Birthday Cards

Last week I celebrated a birthday. My mother-in-law has always been a good gift giver and has supported my cardboard addiction habit collecting over the years as long as I can give her a specific item I want. I usually ask for a pack of 9 pocket pages but this year since she has a Costco membership,  I decided to ask for the 2023 Topps flagship collection. These particular packages are Costco exclusive.

Here's a good shot of the front of the package after I had opened the top lid.  I do like the presentation.  It has the curb appeal.  But man, I think I may have to buy some carbon credits to make up for the amount of cardboard and plastic this package contains.

The main attraction for me is the three packs of The Flagship Collection cards.  More on those later. I was also hopefully going to find an All Aces insert out of the series 1, 2, or Update packs or a Black Gold out of Update.  I got totally shut out on any of those inserts.  I'll spare you all the gory details of the regular packs.  Nothing really earth-shattering or terribly notable except for a select few.  I don't think I could cobble together another batch of oddball Christmas songs right now so consider yourselves off the hook this time.

I did pull this pretty rare card out of one of the Update packs.  I was pretty delighted to pull this card since I really enjoyed watching Seager make Rays, Orioles, Astros, and Diamondbacks pitching look silly this past postseason. I had no I idea that there were even parallels of the much maligned Stars of MLB inserts until this past spring when I pulled this:

This card has not left my desk since I pulled it.  I had some extreeeemely good luck with Series One this year.  I joined Nachos Grande's case break and got the Home Team Advantage Adley and I only opened three hanger boxes and got pulled this gem.  Also the one lose pack a few weeks back that yielded the blue bordered Gunnar. 

Pulling a card from a pack of Cal always makes the hair on my neck stand up whether it is a card I already owned or one I had never seen before.  I might have a crazy idea for this card so we'll see what happens in the future.

So the Trout card is the oversized card and the Alonso is the "companion card".  I'm pretty happy with the Trout since he's a player I kinda collect.  Nothing really special about the Alonso other than the numbering on the back.

So onto the three packs of The Flagship Collection.  I got a couple of cheaters, a two time beater, and a bunch of Mets.  I would say these are the best out of the fifteen cards from the packs.  I was hoping for a Gunnar, Adley, or Grayson.  I'm still happy with Mountcastle though.  These cards are on thick stock.  Think Triple Threads or Tribute base card thickness. The design is decent enough.  One thing I noticed is that the Acuna, Kershaw and the beater were all about a 1/32nd of an inch shorter and slimmer than the other 12 cards.  It doesn't really affect the cards much but I though it was worth noting.

Would I buy a box of these for myself?  Probably not because by now I'd pretty much seen everything I needed to see of the flagship design this year.  (Still looking for All Aces, Black Golds and most Orioles though). Getting this product as a gift was a fun rip  but the value is not quite there for me.  Flagship is produced like crazy right now so the base cards aren't hardly worth much anymore. We're not quite at the level of 1990 Topps but there's a ton of recent years of flagship just gathering dust in the back of most peoples closets.
 

Quick Pack Rip

Just proof it only takes one pack sometimes.  I stopped into Walmart on the way home to pick up a couple groceries and in a effort to scratch the pack ripping itch, of course went to the card aisle. Among all of the disarray were a couple of series 1 packs so I grabbed one...  I picked the right one.  Don't get too excited, this is the retail exclusive blue border even though the phone pic makes it look like a black border.  Trust me, I did a double and triple take when I flipped to it.

Here's the rest of the pack spoils.  I'd say the Harris RC will hold the title of second best card in the pack. 

This was the second impulse purchase of the trip.

If you know, you know.  If you haven't then you definitely should.  You just won't find any more at my local Wal-Mart....

My Obligatory Two Cents on 2014 Topps

Now that most of the 2014 Topps series 1 hoopla has died down a bit, I think its time I do my obligatory review.  I feel that 2014 Topps has been universally been crapped on for some reason.  I don't think its that bad overall.  I agree that the design isn't as good as 2013 but they can't all be winners like the 1965, 1987, or 2009 flagship issues.  The tab in the right side of the card is unnecessary since there is a team logo on the lower left side.  The "swooshes" under the logo aren't that bad either.  I'm still waiting with baited breath to see the Night Owl post where he will "Define the Design"!

It's not for everybody but there are still plenty things to like about 2014 Topps. It's the first new release of the year (duh) and that means spring is right around the corner (yay!).  Disagree with me if you want but I'm running the show on this blog and if you don't like it, tough!

A little side note: I'm collecting the regular Topps set a little different this year.  I'm not going to build it myself.  I'm going to lie in the weeds and be a cheap-ass. I'm going to wait until the hype dies down and buy all 3 series on ebay and do it for less than 50 bucks.  Series 1, 2 and Update for less than the price of a factory set.  It can be done and it will be done.  I just don't have the resources to bust hobby boxes and jumbo boxes to build the set anymore.  I have much less time to spend on my hobbies and I have even less energy to put towards them when I do have time.  Its just going to be easier and cheaper this way.

But I do have to do some scientific research.  That is why when I got my haircut last week, I visited Target on my way home to just conduct my experiments.  Oh who am I kidding, I just wanted to rip some packs!

While I can't believe that Topps brought back those ridiculous sparkly fake twinkle cards after all the backlash they received in 2011, the postseason variations get a thumbs up from me.   Mostly, because I got one in my two rack packs but also because it just adds a little bit of fun to the cards.  At least the celebration cards actually happened in real life.  The twinkles or orbs or whatever they are called are just dumb.

I can't complain about getting a mini of a player on my favorite team.  It's one less card I have to look for when I'm building the master team set.  I like the 1989 design but I'm not sure it needed to be diecut.  Maybe Topps is cutting back on inserts and killed 2 birds with one stone here?

I've got a bit of a head cold right now and all I can think to call these is "Booger Green Borders".  These are rack pack exclusives.  I'm pretty sure we don't need anymore colored border cards.  I'm OK with Red for Target and Blue for WallyWorld.  Camo, Pink and Toys-R-Us purple.  I can't even see the Camos when I play with my cards outside in the woods, pink isn't even a real color (it's just faded Red) and Who the Hell shops at Toys-R-Us for cards?

Apparently there are hanger box "Urine Yellow" parallels too.  Too many parallels for flagship.  The regular Topps set is about the base cards.  Well at least it should be.  Topps Chrome is where all the colored borders and refractors should be.  I don't think that any one is chasing and Matt Tuiaso- I've got to many vowels in my name -popo rainbow.  Really!

MOAR parallels.  I avoided the greens last year and red just looks obnoxious this year.

Not really a big fan of the Upper Class inserts either.  The borders are distracting and TOOOO MUCH FOIL.

I don't really get these either.  It's a 30 card insert set with 13 different players spread out.  Some players get 3 cards, most get 2.  From my count there are 15 "Future Stars" in the base set.  Why not just give those 15 players a single  "The Future is Now" insert and save the other inevitable 15 Future stars from series 2 and give them a single "The Future is Now" insert?  < Is this a run on sentence? Does it make sense?   Speaking of making sense, does some of the headlines on the fronts of the cards just don't make sense.  "Jose You Can't See" (above) and "Boogya" (on one of Manny Machado's cards) are just dumb.  I think the set could work with out the headlines.

Another insert that I've already traded away was the All-Time Rookie Cup Team. I got the Johnny Bench but swiped this Pujols example from the interwebs.  Since it is the "Topps All Rookie Cup Team", don't you think there should be a ROOKIE CUP somewhere on the card?  Really?  Oh sure there's a manu-relic version but come on, they could have printed one on here somewhere!

So to wrap things up, 2014 Topps isn't all peaches and cream.  It does contain some head scratchers but it isn't all bad.  Topps took some chances with this year's flagship and most of the ideas have fallen on their face.  I think if Topps just went back to basics for the regular set and leave the higher thrills stuff for Chrome, Ginter, Gypsy Queen, etc. they would be better for it.

Everything pictured here except for the Davis and Pujols is for trade.

Pack Break: (4) 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter's World's Champions Jumbo Packs

It took me a few years to get struck by Ginter fever but last summer I finally warmed up to the set.  If you've been reading my blog at least since the beginning of last summer you might recall that I made a Craigslist purchase of a complete '07 A&G set as well as a near complete '06 and '08.  I even worked hard through last fall and winter to complete the '09, '10, '11, and '12 Allen & Ginter sets too with a lot of help from generous traders here in the blogosphere.  I think all of the quirky insert sets and the clean design just finally clicked in my brain that made me say "Hey, this is a pretty interesting set!"

Anyways, I've decided to cut back on the number of sets that I build and unfortunately A&G was one of the casualties of that decision.  That doesn't mean I can't bust some retail packs though!  I had to make a run to Lowes (I can't stay out of that store) the other day to get a couple things and Target is in the same shopping center.  Hmmm, didn't A&G come out a few days ago?  Maybe they have some in stock!  Here's the results of the 4 retail jumbo packs:

Let me first say that from my few packs that these retail jumbos are chock full of inserts.  I ended up with 4 Across the Years (expected), 3 Civilizations of Ages Past, 3 Curious Cases, 1 Martial Mastery, 2 Heavy Hangs the Head as well as the 1 Codes Ciphers and Cryptographs card of the creepy ass Zodiac Killer.  14 insert cards in 4 packs.  If you are building the insert sets, I would buy a bunch of these jumbos.

 It has been said in the few days that Ginter has been out this year that there is no "babe" like last year's Kate Upton or Erin Andrews.  While she won't be 18 until December 9, she's still a very attractive young woman.  I sound like a total creep here being 13 years and 4 days her senior but I must give credit where credit is due.  How could you not love the "McKayla is not Impressed" photo taken of here on the medal podium at the Olympics last year.  She even has baseball links (Attention: Spiegel, Night Owl, Zakwin, gcrl) since she parlayed a gold medal into throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Not as impressively as the Korean gymnast's first pitch but still it bares mentioning.

Speaking of Dodgers I did get this Hyun Jin Ryu black bordered mini.  Not too shabby.  Apparently he's a good pitcher but I know little about him.  I probably know more about MaKayla Maroney (in 2 minutes of internet searching to find out how old she is) that I do about him.  For you mini card freaks out there, I got 8 total in my 4 jumbo packs.  And the best one is yet to come!

I popped open the bottom section of the last pack and the mini slides out.  Sweet! it's an Oriole, so there's one less mini I have to track down for the team set.  I've learned to take a look at the backs of these minis cuz you never know what "back" you might get.  I flip it over and I see this:

 Yep, hand numbered to 7/25!  Probably my lowest numbered serial numbered card that I've pulled from retail.  It's an ebay 1 of 1 because 7 is Mickey Mantle's number and 25 is Jim Johnson's newest teammate Bud Norris's number!  That will definitely bring a premium!  Not that It's for sale though.  So that makes it worth at least a million bucks.  Allen & Ginter has made me very rich all of the sudden.

For the rest of you commoners, the total list of inserts I got:

Mini Regular Back Parallel: 54 BJ Upton, 136 Panama Canal, 160 McCann
Mini Black Bordered Parallel: 246 Hyun-Jin Ryu
Across the Years: ATY CG C. Gonzalez, JH Hamilton, RS Sandberg, TSV Seaver
Civilizations of Ages Past: CAP-BAY Babylonians, PER Persians, PH Phoencians
Curious Cases: DA Denver Airport, FM Faked Moon Landings, MK MKULTRA
Martial Mastery: MM-ZU Zulu
Mini Heavy Hangs the Head: HHH-AUG Augustus, RAM Ramses II
Mini Codes, Ciphers, and Cryptographs: Zodiac Killer

Pack Break: 2013 Bowman Platinum

Since I'm a pretty big Bowman fan, I somewhat look forward to new releases of the Bowman name.  This year's Bowman Platinum is no exception!  The cards are shiny as each card in the set looks like a refractor.  I'm attracted to shiny like a mosquito to a bug buster.

I made a dumb mistake at Target when I bought these.  I bought 4 of the value packs because the rack thingy it was hanging on said "Excell MLB Baseball 4.99".  Everyone knows that Excell stocks the cards in the section so I did a little math in my head and figured that either Topps was selling these rather cheaply or Excell made a mistake.  Plus with the cards literally being on the shelf for a day or 2 I wouldn't think they would have gotten stocked in the wrong spot.  WRONG.  I got to the register and they rung up at 9.49 a piece.  I should have put 2 back but I'm glad I didn't (I think).

I'll start off with my mojo autograph hit of Tayler Scott of the Cubs.  I seem to pull Blue Jays, Astros, Yankees, and Cubs hits out of everything I buy at retail.  WTF.  The autographs aren't too terribly hard to pull out of retail at 1 every 31 packs.  

Here's a gaggle of top prospects.  Notice the Cubs, Yankees and Astros are prevalent here!

Here's another one of the blue sapphire rookie reprints.  Not my cup of tea but I think somebody in the blogosphere is collecting these but I can't remember who.  Anybody know?

Here's one of the Baseball America inserts.  It's nice to see a prospect-centric set partnering with a prospect-centric magazine/organization to create an insert set.  Not that the design is groundbreaking or anything, just nice to see.

I guess these are called the gold diamond/ice paralells.  I also got a Braun but nobody wants to see his lying picture on my blog.  I should tape some of his cards to a bottle rocket and do a video feature here on the blog.  Any interest in seeing that?

I got a good pile of Purple refractors (12 to be exact) since they came 3 per value pack.  I'm really lucky and happy to get 2 of the Orioles brightest young farmhands.  I imagine if I would have put 2 of the value packs back on the shelf that knowing my luck it would have been the 2 that contained these cards!  I've had total crap luck this year when it comes to pulling O's cards from packs.  I didn't get any of the base cards from Bowman Platinum of the Orioles (there's only 3: Jones, Bundy, Machado).  Every card you see on this page is for trade except for the Gausman and Schoop.

Here's a visual list for all of the cards I have for trade from the product:

Bowman Platinum Prospect Autograph: BPAP-TS Tayler Scott

Gold Ice Parallel: 9 Braun, 32 Arcia, 78 Cano

Bowman Blue Sapphire Rookie Reprints: Chase Utley

Prospect Refractors: BPCP3 Brinson, 20 Dahl, 70 Nunez, 71 Choice

Prospect Purple Refractors: BPCP21 Lindor, 39 Sanchez, 57 Nicolino, 65 Hawkins, 68 Lee, 76 Hedges, 80 Davis, 87 Heaney, 90 Ozuna, 94 Hensley

Diamonds In The Rough: DIR-LM Merejo

Top Prospects: TP-JSO Soler, JB Baez, JS Singleton, GS Sanchez

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

Pack Break: 2013 Baseball Magazine

When I made my trip to Japan and subsequently went to Mint Opa Urawa (the card shop in my cousin's town) I had to pick up a few packs to bust.  There were some packs of this years Flagship Topps as well as some Bowman and some assorted packs from the past few years.  I can get those anytime so I decided to pick up a couple packs of this year's BBM.  I don't think I pulled anything really good since I've looked them over several times but I did enjoy busting a few packs while overseas.

These names should look familiar to Dodgers and Brewers fans.  It's interesting that I got quite a few cards of players that had MLB experience.  Maybe Nyger's time in Japan will chill him out a bit.  I really can't stand the guy and this will probably be the last time you see him on my blog unless he plays for the O's (unlikely) or knocks on my front door offering up free autographs (extremely unlikely).

In the 3 packs I busted I got a good amount of Lions who I had just seen play a few days earlier.  Though neither of these guys got in the game I think I did spot Spilborghs in the dugout.

A couple more players with MLB experience.  It's quite strange that Andruw Jones is now playing in the Japanese league considering his past heroics stateside.  I also saw Bryan LaHair play on TV while we were just sitting around at my cousin's house.  We watched most of the game though I understood about 3 words that the commentators said.  Good thing I have a decently high baseball IQ so I could figure out what they were talking about.  Funny thing is about televised baseball in Japan (at least the few that I caught on TV) was that if the game wasn't over by the time the 3 hour timeslot was up, the next program came on.  A show about cooking bamboo shoots was more important than what happened over the last inning and a half of the game.  It was a good 1 inning ballgame too!  I never did find out how it ended up but I did learn all about growing bamboo shoots and how to cook them!

Judging from the numbering on the backs of these cards, these are some of the subsets.  Apparently Kenta Maeda is a lights out pitcher since he rocked and ERA of 1.53 last season.  I think I remember him from the WBC this spring and seeing some highlights.  Tadahito Iguchi is a name that should ring some bells too.  He played for the White Sox and Phillies.  I'm not sure if he played anywhere else.

Overall these cards are really sharp looking.  Each card has full bleed photography (a la Upper Deck) even though these are just the flagship issue that BBM makes.  I think the design is pretty good too.  It doesn't detract from the photography but I do think the addition of the team logo would be an improvement.  I wish Topps could do a set like this (similar to Stadium Club) but they are too good to take suggestions from actual collectors!

So that pretty much wraps up my Japan trip.  I think I'll be back on track here with a couple of pack breaks that I've recently done as well as a couple of trades.  Plus the CSA card show is next weekend and I've been saving my money up for that.  I should have a bunch of stuff to share from the show over the next few weeks.

Late to the Game Rack Pack Break: 2013 Gypsy Queen

I think I bought these not long after they were released back in April or something.  I'm just now getting around to writing up a post about it!  Even though this is a retro-themed set, I still like it.  At least with it being a retro themed set and not an exact reprint I can appreciate it a lot more than I do Heritage or Archives.  I just think Topps cheats when they put new players on old, tired designs.  If I really want to see 1964 Topps or 1990 Topps (yuck!) I'll go and get the originals!  Anyways, I've been ragging on Topps pretty hard lately and I have my reasons that I might rehash in a future post.  If I feel like it, which I probably won't because it will probably come out as old-fashioned belly aching!

So onto a decent product called Gypsy Queen.

I'm not going to show the base cards since everyone saw those almost 3 months ago.  I got some SP's too but they look like the regular base cards so what's the point in showing those either?

Topps did have enough creative energy to think of some nice insert sets this year.  First up is the Sliding Stars.  Other than this insert set you don't see a lot of sliding players as the main attraction on cards these days.  Out of the packs I busted this Griffey is my favorite.

Next up is the Collisions at the Plate.  This card actually shows a collision unlike the others I got in my breaks.  Those just show players sliding around the tag at home.  I'm kinda disappointed in the execution of this insert set a bit.  

Where would Gypsy Queen be without the minis?  Topps did something a little different this year with the minis this year.  Instead of different backs, they scrapped that idea and just went with colored borders after having a hybrid different back/colored border mini set last year.  I kind of like this year's minis better this way since Allen & Ginter already had different backs long before Gypsy Queen was conceptualized.

Next up the blue bordered framed paper whatcha-ma-call-it.  The blue matches the Tigers uniform color which is nice.  The only problem with this card is it came out of the pack slightly damaged.  One of the upper corners was dinged but you can't tell it by looking at the front.

I also am a fan of the Dealing Aces Insert set.  I honestly never thought that I would see hearts on a baseball card though!

The last card I want to show off is some ink!  I think I beat the odds pulling this Mark Trumbo autograph.  Not much to say about Trumbo other than he's on one of my fantasy teams.

Once again I didn't get much in the way of Orioles card except for a Wei-Yin Chen White Framed Paper card.  No Bundy, No Manny, No Cal.  Can't win them all.

Everything pictured is for trade in addition to these listed below.  Send me your wantlist if you need base cards:

Autograph: GQA-MT Mark Trumbo
Black Border Mini: 333 AJ Ellis #d 172/199
Blue Paper Frame: 166 Austin Jackson #d 98/499 (dinged corner)
SP's: 99 Darvish, 133 Dunn, 189 Lee, 192 Shields, 258 Mathews
White Paper Frame: 54 Ellsbury, 89 Adams, 148 Frazier, 117 Fielder, 323 Vogelsong
Minis: 27 Billingsley, 47 Freeman, 49 Kell, 55 Eovaldi, 61 Mauer, 64 Votto, 66 Kruk, 69 Jay, 95 Bourn, 109 Pettitte, 138 Diamond, 146 Aybar, 149 Seaver, 152 Bauer, 157 Blue, 161 Ford, 188 Altuve, 211 Uggla, 240 Killebrew, 276 Stanton, 335 Soriano
Collisions at the Plate: CP-BP Posey, WR Wilin Rosario, YM Molina
Dealing Aces: DA-AW Wainwright, CK Kershaw, DP Price, MB Bumgarner, SS Strasburg
Glove Stories: GB Blanco
No-Hitters: NH-BF Feller, CH Hunter (2), FH Hernandez, SK Koufax, WS Spahn
Sliding Stars: SS-JH Heyward, KG Griffey Jr., LB Brock, PF Fielder

2012 Bowman Platinum: My First Impression

I got my first taste of 2012 Bowman Platinum on the way home from work the other day.  I stopped by Target, which is becoming a more rare occurrence lately, and picked up 2 packs of the newest product on the shelves.  Target is no longer on my direct route home anymore so stopping by to browse the shiny foil packs isn't as convenient anymore.  Here's nearly half of the cards I got for my money:

I believe this is a ruby parallel of Justin Morneau.  Well, I know it's Justin Morneau but the parallels in Bowman Platinum are almost as difficult to discern as they were last year.  The ruby background works well with the Twins uniform color scheme.

I'm pretty thrilled to pull this Mike Trout card considering that I only bought 2 packs.  I'm thinking about adding Trout as a PC since I already pulled at Bowman Chrome Refractor, Bowman Draft Picks Chrome Refractor, Diamond sparkly, and Cognac Diamond sparkly rookie cards from last years packs.  He's been great for my joint fantasy team this year and he's only going to get better!

Now this is a sweet card.  I'm glad that die cut cards are working their way back into products over the last year or so.  I think it just makes the card so much more interesting when it has neat geometric designs for borders.

I like the product so far and I wish I had the funds to buy a blaster or 2 of it.  I think the design is nice, the inclusion of diecut cards and a decent chance (1:33) of pulling an autograph makes this a winner.  There is a drawback for me being an Orioles fan.  Topps seems to hate the Orioles this year, only putting a minimal number of O's cards in their sets.  Adam Jones in the only player in the Paltinum base set.  Though they did put Manny Machado, Dylan Bundy, and Jonathan Schoop in the prospects set it's still a bummer to not have a base card and related parallels of Nick Markakis or JJ Hardy to chase.  I think this is going to be one of the deciding factors in purchasing more Platinum.  I love ripping open packs and pulling a card of my favorite team.  I only have a 1% (from the base set at least) chance of pulling the only one.  I have a 15 percent chance of pulling a Yankee (8 cards) or a  Red Sox player (7 cards). I actually got 3 in my 2 packs in Cano, A-Roid, and Teixeira.  I guess I'll just have to start saving my pennies for Chrome to come out in a few weeks!

My Final 2012 Topps series 1 Purchase

I think this is my last purchase of series 1 for this year.  I've nearly got the whole set and I only ended up with one card I needed for the set out of the 72 in the hanger box.  I've got 10 of the Golden Giveaway Code cards that I'm going to stash away for now.  Well, at least until series 2 comes out and the Markakis gold 1/1 becomes available for redemption.  It's a complete longshot to redeem that one card but you gotta increase your chances any way you can!

I know I've spent less on series 1 this year than I did the last 2 years.  I've bought 1 hobby box, 2 hanger packs, 1 jumbo rack pack, and 3 retail packs.  So overall I've spent about 85 or 90 bucks on series 1.  Not too bad I don't guess.

Overall, I've noticed many of the bloggers have spent less on Series 1 this year and have said so in their respective posts.  If you have spent less this year than years past, leave a comment below stating why you have chosen to spend less.  Is it the design, too many inserts, too little cash or another factor?

So onto the cards I got from my last hanger:

I think the Gold Standard cards are the best inserts from series one because of the gold stamped medallion.  I'll admit they aren't perfect because of the blank space under the medallion but I'm willing to forgive that fact.

I can't seem to get away from Yankees cards lately.  I think the Gold Parallels have grown on me a little bit as I like them more now than I did when the product first dropped so long ago. 

Here's my 2 Target exclusive red borders. I wish they were a little more red though.  They look more maroon to me.

 I was pleasantly surprised to pull a relic from a hanger pack because they are a 1:18 packs pull.  See what I mean about the Yankees cards though?  This is my second Cano relic from the same Target in less than a year (I got a mini framed GQ relic last spring).  Does Robinson's mother shop at my Target?

All of these cards are for trade.  If you see something you can't live without, gimme a shout.