Box Break: 2013 Topps Series 2 Hobby

My other big purchase from the CSA show was a hobby box of 2013 Topps Series 2.  I'm not going to show the base cards because everyone's seen enough of them already.  Just the inserts:

When I first busted the pack containing the Seaver, I thought I got my 1 per box relic card.  It was just this unnecessarily thick "The Elite" insert.  These suckers are thicker than my promised relic card that I pulled.  Why do they need to be this beefy?

Alright, here's one quick look at the base design.  It's of Grizzly Adams.  It's a Shortprint.  Nobody really collects A's cards.  This will stay in my collection forever, unfortuneately ....

Chase it down is a pretty cool idea for an insert set.  I'm pretty thrilled to add this Mike Trout to my PC of him.

The Chasing History insert set has some weird records that are being chased but I think the design is pretty solid.  I love pulling new to me Ripkens from a box of cards.

Here's my obligatory relic from the box.  I could have done a lot worse than Buster Posey.  If you look close enough, you can see some stiching towards the bottom of the swatch.

Here's a complete list of the inserts I have available from all of my Series 2 purchases:

Chasing History Gold Relic: CHR-JZ Jordan Zimmerman #d 42/99
Chasing History Relic: CHR-BP Buster Posey
Red Target Parallel: 335 Hermann, 384 McGee, 521 Scribner, 540 Bourn, 602 Sanchez, 610 Beachy, 614 Upton, 630 Dirks, 635 Gyorko
Gold Border Parallel: 349 Frieri, 452 Ibanez, 519 Greinke, 525 Arencibia
Chase It Down: CD-2 Sandoval, 6 Moustakas, 10 Jay, 11 Gordon, 14 Maybin
World Baseball Classic: WBC-1 Reyes, 3 Votto, 8 Morneau, 9 Beltran, 10 Cabrera
Making Their Mark: MM-5 Hellickson, 9 Skaggs, 11 Bauer, 13 Moore, 15 S. Perez, 22 Darvish, 25 Strasburg
1972 Minis: TM-52 Freese, 53 G. Gonzalez, 62 O'Neill,  63 Berra, 76 Altuve, 80 Bench, 86 Brett, 87 Profar, 89 Middlebrooks, 94 Ortiz, 99 Smith
Chasing History (Silver Foil): CH-55 Griffey Jr., 58 Henderson, 65 Carter, 69 Koufax, 73 Cano, 76 Gwynn, 77 Clemente, 83 Mays, 90 Fielder, 92 Schmidt
Chasing History (Silver Foil/Holofoil): 56 Holliday, 59 Lynn, 95 Cain, 98 Crawford
Chasing History (Gold Foil/Holofoil): CH-53 Weaver, 62 McCovey, 76 Gwynn, 82 Hernandez, 94 Cobb, 95 Cain
Cut to the Chase: CTC-34 Banks, 36 Morgan, 39 Cespedes

If you see something you need, please let me know!

Recent Pack Breaks

On some of my recent Lowe's runs, I've slipped into Target (which is in the same shopping center, conveniently!) to pick up a few packs to rip.  I have gotten some funny looks from Target associates since I've been walking into their store looking like a bum.   Imagine some (almost) 30 year old dude walking in to the card section with muddy Red Wings, dirt crusted work pants and a grimy, sweaty t-shirt.  I think I've either scared the kids away with either my unkempt appearance or the stench of sunblock and sweat!  More cards for me!

So I've decided to go ahead and collect Bowman this year after much debate.  I've picked up a few (3) blasters and several of the value packs.  I had past success with the blasters which you can read about in my archives but the only real card of interest that I've gotten recently is this Gold LJ Hoes.  Hehe, Gold Hoes....  Still, out of all of the Bowman I've busted, I've yet to get any other Oriole card besides this one, a regular and chrome version of Jonathan Schoop.  No Crush Davis, No Adam Jones, No Bundy, No Manny...  Luckily I've gotten a few in trades.

Here's my updated list of 2013 Bowman I have for trade:

2013 Bowman:
Gold Parallel: 4 Jackson, 48 Sale, 49 Price, 50 Pujols(2), 51 Longoria, 55 Lynn, 92 Wright(2), 94 Heyward(2), 99 M. Montero, 109 Phillips, 131 Hechavarria,  132 Beltre, 133 Gose, 134 Beachy(2), 145 Motte, 151 C. Santana, 153 Beltran, 173 Cingrani, 182 Stanton(2), 184 J. Santana, 200 Posey
Hometown Parallel: 90 Butler, 102 Halladay, 124 Shields, 178 Belt
Prospects International Parallel: BP6 Salazar, BP7 Hahn, BP28 Muno, BP31 Robles
Silver Ice Parallel: 98 Holliday
Orange Parallel: 129 Maronde 112/250
Prospects Purple Parallel: BP29 Diaz, 35 Cisnero, 48 Sanborn
Cream of the Crop Mini Refractors: CC-NYM1 d'Arnaud, CC-MM-2 Yelich, CC-MB3
Chrome Refractor Parallel: BCP15 Gelalich #d160/500
Bowman Top 100: 60 Rosenthal 73 Webster
Bowman Prospect Autograph: BPA JC Ji-Man Choi

My 2013 Topps Series 2 breaks have been pretty good.  I've gotten some decently rare cards out of the 2 hanger boxes and the 2 jumbo packs I've broken.  I've had some crap collation in the Hanger boxes though. Except for the inserts, both boxes had almost the same base cards in them.  Out of the 65 so base cards, there were only about 6 different cards between them.  The Rack packs haven't been as bad but out of the 222 total cards out of the breaks, I've only got 93 towards the entire series 2 set.  I guess these cards make up for it (but not really).

I got the Bryce Harper sunglasses SP out of the first hanger box.  While I don't really care for his Nattitude, I do respect the way that he plays the game hard.  I guess that's why I decided to start a mini PC of him.  Don't send me a ton of his cards though, I'll just add to the binder when I pull his cards from packs.

Also, from hanger box #1 I got this red screaming Trout.  The red Target borders really look good with the Angels uniforms.  Shouldn't the 2012 awards be in series 1 instead of series 2?  Either way, this card is headed to my Trout PC Binder.

From hanger box #2 I got some more Nats-jo.  Jordan Zimmerman seems to follow me around since I pulled his mini auto from my box of Allen & Ginter last summer.  Now I get this Chasing History relic card #'d 42 out of 99.  

I think this one came out of the first rack pack I opened.  This is the first digital Camo parallel that I've seen in person and I have to admit, the look pretty sharp.  More than I can say for those pink border abominations.  I think the pick just reminds me to much of the Justin Beaver and Moonlight vampire sissy cards that lurk next to the sports cards at Target.  Beaver will eventually kill himself in high speed car wreck and I've soaked up enough sunshine this year that I probably would kill any vampires that would come into my presence.

Here's a list of my available trade bait that I have:

2013 Topps Series 2:
Desert Camo Parallel: 601 Brandon Moss #d 81/99
Chasing History Gold Relic: CHR-JZ Jordan Zimmerman #d 42/99
Blue Walmart Parallel: 416 Lyles, 452 Ibanez, 417 Forsythe
Red Target Parallel: 335 Hermann, 384 McGee, 483 Valdespin, 521 Scribner, 540 Bourn, 589 Fernandez, 602 Sanchez, 610 Beachy, 614 Upton, 630 Dirks, 635 Gyorko
Chase It Down: CD-2 Sandoval
World Baseball Classic: WBC-9 Beltran
Making Their Mark: MM-4 Kipnis, 9 Skaggs
1972 Minis: TM-52 Freese, 63 Berra, 86 Brett
Chasing History (Silver Foil): CH-76 Gwynn, 77 Clemente, 100 Niekro
Chasing History (Silver Foil/Holofoil): 56 Holliday, 59 Lynn, 95 Cain, 98 Crawford
Chasing History (Gold Foil/Holofoil): CH-53 Weaver, 62 McCovey, 76 Gwynn, 82 Hernandez, 94 Cobb, 95 Cain