Another Random 8

Since the point of starting this blog was to showcase what was in this giant collection, I figured I better get on the stick.  So with that, I bring you another episode of The Random 8.  These are 8 cards pulled, at random, from a box that I may be currently going through.  Why 8?  Because that is how many fit comfortably on my scanning bed.  These can be anything, all sports, even non-sport.  I'll even attempt to comment.  Also, if I ever show anything you might want, let me know before it goes back to the garage or gets put up for sale.

 (From left to right, Top to bottom)


1.  1993 Skybox Ultraverse II Origins Mantra Promo Card - Another non-sport promo card from a random box.  This one is from the Ultraverse II set produced by Skybox in 1993-1994.  These cards feature artwork created by some of the biggest comic artists of the time.  This particular card features Mantra, a man trapped in a women's body.  The background story, and I'm not a comic guy so bare with me, is that a warrior who was immortal for some reason or another has to become a mortal woman and a sorceress.  How's that for a story line.  The character was created by the comic artist Matt Barr.  There are also autographed versions of these floating around the universe too.

2.  1999 Topps Gold Label Class 1 Todd Hundley - I was always a fan of the Topps Gold Label series.  Any sport, any year.  I like the card stock, the reflective/glossy surface, and the design with multiple cut out shots of the player.  The backs, on the other hand, need some work.  They only show career totals with average stats and career best.  Although, this years set has a short write up on the player.

3.  1992 Wild Card Decision '92 Ross Perot (and George Bush) - This is still sealed in the promo pack it came from originally back in 1992.  Apparently a ton of these were given out during the various campaigns as "special cards" or promos.  They also put out parallels just like the football versions with numbers stripes that could be redeemed and traded through their Trading Card Center.  These were manufactured by AAA Cards.

4.  1992 Topps Stadium Club Batman Returns Promo - These were put out right before the movie was released and featured 100 cards.  The cards show movie photos, behind-the-scenes shots, and also included some production artwork.  I think it would have been cool if they inserted these at random into the baseball and football sets back then.  Could you imagine pulling one of these out of those poorly packaged cellophane wrappers?


5.  1996 Upper Deck A Cut Above Ken Griffey Jr. #CA3 - Another die-cut card by Upper Deck.  The subtitle on this one is "Fun Loving".  "Once in spring training, when he lost a bet for a steak dinner to manager Lou Piniella, he paid up by bringing a live cow into Piniella's office."  That's no bull.  Get it?  Bull.


6.  1980 Topps Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Series II Star Pilot Luke Skywalker - This was from the second series of ESB cards.  It features 132 cards with 33 stickers.  On the back is a trivia question.  "What is the first spaceship ever to be seen in a STAR WARS movie?"  The answer is on card 148.

7.  1993 Gil Elvgren's Ladies of Naughty Nostalgia Promo Pin up Girl - These were produced by Comic Images through Gil Elvgren's publishing company Brown & Bigelow back in 1993.  The cards all feature pin-up girls from the 40s and 50s and were contained in a 90 card set.  There were also three bonus Super Spectra-Scope and three Opti-Prism cards randomly inserted in packs.  I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these around considering the popularity of pin-up art.


8.  2004 Topps Opening Day Gary Sheffield #105 - Nothing special.  Just a base card.  It was just weird that it was sandwiched between some of the ones above.  By this point, Sheff had been in the league for 18 years.  Here we see him contributing to his 2003 Braves season RBI record (which was held by Hank Aaron).