Monday, April 30, 2018

Box Break: 2018 Panini Diamond Kings

My area has officially joined the "No Bowman" club, however there was a blaster of 2018 Panini Diamond Kings sitting on the shelf. This was the next "hot product" to feature Shohei Ohtani RCs...then the aforementioned Bowman product came out and it seemed as if no one cared about this product any longer. Below is a pack by pack break down of the blaster. At this time none of the cards are available as I'm thinking I may try to build the set...

Pack 1
053 Alex Bregman
Jacob DeGrom
Gallery of Stars















007 Mickey Mantle
085 Max Fried RC
043 Hack Wilson

Pack 2
011 Joe DiMaggio
Tyler Mahle
DK Materials (11/99)















Greg Maddux
Portraits















001 Babe Ruth
018 Paul Waner

Pack 3
034 Ty Cobb
091 Greg Allen RC
Mike Trout
Trophy Club
















075 Robinson Cano
032 Gabby Hartnett

Pack 4
049 Frank Thomas
007 Mickey Mantle
Gary Sheffield
The 500












089 Nicky Delmonico RC
047 Jim Bottomley

Pack 5
065 Francisco Lindor
023 Pee Wee Reese
Babe Ruth / Aaron Judge
Past and Present















005 Bobby Thomson
063 Kris Bryant

Pack 6
080 Aaron Judge
037 Chuck Klein
142 Brooks Robinson
021 Ted Lyons
078 Bryce Harper

Exclusive 3-Card Pack
Shohei Ohtani
Variation RC Artist Proof















Walker Buehler RC
Blue Frame















Mickey Mantle Collection














Well, well, well...take a look at the first card out of the bonus pack! I'm immediately shopping this card for something Braves. Overall I love the look of this set...from the painting of the players to the "canvas" feel of the cards. Panini has done another great job w/ this set. If you have any cards from this set you don't care to keep, please let me know!

Sunday, April 29, 2018

May 2018 Affordable Group Break

For the next edition of my Affordable Group Break we'll be going back to my roots and featuring products (Score) that should yield a mixture of base, Hall of Fame veterans with a chance of some parallels and inserts. Most importantly, this will be affordable at only $8 for two team slots! 


We'll start off with 1994 Score Select (Hobby). 24 packs, 12 cards per pack. When this debuted it was priced a little higher than I could afford and thus I didn't get a chance to experience this product much. A complete breakdown team by team can be found at the Trading Card Database.


When I can get both series 1 & 2 of a product, it's hard to chose sometimes which box to go with...so this time around why not go with both series 1 and 2 of 1994 Select? Same configuration, 24 packs, 12 cards per pack. A complete over view of the set can be found at the Trading Card Database.


The final box will be one of the original products I proposed, 1995 Score Series 2 Jumbo. 24 cards per pack, 24 packs per box. Inserts include Hall of Gold, Rookie Dream Team, Airmail (exclusive to series 2 jumbo). 2 Gold Rush parallels per pack. For a full overview of the set, head back on over to the Trading Card Database.

We'll have 15 total spots available with the format of choose 1 team and the 2nd team will be randomly assigned once the break is full. Cost for each slot will only be $8 shipped. Since the 1988 only had 26 teams, two slots willAll cards pulled will be shipped. Packs will be opened Live in the Facebook group, including randomization of second team(s).

As with all of my breaks, there may be bonus packs/boxes and if any participants teams don't yield as many cards as the next guy, we'll I'll make sure to toss in more freebies.

If you're interested, all you need to do to claim your slot:

* Join the Facebook group (not required, but highly recommended)
* Comment with the team you want (first come, first serve)
* Payments will be by PayPal, www.paypal.me/colbeyhopper (Goods & Services only)

I don't have a date yet of when we'll go live. Once the break is full and everyone has paid, I will place the order for the product. Once ordered, we'll aim for the following Friday or Saturday night to go Live. Please help spread the word to others that you know may be interested.

As with all breaks I host, I claim the Atlanta Braves. All other teams are up for grabs!

01 - Cardboard Collections - Atlanta Braves (PAID)
02 - Cards on Cards - St. Louis Cardinals (PAID)
03 - Roy Galloway - Boston Red Sox (PAID)
04 - Royals & Randoms - Kansas City Royals (PAID)
05 - Nick Dusenberry - Baltimore Orioles (PAID)
06 - Nick Vossbrink - San Francisco Giants (PAID)
07 - The Angels in Order - Anaheim Angels (PAID)
08 - daddyohoho - Philadelphia Phillies (PAID)
09 - Royals & Randoms - Seattle Mariners
10 - Cardboard Collections - San Diego Padres
11 - Cardboard Collections - Colorado Rockies
12 - Cardboard Collections - Tampa Bay Rays
13 - Cardboard Collections - Pittsburgh Pirates
14 - Cardboard Collections - Arizona Diamondbacks
15 - Cardboard Collections - Minnesota Twins

Friday, April 27, 2018

Affordable Group Break Idea

** UPDATE **
Boxes have been selected, head on over to THIS POST to check out all the details and to sign up.

Time for another group break. Just trying to gauge interest right now. Looking at two jumbo boxes, 1995 Score Series 2 and 1996 Score Series 1. Both boxes feature a cool design and will yield plenty of base cards for all teams. Parallels and inserts to chase too, especially in the jumbo packs. I always liked the Air Mail from the 1995 jumbo packs.


Two teams (one of your choice, one randomized) can be yours for the low, low cost of only $7 shipped! If I get enough of a response either here or on the post I did in my Facebook group, I'll do a post for sign-ups this weekend.

Let me know what you think!

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Pack Break: 2018 Bowman


The wait and the search for 2018 Bowman is over. Releasing yesterday, 04/25/18, I finally found a local store that had them in stock. I practiced some preservation and just grabbed one value hanger pack. I don't usually buy a lot of Bowman since I'm not into prospecting, but with Ozzie Albies and newly called up Ronald Acuna having rookie cards in this years product I'm more interested than normal.


3 cards into the 22 card pack and I landed an Ohtani RC. I have to be honest
that I don't know much about this guy, despite his presence all over the hobby and social media. I saw today while watching the afternoon Braves/Reds game that FS1 is showing the Yankees/ Angels series starting Saturday so I may have to tune in to check this guy out. I'm unsure what to do w/ this Ohtani RC right now. Should I trade it for something Braves related? Add it to my eBay store? Or just hold onto it for now?


In the middle of the pack were a few shiny chrome cards, one of which was this insert of Ronald Acuna himself! Man did I pick a good pack to be my first pack of 2018 Bowman!

Here is the rest of the pack breakdown:

003 Corey Kluber
023 Richard Urena
035 Erick Fedde
049 Shohei Ohtani
059 Walker Buehler
070 Parker Bridwell
079 Buster Posey
086 Rougned Odor
097 Gary Sanchez
100 Kris Bryant
BP044 James Kaprielian
BP046 Cristian Pache
BP063 Dylan Cozens
BP092 Ryan Vilade
BP106 D.J. Stewart
BP131 MacKenzie Gore
BCP007 Carter Kiebook
BCP013 Sam Hilliard
BCP038 Mitch Keller
BCP047 Ibandel Isabel
BTP-84 Taylor Trammell - Top 100
#-RA Ronald Acuna - #Bowman Trending

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

The Call Up - Ronald Acuna Edition



Ronald Acuna finally gets his change to show the majors just how good he is and how he's deserving of the top prospect in baseball tag he's been given. I know I for one am looking forward to watching tonight's game against the Reds. Lord knows the Braves will benefit from his glove and bat...now if only we could solve our bullpen woes!

Monday, April 16, 2018

2017 Topps Now: Atlanta Braves #44 (488 print run)




Last year the Braves opened their new home, SunTrust Park on April 14th. 41,149 fans were in attendance as the Braves hosted the San Diego Padres. This day also saw the first home win in the new stadium as Julio Teheran tossed a good game and Ender Inciarte padded the Braves' lead late in the game.

Over the weekend my wife asked me to take her back to Atlanta for a game as her birthday present. Turns out the Nationals will be in town that weekend so I'm starting to look for tickets now. Can't wait to get back as nothing beats taking in a game in person, especially at a beautiful ball park like SunTrust Park.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Box Break: 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen (and Want List)

My wife and girls' spring break this year pretty much fell one week after everyone else in the world. Turns out this wasn't a bad thing as we were able to stay at my mom's beach house for most of this week. Knowing that I'd have time in the evening to myself, I grabbed a new 4 inch binder I had purchased, 2 packs of Ultra Pro 9 pocket pages and a my hobby box of 2018 Topps Gypsy Queen I've been sitting on for a few weeks.

The loose cards above the box were the only retail cards purchased up until this point

Andrew from The Iron Lion gave me a great deal on the box upon GQ's release date back in March. Between work, being tired and perhaps some laziness I finally got around to ripping the box today. My daughters sat with me at the kitchen table as I ripped open packs, listening to 80's hard rock, watching intently for me to pull then next Braves card. I have to admit...I loved every moment of my girls sitting with me "enjoying" my hobby with me. At one point, my oldest daughter, Olivia, 8, began telling me about Jackie Robinson. I asked where she learned about him and she said at school. She asked if I had a card of his, but sadly the answer was no...but I followed it up with a "one day, baby".

After dinner at Nakato (Japanese steak house), a round of mini golf and some ice cream I owed the girls, we came back to the house and I was finally able to finish collating the cards. I feel as if I put a pretty good dent into the base set. Up until this point I'd only purchased one rack pack of GQ from retail. Now that I know what I need to finish off the set, I guess it'll be retail and (hopefully) trading with other collectors from here on out.

Logo swap, missing team name, Bazooka back & blue parallels

I know there has been a lot of discussion about the various parallels in this years Gypsy Queen set, and for the most part I agree with the masses. The missing name plate, team name, logo swap and such are just dumb. While I did pull two missing team name cards of players I collect and plan to hold onto them, I will not be searching out any more of these. I like the set for the base cards and their design. I've been a fan of the GQ brand since the beginning and this year is no different.


I didn't really hit a home run in the autograph department (in my opinion), but at least the Carlos Carrasco auto is numbered 056/150. I do like the one card autos, something that seems to be slowly disappearing in the hobby.


Each Hobby box yields one GQ ClassWorks Chrome box topper. I was really hoping to pull Freddie Freeman, but ended up w/ Josh Donaldson instead. Any Blue Jays fans reading this that want to trade?


Oh yeah, I pulled this little no name RC from the box as well. Nope, it's not for sale or for trade...it's card #089 that I need for the set.


The inserts in GQ have been hit and miss since the beginning and this year...well at least I like one of the sets. I like the idea behind the Fortune Teller set...it fits the Gypsy Queen theme...but these aren't real mini cards. I'd rather these be full size if they aren't going to be minis.


The Tarot of the Diamond inserts however are a lot of fun and look more beautiful in hand than scanned. The odds were right on the money with my box containing 3 of these. Only another 17 to go before I'll have the whole set. This is another interesting insert that fits the GQ theme quite well.


The thing about have a lot of image variation parallels that makes it hard on collectors is knowing what to look for. Well thanks to the article on Cardboard Connection I was able to find a whole list of the variations and it just so happened that my "duplicate" Trevor Story wasn't a duplicate at all...it was one of the Jackie Robinson image variations. These were seeded 1:106 packs. Glad to have pulled it of a guy I also collect.

Overall I enjoyed ripping the box and had fun with my girls at the same time. It's memories like this that'll last far longer than the joy I get of opening packs. I really like this year's GQ set and look forward to trying to fill in my holes. Speaking of that, below is my want list that I threw together after opening the box. If you would like to help me in any fashion with these missing cards, by all means please let me know.

1, 10, 13, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 32, 35, 37, 39, 40, 52, 53, 58, 59, 62, 63, 66, 68, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 91, 93, 97, 98, 100, 102, 105, 108, 111, 118, 121, 122, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133, 140, 142, 145, 156, 158, 160, 163, 164, 166, 169, 172, 175, 177, 183, 185, 195, 196, 197, 199, 203, 208, 211, 218, 219, 224, 228, 230, 136, 240, 243, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 255, 256, 260, 262, 265, 266, 267, 270, 274, 278, 281, 282, 285, 287, 289, 290, 292, 295, 296, 297, 300

SP
301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 319, 320

Fortune Teller
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20

Tarot of the Diamond
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, 19, 20, 21, 22

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Another one bites the dust!


1996 Leaf Signature Series Gold autograph

My side project, Rey Ordonez Super Collector blog hasn't been updated in 6 months!! Guess I've bitten off more than I can chew? Well I did get around to doing another update today, but I really wanted to spotlight this gold auto parallel I finally picked up off a fellow collector. This card completes my Rey collection from 1996 Signature Series. For a complete look at this set you can refer back to my original post.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

2018 Panini Donruss - Who Wants to Trade?

I know Panini's baseball card offerings aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I am enjoying most of what they are doing, especially with Donruss. While I prefer the base design of 2017 over 2018, I decided to make a run at completing the base set complete with all the annoying variations. Just by buying retail thus far I feel that I've done a good job so far. Below are the cards that I'm currently looking for at the time of this post.

Diamond Kings - 2, 7, 10, 11, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Rated Rookies - 31, 37, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49
Base - 53, 56, 57, 63, 69, 75, 76, 81, 91, 99, 103, 104, 106, 107, 113, 117, 123, 125, 130, 132, 133, 134, 138, 142, 145, 151, 155, 159, 162, 163, 167, 169, 178, 182, 186, 187, 190, 194, 195, 196, 199, 200, 202, 203, 205, 212, 217, 220, 223, 224, 225, 230, 239, 243, 245, 246, 250, 252, 259, 260, 262, 268, 270

Base Variations
64 Cal Ripken
86 Jose Abreu
92 Joe Morgan
100 Roberto Alomar
104 Charlie Blackmon
108 Reggie Jackson
134 Marcell Ozuna
143 Giancarlo Stanton
144 Noah Snydergaard
148 Aaron Judge (ROY)
154 Clayton Kershaw
155 Mike Trout
158 Cory Seager
159 Andrew McCutchen
167 Buster Posey (throwing image)
169 Andrew Benintendi (black & white)
169 Andrew Benintendi (nickname)
172 Nolen Arenado
173 Jose Ramirez
187 Nolen Ryan
189 Manny Machado
191 Mookie Betts (image/nickname)
200 Mickey Mantle
225 Anthony Rizzo
230 Yoan Moncado
234 Francisco Lindor


I also have several base cards, including base variations and parallels (see above) ready for trade. If you have some extra 2018 Donruss and are interested in working out a trade, please let me know!

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Sunday Verse

James 3:17-18



New International Version

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.