My Obak Is Your Obak

If you are interested in any Obak base cards, leave a comment with your team of choice, and send me an email. I'm not collecting the set, and am out of space to store cards. Too lazy to go to the card shop for supplies. I'd be tempted to buy packs of something, and besides, the Post Office is closer.

2009 TriStar Obak Box Break Part 3: Minis & Hits

Well, this box break is really coming together. There's only a few loose ends left to tie up, and this post should take care of that. I was going to spread this break out and milk 2 more posts out of it, but after getting zero comments on the last one, decided to just get it over with. This box was a ton of fun to bust, and if you're even the least bit intrigued, I suggest picking one up for yourself... or at least offering up a trade for what I pulled. As a casual collector, TriStar wasn't a brand that I thought very highly of, but Obak has gone a long way towards changing my opinion, and I suspect that it'll change the minds of other collectors as well.

And now on to the cards...

Each pack of Obak comes with the obligatory mini card, modeled after original tobacco cards. These cards basically mirror the base set, except they are scaled down to fit the mini size cardboard they're printed on. Since they are 1 per pack, I received 20 in my box. Here are some favorites. Click the image to view full sized scan.

From top left: Bing Crosby, Tim Beckham, The Dukes, Bo Jackson (hell yeah!)
From bottom left: Gordon Beckham, Dale Murphy, William Wrigley Jr.

Along with regular minis, Obak also offers up mini parallels, in the same color variations as regular base cards. I was lucky enough to receive one, and it was green.

#25 Tom Seaver mini green parallel #13/25

I was pretty happy with this card. It's the only mini parallel I received, and it's of a Hall of Fame player. Just like the base set, these minis are very nice looking. The way TriStar physically does their numbering is a little unorthodox, and I don't think it looks as nice as gold stamping.

About those green parallels, in my last post I showed you a scan of the Dummy Hoy card I pulled, but did not include a scan of the back. Well, there was one more in the box, and this time back hath been scanned, for anyone who is curious as to what they look like.

#69 Bill "Moose" Skowron green parallel #10/25

Pretty much looks the same as all the other card backs in this set... only green...

At this point, there isn't much left to show you except for the autographs I pulled. They are seeded 2 per box, and it seems like you get one prospect auto, along with an auto of a retired player. Looking over the checklist, I did ok on the autos. They're both signed on stickers, but it's not too obvious since it sort of blends in to the overall design.

#A6 Zach Collier autograph #'d/200

I didn't scan the back of this card, and am posting this from work, so I've got no idea what the specific numbering is on this card. What I do know is that Collier was a first round draft pick of the Phillies, and has a lot of potential. Can't complain about an autograph of a first rounder, can you? Well I certainly won't!

The second autograph is a pretty cool one. It's of none other than 1953 A.L. MVP Al Rosen, who played for the Cleveland Indians. It doesn't get much cooler than an auto of the "Hebrew Hammer", and this card is absolutely beautiful!

#A49 Al Rosen autograph #40/50

So there you have it people. I hope you enjoyed my Obak break, and were able to learn something about the product that you didn't know before. Overall, I say this is a pretty nice set, and if the price settles around $60/box, would be an entertaining set to build.

That is all for today. There should be some trades to post as well as a sweet new acquisition to the Orioles collection later this week.

2009 TriStar Obak Box Break Part 2: Base Set & Parallels

There are a lot of cool base cards in this set, and for Obak being a minor league set, there is no shortness of recognizable names to be found. Here are a few more base cards "of note".

Moving right along then...

#19 Andrew McCuchen & #94 Harry & George Wright

Hey, wait a minute, that's not Orville & Wilbur.

#95 William Wrigley & #12 Gordon Beckham

Check out the gum guy. Isn't there a stadium named after him or something?

#20 Jesus Montero & #34 Satchel Paige

One of the few Satchmo cards I own. Paige was awesome, and who knows how many records he would hold, had he played in the majors during his prime.

#33 Stan Musial & #106 Brooks Robinson & Brian Matusz

Doesn't get much better than these 2 cards... 2 Hall of Famers, and a young pitching stud... who happens to be an Oriole.

#14 Madison Bumgarner & #99 William Howard Taft

Apparently, our 27th President was a big baseball fan, and took office in 1909, the year that the first Obak set was produced.

Enough base cards. Let's move on to some parallels. There's only going to be 2 featured in this post, but that only means there's more to come in posts to be written at a later date.

#42 Russell "Buzz" Arlett ad back variation SP #45/50

Pacific Coast League legend Buzz Arlett was often referred to as the "Babe Ruth of the Minor Leagues". He briefly spent some time with the Independent League Baltimore Orioles in the early '30's, which only makes me like this card more.

#82 William "Dummy" Hoy green parallel SP #10/25

I did not scan the back of this card, but fear not, for you shall see the backside of Obak's green parallels soon enough. I would hope that Hoy earned the nickname of "Dummy" based on the fact that he was deaf, and not based on the fact that he wan an individual of low intelligence. It still doesn't make much sense, since being "dumb" is usually associated with one who cannot speak, rather than one who cannot hear. Hoy's wikipedia entry goes on to explain that the 2 are unfairly, and incorrectly tied to each other, and that Hoy's nickname was in fact a misnomer.

Up next: More parallels and minis
Beyond that: 2 autographs & a box topper

2009 TriStar Obak Box Break Part 1: Base Set

Today I was lucky enough to break a box of 2009 TriStar Obak. These cards are modeled after the old T212 Obak tobacco cards, and I must say, they look rather stunning. This purchase was a moment of weakness over this weekend past. Blowout Cards was running a pretty good special on them, and even though it was a good dealer, there was still a certain amount of buyer's remorse involved. I must say that what I received in return made me feel like it was almost worth it. The artwork for this release is very nice, and they do the whole retro old-timey thing quite well. I didn't quite get the "9 hits" promised on the front, I did get 2 autographs and a few numbered parallels, along with 20 beautiful minis, and base cards of minor leageurs present & past, including some legends.

I'll break down this box over a few posts, but here are some base cards as a starting point.

#100 Barack Obama & #41 Ted Williams

Obama is a lefty and so am I. Ted Williams isn't.

#37 Nolan Ryan & #32 Dale Murphy

I really dig the black & white with the colorful backgrounds.

#16 Tommy Hanson & #6 Brian Matusz

Talk about some young pitching studs!

#38 Ryne Sandberg & #23 Buster Posey

Sandberg's hat is awesome.

#66 Jim Rice & #98 Bo Jackson

If you don't love Bo Jackson cards, please go read someone else's blog. I don't even want you as a reader any longer. Seriously, you disgust me. Please go now.

Here is what the back of a regular base card looks like:
There were 2 Obama cards in this box. At first glance I thought they were doubles, but the noticed that the back of one of them looks like this:
Must be a short print or something?

Up next: More base cards, and some parallels
Beyond that: More parallels and 2 autographs