1995 Topps: Part 1 (You Asked For It)

Much to my surprise, by more than a 2:1 ratio, you have voted for me to post a fully detailed box break of the 1995 Topps Series 1 box I picked up for $5 recently. Before anyone asks (and I'm sure you're all going to be lining up in the comments waiting to pounce on these cards) I will trade/send these cards out to those who have want lists for team collections first and secondly to anyone who just wants some cards or is collecting the set. That should still leave plenty for SpastikMooss.

Pack 1:

352 - Scott Kamieniecki (Scott says, "Settle in guys. This is going to be a bit of a hike.")

32 - Travis Fryman Cyberstats (One card per pack is a Cyberstats card, with "Spectra Light" foil stamped cards and a metallic background. This probably paved the way for Chrome the following year.)

328 - Craig Shipley

183 - Jim Edmonds (Cards on Cards favorite.)

230 - Jay Bell

346 - Armando Benitez Star Track

78 - Midre Cummings

40 - Travis Fryman (It's a Fryman bonanza.)

105 - Ken Caminiti

159 - Bill Wegman

188 - Billy Spiers

106 - Darrin Jackson (White Sox announcer.)

277 - Chris Gomez

222 - Jack Armstrong

230 - Jay Bell (Ugh, pack duplicates are never good.)

Pack 2:

177 - Chris Howard

84 - Chris Sabo Cyberstats (What is Chris Sabo without his patented Chris Sabo glasses? Nobody, that's who!)

198 - Jeff Branson

177 - Chris Howard (Ugh.)

262 - Allen Watson (First Cardinal of the box.)

41 - Mark Leiter (Al's bro.)

313 - Ramon Castro Draft Pick

234 - Felix Fermin

163 - Alex Fernandez (I thought Fernandez was going to be a superstar.)

315 - Marquis Grissom

228 - Darryl Kile (Another Cards on Cards fave. I really need to get my DK personal collection online, at least in list form.)

382 - Chris Haney

67 - Royce Clayton

46 - Ken Hill

272 - Rich Rowland

Pack 3:

172 - Hipolito Pichardo

115 - Kent Mercker Cyberstats

95 - Mark Langston (19-game winners never get any respect.)

246 - Brooks Kieschnick Future Star (I must have missed the days when Kieschnick reigned as a Star.)

116 - Rob Butler

97 - Mike Gardiner

386 - Matt Williams / Wade Boggs All-Stars (A couple of all-star players that I didn't care much for.)

327 - Randy Knorr

102 - Scott Brosius (Local dude.)

133 - Mike Hampton

32 - Tony Tarasco

76 - Charles Nagy

130 - Jeff Conine (It's easy to forget that Conine actually played for the Royals before he was the Original Marlin.)

254 - Matt Whiteside

232 - Harold Baines

Pack 4:

191 - Roberto Hernandez

183 - Jason Jacome Cyberstats

169 - Roberto Mejia

243 - Melvin Nieves

42 - Jose Bautista

48 - Pete Harnisch (I'm pretty sure that's not proper form.)

285 - Greg Swindell

104 - Kenny Lofton

38 - Tim Wallach (The mere fact that "Triple-Crown" is mentioned in relation to Wallach's 1994 season is enough to convince me that 1994 was not a real baseball season. The success of the Expos is another.)

334 - John Flaherty

240 - Joe Carter

278 - Joe Grahe

13 - Kenny Rogers (I'll always remember the dirty hand.)

14 - Jose Vizcaino

7 - Trevor Hoffman

Pack 5:

65 - Rick Aguilera

82 - Paul Sorrento Cyberstats (I liked Sorrento growing up when he was a Twins prospect playing in Portland.)

294 - Steve Howe (Howe was a pretty effective pitcher when not suspended due to drug-related issues.)

259 - Mike Thurman Draft Pick

121 - Mike Morgan

171 - Calvin Reese Future Star (Better known as Pokey.)

147 - Ray McDavid Star Track (McDavid must have fallen pretty far off the track, because I've never heard of him.)

170 - Wade Boggs (Clearly, there was something unsavory on that base.)

146 - Ed Sprague

119 - Tony Fossas

344 - Kirk Rueter (Rueter would eventually gain the nickname "Woody" based on his resemblance to the character from Toy Story.)

281 - Mike Bordick

164 - Freddie Benavides

272 - Rich Rowland (There are roughly 500 base cards in this box and 396 in the Series 1 set. There will be doubles, but probably more than necessary.)

121 - Mike Morgan

Pack 6:

98 - David McCarty (Another Twins/Portland Beavers prospect that never quite set the league on fire.)

61 - Mark Grace Cyberstats (Ah, the beauty of the Cyberstats card back. The whole point of the Cyberstats thing was to "simulate" players' full season data as if the strike never happened... taking injuries and potential pitching matchups into account, no doubt. You can read all about this set, especially the card backs, over at Night Owl Cards.)

152 - Jose Offerman (I was going to make my Jose Offerman joke here, but I forgot to scan the card. Okay, fine. Jose Offerman is actually not committing an error in this picture. Well... you'll have to take my word for it. And here you probably thought I was going in a different direction with this.)

49 - James Baldwin Future Star

- Own the Game Instant Winner (I won! Wait... what did I win? A Kansas City Royals 1995 Spectra Light team set? Ah, I'm just almost 15 years too late. Does anyone have any of these team sets?)

138 - Rheal Cormier (Proud Canadian Cardinal.)

3 - Babe Ruth 100th Birthday (Before there were all of the Mantle cards, Topps honored The Babe with card #3.)

270 - Johnny Ruffin

327 - Randy Knorr

239 - Ben Rivera

44 - Bret Barberie (The goofy, puffy cloud photo is actually a common theme in this set as you'll find in the coming posts/days.)

338 - Stan Javier

312 - Jim Thome

223 - Todd Hundley

255 - Darrin Fletcher

Pack 7:

169 - Roberto Mejia

180 - Randy Myers Cyberstats

331 - Alex Cole

207 - John Wasdin Future Star

371 - Orlando Miller Star Track

209 - Tim Belcher

217 - Pat Mahomes (This is a nice set for the ex-Beavers. Mahomes was a fun flamethrower who could never really figure out how to keep the ball near the strike zone.)

24 - Rene Arocha (Arocha was one of the first Cuban defectors that I was aware of. He had a fairly short Major League career.)

342 - Scott Servais (Whoa, dude. This is another common theme in this set, as evidenced by the pack wrapper. Upper Deck popularized the whole multi exposure thing with their first few sets and Topps finally decided to copy them when they had probably moved on to some other gimmick.)

309 - Kevin Seitzer

194 - Travis Miller Draft Pick

210 - Jeff Montgomery

1 - Frank Thomas (I don't want to go all Steroids Debate on you, but I feel like Frank Thomas could have literally hit home runs with his arms. He didn't need any help and I'm pretty sure he didn't have any.)

7 - Trevor Hoffman

185 - Jeff Kent

Pack 8:

162 - Luis Gonzalez

39 - Joey Hamilton Cyberstats

183 - Jim Edmonds

95 - Mark Langston

LL5 - Moises Alou League Leaders (Ah ha! An insert card. Neither the pack wrappers or the box itself make any mention that there are inserts in this stuff beyond the Cyberstats cards, but according to the almighty Beckett, these were seeded at 1:6 packs.)

385 - Carlos Baerga / Bret Boone All-Stars

384 - Jeff Bagwell / Frank Thomas All-Stars (Bagwell and the Big Hurt kind of trump Baerga/Boone, I would think.)

219 - Kevin Rogers (At least he's not Kenny.)

80 - Rafael Palmeiro

235 - Ellis Burks

311 - Bryan Harvey

200 - Tim Salmon

10 - Matt Williams

230 - Jay Bell (Jay Bell #3 for those keeping track.)

295 - Greg Maddux

Pack 9:

362 - Chad Kreuter (I should really caption contest this card.)

64 - Barry Bonds Cyberstats

139 - Paul Konerko Draft Pick (Konerko has a career best OPS of .955 this season.)

294 - Steve Howe

373 - Richie Lewis

392 - Greg Maddux / David Cone All-Stars (Whoa, it's like deja vu.)

392 - Greg Maddux / David Cone All-Stars (Whoa, it's like deja vu.)

264 - Brent Mayne

65 - Rick Aguilera

109 - Danny Miceli

339 - Mike Fetters

94 - Carlos Hernandez

100 - Barry Bonds (Bonds Pack.)

255 - Darrin Fletcher

279 - Rusty Greer

Tune in next time for more YouTube clips of Coors Light commercials.