Same Song and Dance

I know.  You’ve seen it all before.  Three other times now.  But when Colbey from Cardboard Collections keeps holding his “Affordable Monthly Group Breaks” (and we all know that blog is the home of said breaks)  I find it hard to resist.  In fact, I just signed up for my sixth go-round.  What you’re about to see is number 4.  I’ll post numero cinco mas tarde.

Love the uniform on the Mondesi card (it's in the middle)

As you might be able to guess, the format for this round was pick one team, get a random one.  I rolled with the White Sox since Colbey usually has a knack for landing good Frank Thomas cards for me.  My random team was the also colorfully named Blue Jays.  That works for me.  I picked up a couple Roy Halladay’s that I think might be trade worthy.

The boxes opened were 2002 Fleer Maximum, which you can kind of tell stuck together somethin’ fierce, 2004 Fleer Platinum and 2004 Fleer Patchworks.  There are a ton of Fleer cards from this era, and thanks to blogger trades and breaks like this, I’m closing the gap on my want lists.

White Sox - they're going to suck this year

I chose that middle row of cards for the throwback or special uniforms.  You just can’t go wrong with that kind of thing.  I also now have what is probably my first Jose Canseco as a White Sock card.  Maybe I have others and I just blocked it from my memory.  The Ordonez on the bottom is unique enough to be featured, don’t you think?  The Jon Garland, and the Myers up above in the Blue Jays are both given a painted photo effect.  For what reason, I don’t know.  I hardly noticed, but when I did it was creepy.  That’s why it’s not blown-up more.

So there’s a not-so-random sampling of my non-player collection haul.  On to the Franks!

Aaaah, my face! You peeled my face!

I think the “Maximum” in this set is short for “Maximum Border.”  I appreciate the different colors for the different teams to an extent, but unless the teams are grouped together on the checklist, it may look hideous in a box or bindered up.  Here’s a close-up of the stickingtogetheritis disease at work.  We need to start a foundation to prevent this from happening to future releases.

Big ol' bald head

According to the back, Frank once appeared in “Mr. Baseball,” which I kind of remember, but it’s been a while, as well as “Married With Children,” which I never watched in my youth.  Does anyone remember that episode?

Another throwback uniform

I like how well the card scanned.  The team name on the left, which really should be a logo, is black glossy text over a black matte background.  It looks good.  Having it take up half the card, not so much.  There’s also that stitching pattern down the middle – patchworks, get it? – that makes me think I should be able to rip off the player part of the card.  Not that I would.

And just like that another group break is in the books.  Thanks again to Colbey for hosting, as always.  You all have to get in on the fun one of these days if you haven’t already.  Just make sure you sign up after me, okay?