2015 Topps Baseball Series 2 Retail Jumbo pack

This rarely happens to me, but I had to run down to the store to pick up some things for dinner and noticed that Series 2 was already sitting on the shelves.  Well the blasters, hanging boxes, and these jumbo packs.  I didn't see any of the 12 card retail packs, so I grabbed a couple of the jumbo packs.

 Just like Series 1 the only difference is the addition of the Series Two above the number on the back.

 Hard to tell from the scan but this Kyle Lohse card is a foil parallel.  And speaking of parallels..

 I'm not up on who's good with the Orioles, but I'll take a pink parallel in a retail pack.

 Of course there are the inserts.  Topps does offer us some new inserts and some continuation inserts.

One of the carry overs is the Highlight of the Year insert

 Another carry over and retail exclusive are these 1st Home Run inserts.

 The only new insert I snagged was this Willie Mays'  'Til it's Over inserts.  Love the subject, hate the design.  I'm not sure what Topps was going for here, but the cards just makes me say what???

 Of course this insert, like most of the inserts, has autograph, relic and auto relic parallels, but this card would have looked so much better had it been enhanced some way.  Or just designed better.

There you go, 36 cards from the card aisle

1997 Bowman Series 2

On a whim, I picked up a box of 1997 Bowman Series 2 this past winter at an affordable price, knowing it was produced during the long era (mid-nineties to mid-oughts) where I didn't buy any new cards. This is the first pack from the box.

435 - Mark Mangum - I'm not sure if he's of any relation to Jeff Mangum, who in 1997 was recording his band Neutral Milk Hotel's cult classic In the Aeroplane over the Sea.

428 - Nathan Haynes - This is what a card back looks like. Bowman gives you two full color photos.

244 - Barry Bonds - Bonds hadn't gone full Barroid Superhead yet in 1997, but some say the seeds were planted the following season during the Great Home Run Chase.

333 - Alex Sanchez - Sanchez was just hoping that someone would cash his checks that were coming from this really sketchy sounding Devil Rays organization.

375 - Bobby Estalella - Estalella may be best known today for being one of the guys who testified against Bonds.

BBI 5 - Hideo Nomo Bowman's International Best - The odds on the pack wrappers are really hard to read, but it appears that these were 1:12 pulls.

- Checklist 2 of 4

231 - Gary Sheffield - Sheffield used to wear hats/shirts to the ballpark that said "KISS THE SHEFF", I think? Didn't he?

260 - Paul O'Neill - Paul O'Neill always kind of bored me. Really good player, but... zzzzzz. I've caught him a few times on Yankees broadcasts in recent days and... zzzzzz.

346 - Deivi Cruz - Speaking of boring, did I happen to mention how boring and hideous this design is? No? People complain every year these days about what Topps does with their Bowman design, but some of their '90s stuff looks like it was put together primarily in MS Paint.

408 - Brett Herbison - Here's another guy. And that's it! That's the pack.

2014-15 Panini Threads Basketball

Tipoff for Game 4 of the NBA Finals should be an hour away by my calculations, so here's a pack from the current year. Is it just me, or did Panini drastically cut down the number of NBA releases available at the retail level this season? I could just be uninformed. This pack also cost me $3.99, which is way too much to pay for any pack if you ask me.

158 - Rajon Rondo - This set definitely had a late production deadline as Panini was able to catch the midseason Rondo trade and show him in his new Mavericks uniform. It's probably not Photoshopped, as Panini tends to use their Photoshop wizardry for obscuring logos, not changing them entirely. Rondo basically quit on his team during the playoffs, which is pretty lousy of him and probably won't improve his prospects for future employment.

149 - Omer Asik - That is some kind of face there.

140 - Monta Ellis - Here's what the backs look like. The back photos are the same as the front, only smaller and less colorful. This pack is lousy with Mavericks!

132 - Maurice Harkless - The Blazers' Dorell Wright looks on helplessly.

125 - Marc Gasol - This was a breakout season for the guy formerly known as Pau's brother.

17 - James Harden High Flyers - I wouldn't say Harden is best known for his dunks, but whatever. This insert card has a 1:5 pack ratio.

75 - Isaiah Thomas - Not to be confused with the former player who sexually harassed one of the team's executives when he worked for the Knicks.

 68 - Gorgui Dieng

 60 - Ersan Ilyasova

51 - Dirk Nowitzki - More Mavericks. Lousy!

2015 Topps Archives Baseball Hobby Pack

Today is the release date for 2015 Topps Archives Baseball.

I've been anticipating this set. I love the Fan-Favorites autographs... and this year features Will Ferrell cards and Autographs from his 10-teams-in-one-day Spring Training run.

So, here is a pack!

First we have Lonnie Chisenhall in the 1976 Topps Design. I don't know much about him other than the fact he got hit in the face with a pitch once.

Doug Fister was an AL Pitcher of the Month in 2011, and is regarded as one of the better fielding pitchers in the game today. This is also the 1976 Topps Design.

Dee Gordon is our third player in the 1976 Topps Design. He is the son of All-Star reliever Tom Gordon.

Curtis Granderson is shown here in the 1957 Topps Design.

Dustin Pedroia, the definition of "Scrappy", is shown here in the 1983 Topps Design. The 83 Topps Design was chose as a tribute to Tony Gwynn, who was a rookie in 1983.

 Julio Teheran is shown here in the 1957 Topps Design.

 Troy Tulowitzki completes our base cards in this pack in the 1983 Topps Design.

Woohoo! I got a Ferrell. Not an autograph but cool nonetheless. This is from his "stint" on the Padres in the 1983 topps design.

The back of the card highlights Ferrell's "Career Statistics".

Cool pack! You can check out the rest of my box break at Flapless Helmet.

2015 Midland Rockhounds Player Photo Set

I went visit my parents yesterday and decide go to my stomping grounds of Midland Rockhounds baseball. On Wednesday they used to have player photo night which first 250 fans get set of 3 player photos and players sign autographs. They stop doing after 2008 but they brought it back this year. My player photo set consist of:

Jaycob Brugman

Bobby Wahl

Carson Blair

Back of player photo cards is where you can find Rockhounds on social media with radio station ad. I used listen to that station growing up in my teen years before they got bought out and turned to top 40 station. I wonder what's their format now.

After years being away I miss this stadium and going games there.

2015 Panini Prizm Baseball triple pack and bonus

The red headed stepchild of the Panini Prizm family.  I've wanted to bust a couple packs for a while now, but haven't seen it show up at the store till yesterday.  I went looking for it at one of my LCS's and he won't even carry it, because it sells so bad.  This is a kind of cheat because this is actually 4 packs cramed into a bigger pack, but I figure you wouldn't mind. Especially since there are only 15 cards total here.

Here's the retail multipack with bonus Red White and Blue Mojo prizms pack!

Pack 1 scores a Carlos Santana Black and White Checkerboard Prizm parallel #d to 149.

The back example and the Prizm numbered back.

McGwire featured as a Cardinal. I always tend to think of him more as an A.

Pack 3 we score a Will Clark Field Pass insert.

I go like the Mojo Prizms wrapper.

I was also pleased to see one of the 4 Brewers cards in the set represented.  The scan doesn't really do these card justice they are very nice to look at in hand.