Rubies are red...

As far as basketball parallels go, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a more popular set than the 1997-98 and 1998-99 Skybox Premium Star Rubies.

Premiering in the '96-97 edition of Skybox Premium, they started off as a non-serial numbered parallel, that if memory serves, averaged out at to one per box. The only thing that distinguished these original Star Rubies from the base cards was that the player's name and the Premium logo are in red instead of gold. A far cry from what they would later become. While still collectible, these don't seem to be overly desired at this point in time.

Skybox upped the ante with the '97-98 release by serial numbering them to /50, while also adding some short printed copies numbered to /25. If that wasn't enough, the surface of the card also now had a shimmery, almost refractoresque quality to it. Being numbered to /50 doesn't seem like a big deal today, but back then that was basically the modern equivalent of a 1/1. With no stated odds, most people seem to believe that they were seeded at around 1:1000-1500 packs. The odds could have even been more, but even by those estimates, they were a tough pull.

For the '98-99 edition, Skybox must have realized that they had a good thing going, as they didn't try to change things up to much. Besides a different base design, which was of course to be expected, the only real change, came in the different light-bending effects used for the Rubies. Still incredibly difficult to pull, this particular year of Rubies seems to be the most popular edition with collector's today.

Far less attractive than the previous two years, Skybox really dribbled the ball off their foot with the '99-00 release. The base card design was much less interesting, and the refractor-like quality that had made the set so popular, was now toned down considerably. And I guess in an attempt to up the collectability, the number was reduced to /45, which I don't believe ended up creating the desired effect. There is still a market for these, but most of them will go for far less than the two previous sets.

For all intensive purposes, Star Rubies as everyone knew them, ended after the '99-00 release. Trying to capitalize on past popularity, Fleer (owner of Skybox international) would later bring back the Star Rubies two more times, the first being for their 2001-02 Freer Premium set, these were Rubies in name only as seemingly they have nothing in common with the original run (plus their ugly as sin!). The second, and hopefully, final attempt by Fleer to cash in on the past came with the release of 2013-14 Fleer Retro. In this set they used Rubies as parallels to the '96-97, '97-98, and '98-99 Skybox Premium portions of the set. Fleer didn't (and still doesn't) have a licensing deal with the NBA, so while Rubies actually sort of look like they did, having the players pictured in their college uniforms really takes away from the overall aesthetic (at least in this humble blogger's opinion).

[Many thanks to Billy for pointing out that Fleer continued it's attempt to run the once beloved Star Rubies name in to the ground by creating an even more generic/uninteresting design for their 2002-03 Fleer Premium set. These failed to come up in any of my searches, after now seeing them, it's not difficult to understand why] 

Believe it or not, that long intro/half-assed history lesson, was my way of setting up this 1998-99 Cherokee Parks Star Rubies that I got from a fellow off of the Sports card forum a couple of weeks ago.

Even though they are very sought after, there are still a few names that can be gotten relatively cheap, Cherokee Parks being one of them. I ended up paying $15 for this one, which I considered to be a heck of a deal.

One does have to be wary of all the Taiwanese fakes that have flooded the market (eBay), I won't go in to how to spot the counterfeits here, as you can easily find that info via a google search, but I will say that they are pretty easy to spot (especially in person) once you know what to look for.

The 1998-99 edition of Skybox Premium was the last set I was working on before getting out of the card collecting game for next 10+ years. In late 1998 into early 1999, I was very enamored with the set, which led me to buy probably the equivalent of three boxes worth of packs. I pulled a lot of great stuff out of those packs, including a Ron Mercer Rubies, which I regrettably sold in the mid-2000's. The money from the sale was very helpful at the time, and I really didn't think I would ever be returning to card collecting, so I figured why not get what I could for it. Since returning to the hobby, that is one of the cards I really wish I still had, but maybe someday I will find another one at a price that works for me.

I hadn't planned on ever showing it here, but since I'm talking about Rubies, I might as well add this 1998-99 Chris Whitney Rubies that I got on COMC last year.

Another name from the set that isn't a hot commodity, this one set me back somewhere around $18 in earned credit. I never bother looking for Rubies on eBay, primarily because of all the competition, but I certainly don't mind picking up a few of the less desirable players on the cheap here and there.


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Forgotten buybacks

I haven't done a buyback related post in a couple of months now, primarily because I haven't been getting very many as of late.

However, last month when I finally finished going through and sorting all of my old picture/scan folders, I was left with quite a few buybacks that had yet to make an appearance. So to make things simple, I'm just going to dump them all in to one post, and consider myself caught up (at least on the buybacks).

Most of these, like pretty much everything else in my old folders, are from various COMC shipments over the last two years or so. I'm hoping by clearing out all this old stuff, that by the time the next shipment arrives (around Christmas), and any future orders... that I can start getting in to the habit of covering the newer acquisitions in a more timely manner.

When it comes to most things, older is almost always better, buybacks included. Off the top of my head, I'm not certain, but I think I might have one stamped '58 Topps. If I do, then it would be my oldest buyback, if I don't, then I have half a dozen or so 59's that share the title of oldest. I really like the way Cubs logo looks with the black background on Dick Drott's card.

I wonder if technically I can call this a Willie Mays buyback?

It's always kind of weird to get a stamped card for the frankenset, that you still need an unstamped version of for an actual set.

For some reason when I think Cubs, the first three players that come to mind are: Banks, Santo, and Koonce!

Don Heffner is shown representing the Cincinnati Blues Reds.

If I were ever to start team collecting (highly unlikely), I would probably start with the Senators.

I think I need both of these guy's in unstamped form as well.

Some name recognition. I have three different versions of the '72 Rollie Fingers now, original, buyback, and autographed.

Tom Kelley is a former Portland Beaver, posting a 16-3 record in 1965.

The Penguin adds some more name power to the set, and Rob is a semi-rare (at least for me), '89 UD buyback. Oh, and how about the similarity in names?

This group of cards, and the two below, all came from a card show last year (I think). I don't know why they weren't added to a show recap post, and I don't even remember which particular show they came from.

Don Mossi seems to be getting a lot of blog love as of late, so I guess this is my contribution to that.

I may not be able to pinpoint when exactly it was that I got these, but I remember that these last three groups of card show buybacks, were 50 cents each. That I remember, because the price seemed then (and even now), to be almost to good to be true.

Back to COMC for these last three:

These were gotten during the 2016 spring sale, and were my first two football buybacks. I hadn't planned on trying a football frankenset, but after I came across that '69 Kermit Alexander for under a buck, I figured why not? They aren't nearly as prolific as they are on the baseball side, so it seems a little harder to find 'em on the cheap. But if Topps keeps on doing them, that problem should resolve itself within a few years.

Mike McCoy wants to know what you're looking at! His '77 RC is pretty cool addition too. So far I only have seven cards for this frankenset, and at the pace I'm acquiring them, this is probably going to be much more of a long term project.


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Bookstore Bonanza #1

I don't know how excited anyone's going to be to read another occasional/ongoing non-card series, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. And I guess the folks that really don't like this, or the estate sale finds series that I just recently started, will probably not be too happy to know that I have two more series' of primarily non-card items in the works.

Before moving here a couple of years ago, one of the last things I expected to find was a used bookstore, let alone a really good used bookstore. I just didn't associate rural Tennessee with books.

To my knowledge, The Book Cellar also happens to be the only used bookstore anywhere near me, so I guess it's a good thing that's worth visiting on a semi regular basis. For lovers of variety, not only do they have a great selection of books, but they also carry magazines, CD's, DVD's, and my personal favorite, videos.

I've mentioned before that if I go somewhere that has VHS tapes, that is the section I will head to first 99% of the time. What I haven't mentioned before, is that I am also willing to travel fairly long distances just to go to a place that still has videos for sale, in fact I will be doing just that sometime in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, I only have to drive about 1/2 an hour to get to the bookstore though.

At this point in my life, I really don't know if there is anything I enjoy more than searching through shelves/stacks of videos. I find it both, fun and relaxing. In a way, it also sort of feels like a form of time travel as well, taking me back to a time when VHS was king -- which in my mind, was a better time.

Since I have probably more books to read currently than I'll ever be able to get to, my sole purpose for going to the bookstore is almost always videos. At any given time they have around 200 or so to look through, so trying to go every other month usually ensures that, even with the sometimes slow turnover, I won't walk away empty-handed.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, the posts in this series will more often than not, be VHS oriented. And just in case the one person reading ever sees something of interest, I will include not only the front of the box, but also the synopsis on the back as well.

So without further ado, let's see how well I did during last week's visit, in which I went hoping to find some stuff for the Halloween season:

Having never even heard of it before, I can tell this was going to really be one of those "hit or miss" movies for me, most like a miss, but it was still worth the chance.

I bought this one to be a backup copy as I already have it, also this one has a different cover than the one I already have, so that's always cool. For a movie you never hear about, I was surprised a couple of years ago when I first saw it, at just how good/funny it is.

One of the few Hitchcock movies I haven't seen.

 

I didn't include the synopsis on this one, as I'm assuming everyone is already familiar with Citizen Kane. I already have this in multiple formats, but this is a Nostalgia Merchant release, and they, along with GoodTimes , are/were my favorite video distributors.

I have never seen the original or the remake, so I figured it was about time to correct one of those wrongs. I probably won't ever bother with the remake though.

 

I had never seen or heard of this straight to video release before, but it looked pretty interesting. Having now watched it, I can say that, despite the weak storyline and the subpar acting, I rather enjoyed it... just don't ask me to try and explain why though.

 

I feel like I have spent most of my life trying to catch up with all the movies that came out before I was born, and even though I think I've done a pretty good job doing so, I still keep finding things that I should have seen by now... but haven't. All About Eve is a perfect example, I'm familiar with it, but just haven't ever gotten around to seeing it. Length wise, this will be a two-nighter for me.

 

Another one that has flown (pun) under my radar.

 

I hadn't seen it before, but here's another one I really enjoyed, not that I thought I wouldn't, as I like just about everything George Peppard ever did. I really liked how the timeline of this film took place over the entirety of the war. There are also some really great performances in here, most notably from, Capucine. Even George Hamilton, who will never be known for his acting ability, gave a good turn.

 

I did end up finding one Halloween related video, not one I would have expected, but that's part of what makes searching so fun. An out of print tape, this one is kind of hard to find outside of eBay. This video really made me nostalgic (even more so than usual) for Cartoon Network's early days.

And for an unexpected bonus:

There are a couple of boxes of free stuff in a shadowy nook off to the side of the entrance, that until this particular trip, I had somehow never noticed before. While waiting for my videos to be wrung up, I watched a girl that works there take one of their store shopping carts, that was full of items, out and start filling the boxes. So on my way out, I of course had see what these were all about.

They ended up being pretty bad, mostly old books on economics and other assorted snoozers. One of the boxes had just had a few loose videos added to it, unfortunately it was just a couple of 5-minute buns type titles. Underneath those though, was this loose Road To Bali DVD. I have seen all the Road to... movies, but didn't own any of them, so this was kind of neat to find for free. All in all, I considered this to be a very successful outing.


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Strip for less

Even though I get a great deal of my cards from COMC, I don't usually purchase many during their Black Friday sale, which as most of you already know, is their biggest sale of the year.

It just doesn't seem like the stuff I'm interested in, is ever marked down enough during the sale for me to want to buy it (or more appropriately, use earned credit on it) I also seem to have a problem with the cards I'm interested in being from sellers who raise their prices before the sale, only to then put their items on "sale" for more than they were before.

Last year ended up being a bit different though, in that I ended up getting around 25 cards during the sale, including one from a set that I had never seen before:

Behold my first 1948 blue tint strip card, or if you want to be a card snob about it, my first R346.

A 48-card set, that was issued in eight-card strips, with six cards per strip. Measuring roughly 2"x 2 5/8" when cut, and as you can see, the backs are blank. Like so many other early sets, this one is loaded with variations.

This particular card has a few condition issues, but for a little over $2, I thought it was well worth it.

Paul was the closest card around to use for scale.



Before getting this card I didn't really know anything about Eddie Stanky, so of course I hit the interwebs in an attempt to become more informed. Turns out, he was a really interesting fellow.

An eventual three time all-star, he spent eight years trying to break into the bigs. After finally making it, he played 11 seasons and managed for 8, one of those seasons being as a player/manager.

He was primarily known for two things, his ability to draw walks, and his desire to win. His desire to win was so great, that like a number of players from his era and before, he didn't mind bending the rules and/or taking advantage of the rules. In fact his antics were at times, so over the top, that at least three rule changes would be made because him. The most famous one became known as the "Stanky Rule", which was enacted because of his attempting to distract opposing batters from his position at second base, where he would, among other things, jump up and down, yell, and wave his arms.

For anyone that's interested, these R346's seem to be pretty cheap, at least for the players not named DiMaggio, Feller, Gehrig, Robinson, and Williams. Personally, I think they're pretty cool, and I hope to add a few more to my collection at some point


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New old stock

Once put in to succession, I don't know if the English language contains three finer words.

Between movie posters, Mexican lobby cards, and a whole bunch of other odds and ends, I did not need another thing to go on the wall. In fact I probably already have enough for an entire house's worth of walls as is. But if you're me, and you're perusing eBay for unrelated items, and you just so happen to come across an Elvira poster from 1987, for $12.99 w/ free shipping... you can't not buy it!

I should probably note that the above image isn't of my poster (mine's in much better shape), I just didn't feel like unrolling it and trying to take a picture, so I pilfered this one from elsewhere.

                

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TTM Triumph: Stu Jackson

My 1989-90 Hoops autograph project continues on with another recent success:

I have wanted Stu's autograph for a while now, primarily because he was member of Oregon's Kamikaze Kids, him having a card in this particular set is just an added bonus.

A coach at both the collegiate, and professional level, he was also the NBA's Executive Vice President for over a decade.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Jackson for taking the time to sign my card.


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Ghost of Mars

A couple of months ago while doing an unrelated google search, I came across an old post that Matt, from Dinosaur Dracula, had written a couple of years ago about Mars candy Halloween pails.

I have been a reader of his for a few years, but not only had I never read this article, but I also had never even heard of these pails. Since this is something that is right in my wheelhouse, and would have probably been even more so as a kid, I couldn't believe that something like this could have been existence for almost thirty years without me knowing about it.

Produced in 1989 (and 1990?, more on that in a second), there was a ghost, a pumpkin, and a goblin -- and all three of them are absolutely fantastic.

After instantly falling in love with them, I knew I had to get them in to my life as soon as possible, which of course means... eBay!

They aren't quite as plentiful on eBay as I had thought they might be, and a number of the one's that are available, seem to be missing their candy bar stickers. So far I have only gotten this here ghost, which set me back $12, and it was worth every penny.

At around 9" tall, these were made out of some really chunky plastic. You could probably concuss someone, were you to knock 'em upside the head with it.

I noticed while looking through the listings, that a couple of them seemed to have different face stickers. At first, I thought it was just a case of the stickers coming off, and then people putting sticking the faces back on the wrong bodies.

After doing some more searching though, I found an article on Euclid Boo, that puts forth the thought that they may have been released in '89 and '90. Which if correct, might explain why each of the pails seem to have two different faces. And knowing how my brain works, I am now going to have to track down the variations as well.

There is also some uncertainty has to how these were given out/sold, either way though, it was obviously a Halloween promotion of some sort.

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