August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1996 Stadium Club Series 2

Whew!  This TSC break ended up being A LOT of work!  Sorry for the delay guys, but I'm back to reveal the contents of the 10th and final box - Series 2 of 1996 Stadium Club.  The inserts this time around were all seeded 1:48 packs with the exception of the Mantle Retrospective (1:12).  Possible inserts include Metalist, Power Packed, Bash N' Burn & TSC Awards.

Love that trio of catchers and check out the dirt coming off Buhner's bat!

Another Gwynn and Salmon!

I kinda like these Team TSC short prints...then again it's easy for me to say that since I got three Braves!

The Extreme Players game cards (or whatever they're called) are included again.  We'll start off w/ 2 Bronze cards of unclaimed teams.  Both will be randomed off.

What were the chances that another one of these would be of an unclaimed team?!  Zeile here will go to a team w/o an insert.

The Mickey Mantle Retrospective cards were seeded 1:12 in Series 2 so these weren't really unexpected pulls.

With the increased odds I wasn't sure if there would be anymore inserts to be found...but then I saw this nice shiny card starting back at me!

TSC Awards (1:48) of Tom Glavine...Best Performance in the 1995 World Series.  Love it!

Updated card count through all 10 boxes (assuming my math is correct!):

 

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 136 - 4 - 1

Mets - 98 - 3 - 2

Dodgers - 93 - 5 - 3

Reds - 92 - 5 -1

Giants - 90 - 6 - 4

Phillies - 87 - 2 - 4

Expos - 96 - 5 -1

Brewers - 103 - 5 - 2

Cardinals - 87 - 3 -1

Astros - 99 - 5 - 1

Pirates - 78 - 4 -1

Padres - 109 - 2 - 1

AL

Yankees - 108 - 4 - 7

Mariners - 93 - 6 - 2

Indians - 93 - 7 - 1

Rangers - 118 - 3 - 1

Royals - 112 - 5 - 1

White Sox - 111 - 1 - 7

Angels - 82 - 3 - 3

Blue Jays - 91 - 4 - 1

And with that count that wraps up the biggest Affordable Group Break I've ever hosted.  I hope everyone enjoyed participating.  Even though it was a lot of work and took longer to complete than I originally planned I may do something like this again...but not any time soon!  I need a break!  However before I take a much needed break from things I have one other little thing on the horizon...3 boxes of 2012 Topps Chrome!  For those of you that signed up for that we'll get that rolling soon.  Those boxes will be busted on YouTube most likely.  All the cards will be boxed up and in the mail starting Tuesday, 09/04/12.  Thanks again everyone!

August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1996 Stadium Club Series 1

We've finally reached the last year of this massive Stadium Club break with the first of two 1996 boxes.  Of note here each pack contains a double foil stamped Team TSC card that is essentially an SP.  These will not be counted as an insert and part of the base card count.  Extreme Players was some sort of contest where if you pulled an EP card it could be mailed in to Topps as a contest entry of some sorts.  These Extreme Players cards came in 3 varieties:  Bronze (1:12), Silver (1:24) and Gold (1:48).  Even though these cards are essentially parallels, they'll be counted as inserts.

Other inserts include Power Streak (1:24), Prime Cuts (1:36), Midsummer Matchup (1:48), Mega Heroes (1:48), and Mickey Mantle Retrospective (1:24).

Team TSC short prints

 Extreme Players - I was surprised to see that we got one of each level in the same box!

 Topps made good use of their Mickey Mantle deal in the mid 90's.

 It's not Tim Salmon, but I'm thinking Angels, In Order will be happy w/ this Jim Edmonds.

This was a fun box to open.  Most of the teams got a good amount of cards and the inserts were a nice touch - even though we didn't get some of the higher odds inserts.  One more box to go before this break is in the books.

Updated card count through 9 boxes:

 

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 126 - 4 - 0

Mets - 84 - 3 - 2

Dodgers - 85 - 5 - 3

Reds - 88 - 5 - 0

Giants - 85 - 6 - 4

Phillies - 78 - 2 - 4

Expos - 88 - 5 - 0

Brewers - 96 - 5 - 2

Cardinals - 83 - 3 - 0

Astros - 89 - 5 - 1

Pirates - 72 - 4 - 0

Padres - 99 - 2 - 1

AL

Yankees - 98 - 4 - 5

Mariners - 84 - 6 - 2

Indians - 85 - 7 - 0

Rangers - 110 - 3 - 0

Royals - 106 - 5 - 0

White Sox - 100 - 1 - 7

Angels - 77 - 3 - 3

Blue Jays - 83 - 4 - 1

August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1995 Stadium Club Series 3

Thanks for everyone's patience as I recovered from whatever my ailment was.  We're down to the 8th box of the break and the last of 1995.  Topps decided to drop the one per pack parallel with the 3rd series and only inserted two inserts - Power Zone & Crystal Ball.

Collation wasn't that great (again) and the teams that got cards got a lot of dupes...sorry!  I guess every box can't be a home run.  All is not lost however as again some great photography can be found on the base cards and one team landed a very nice looking insert...from a set I'm not thinking about building!

To replace the parallels and inserts (to some degree) each pack comes w/ 4 double foil stamped subset cards - Transactions is one of these.  These feature trades that occurred mid-season.

The other double stamped subset is called Extreme Corps and features the sluggers of the game.  I'm sure Tom from Angels, In Order will be happy w/ another Salmon.

 The Crystal Ball inserts feature some of the young stars at the time and feature lots of Prismatic foil...however we didn't get one of those young starts like Jeter or Chipper.  This card will be randomed off to the teams that didn't get an insert.

 Now this is fine looking insert!  These Power Zone cards feature Power Matrix technology and look really nice in hand.  Congrats to Robert on this awesome looking Molitor!

Updated card count through 8 boxes:

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 115 - 4 - 0

Mets - 75 - 3 - 1

Dodgers - 80 - 5 - 3

Reds - 80 - 5 - 0

Giants - 82 - 6 - 4

Phillies - 71 - 2 - 4

Expos - 85 - 5 - 0

Brewers - 87 - 5 - 2

Cardinals - 75 - 3 - 0

Astros - 77 - 5 - 0

Pirates - 65 - 4 - 0

Padres - 85 - 2 - 1

AL

Yankees - 89 - 4 -4

Mariners - 86 - 6 - 1

Indians - 77 - 7 - 0

Rangers - 98 - 3 - 0

Royals - 98 - 5 - 0

White Sox - 91 - 1 - 6

Angels - 73 - 3 - 2

Blue Jays - 75 - 4 - 1

Cardboard Collections is now on Facebook

I'm not the biggest social media user, but a week or so ago I was messing around on Facebook and I created a page for the blog.  My main reason for doing that was to draw more traffic to this blog, but also to share some things with family up in Red Sox nation who otherwise wouldn't check out the blog.

I hope to eventually create some exclusive content for the Facebook page, but for now it's mainly links to posts already published here.  If you are already on Facebook then why don't you LIKE the page.  I know you secretly hit that Like button for Starbucks so why not like my effort?

A short pause...

After I got home from work late Saturday afternoon I started to feel run down.  My whole body was aching and I generally just didn't feel very good.  I think I fell asleep on the couch around 7:00 pm and even slept through dinner...something that never happens.  My wife said I felt like crap because I've been staying up too late and not getting enough sleep.  Ah, the joys of parenthood where the only time you have to yourself is after the kids are in bed!

I had started to open the '95 TSC High Number Series Friday night and planned on finishing and having the results posted on Saturday.  Well that obviously didn't happen.  I'm starting to feel a little better so I should have the last of the '95 boxes posted Monday evening.

Sunday Verse

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1995 Stadium Club Series 2

We keep plugging along on - now on our 7th box - Series 2 of '95 TSC.  This box pretty much carries over the same things from Series 1 - Virtual Reality parallels 1 per pack and the same 4 inserts seeded 1:24 packs (Ring Leader Phone Card, Ring Leader, Clear Cut Finest & Super Skills)

Love that Tony Gwynn

Cover Story is a new subset in Series 2.

The Best Seat in the House returns w/ more great photography.  I'm sure BA Benny will get a kick out of that Mets card tagging out a slow Braves base runner!

More Virtual Reality parallels

This Ring Leaders Phone Card is of the Silver variety (1:7 between all the phone cards) and will go to the White Sox.

The Ring Leader Power Matrix again goes to a team that wasn't claimed.  It'll be randomed off between the teams that don't have an insert.

Clear Cut Finest are some sharp looking cards in hand.  The Phillies card was actually stuck to the back of the phone card so the box actually yielded two Clear Cut cards...yeah for us!

Super Skills this time is of Paul O'Neill of the Yankees.  The Bronx Bombers are starting to gain some insert momentum!

I thought the Series 1 box has a better player selection and photography, but the upgraded phone card and extra insert in this box made up for the other shortcomings.

Updated card count through 7 boxes:

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 106 - 4 - 0

Mets - 70 - 3 - 1

Dodgers - 69 - 5 - 3

Reds - 70 - 5 - 0

Giants - 68 - 6 - 4

Phillies - 57 - 2 - 4

Expos - 67 - 5 - 0

Brewers - 78 - 5 - 2

Cardinals - 64 - 3 - 0

Astros - 66 - 5 - 0

Pirates - 57 - 4 - 0

Padres - 69 - 2 - 1

AL

Yankees - 78 - 4 -4

Mariners - 77 - 6 - 1

Indians - 71 - 7 - 0

Rangers - 84 - 3 - 0

Royals - 81 - 5 - 0

White Sox - 81 - 1 - 6

Angels - 65 - 3 - 2

Blue Jays - 67 - 4 - 0

August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1995 Stadium Club Series 1

Now we're talking!  1995 was the year I was most looking forward to opening in this big break.  I guess you could say 1995 was an important year for me..graduation high school and all.  I didn't buy a lot of TSC that year, but what I loved what I remembered of the stuff I did have.  Opening the first few packs brought all those fun memories back.  This post will be a little more scan heavy, but that's a good thing!  That means there was a lot of cool cards to show off.

We'll start off with one of the coolest photographs I've ever seen on a base card...

There were so many great cards I had a hard time not scanning them all!  Here is just a few examples of some great TSC photography.

I love some good horizontal photos too

Another Larkin for Nachoes?

Lots of subsets to be found such as these awesome "Best Seat in the House"

LOVE that Alomar card

Not sure how I feel about these Cause & Effect cards...

Draft picks have a very simple design.

These Virtual Reality parallel cards show you how that player's 162 game statistics in 1994 would've looked had there been a full season.

Now let's talk inserts.  There are a total of 4 different inserts to be found - all seeded 1:24 packs (1 per box).  Gotta love what they tried to do in the mid-90's.

Ring Leaders Phone Cards came in 3 levels and if you actually made a call w/ the card then you'd be entered into another contest.  This the 1980 All-Star game was played in Dodger Stadium I see fit to award this card to the Dodgers...so congrats Speigel83!

Continuing with the Ring Leaders theme up next we have the Ring Leader Power Matrix cards.  Sadly no one claimed the Marlins.  A little on the gaudy side, but still beautiful.

I love the Clear Cut Finest cards and I was excited to see Tony Gwynn staring back at me.  You see All the Way to the Backstop claimed the Padres and this is his very first group break he's participated in...so congrats!  Will we see this card highlighted on a future Gwynnsday?

Lastly we have an insert called Super Skills.  It has an all foil front so it didn't scan that well, but looks good in hand.  You know I see to have a knack for pulling Barry Bonds inserts.  Perhaps that's why ARPSmith keeps coming back?

I hope everyone enjoyed this box as much as I did.  The best part is we still have 2 more boxes of '95 TSC to rip!

Updated card count through 6 boxes:

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 88 - 3 - 0

Mets - 59 - 2 - 1

Dodgers - 62 - 5 - 3

Reds - 54 - 4 - 0

Giants - 57 - 4 - 4

Phillies - 46 - 2 - 3

Expos - 49 - 3 - 0

Brewers - 63 - 5 - 1

Cardinals - 50 - 3 - 0

Astros - 56 - 5 - 0

Pirates - 51 - 3 - 0

Padres - 63 - 1 - 1

AL

Yankees - 67 - 4 - 3

Mariners - 66 - 5 - 1

Indians - 58 - 7 - 0

Rangers - 73 - 2 - 0

Royals - 70 - 3 - 0

White Sox - 64 - 0 - 5

Angels - 56 - 1 - 2

Blue Jays - 63 - 2 - 0

I interrupt this group break for some football!

I was so excited about the coming 2012 NFL season that I jumped head first into Topps' flapship football release earlier this month.  Dennis from Too Many Verlanders / Too Many Manninghams was equally excited and we decided to help each other out.  We were both building the base set and each of us were tackling different insert sets.  He bought a metric crap load of retail and I bought a hobby box and some retail.  In the end we were able to help each other out quite a bit.  After this trade I now only lack 22 base cards!

What's funny about this trade is that on Wednesday I got a big flat package from him.  I was scratching my head while standing at the mail box because I knew it didn't contain the cards we agreed upon trading for.  I took it inside the house and opened it up in the kitchen while my wife was making dinner (crock pot lasagna!).  Much to my surprise I pulled these out from in between 2 pieces of cardboard:

Wow!  I forgot all about these big 8x10 Donruss Studio cards!  I never bought any of the Studio football cards so I haven't really seen these before.  I like the extra Portrait Proof parallel.  Too bad my scanner cut off the holographic foil boarder around the big card.

Most of the cards I got in return were base cards I needed to fill in some holes, but earlier he had pulled this BCA Pink parallel.  BCA stands for Breast Cancer Awareness if you didn't know...that's why the cards are pink.  Now I know a lot of fans and collectors are already complaining about these in the football set and now they are complaining about them showing up in 2013 Topps baseball.  I may be in the minority here, but I really like these.  I like the flat sparkly pink border and the pink foil.  It helps they are #d to 399 as well.  Charles Johnson here is 284/399.

In addition to the Kerry Collins extras Dennis also sent some extra Carolina Panthers and some Atlanta Braves.  I mistakenly mixed them into my "to catalog" box before I had a chance to scan them.  I am continually blown away by certain bloggers generosity when it comes to trading.  A huge thanks to Dennis for such a fun trade!

August 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1993 Stadium Club Series 3

This box of Series 3 had A LOT of doubles.  My Braves added 22 cards to the total, but of those 22 only 6 or 7 were unique?  Same goes for the Rangers - they added 25 cards, but several were dups or triples.  Hopefully this trend won't continue in subsequent boxes or I'll have to ship some people's cards in two boxes since I bought 200 ct. boxes to mail everyone's cards to them.

Truth be told this was the most underwhelming box thus far.  I had a hard time even picking out some of these cards to share.

How could I not scan a young Chipper Jones with this being his last year in the league?

The Master Photo redemption cards were again present - this time going to the The Dutch Card Guy w/ this Brien Taylor.  Remember that huge flame out?

The double sided Stadium Club Inserts were replaced with 2 different cards simply called "Firsts".  I had to scan the back as the theme of these set is pretty cool.  I'll go out on a limb and guess the other card in the set belongs to the Marlins.

Lastly the one per box 1st Day Issue goes to the Yankees.  I was beginning to wonder if the Yanks were going to get in on the insert action...only took 5 boxes!

Alright, now that 1993 is out of the way we can get back on track and hit the 3 boxes of 1995 TSC next...the year I'm most looking forward too.  Phone cards baby!

Updated card count through 5 boxes:

BASE CARD - PARALLEL - INSERT

NL

Braves - 75 - 3 - 0

Mets - 45 - 1 - 1

Dodgers - 52 - 5 - 2

Reds - 44 - 4 - 0

Giants - 46 - 4 -3

Phillies - 39 - 2 -3

Expos - 40 - 3 - 0

Brewers - 53 - 4 - 1

Cardinals - 44 - 2 - 0

Astros - 41 - 2 - 0

Pirates - 42 - 2 - 0

Padres - 53 - 0 - 0

AL

Yankees - 55 - 2 - 3

Mariners - 58 - 4 - 1

Indians - 43 - 4 - 0

Rangers - 64 - 0 - 0

Royals - 56 - 2 - 0

White Sox - 47 - 0 - 5

Angels - 46 - 0 - 2

Blue Jays - 51 - 1 - 0