.00, he is certainly worth it. If he is still singing, I will get a ball out to him soon.

Joe Torre

Getting the autograph of the manager of the Yankees most recent dynasty is very important to me. Torre might be another difficult signature to get, but he works for MLB and is around a lot, so I feel confident that I can add his autograph at some point.

Torre was signing his mail only once during his time with the Yankees. Unfortunately for me, I missed the window and when I was getting a ball out to him, I found out he wasn't signing so I never got the baseball out to him.

I haven't seen him do any appearances and I don't think he's going to anytime soon. I think my best bet is to get him at Yankee Stadium, only problem is that would have to be a chance meeting as I never know when he is there.

Tino Martinez

My favorite Yankee of all time has eluded me constantly. When he makes appearances, I usually can't go. The one time I had a shot at him was when I was in Los Angeles last season and he was the Marlins hitting coach. I waited outside Dodger Stadium for 45 minutes, but left because I didn't want my girlfriend waiting much longer. She was a great sport about it and I didn't want to press my luck. Turns out I should have waited because she wanted to see me get the autograph and he came out and signed 10 minutes after I left. Grrrr!

I know eventually I will get his autograph on a baseball. He does appearances here and I will be all over the next one. I don't care what I have to do. I will get this monkey off my back and add Tino's autograph to my Yankees collection.

There are other players I'd love to add. Rickey Henderson, Dave Righetti, Robinson Cano are just a few of the players I would love to get signed baseballs of. The players I mentioned above are just the ones I really want. I do know that like many things in life, if you are patient, then it will happen. I have my goal, now it's up to me to successfully complete it.

Go Yankees!

Another Former Yankee Is Added To The Sports Room

To be honest, I wasn't planning on writing this blog post tonight. I was going to save it for tomorrow because I am beat. I mean beat like a drum. I am so tired that nothing will wake me up tonight. Why am I so tired you ask? Well, read on and you shall find out.

Today, I attended the Staten Island Yankees ticket sale day. As much as I enjoy going to Staten Island Yankees games, and I try to attend at least 3 games a year, I wasn't planning on picking up tickets the day the tickets went on sale. I used to have a mini plan, then I just decided to g to the games I wanted to attend, which was cheaper in the long run for me. But really, why was I at today's ticket event if I wasn't planning on purchasing tickets until later?

If you said to meet Hideki Matsui, you win a pack of Pocki.

But, admit it, you guessed it when you saw the picture, right?

Yes, When I heard for the price of a 9.00 ticket, I could meet the MVP of the 2009 World Series, I knew I was going to be there. My friend said we had to be there early because it was probably going to be a mad house. It made sense to me. Matsui has not made any apperances to my knowledge and his autograph is one of the harder ones to get, so naturally, I expected a lot of people showing up meet him. So, we agreed to be at Richmond County Ballpark by 7 AM.

Which meant I was getting up at 4:30. And that I did. Ugh.

This is what I saw at 5 AM Saturday morning. At this point, I am thinking that I am out of my mind. I only had 3 and a half hours of sleep the night before. I was without coffee. I was the Walking Dead at this point.

The 4 train was going local and I was afraid I was going to be late because of it, but luckily, I made it to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal with about 15 minutes to spare. I met up with my friend and we boarded the ferry to make the boat ride to Staten Island.

When we got to the Ballpark, there was only about 10 people in line. most were friends of my friend, so for the next couple of hours, I hung out with them and we talked autographing. Which players they scored, who was a jerk about signing, so on and so forth. Little by little, people started showing up, but not the crowd I was expecting.

here's the line at about 8 AM. The line had about 50 people at this point. Final tally, I heard, was 125 people. Not nearly as many as I was led to believe. I probably could have slept an extra hour.

And there's the front of the line. In actuality, I'm fine with getting there uber early. When the ticket windows opened at 9 AM, I got my ticket for June 28th, Yankees vs The Cyclones, and walked into the ballpark and got on the second line that led into the team store where Matsui would be signing.

Once we were inside, we were entertained by the team mascot, Scooter, The Holy Cow who was getting his freak on, delighting the children with his antics, but also scaring the old ladies who came out for the signing.

Once inside, the line moved pretty quick and before you know it, we were meeting Hideki Matsui. He was very kind, but quiet. He really didn't say too much. I do understand that his English isn't great, but he seemed like he understood what we were saying as he would sign inscriptions as instructed and would say thank you at the end of conversation.

I asked him for a 2009 World Series MVP inscription. I made the mistake of holding my pen and he thought I wanted him to sign with that pen and signed my ball in black ink, which I didn't want. But, it was my mistake for not paying attention, so I can live with the black ink autograph. I thanked him and went on my way.

Once we left the team store, My friend and I looked at the line and decided we could actually buy another ticket and go back on line for another autograph before he stopped signing at 12:00. When we got back in line, it was only 10:30 AM.

So, this time, I bought a ticket for August 30th Against the Vermont Lake Monsters, bought a baseball at the team store and got back on line. The line seemed to be moving faster than before and before you could say "It's a Thrilla, By Godzilla", we were back in front of Matsui. This time, I made sure my pen was in my bag and I asked for a Godzilla inscription, which he obliged in blue ink. I shook his hand, thanked him for the years of service to the Yankees and was on my merry way.

So, as I finish this blog, at 12:41 on a Sunday morning, you can now understand why I am seeing vapor trails right about now. But, as tired as I am, I have these that will make me dream easier tonight. Number 42 for the Yankee Signed Baseball PC.

Teixeira Tuesday-2009 Topps Heritage

One of my favorite releases of the year is always Topps Heritage. I love vintage stuff. Cards, toys, comic books, magazines, old black and white movies, 1950's and 60's Rock N' Roll are just some of the things I love. My buddy claims I have an old soul. It's either that or I just realize some things were better back in the day. That isn't to say I don't love the modern conveniences we have today. I guess you can say I love classic with a modern twist.

That's why I love the Heritage sets so much. A classic card design with modern ball players. Ever since Topps introduced the line back in 2001, I have tried to complete the Yankee team sets of this series. I do have some work on some of the sets, but I do love the thrill of the chase and I will continue to chase the cards I need to complete my Yankee sets.

The past few weeks I have been doing a lot of card organizing. I am creating binders for certain sets and on Sunday, I worked on my Heritage binder. Looking through the binder once it was done was pure enjoyment. To a lot of people, organizing can be a chore, but when it comes to my cards I find that it's a relaxing way to spend a weekend day. Put on some music and it makes the day that much better.

The 2009 Topps Heritage set was based on the design of the 1960 Topps set. 2009 was Teixeira's first season with the Yankees after signing a 8 year, 180 million dollar contract with the team. Usually, you get your first glimpse of a player in new duds in the Heritage set where the company will super impose the team colors, logos and whatever else on to the player. You can clearly see it in the photo above. The New York looks small and funny as well as the interlocking NY on his cap. I don't care how funny it looks, I love this card.

The moment Tex became a Yankee, I knew I would be collecting his cards. I was a fan of his when he was in Texas but I never collected him. The moment he put ink to paper I was on eBay looking for cards of his to buy. When this set came out, I was thrilled to have my first Teixeira card in pinstripes.

Even if the NY was Photoshopped.

This One Bleeds In From The House Of Swag

A couple of days ago, I posted on the Sports Room's brother blog, The Sexy Geek's House Of Swag, about an item I had been long interested in starting a collection of. If you can't what that is by the picture above, that item is lunch boxes.

While writing about them, I started thinking if there has been any sports lunch boxes I have come across in my youth and it triggered some memories that I had buried in the deepest regions of my brain. I HAD come across not one sports lunch box, but two of them in my days.

At the school I attended as a youngster, there was this MLB lunch box just lying around somewhere. The counselor who was assigned to my group either felt bad for me or got sick of my constant yapping about these cursed things and would let me play with this lunch box. I say play because if you look on the back of it...

There is a picture of an infield, a scoreboard and one lonely outfielder. I used to take this lunch box and play an actual 9 inning game with a spitball and a pencil. I recorded the outs, hits, strikeouts, walks and everything in between. I even had my own team, the Bronx Bombers. Yeah, not very original, I know. The team was made up of my friends and I and I would keep stats for each one of us and pad my own stats. I think I had 100 home runs one year. I even designed uniforms for us.

I would love to grab this lunch box. Obviously, the memories of the hours of joy playing the game in the back has something to do with it, but I just love the lithography on it. On the front, you have an obvious picture of a Red Sox player sliding into third base while a Yankee player is administering the tag (He was out, ump!). The side panel on one side has a Baltimore Oriole swinging a bat (Frank Robinson, maybe?) and the top has a pitcher at the tail end of making a pitch. If I had to guess what team he could be from, I'm guessing he's a Cardinal.

Great looking lunch box.

Moving on to a different sport, I also seem to recall a buddy of mine, a Steelers fan, if I remember, having this awesome lunch box.

 
This is really cool. What it has that the baseball one doesn't have is official logos, or helmet logos in this case, of all the teams that were in the National Football League. I had fun looking at the helmets on this lunch box, trying to count how many teams still were using the same helmets that was on this 1970's lunch box. On this side, The Cowboys, Saints, Bears, 'Skins, Lions, Cardinals, Vikings, Packers and Niners all have just about the same helmets.

These football lunch boxes must have sold well because during the 1960's and 70's there has been numerous NFL lunch boxes offered for the fans to pick up.

Here's one from 1978. I love the painted action shots n the front of the lunch box.  The Cowboys, Steelers, Rams, Raiders and Broncos are all represented here. Where is my team?

Right under the Houston Oilers helmet. 1978 was the year of this lunch box as well as the first year the Jets wore those helmets. I wish they would wear them again as alternates instead of the Titan unis.

This lunch box is from the early 70's, 1975, I think. Again, I love the classic helmets on this lunch box, 10 of which are not in full time use.

Here's one from 1973. Love the blue Oilers helmet on this lunch box.

There was one other from the early 1960's that I couldn't locate a picture of, unfortunately. I have seen it before. What I remember of it, it had a drawn action shot of a QB from the Bears dropping into the pocket while his offensive linemen tried to stop the blitz from the Green Bay Packers.

How about Hockey?

There are the generic ones like these from the 60's and 70's

Borrowed that one from Kovels's site.

NHLPA had lunch boxes of their own

And the players had lunch boxes of their own. Bobby Orr had a few all to himself.

Not an official player lunch box, but you can clearly tell that's Phil Esposito.

Of course, Wayne Gretzky has to have a lunch box of his own.

I'm not sure, but I am willing to bet the majority of those lunch boxes were Canadian. Maybe the Boston Bruin lunch boxes were made here in the good ole US of A, but I can't be too sure.

Shockingly, I could not find any examples of any vintage NBA lunch boxes. I would have thought with popularity in the NBA growing during the 60's and 70's, there would have been some lunch boxes produced, even if it was of players like Wilt Chamberlin, Jerry West, Walt Frazier, or Oscar Robertson. Aside from a Harlem Globetrotter one, there was nothing from basketball.

I did find one for you soccer fans.

I remember when Pele came to New York to play for the Cosmos. It was huge. I knew absolutely nothing about soccer, but when Pele played, I would watch the games. That's when I realized that soccer was not for me. I would give the sport a few more shots during various World Cups, but it just doesn't tickle my fancy.

So, as you can see, if you're a collector of a sport, team or player, chances are there was a lunch box produced that would nicely into your collection. The prices on these vary. They depend of if there is a thermos and condition, but most could be had for around the $50.00 mark. If you have the means, I would definitely suggest grabbing a few to add diversity to your collection.  

1997 Kenner Starting Lineup Mickey Mantle & Babe Ruth Cooperstown Collection

Before McFarlane's Sports Picks figures came out all of us sports fans were collectors of Kenner's Starting Lineup figures. These 4 inch figures that had no articulation what so ever and questionable likenesses to the players were ultra popular within the collecting community.

Except for me that is.

Let me explain. When Starting Lineup debuted in 1988, I was a junior in high school. I really wasn't doing much collecting at that point. I was too busy writing articles for the school paper, memorizing lines for the school plays and singing for the school choir. Toys? I had no time to collect. Heck, I barely had time for actual classes, but that's another story for another time.

I had friends who had some and I thought they were pretty cool. My buddy had all the Yankee releases and I thought that one day I would start picking them up, but that day never really came. All the money I made working went to other things. CD's, movie tickets, clothes, lunch money. I didn't ever think about spending any of my green backs on action figures. At this point, I had even given up collecting cards.

Fast forward about 15 years later. At this point, I am back into collecting cards and I also had started picking up McFarlane's Sports Picks. I was grabbing as many Yankee players as I could as well as Jets. So, it was just a matter of time before I would look towards the past and look into Starting Lineup figures for my Yankees collection. I would pick up a couple here and there, but I never really got too into them.

At one card show in White Plains, I came a cross a table that was selling various items for $5.00 and under. After looking through it, I came across 2 large Starting Lineup figures that featured Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth. I was intrigued by them and paid the man 10.00 for the pair and took them home. I then put them away and they have been in my closet for about 7 years. I found them the other day and bought them out, figuring I could put up a blog post about them.

I picked up these figures for a few reasons. I liked that these figures were larger then the usual Starting Lineup figures. I also loved that the bases for the figures was plastic molds of the original Yankee Stadium. That was something I had not seen at that point and that to me was the selling point.

The back of the packages has vintage shots of all the stadiums featured in this series. Only two stadiums that was in this series are still standing today. If you guessed Fenway and Wrigley, then you win absolutely nothing!

Kenner listed the players in this series on one side of the box. All of these players are Hall Of Famers and I would think a must for any Hall Of Fame/team/player collector.

I opened the Mantle first. This would be the first time I would be opening these figures. I wondered at first if I should be doing that, but I'm an opener and a firm believer that toys must be opened in order to truly enjoy them. Once I pulled the Mantle from out of the box, I noticed the backing had a shot of Mantle behind the figure. Then of course, I forgot to take pictures of the backing. Trust me, it was a nice shot of Mickey.

After struggling with the multiple twist ties that held the figure firmly in the box, I was able to pull Mantle off the backing. Looking at it, I was actually impressed with it. The figure itself is pretty simple in it's beauty. The figure is made of hard plastic with everything painted on. The stadium was made of a thinner plastic, but still solid nonetheless.

The paint job on this figure is pretty accurate to how the uniform looked when Mantle played. That was very important to me. Starting Lineup always did a pretty decent job of recreating the uniforms of different eras.

The Yankee Stadium base is very charming. The detail Kenner put into to it is simple, but effective, Not a ton of painting on it except for the green roofs, green grass and blue seats. I'm sure the stadium was molded in the stone color you see and the rest was painted in. Love the tab that let's you know that is indeed Yankee Stadium.

Some other shots of the stadium base it's self.

I think Kenner did an excellent job on the base. I never was able to see the original Yankee Stadium. I became a Yankees fan in 1976 as a 5 year old, the first year the second Yankee Stadium opened. I missed the original by 4 years. Then again, I would have been only 1, so I doubt I would have even remembered going anyway.

A close up of Mantle. Again, Kenner wasn't exactly known for their likenesses, but I think this one is pretty close to the Mick. I am a Mantle fan and I really don't have a lot of Mantle memorabilia so this one is pretty special to me.

Let's take a look at the Babe.

Same concept that the Mantle figure had. Twist tied to the backing board which featured a picture of Babe Ruth at the plate.

Again, Kenner nailed the uniform. Even right down to not having the interlocking NY on his jersey. I have seen a lot of Ruth figures that made the mistake of including it when in fact, Ruth never wore that version of the Yankee uniform, professionally. The team didn't start using the interlocking NY until 1936 and Ruth left the club in 1934. Ruth did wear it once or twice when he returned to Yankee Stadium for appearances after he retired.

That number is iconic. I have never understood why it's not retired throughout baseball. Ruth saved the game single handed after the Black Sox scandal. He bought in unforeseen revenue to both the Yankees and baseball. Crowds from all over would pack their teams stadiums when the Yankees were in town, just to see the Babe. To this day, people talk about Babe Ruth and the name still carries a lot of weight .

I decided not to take pictures of the Yankee Stadium base as it's the exact same one as the Mantle base.

Kenner did a decent job of getting the likeness. I mean, if you saw this figure, you would think it's a Ruth. Not the greatest, but it gets the job done.

I think these are two fun pieces to have in any baseball collection. They were different than most of the other figures Starting Lineup put out. I'm not sure if they were successful or not as I don't see any others made other than the series shown on the side of the box. If you're interested in picking these or any of the others, I have seen them on eBay go for fairly cheap. I do have a few other Starting Lineup figures I'll show from time to time, but I can honestly say that these two are my favorites and I can't wait until I can display them with my Yankees collection.