2001 Topps Tribute Franchise Figures

Have been wanting to get both of these cards for a very long time, but they come up very rarely and when they do they are usually very expensive.  I got the White Sox version a few months ago and did a previous post on that.  Recently, several of the Yaz Red Sox were put up for auction.  I waited until the third one sold and grabbed it for half of what the first one sold for.  Really fun pick ups.

2004 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game Jersey Auto #7/10

Another cool throwback pickup, paid 12 bucks!

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Hall of Fame Heroes Green Frame Jersey / Bat / Auto #10/10

Again, love the explosion of crap that is 2005 Donruss.  Got this for 8 bucks!

2011 In The Game Heroes and Prospects Dual Cut Autos with Bryce Brentz

Kinda dig funky stuff like In The Game.  I believe this was before they were bought out by Leaf.  A guy going all in trying to start a card company is inspiring, a dream I will probably never live, and more than likely a great way to lose a BUNCH of money.  I have several different In The Game cards from 2011 but this is the only dual cut auto.  Pretty cool.

2010 Topps Triple Threads Relics Combos Double Sepia Parallel Booklet 13x Jersey/Bat w/ Mauer/Posada/Ivan/Bench/Berra spells "FIELD GENERALS" #19/27

What can you say about this beauty?  My first ever Triple Threads booklet.  Just love it.

2003 Topps Tribute World Series Tribute Relic GU Bat Relic + Green Monster Relic #278/425

I paid too much for this but I love it.  I really love the Topps Tribute brand, probably my second favorite Topps after Triple Threads.  In spite of the 425 print run these don't show up very often and certainly seem to be holding their value.

2002 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures

Friggin Sweet card.  Love grabbing old autos for super cheap.

2005 Donruss Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Marks of Fame Sticker Auto #41/77

Super Cheap.  For some reason I love the sheer glut of cards that spewed forth from the Donruss Corporation in the single year of 2005.  As most of you know, Donruss knew they were losing their MLB license at the end of 2005, so they dumped a hundred cards on the market for every man, woman and child in America.  To this day, 2005 is still the single largest quantity of any year in the Fisk Obsession collection.  Fun facts.

2018 Topps Luminaries Home Run Kings On-Card Auto Encased #9/10

I hope Topps keeps going with the Luminaries set.  The breaks I've seen online are pretty loaded and the designs are good.  On-Card autos, encapsulated and low-numbered is the way to the collector's heart these days.

2018 Panini Immaculate Tweed Weave Parallel Gold Auto #9/10

This looks pretty basic in the scan.  It's better looking in person, but still not an amazing card.  The gold sharpie auto is cool as it's a rare color to get an auto in.  Low numbered.  But the overall design is plain which is a Panini hallmark.  Just seems like Panini cranks out some vanilla stuff to get cards on the street.  They seem more focused on quality products for other sports like basketball.  The photo not showing anything except grey and a sliver of his "7" makes it even more plain.  Lotsa white in the background.  Anyway, here it is.

The Topps Vault 1981 Topps Traded 4-Color Printing Mask - Red

I've been waiting to post this for a minute, got the card before Christmas.  Was super stoked to have a Topps Vault item from 1981 Topps Traded which is the first White Sox card for Fisk ever made.  It's not much to look at on the blog, but such a cool item to hold in my hand.  A piece of baseball card history for sure.

From the auction detail:  Direct from the legendary Topps Vault, this auction features an original 4-color mask film negative. Color separation mask film negatives were used in the set's printing and proofing process. This auction features the RED tone example. Four different colors: red, blue, black and yellow are used in this process. Although this production item is B&W in color, it rendered the RED tones in the finished card.

2017 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Rainbow

Throwing in one more rainbow on my day off here.  The one-year only Topps Gallery.  Pretty cheesy throwback to the old Gallery issues of the early 2000's.  The rainbow still looks good though.  From left to right they are: Green Parallel # 46/250, Blue Parallel #42/99, Orange Parallel #7/25 and the base card.

2017 Topps On Demand Set #9 Post Season Heroes & Current Stars Rainbows

As an obsessive completest I pretty well like everything that everyone puts out that has a Fisk image on it.  I'm not picky, that's part of being an obsessive.  So while I think as artwork, these Topps On Demand cards really suck hard, there is the fun of trying to pickup and collect all these little oddball parallels that are a bit more rare because their only available online to other obsessives.

So the rainbows in the image from left to right are: Black Parallel #3/10, Red Parallel #5/25, and the blue Base card which has a stated print run from the Topps website of /1129.

Below are the Postseason Impact Dual Chase Cards with Gary Sanchez.  On the left is the Silver Parallel #2/5 and on the right the Black Parallel #9/10.  I believe the way this worked was that you ordered a base set from the website which was available for one week only, and Topps randomly inserted the low numbered chase cards as a sweetener.  I'm just gonna throw out there that I picked up the Silver Parallel numbered to five over the Holidays this year for......$1.99.  Two bucks.  Score!

Throwing a single scan of the # /5 below.

2005 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Significant Trips Red Sox Triple Relic w/ Rice & Lynn #04/10 (Fred Lynn bat relic MISSING)

Sports fans a card this weird does not come along too often.  The pud knocker who listed this on eBay didn't bother to put the "missing/damaged/error/altered" notification in the title of the auction, but buried down in the full description which these days might as well not exist on eBay as it's nearly impossible to notice.  Of course, I'm doing a lot of eBay on the phone so from a distance the missing bat piece at a quick glance just looks like an all-white jersey relic, just like the one in the lower-right.  Nothing in the description, so I put in a low bid and won it.  Only to receive the card in the mail and notice the error.  I went back to eBay and found the notification in the full description buried underneath.  Hem, haw....decided to keep it because I agree with the seller's logic.  From the front of the card I immediately thought someone (a Fred Lynn fan) tore out the bat relic and used it in a custom card or some other nefarious activity.  However, when you flip the card over, there is a tight, clean, smooth surface all the way across.  I also can't notice any tearing or any sign that it was removed through the front.  So the buyer posted that he believes it's a factory error.  It's either that or somebody was DAMNED good at removing it.  Either way, that makes it an interesting card to me.  And the fact that at numbered to 10 and from all the way back in 2005, I've never even seen one of these before.  With only 9 others in existence there's a pretty decent chance I'll never see another one.  So, it's in the collection....albeit with the words MISSING in my title in all caps :)

2016 Topps Tribute - Tribute Autographs On-Card Auto #42/75

Again following my strategy of waiting a few years for the market to cool on these base autos.  Somebody is always looking to dump a nice card for cash.  Grabbed for cheap.

2017 Topps Bowman Chrome Draft Rainbow

This one is really fun because it's my first ever Superfractor.  Throw in that I nabbed a Red parallel numbered to 5 and I feel really lucky to have this rainbow.  To get both is really cool.  It's kind of an ugly set which is probably why I was able to afford a Superfractor.  Anyway, here's the rainbow.  From left to right:  Superfractor #1/1, Red Parallel #4/5, Gold Parallel #37/50, Refractor Parallel #24/250, and the base card.  I'm dropping a scan of the single Superfractor underneath so I can come back to this post and DROOL.

2017 Panini Flawless Legendary Signatures Ruby Parallel #01/15

In an earlier post I have the base # /20 of this card.  Picked up the /15 Ruby parallel for a good price recently.  Panini has several releases like this that feature really clean designs, thick stock, some foil accents, classic photography, and all the signatures are on-card.  Pretty cool overall, looks much better in person.

2016 Panini Pantheon Metropolis Monuments #04/25

Friggin' sweet card.  Die cut.  Bat pieces of Jimmie Foxx and Tris Speaker!  Rad.  So rare and so rad that I paid A LOT for this card.  And am happy to have it. 

2018 Panini Black Friday Rainbow

Here's another cool 2018 Rainbow for ya.  Absolutely terrible scan, although this Black Friday set is rather, well....black.  From top-left going clockwise:  the sticker auto parallel (same card number as the base set), the Cracked Ice Parallel #06/10, the Galactic Wave Refractor Parallel #16/25, and the Base card #181/199.  Again, I doubt based on the rarity of the galactic wave and cracked ice as well as the auto that anybody else has this Fisk rainbow right now.  Was fun to collect this winter.

2018 Topps Factory Set Rookie Cup Medallions Rainbow

Pretty cool rainbow here.  From the bottom up are the base card, the green parallel #08/50 and the blue parallel #03/25.  I've only seen the one green and one blue cards on eBay so I could be fairly confident that this is the only Fisk rainbow of this card out there right now.  Pretty cool.  Will sit in giant 360-point magnetic holders in the collection.

2015 Topps Supreme Supreme Scope Auto Relic Booklet #5/10

Don't know what happened to Topps Supreme, because this card is so super disgusting.  It's difficult to see in the scan, but all the cutouts are see-through so when you hold it up to the light, you can see through a good percentage of the card.  That, the huge jersey patch, the booklet, the auto, and numbered to 10.  Just love this card!

Front

Back

2002 Topps Tribute Marching Marks Dual Bat Relic with Johnny Bench

Was pretty stoked when I found this.  They come up very rarely.

2005 Topps Retired Signature Edition On Card Auto Encapsulated

2018 Topps Archives Signature Series Retired Player Edition - 1982 Topps All-Star On-Card Auto #08/10

I have to say Topps has my number with these re-issues.  Collectors really want the encapsulated card with the foil security label and an on-card auto.  Topps got it right with these cards for the Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers who orignally collected these cards.

2016 Panini Pantheon Sacred Deployments #4/25

Pretty sick triple booklet of the Red Sox greats.

2014 Panini Flawless Diamond Embedded #19/20

Got this a long time ago not long after it was released. Never sure if these damned diamonds are really real, but it's pretty cool anyways.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Framed Printing Plate - Cyan Plate One of One

Can't believe I snagged this on an auction site for 12 bucks!  I love the price even more than the card.  One of one baby!

2013 Topps Five Star Silver Signatures Purple Parallel #4/15

Really love this auto, sick silver sharpie and low numbered.

2007 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Signatures #34/75

The scan sucks but a pretty cool older auto.

2018 Panini National Treasures Stars and Stripes One of One

Disgusting.

2010 Topps Triple Threads MLB Die Cut Relics Emerald Parallel #13/18

Here's the fourth and last Triple Threads post of the day.  Pretty basic relic card but I dig the digital design in the background and the green parallel.  Cool card and at least the scan came out good.

2008 Topps Triple Threads Relics Sepia Parallel #27/27

This scan is so terrible.  It's a Sepia parallel so the card is dark, but this is bad.  But gonna post up all the Triple Threads today, so here it is :(

2007 Topps Triple Threads Autographed Relics Gold Parallel #2/9

It's crazy that I got the card in the previous post and this card in the same two week period.  Both Triple Threads autos Gold parallel numbered to /9.  So I'll go ahead and put the blog posts back-to-back.  I like this one just as much as the 2010.  Being three years older, it looks and feels a bit more old school.  I think Topps was still figuring it out a bit as this is only the second year of Triple Threads.  The "376 HRS" looks fantastic, especially with that pinstripe down the middle.  My only criticism is the sticker which from a design point of view, looks like it's just floating in the corner.  Was great when somebody figured out they could put a simple frame around them and really jazz it up.  That said, I absolutely love this card and am stoked to have it in my collection.

2010 Topps Triple Threads Autographed Relics Gold Parallel #4/9

Seems like it's been a Triple Threads time of year here at the Obsession.  Over the past six months a bunch of really nice older Threads cards have come up for sale and I've been lucky enough to snag more than a few of them.  More posts coming soon.  This 2010 Auto Gold Parallel is among the more exciting ones to me.  There's something about that huge, all-wood "pudge" that gets me.  It's just a sticker auto, but something numbered in the single digits?  Makes me feel like a kid again.  Even ten years ago I woudn't have been able to afford this card, so I feel very fortunate to be in a position to own gems like this.  #gratitude and #killercards

2001 Topps Tribute Franchise Figures Game Used Bat Relics with Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox

I can't tell you how stoked I am to finally be able to afford this card.  They aren't numbered and I don't have a sense of the print run, but they very rarely come up for sale.  Fortunately for me, one sold for a huge amount of money (for a non-auto, un-numbered card) about two weeks before this one came up.  That always brings the price way down for the second auction and I was able to grab it.  I really love Topps Tribute and this was the first year it was issued, not long after Fisk was elected to the Hall of Fame, which started a flood of high-end cards.  With bat pieces of three Chicago Hall of Famers, this one is a centerpiece of my collection.

2015 Panini Cooperstown Etched in Cooperstown Sapphire Gem Parallel #07/10

Ima keep the 2015 Cooperstown theme going by posting this sweet card I recently picked up.  Once again, always easier to be patient and wait for folks to lose interest and sell of the cards they were hot to bid on three years ago.  This one has an actual sapphire gem inserted, and I have the ruby gem of this card to go with it.  Never have been able to grab the Dual Etched due to the other dude in the "dual" being Frank Thomas which sends prices through the roof.  This blue is a "sparkle" treatment that really pops in-hand.  Great card.

2015 Panini Cooperstown HOF Induction Signatures

This is the ultimate bad scan.  Actually a decent card in-hand, but the material is a silver foil and just won't scan well.  For the first time ever on this site, I actually applied a filter to the photo so the pic actually looks a bit more sepia than the actual but got the overall point across better.  I really love the overly-huge, complicated sets that force a collector to really dig in - probably the same thing that most collectors hate.  The 2015 Cooperstown set is one of the more confusing, large, repetitive sets out there and I've enjoyed chasing it over the years.  This is the first time I can recall seeing an auto up for sale however.  I think the price reflected the community's hatred of Cooperstown 'cause the price was cheap.  Nice pickup for me.

2015 Topps Update Rookie Sensations Insert Sticker Auto #18/25

Back when these came out I really enjoyed this card.  The base cards were in Chrome Update, then the 5" x 7" parallels came out on the Topps website.  Thought that was it, so big surprise when Fisk gets a rare look in the Update series.  Kinda tossing off some extra stickers to beef up the product probably, but still.  For a player that doesn't get that many lower-end cards these days, it's fun.  I like the super retro photo from the early '70s combined with the really slick stock and glossy finish of a modern card.

2017 Panini Flawless Legendary Signatures Base Auto #18/20

Another scan that looks like poo.  This card stock is glossy and really pops in-hand.  Looks like the scanner calibrated to the blue sharpie which looks amazing.  I just picked up the Ruby /15 parallel of this over the weekend to boot.

2008 Donruss Playoff Prime Cuts Timeline Quad Relic #10/10

Was a big weekend for card updates at the Obsession house with three days off for the Veteran's Day weekend.  Time for some much needed maintenance to the collection.  Am not certain that this card rises to the standard for a blog post, but evidently when I made the scans this weekend - I did.  In keeping with the prime directive of this site, I do this hobby because it gives me pleasure so here goes.  I thought it was rare (and therefore cool) to find a quad jersey piece numbered to /10 up for grabs on an auction site for less than an arm and a leg.  Usually these are listed as Buy It Now for (pinky to lips) One Million Dollars.  So a nice low-numbered quad jersey that's 10 years old for cheap.  Cool card.

2011 Topps Triple Threads Autographed Relics 7x Jersey Relic & Sticker Auto #15/18

Picked up this little gem a couple months ago for about half of what it's worth - love that.  I've posted here a lot lately that I'm going through a Triple Threads phase right now.  Party because I can finally afford that level of card and partly because you can grab older TT's for cheap when people dump them.  Fun to troll the Interwebs and snag these great cards for probably 25% of what they were selling for shortly after their issue.  Of course, that doesn't bode well for the value of these cards as an investment, but that's never been my objective.  All in all, a beautiful little gem.

2015 Leaf 'Q' Pure 25th Anniversary Clear Autographs Gray Parallel

Brian Gray over at Leaf gets my vote for being a good dude and a friend to the hobby - a collector's owner.  I can't imagine how tough it is to compete in the marketplace against giant corporations and turn out a good product.  These cards are very simple but cool.  Like that they're encased.  Love the clear see-through card stock.  Love the on-card autos.  I wish I'd grabbed a parallel version that had some color, but got this grey version very cheaply on an auction site.  This card looks a lot better in-hand than this scan.  Overall, a good auto that I'm happy to own.  Thanks Brian for trying to do good stuff for the collector!

2009 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Bat Barrel Autograph #08/25

One of my favorite autos.  Blue sharpie on a wood bat barrel - just awesome.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Autographed Relics White Whale Printing Plate 13-piece Bat Relic Auto #1/1

We all know that adult card collectors are all about getting the cards that you drooled over and dreamed about when we were kids.  In the beginning you were lucky just to get the $0.35 for a wax pack of 1980 Topps and you were happy if you got a couple cards that weren't dups.  As we age and our budgets get better, we get better and better cards and collections.  For me this card represents another rung up that ladder.  Just a cheezy sticker auto 1 of 1 to some, for my budget this is a holy grail kind of card and it made me extremely happy and proud to bag it for a good price.  Will always have an honored place in the Fisk Obsession.  I've got enough 1 of 1 cards now that I recently added that attribute as a column in my Fisk inventory spreadsheet.  Up to 97 autographs, 273 relic cards, 632 numbered cards, and now 4 Juan de Juan.  Love this card and feel lucky to have it.

2009 Upper Deck Icons Immortal Letterman Manufactured Patches Complete Set # /45

This set took me seven years and $120 to put together.  What else can I say that the scan doesn't already say?  I wish I could have a custom frame made with top loaders attached so I could hang the whole set on a wall someplace.  May be a future man cave idea.  I know they're just cheezy manufactured patches, but I just love this set.  So happy to have finally completed it this year.

2018 Panini Donruss Retro 1984 Signatures Gold Parallel #04/10

Got the blue parallel when this set was released and just picked up the Gold for a surprisingly cheap price for a numbered to 10 card.  It's a sticker auto with a so-so photo but Topps and Panini really know the way to my heart (and wallet) with the re-use of the old 70's and 80's designs.  I owned about a billion 1984 Donruss - many of them would be quite valuable today.  But when I sold off the original collection in 1991, I got a very good price at the time for my Mattingly and Strawberry rookies.  Ahhh, breathe in the nostalgia.....