"O" No's 1st Group Break: Round 5

We'll return to order but open the Finest packs first this time.  Thanks again to our sponsor, Baseball Card Exchange.  If you haven't checked them out yet, I don't know how I can persuade you to do so.

And Away We Go!

Finest
Pack #17
38 Terry Steinbach - A's
152 Tommy Greene - Phillies
76 Mike Stanley - Yankees
108 David Wells - Detroit
209 Greg Maddux - Braves
100 John Smoltz - Braves
The Braves ace this pack, twice!

Pack #18
107 Tom Candiotti - Dodgers
167 Anthony Young - Mets

173 Wade Boggs - Yankees
121 Moises Alou - Expos
198 Milt Thompson - Phillies
210 Ryne Sandberg - Cubs
147 Darrell Whitmore - Marlins

Pack #19
159 Alan Trammell - Tigers
28 Royce Clayton - Giants
54 Lance Johnson - White Sox
158 Bob Welch -A's
64 Tom Henke - Rangers
9 Kirk Rueter - Expos
53 Ricky Gutierrez - Padres

Pack #20
176 Wally Joyner - Royals
91 Mark Lewis - Indians
103 David Segui - Orioles
81 Mike Bordick - A's
150 Curt Schilling - Phillies
3 Greg McMichael - Braves
61 Orlando Merced - Pirates

'99 Sports Illustrated
Pack #17
56 Mariners Prospects
3 David Wells Postseason Review - Yankees
26 Todd Stottlemyre Season Highlights - Cardinals

OW-9 Eric Chavez Ones to Watch - A's
152 Derek Jeter - Yankees
170 Will Clark - Orioles

Pack #18
41 Orlando Hernandez Season Highlights - Yankees
12 Larry Walker/Bernie Williams Batting Avg. Leaders - Rockies/Yankees
7 Greg Maddux Postseason Review - Braves
156 Jeff King - Royals
140 Moises Alou - Astros
175 Pedro Martinez - Red Sox

Pack #19
40 Curt Schilling Season Highlights - Phillies
11 Juan Gonzalez/Sammy Sosa - Rangers/Cubs
6 David Cone Postseason Review - Yankees

OW-4 Ben Grieve Ones to Watch - A's
112 Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks
155 Curt Schilling - Phillies

Pack #20
23 Roger Clemens Season Highlights - Blue Jays
100 Ivan Rodriguez - Rangers
15 Roger Clemens/Curt Schilling Strikeout Leaders - Blue Jays/Phillies
120 Jamie Moyer - Mariners
104 Vinny Castilla - Rockies
143 Scott Erickson - Orioles

1996 Zenith
Pack #17
95 Albert Belle - Indians
92 Brady Anderson - Orioles
55 Chipper Jones - Braves
46 Ray Durham - White Sox
121 Brooks Kieschinick - Cubs
133 Frank Thomas Honor Roll subset- White Sox

Pack #18
28 Ben McDonald - Brewers only the 3rd card for the Brewers!
21 Gary Sheffield - Marlins
7 Ivan Rodriguez - Rangers

1 Klesko/Chipper/Maddux Mozaics - Braves
I'm very happy that we beat the odds on the Mozaics inserts.  They are a 1 in 10 pack pull.

20 Chipper Jones Diamond Club - Braves
What a great looking card!  Very shiny and very fitting that we pull this card as the last days of Chipper's career count down.
143 Gary Sheffield Honor Roll subset- Marlins

This pack definitely had a Southeast theme to it.  Ben McDonald seems to be the odd man out but he's actually from Louisiana

Pack #19
62 Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays
52 Mike Mussina - Orioles
43 Lenny Dykstra - Phillies
25 Marty Cordova - Twins
127 Justin Thompson - Tigers
106 Tony Clark - Tigers
Not much here other than a Moose sighting.

Pack #20
18 Roberto Alomar - Orioles
4 Rondell White - Expos
11 Shawn Green - Blue Jays
32 Dean Palmer - Rangers
137 Chipper Jones Honor Roll subset - Braves
111 Ruben Rivera - Yankees


Only ONE round left.  This was an especially good round for the Braves with 2 nice inserts from the Zenith packs.  The Yankees, Phillies, and Orioles also had good rounds. I'm relieved that no one chose the Brewers and their priority team since they have only 3 cards total.

What goodies might we find in the last round of packs?


Here's the updated card count.  The number in parentheses were added during this round:

Cubs - 23 (+2)
Red Sox - 10 (+1)
Yankees - 21 (+7)
Brewers - 3 (+1)
Pirates - 9 (+1)
Blue Jays - 13 (+3)
Marlins - 12 (+3)
Astros - 15 (+1)
Cardinals - 18 (+1)
Braves - 27 (+8)
Rangers - 17 (+4)
Phillies - 13 (+6)
Tigers - 11 (+3)
Giants - 8 (+1)
Mariners - 11 (+2)
Rockies - 12 (+1)
Padres - 7 (+1)
Reds - 7 (+0)
Expos - 10 (+3)
White Sox - 12 (+3)
A's - 17 (+3)

Indians - 15 (+2)
Mets - 12 (+1)
Angels - 9 (+0)
Twins - 9 (+1)
Royals - 10 (+2)
Dodgers - 13 (+1)
Orioles - 19 (+6)

"O" No's 1st Group Break: Round 4

I'm going to mix things up for this round.  There's still going to be 12 packs this round but they will be in random order.  Speaking of order, don't forget to order some great boxes of your own from the break's sponsor Baseball Card Exchange.

On to the packs!

'96 Zenith
Pack #13
13 Dante Bichette - Rockies
34 Manny Ramirez - Indians
41 Jason Isringhausen - Mets
98 Tom Glavine - Braves

112 Billy Wagner - Astros
145 Matt Williams Honor Roll subset - Giants

1994 Finest
Pack #13
111 Bernard Gilkey - Cardinals
144 Archi Cianfrocco - Padres
162 Derrick May - Cubs
135 Scott Servais - Astros
174 Kevin Appier - Royals
210 Ryne Sandberg - Cubs
117 Mike Devereaux - Orioles

'96 Zenith
Pack #14
90 Kirby Puckett - Twins
71 Craig Biggio - Astros
36 Cecil Fielder - Tigers
66 Kenny Lofton - Indians
114 Mike Grace - Phillies
147 Derek Jeter  Honor Roll subset - Yankees

'99 SI
Pack #13
69 Twins Prospects
22 Roberto Alomar Season Highlights - Indians
39 Dennis Martinez - Braves
43 Astros Prospects

150 Javy Lopez - Braves
A nice looking shot of Javy making a throw.
158 Roberto Alomar - Indians
163 Matt Williams - Diamondbacks

1996 Zenith
Pack #15
45 Paul O'Neill - Yankees
27 Jay Bell - Pirates
20 Bernie Williams - Yankees
6 Jim Thome - Indians
107 George Arias - Angels
138 Mike Piazza Honor Rolls subset - Dodgers

1994 Finest
Pack #14
189 Jeff Branson - Reds
40 Luis Alicea - Cardinals
124 Mike Perez - Cardinals
59 Dante Bichette - Rockies
68 Robby Thompson - Giants

210 Ryne Sandberg refractor - Cubs
Another shiny card!  I'm glad that the refactors from this box are of "name" players!
94 Kenny Rogers - Rangers

'99 SI
Pack #14
55 Indians Prospects
2 Scott Brosius  Postseason Review - Yankees
25 Paul Molitor Season Highlights - Twins
134 - Gary Sheffield - Dodgers

127 Frank Thomas - White Sox
I like this panoramic shot of the Big Hurt doing what he did best. Hurting baseballs!
179 Checklist

'94 Finest
Pack #15
160 Ed Sprague - Blue Jays
93 Jose Guzman - Cubs
182 Todd van Poppel - A's
66 Mike Mussina - Orioles
64 Tom Henke - Rangers
207 Joe Carter - Blue Jays
65 Jeff King - Pirates

'99 SI
Pack #15
68 Tigers Prospects
21 Travis Lee Season Highlights - Diamondbacks
42 Angels Prospects
146 Wade Boggs - Rays
141 Chuck Knoblauch - Yankees
176 Chuck Finley - Angels
Good pack for the Angels.  The Lee and Boggs will be randomed off at the end of the the break per the rules on the sign up page.

'96 Zenith
Pack #16
73 Mark Grace - Cubs
84 Hideo Nomo - Dodgers
88 Andy Pettitte - Yankees
1 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners
109 Jeff Suppan - Red Sox
140 Hideo Nomo Honor Roll subset - Dodgers

Nomo-mania, the Dodgers stack has recovered nicely since being shut out the first round.

'94 Finest
Pack #16
62 Brian McRae - Royals
71 Ron Karkovice - White Sox
175 Jose Baustista - Cubs
131 Brady Anderson - Orioles
165 Ron Gant - Braves
210 Ryne Sandberg - Cubs
139 Wilson Alvarez - White Sox

'99 SI
Pack #16
80 Scott Rolen - Phillies
54 Giants Prospects
58 Mets Prospects
138 Dante Bichette - Rockies
167 Quinton McCracken - Rays
148 Tony Clark - Tigers

Full Extension!  Nice Photo!

We're 2/3 of the way thru the break at this point.  I hope everyone is enjoying it so far.  The Cubs are still the surprising team so far with a nice big stack of cards.  The A's also have a nice stack going as well as the Braves and Yankees.  The Brewers and Marlins got shut out this round and are stuck at 2 cards!  It also seems like Dante Bichette is showing up a lot in all 3 boxes!


Here's the updated card count.  The number in parentheses were added during this round:


Cubs - 21 (+7)
Red Sox - 9 (+1)
Yankees - 14 (+6)
Brewers - 2 (+0)
Pirates - 8 (+2)
Blue Jays - 10 (+2)
Marlins - 9 (+0)
Astros - 14 (+4)
Cardinals - 17 (+3)
Braves - 19 (+4)
Rangers - 13 (+2)
Phillies - 7 (+2)
Tigers - 8 (+3)
Giants - 7 (+3)
Mariners - 9 (+1)
Rockies - 11 (+3)
Padres - 6 (+1)
Reds - 7 (+1)
Expos - 7 (+0)
White Sox - 9 (+3)
A's - 14 (+1)

Indians - 13 (+6)
Mets - 11 (+2)
Angels - 9 (+3)
Twins - 8 (+3)
Royals - 8 (+2)
Dodgers - 12 (+4)
Orioles - 13 (+3)

"O" No's 1st Group Break: Round 3

Here comes round #3.  Thanks again to The Baseball Card Exchange for sponsoring my break.  Stop by and check'em out!

Lets Start with some of the Zenith packs this time

Zenith
Pack #9
5 Mark McGwire - A's
12 Mike Piazza - Dodgers

Mike has a no-nonsense look on his face on this card!
33 Ismael Valdes - Dodgers
40 Joe Carter - Blue Jays
150 Tony Gwynn Honor Roll - Padres
116 Jason Schmidt - Braves

Pack #10
51 Hal Morris - Reds
94 Michael Tucker - Royals
91 Tony Gwynn - Padres
54 Will Clark - Rangers
102 Alan Benes - Cardinals
128 Chris Snopek - White Sox

Pack #11
87 Andres Galarraga - Rockies
60 Charles Johnson - Marlins
89 Derek Bell - Astros
74 Jack McDowell - Indians
123 Alex Ochoa - Mets
139 Kirby Puckett - Twins

Pack #12
23 Gregg Jefferies  - Phillies
16 Ryne Sandberg - Cubs

I chose this card because of the awful alternate Cubs jerseys worn in the mid 90's.  Yuck!

2 Ozzie Smith - Cardinals
9 Travis Fryman - Tigers
136 Mo Vaughn - Red Sox
126 Eric Owens - Reds

1994 Finest

Pack #9
38 Terry Steinbach - A's
152 Tommy Greene- Phillies
76 Mike Stanley - Yankees
108 David Wells - Tigers

126 Ivan Rodriguez - Rangers
Nice action shot of Pudge.
14 Armando Reynoso - Rockies
57 Carlos Garcia - Pirates

Pack #10
107 Tom Candiotti - Dodgers
167 Anthony Young - Mets
173 Wade Boggs - yankees
121 Moises Alou - Expos
183 Mike Blowers - Mariners
204 Dennis Eckersley - A's
This is the 3rd one of these we've gotten not including the refractor we got last round.  I also think this is the only double or triple we've gotten from any of the 3 boxes
156 Randy Tomlin - Pirates

Pack #11
155 Roger Pavlik - Rangers
44 Brian Williams - Astros
116 Mark Whiten - Cardinals
51 Steve Buechele - Cubs
68 Robby Thompson - Giants
Just the 3rd Giants card to make an appearance during the entire break
10 Mike Lansing - Expos
82 Doc Gooden - Mets

Pack #12
187 Bret Barberie - Marlins
35 Andres Galarraga - Rockies
188 Manuel Lee - Rangers
115 Mark McLemore - Orioles
68 Robby Thompson - Giants
211 Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
143 Chuck Finley - Angels

Not much of note in those last 2 Finest packs.

1999 Sports Illustrated, the first shall be last this round

Pack #9
63 Rangers Prospects
78 Jim Thome - Indians
82 Jason Giambi - A's
124 Mo Vaughn - Angels
117 Andruw Jones - Braves
122 Al Leiter - Mets

Pack #10
74 Rafael Palmeiro - Rangers
67 Royals Prospects
89 Bret Saberhagen - Red Sox

HL-15 Roger Clemens Headliner - Blue Jays
174 Tom Glavine - Braves
136 Travis Fryman - Indians

Pack #11
88 Jeff Cirillo - Brewers
Finally the Brewers get another card!
53 Expos Prospects
70 White Sox Prospects
161 Jeff Bagwell - Astros
159 Travis Lee - Diamondbacks
164 Chan Ho Park - Dodgers

Pack #12
79 Barry Larkin - Reds
38 Sammy Sosa Season Highlights - Cubs
57 Marlins Prospects

HL-2 Randy Johnson Headliners - Astros
153 Greg Maddux - Braves
171 Edgar Martinez - Mariners

Another solid round of packs this time around.  Lacking the "wow factor" we'll look forward to the next round of packs.  Seems like there were a lot of Rangers and Mets cards came out of this round.  Here's the updated card count:


Cubs - 14
Red Sox - 8
Yankees - 8
Brewers - 2
Pirates - 6
Blue Jays - 8
Marlins - 9
Astros - 10
Cardinals - 14
Braves - 15
Rangers - 11
Phillies - 5
Tigers - 5
Giants - 4
Mariners - 8
Rockies - 8
Padres - 5
Reds - 6
Expos - 7
White Sox - 6
A's - 13

Indians - 7
Mets - 9
Angels - 6
Twins - 5
Royals - 6
Dodgers - 8
Orioles - 10

"O" No's 1st Group Break: Round 2

Here comes round #2 from our group break.  First, another thanks to the good folks at Baseball Card Exchange for the boxes that are being broken for this break.

ROUND 2!

1999 Sports Illustrated

Pack #5

46 Braves Prospects

77 Devon White - Dodgers

The Dodgers are finally on the board with their first card.  Strangely the picture shows Devo as a Diamondback since he played with them in 1998

72 Ben Grieve - A's

HL-24 Pedro Martinez Headliners - Red Sox

Our first insert goes to the Red Sox

132 Tony Womack - Pirates

137 Rolando Arroyo - Rays

Pack #6

59 Orioles Prospects

66 Rockies Prospects

81 Raul Mondesi - Dodgers

80 Checklist

168 Todd Walker - Twins

149 Alex Rodriguez - Mariners

Pack #7

35 Ken Griffey Jr. Season Highlights - Mariners

94 Tim Salmon - Angels

FF-11 Rafael Palmeiro  Fabulous Forties - Orioles

I'm happy about this card for obvious reasons but I wish it could have been of another team to spread the wealth around!  There's an outside chance that we pull another one in our box

HL-21 Derek Jeter Headliners - Yankees

110 Larry Walker - Rockies

115 Jaret Wright - Indians

Pack #8

50 Rays Prospects

87 Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays

73 Shawn Green - Blue Jays

109 Juan Encarnacion - Tigers

102 Kenny Rogers - A's

107 Andres Galarraga - Braves

2 of the late 90's Blue Jays stars in this pack

1996 Pinnacle Zenith

Pack #5

24 Jeff Bagwell - Astros

3 Greg Maddux - Braves

10 Fred McGriff - Braves

31 Johnny Damon - Royals

141 Roberto Alomar Honor Roll - Orioles

115 Edgar Renteria - Marlins

Pack #6

38 Ray Lankford - Cardinals

49 Eddie Murray - Orioles

58 Wade Boggs - Yankees

11 - Cardinals Mozaics insert - Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, Ozzie Smith

This is an awesome looking card.  After the break is over, I'll be looking for the Orioles version!

148 - Sammy Sosa Honor Roll - Cubs

101 - Karim Garcia - Dodgers

Pack #7

64 Brian Hunter - Astros

85 Pedro Martinez - Expos

67 Paul Molitor - Twins

79 Moises Alou - Expos

146 Jim Edmonds Honor Roll - Angels

122 Raul Casanova - Tigers

Pack #8

72 Chuck Knoblauch - Twins

83 Roger Clemens - Red Sox

76 Cal Ripken Jr. - Orioles

Mosaics White Sox - Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, Ray Durham

Another Mozaics insert!  This time the White Sox pick up a nice looking card.

134 Greg Maddux - Braves

135 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners

Lots of nice cards in this pack!

1994 Finest

Pack #5

111 Bernard Gilkey - Cardinals

144 Archi Cianfrocco - Padres

162 Derrick May - Cubs

135 Scott Servais - Astros

132 Juan Guzman - Blue Jays

12 Jason Bere - White Sox

22 Deion Sanders - Braves

Pack #6

92 Gregg Jeffries - Cardinals

206 Dennis Eckersley - A's

This is the 3rd one of these that we've pulled so far

148 David Hulse - Rangers

131 Brady Anderson - Orioles

176 Jose Bautista - Cubs

71 Ron Karkovice - White Sox

62 Brian McRae - Royals

Pack #7

170 John Franco - Mets

179 John Smiley - Reds

164 Brian Harvey - Marlins

113 Todd Stottlemyre - Blue Jays

198 Milt Thompson - Phillies

217 Roger Clemens - Red Sox

77 Kevin Roberson - Cubs

Pack #8

185 Paul Sorrento - Indians

172 Dave Fleming - Mariners

42 Bob Tewksbury - Cardinals

45 Joe Orsulak - Mets

153 Roberto Mejia - Rockies

206 Dennis Eckersley- A's

Well this is the 4th one of these we've pulled... Hey Wait a darn minute, it's a refractor!  Sweet!

98 Orel Hershiser - Dodgers

The Dodgers finally got on the board with some cards.  Now the Brewers are stuck on one card while the Cubs and Braves piles are getting bigger.  Here's the updated card count including inserts and dupes:

Cubs - 11
Red Sox - 6
Yankees - 6
Brewers - 1
Pirates - 4
Blue Jays - 6
Marlins - 6
Astros - 6
Cardinals - 11
Braves - 11
Rangers - 4
Phillies - 3
Tigers - 3
Giants - 2
Mariners - 6
Rockies - 5
Padres - 3
Reds - 3
Expos - 4
White Sox - 4
A's - 9

Indians - 4
Mets - 5
Angels - 5
Twins - 4
Royals - 4
Dodgers - 5
Orioles - 9

"O" No's 1st Group Break: Round 1

The boxes were delivered this afternoon and I'm itching to rip some packs.  First a big thanks to our break sponsor Baseball Card Exchange.  Without their excellent selection of unopened wax, these kinds of breaks wouldn't happen!

So here we are with the first round of packs.  Lets jump right in and see what's inside these packs!

Sports Illustrated:
Pack 1:
#9 Gary Gaetti - Postseason Review - Cubs
#30 Kerry Wood - Season Highlights - Cubs
#49 Cubs Prospects - 2000 - Cubs
#160 Kerry Wood - Cubs
#139 Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
#144 David Cone - Yankees

No Crap, they came out of the package like that! Off to a roaring start for the Lovable Losers!

Pack 2:
#18 Kerry Wood/Ben Grieve 1998 Rookies of the Year - Cubs/A's
#45 Blue Jays Prospects

Early Halladay!

#62 Pirates Prospects
#101 Jeromy Burnitz - Brewers
#125 Livan Hernandez - Marlins
#130 Derek Bell - Astros

Pack 3:

#14 Wins Leaders - Clemens, Cone, Glavine, Helling - Blue Jays, Yankees, Braves, Rangers
#93 Ray Lankford - Cardinals
#48 Cardinals Prospects
#172 Cliff Floyd - Marlins  Fun Fact: Cliff and I share the same birthday, he's just 11 years older!
#103 Kevin Millwood - Braves
#108 Sammy Sosa - Cubs

Pack 4:
#31 David Wells Season Highlights - Yankees
#86 Andy Pettitte - Yankees
#61 Phillies Prospects
#177 Dean Palmer - Tigers
#118 Barry Bonds - Giants
#123 Mark McGwire - Cardinals

Pinnacle Zenith

Pack #1
30 Mo Vaughn - Rex Sox
37 Ryan Klesko - Braves
48 Jay Buhner - Mariners
57 Larry Walker - Rockies
Checklist
119 Rocky Coppinger - Orioles
105 Bobby Abreu - Astros

I think Bobby's metabolism may have slowed down over the last few years.

Pack #2
61 Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
97 J.T. Snow - Angels
42 Rickey Henderson - Padres
17 Rico Brogna - Mets
Checklist

131 Albert Bell - Honor Roll subset - Indians
110 Ralph Milliard - Marlins

Pack #3
75 Randy Johnson - Mariners
82 Carlos Baerga - Indians
70 Orlando Merced - Pirates
78 Benji Gil - Rangers
Checklist
118 Rey Ordonez - Mets
125 John Wasdin - A's

Pack #4
65 Edgardo Alfonso - Mets
86 John Valentin - Red Sox
68 Mike Bordick - A's

Maybe Mike should try out for skating with the stars!
80 Robin Ventura - White Sox
104 Robin Jennings - Cubs   ---- ROBIN-JO in this pack
130 Darin Erstad - Angels

Topps Finest:

Pack #1
160 Ed Sprague - Blue Jays
93 Jose Guzman - Cubs
182 Todd van Poppel - A's
66 Mike Mussina - Orioles
191 Ken Caminiti - Astros
206 Dennis Eckersley - A's

137 Darrin Fletcher - Expos

Pack #2
189 Jeff Branson - Reds
40 Luis Alicea - Cardinals
124 Mike Perez - Cardinals
59 Dante Bichette- Rockies
136 Ozzie Smith - Cardinals
206 Dennis Eckersley - A's
133 John Wetteland - Expos

Definitely a red theme to this pack, with 3 Cardinals and a Redleg!

Pack #3
169 Rod Beck - Giants
52 David Cone - Royals
118 Terry Pendleton - Braves
149 Jim Abbott - Yankees
174 Kevin Appier - Royals
2 Kevin Stocker - Phillies
29 Brad Ausmus - Padres

A Royals and Kevin pack!

Pack #4
95 Mark Lemke - Braves
105 Shane Mack - Twins
30 Ryan Bowen - Marlins
141 Chris Hoiles - Orioles

I love cards of catchers making a throw to a base.
165 Ron Gant - Braves
211 Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
37 Joe Oliver - Reds

And I almost forgot our oversized boxtopper:

 Al Martin - Pirates
Congrats to the NY Hitman

Here's the break down so far:

Cubs - 7 cards
Red Sox - 3 cards
Yankees - 4 cards
Brewers - 1 card
Pirates - 3 cards
Blue Jays - 2 cards
Marlins - 4 cards
Astros - 3 cards
Cardinals - 4 cards
Braves - 5 cards
Rangers - 3 cards
Phillies - 2 cards
Tigers - 1 card
Giants - 2 cards
Mariners - 2 cards
Rockies - 3 cards
Padres - 2 cards
Reds - 2 cards
Expos - 2 cards
White Sox - 1 card
A's - 5 cards, including 1 duplicate
Indians - 2 cards
Mets - 3 cards
Angels - 2 cards
Twins - 1 card
Royals - 2 cards
Orioles - 3 cards

Strangely the Dodgers were shut out in the first round but the Cubs had 4 cards in the first pack.  We're still looking for our first insert too.  There's still a ton of packs to be opened.

Group Break Reminder

I'm posting this as a courtesy to all of the people participating in my first ever group break.  I'm anticipating the arrival of the boxes for the break in my hands today.  I don't have a tracking number for the package so I'm not 100% sure if UPS will deliver them to my house today.  If the boxes do show up today, I hope to have the first round of packs busted and posted this evening.

That being said, if anyone wants to trade teams, now is the time to do it!  As soon as the first batch of packs are posted, there will be no trades allowed.

As of the time this post is going live, Roy Z. has offered up the Cubs for anybody willing to trade for them.  Here's the post where the teams were randomed and trade offers are being taken right HERE.

Trade with ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession

Here's another trade that was started by me when I offered up some A&G minis as tradebait a few weeks ago.  Adam from the soon to be relatively world famous ARPSmith's Sportscard Obession requested a bunch of the Giants minis from the lot and in turn he sent me a bunch of cards from my 2012 Allen and Ginter wantlist along with a couple of standout cards. Here's the highlights:

Any Eddie Murray card that I recieve in a trade is a good one especially if I didn't have it before.  I like this card because of the picture of Eddie as he just smashed a ball towards the gap or beyond.

I'm getting really close on the 2010 Bowman Chrome set.  Adam sent along this single Adrian Gonzalez to help me on my quest to finish the set before the end of time.  Can you help me out?  Here's the last couple I need:
2010 Bowman Chrome (1 - 220): 5, 37, 46, 53, 102, 103, 104, 108, 149, 153, 171, 176, 191
2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects (BCP1 - BCP220): BCP1, 10, 40, 100, 145, 187, 208

Also a surprise in the package were several of the 2012 Panini triple play cards.  The jury is still out on these for me.  I understand the need for kid friendly cards in the industry and this product definitely fills that need.  I'm not too big on unlicensed cards but these seem to work well because of the cartoony look.

Thanks Adam for the nice package of cards you sent!

Box Break: 2009 Allen & Ginter

As many of you may or may not know, I'm working on building all of the Allen and Ginter sets from 2006 thru 2012 and beyond.  I didn't used to be a fan of A&G but somehow I turned the corner this spring/summer and did a 180.  Since I purchased the 07 set complete and an 06 and 08 partial set this summer in my now infamous buy from craigslist, I'm now working on 09 thru the present.

I actually bought this box about a month ago and set it on my desk where it collected dust until a few days ago.  I had probably searched ebay for a month prior to finally being able to get the hobby box at a comfortable price for me and my wallet.  I actually missed the auction the first time around and it had ended with no bids.  I contacted the seller and we were able to work out a deal.  Without further ado, the highlights:

These code cards are pretty useless to everyone now but I guess they were the must have cards when the code had yet to be broken.  I'm pretty good at trivia games like Jeopardy but the Ginter code is not my cup of tea.  How anybody figures it out is beyond my comprehension.

I'm not sure if it really qualifies as a hit or not but this is a shortprinted mini of Kelly Shoppach.  I think these are like a 1:24 pack pull.  Even though this particular card is a mini, I do like the design of the base set.  I didn't bother to scan any of the regular sized cards because I'm sure in 2009 each one was probably scanned and shown plenty of times.  We all know what they look like.

These are pretty cool little minis.  They are the national heroes minis.  I had never heard of Al-Qadir but  I have heard of William Wallace.  Yes, that William Wallace, the guy that the movie Braveheart is based on.  I don't think the picture on the card looks much like Mel Gibson!

Here's my other 2 insert minis.  These don't do that much for me but like most A&G mini inserts they are hit and miss with me. 

And now the moment we've all been waiting for!  Here's the hits (aka the ripped up shreds of kitchen towels that are inserted into cards posing to be authentic pieces of jerseys)

Captain Cheeseburger, not a player I care for or collect.

Jimmy Rollins, a player that could be called captain since he's been with the Phillies so long.

And Adam LaRoche AKA the traveling man.  I wonder if he sticks around in Washington next season?

So there you have it, 1 whole hobby box of 2009 Allen & Ginter.  I enjoyed this box even though my hits were somewhat lacking. I would have loved to pull an autograph out of the box but you can't win them all!  Everything shown in the pictures above and the list below is for trade.  Let me know if you see anything you'd like!  Not all of these are from my box, some are from some lots I've picked up over the last few months.

SPs: 306 Cliff Lee, 307 Pence, 318 Delmon Young, 320 BJ Ryan
National Pride: NP2 Upton, 3 Bay, 9 C. Guillen, 61 Teahen, 62 Braun, 63 Beltran, 64 Liriano, 65 Delgado, 67 A. Gonzalez, 70 C. Pena, 72 E Gonzalez, 74 Y. Molina
Baseball Highlight Sketches: 2 Griffey Jr., 9 Thomas, 10 Thome, 11 K-Rod, 12 Yankees, 24 Mariano
Crack the Code Cards: 141 Zambrano, 189 Kotchman
Regular Back Minis: 7 Smoltz, 23 Armstrong, 24 Wiebe, 74 Tuiasosopo, 75 D. Wright, 135 Suppan, 166 Meche, 181 Rowand, 271 Jurrjens, 274 J. Hamilton, 321 Shoppach
Ad Back Minis: 34 Dempster, 78 Byrnes, 79 Electron, 101 Bailey, 208 M. Young, 298 Haren
Black Border Minis: 208 M. Young, 334 Burrell
National Heroes: NH22 William Wallace, NH37 Al-Qadir
Worlds Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks and Bamboozles: HHB2 Pi, 13 War of the Worlds

Here's the cards I'm still looking for to complete the base set and the National Pride insert set:


2009 Allen & Ginter: 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 81, 83, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 113, 114, 115, 117, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 147, 150, 153, 157, 159, 161, 163, 164, 170, 171, 173, 175, 178, 179, 181, 183, 184, 187, 190, 191, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 203, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 219, 220, 222, 223, 224, 225, 229,232, 233, 235, 239, 240, 244, 245, 246, 248, 250, 252, 255, 257, 261, 262, 265, 267, 271, 272, 276, 277, 280, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 290, 293, 294, 296, 297, 302, 312, 314, 316, 321, 323, 326, 328, 334, 335, 339, 340, 341, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349

National Pride: NP10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40, 58