As I said in my last post for a purchase, I’m still catching up with recent purchases from Ryan (@ryansvintagecards on IG and @RyansVintageCA on Twitter)… and I still have one more little one after this.
He’s running another big sale right now with some great vintage cards, so if you like this and you want in, check him out and get in on it. It runs through Thursday, December 28th at 6PM (the day I’m posting this).
I’m doing this the same way I did this the last time. There’s a pattern for each pack: the oldest card, the autographed card, the most interesting card, and the wild card, then some comments. The wild card is just another card in the pack that I found had something too it. That might be that I could TTM it, or it could be something else that was burning in my brain when I saw it.
Let’s dig in!
Pack #1
The Oldest Card: 1961 Topps Jim Grant
The Autographed Card: 1985 O-Pee-Chee Fred Breining
The Most Interesting Card: 1991 Topps Traded Jason Giambi
The Wild Card: 2015 Topps Update MLB All-Star Game Access Lorenzo Cain
With Ryan being from Canada (although I’m not exactly sure that’s entirely the reason), you are sure to get a few O-Pee-Chee versions of 80’s cards in your pack. In this case Fred Breining, his glasses, and that sweet warmup were starting me off… plus the ink included. Then the old Jason Giambi USA card from the Topps Traded sets of the time.
Pack #2
The Oldest Card: 1961 Topps Howie Nunn
The Autographed Card: 1993 Upper Deck Frank Bolick
The Most Interesting Card: 1990 Swell Baseball Greats Mudcat Grant
The Wild Card: 1991 Topps Jim Vatcher
You might not think too much of the Jim Vatcher card, but for me, there’s something to getting a card signed of a guy that’s signing autographs. I’m trying to find more of those to get them signed. While Jim isn’t actively signing, I think this one applies. It’s fan interaction at least.
Pack #3
The Oldest Card: 1971 Topps Jim Williams/Dave Robinson
The Autographed Card: 1990 Upper Deck Ray Lankford
The Most Interesting Card: 1973 Topps Bill Stoneman
The Wild Card: 1996 Metal Universe Platinum Portraits Rondell White
Ray Lankford is another good example of a guy that I will probably never get an autograph from so it’s nice to get in one of these packs. I see him do private signings, but getting him to sign usually doesn’t bubble up over me getting some other guys to sign.
Pack #4
The Oldest Card: 1972 Topps Oscar Gamble
The Autographed Card: 1988 Score Pat Sheridan
The Most Interesting Card: 1986 Fleer Update Jose Canseco
The Wild Card: 1977 Topps Darrel Chaney
Jose on the 1986 Fleer Update is pretty cool. There will be a Bobby Bonilla from the same set later on, which isn’t extremely noteworthy, but always funny to see him in a White Sox uniform. My wild card of Darrel Chaney is really for his pose in that picture. Love that era of Braves caps too.
Pack #5
The Oldest Card: 1963 Topps Ron Perranoski
The Autographed Card: 1987 Donruss Ken Landreaux
The Most Interesting Card: 1981 Topps Dan Meyer
The Wild Card: 1981 Donruss Larry Cox
The back have of these pictures is filled with some really great pajamas… er, uniforms. Not sure what was going on back then, but there was so much multi-colored elastic back then. I would say that Seattle had a great example of it, but really most teams did. At least the text on the uniforms was at least imaginative back then.
Pack #6
The Oldest Card: 1959 Topps Bob Giallombardo
The Autographed Card: 1991 Upper Deck Danny Darwin
The Most Interesting Card: 1989 Upper Deck Bill Buckner
The Wild Card: 1983 Donruss David Green
While he was really good other places, it’s just so odd for me not to think of Bill Buckner as anything other then a Red Sox player. I know he was with other teams way longer, but he was part of a crazy moment in my team’s history in that uniform so that’s mostly how I think of him.
Pack #7
The Oldest Card: 1972 Topps Gaylord Perry
The Autographed Card: 1997 Upper Deck SP Mike Lansing
The Most Interesting Card: 1994 Upper Deck Greg Maddux
The Wild Card: 1991 Upper Deck Matt Stairs
I opened these packs shortly after Gaylord Perry passed away so this one was special to open. I think this card is probably one of the cards that Ryan identified as the good vintage ones he was putting in packs. I have a lot of Perry’s later cards and not as much from this era of his long career.
Pack #8
The Oldest Card: 1973 Topps George Foster
The Autographed Card: 1989 Upper Deck George Bell
The Most Interesting Card: 1996 Pinnacle Sample Tony Clark
The Wild Card: 1989 Upper Deck Mickey Tettleton
That George Foster definitely needs to get some ink on it. Tony Clark is the first sample of the “Sample” cards in these packs. There were a few of those in these packs and you’ll see more later.
Pack #9
The Oldest Card: 1973 Topps Randy Hundley
The Autographed Card: 1991 Studio David Segui
The Most Interesting Card: 1975 Topps Joe Rudi
The Wild Card: 1981 Topps Seattle Mariners
That Randy Hundley card is pretty sweet looking. The image just seems perfect and has some great color. Another good looking card is the Joe Rudi. The colors in the 1975 Topps cards rarely actually go with the colors of the team so for this one to match perfectly is awesome.
Pack #10
The Oldest Card: 1974 Topps Dave Giusti
The Autographed Card: 1983 Topps Storm Davis
The Most Interesting Card: 1976 Topps Ron Cey
The Wild Card: 1986 Fleer Update Bobby Bonilla
These are the first packs where I got a repeat of a card I already have signed. I have a lot of Storm Davis cards signed because he is such a good signer. Of course the ’83 is a nice one to have signed because it was a World Series year for the O’s. This one looks really good. That ’76 Cey makes me want to send out to him again.
Pack #11
The Oldest Card: 1967 Topps Ralph Terry
The Autographed Card: 1991 Topps Eric Yelding
The Most Interesting Card: 1995 Score Sample Alex Gonzalez
The Wild Card: 1984 Donruss Kurt Bevaqua
The Ralph Terry card I find funny because growing up on Long Island and being a Mets fan, I had Ralph Terry that lived near my grandparents. It wasn’t him though, but the coincidence was there. As for the wild card… I’ve always thought that Kurt Bevacqua’s last name was a bit of one.
Pack #12
The Oldest Card: 1971 Topps Dave Baldwin
The Autographed Card: 1993 Fleer Ultra John Cummings
The Most Interesting Card: 1972 Topps Joe Torre/Willie Stargell/Hank Aaron
The Wild Card: 1988 Fleer Tim Flannery
I don’t really think I have any Stargells or Aarons in my collection. This is one card to cover both I guess. It’s always nice seeing their names and pictures on something your opening. As for the Tim Flannery, I always sort of associate that card with the Glenn Hubbard snake card. I know that one is the more desired one, but they’ve always seemed similar to me because of how quirky they are.
Pack #13
The Oldest Card: 1959 Topps Felix Mantilla
The Autographed Card: 1989 Upper Deck Don Slaught
The Most Interesting Card: 1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond Diamonation Mark McGwire
The Wild Card: 1972 Topps Jose Cruz
That McGwire card showed up in two packs I opened. That hasn’t happened to me yet in opening Ryan’s packs and I’m a little surprised by that. It’s quite the card… almost plaid. I’ve talked about another version of this in Ryan’s posts, but this Jose Cruz is another example. Sometimes you get a few of certain players throughout your packs. Jose was one of those players this time.
Pack #14
The Oldest Card: 1973 Topps Al Downing
The Autographed Card: 1985 O-Pee-Chee Alan Trammell
The Most Interesting Card: 1988 Topps Traded Jim Abbott
The Wild Card: 1977 Topps Ray Fosse
I’ve always loved that Ray Fosse card. Whether he is taking off or putting on the catcher’s gear, there aren’t many examples of cards like that. I can think of maybe a Randy Knorr card that is a similar in style from 1993 Upper Deck. The red Indians cards of that era certainly adds to what I like about this one though.
Pack #15
The Oldest Card: 1972 Topps Gene Clines
The Autographed Card: 1988 Fleer Carmelo Martinez
The Most Interesting Card: 1977 Topps 1976 World Series
The Wild Card: 1978 Topps Mario Mendoza
Gene Clines passed away at the beginning of 2022. I had actually sent him some cards to sign before his passing and the family returned them to me. I always feel so bad when that happens even though it really can’t be helped. I think it happened with Doug Jones when he passed to. That Mario Mendoza card kinda kills me because I just sent something off to him recently and if I would have just waited a little bit.
Pack #16
The Oldest Card: 1960 Topps Ruben Gomez
The Autographed Card: 1991 Classic Steve Karsay
The Most Interesting Card: 1989 Upper Deck Dan Petry
The Wild Card: 1991 Upper Deck Mike Bell
The 1960 cards are some of my favorites. The way they alternate the text colors on the name is so annoying and yet kind of all of what design in that era was. Definitely my favorite in this pack.
Pack #17
The Oldest Card: 1971 Topps Dick Selma
The Autographed Card: 1995 Score Kevin Flora
The Most Interesting Card: 1977 Topps Steve Rogers
The Wild Card: 2014 Bowman Luis Guillorme
Who is that unbearded Met? Luis Guillorme just looks so funny with a bare face these days. I know this is a younger Luis so that’s a little different but still. I’ve tried getting returns from Steve Rogers but I think the last one never came back. I might try to get that one out to him. Kevin Flora I don’t know and I’m really surprised I don’t get more of these from Ryan, but he does a good job getting autographs from names you recognize mostly, even if they aren’t stars. I guess that makes the stars even better.
Pack #18
The Oldest Card: 1971 Topps Greg Garrett
The Autographed Card: 1989 Score Kevin Romine
The Most Interesting Card: 1975 Topps Oscar Gamble
The Wild Card: 1983 Topps Dan Quisenberry
Oscar Gamble was another guy who showed up a few times in these packs. I think this is my favorite of the two because of the size of his afro with that hat sitting right up there. Dan Quisenberry has to be the wild card. Not just for his last name, but the sub-marine delivery was caught pretty well in this image too.
Pack #19
The Oldest Card: 1974 Topps Jose Cruz
The Autographed Card: 1993 Donruss Rick Aguilera
The Most Interesting Card: 1975 Topps Carl Yastremski
The Wild Card: 1997 Fleer Ultra Jim Eisenreich
Oh man a Yaz! Growing up I had a friend who said he was somehow related to Yaztremski and that seemed so crazy to me. I didn’t have a reason not to believe him, but I think it was an extremely distant relation. As you can see, there’s another Cruz AND another card of a player signing which I will try to get some ink on.
Pack #20
The Oldest Card: 1959 Topps Ron Jackson
The Autographed Card: 1988 Donruss Tom Prince
The Most Interesting Card: 1973 Topps John Odom
The Wild Card: 1981 Topps Bob Boone
Those early-to-mid 70’s cards are so great with those first action shots. I love that John Odom card and I’m hoping to get that out to him to get signed. I think the other one of my favorites in this pack is Bob Boone. This might be the card I think of him on more than any other card. I’ve actually seen him signing recently so hopefully I can get a success from him.
And A Good Time Was Had By All!
I always enjoy the cards I get from Ryan. Like I said in the beginning, if you like this definitely jump in on his offer. I like it more than opening regular packs because its a little bit from everywhere.