A Most Excellent Collecting Adventure

A few days ago the official trailer came out for Bill & Ted: Face The Music.

You can see the trailer below

I talked about my excitement for this movie last year as part of my 80s week.

To say I am excited for this movie is a huge understatement.

Bill & Ted debuted in 1989 in Bill & Ted: Excellent Adventure.

I have shown off some of these 1989 inspired Topps cards in the past.

In 2014, Bowman officially announced they were back (did they ever really go away?) With a "diamond refractor" card inspired by 1989 Bowman.  The image used is from the 2013 All-Star game.

The insert set was officially dubbed Bowman is Back and featured a card back in a style similar to those oversized 1989 Bowman cards.


1987 Topps was the first set I ever put together with my dad, but 1989 is when I considered myself a kid who collected baseball cards.  I loved that set and think that Topps should show it more love.

2014 Topps Chrome released a chrome version of Cutch using a 1989 design.

This is where things get fun.

Where there's Chrome, there's usually Superfractors.

And I have it!
I wrote about it over 2 years ago.

As a kid who opened probably a case of 1989 Topps, I never thought there would be pieces of jersey or bats used by my favorite players embedded in the cards.

Look at how awesome that looks.
These rarely pop up for sale these days and are all numbered to only 25 copies or less.

And to wrap up my collecting adventure is a pair of 2014 Topps mini diecuts that were available in Series 1 and Series 2 packs.

 I love these mini cards.

Kudos to Topps for actually doing a different writeup on the back.


Topps isn't the only manufacturer that recognizes that fans cling to nostalgia.
Panini released a 1989 Donruss MVP inspired subset in their 2019 Optic release.  Some players had base versions and some players had autograph only versions.

Cutch got the autograph only treatment and all the different parallels feature on card signatures.

Many of these are numbered to 3 or less copies.

The set featured a pretty diverse group of signers from Keith Hernandez, Willie McGhee, Kevin Mitchell, and Jose Canseco to legendary players like Ken Griffey Jr, Brooks Robinson, Ryne Sandberg, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Frank Thomas.  There are also fan favorites like Steve Garvey, Dale Murphy and Cutch.  The hit king, Pete Rose, has an auto in it as well.

The sequel to Bill & Ted came in 1991 with the release of Bill & Ted: Bogus Journey.

I have a few 1991 cards featuring Cutch thanks to a 2016 Topps Archives release that used the 1991 design as one of the 3 designs that year.

The nice thing about Cutch appearing on the 1991 design for 2016 Archives is that there is an Operation Desert Shield SSP variant to go with the blue and red border parallels.

The black border 1/1 is stunning with the black alternate jersey

The back shows Cutch's impressive run as the leader in the National League in many offensive categories.

Topps began to really start pushing their 5x7 cards in 2016 and I was fortunate to grab a gold parallel numbered to 10 copies.

Panini got into the nostalgia throwback game as well when they released a 1991 Donruss Studio inspired card as part of their Father's Day release.

Above is the black and white test proof (/5 copies), Base, and Lava flow parallel.

The back discusses Cutch's enjoyment of the Discovery Chanel and dubstep music.

Getting multiple 1/1s of Cutch in 1989 and 1991 designs has been both a most excellent adventure and a totally bogus journey.

With a career heading towards a twilight and it looking more and more like there won't be a baseball season this year, it is time to Face The Music that new releases of Cutch will likely become less available.

My Favorite 80s Fictional Characters

I am running a contest which you can still enter here, but time is ticking away.  I am gearing up for my 4th Annual Save Second Base Event where I show off only pink (with some hues of magenta, peach, and maybe a light purple or light red shade) baseball cards relating to my favorite baseball player for an entire month.  Prior to each post about the card I give out some frightening information about a major disease that is effecting many woman in this country.  I also show off some beautiful women for why we should be looking for a cure and to Save Second Base.

The prize is this very limited (only 25 copies produced) of two players who debuted in the 1980s, Barry Larkin and Gary Sheffield. 

As someone who was born in the 1980s and because it is my birthday week, all week long I am showing off cards of Andrew McCutchen and how they relate to the 80s. 

Cutch is my favorite player born in the 80s. Who is yours? Enter the contest here.

Each post so far this week I have been talking about different things from the 80s I like, but today I am going to talk about my favorite fictional characters to debut in the 80s and show off a card relating to their debut year.

Up first is Marty Mcfly, played by Michael J. Fox.  If you haven't seen any of the Back to the Future trilogy I DEMAND you leave this blog and don't come back until you have.  This Sci-Fi comedy takes a look at how one event can cause a ripple effect that can cause the entire universe to change paths.  Had Lorraine, played by the very stunning Lea Thompson, not fallen in love with George McFly  then Marty and his siblings would never have been born which causes more chains in the universe to be broken etc. 

The character Marty Mcfly debuted in Back to the Future which premiered in 1985.

 Here is a trio of parallels of Cutch screaming as he rounds the bases, likely trying to leg out a triple or coming home to celebrate a walk off homer.  It is from 2013 Topps Archives.

Speaking of Homer, here is Homer Simpson, who made his animated debut in April of 1987.  

The Simpsons is the longest running TV show ever.  While early seasons had me liking Bart for his catch phrases like "Eat my shorts" or "Cowabunga", it wasn't until I was older that I realized Homer is the best character on the show.  

There are multiple options I could have used showing off Cutch using the 1987 cardboard design, but ultimately I went with a more plain option from the 1987 5x7 card line produced in 2015 as an online exclusive.  

Another animated favorite of mine was Bumblebee from the original Generation 1 Transformers.  He has changed his appearance A LOT since his 1984 VW Beetle days to his mid 2000s Camaro car mode, but the heart of the character remains the same.

I wish I had the other parallels of this card (gold/50, blue/150, Orange/25, red/5) to pair up with the black and green, but for now these 1984 Topps Chrome style cards will have to do.

This next character is actually a pair because quite honestly you can't discuss William S Preston (Bill) without talking about his best friend Theodore Logan (Ted).  Bill and Ted introduced a franchise that will see it's third installment finally get made this year, twenty years after the original.  AND I AM PUMPED FOR IT!!! I jist got done doing a totally gnarly wicked air guitar solo to show my enthusiasm duuuuude.  

Seriously. Tho. Bill and Ted!!!!

2 totally awesome characters that helped shape the end of the 80s in a most bodacious way. 

I have a new segment revolving around the awesomeness of Keanu Reeves which I will debut next week.  It will definitely be a fun one to show off.

The original Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventire came out in 1989.

I loved 1989 Topps. I think it gets a bad rap for being such an over produced set from the 80s.  The design lends itself so well to today's color parallels though.

These die cut minis were from 2014 and are most excellent finds in a pack of cards.

1986 marked the first time I watched a movie and thought of a girl as being pretty and not having cooties or being some stupid girl.  That girl was Sarah Williams, played by Jennifer Connely.  

My parents got me into all things Jim Henson as a kid. I wasn't a super fan and couldn't recite much of the movie, but I was drawn in by the wonderfully created bizarre world that Jareth lived in and Sarah stumbled into.  As I got older, I grew to appreciate the unique nature of this film even more.  It didn't hurt that Jennifer Connely got more beautiful as she got older.

1986 Topps was a series I had only a few packs of.  The following year my dad and I went full blown collector crazy.

The simple nature of this set is so fun.  I wonder how many of today's stars will still be playing in 16 years so they can get a Heritage design similar to this  2014 Topps Archives release.