June Group Break Cards from Cards from the Quarry

I know these aren't great scans of the cards I got from Johnny's June Group Break but I'm getting lazy from the summer heat. I'm really enjoying these cheaper breaks because it helps me fill out my team collection at a cheaper price than going to a card show.

All three of these Cal cards bolstered my PC as I didn't have any of these three. I'm really loving the stained glass insert on the right. I was very lucky in regards to Johnny actually pulling it from the box. It actually is a diecut card that is see through. I took it and pointed it towards the sun and it really is a neat concept for an insert set. I wish we could see that creativity in todays card market.

Group Break cards from Cards from the Quarry

While I didn't get anything spectacular from hiflew's inaugural Group break, I did land some nice cards to add to my Orioles binders. I'm really enjoying all the breaks that I've been able to take part in recently. Only the cards you want and none of the leftover trash (wrappers) afterwards!

I don't know what else to say about Mike that I haven't said before but I like this card a lot. With this card it brings me down to 1 card needed for the team set (Sidney Ponson).

2008 Upper Deck Documentary has really grown on me the last few months. I started off hating it now they aren't so bad. I got a huge heap of them in this break so I'm well on my way to collecting all 162 Orioles cards in the future. If you have any to trade, let me know!

I'm not sure a lot of people know that Mike Fontenot was once and Orioles farmhand. He was drafted by them but was traded in the Sammy Sosa deal. I also have an in person autograph of him floating around here somewhere that I should show in the future.

I actually won this card in the randomization at the end of the break. It's the first time in my blogging career that I have won a contest or even a randomization. I'm happy to have this card of Ichiro as I have an elevated interest in his cards since I am part Japanese. I don't have a dedicated binder or anything for him but I'm always happy to acquire cards of him.

I want to Thank Johnny for holding the group break. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next month!

Group Break Cards from the Other World

Here's the first of a few group break posts that will be going up over the next few days. This break comes to you courtesy of the Other World. Dan's selection of boxes was intriguing and I definitely had to get in on this one. I'm really glad I did. I picked the Orioles (of course) and my randomed team was the Astros. Here's the goods:

I've always liked Topps Gallery but I have a very precious few of them. This Marty Cordova helps me cross another card off my wantlists. I need more Gallery Orioles!

This mini Old Mill back of Jeremy Guthrie reminds me of the miniscule amount of runs the O's score for him while he's toeing the rubber.

Here's one of the many colored paralells from 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes of Luke Scott. I'm not able to feature many of Luke's cards because there just aren't that many of them. I don't understand why he doesn't get more hobby love because he is a legit power hitter.

Here's a pretty nice numbered insert card from the 2005 Upper Deck Classics box of Brooksie. He just celebrated a birthday last week. Here's to many more!

Here's the meat of the break for me. I think I did rather well with getting a relic card from both teams I picked. The real kicker is that I already had pulled the same exact Tejada from my own box last fall and traded it. I'm really happy with the Ripken Relic card too. One of these days I'd love to be able to pull some mojo of him out of a pack on my own. I can dream!

Here's a list of Astros that I have for trade along with Mr. Tejada from the break. Let me know if you see any you need.

Astros:

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes: J.R. Towles, Hunter Pence, Roy Oswalt,

2009 Topps 206: Ivan Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee

2002 Topps Total: Jeff Bagwell, Mike Hill, Carlos Hernandez, Richard Hidalgo, Brian L. Hunter, Scott Linebrink, Orlando Merced, Brandon Puffer,

2003 Topps Gallery: Roy Oswalt, Jeff Kent

Group Break Roundup

I have been getting into a lot of Group Breaks lately. I am going to show just the "hits" of the last two that I joined.

These are the best of what I got out of The Sandlot's break of 2 boxes of 2009 Topps Unique and a box of 2010 Topps Chrome. I got some really nice Rookie cards of some of the Orioles up and comers from the Unique boxes. I think I did pretty good on the Chrome box too. I got this Adam Jones refractor (it's for trade because I already have one) and a Brian Matusz rookie card. I hope Joe does another break soon because I really enjoyed this one!

These cards are from Nachos Grande's latest group break. All three of these Ripkens are new to my collection. I really the Walk of Fame card because it is all refractory shiny. I really like Nachos Grande's group breaks because of the variety of different products he picks out.

That's all I have for now!

Group Break Goodies from Thorzul

I know I'm getting a little behind posting but I wanted to share my take of cards from Thorzul's November group break. I really liked the new idea he had where 15 slots were teams that the participants picked and the last 15 teams were randomed off among the 15 original slots. I know it sounds a little confusing and I can't seem to get the wordage right( lack of sleep), but trust me, it worked out well. I hadn't seen any of the 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams cards before and also was intrigued by the 2009 Finest box. Heres the spoils:

Out of the Legends box I ended up with a good assortment of Orioles. 3 Jim Palmers and a Brooks Robinson. I am a confused with one of the design decision UD made though. On the t3 Palmers, niether of the years match up with the respective uniforms he is wearing. While this is a minor flaw in my eyes, it still makes one scratch his head a little bit. At least the Brooksie card shows the correct World Series with the correct play.I was skunked with my second assigned team, the Royals, in the Legends box. Upon my inspection of the checklist, there are no Royals to be had in the entire base set. Another interesting design decision by Topps. I thought the Royals team from 1980 that won the AL Pennant or the World Series Champion 1985 squad would at least have some players in the set.

I didn't get the same shaft from Topps in the Finest box though:

I have no idea what I am going to do with this card. If somebody is interested in trading for it, I am all ears. I'm not a huge fan of the Manu-patch cards that Topps has been loading up all their products with lately.

Of the Orioles I got out of the Finest box I ended up with these:

All cards I need for my team set. Now I'm just missing #88 Aubrey Huff. Thorzul also pulled a redemption card #8 which is supposed to be Nolan Reimold. The redemption was technically good until 4/30/10. Technically I think that having a redemption card good for only one year sucks. When I am looking at older boxes I look at the checklist to see if it has any redemptions and if they are already expired. This weighs greatly on me whether or not I will purchase the box. Knowing my luck I'd pull a Cal Ripken Super Logo Patch Autograph #d to 10 that expired already. Im pretty sure I would cry if that happened. I don't think that redemption cards are bad idea. I think that it allows the card manufacturer a way to put more value into their boxes that otherwise would not make it because of printing deadlines and street dates of products. What I do have a problem with is the expiration dates. One year is not enough, 3 years isn't either. I think that a 5 years from the release date of the product is reasonable. Seriously is it going to be a problem for Topps or UD to hang onto the actual cards for that long? I'd like to think not.

Anyways, I already sent that sucker in so we'll see what happens. I'm willing to take a chance to see if they will give me something else or maybe the actual card I should get.

Thanks to Thorzul for the group break, I'm looking forward to your next one.

Group Break Recap: Cardboard Collections

I ponied up the cash for Colbey's November Group Break and got some great cards! I really like Colbey's Breaks because they don't break the bank and he always adds in some extra cards of the team you pick! It's a nice touch on his part. Here are the goods:

These are the 3 Cal Ripkens he pulled and they are all new to my collection. I can't say I've ever seen a Stars and Steel card in person and they are made of real steel! The Starstruck Ripken is nice because it has a rainbow sheen to it. I like the Embossed card to. I ended up with the golden version in one of my recent eBay wins.

Here are some of the extras he threw in. I'm digging the 1991 Topps Cracker Jack cards. I know I said I need more mini Orioles but these seem to be about half the size of A&G minis. Also a nice Brian Roberts insert I didn't have and the Melvin Mora Goudey card completes my base team set!

Thanks to Colbey for holding the group break. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Group Breaks Galore!

I thought I would give everybody a little heads up to some of the great Group Breaks that are taking sign ups right now.

1. Colbey over at Cardboard Collections is hosting his monthly break. Here is a link to the sign up page: http://cardboardcollections.blogspot.com/2010/10/november-group-break-sign-ups.html

Here is what he is breaking this month:
- 1993 Bowman x4 jumbo packs (22 cards per pack)
- 1995 Topps Embossed Hobby (24 packs, 6 cards per pack)
- 1999 Topps Stars 'N Steel Hobby (12 packs, 3 cards per pack)
- 2000 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory (24 packs, 5 cards per pack)

He still has some great teams open and none of them are more than $9.00 a piece.

2. Joe at The Sandlot is hosting a smaller break but what he lacks in volume he is making up for it in quality. Here's the Link: http://thesandlotcards.blogspot.com/2010/11/team-sign-ups.html .

He is opening up 2 boxes of 2009 Topps Unique.

He just opened up sign ups last night so there are many teams available!

3. Thorzul is also having his normal monthly break with a new slotting system. The first 15 teams can be chosen by you and after they are filled, the remaining 15 will be randomed off to the people that paid for the first 15. 2 teams for 17.50. Not a bad deal if you ask me!
Link: http://thorzul.blogspot.com/2010/11/november-group-break-is-open.html

He is opening 1 box of 2009 Topps Finest and 1 box of 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams. I hope we get a case hit when the box is broken because that 6x relic he has in his PC is sweet.


Head on over to these blogs and get some cards of your favorite teams!