Blackout rewards

I got blackout!!

OK, some context might help, I guess.  A while back, I was invited to play in Johnny's Bingo Night.  It's fun and fast, and he has prizes for a lot of different bingos.  Regular bingo, 4 corners, postage stamp and of course, Blackout!  Yep, I got the blackout, and Johnny sent me an impressive Box O' Prizes!

 

First prize was this partial set of 200 Topps ''Home Team Advantage" cards.  I didn't know anything about Home Team Advantage, had to look up the details:

In 2000 Topps released three different factory sets. 1) The traditional factory set that was made available both to Hobby outlets and mass-market retail stores. 2) A "Home Team Advantage" factory set. And 3) a "Limited" factory set.  The HTA Factory set was (as the name suggests) exclusive to Hobby stores participating in the Home Team Advantage program. Each HTA factory set included all 478 base cards plus one Hank Aaron Chrome reprint. All of the base cards within Home Team Advantage factory sets were stamped with a special "HTA" gold foil logo on the card front. 

So basically, the HTA set is more limited than the regular Factory Set, but not so limited as the 'Limited' Factory Set.  And the cards I got were the commons, the stars were gone.  Can't blame Johnny for that though!

So next up, I received a 2003 Topps set.  This one was packed pretty much to the limits of the box, but when I pulled it out, the cards were all out of order.  So I did something I haven't done in years, and hand collated a set!!  It was kind of fun, even if my back hurt by the end.  And guess what?  They were all there!  Woohoo!

I also got this 1999 Topps complete set.  It too is packed tightly, and the cards are out of order.  I have no doubt it is complete, but will wait to collate it another day.

Here are 2 cool looking cards from the 1999 set:

Everyone loves that Hunter card, right!

Next up were 2 of these "Black Sox" mini sets

The cards look like this:

And the 8 who were banned get black borders, ooh shame!  There is an extra Joe Jackson with a red border.  Not sure what that is supposed to mean.

Here are the backs, no numbers:

And last but not least, this 1989 Topps "Major League Debut" set.  Its actually a set from 1990, just full of players who made their major league debuts in 1989.

Back then, one of the big names might have been this guy.  I remember him being chased by a lot of my friends.  But now, he's been surpassed by the huge number of really good players in this set.

Here are a few!  Nice crop of players indeed!  Each of these guys was considered a stud at one time or another.

Johnny also sent a box of penny sleeves, which were much appreciated.  Thanks Johnny!