"O" NO's 3rd Group Break: Round 1

It seems as though we're all set to start busting open the packs for the December Affordable Group Break.  For brevity's sake, I'm not going to list all of the 1998 Fleer Tradition Update cards in the break since it is a complete set.  If you need to see the checklist, head over to BaseballCardPedia.com.  I went ahead and broke the cards up into team piles.  It took me an hour and a half to get them unstuck from each other.  Some of the cards got slightly damaged because of the sticking but nothing too bad.  Lets start with 6 packs of the 1999 Upper Deck HoloGrFX box.  Good luck to all of the participants!

1999 Upper Deck HoloGrFX:
Pack #1

50 - Tony Gwynn - Padres
Here's the basic design of the cards.  Shiny and holographic!
38 - Derek Jeter - Yankees

31 - Kevin Brown - AUsome Parallel - Dodgers
Right of the bat we have a parallel of Kevin Brown  notice the gold holographic foil at the top and the AUsome notation right above the name plate at the bottom

Pack #2
17 - Kenny Lofton - Indians
21 - Vinny Castilla - Rockies
52 Barry Bonds - Giants

Pack #3
56 Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
40 Bernie Williams - Yankees

L12 Albert Belle - Launchers - Orioles
My first Orioles card of the break is an insert.  I don't think I have this one in the collection yet!

Pack #4
6 Chipper Jones - Braves
54 Alex Rodriguez - Mariners
34 Todd Walker - Twins

Pack #5
24 Mark Kotsay - Marlins
58 Rafael Palmeiro - Rangers

L6 Juan Gonzalez - Launchers - Rangers
Rangers are off to a strong start with 2 cards in this pack and 3 overall

Pack #6
3 Tim Salmon - Angels
45 Pat Burrell - Phillies

S5 - Roger Clemens - Starview - Yankees
A nice looking insert of the Rocket!

Lets move onto 4 packs of 2002 Upper Deck MVP

2002 Upper Deck MVP
Pack #1
211 Brad Wilkerson - Expos
185 Mark Prior - Cubs
159 Geoff Jenkins - Brewers

56 Edgar Martinez - Mariners
Here's the basic card design
30 Vernon Wells - Blue Jays
4 Jarrod Washburn - Angels
293 Todd Zeile - Rockies
214 Orlando Cabrera - Expos

Pack #2
133 Robin Ventura - Yankees
107 Eric Milton - Twins
287 Juan Uribe - Rockies
261 Travis Lee - Phillies
235 Charles Johnson - Marlins

188 Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks
Back to back Johnsons!
162 Ben Sheets - Brewers
136 Mariano Rivera - Yankees

Pack #3
81 Tony Clark - Red Sox
55 Freddy Garcia - Mariners
29 Jose Cruz Jr. - Blue Jays
209 Michael Barrett - Expos
183 Fred McGriff - Cubs
110 Brad Radke - Twins
84 Josh Hancock - Red Sox

I9 - Ichiro - A Season to Remember - Mariners
Here's one of the Ichiro insert set.  I think theres a total of 10 cards in the set.

Pack #4
3 Garret Anderson - Angels
273 Pokey Reese - Reds
247 D'Angelo Jimenez - Padres
157 Javy Lopez - Braves
131 Mike Mussina - Yankees
105 Matt Anderson - Tigers
58 Mike Cameron - Mariners
295 Ken Griffey Jr. Checklist - Reds

Here come the first 4 packs in the 1999 Topps Chrome Series 1 box

1999 Topps Chrome S1
Pack #1
103 Dean Palmer - Royals
94 Matt Lawton - Twins
183 Andy Fox - Diamondbacks

NB3 - Kerry Wood - New Breed Refractor - Cubs
Wow, I wasn't expecting that one in the first pack.  New Breed Refractors fall 1 in every 72 packs.

Pack #2
88 Ryan Christenson - A's
79 Scott Servais - Cubs
197 Jamey Wright - Rockies

LD2 Jeff Bagwell - Lords of the Diamond - Astros
Another insert!  The Topps Chrome box is producing good (insert) cards for us so far.

Pack #3
28 Paul Sorrento - Rays
77 FP Santangelo - Expos
188 Gabe Alvarez - Tigers

233 Ricky Ledee World Series Highlights - Yankees

Pack #4

138 Walt Weiss - Braves
This is a pretty good action shot of Todd Helton bearing down on Walt as he's trying to catch the ball.
66 Sammy Sosa - Cubs
90 Jose Hernandez - Cubs
89 Jeff Cirillo - Brewers

Let's finish up by opening one of the 4 2010 Upper Deck packs:
2010 Upper Deck
Pack #1
343 CC Sabathia - Yankees
35 Pedro Strop - Rangers
208 Fu-Te Ni - Tigers
520 Brian Tallet - Jays
253 Robinson Tejeda - Royals
220 Reynel Pinto - Marlins
525 Jesse Litsch - Jays
333 Johan Santana - Metss
SB-88 Robinson Cano Season Biography - Yankees
CP11/CP12 Anna Kournikova/Enrique Iglesias Celebrity Predictor.  This card will be randomed off at the end of the break
206 Rick Porcello - Tigers
518 Michael Barrett - Jays
182 Omar Quintanilla - Rockies
199 Miguel Cabrera - Tigers
503 Darren O'Day - Rangers
335 Tim Redding - Mets
573 Orioles Checklist
307 Delmon Young - Twins

Not a bad start to the break I don't think.

Here's the card count as of right now.  I included the 1998 Fleer Tradition factory set cards.

A's - 2
Braves - 8
Cardinals - 6
Cubs - 10
Blue Jays - 7
Giants - 5
Twins - 8
Mariners - 9
Yankees 14
Dodgers - 8
Red Sox - 3
White Sox 4
Pirates - 2
Reds - 5
Expos - 11
Rockies - 8
Mets - 6
Padres - 4
Marlins - 5
Brewers 4
Rangers - 7
Angels - 6
Tigers - 10
Royals - 6
Phillies - 4
Astros - 5
Diamondbacks - 2
Rays - 2
Indians - 1
Orioles - 8

Group Break Reminder

I will start busting open the packs tomorrow.  I expect the first post to go live sometime early tomorrow evening.  Get your trades in!  Check the previous post for all of the details.  A few trades have been completed and Matt Perry has one on the table offering up swapping the A's for either the Indians or Cubs.

"O" NO!'s 3rd Group Break: 2nd Team Randomization

The 15 slots in the upcoming break were claimed by 11 different people. Let's figure out who the unclaimed teams are going to.

I will randomize the list of teams that didn't get chosen along with the group breakers 3 times each and then match them up.

Here's the list of the 11 "breakers" randomized 3 times:


And the unclaimed teams randomized 3 times:





So the here's the list of breakers and their teams (selected and random)


                                 Selected                    Random(s)
Ryan H.                    Orioles                      Mets (traded from Padrographs)
Matt Perry                 Red Sox                   A's
Buckstore Cards       Blue Jays, Expos      Phillies, Diamondbacks
Chris Mays               Braves                      White Sox
GCRL                      Dodgers                    Indians

Toddfather                Rockies, Mariners    Brewers, Reds
Roy-Z                       Rangers, Astros       Royals (traded from Madding) , Marlins
madding                   Cardinals                  Angels (traded from Roy-Z)
NY Hitman              Yankees, Giants       Cubs, Rays
Padrographs             Padres                      Pirates (traded from Ryan H.)
Matt F.                     Twins                       Tigers


I will permit team trading. All trades must be completed before the 1st group of packs is busted. Most likely this will be on Saturday after dinner time. I must receive an email from both of the team trading parties or comments from both parties consenting to a trade in this post only.

Trade with Tim of Home of the Toddfather

This trade is also yet another tradebait closeout.  This one is from Tim at The Home of the Toddfather.  I think the name of his blog rocks!  I've always appreciated Todd Helton so I think it's cool that there's a blogger out there who shows his appreciation by naming a whole blog for him!  

 I've mentioned before that finding Cal Ripken cards that I don't have is becoming tougher and tougher.  Its hard to believe that when there are over 10000 listed on Beckett.  This one is from 1999 Skybox Thunder.  It's an interesting insert set name wise.  Why the hyphens in between "hip-no-tized"

 I don't remember showing a John Lowenstein card on the blog before.  Its funny to go out to eat these days and you see kids with the shaggy looking hair, the giant birth control glasses on, and skinny jeans.  I just don't get it.  AND GET OFF MY LAWN!

 Here's a pretty cool mini oddball of the Orioles HOF 3rd sacker, Brooks Robinson. I always get Cracker Jacks when I go to a live ballgame and the "prizes" they give out are super lame.  Who wants to learn something while eating caramel covered popcorn?  I want baseball cards as a prize!  Hell, even a pencil topper or book mark would do.

Tim also sent me a Cal Ripken Chronicles that I needed.  2007 was a big year in Cal Ripken cardboard since it was his induction year.  Upper Deck also went a little nutso on the inserts too.  I have all of the Ultra Iron Man set (1-50) but I only have a handful of Cal Ripken Chronicles.  On a side note, I did pick up a few  2007 Upper Deck packs out of the Target $1.59 in an effort to snag a few more of the Chronicles but I failed, miserably.  Just a bunch of junk base cards.

So now that I've insulted all of the hipsters and pissed of the Cracker Jack people off I'm going to end this post and say thanks to Tim for the cards he sent.

Trade with Matt of DocHoloday.com

Here's another one of my Tradebait closeout trades.  This one is from Matt at DocHoloday.com.  We've traded a few times in the past and he's a participant in my group breaks too.  I sent him some Red Sox cards and he sent me several nice cards in return.

I already had the regular version of this Mike Wright autograph from this years Bowman Platinum but I decided to go ahead and trade for the green refractor version too.  Can't have too many on-card autographs!

 I might have said before that there aren't many cards featuring Reggie Jackson as an Oriole.  I was pretty surprised to see Topps make a 1987 Mini of him since 99.9 percent of the world doesn't even  know he wore the orange and black for a season.  This card goes straight into my team set binder for 2012.

I just recently added Frank Robinson as a personal collection focus.  After he nearly wrecked my National Experience a few years ago and hearing horror stories from other people, it was hard to do.  I had so many cards of Frank sitting in my Orioles doubles box that I decided to put them in a binder so they wouldn't get mixed up.  This Green paper parallel from 2011 Gypsy Queen will sit nicely in the binder along side the base version.

Thanks as always goes out to Matt for the trade!

December 2012 Affordable Group Break Reminder

I just wanted to remind everybody who hasn't signed up for this month's break that there are only 2 slots left.  Thanks to the fine folks that have cast their hat in the ring and paid have paid already.  Here's the original post with sign ups at the bottom: RIGHT HERE.  There's still several nice teams remaining that usually get snatched up in a hurry.   I have the boxes in hand and ready to break so don't delay, sign up today!  I'm getting antsy with those unopened boxes sitting on my desk.

Also a little PSA.  Tim at the relatively new Home of the Toddfather blog is also running a group break.  The deadline to sign up is Friday night.  Here's his post right here.

Pay It Forward

I was on the receiving end of the Pay if Forward Project that was started by Fuji.  I'm not sure everybody knows what the project is or have heard of it so I'll explain it.  The idea is to send a package of cards, memorabilia or anything else that may fit into the recipient's collection.  The recipient then makes their own package up and sends it to anybody else who is deserving of a surprise gift.  The sender doesn't receive a return package though, hence the name Pay it Forward.

Richard, more commonly known as Dawgbones sent me this awesome package of goodies this past week.  I had gotten an email from him last weekend asking what shirt size I wore.  I replied and really didn't think anymore about it.  Around the middle of the week I got a box in the mail with these goodies inside:

Dawgbones somehow knew that I didn't have any Jim Palmer relic cards in my collection.  This is a Topps Tribute relic card from the 2004 release.  I really wasn't expecting a package, much less a relic card of an Orioles HOFer!

Thought it a little tough to decipher from the picture, I got a t-shirt in the box.  It's my first Markakis shirt!  It's hard to believe that since he's a big part of my collection that I didn't own a shirt to wear of him.  I also got a little figurine that you can see on the right of the photo.  That will go nicely on the shelf with my other bobbleheads in my man "cove".

I was very grateful to get the package in the mail from Richard.  Receiving a mystery package really brightened up my day.  I've already sent a package out to somebody who deserves it, so they should get it in the next few days!

Group Break Announcement: December 2012 Affordable Group Break

My last 2 Affordable Group Breaks have been a success in my eyes so I'm going to do another break for December.  I had a lot of fun ripping the packs and I believe everybody enjoyed the cards that they recieved.  I hope everybody likes the selections for this month:

1999 Topps Chrome Series 1

This is the hobby version with 24 packs of 4 cards.  There's lots to like about Topps Chrome from any year.  There's always refractors which are seeded 1in 12 packs for this release.  We also have Early Road to the Hall (1:12), Lords of the Diamond (1:8), and New Breed (1:24).  Each of the 3 insert sets have refractor parallels of their own that we might get lucky enough to find.


1999 Upper Deck HoloGrFX

This was a retail only product that has 36 packs and 3 cards in each one.  I'm excited about this product because of the really cool inserts and base set design.  There's a gold AUsome parallel (1:8) that we should find at least 4 inside.  We also have Launchers (1:4), Starview (1:16), Future Fame (1:32).  Also each of those 3 inserts have and AUsome parallel too that we might get lucky and hit.  This box also might produce bat cards or autographs!  There are UD Authentics (1:431) in which the notable autograph cards are Chipper Jones, Carlos Beltran, and Ken Griffey Jr.  We also have a shot at  500 HR Club A Piece of History bat cards of Willie McCovey and Eddie Mathews.

2002 Upper Deck MVP

There's 24 packs of 8 cards in this box.  There's a silver (#d to 100)  and gold (#d to 25) parallel to the base set. I can't find the odds at the moment for those.  There's also Ichiro - A Season to Remember insert cards (1:12 packs) as well as jersey and bat card parallels of them.  We also have a shot at Game Used Bat card (1:144), Game Used Table Cloth Jersey cards (1:48), and combo Jersey/Bat cards (1:144).  Lots to like in this box.

1998 Fleer Tradition Update factory set

I won this set on Ebay really cheap because I was just interested in the Orioles cards.  I have no use for the rest of the set so I'm going to break it up and send them out by team.  There's 100 cards in the set with notable rookie cards of JD Drew and Troy Glaus.  You can see the set checklist right here.

(3) 2010 Upper Deck retail packs plus a bonus 4th pack free!  (see what I did there?!?)

I got these for free while ordering the other boxes above.  You never know what we may find!


There's going to be 15 slots.  8 dollars gets you one team of your choice and a team to be randomly selected from the remaining unchosen teams. 14 dollars gets you 2 chosen teams and 2 randoms.  If you want more than 2 let me know, we can work something out. I'm not going to discourage international collectors, I just may ask for just a couple dollars more for shipping.

In the event we get cards with multiple teams on them, they will be randomed off as fair as possible among the participants.

15 Team have been chosen so claiming is closed.

Atlanta Braves - Chris Mays - PAID
Arizona Diamondbacks -
Baltimore Orioles - Ryan H. - PAID
Boston Red Sox - Matt Perry - PAID
Chicago Cubs -
Chicago White Sox -
Cincinnati Reds -
Cleveland Indians -
Colorado Rockies - Toddfather - PAID
Detroit Tigers -
Florida Marlins -
Houston Astros - Roy-Z - PAID
Los Angeles Angels -
Los Angeles Dodgers - GCRL - PAID
Kansas City Royals -
Milwaukee Brewers -
Minnesota Twins - Matt F. - PAID
Montreal Expos - Buckstorecards - PAID
New York Mets -
New York Yankees - NYHitman23 PAID
Oakland Athletics -
Philadelphia Phillies -
Pittsburgh Pirates -
San Diego Padres - Padrographs - PAID
San Francisco Giants- NYHitman23 - PAID
Seattle Mariners - Toddfather - PAID
St Louis Cardinals - Madding - PAID
Tampa Bay Rays -
Texas Rangers - Roy-Z - PAID
Toronto Blue Jays - Buckstorecards - PAID


Paypal is my preferred method of payment but I will except other methods as well.  Please contact me if you are paying a different way.  Please send your Paypal payments as a gift to family or friends to XXXryanhughes12XXX@XXXyahoo.comXXX . (Don't forget to remove the XXX's)

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 up the quicker we can get to busting these boxes!