Saturday, August 29, 2020

2020 Topps Chrome Value Pack.

      Baseball being back has been somewhat of a help but let's face facts, the goddamn pandemic and quarantine have been draining and exhausting.  And let me tell you APTBNLers, my local Walgreens, of which I sang the praises of in my last post, has also had all the retail Topps dry up - and there is only so many repack boxes you can buy with 100 junk wax cards and a pack of 1991 Donruss in it that you can find amusement with.  So on a whim I went on ebay and bought a couple of 2020 Topps Chrome value packs because I love me some shiny and you got to do what you got to do. I figured that it was enough cards to make a page and maybe pull a Mets player or two and kill an hour in metallic cardboard heaven.  Also in that last post, I lamented that I don't seem to ever get anything good in these retail packs and then pulled a goddamn low numbered autograph.  After you see what happens here, I can never ever ever complain about retail packs ever again.  I picked one hanger pack and we will take a look at the three packs and the special extra pink refractors pack because who doesn't love bonus shiny?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been a sucker for Chrome since 1996.  I remember being at a card show in Paramus spending far too much on packs and digging the metal vibe (that first year also had a brushed aluminum thing going on that, alas, they never did again on the base).  Some collectors don't like that refractors are now all over in a million colors and flavors but fuck that, the more the metal merrier. I like that the bonus pack is all bubble gum pink parallels, though I have also enjoyed the orange that other years featured as well.

Here you see those five pink bonus cards and the silly "don't steal me" insert.  A Puk rookie and yet another Alvarez rookie; I have pulled like five of these things in different products; somewhere in Houston is a dude pulling a bunch of Pete Alonso cards lamenting his luck too.  Still, not a bad little bonus.

Pack one has some real star power:




























You can see I got a Mike Soroka rookie cup trophy card (ya!), Javier Baez, Clayton Kershaw, and an insert of Kyle Lewis, who has been tearing the league apart for a few weeks of this abbreviated season. He is on the short list for rookie of the year with one other player.

Pack 2 was a Blue Jays collector's super pack:




























George Springer and the epic beard of Archie Bradley are nice but Rowdy Tellez and a shiny 1985 Bo Bichette rookie make this ideal for fans of Toronto (or is it Buffalo now?)

So as I was opening the third pack, I had two thoughts, and I kid you not, they were "I haven't gotten any Mets yet" and "wouldn't it be great if I pulled a Luis Robert card to go with that Kyle Lewis?" and then this happened:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super, a Yankees card, wonderful. Hey, Lucas Giolito just threw a no-hitter, so that's pretty cool. And wow, Carl's grandson Mike Yastrzemski.  Oh yeah and I got that silly little redemption card for a Luis Robert rookie autograph.  I guess that makes this a White Sox super pack?  And hey, this is my second post in a row with a Chisox autograph, maybe I should switch from New York's second team to Chicago's?  Honestly, though, I was floored as I haven't pulled anything like this in years.  Like I said, I can never complain about retail packs again and I am not even mad I didn't get any Mets cards.

Friday, August 28, 2020

2020 Topps Archives Hobby Pack

Stopped by my LCS Boscos yesterday and picked up a couple packs of Archives to get a taste.  Let's see what I got.  You can watch us open both packs here as well.


 Here are the odd's and NPN info
 This year Archives featured the 1955, 1974 and 2002 designs and what I noticed out of the two packs I opened is that the designs are together in the pack, meaning the 1955 where first then the 1974 and then the 2002 design.  Let's have a look at what I pulled.

I was hoping to find a Robin Yount base, but I'll take a card of my current favorite Brewer Keston Hiura.


 I will say I pulled a bunch of rookies out of the packs.  Here's the first one with Nico Hoerner.




 And lastly together in the pack two Cardinals legends.

My insert for the pack was this very nice Tatis Rookie Cup insert.


Tuesday, August 25, 2020

2006-07 Upper Deck Victory

Low end Victory hit the shelves in 2006 with a 230 card set and Sidney Crosby on the cover. Rookie subset feature on cards 201-230.
23 - Tim Connolly - team colors lined the borders and the back of the card. That Victory backdrop is an eyesore.
27 - Daniel Briere - his final season with Sabres where he had his career best years
216 - Michel Ouellet - played four seasons in the NHL before spending remainder of his career in the overseas/minors
128 - Trent Hunter
166 - Jonathan Cheechoo - after career year (56 goals) his production fell quickly before spending remainder of his career in the minors and Russia's KHL.
18 - Brad Stuart

Victory have addition 100 cards in the set. Cards 231-330 came out of 2006-07 Upper Deck Series 2 packs.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

2003-04 In The Game Toronto Star Hockey

A very obscure hockey card pack. I have no info outside of 100 card set. Comes with 4 base cards and 1 foil card. On the back of cover card.....
....a local sports group (I assume around Toronto area) can win one of three prize sponsorships. On to the cards.
8 - Sergei Samsonov - good design and picture selection. The back got previous year's stats along with short reading material.
12 - Rod Brind'Amour
52 - Patrik Elias
68 - Patrick Lalime
F-18 - Jarome Iginla - the foil card of the pack. Did get to Cup finals with Flames but end up losing. He finished his career Cup-less.

Anyone know any info of this set?

Friday, August 14, 2020

1993-94 Topps Premier Hockey

Who's enjoying playoff hockey? The five overtime game one of Blue Jackets and Lightning few days ago or can Blues defend the title as they take on Canucks or can Trotz lead Isles over his previous team Capitals? Topps decide to slap the name Premier on their main hockey set. It was few gimmicks they tried for a year before sticking back to just Topps. This feature cards 1-264 with 12 cards in a pack.
186 - Pat Jablonski - he better get down to the knees quick and stat. He played the most games in goal for then expansion Lightning team. At least they played better than Senators that year.
113 - Kirk McLean
94 - Chris Chelios - first team All-Star card of ageless defenseman
132 - Ulf Samuelson - destroyed Cam Neely knee earning disdain from Don Cherry for rest of his career.
104 - Glenn Anderson
244 - Dave Lowry - a manly posed shot in then expansion Panthers gear
51 - Pat Elynuik - gold card that comes one per pack. I'm getting accidental Pat Elynuik collection.
107 - Nikolai Borschevsky
131 - Neal Broten
198 - Andrei Kovalenko - waiting for the puck to come toward net with Kevin Hatcher hovering over him and Don Beaupre in goal
112 - Darius Kasparaitis
253 - Roger Johansson - would return back to Sweden where he spent remainder of his career

Back to watching playoff hockey.

Monday, August 10, 2020

2020 Topps Total Wave #6

Who remembers Topps Total from early 2000s? Topps largest set and it was well priced at $1 a pack. Topps brought Total back last year as online exclusive releasing the packs in waves for $10 a pack. Thing is they do not release checklist on the wave til certain time frame to purchase a pack passed. You are going in as a blind draw. This year I decide to try my luck and see what comes out of it. The pack I bought is wave #6 featuring cards 501-600. It's delivered in a box with a pack inside just like Topps Finest.
560 - Jordan Luplow - the cards are glossy front to back with no stats. Just text highlights on the back of the card.
520 - Cy Sneed - Astros player for my team collection and its a rookie. Very shaky along rest of bullpen early this season. I'm still afraid of the pitchers with Dusty Baker managing the team.
545 - Randal Grichuk - locked out of Toronto due to covid the team temporary making their home in Buffalo this season.
570 - D.J. LeMahieu
501 - Colten Brewer - first card of the wave #6 portion of the set.
569 - Tommy Kahnle
574 - Taylor Clarke
586 - Travis Demeritte - one of his first official rookie card despite having Bowman Draft Pick card in 2013
589 - Duane Underwood Jr.
575 - Brandon Woodruff - an All-Star last year. Assumes he doesn't have any injuries issue in coming few years he going be Brewers ace.
592 - Nick Wittgren (7/10) -  red border parallel card numbered to 10. One comes in every pack that it can be numbered from /1, /5, or /10.

I feel I got hosed but I collect for fun. Know anyone who attempted 2019 or this year's Topps Total set?