Group Break Good Luck

Hey Everybody, I'm checking in with what seems like my 1 monthly post.  I know I don't post much anymore and hopefully that will change in the near future but that doesn't mean that my collecting habits have really changed that much.  Sure I hold my "purse strings" a little tighter because of all the recent events that have happed over the last year or so but it has probably made me a better collector overall.  Seems strange, but paying less for cards makes you appreciate them even more.  That being said, I was able to jump into some group breaks on eBay for some recently released products and I think I did really well for price of admission!

First up is the Stadium Club break I got into.  It cost me maybe a few bucks more than I wanted to spend (which I'll get into at the end of this post).  I think I did OK with the results but I was really hoping get Jonathan Schoop rookie autograph.

I did land this nice diecut Cal Ripken card which will go directly in to my PC of him.  I didn't get the base card to join it in the binder but that's ok for now.  I'll wait for the secondary market to settle before adding it, unless somebody has one to trade me!

I also got this rainbow foil Manny Machado which I was pleasantly surprised to get when I opened the mailer at home.  I didn't see it on the video, nor did the breaker pay it any mind.

I didn't get the full team set from the 3 box break but I did get most of it.  I can't complain about the Ripken diecut either!

The next group break I got into was a 2014 Topps Update 3 box.  One box was a Jumbo (so a 99% guarantee of a team set) and 2 hobby boxes.

I ended up with 2 nice Adam Jones inserts.  Not bad at all..

2 Gold Bordered parallels that I won't need to chase down.

2 Cal Fond Farewells which I'm happy about.

Last but not least, this Nelson Cruz Autographed relic card from the All-Star game!  Its numbered 15 of 25 and wow, it's a really cool card.  I've seen a few of these on the 'bay go for a bout 60 bucks.  Even for a sticker autograph, I'm still happy with it.  Some of the ones I've seen on Ebay Nelson's autograph went off the sticker so I'm glad I ended up with one where he "stayed in the lines"!


The last group break I was in was a Bowman Chrome half case break.  I got in to this one with high hopes of getting an Adrian Marin prospect autograph but didn't get one.  But I did get some Marin love in the break:

This is one of the Static refractor #d13/35.  Not bad.  Adrian Marin was drafted in 2012 out of high school in the 3rd round.  He played on team USA in international competition and the Orioles have aggressively moved him through the minor league system by making him one of the youngest players at each level he's played.  That strategy may have hurt his overall numbers a bit but the talent is there.  He just needs to continue to hit and tighten up his glove work a little more.

So 3 group breaks for the price of a blaster and a half.  I don't think I did awful and I surely couldn't have bought the cards for less money.

Thanks for looking at my post!

One Hour 'til the Group Break Announcement!

 One hour and counting.....

A New Group Break Is Coming!

Check back here tomorrow (Sunday) September 1st at 7pm EST for the announcement and sign ups for my next group break!

Group Break Pimpage

Judson over at My Cardboard Habit is having a group break.  He'll be busting a box of 2013 Allen & Ginter when it finally releases early next month.  You get a team of your choice and after the first 15 team slots are bought, the remaining 15 will be randomly distributed amongst the participants.  You can sign up right HERE. 

Group Break Goodies from The Toddfather

I'm coming down from my sugar high and I just realized that I've kept the streak alive for 8 years running now.  For the 8th consecutive year, I've sat down with a bowl of candy and waited, and waited and waited.  Thats right, the average # of Trick or Treaters for the past 8 years is 0.0000000.  This year I thought it was going to be a little different because the wife and I moved to a new neighborhood back in May.  Theres even kids that live on the next street over.  My wife even went to the trouble of making little treat bags up with the small pouches of Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish and "Jacks and Bats" pretzels.  All of it for naught!   For some reason, in our new neighborhood, on any given night, all of the houses are lit up like the 4th of july.  Everything was dark tonight except for our house. We are usually the ones with all the lights off because we don't like wasting electricity and the racoons and possums can see in the dark just fine!

So now that I've done my little Halloween rant (candy-induced), I'm going to show off the 3 highlights of a Group Break that Tim over at Home of the Toddfather held a few weeks ago.  I wasn't quick enough to grab the Orioles so I picked the Mariners and A's to maximize my chance at some hits from the Topps Chrome boxes.  GOOD CHOICE!

I didn't get that much in the way of base cards or refractors from the 2012 Topps Chrome box but I did get the only diecut.  It's a very classy looking card of Jesus Montero.  I think out of all of the diecut inserts coming out this year, the ones from Topps Chrome look the best.

There were also 2 autographs to be pulled from the box and I got a good one!  My gamble on the A's paid off.  I'm convinced now that the A's made it to the playoffs that there will be an Athletics collector that starts a blog.  When this person does, the blogging community will be filling up the comments with trade proposal after trade proposal!  I think I'll be first in line with this red refractor autograph of Tom Milone unless somebody else wants to take it off my hands.

I was very happy with the 2 hits above and wasn't really expecting much from the 2012 Pro Debut box but I got lucky and got a pretty nice GU card of Danny Hultzen.  He played his college ball at Virginia which happens to be my favorite college team.  I hope to make it to Charlottesville sometime soon to see a game!  Hultzen has a shot to break training camp with the Mariners next spring with a spot in the rotation. I'm rooting for him!

Thanks Tim for holding and awesome Group Break!


Speaking of Group Breaks!  My own group break will be kicking off tomorrow evening.  Stay tuned over the next few days to see the results!

All Upper Deck Group Break at Community Gum

The good guys over at the Community Gum blog are running a group break that includes a bunch of great Upper Deck boxes from the past 10 or so years.  There's a couple of teams left including the Red Sox, Tigers, and Giants!  Head on over and sign up for a slot right here.

You've got about one day left to claim your teams so don't delay!

Announcement: First Ever "O" NO!!! Group Break

Announcing "O" NO!!!'s first ever group break!

I have decided to hold my first ever "Affordable" group break in the absence of Cardboard Collections for October.  I can only hope to do as good of a job as he does.  I'm going to do my best to keep the seat warm for him until he returns to work his magic!

This box break will be sponsored by the good folks at Baseball Card Exchange.  They have literally tons and tons of great unopened product, so drop by and take a look at their wares


So without further ado, there will be 3 boxes broken:

Box #1


1994 Topps Finest Series 1

I know it's not 1993 Finest but it's still a pretty nice box.  It has 24 packs with 4 cards per pack.  There should be at least 2 refractors in the the box since they fall 1:9 packs.  I also think there is a jumbo sized box loader inside too. I think I'm most excited about this product!

Box #2


1996 Pinnacle Zenith

This box of cards also has 24 packs with 6 cards per pack.  From what I know about the set, this was Pinnacle's answer to Finest.  There's some pretty nice inserts in this product.
There's a 1 in 2 boxes chance of pulling an Artist's Proof card (1:36 packs).
There should be at least 2 Mosaics (1:10 Packs) cards in the box which feature 3 players from the same team.
There's a 1 in 3 box chance at pulling a Z-Team insert
We should also pull one Diamond Club insert since they fall one per hobby box.  These also have a parallel that falls 1:360 packs that acually has real diamonds embedded in the card.

Box #3


1999 Sports Illustrated presented by Fleer

This should be a fun box to open.  I remember opening a box of these cards back when they first came out.  I actually pulled the cover boy (Kerry Wood) Diamond Dominators insert card which was a 1:180 pack pull.  I think I just recently trade that card to somebody here on the blogs.  I think at the time it was the most rare card I gotten from ripping packs.  From what I remember, the Fabulous 40's inserts were embossed and commemorated players smashing 40 or more homers in 1998.  There's also a parallel that is serial numbered to the actual HR total for that player.  Maybe we hit one!  The Ones to Watch inserts had up and coming players printed on foil board and JD Drew autographed 250 copies and they were inserted.  I doubt we'll find one but it would be cool if we did.  There's also the Headliners which fall 1 in 4 packs featuring the popular players of the time period.  There's also the aformentioned Diamond Dominators with hitters being a 1:90 pack pull and pitchers being a 1:180 pull.

There's going to be 14 slots.  9 bucks gets you one team of your choice and a team to be randomly selected from the remaining unchosen teams. 15 dollars gets you 2 chosen teams and 2 randoms.  If you want more than 2 let me know, we can work something out.  I will also give a dollar discount if you pimp out this break on your blog (this only applies until the break is filled, sorry, my rules.).  Also, I'm not going to discourage international collectors, I just may ask for just a couple dollars more for shipping.


All 14 slots have been claimed!  Stay tuned to this blog for the boxes to be busted.

Atlanta Braves - Dutch Card Guy - PAID
Baltimore Orioles - Ryan H. - PAID
Boston Red Sox - Matt Perry - PAID
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians - Baseball Dad - PAID
Colorado Rockies
Detroit Tigers
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels - Tom T. - payment pending
Los Angeles Dodgers - gcrl - PAID
Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
Montreal Expos - Roy-Z - PAID
New York Mets - Doug C. - PAID
New York Yankees - NY Hitman - PAID
Oakland Athletics
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates - NY Hitman - PAID
San Diego Padres - Padrogaphs - PAID
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners - Design on Deck - PAID
St Louis Cardinals
Texas Rangers - Roy-Z - PAID
Toronto Blue Jays - Doug C. - PAID

Since the Rays and Diamondbacks are only going to show up in the Sports Illustrated box, they will not be available for purchase.  Cards from these 2 teams will be randomed among the participants that do not get an insert or in the unlikely event we get a hit.

After claiming your team(s) and you pay, please send me an email (same as paypal address) with your name and address along with the team(s) you've claimed.  The sooner we get this filled the boxes can be ordered and subsequently broken!  I hope to have this happen the 1st or 2nd week of October though it depends on how fast this thing fills up.

Group Break Loot from Nachos Grande

I've seen everybody else posting their hauls from Nachos Grande's group break of 2 boxes of 2012 Topps Mini and 1 box of 2000 Fleer Impact, so I figured I mind as well post mine too.  These cards have been sitting on my desk for over a week now and I never put these cards away until they are scanned and posted.

The highlight of my chosen team, the Orioles was this gold border of Adam Jones. I got a nice pile of Orioles base minis that helped fill in my team set. Jones has seemingly cooled off from his torrid first half of the season but is still in the middle of most of the O's rallies lately.  He's also been keeping the shaving cream manufacturers in business because every time the Orioles Hero du Jour does a live interview on postgame, he's the one responsible for the pie in the face sneak attacks.

My random team was the Brewers.  I was pretty surprised that they weren't taken and I got 'em.  I was even more surprised to see that I snagged a relic card.  I love the Gold swatch!  For anybody that knows, what's the deal with the gold jerseys?  Are they only worn on certain days or occasions?

I also ended up with a Prince Fielder golden Moments insert.  I don't have that much to say about Prince other than his name is annoying, though I wouldn't say that to his face.  All of the Brewers I obtained in this group break are for trade including all of the base cards, the Fleer Impact cards, and the Axford relic.

Thanks for holding the group break Chris!

Group Break Loot from the Daily Dimwit

I love group breaks.  I try to get into as many as I can as long as it fits into my card budget.  The Daily Dimwit has been running a bunch of breaks lately and the most recent one had some intriguing products I missed out on in the past.

I'll consider this break a success since I didn't have the Cal Ripken from the set.    I really like the texture of the cards from this set since they actually feel like real paintings.  I can say the artist did a great job capturing Cal's likeness unless Playoff used some sort of photoshop filter.  Way better than some of those National Chicle abominations from a couple years ago.

Upper Deck Diamond Collection Pro Sigs is another set  I wasn't very familiar with until it showed up in Sam's break.  I'm pretty happy with these 2 Orioles since it encompasses the entire team set!  I'm sure there are variations of the foil signatures if I know Upper Deck cards. (see '90s Collectors Choice sets)

I only got one Oriole from the Standing O box but that's ok.  2003 was kind of a skunky year for the Orioles being featured on cardboard.  It's still a nice looking set regardless.  Hopefully I can track down Rodrigo Lopez and Daniel Cabrera to complete the team set.

So I didn't hit anything big time but I'm still happy with my spot.  I addition to the Orioles I also had the Blue Jays as my second random team.  I'm not going to show them here to keep the cards shrouded in mystery until they get to one of my trading buddies.

Group Break Goodies from The Daily Dimwit

While I was away on my Honeymoon, I participated in a Group Break run by Sam of the the Daily Dimwit.  I was able to buy in before I left and the cards were busted while I had no internet access.  When I got home there was a package of cards that I didn't have the chance to see come out of the packs.  Usually when I am in Group Breaks, I obsessively smash the F5 button on my computer to get Blogger to refresh to see what cards might be coming my way.  Lets take a look at the goods:

Sam sent a note that said the this card was a wedding gift.  Thanks Sam for the gift.  It was the only baseball related wedding gift I (we!) got!

I was randomed the White Sox for my second consecutive break.  I think I did pretty well. The bottom Peavy is a refractor.  I have a bunch of White Sox cards I don't need from this and Cards on Cards' Free Fleer Break so Pale Hose fans, step right up and make an offer.

Here's the meat of the break for me.  Two '75 minis, a refractor Ripken, and a popup Brooksie!  I couldn't be happier with these pulls.  I also have a few base Lineage O's extras left over from building my team set.  Any O's fans want them?

I was also lucky enough to get one of the Lineage Box toppers...  I'd love to get this autographed by Vlad one day, but it might be while he's with another team.  It's already a forgone conclusion that he isn't coming back to play in the Charm City next year.

Thanks for another awesome group break Sam!