The Monster Multiplies: Boxes of PWEs

My first day with Monster #1 from Jaybarkerfan saw my cat Gus vanquish Freddy Krueger with surprising ease.  It reminded me again of the cartoon from my post a few weeks ago:

But after opening just one of a total of 5 small Priority Mail boxes stuffed inside of a large one, I had to ask myself what the other boxes might contain.  

Oops, I should have put a spoiler alert in the title.  I already told you.  The boxes contained PWEs.

That's one box.

That's the second box.

And that's the third box.

In the final box?  No PWEs....just huge stacks of cards that added up to this:

Once opened, all the PWEs were spread out across my office floor...

You can see Gus resting in the background as he enjoys a job well done in defeating Freddy. As you can see, there were a lot of little Bippings.  Putting together the big stack with the PWEs, and just from 1990 Score, there were 7 Jim Gantners, 8 Dan Plesacs, 5 Joey Meyers, 5 Rob Deers, 8 or 9 Bill Kruegers, 6 Greg Brocks, a solitary Mike Felder, and 6 Ted Higueras.  From 1989 Upper Deck, there were twenty-two Paul Molitor checklist cards, six more Joey Meyers, and 7 Dan Plesacs.

You get the picture.  And, to be honest, I actually needed several of those cards for PCs.  

Some of the PWEs were more fruitful than others, though. You might be able to see that some of those PWEs also contained jersey cards and even another printing plate!  Here are the highlights from those hits:

Two jersey relics from 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 -- Hernan Iribarren (still playing this year in Cincinnati's system) and Eric Gagne -- in one of those "now playing for Milwaukee" type cards.

Marquis Grissom from 2001 Fleer Premium, serial numbered 121 of 125.

PC guy Geoff Jenkins from 2004 Donruss Elite, obviously serial numbered out of 750.

2008 Topps Co-signers PC guy Ben Sheets, SN250 out of 400.

Caleb Gindl from the 2008 Donruss Threads set, serial numbered to 50.

That's the thin version of Ron Belliard, serial numbered to 77.

A very young, almost clean-shaven version of Corey Hart, serial numbered to 99.

Rickie Weeks, from the height of parallel mania, 2004, in the Donruss Team Heroes set. This parallel is serial numbered out of 150.

Now, on to the autographs and the jerseys. 

The recently deceased Jose Capellan, who died in April 2015 at the age of 34 of a heart attack.  

Drew Anderson, a 24th Round pick out of Nebraska in 2003 who made it all the way to the majors three years after being drafted, never made it back again, and now is a scout for the Brewers organization.

Dan Merklinger was a 6th round pick in 2007 out of Seton Hall who never got to the majors.   

Carlos Lee...we talked about him yesterday. I still cringe when I see the trade the Brewers made to get rid of Lee -- giving the Rangers Lee and Nelson Cruz for Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, and Laynce Nix with his extraneous Y.

 Here's Johnny!

Gray/grey Ben Sheets.  Question: how do you usually spell gray? Grey or Gray? Is there a convention on how each should be used?

Shane Marcum shows off a swatch apparently from one of those awful yellowy/mustardy alternative jerseys the Brewers wear every once in a while.

A Rickie Weeks serial numbered swatch -- to 130.

 J.J. Hardy, whom trading away was probably a good idea since it netted Carlos Gomez.

Mike Penney was an 8th Round draft pick back in 1998 out of USC the California version. He made it to Triple-A, got shelled there in about 75 innings and was done after 2002. He made some law in Arizona in 2012 (assuming he is the same Michael Kevin Penney that was involved in this case) relating to the right to counsel and what police must do to allow a suspect -- here, one who was charged with aggravated DUI because of driving a car into a house -- to obtain counsel prior to speaking to police.  It was a bad night for him....here's the paragraph describing the scene:

Scottsdale police responded to multiple calls regarding a vehicle that had crashed into a home in the early morning hours of February 20, 2010. By the time police arrived, the driver of the vehicle had fled the scene. However, officers found paperwork in the vehicle that identified Penney as the owner. When officers contacted Penney outside his residence a short while later, he "appeared disheveled." He had cuts on his hands and wrists and bloodshot, watery eyes, and his shirt had "a white slash going from the top left shoulder to the bottom ... consistent with some sort of a friction burn." He smelled of alcohol and slurred his speech. Officers found the keys to the wrecked vehicle in Penney's pocket.

I'd refuse the blood test and demand to see a lawyer too.

This looks like one of those mismatched color swatches -- like Fleer couldn't be arsed to get a Brewers swatch and used a red one (and trust me, it's red, not orange) instead.  This one is serial numbered to 325.

Finally, Mike Walker was a 14th Round draft pick out of the University of the Pacific in 2010.  He advanced as far as Double-A Huntsville but could only slash at .223/.318/.367 despite being nearly a year older than his competition there.  The Brewers gave up on him, it appears, and that was the end of his minor league career.

And yes, there were two more printing plates. 

Bring back Topps Total! That's Justin Lehr (who had already thrown 32-2/3 innings with the A's the previous season) and Derrick Turnbow, who was the Brewers closer in 2005 when this card was issued and racked up 39 saves in 67-1/3 innings with a 1.74 ERA. 

Tomo Ohka had several years of being a very good pitcher in Boston and Montreal but struggled after back-to-back 190 inning seasons in 2002 and 2003.  He left MLB in 2009 and returned to Japan to pitch for his previous team, Yokohama Bay Stars, for two years. Then, in 2012, he unexpectedly signed as a knuckleballer with Toronto, but never made the team.

All of these hits and serial numbers...unbelievable.  I am going to have a hard time keeping up....maybe...we'll see what JBF thinks of the packages he's gotten recently. And, I have one secret weapon up my sleeve.  

At least one, that is.