5 on the 5: 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess

Here's a product that epitomizes '90s baseball card excess, right down to its intentionally misspelled name. 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess cards were a hot mess in a mylar wrapper, cramming 12 skinny cards in what I assumed to be an affordable package. I picked up 6 of these for 80 cents a piece and will show 5 of them here, with the pack to be named later shown off at A Pack To Be Named Later at some later point. All cards are up for grabs including the Cardinals cards.

Pack 1:

10 of 20 DH - Kenny Lofton Doubleheader (It's a game. It's an insert. It's a two-per-pack game insert. It involves dice, not included, because that would be weird.)

17 of 20 DH - Frank Thomas Doubleheader (I assume that there are more of these than actual Frank Thomas base cards because of how they were distributed.)

FF6 of 10 - Craig Biggio Frequent Flyer (Sort of like a cheap replica credit card that a credit card company might mail you unsolicited before people thought about things like identity theft, Frequent Flyers were a 1:4 insert.)

76 - Matt Stairs

127 - Mark McGwire 7th Inning Sketch

125 - Mike Piazza 7th Inning Sketch (Get it?)

59 - Frank Thomas (He has so many cards. I think it would be quite a challenge to be a Big Hurt player collector.)

18 - Gary Sheffield (If everything else wasn't enough, the base cards have this weird rainbowy effect going on in the corners at times.)

102 - Brian Giles Little Dawgs (Quite possibly the most annoying concept and name of a subset of all-time. I don't feel like getting into it right now. Maybe later.)

100 - Juan Encarnacion Little Dawgs

99 - Rod Myers Little Dawgs (Who?)

1 - Travis Lee

Pack 2:

9 of 20 DH - Chipper Jones Doubleheader

16 of 20 DH - Scott Rolen Doubleheader (There was a time when you might have felt bad for Philly. Rolen and J.D. Drew both jilted them, after all. I feel like they've turned into the Red Sox of the National League these days.)

FF7 of 10 - Delino DeShields Frequent Flyer (As if the front of these Frequent Flyer cards weren't ridiculous enough.)

118 - Paul Konerko Little Dawgs

6 of 10 SH - Hideo Nomo & Human Torch Superheroes (Hey, I recognize this card!)

40 - Ron Gant (One of the centerpieces of the '96 Cardinals playoff run, a team that looked like they were on the brink of something only to completely collapse against Atlanta. Still painful.)

39 - Jason Kendall

58 - Albert Belle

37 - Tony Womack (It's almost as if Tony Womack has always existed. Before time, even.)

10 - Barry Larkin

44 - Ken Caminiti (I can't believe anyone does steroids anymore after seeing what happened to the late Caminiti.)

116 - Rich Butler Little Dawgs (Wait for it.)

Pack 3:

4 of 20 DH - Derek Jeter Doubleheaders (So tired of this guy right now.)

11 of 20 DH - Mark McGwire Doubleheaders (Normally I'd be happy with this card, but I recently received three of them in a group break.)

133 - Mo Vaughn Name Plates (Scary dude.)

91 - Jeff Suppan Little Dawgs (It's so weird to think of someone like Jeff Suppan as a "Little Dawg".)

62 - Sandy Alomar, Jr.

35 - Curt Schilling

54 - Roberto Alomar (Multi-Alomar)

73 - Derek Jeter (Fine, you win, Jeter.)

72 - Brad Radke

45 - Kevin Brown

109 - Eric Milton Little Dawgs (Ah, Uncle Miltie.)

46 - Barry Bonds

Pack 4:

9 of 20 DH - Chipper Jones Doubleheader (Ol' Larry wearing a Boston Braves replica jersey.)

16 of 20 DH - Scott Rolen Doubleheader

137 - Fred McGriff Name Plates (I approve of this.)

108 - A.J. Hinch Little Dawgs

2 - Matt Williams

40 - Ron Gant

59 - Frank Thomas (So many doubles. Clearly this set was not very big.)

78 - Jason Giambi (I told my friend about Giambi hitting 3 HRs the other day and tried to convey how confusing it was. He responded with something sarcastic about steroids. Uh, if Giambi is still on steroids, he's doing it wrong. His 3 HR night was a huge anomaly for 2011 Giambi.)

77 - Ben Grieve

30 - Rondell White

64 - Bobby Higginson

106 - Mark Kotsay Little Dawgs (I really dislike these cards. To be honest, if I had realized that this was the "Little Dawgs" set before I bought the packs I might have thought twice about shelling out the money.)

Pack 5:

3 of 20 DH - Barry Bonds Doubleheader

20 of 20 DH - Jose Cruz, Jr. Doubleheader

138 - Roger Clemens Name Plates (I just can't.)

48 - Shawn Estes

67 - Dean Palmer

60 - Robin Ventura

19 - Jeff Bagwell (I've been on a run of Bagwell cards lately.)

148 - Andres Galarraga Trivia Card (Can you guess the answer?)

112 - Derrek Lee Little Dawgs (Okay, fine, here's the deal. This is what the Little Dawgs look like. On the back of each Little Dawgs card is an explanation from Barry Larkin himself on what a Little Dawg is. It basically makes him sound like a jerk who doesn't bother to make personal connections with people he figures he probably won't be playing with anytime soon. It doesn't make it any better that the graphic takes up half of the card.)

110 - Ricky Ledee Little Dawgs

119 - Richard Hidalgo Little Dawgs (And again.)

106 - Mark Kotsay Little Dawgs (And again.)