Box Break: 2011 Topps Series 2

I really don't have much to say about my break of Topps Series 2. I broke a hobby box, 2 Target retail hanger boxes and a couple of the retail rack packs so that I could hopefully complete the entire 330 card set in one felled swoop. Ha! The bad collation bug has bitten me lately because I'm a handful of cards short.

On a side note, I spent close to 250 dollars on Bowman this year and didn't even get a complete base set!

Back to Topps series 2 though. I even pulled doubles of inserts before I've completed the entire base set. Something about this just seems wrong.

Anyways, there were a few notable cards that I got:

I pulled this Diamond Anniversary card of Smoltz in my first hobby pack. I really thought I had a decently rare card but I did an ebay search and it seems to me that there are 2 to 3 times as many of these out there than there are of the regular legends parallel. I'm going to hang onto this card for a while (sorry Derek and Colbey!)

I'm getting really sick and tired of the reprint phase that Topps is going through right now. Regardless, I got these Original Back cards of Duke (hobby) and Yogi(retail) that will probably fetch me a pretty penny (yeah right!).

I'm not sure what I am going to do with these redemption cards. I think it is a good idea for Topps to drive some traffic into hobby shops. My options are really limited in Richmond, Virginia when it comes to places to buy cards.

A DIAMOND SPARKLE!!! Oh, nevermind, its just a reflection of the sun off of Morgan's helmet. The whole Diamond Sparkle gimmick really grinds my gears even though I made 50 bucks off of the Jeter I pulled from Series 1. It paid for my hobby box but it irks me just the same. I was tolerant of the gimmick until I first saw the Dominic Brown card from series 2 and the Double Sparkle bounty Longoria, Heyward, and Lincecum. Now it's just taking a ridiculous gimmick to the next level.

I really don't have more to say about my hit other than Kung Fu Panda 2 is playing in a theater near you!

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I apologize for being such a downer in this box break/review. I can't help but to feel like I just wanted to "get it over with" when I got my hobby box. I really don't think that's the way I should feel about opening a new box of wax packs. But I did with Series 2.

I think the design of the cards (We've seen Series 1, Opening Day, Pro Debut, Series 2 and will see Chrome, and Update) is just getting tiring to see.

The boring insert sets this year (Diamond Duos, Before there was Topps, Topps 60) and there sheer mass quantity of them just pisses me off. Please Topps, just do one insert card per pack, not 3 or 4! And Please no more reprints after 2011 because a reprint of a 1991 Topps Larry Walker card is scraping the bottom of the barrel no matter how you slice it.

Please don't do another Million Card / Diamond Giveaway promotion either. We bloggers know it doesn't cost 15 to 20 dollars to ship 8 or 1o cards. Don't insult our intelligence!

I've updated my wantlist in the upper right hand corner and I've listed all of the inserts I have for trade below.

Kimball Champions (why are they all retired players? So much for continuity between series 1 and 2!): 52 Koufax, 53 Fisk, 55 Musial, 56 Carlton, 58 Ott, 65 Gibson, 70 Campanella, 74 Murray, 76 Brock (3!), 83 Mattingly, 84 Sandberg, 94 Yastremski, 95 Gehrig, 97 Molitor

12 Diamond Giveaway code cards ( I still have about 12 or 13 from series 1 I haven't bothered to redeem yet)

7 Topps Golds: 337 Walden, 340 Longoria, 407 Broxton, 527 Ka'aihue, 569 Maybin, 651 Morales, 656 Ibanez

15 Diamond Anniversary Parallels: 354 Baker, 388 Jansen, 390 Valencia, 428 Myers, 451 Hernandez, 453 Saunders, 490 Holliday, 535 Harden, 568 Royals, 583 Spilborghs (2!), 588 Davis, 596 Sanchez, 608 McGehee, 656 Ibanez

21 60YOT reprints (Just Stop It, Topps! Really!): 62 Robinson, 67 Ashburn, 69 Musial, 70 Cepeda, 72 Yastremski, 74 Maris, 80 Ryan, 85 Sutton, 88 Guidry (2), 90 Garvey, 94 Mattingly, 97 Molitor, 99 Walker, 102 Ramirez, 104 Jeter (2), 107 Halladay(2), 112 Jeter, 113 Butler

2 Before There Was Topps: BTT1 American Tobacco 1909, BTT3 American Tobacco 1911

12 Diamond Stars: DS-3 Mauer, 8 Wright, 9 Ramirez, 10 Pujols, 12 A-Roid, 14 Cabrera, 15 Lee, 17 Holliday, 23 Johnson(2) 25 Gonzalez (2)

11 Toppstown (What's with the numbering? Continuity with series 1?): TT2-1 Lincecum, 4 Morrison, 7 Gonzalez, 11 Morales, 19 Martinez, 20 Kershaw, 30 Crawford, 31 Lester, 33 Jackson, 43 Carpenter, 50 Hughes

17 Topps 60 (These are so stupid) : T60 51 Johnson, 54 Zimmerman, 59 Campanella, 61 Seaver, 64 Posada, 68 Votto, 70 Carpenter, 71 Stargell (2), 77 Winfield(2), 80 Munson(2), 82 Victorino, 89 Weaver(2), 91 Ortiz, 95 Lester(2)

19 Diamond Duos (numbering system again! Why did Topps use actual numbers instead of letters this time? Do we get a hybrid of both series with Updates? Makes no sense to me...) : DD-2 Utley/Cano, 8 Greinke/Gallardo, 12 Tulowitzki/Ramirez (2), 13 Chapman/Sale, 15 Lincecum/Wilson, 16 Hamilton/Votto(2), 17 Posey/Feliz, 19 Cabrera/Martinez, 20 Kershaw/Bumgarner, 21 Price/Lester, 23 Lee/Sabathia, 24 McCutcheon/Alvarez, 25 Teixeira/Gonzalez(2), 27 Johnson/Verlander, 29 Aaron/Heyward, 30 Koufax/Kershaw

2 Target Red Ruby Exclusives: THP21 Zimmerman, THP24 Tulowitzki