PWE Playhouse: A “Cello Pack” from CommishBob

I recently sent a PWE to CommishBob of Five Tool Collector fame.  I combined a recently-pulled 2016 Archives Brooks Robinson with a couple of cards which I’d put aside to send him “someday”, and some others that were complete crapshoots… But I was fortunate enough to get hits with every one.

Not terribly much later, I got a PWE from Bob… but one with extra postage and high-capacity toploaders, so by PWE standards it was more of a “cello” than the “wax pack” I’d sent.  No complaints here…

I’ll run through the highlights after the obligatory “PWE Playhouse” cartoon…

2006 Upper Deck is my second-favorite UD set, next to the beautiful 1993 set.

Due to the huge 1250-card checklist, it seems like I’m always on the lookout for more of these.  Open letter to former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson:  We’re still waiting for you to deliver the promised “fix” for Zambrano’s flaws (And I’m sure Peterson’s not at all tired of hearing that).

I also got two 1995 Topps CyberStats cards which are, believe it or not, my first CyberStats cards… or if I’d gotten any before they weren’t for anybody that I collected and they went out the way they came in.  1995 was the year after a labor kerfuffle resulted in the loss of the end of the season and the World Series, and so pissed off was I that a personal financial boycott of all things MLB ensued, with the sole exception of buying a hand-collated 1995 Topps set.

I bring this up as a long-winded way of saying that I’ve got a crap-ton of 1990’s cards but very few inserts from 1995… Honestly, very few of any 1995 cards outside of Topps base cards.  I’ve done what I can to avoid those horrific 1995 Fleer cards.

This is my first 2016 Allen & Ginter… And I was shocked and a little bit delighted to find out that I really like it.

You’ve got to understand, I’m not a Ginter fan.  I welcome any that come my way, but it’s been a number of years since I’ve actively sought any out.  You’ll find no Gint-A-Cuffs posts in this blog’s nearly 5-year history, and a few years ago I gently mocked A&G with my “Simon & Gintfunkel” customs.

So when I pulled this A&G card out of the PWE, I was genuinely surprised that I liked it… Not just “Hey, it’s a Mets card I don’t have”, there was actual appreciation involved.  …Yet I’m not sure why I like this when other A&G sets have left me lukewarm.  At some point I’ll track down some more and maybe I’ll be able to put things into words.

Somehow, a Steeler found his way into my PWE.  It’s all good,  I am a Steelers fan… once baseball is over for me, anyway.  In a good year, the Black And Gold don’t get my full attention until November.

I hadn’t seen one of these cards before, and that’s because it’s a 2016 Score football card.  I’ll have to make a wantlist for this set, they’re pretty nice.

I wish I could say the same about these throwback unis.  Gah!  I will be very happy when they get put out to pasture… but according to Steelers.com, I’m going to have to wait at least another season for these to go away.  (*sigh*)

I’d never seen this 2005 Upper Deck card of Kazuo Matsui, but it’s a damn nice card.

It’s also got dueling Matsuis…. Along with Kaz Matsui, it also has Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui, the far more successful of the two unrelated Matsui’s.  A card like this would undoubtedly be popular in Japan, but I’m going to resist the urge to sell it on Japanese eBay for a huge payday.

Kaz Matsui wasn’t a bad player in the Majors, but he wasn’t quite what Mets fans were hoping for… but then, who is?

Before I move on from this card, I thought there was a decent chance that I could figure out which play this is… but I can’t.  The Yankees visited Shea Stadium from July 2nd to July 4th in 2004, but on both the 3rd and 4th there were double-plays involving Godzilla being put out at second by Kaz, so we’ll all have to be satisfied with knowing which series it was from.  The Mets swept the Yankees in that series, so I’ll get over not being able to determine the exact play.

Dwight Gooden, from one of the 3,782 box sets that Fleer put out in the 1980’s.

OK, I’m exaggerating… but only a little.  And be honest, if someone were to come out with a K-Mart “limited edition box set”, we’d all be falling over ourselves to find the nearest K-Mart (I have no idea where any are, myself).

Carlos Gomez.  Oh, my.  One-time mega Mets prospect.  A key piece in the package that brought Johan Santana to Queens.

This year he’s putting up career-low numbers in pretty much any statistic you care to mention, and his stock has fallen so far that the Astros just dumped him despite the decent chunk still owed on the $9M he’s earning this year.  The Rangers picked him up, but he’s still playing at a well below average level.

2016 Stadium Club Seaver!  From the cut of the uniform and the cut of his hair, I’m thinking this is a fairly early photo of Tom Terrific.

He’s got dirt on his right knee, so all was good with the world that day.

Black Parallel Jeurys Familia!

For me, it’s less about “black parallel” and more about “Stadium Club Jeurys Familia!”

2016 Archives Michael Conforto.

I’ve ripped a fair amount of Archives, but hadn’t managed to pull the Mets #1 pick from 2014.

I’ll wrap up with three cards from the 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated World Series Fever set.  Fleer’s short-term partnership with SI resulted in some nice cards, and I really should make more of an effort to track these down.  Maybe I’ll move it up into my Top 100 goals for 2017.

…And for all the cards I’ve shared in this post, it doesn’t quite make half of what Bob sent; however, just because the cards weren’t shared here doesn’t mean that they were any less appreciated.  Thanks, Bob, I really enjoyed the PWE!