Sports Impressions Plates

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I'm going to try to return to at least twice weekly updates if at all possible. Today's posts includes two plates produced by Sports Impressions, which are know for making sports related plates and figurines.

This first plate is full-sized, and titled "Born to Steal." It features a nice collage of Rickey pictures, as well as a great collection of time lapse drawings featuring Rickey stealing a base with his uniform changing over time.



The plate is part of the "Sports Superstar Collector Plate Series," with Rickey being the All-Time Stolen Base Champ. The plate was produced in 1990 and is a limited edition of 1990, with mine being number 705. The drawings were done by Ron Lewis, who is known for these type of collage drawings.



This next Sports Impressions plate is a mini-plate, only about 5" across. Similar to the larger plate, this one is called "Born to Run." I apologize for the bad picture, but the scanner didn't like it, so this is the best I could do.



This small plate was also produced in 1990 and is part of the same collectors series as the larger one, but is not serial numbered. This plate was designed by Terrence Fogarty, but in a similar style to the larger one, and most other Sports Impressions plates.

Yankees TCMA Postcards

Continuing on with the items I got from the TriStar show (only one more post left after this), are these pair of postcards from the 1985 and 1986 Yankees TCMA sets.



The postcard on the left is from the 1985 set, and is number 35 in the collection (numbered NYY85-35 below the place for the stamp). The 1986 postcard on the right is number 33 in the set.



The 1986 postcard is shown on the top, while the 1985 postcard is on the bottom of the above scan. I was actually pretty excited that I was able to cross these off of my checklist, as I don't have too many cards from the 1980's that I still need, and I love it when I get to check of some of the few that are remaining. I knew that they existed (thanks to Beckett's checklist), but being on the West Coast, I'd never actually seen any in person.

I came across a dealer with a binder full of Yankees postcards, priced at $0.50 each or 3/$1.00. Even though I'd never seen them before, I knew right away that they must be the TCMA postcards. But, based on past experience, when a dealer has a set of old oddball cards, 99% of the time the stars (i.e. Rickey) have already been picked through, leaving only the commons behind. But, much to my amazement, there was the Rickey in the 1985 set, and the 1986 postcard was only a few pages later.



Even more amazing, was that since the cards were 3/$1.00, I could now get something else for free! It's the little things in life that really make you happy. So, I found this 1991 King B disc, which I added to my pile. I already have one, but you can't pass up free cards.

TV Sports Mailbag 8X10 Photos

TV Sports Mailbag of Yorktown Heights, NY produced a serious of collectible photos in 1989 and 1990. These 8X10 photos are on cardboard-type stock with a glossy front.

The 1989 photo features Rickey in a Yankees jersey, and is number 83 in the set. He sure is sporting some trendy shades!





By 1990, Rickey had been traded back to the A's, and is shown in a more typical batting pose, on card number 90 in the set. For some reason, this picture seems like it could be from the late 1990's, while the first picture is definitely from the 80's!





On a more personal note, I'm really excited about this weekend, as I'm going to go to my first big card show in over 10 years! Tristar is having their annual show in San Francisco, and I hope to come back with a few good additions to my collection. If I do find anything good, it'll definitely make it's way on to the blog.

Yankees Beverage Cup

Whenever I went to a baseball game as a kid, I always enjoyed the "free" plastic cup that came along with your drink. It was a great souvenir, plus you got 24 ounces of Coke! I have quite a few cups from the Oakland Coliseum, featuring Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, and even Walt Weiss, but none of them ever featured Rickey.



I didn't get it from the stadium, but this "Collector's Series '87" cup from Yankee Stadium does feature Rickey, and probably came complete with a $10 beer. An artistic rendering of an action shot of Rickey is featured on one side of the cup, and in profile on the other.



I love the list of events that fans had to look forward to in 1987. I bet they had a sell-out crowd on the 4th of July for the Miami Sound Machine concert!

Topps 3-D Cards

The 1985 Topps 3-D card, with Rickey in his A's uniform, is one of my favorite cards in my collection. I really like the way the 3-D effect actually makes him jump off of the card! The cards are blank backed (except for a few pieces of double-stick tape), and are approximately 4"x6" large.




The card above is from the 1985 Topps 3-D set, and is number 10 of 30. Rickey was actually traded to the Yankees before the 1985 season began, but he didn't show up as a Yankee until the 1986 Topps 3-D set, where he's number 11 of 30.

1987 Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Cards

In 1987 Kraft produced a 48-card set called "Home Run Heroes," which could be found on the back of Macaroni and Cheese boxes. The first two pictures below are of a complete box, still full of mac and cheese. I wouldn't be surprised it you could still eat it today!

The panels on the back of the boxes actually contained several different player combinations, four of which are shown below. Rickey (card number 31 in the set) is paired with Fernando Valenzuela (as in the full box), but also with Vince Coleman, Jeff Reardon, and Pete Rose.