Triple Threads is a product that is out of my price range for a box break and it seems to be the same for most of the blogging community. It is a major chase the hit product and very hit or miss based on the box breaks I have seen at my LCSs and on Youtube. The bright side to this is that most of the people that break it have little to no interest in the base cards and parallels. I usually try to go after as many of the McCovey base and parallels but he wasn't in the base set this year. Fortunately a few players I collect are in the set.
I was able to pick up these three base cards off the LCS bid board for under a dollar a piece. I thought I would share the front and back along with some thoughts about the photo selection and design.
First up is Rickey Henderson. This happens to be the 1560th different card of Ricky in my collection, so significance to that number I just decided to sort my spreadsheet for the first time in quite a while. I am always in favor of Rickey pictures on the base paths so that is a plus. I also prefer Rickey pictured as an Oakland Athletic, the team he played with when I started collecting him. With regards to the design, it seems a little Ginterish with the gaudy border. The silver foil doesn't scan the greatest but it looks solid on the card. The card stock is nice and thick, still thin enough to fit into a 9-pocket page easily but definitely a nice level of quality. If I was rating the front design on a letter scale I would give it a B+.
The back has a lot of wasted space with the gray and the large block for all the legal mumbo jumbo on the bottom. I don't mind the born/bats/throws/height/weight on the back but the Acquired seems odd. Rickey had 4 tours of duty with the A's (the team he is pictured with) and ended up changing teams 12 times, I would have just left that out. On the plus side, the name plate up top looks good as does the team plate. I really enjoy the Triple Take three facts about each player. Let's see if any of this is new to me. (1) I knew he was the Oakland career leader in SBs but didn't know the number or the amount of his lead. (2) Nothing new here. (3) I knew he was a high school running back but didn't know he had 2 1,000-yard season. Overall I am happy to learn a little. Letter grade - B-.
Triple Threads seems to like photos that are cropped fairly close which works pretty well. This photo of Mays works. I really like that he is in mid-swing. Check out the concentration as he looks at the pitch coming in. I am a fan of this card front.
I would definitely say I am more of a student of Rickey than Willie although I did read a comprehensive Mays biography a couple years back. Let's see how I do on Mays' Triple Take. (1) I knew he had quite a few triples but did not know this fact. If I gave it any thought though I think it would be an easy assumption to make, the 600 HR club isn't too big. (2) Common knowledge - he was a 5-tool player. (3) Read about the Donna Reed show in his biography. Wow, I knew more about Willie than Rickey.
My third and final Triple Threads pick up (at least for right now) is Reggie Jackson. Until recently I hadn't focused much time on my Reggie collection. I have a pretty solid vintage collection including his 1969 rookie card but have major gaps since the explosion of cards in the 2000s. I do need to decide how aggressive I need to be in filling in those gaps. In the meantime, I will pick up as many newly issued cards as I can. Great photo selection here, I enjoy Reggie as an Athletic or Yankee the most. The yellow A's jerseys of this era are epic and Reggie is sporting his signature glasses and some sweet facial hair. Three for three in photo selection for me.
Let's see how I rate out on Reggie's Triple Take. (1) This was not a fact I was familiar with but it doesn't surprise me. I tried to guess who the two were that had more. My first guess was Hank Aaron which was correct at 264 HRs despite only 12 in 1975. I checked out Willie McCovey next but he only had 226. I figured out the other person on my 3rd guess, Willie Stargell with 256. (2) Pretty common knowledge. (3) Not only did I know this, I have read the book.
I am pretty happy to pick up these nice high end base cards on the cheap. Time to seek out some parallels.
Thanks for the post on the Triple Threads. Those are actually the first base cards I've seen from the 2013 line.
ReplyDeleteI like how the backs stayed consistent:
Fact #1 was stats based
Fact #2 was more of a summary of their talents
Fact #3 had a pop culture feel to it.