Here's the first pack of the contest. Get those guesses in to me before the clock strikes midnight Monday night.

Brett Butler (L.A.) - Nice. A leadoff hitter to lead off the contest.
Jim Sundberg
Eric Show (Riverside, CA)
Lloyd Moseby - Decent hitter, but this pose tells me he was a Hall of Famer with the ladies.

Jack Clark - Jack the Ripper with a classic follow-through shot.

Mario Soto (Dominican Republic)
Don Mattingly - Donny Baseball gets honorific card number 300 in this set. He wields the bat more like a pistol here.

Tim Conroy
Jim Traber
Bo Diaz (Venezuela) - One of the first cards I ever pulled was an 86 Topps Bo Diaz. Just seeing the name brings back memories of being ten years old and discovering this whole baseball card thing.
Dave Clark
Dale Murphy - Can't pass up the chance to scan a Murph.

Kirk Gibson - Looking like he just laid waste to a backdoor slider.

Shane Mack (L.A.)
Jose Cruz (Puerto Rico) - P.R. is a "self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States" (wikipedia). This counts as The World.
Rick Aguilera (San Gabriel, CA)
Mickey Tettleton
Jerry Reuss - Check out the small print. That, my friends, is called a career. He finished with 3600+ innings pitched in the big leagues with an ERA+ of exactly 100. Major league average starter for twenty-two seasons. Dunno about you, but I'd trade my day job for that one.

Darryl Strawberry (L.A.)
Jeff Hamilton
Danny Heep
Roger Clemens - Kids, you finish your motion with your weight over your front leg.

Graig Nettles (San Diego)
Nolan Ryan Record Breaker - 11th season with 200+ K's. He was a machine.
Bill Madlock
Ron Karkovice - Birmingham on the back. Let's go Barons (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)!

Bob Patterson
Bobby Bonilla

Scores:

Cali: 6
World: 3
Bama Boys: (none. Where my dogs at?)

Cali leads 6-3 after 1 pack. In fact, L.A. equals the output of the world so far. Tune in soon for pack #2.

Is this A Pack A Day or is it A Pack Every Other Week? Let's break out of the season-long slump with a contest. Nothing cures all that ails ya like a good contest.

Here's the situation. I recently scooped ten unopened Cello packs of 1988 Topps off of the Bay for all of 0ドル.99, shipping included. Don't ask me why. I plead Twinkies.

Here's the contest: I will bust these over the next couple weeks, about one pack per day. I will post each one, and I will keep two running tallies: players born in the state of California and players born entirely outside the U.S. Your job is to guess which side will win, and by what margin.

To play, just send an email to me ( {my posting name} at gmail dot com) with the subject line "Cali vs World". Your email should specify which side you think will win, and what the winning margin will be. Whoever guesses the correct side and comes closest on the margin will win fabulous prizes. Don't worry, you won't win the 280 cards of 1988 Topps. Unless you want them. Instead, you will win a bunch of cards of your favorite team, pulled from my collection. If you have a wantlist I'll see if I can't fill some holes in it, otherwise I'll pick some cards of your team at random. Don't expect the world here, folks. Expect some fun.

Of course, we need a tiebreaker. How about the total number of players pulled who were born in Alabama? Why Alabama? Because, well, Alabama! Alabama, Alabama, Alabama, Alabama. If you say it out loud several times in a row it stops making sense.

So, include in your entry email the total number of Bama Boys found in all ten packs.

Sidenotes: 1) I will count dupes. If I pull him twice, I count him twice. 2) The birthplace listed on the back of the card is final, even if further research may prove it wrong. 3) If the back of the card does not list a birthplace, the card will not count, no matter where the subject may have been born. 4) Entries must be in my inbox by midnight Central time Monday night, Aug 3rd. 5) Alabama!

Here's a grasshopper's-eye-view sneak peek from the first pack:

I still haven't heard back from reader cbware, who won the Allen & Ginter contest by picking Obama by 88 votes. You need to e-mail me by Friday morning with your choice of card or I'll have to give it to the next closest contestant. The trivia contest winners have all checked in and their prizes are ready to go. Here's what they won...

TheJaw requested an autograph card, He gets this plus some extra Cubs cards:


Zman40 asked for Royals cards, he gets a whole pile of 'em including this insert of Johnny Damon:


And finally Captain Canuck gets This Adam LaRoche numbered rookie (well, second year card actually) and some Braves for dropping the knowledge.



(削除) Send that e-mail in quick cbware, time's running out! (削除ここまで)

UPDATE - Prize goes to reader Billy Suter since cbware never turned up. Billy chose Bolivia for his card. If cbware is still with us, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you a few consolation cards.

Just getting set up for the festivities... If you haven't made your guess, you have about 15 more minutes to do so. The prizes are 30 Allen & ginter cards (10 each from '06, '07 and '08) and your choice of one of these original Allen & Ginter cards:

They're beat up, but they're OLD.

At 10:00pm I'll start Ripping. I'll post each pack one at a time so hit F5 every few minutes to see the latest pack. I'll also ask three trivia questions. The first person who answers correctly in the comments wins a prize of their choosing. The prizes for the trivia questions are:

A relic card
An autographed card
5 cards of your favorite player (If I have them)
25 cards from your favorite team
All the cards from this box that I already have.

Ok, we're almost to the break, in the meantime check out some amazing photos from the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Bejing.

OKAY - We're ready to go!

Pack 1:
129Joey Votto RC
1 A-Rod
5 Crack the Cod e Jon Lester
114 Trevor Hoffman mini
294 Torii Hunter
16 Hiroki Kuroda RC

Pack 2:

UT OH

RELIC

201 Tim Lincecum
215 Aaron Harang
256 Garret Anderson
309 Ryan Church SP
WL8 Mirek Topolanek Czech republic
ABR-JS John Smoltz Jersey
Checklist 3
37 Pedro Martines

Trivia Question 1: lets be topical...
What was the name of the "sports psychologist" that fixed Smoltzie's head back in the '90s?


Pack 3:
65 Victor MArtinez
12 Ian Snell
265 Brian Roberts
329 JAck Cust SP
278 Kevin Van Dan mini
STATE - MICHIGAN
284 Dice-K

Early lead for Obama,,,

Pack 4:
100 David Wright
135 Robinson Cano
179 Hidecki Matsui
253 Nick Blackburn mni
8 Brian Bass
144Grand Canyon

Sorry McCain fans Grand canyon doesn't count as Arizona

Trivia Question 2:
Topps issued eTopps cards of Barack Obama and John McCain earlier this year. What two teams' logos were also featured on the cards?

Pack 5:
200 David Ortiz
214 Greg Maddux
78 Ivan Rodriguez
341 Ty Wigginton SP
55 Josh Beckett mini A&G
STATE - PENNSYLVANIA
219 Charles Dickens

Another blue state... McCain's in trouble...

Pack 6:
237 Zack Greinke
26 Corey Hart
28 Adam Larocha
226 Rich Hill
197 Bigfoot mini
285 Brandon Phillips


Trivia Question 3:
Name 5 players featured in the 1985 Topps Olympic subset.

Pack 7:
162 Austin KEarns
87 Aaron Rowand
118 Geovany Soto
22 Chin Lung HU RC mini
133Wild Bill Hiccock
212 Pyort ili The dude who wrote swan lake



Pack 8:
104 Orlando Husdon
33 Nick Swisher
312 Brandon wood SP
NO MINI GYP


OH SNAP

LANDSLIDE



BARACK IS TEH WIN


StATE - CALIFORNIA
299 Rafael Furcal
262 MArk Spitz

ptui

Ok, the box is ripped. Whew! give me a few minutes to get settled and I'll check the trivia answers, add up the Electoral votes of Obama's landslide and announce the winners.


Electoral Vote Contest -

Let's check the map.

Michigan - Obama 17 Votes
Pennsylvania - Obama 21 votes
California - Obama 55 Votes

TOTAL - Obama 93 McCain 0

The winner -

cbware said... Obama with 88 electoral votes

Congrats cbware, e-mail me with your choice of vintage A&G card and address and I'll get them out to you ASAP.

Trivia Questions:

Trivia Question 1: lets be topical...
What was the name of the "sports psychologist" that fixed Smoltzie's head back in the '90s?

TheJaw said... Jack Llewelyn

TheJaw, a Cubs fan (but we won't hold that against him) has chosen an autograph card.

Trivia Question 2:
Topps issued eTopps cards of Barack Obama and John McCain earlier this year. What two teams' logos were also featured on the cards?

Captain Canuck said... d backs and white sox

I have a pretty good handle on what Captain Canuck wants.

Trivia Question 3:
Name 5 players featured in the 1985 Topps Olympic subset.

zman40 said... snyder, mcgire, august, hoover, mcdowell

Zman40 has indicated a preference for Royals cards. What is it with all the Royals collectors out there?

Ok guys, pick your prize and shoot me an e-mail. Thanks for playing!

It's heeeeeeerrrreee....

To celebrate this blessed event, I'm holding a contest. The contest will be held during a live rip tomorrow night, Friday at 10:00pm Eastern. Like all my contests, it's needlessly obscure and convoluted.


In retail Allen & Ginter, every other pack has an insert card with a state flag.

In 2008, the United States of America elects a new president.

Each state has a number of Electoral votes that go to the candidate for President that wins the popular vote of that state.

See where I'm going with this?

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

Click on the link to go to www.Electoral-Vote.com.

See the big map? Red states are being won by McCain, Blue states by Obama.

The cards of four states will be pulled out of the blaster. I will look at the map, and total up the number of electoral votes for each state to see which candidate "wins" the blaster.

What You Have To Do:

Guess which candidate will win the blaster and by how much. The closest guess wins the contest.

Here's an example - Say I pull the following four cards:

Florida
Texas
New Jersey
Illinois

McCain is winning Texas and Florida according to today's map, so that's 61 Electoral votes for him. Obama is winning Illinois and New Jersey, so that's 36 votes. Therefore, Mcain would win 61 to 36, which is a 25 vote victory. So the person who picks "McCain - 25" wins. If no one gets it on the nose, closest guess wins.

WHY DO YOU MAKE THESE CONTESTS SO DIFFICULT?? I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THAT!

Ok, simplified version:

STEP 1 - Pick Obama or McCain.

STEP 2 - Pick a number between 1 and 100.

STEP 2 1/2 - Post your guess in the comments of this post.

STEP 3 - The magical pack goblin will tell you if you won after the box break.

OK THEN! WHAT CAN I WIN?

The Grand Prize is:

• 10 cards from 2006 Allen & Ginter
• 10 cards from 2007 Allen & Ginter
• 10 cards from 2008 Allen & Ginter
• 1 card from 1887 Allen & Ginter

That's right, an original Allen & Ginter card can be yours!

CONTEST IS AT 10PM EASTERN, 7PM PACIFIC FRIDAY NIGHT!!!

There will also be trivia for additional prizes, for those who show up to the box break!

See you there!

The final result was four votes for the pack of '96 Pacific Prisms and four votes for '98 Finest series two. So later tonight, I'm busting both.

1996 Pacific Prisms was a 144-card set, and each pack contained only one card. Here's the contest: Pick a number from 1-144 and post it to the comments section, the closest to the card number of the Pacific Prism I pull will win......

... something. In the meantime, in honor of the holiday, here's the greatest two minutes of South Park, ever.

Ten lousy waxpacks down, ten more to go. Yes folks, we're halfway through the 20 for 40ドル re-wrap, but I can't decide what to rip next. So in honor of the holiday, (and against my better judgement) I'm leaving it to you, the APAD readers, to decide for me. Which of these ten remaining junk packs shall I rip next?

1996 Pacific Prisms
1997 Score Hobby Reserve (series two)
1998 Finest (series two)
1998 Pinnacle Performers
1998 Team Best Player of the Year
1998 Team Best Signature Series
1999 Bowman (series one)
2000 Fleer Mystique
2000 Fleer Showcase
2002 Fleer Tradition Update

Leave your suggestions in the comments. Choose wisely, as one lucky APAD reader will win..... something.

During a walk through the wilds of the internet, I ran across this book.


Wow.

While I like this blog's minimalist header design, I feel that my own site lacks enough of a graphic element. What I'm asking is that someone with more photoshop skills than myself uses this image as a springboard to greatness. Ideally, I'd like to use this on my own site in the future.

All you have to do is find my email address on the contributors portion of this blog, send it off, and await a response. I'll choose a winner from amongst all entries. The creator of the winning picture will receive one crappy pack of '80s or '90s cards as well as an Allen & Ginter flag chosen from a short list of available countries.

Happy designing!

I still haven't heard from Brian, who won a prize in last night's '52 Rookies contest. E-mail me to claim your prize.

Update: Brian chose One Topps card from every year 1980-2007.

Thanks for playing!

Alright, I've exercised self-control for long enough, and now's the time to act on the spur of the moment. Back in summer I bought a couple of blasters of 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter with the intention of setting one aside to sell a few years down the road on eBay. While the market for these isn't great right now, and because these things were available at basically any store that sold anything, the supply is probably on the high side. That being said, I also need to reveal that baseball cards are a gift that my family is not apt to give. We keep Christmas smaller than it has been in the past, which I actually like. Therefore, I am going to rip the blaster that's been sitting in the back bedroom where my cards are kept (a glimpse of which can be seen here):


Since I have already completed this set, I'll run a little contest here. If you can identify the purpose of this part of the image (seen below), I'll send the first person to respond correctly the card of their choice from either of the first two packs I rip.

With that out of the way, it's time to get started. I have a good feeling about this box.

Let's tear in.

First pack, top to bottom:
(I should note that this top pack is filled with an unusually large amount of air. I should actually go out to my car to get my tire pressure gauge, but it's gotten a little nippy out.)
100 David Ortiz
306 Morgan Ensberg
Mini 176 Bronson Arroyo
Checklist One of Two
305 Jeremy Bonderman
197 Greg Lougainis
174 Jamie Fischer

Second pack, no air, hopefully some great pulls:
179 Matt Cain
222 Rocco Baldelli (SP)
Mini 213 Lou Pinella
Checklist One of Two
268 Washington Monument
188 Josh Willingham
260 Andruw Jones

Okay, the first pack was better. Nothing to write home about on either of them. First dibs on any card to the first correct commenter!