The Next (Epix) Collecting Adventure

There was something about the 90's that I just love when it comes to baseball cards. I didn't come into collecting until 1990 and all I knew at that time was Donruss, Fleer and Topps. I would collect for many years before my interest starting to wane a little. However in the late 90's the card companies really started to step up their game with different "technologies" used, such as a chromium finish, refractors and dufex finishes.

Trying to keep up with all the sets was nearly impossible for me so I had to settle for what I could find locally or at shows. Insert sets were a dime a dozen during this time period, keep in mind the game used relic cards didn't hit until around 1997 thanks in part to Upper Deck. In today's crowded market of baseball cards a lot of these great 90's inserts sets have fallen to the wayside, but there are some really interesting themes and designs.

It's not like I need to collect anything else, however one set in particular that caught my was the multi-tiered Crusade set in Donruss products. I quickly moved on however once I saw what the cards were trading for on the secondary market! I then moved onto another insert set that was inserted across several different Pinnacle sets...1998 Epix.

Epix is a 72 card set that were randomly seeded in packs of 1998 Pinnacle (1:21), 1998 Score (1:61) and 1998 Zenith (1:11). Each card came in 3 different colors, orange, purple and emerald. Approximately 70% of the cards are orange, 20% are purple and only 10% are emerald. Each player had 4 versions, "Play", "Game", "Season" and "Moment". Play were the most common with Moment being the hardest to pull.

1998 Score Rookie/Traded and 1998 Pinnacle Plus had their own Epix All-Star set, but I'm not chasing those at this time.

I like a good challenge and I figured trying to put this 72 card set together ought to be challenging, but doable. Of course I'm going to be asking for the blogging community and Twitter-verse for help in trying to assemble this set. I'm not sure if I'll start and focus just on the orange cards, or if I should just pick up whatever I can find. So far I have 3 cards, the two Andruw Jones cards above and one Greg Maddux "Play" orange.

I'm willing to trade and buy any cards from this set that I can find. If you can help, please consider sending me a message or contacting me on Twitter (@flywheels).

Affordable Group Break 2nd Team Randomization

Well, I was hoping to fill this break up with more people, but alas the sign up window has come and gone with only one more spot claimed. That leaves 6 slots left that I'll claim. I chose a few teams that usually nobody wants so that some of the better unclaimed teams can go to the paid participants. Here is how the signs up ended:

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

That left some good teams unclaimed that will be randomized for all. After we rolled the virtual dice to see how many times we'd randomize the list of unclaimed teams, here are the results!

01 - Cardboard Collections - Houston Astros
02 - Cards on Cards - Cleveland Indians Texas Rangers
03 - Roy Galloway - Chicago White Sox
04 - Royals & Randoms - Cincinnati Reds
05 - Nick Dusenberry - Detroit Tigers New York Yankees
06 - Nick Vossbrink - Oakland Athletics
07 - The Angels in Order - Los Angeles Dodgers
08 - daddyohoho - Milwaukee Brewers
09 - Royals & Randoms - Texas Rangers Cleveland Indians
10 - Cardboard Collections - New York Mets
11 - Cardboard Collections - New York Yankees Detroit Tigers
12 - Cardboard Collections - Toronto Blue Jays
13 - Cardboard Collections - Chicago Cubs

If you'd like to offer up a trade for your 2nd team, please do so on this post or at least message me and let me know of the deal so I can keep my list updated.

2017 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson #59 (916 print run)

I still remember April 17th, 2017 like it was yesterday. Dansby steps up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, game tied 9-9 with the San Diego Padres. On a 1-2 count, he smacks a line drive out into left field just beyond the reach of the defender giving the Braves their win and first walk off of Dansby's young career as well as the first in SunTrust Park history.

2018 Topps Living Set Ronald Acuna #19

The mail man brought me a fat padded mailer today and I couldn't be happier with what was inside. When Topps launched their Living Set earlier this year, I wasn't sure what to make of it. $7.99 for a single card or $14.99 for the 3 cards released that week...not too bad. After all I've spent $9.99 on single Topps Now cards in the past. Nick Markakis was the first Braves player to be featured in the set...but I passed. I don't care that his card is trading for big dollars on eBay currently, but now that I have a card in hand I realize how beautiful they actually are.

The Braves' rookie phenom, Ronald Acuna, was called up from AAA Gwinett on 04/25/18 and has made an immediate impact. I don't have many RCs of his yet so I decided to jump on this Living Set card. While I wish they had used a different design, I love the card. At first glance it may appear to be just another Heritage type card, however the card stock used is a little thinner than Heritage. The other big difference is the photo isn't a photo, but a drawing of the player. These cards are really beautiful in hand. I'm starting to see why more and more people are jumping on this set and trying to build it now. That's not for me, but I will be cherry picking a few players moving forward.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the idea behind this set. Yea or nay? Have you bought any Living Set cards? If so, do you like them? If you haven't bought any, why?

Group Break Update

Even though the sign ups have slowed down and we still have several slots still available to be claimed (and some good teams too!), I've ordered the boxes and should have them by mid-week. Once they arrive, we'll get the break going. Aiming for Thursday or Friday evening...depending on my travel schedule for work.

Any unclaimed slots will go to me as the host...however I'd rather not eat the money so be sure to tell your friends about the break. Only $8 gets you two teams, one of your choosing and one randomized.