Kirsty Lingman Autograph Card

I would like to take a moment to wish one of my favourite models, New Zealand's own (and Los Angeles-based) Kirsty Lingman, a Happy Birthday with this Limited Edition (#18/25) purple autograph variant of card #62 from Benchwarmer's 2014 Hockey set:

Kirsty is a fan of hard rock and heavy metal who travels to see shows (though most do make their way to L.A./Las Vegas, so she'd be good anyway), and has been known to work as a photographer and bartender on the side as well. Here's what the back of the card looks like:

It shows her playing around with a Koho goalie stick, the type Patrick Roy popularized after his 1993 Stanley Cup and second of three Conn Smythe wins.

Ciara Price Autograph Card

Happy Valentine's Day!

To get there, here's card #RB-CP from Benchwarmer's 2015 Signature Series set, featuring none other than Ciara Price, the Maine-born model-turned-DJ:

It features a black-sharpied on-card autograph (with a heart tagged at the end of it) and a superb gold/black/red design and colour palette.

Here's the back:

If I remember correctly, she now has a tattoo on the left side of her back where her bikini top is, and another on her right butt cheek.

Formerly linked to rugby player Mitchell Pearce, UFC fighter Sean Loeffler and the Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin, she usually likes her men built and slightly bearded - and her sports tough and physical.

She was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month in November 2011, and also graced the cover two more times after that.

Tiffany Selby Autograph Card

So many NHL teams have trouble with their goaltending that a few should perhaps be looking at their options with an open mind; if the traditional route doesn't work, perhaps thinking outside the box will. For instance, the Carolina Hurricanes had their equipment manager Jorge Alves suit up and actually play for 8 seconds in their 3-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this season, leaving him with the franchise's best career goals-against average (0.00)...

And we all know Manon Rhéaume played for the Bolts in a preseason game 25 years ago...

So perhaps a team like the Calgary Flames or St. Louis Blues could have a look at Tiffany Selby and see what she can do...

That's a Preview card from Benchwarmer, ahead of their 2013 National convention, which sees her sporting a Koho stick - the brand that Patrick Roy used with the Montréal Canadiens from 1993-95 and with the Colorado Avalanche for the remainder of his career, i.e. three of his four Stanley Cups, two of his three Conn Smythes and a Hart nomination.

The last time we checked in on her, she was a model and aspiring actress. A lot has happened since, including regular appearances on Deal Or No Deal, being the official spokesmodel for Budweiser and Suzuki, the birth of her daughter, and a move back to Jacksonville, Florida instead of remaining in California.

Nowadays, she's a realtor for the Watson Group.

Jaime Hammer Autograph Card

Jaime Hammer realized she wanted to appear in the famed Playboy magazine when she and a number of her classmates spent a night at the Playboy Mansion in what was dubbed the Midsummer Night’s Dream Pajama Party, back in 1999... when they were 17.

A little over four years later, she became the first Arizona State University student to grace the magazine's front page for its College Girls edition. She went on to appear in numerous editions of the famous nudie zine, as well as Penthouse, where she was Pet Of The Month for November 2007.

She has also appeared in Perfect 10, Exercise & Health, and Open Your Eyes.

A Chicago native, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her modeling career, but has since relocated to Las Vegas.

Nowadays, there are videos of her floating around porn sites where she undresses and lightly touches herself. She is also credited with appearing in some 40 softcore porn films as Sophia Taylor, though I do not know the extent of her, uh, participation in any of the scenes.

Prior to today, I wasn't aware of her doing anything but appearing in picture spreads and trading cards. I have a few of her Playboy trading cards I'd wanted to get signed in person eventually...

In any event, here she is, from Benchwarmer's 2006 Holiday set (card #14 of 16):

It features a beautiful on-card autograph in black sharpie. BW cards use some kind of coating that makes penny sleeves reflect badly when scanned, but this is a beautiful card to the naked eye.

Nicole Loum Autograph Card

Ealier this summer, I received Benchwarmer's 2015 Fathers' Day set with a few added inserts, and this was one of them:

It's card #60 from BW's 2015 Signature Series set featuring Canadian model Nicole Loum (it also acts as her de facto "Rookie Card" seeing as it's her first presence in a full set, but she'd appeared in special-edition mini-sets prior to this one); she signed it in black sharpie and appears to have made a mistake in doing so, judging by the smudge in her signature.

Loum hails from Sainte Catharines, Ontario (currently actually lives in Toronto) and burst onto the modeling scene in 2014 with a bunch of photo shoots of very proud photographers and onto a few red carpet events with Benchwarmer CEO Brian Wallos, as well as a few card collectors' events in Las Vegas.

I anticipate her popularity to blow up in the coming years, as she's quickly becoming a BW staple and will soon grace magazine ads and covers.

Billie Jo Powers Autograph Card

I mentioned yesterday that I purchased a complete set of Benchwarmer Father's Day cards (eleven from 2012, one from 2010 and four from 2014). One of those from 2012 was a duplicate to me, because I'd received a similar one as a Redemption Card a year ago:

The only difference is that last year's Billie Jo Powers card I got was signed in purple/pink, while this one was signed in green. It'll join yesterday's Foursome on Ebay.

It would have been nice if BW had included ''new'' cards for 2015, and I wouldn't have been averse to Powers being one of them, as the Pittsburgh native reflects a positive energy that is a welcome change to the usual hard-nosed Steel Town attitude.

Not that she doesn't fight for what she wants: she runs a company with her mom that they built from the ground up, it's just that she seems to hold all the good cards in the deck of Life.

Benchwarmer Autograph Foursome Card

I ordered the Benchwarmers Father's Day set a while ago, and I received it in the mail yesterday, with a couple of bonus cards. This is the first one:

It's a dealer-specific quad-auto ''Thank You'' card meant for dealers as a thanks for conducting business with the brand, and features four on-card signatures in black sharpie or BW regulars Cassandra Lynn, Jennifer Korbin, Michelle Baena, and Paige Peterson, with pictures recycled from previously-released cards.

It's a bizarre card for me, considering I'd previously featured Cassandra Lynn Hensley when she died last year, and because I've met Michelle Baena and have actual in-person cards of hers signed - and there's the fact that I've featured Paige Peterson twice already.

I have hundreds of BW and model cards in general that I may get to feature eventually, but this particular compilation card rings weird; that, plus the fact that as a quad-card, I wouldn't know where/how to classify it in my alphabetically-stored binders, so I think this one will go straight to Ebay.

When I feature Benchwarmer cards, I usually write relatively complete summaries of the models' careers, but this being a quad-card, I feel it may be best just to go through it quickly and delve deeper when each one is featured by themselves.

A recap on Cassandra Lynn Hensley: she was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month in February of 2006 and she had a daughter when she died, at the age of 34.

Jennifer Korbin is mostly known as a model, whether in photo shoots or appearances on TV (including on Jimmy Kimmel Live!), but has also tried her hand at horror movies and was a regular and the star of the TV series Lingerie.

Michelle Baena only got into modeling at age 31, and even then, she didn't start out at the top. She participated in swimsuit competitions (finishing anywhere between 4th and 19th), but she caught her big break when Playboy made her Playmate Of The Month for May 2005. Since then, she's graced the cover of over 30 magazines and has been the most sought-after participant at conventions including Comic Con, and has been featured in the Lingerie Bowl.

Paige Peterson, well, she's been off the grid for a while now. Also a Lingerie Bowl alumnus, also a bit of an actress, she can do anything she sets her mind to. I hope she's happy wherever she is.

Velvet La Touche Autographed Picture

I attended a very fine spectacle last Saturday, as I made my way to Café Cléopâtre for an evening of burlesque performances - expertly timed with my finishing Season Two of Boardwalk Empire right before - one in which every performance was a crescendo of intensity and showmanship, culminating with the evening's headliner, Velvet La Touche.

The pin-up and glamour model made her best impression of a 1950s oblivious housewife mixed with 1990s opioid-pill addict pretend-happy lady who turned a kitchen scene into a bloodbath, and it was the best five minutes of my year so far.

Prior to that, the record belonged to the moment when I opened an envelope with my name on it that was waiting for me at the door... containing this:

That, folks, is how you turn a curious bystander into a fan.

Athena Lundberg: Two Autographed Cards

In 2010 and 2011, I got over a bad breakup and losing my day job by writing and touring. My travels took me to North American places I hadn't been to in over a decade, including where the sun shines all year.

I met Silicon Valley native (though not silicone-enhanced) Athena Lundberg either in Nevada or California, and she proved to be charming, witty, kind-hearted and a lover of animals.

We also share a love of big-time celebrations: while I usually host UnPop Montréal - a 10-to-30-day festival of free music shows with 3 or 4 acts per night in my hometown for everyone to come and enjoy in various bars and lofts, around my birthday - she holds parties in Hollywood where she basically is the queen and surrounds herself with her friends and loyal subjects, as can be seen in these ads:

Then again, you can do whatever the hell you want when you've been a Playboy Playmate (January 2006). She'll turn 30 in a year and a half, I can only imagine the scope it'll have then.

She turned brunette recently, and while I'm not the biggest fan of blondes, I must say that these Benchwarmer cards she signed in blue sharpie for me do not do her justice, as she looked a lot better and ''realer'' in person than here. First, her ''Rookie Card'', from the 2009 Limited set (card #10):

And a card celebrating her ''Norwegian roots'' (though there is nothing about her that doesn't scream ''California''!), from the 2009 International set (and #I81 of the High Numbers sub-set):

For those who are curious, she does, indeed, have a back tattoo:

She's been a Benchwarmer staple since 2009 and has many limited-edition cards in most sets nowadays. Now that her dream of appearing in Playboy has been fulfilled, she will no longer pose nude.

Hiromi Oshima Autograph (Redemption) Card

In the last part of my Benchwarmer Redemption series (for the moment), I present you Hiromi Oshima. The 34-year old is a pretty big deal, as she was only the second ever Japanese-born Playboy Playmate when she made the centerfold for the June 2004 issue.

Her adventure with the Bunny Family (and modeling in general) started when she was ''discovered'' on a beach while vacationing in Florida. Or as someone else could put it, a wise photographer got free eye and lens candy. She was part of the auditions for the 50th Anniversary Playmate hunt, then made the cover of the Exotic Beauties release, as well as starred in a bunch of their videos.

She has prepared her after-career with a degree in communications and already having some behind-the-camera credits as a ''photo production coordinator'', and is also a member of The Playmate Dancers troupe, which is like the Suicide Girls shows or The Pussycat Dolls without the hit songs (like back when they were just a burlesque show).

Her video credits include Nelly's Shake Ya Tailfeather and the Beyoncé - Lady Gaga hit Telephone, and her TV credits include Community and The Girls Next Door; she has also appreared in The House Bunny starring the incredible Anna Faris, and Race To Witch Mountain (with The Rock), which you can run to avoir watching.

Which brings me to this card, from Benchwarmer's 2014 Eclectic set, actually released in 2013 (card #47), signed in black sharpie:

What Eclectic is, basically, is a revamped version of the old Vault sets, which re-packaged leftover autograph cards of past sets / redemptions / events and differentiated them by stamping an extra logo on the card; the spin with Eclectic, on the other hand, is that it costs the same as a regular box (they can be found anywhere between $40-80), and contains a factory-sealed complete set of the 1994 Series 2 collection, 60 (sixty!) unopened packs of past editions (expect few of the costly ones and plenty of the older releases), a jumbo card from any possible release, plus a team bag (those things that hold top holders) filled with new and old inserts, including a new line of eponymous autographs, swatch cards, and Carmen Electra cards. The ''new'' checklist consists of 90 models, and my card is from the middle of the pack.

Funny how BW even have leftover cards from their sets where they re-sell you their leftovers.

2 Billie Jo Powers (Redemption) Autograph Cards

I figured I should get back to last week's batch of Benchwarmer redemption cards... with two models left, I hesitated as to which one to feature first, but I opted Billie Jo Powers because I'm relatively familiar with her work, and could relate her back to sports fairly easily.

You see, the 27-year old third-generation superstar model - can you believe she (in 2004), her mom (1979), and her grandmother (1944) were all May Queen/Homecoming Queen at the same high school? - hails from the city that only houses teams I have always rooted against, from the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins to the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers to MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates. In its defense, Steel Town has improved greatly in the past 15 years or so, focusing its economy and construction on greener energies, after making the bulk of its cash in the 20th Century in metals, banking and petroleum. Also, it serves as a place where we can safely stow away Sidney Crosby without having him bore Canada to death as its 'clean' alternative to Justin Bieber.

But back to the model at hand. Billie Jo Powers started modeling professionally the minute she graduated from high school. It started with a first place at Model America in 2006, then a place in the 12-month Hawaiian Tropic calendar which led to a Miss Hawaiian Tropic award; she has two Planet Beach Model titles (2008 and 2009), and was named Girl Of Playboy Golf in 2010, the same year she was named the World Bikini Search's Miss January, and Miss Swimsuit USA. She was runer-up (and Miss Photogenic) at the Miss Pennsylvania USA pageant (which leads to Miss USA and Miss World).

She has lived her life being pretty, so chances are that's not the line you want to open up with should you meet her in a bar, or at a Pool Party she may be hosting - I can hook you up with a place on the guest list. No, instead, you might want to go ahead and praise her work ethic - or her brains, because what started as ''just helping Mom out'' has turned into two successful businesswomen running their own show and living from putting their ideas to good use.

Which brings me to the cards. Here's one from Benchwarmer's 2012 Father's Day web-exclusive set:

The regular-issue of that card was #4 in the set and was signed in black sharpie; this one, signed in purple, has no number on the back, thus probably identifying it as a redemption (or an error card). If you're familiar with Benchwarmer cards and you think the picture on the front may just have been recycled from a past set, you're not too far off, it's actually an alternate pose as this card (different smile):

If you look at her top too closely, you'll see BW likes a specific colour combination on the Pennsylvania beauty, as shown in this card is from Benchwarmer's 2012 National set (the Charm City sub-set, paying tribute to Baltimore, home of the 2012 National Sports Collectors' Convention), manufactured at only 99 cases (12 boxes per case, 10 cards per box):

This one, signed in black sharpie, is numbered (4 of 6), so my guess is they had printed more cards than were needed for the limited scope of the Convention boxes: 99 cases at 12 boxes per, at 10 cards each makes a total of 11880 cards; according to their sales page, they printed out 117 different cards in 9 different subsets, an average of 101 of each - less if you factor in that many of those had numbered variants depending on colour of foil.

The important thing is I have my hands on one. Good stuff!

Nikki Leigh Autograph (Redemption) Card

Back to the model redemption cards, this time with California native Nikki Leigh as a reminder that the Los Angeles Kings just took a 3-1 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks, with a card from one of Benchwarmer's 2013 Hobby (75% likely) or 2013 Bubblegum (25% chance) sets - it's unclear because both shared a lot of the same designs - signed in black sharpie and un-numbered:

If they're going to release tons of sets each year and have them share designs, perhaps Benchwarmer should take a cue from Upper Deck (as Panini had this year) and identify the sets on the backs of cards, near the publishing information. Notice how the publishing info is distorted - I don't know if that's by design or a printing fault, but it works pretty well with the rest of what's going on there.

Nikki Leigh was Playboy's Playmate Of The Month for May 2012, fulfilling a dream she'd had since her early teens. She has since appeared in many videos for the brand, as well as hosting web specials (such as the Espys' red carpet event) and a radio show on Playboy Radio and LA's KDOC.

She has a B.A. in Sociology (I worked in that field for a decade myself), and graduated Cum Laude from California State University in Fullerton. The 5'3'', 112-pound dynamo - who was born 10 years after me pretty much to the day - has now set her sights on acting, with parts in the horror flick Unlucky Charms, as well as the 2013 racing film Snake And Mongoose (with Tim Blake Nelson, Noah Wyle, possible comeback kid and former 90210 star Ian Ziering, John Heard, Jesse Williams, and another Playmate, Jaclyn Swedberg), as well as the upcoming bikini musical Fearless with Hayley Hasselhoff (''plus-size'' model at size 14, and the daughter of David Hasselhoff's that didn't film him eating a cheeseburger off the floor in a drunken stupor).

We wish her the best.

Stacy Fuson Autograph (Redemption) Card

Here's a cool card I got as a redemption: a Stacy Fuson 2013 Thanksgiving autograph card (#35 in the set) from Benchwarmer, which wasn't released as a stand-alone set but instead was randomly inserted into mailings of people and dealers who purchased boxes around that time last Fall:

Granted, wicker baskets aren't the greatest design idea ever, and probably would have worked better as an Easter giveaway, but I'll gladly take it.

I like Stacy Fuson: she's two weeks older than I am (go Virgos - or Horses if you're into the Chinese horoscope!), and is as comfortable doing comedy (Shallow Hal, Entourage, Modern Family, that piece of garbage The Independent) as she is flaunting her assets (Playboy cover girl in 1997, Playmate Of The Month in February 1999, appearances on Baywatch, The Man Show, and in Iron Man 2), and can even have some fine, straight, serious moments hosting TV shows such as Wild On E! and The Real World, or with small parts on Party Of Five.

She also has her own line of... vitamins.

She's been on the Benchwarmer roster since 2003.

Audrey Allen Autograph (Redemption) Card

Not bad for someone who hasn't purchased a single pack of Benchwarmer's 2013 Bugglegum set - yet: I still got the lone redemption card from it (on Wednesday), after mailing in over a hundred empty wrappers of previous editions, featuring first-time Benchwarmer (and the June 2013 Playboy Playmate) Audrey Allen:

Not to be confused with the actress of the same name from the 1950s, this model - who works in L.A. but considers Denver her hometown and natural habitat - is a psychology student and humanitarian who loves to read (though her favourites are the Harry Potter series...).

Her ideal vacation is one where she never leaves the hotel... and she has a thing for guys who play the guitar.  *clears throat*

She also goes by the names Audrey Aleen Allen, and Audrey Andalise.

2 Jessica Landon Autograph (Redemption) Cards

I got some sweet mail today, and I didn't know whether to feature all 8 of the cards that came in that envelope at once, or separate them by person featured... I opted for #2. But I'm starting with a two-card lot, from Benchwarmer's 2013 Vegas Baby set (not in the original release, but numbered #59, as a redemption card):

That's the beautiful and very funny Jessica Landon, obviously a model, but also a TV and web personality with credits that include Robot Chicken and MadTV, as well as a few B-series horror flicks.

She also has these funny bits with the Casting Couch webseries:

She also participated in a lot of skateboard-related stuff, such as AKA: Girl Skater and Dr. Steve-O.

Her first appearance in Benchwarmer sets dates back to 2003. She likes playing cards, and participated in an ad for a Canadian poker website back when I was a pro (ranked in the top-50 in Québec's LTPQ) a couple of years back. I only joined the circuit to accompany my uncle, but had surpassed his ranking within 4 months...

Kitana Baker Prop (Baseball Cap) Card

Kitana Baker's career has really taken off since first being ''discovered'' through Playboy's Girls Next Door contest, gaining major fame through her Miller Lite commercials in 2002 as one of the ''Catfight Girls'' with fellow model Tanya Ballinger, enough to start hosting shows on E! and The Playboy Channel, and to have cameos on WWE programming.

She has had small parts in such films as Auto Focus, Intolerable Cruelty and The Scorpion King, as well as in the 2008 flop B-movie-with-decent-actors-in-it Toxic, alongside Tom Sizemore, Susan Ward, Dominique Swain, Danny Trejo, Bai Ling, Lochlyn Munro and rapper Master P.

She was a Benchwarmer regular from 2003 until 2010, and this card is from packs of the brand's 2008 Signature Series collection:

As stated on the front of the card and obvious because of its colour, this ''Prop Card''  (#PC 7 of the 15 in the set) features a piece of the baseball cap she's sporting in the picture, possibly the largest item of clothing she has on. It just might be the thickest card I own, at nearly half an inch.

It is one of two BW swatch cards I own (unless I have another one hidden somewhere that I'm forgetting about) and is probably the one with the highest ''book value'' though, like most of my cards, I don't plan on ever selling it.

I do still have unopened boxes of this set, though; I might sell those some time in the future.

Lisa Lakatos Autograph Card

Lisa Lakatos is a California-born model who has appeared in ad campaigns for Miller Lite, Skechers, and Makita Tools (as ''Miss Makita''), and has been a Benchwarmer staple since 2002.

Her ''big break'' came when she was named one of the case models on Deal or No Deal, which ran from 2005 until 2009, though she was mostly there in 2007.

She is signed to PMG (Prestige Management Group), who are a powerful agency, and is also an accomplished esthetician.

This card is from Benchwarmer's 2009 Archive set (card #6 of 18 of the Archive Exclusive insert sub-set, as many of the Archive cards found in packs were leftovers from previous editions, this sub-set was created solely for this release):

It features a black-sharpied autograph with a smiley face doodle, and a heart as the dot on the ''i''.

Cassandra Lynn (Hensley) Autograph Card

R.I.P. Cassandra Lynn Hensley, who died two nights ago following an evening where cocaine and champagne were consumed after a time of not feeling well. She was 34 and leaves behind a daughter.

I didn't know the February 2006 Playboy Playmate Of The Month, but I do know models who did, and this has come as a shock to two of them in particular.

Her Twitter account still updates with her automatic daily horoscope, and the one published just hours after her death turns out to be eerie in retrospect:

Unspoken obligations prevent you from doing what you wish today. No matter what you do now, you might not feel completely fulfilled. Working harder isn't the answer, but neither is escape.

As a tribute, here is a card I got in a box of Benchwarmer's 2006 Holiday cards, an autographed insert (#15 of 16):

Jessica Hall Autograph Card

Jessica Hall is a model, TV personality (she hosted shows on MTV - such as Burned - and can be seen in her close friend Kendra Wilkinson's Reality TV shows) and also hosts a show on Playboy radio. Her younger sister Stacie Hall played in the MTV series The Hills. She also married secretly in 2011, fearing her Playboy fans might like her less if they found out she wasn't available. Because she's never heard of Shannon Tweed or Demi Moore, probably.

I've known her mostly as a Benchwarmer model, though, like in this card from their 2011 Vault set (card #RG-5 of the Racer Girls autograph sub-set):

There were 20 cards in this sub-set, most (all?) of which used pictures used in previous sets (not autographed) put in front of a new background and autographed, on-card in black sharpie. There are limited-issues as well, signed in coloured sharpies.

Rochelle Loewen Autograph Card

For years, Rochelle Loewen was my favourite Benchwarmer model, but it seemed she stopped appearing in their sets in 2007 after being a staple from 2003 onwards. This made me sad, but it also enabled me to acquire duplicates of her autographed insert cards from the various BW sets, most of which sold for less than $2 on Ebay. Through bidding on more than one at a time with similar ending times, I inadvertently ended up with more than 5 of each, and over 15 of the 2005 Signature Series. I am still sorting through them and will likely end up keeping the variants (coloured pens instead of black, etc) and selling back the rest, after featuring them here of course.

But I digress. So she was absent from Benchwarmer sets from 2007... until last year, when she returned as part of the 2012 Vault set - where the brand gets rid of their past-edition overflows and recycles them into a new set. This is card #36 out of 61, and features pictures from to separate sets, the front being from 2005; it is signed in black sharpie:

I may be wrong, but I think the reason she was a mainstay with BW was that she was also a WWE Diva for a while, which meant she was in L.A. a lot. She even represented the L.A. Temptations in the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Lingerie Football League seasons - all but one resulting in a Lingerie Bowl appearance.

After that, the Edmonton native moved back up North (this time to Calgary) to further her studies in broadcasting and was a part of the QR77 (770 AM on the radio dial) team until recently - which might explain the exile from Benchwarmer. In any event, she's back now, and hopefully will have new material in subsequent sets.

As a model, the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada 1999-2000 winner has graced the front pages of such magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers and Playboy Lingerie Special.