Show Review: TwinsFest 2010

Okay, I seem to say this every year; "I'm not going next year." But when January comes around, I look forward to it, I buy the ticket(s) in advance, I save some spending money, I go and fight through the crowds, and end up purchasing... nothing!

If I were a Twins or Vikings fan it might be different, but even though it's labeled as the midwest's largest sports memorabilia show, nearly all the vendors have very little in terms of variety. I skipped the $6.50 dome dog (which was $4.25 if you bought the same thing in the concorse) and bought $5 in supplies. Never again.

Update

Sorry, no new acquisitions this week. I'm saving money for TwinsFest, the largest card show in the midwest is this coming Saturday. I'll have plenty of pictures and hopefully some great buys to post next week.

Head To Head: Legends Vs. Greats of the Game

This week I decided to put two base sets against each other; 1999 Upper Deck Century Legends (legends) against 2004-05 Fleer Greats of the Game (Greats). If you want, vote on your favorite in the poll at the top-right of this page!

• Condition: Legends - For some reason I see more and more Greats singles with nasty chipping problems on the edges and corners. Maybe it's because they're printed on thicker card stock.
• Design: Greats - Greats has that nostalgic wood background in a frame design that makes a complete set in a binder look awesome. Plus, I never liked the Sporting News logo UD used. I think they could've done more with it.
• Star Ratio: Legends - Legends was an obvious winner with the 50 greatest players announced in '96 plus future stars. But having to leave-out Magic Johnson (contract reasons) knocked this set out of "best set ever" contention.
• Photography: Legends - Although the Greats set has a better design, Legends had devoted more room for photography.
• Inserts: Legends - Greats just had the gold parallel and the autographs as inserts, while Legends had a parallel, autographs, and numerous insert sets.
• Result: Legends - It was close, but Greats was just outmatched. Design was a huge factor to overcome, but the overall quality and player selection of Legends was more than enough.

In The Mail This Week

Not much to post this week, but I did get a couple in the mail last week. The Stockton is onw of my all-time favorite cards of the best-ever point guard and the Mullin was a tough find and is in relatively good shape. These were hard to pass up. Look for a new Match-Up posting tomorrow and the start of a "project."

Show Review

I know I have no usable photos and no cards to show, but I have to write about the show at Maplewood Mall on the 12th. Once I got done spending about 20 minutes just waiting to get into the mall parking lot and finding a spot barely within walking distance, I entered the mall to find that the show wasn't in one area, but around the second-story rotunda. So every table I stopped to view I had to make sure that the constant shopper traffic could get by (and no, I'm not that big a guy). I spent about 15 minutes and got out. Hopefully the show this Saturday will make up for it.

Head To Head: Thrill Seekers Vs. Hot Numbers

Normally I'd put sets from competing companies against one another, but as a huge fan of the lenticular designs, I wanted to see which one of these would come out on top. If you want, vote on your favorite in the poll at the top-right of this page!

• Condition: Tie - Both sets are made virtually identical and the plastic-like material is awesome for those of us who are condition weary.
• Design: Hot Numbers - Although both are visually appealing, I like the depth and color of the Hot Numbers set. The Thrill Seeker design is pretty cool, but doesn't seem to translate as well to the 3-D effect.
• Star Ratio: Thrill Seekers - This category was tough. Both have Jordan, Barkley, Hill, Kidd, and O'Neal among others, so for me, it comes down to either Malone and Olajuwon (Hot Numbers) or Robinson and Miller (Thrill Seekers). I'd rather have the later.
• Photography: Hot Numbers - I like the near-full body photography of the Thrill Seekers but the players and images on the Hot Numbers are much, much more clear.
• Odds: Thrill Seekers - Thrill Seekers were inserted at a rate of one in 240 packs while Hot Numbers were inserted one in every 36.
• Result: Hot Numbers - The first modern-day, mainstream lenticular, Hot Numbers continues to be one of my favorites. What's even better is that Flair continued the theme in series two with the Play Makers inserts.

In The Mail This Week

I've been winning a lot of my $5 eBay auctions lately and these are the three I received in the mail last week. I couldn't wait to get the Mullin that's numbered "13/17". 13 was his Olympic jersey number and 17 was is Warriors jersey number. Now one of my best Mullin cards. The Duncan was my first purchase of a Panini product (numbered out of 150). I always liked the 02-03 Finest design and had yet to win a Hill from that set until now.

Head To Head: Jambalaya Vs. Noyz Boyz

This matchup is between the 97-98 E-X2001 Jambalaya set and the 98-99 SkyBox Thunder Noyz Boyz set. The Jambalaya set was groundbreaking when it was released at the end of the 1997-98 card season. The rarest of the insert sets coming from a premium set that still ranks as one of my all-time favorite base set designs. Colorful design with a 3-d background and great photography, no wonder it's value has stayed solid for a decade. The Noyz Boyz set had the same size and star power that the Jambalaya set had but with a slightly different foil background. This set came from a very unpopular base set that didn't go over well with collectors. Because of this, the Noyz Boyz set was easier to pull from packs, but since not nearly as many packs were opened, it's seems just as diffecult to come by as the Jambalaya cards.

• Condition: Jambalaya - Although both sets were printed on a plastic-like card stock, the Noyz Boyz set have those nasty sharp corners that are a problem when collectors attempted to slide them into card sleeves. The only fault to the Jambalaya design is an occasional centering problem.
• Design: Noyz Boyz - I like the colorful Jambalaya, but the vertical name in the background bothers me (I did like the change Upper Deck made to the newest Jambalaya issues).
• Star Ratio: Noyz Boyz - 13 of the 15 cards in both sets are the same players. The only difference between them is Jambalaya has Damon Stoudamire and Eddie Jones while Noyz Boyz has Ray Allen and Antoine Walker. This is a toughy. I'll give Noyz Boyz the paper-thin edge (lucky for Walker, Allen's name alone outweighs Stoudamire and Jones).
• Odds: Jambalaya - Jambalaya was inserted at a rate of one in 720 packs while Noyz Boyz was inserted one in every 300.
• Result: Jambalaya - I'll admit it. Given the choice between a Jordan Jambalaya and a Jordan Noyz Boyz. Jambalaya wins easy.

Show Review

I didn't expect much but it was on my way home from my job. Like I said before, I've been seeing the same vendors with the same cards for weeks now. I'm going to have to branch out and do a couple road trips pretty soon. I did find one vendor with some fresh cards. The first Hill Molten Metal is extremely difficult to find and would probably sell for more than I paid, but I'm keeping that one for my Hill collection. The Thomas Die Cut All-Star is also difficult to find and is part of one of the best insert sets ever. I always wanted a Jordan card with him wearing 45 and the Finest version will have some condition issues in the future (fading) (see earlier post). All three cards for $10 so technically I didn't go over my $5/card rule.

Show Review

After an early shift at my Saturday job I stopped by this Brooklyn Park Embassy Suites for it's nearly monthly card show. A little less impressive than the last time I visited. The ad in the newspaper stated "Tables Sold Out!", that's not much to say about 10/11 vendors (they should say how many vendors are attending because some of those vendors can really spread their stuff out. Almost all the tables were the same vendors/sellers and almost all the cards were the same. I might have to start waiting longer and longer in between these area shows just so I can see some new stuff when I do go. But I did find a card that I recently lost in an auction on Ebay not too long ago (it went over my $5 max). It was priced at $6, but I asked if he'd take $5. So overall, not a total waist of time.