Over the last few years, I've been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. In celebration of the return of Major League Baseball after the great lockout of 2022, let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display and celebrate a few of my favorite players from my #1 team...the NEW YORK METS!
1988 Donruss
1990 Topps Traded
1991 Donruss
1991 Fleer
1992 Topps Stadium Club
Thanks for taking a minute to look at some old packs of baseball cards and humoring my die hard Mets fandom. I hope whoever you cheer for has a great season and you can enjoy the game to the fullest! If you feel like checking out the classic 1985 broadcast of the Mets vs. Cubs game, feel free to watch the Youtube video below. Now let's PLAY BALL!!!
Well, here we go again! Staying with my Mom at my childhood home for a
few weeks brought back a ton of memories and nostalgia, but looking
through all the totes of stuff I own that have been stored in her attic
really kicked those feelings into high gear. Today I will share a few of
these items I have saved for decades with you. First is this Darkwing Duck Pizza Hut Personal Pizza Box. These came out in the early 90s and you not only got this cool box with your Darkwing Duck feast, but it also came with a cool collectors cup and an official Crime fighter Kit! I still have both of those stashed somewhere, but all I could find was this box to stir up those memories of Disney Afternoon glory!
"Neighborhood Watch" Drawing
It's no secret that I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but in the 90s I was a fan of a lot of independent comic book characters. This drawing I did showcases some of those faves like Usagi Yojimbo, Shi, Cerebus, The Tick, Flaming Carrot, Bone and Scud. Man, I wish I still had time to draw. I guess I will just have to find that time!
Freddy Krueger Squish'em
This officially licensed Freddy Krueger toy was released by LJN in 1989. I wish I could say that was when I got him, but it wasn't until the mid 2000s when Freddy would join my collection. At that time I was working at an auto glass shop as an installer in Morristown, NJ and this little Freddy character was uncovered during a slow day when we had to clean up the shop. He was under our tool bench in a cabinet and I am glad I found him before anyone else could scoop up this Nightmare from Elm Street!
Keith Hernandez Autographed Baseball
I was born an huge New York Mets fan and some day in the distant future I hope to be buried in my Mets hat! So, when my Dad found out that this 1st base playing MVP, Gold Glove and World Series winner would be at a local sports store called Rich's World of Sports in Blairstown, NJ, we had to go! I got to meet the Met & Seinfeld legend that day in 1989 and it was the thrill of a lifetime. He was really nice and chatted with us about baseball for a few minutes. After our chat he signed a ball for me and my brother and a 1987 Topps card for me! I love this ball and the memories that come with it!
Ghostbusters Cereal Box Cards
Ghostbusters cereal was produced by Ralston from about 1985 to 1990 and in that time they had some awesome premiums in their boxes. Glow in the dark flying discs, holograms and of course these nice cards you could cut out from the back of the box. These babies glow in the dark and showcase some pretty cool artwork. Anything Ghostbusters back in the day was like gold to me and these cards are no exception. I just wish that I would have kept the whole box!
Thundercats: Cats Lair
This was the toy of all toys back around the Christmas of 1986! That year was also the year The Real Ghostbusters toys came out and I asked for both at Christmas. Well, the big day finally came around and I have to say I was very disappointed with the outcome. I even wrote a whole article about it a few years ago. If you want to relive one of the worst holidays I ever had, you can read it by clicking HERE! I still have my Cats Lair and despite not being in the picture, he does still have his head somewhere. This was a great toy and it makes me happy to know my Mom has not thrown it out! Check out it's greatness in the commercial below and be ready to have your mind blown!
Christmas is almost here! It is one of my favorite times of the year! I actually got all my shopping done recently for my kids and my family back home. I still have to shop for my wife though! Anyway, one of the best parts of the season is going out with the kids and picking out a tree for our home. Then my wife puts up the lights! She is so specific about how the lights have to look, that I don't even ask if I can help anymore. After the lights are up then it's time for the best part... the ornaments! Each year we purchase a new ornament to put on the family tree. Here are some of my faves that we have amassed over the years.
Captain Hook (Hallmark, 2015)
New York Mets Jersey Ornament
Kringleville: Kissmas Cottage (Hallmark, 2010)
Penguins: Ice Castle Antics (Hallmark, 2018)
Hand made Ninja Turtles
(My kids made these for me! 2014)
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my favorite Christmas Tree Ornaments. Now, get your tree ready for Santa, enjoy the holidays and open some presents! Merry Christmas!
Check out some more awesome ornaments from 2016, 2017 & 2018!
A few weekends ago, myself and my family went downtown and visited a few antique stores. I enjoy going to these kinds of stores, because you'll never know what you're going to find. Most of the time the cool stuff that I like is way over priced, but it's cool to know it's out there if I really want it. Below are some of the items we found this time around.
I have seen so many Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars over the years that were way overpriced at antique stores just like this. These ones though were pretty reasonable. I'm not a huge collector of cars, but the 99 cent asking price for them was not a bad deal. The Shirt Tales car in the middle was produced by ERTL in 1982 and was priced at $9.99! I loved these guys when I was a kid. I felt the asking price wasn't terrible, but a little high for my taste.
1990 Donruss Baseball Cards: $8.99
I love finding old baseball cards at the antique store. The only problem is that people price these for way more than what they are worth. These 1990 Donruss cards came out when I was at my peak of card collecting and I have many of them in my collection. I think the design is pretty sharp and there were some great players in this series, but once again paying $8.99 for what is referred to as "Junk Wax" cards in a package that had been opened was not for me.
2018 Met Solo Bobble head: $35
This was one of the items I am kicking myself for not picking up! I am a lifelong Mets fan and also a lifelong Star Wars fan. This is the best of both those worlds wrapped in a bobble head tortilla. These were given out to the first 25,000 fans who entered the gates during Star Wars Night at Citi Field in 2018. If this is still there when I go back, it may just end up in my collection!
Nestle Quik Bunny Mug: $5
I have always thought of the Quik Bunny as one of the top advertising mascots of my lifetime. I always liked his commercials and was jealous of my friend when he got a stuffed Quik Bunny for his birthday. This cup is from the 80's and what I like most about it is that it still refers to the product being called Nestle Quik! To hell with this new fangled Nesquik crap, it will always be just plain old Quik in my house!!
Spaghettios Plastic Bank: $10
I totally forgot about these old styled cans of Spaghettios!!! On there own Spaghettios were great, but throw in some meatballs and you have a feast! I still enjoy this delicacy toady, but my wife usually does the shopping and will not pick up most canned foods because she feels they may be "unhealthy". What up with that? Anyway this was not just your standard can, this was a 9.5 inch tall plastic bank fashioned to look like a can of saucy goodness!
Thundercats Top-Spinner Action Figure: $25
I had this guy as a kid and he was AWESOME! He was part of the bad guy pirate group known as the Berserkers! The Thundercats toyline by LJN was know for each figure having a great battle feature and Top-Spinner's was pretty excellent! He had a trigger on his back that when you pushed it his entire top half of his body would spin around and knock over any would be do gooders! This was an amazing series and when I head back to Jersey, I may just have to search through my Mom's attic to see if I can find any of my original Thundercats toys. Enjoy a Thundercats toy commercial below and let me know who your favorite figure was in the line in the comments below! HOOOOOO!!!!
I recently purchased this box of 1991 Topps Baseball Superstar Stand-Ups from e-bay for about $10. Each box contains 36 individually wrapped candy containers. That's like $0.28 per container! I remember buying one of these as a kid when they first came out in the early 90s. The candy tasted no different than the ones you would find in Topps' candy heads. The real draw was trying to get your favorite player. It was a blind bag before there were blind bags. I believe I got a Ryne Sandberg back in the day. But the one I really wanted was Bo Jackson. That is the reason this box was purchased, to achieve that goal!
I opened the box and it was bursting with factory sealed 25 year old candy in containers shaped like the heads of some of Baseball's greats like Cal Ripken, Robin Yount, Ken Griffey Jr. and...Bobby Bonilla! What the...BOBBY BONILLA!
Like I said, there are 36 packs to a box and 36 different players to collect. Let's see if I can get a whole set?
Here is a sample of what was inside. As a Met fan, I was glad to add the Darryl Strawberry & Dwight "Doc" Gooden to my collection. I did not get a complete set, but did I get Bo?
Hell yeah I did! And there he is in all his glory. I am so happy. I can finally check this one off my want list! Now you're probably wondering what 25 year Topps candy looks like? It is pretty gross. It looks like the colors from the candies bled into each other and made some type of moldy looking dark brown nastiness. I actually have questioned whether I should eat one or not? Probably not?
Growing up one of the best things about a hot summer night in NJ was the anticipation of going to Dairy Queen at night to cool down with a Dilly Bar, Blizzard or hot fudge Sunday. Most of the time whenever you ordered something from DQ in the 80s it would be served up in a sweet disposable Dennis The Menace cup like this one:
Other times if you were lucky it was that special time of the year where they served up frozen treats in an AWESOME mini Major League Baseball Helmet! I was lucky enough to find a few of these at a local thrift store for $.25 each!
I grabbed some of my faves based on retro appeal. Here they are!
Montreal Expos
I picked up the Montreal Expos helmet because this team is no longer around. They moved to Washington and became the Nationals in 2004. I also love the old school logo. They don't make them like this anymore!
Philadelphia Phillies
Living close to Philadelphia the Phillies were always in the papers and on TV. This logo has not been used in years, but reminds me of the days of Mike Schmidt, Darren Daulton & Lenny Dykstra. Plus this logo kinda looks like the top of a DQ sundae?
New York Mets
This was the one I always coveted as a kid. I had this and never used it for eating once the sundae was gone. It sat on my shelf of sports collectables for years. My original helmet from the 80s, like many other amazing treasures, is packed away in my mother's attic. Man, I gotta make a trip and get all that stuff someday!
I hope you enjoyed this delicious trip down summer memory lane, I know I did! Gotta take the kids to DQ now! Enjoy Dick Clark talkin bout Blizzards in this ad below!
I have a fairly big collection of loose figures from the 80s & 90s. I would like to share a few of my faves with you at this time. Get ready, here we go!
April O'Neil: Ninja Turtles Figure Keyrings (Monogram, 2015)
As you may already know from reading this blog, I have an affinity for the Ninja Turtles. The local mall had one of those "Go! Calendar, Games & Toys" stores pop up around the holiday season. If you don't know, these stores open up around November and close around the end of February. They are very seasonal. When they are about to close for the year everything in the store goes 50% off. That's how I picked up this cute little keyring of April O'Neil. She was in a blind bag, so I didn't know what I was getting. To be honest, I would have been happy with any of the characters in the collection.
ThundercatsCheetara (LJN, 1985)
Thundercats...Hoooooooooooo!!!! Who can forget that iconic 80s call to action? The Thundercats were a weekday staple in my house. Every day after school we would watch the cartoon on our local station. After cartoons, it was time for homework! Me and my brother not only watched the cartoon, but had a ton of toys from the show. We had Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Tygra, Hammerhand and Hachiman to name a few. Yes, we even had Cheetara. I found this one in a McDonald's pencil box at a second hand store. I couldn't believe she was in there with some other Thundercats figures for under $2! That is why you always open things at these stores. You may find some retro gold inside!
Ducky (Pizza Hut, 1988)
This is from the legendary Land Before Time Pizza Hut cross promotion. Back in the day I had the Spike hand puppet. Many years later, I found this Ducky at a church yard sale. I know she is no Little Foot, but I had to have her just the same. Pizza Hut used to have some great promotional tie ins, like the NCAA Streetballs, X-Men videos & comics and Ninja Turtles Coming Out Of Their Shells Tapes. Time to step up your game Pizza Hut. The challenge has been thrown down!
Talking Dashboard Homer Simpson (Gemmy, 2004)
Got this guy as a Christmas present many years ago. Even though he is a "Dashboard" toy, sadly he has never been in a car. You can either push his button or set him to motion and hear Homer say one of many great things like "Yeah yeah, quit your waving. I'll move through the intersection when I'm good and ready. Officer." or "Your child might be an honours student, but you're a moron!". My kids love him, my wife not so much.
Mr. Met Stuffed Toy (Steven Smith, 2008)
The summer of 2008 the New York Mets played their last season at Shea Stadium located in Flushing, Queens. I made one last trip to the stadium and saw the Mets beat the Marlins one last time. It was a magical moment. To commemorate the day, I picked up this Mr. Met stuffed guy from one of the many souvenir stands for a surprisingly low price of $12. That's a steal at an MLB ball game. You can't get a hot dog for less than $134. RIP Shea Stadium, I will never forget your delicious waffle fries. Enjoy this cheesy 1986 New York Mets music video featuring my favorite Met of all time, Mookie Wilson!
