Man, last night was a blast. This had to be hands down the most fun I've had hosting a break in a long time. We had a good turn out in the live YouTube video...which always makes the break more fun. We opened what I thought were some nice boxes and we even pulled some pretty cool cards. I know some people have told me that my weekly break is something they look forward each and every Friday night and I appreciate that. I do this for fun and I'm glad to hear others are enjoying this as much as me.
Now, let's get on to the results if you happened to miss Friday's night's video. The original plan was just to open the 2004 Upper Deck Play Ball box, but at the last minute I grabbed a hobby box of 2020 Panini Diamond Kings from my LCS and everyone gobbled up the teams really fast...so I tossed that one in as well. Let's take a look at the UD box first.
2004 Play Ball was a product I had heard of, but never opened before. I didn't even have any cards from this set in my collection so I thought this would be a fun break. The box was supposed to yield two game-used memorabilia cards and one auto along with several other parallels and inserts.
The base cards have a very nice, unique look. The player images appear to be painted and have an early Gypsy Queen look . Personally I think these look sharp. It's always nice to break a product that isn't all slathered in UV coating and foil stamping.
Blue parallels fell 1:6 packs and feature a blue border and a different image from the base card.
The red parallels have the image inset in the card, which I thought was a nice touch. These are numbered to /175. We're not sure on the odds of these.
The Apparel Collection cards are one of two of the memorabilia sets and seem to fall 1:12 packs. Not serially numbered, but a nice looking memorabilia card none the less. At least the jersey piece isn't white. Of note, the back of the card does mention the jersey is game worn and not from an event or photoshoot.
Artist's Touch is the other memorabilia set and these are numbered to /250. I can't say this is my favorite Chipper card, but as I had the Braves in the break this was a nice surprise for the host!
The Home Run Heroics inserts fell 1:24 packs and feature game box score inset in the card similar to how the player's image is inset on the red parallels. Not serially numbered, but still a nice card.
Classic Combos fell 1:24 packs so we beat the odds with two in one box! These are serially numbered to /1999.
Now if someone was prospecting and buying Play Ball back when this product was new, I'm sure it didn't take long for them to realize that Upper Deck really struck out when choosing young players and rookies for this set. This isn't the first time were I've seen a questionable checklist of young talent in an Upper Deck product. These Rookie Portfolio cards fell 1:16 packs and are serially numbered to /2004.
Rookie Portfolio Signature are the autographed versions of the above insert. These are not serially numbered. We had no idea who Alec Zumwalt was or what he did in the majors...if he did anything...but at least he has a nice looking signature!
Overall this was a fun box to open. Upper Deck first brought back the Play Ball set in 2003 so perhaps we'll have to pick up a box for a future break. Now we're onto 2020 Diamond Kings.
I picked up this box of 2020 Panini Diamond Kings from my LCS, Grand Slam Cards in Rock Hill, SC. The price was right and apparently you guys were eager to try out this beautifully painted set. All the teams were grabbed so quickly that I may just have to run back down to the LCS to grab another box while they are still in stock! Yes? No?
In my opinion the Diamond Kings set keeps getting better looking year after year. I originally had decided to skip trying to build this set this year, however after opening this box I have to say it's going to be tough sticking to that decision. The base cards look beautiful, as you can see above with these RCs of Yordan Alvarez and Gavin Lux.
Back from previous years are the framed parallels. The come in various colors and this Nolan Ryan is of the Plum variety.
Here are the Gray framed parallels...
The Litho parallels are serially numbered to /25. Other than the inclusion of the serial number, I can't really seem to make out any differences on the front or back of these versus the base card.
I forgot during the video to check the card numbers to see if we pulled any SPs since the last 70 cards of the set are all short printed. Turns out half of the packs in the box did yield one SP.
Aficionado is a name on a baseball card I haven't seen in a very long time, last used by Pinnacle. This version as a much more colorful look over the defunct version of the same name.
These All Time Diamond Kings inserts look beautiful in hand. Framed parallels of these also exist.
Artist's Palette has to be one of the brightest, most colorful baseball cards I've seen in a while. It's quite nice looking in hand and pulling a card of a young stud like Vlad Jr. ain't too shabby.
I'm not too sure what to think about these DK 206 inserts. At least the set contained a Kirby Puckett.
The DK Originals are more of the same painted cards. What were the odds that we'd pull to Astros players?
Gallery of Stars is an insert I haven't seen in a long time! Originally debuting in 1991 Donruss Triple Play, those painted cards looked a lot like Diamond Kings. These Gallery of Stars look even better...even if one of them is a Bryce Harper!
These In the Zone inserts are probably my favorite insert set we pulled from the box. Just something about the red, white and blue and the horizontal layout that makes these pop.
The 3000 insert set highlights members of the 3000 hit club with a nice splash of color.
One of our two guaranteed hits was this Jersey Kings of the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera. Not serially numbered, but printed on the same canvas like material with a thicker point cardstock. If you're going to do memorabilia cards, this is how to do it.
I think this auto is from the DK Signatures set. While I wasn't familiar with Trent Grisham, several in the live video chat knew who he was and said this was a great pull for San Diego. Oh yeah, it's also serially numbered 04/10!
I had a blast opening this box and if there was enough interest I'd definitely would pick up another box. While my Braves were well represented on the checklist, I was at least hoping we'd pull the base card of Acuna! Let me know in the comments if you missed out on this box and would like to take a stab...or if you were in this break and would like to try your luck again.
As always, thank you so much to everyone who participated. We'll do it again this Friday night...from Myrtle Beach, SC. I'm going on vacation next week, but I want to keep the fun going so whatever product we'll rip, I'm taking my set up with me. Look for the next sign up post this weekend. Until then, have a great weekend everyone!
