Pack Break - 2012 Topps Gold Rush

It's been awhile since I've busted any packs.  I took last month off hosting group breaks and I just haven't had the desire (or the money) to buy anything I've seen at retail.  That said I guess you could say the timing of Topps' bubble mailer came at a good time.

Thanks to the help of some of my fellow bloggers I was able to scrounge up enough wrappers to send in to Topps for 2 packs of the exclusive Gold Rush cards.  I sent them in at different times and the last pack just arrived a few days ago.

Last time I scored a super nice Tim Hudson auto.  Can I strike gold twice?  Let's find out...

OK, so I didn't strike it rich this time around.  These are still some great looking cards.  Any Dodgers fans need/want that Snider card?

The best manu-patch?

I don't buy a lot of blasters.  There.  I said it.

When Series 2 of 2012 Topps was released and I saw the checklist on the side I was tempted.  I caved and bought one (which I already shared the contents of), but I resisted to buy more.  It was hard as I really wanted the John Smoltz card that appeared on the Historical Stitches checklist.

Patience isn't always something I'm known for.  I'm trying to improve upon that, but it's hard.  Why do I have to suffer from that "gotta have it now" mentality?  I'm glad though that I did wait as I ended up landing the card via eBay for around 4 bucks.

I was reminded when I pulled the Nolan Ryan Historical Stitches card out of my blaster and again today when this card arrived in the mail at just how beautiful these are.

I'm not a hater of manu-patch cards.  Some of them I rather like.  However I do see how some collector's don't care for these.  I have to say though the Historical Stitches cards are rather nice.  They are quickly becoming my favorite manu-patch card.  I'd love to collect the set, but I'm already chasing more things than I have the time and resources for.

So my question to you (you are still reading aren't you?) is what is your opinion of these Stitches cards?  What is your favorite manu-patch card?  Your least favorite?

Blaster Break - 2012 Topps Series 2

Call me cheap, but it's not often that I buy blasters anymore.  I guess it's parting w/ a 20 spot that is hard to do.  I much rather grab a few loose packs or the occasional rack pack here and there.

I started to build the 2012 set so I might as well at least work on Series 2.  That said these blaster boxes from Target & Walmart have 2 packs of nothing but parallels.  As a set builder I hate these.  As a PC collector I like them.  I think I'd rather chase those parallels of the players I want rather than sacrifice 2 packs of cards.

Oh well.  I grabbed one blaster from Walmart to give it a try...hoping to pull the John Smoltz Historical Stitches patch card.


Pack 1:
#528 Bryan Petersen
#406 Juan Rivera
#437 Yoshinori Tateyama
#575 Garrett Richards
#ACA-19 Robinson Cano - A Cut Above
#MD-5 Dennis Eckersley - Mount Dominance
#598 Reid Brignac
#478 Rajai Davis

Pack 2:
#623 Clint Barmes
#612 Carlos Beltran
#464 Joe Savery
#480 J.J. Putz - Gold parallel
Golden Giveaway code
#643 Chris Young
#628 Sean Rodriguez
#501 Matt Capps

Pack 3:
#386 Ryan Zimmerman
#622 Daniel Hudson
#393 Manny Ramirez
#CD-22 Mickey Mantle - Career Day
#TM-62 Tim Lincecum - 1987 Mini
#608 Paul Goldschmidt
#605 Jason Bartlett
#430 Felix Hernanez

Pack 4:
#523 Jim Johnson
#582 Shin-Soo Choo
#362 Dayan Viciedo
#396 Yoenis Cespedes
#GM-39 Willie Mays - Golden Moments
#4801 J.J. Putz
#533 Ian Stewart
#444 Rafael Betancourt

Pack 5:
#564 Jose Valverde
#421 Heath Bell
#389 Alexi Casilla
#657 Dave Sappelt
#GS-35 Chipper Jones - Gold Standard
#429 Michael Bourn
#486 Jerry Sands
#521 Ruben Tejada

Pack 6:
#449 Shane Victorino
#369 Huston Street
#616 Tyler Pastornicky
#429 Michael Bourn - Gold parallel
#GF-37 Jordan Walden - Gold Futures
#565 Dan Uggla
#627 Justin Smoak
#462 Brett Lawrie

Pack 7:
#481 Matt Harrison
#650 Prince Fielder
#423 Colby Rasmus
#AGA-25 Troy Tulowitzki - A Cut Above
#TM-52 Miguel Cabrera - 1987 Mini
Topps Bunt card
#399 Brian McCann
#649 Brandon Crawford
#354 Jeremy Hellickson

Pack 8:
#355 Mark Buehrle
#442 Johnny Giavotella
#427 Rafael Dolis
#GM-30 Mark Teixeira - Golden Moments
Golden Giveaway card
#368 Carl Crawford
#503 Tyler Clippard
#609 Lorenzo Cain

Walmart Pack 1:
#636 Chris Heisey
#576 Jonathan Herrera
#554 Raul Ibanez
#341 Edwin Encarnacion - Gold parallel
Golden Giveaway code
#354 Jeremy Hellickson
#503 Tyler Clippard
#609 Lorenzo Cain

Walmart Pack 2:
#421 Heath Bell
#389 Alexi Casilla
#621 Scott Hairston
#ACA-10 Miguel Cabrera - A Cut Above
#TM-64 Jose Reyes - 1987 Mini
#368 Carl Crawford
#539 Andrew Bailey
#453 Garrett Jones

Patch Pack:

#HS-NR Nolan Ryan - Historical Stitches

Taste the Hudson Rainbow

I've never really been able to complete the rainbow for any one player...until now!

Well the rainbow is almost complete.  I read the other day there will be Orange parallels in the factory set.

Box Break - 2012 Topps "40% Extra Value" box

For the 2nd consecutive year Topps has released one of these Value Boxes with packs of their flagship series along w/ hobby packs of Heritage.  Priced at $14.99 you get five 8 card packs of 2012 Topps, 2 hobby packs of Heritage, 1 Gold Giveaway code card and one of 3 exclusive Chrome cards (Mantle, Mays or Griffey Jr.).  Not a bad deal.  Here is what I ended up with:

The packs of Topps cards didn't yield anything all that exciting so I didn't want to bore everyone with useless scans.  I did get a 2nd Golden Giveaway card which yielded a Mark Texiera coin.  Everybody ooohhh with me.  Blah.

The two hobby packs of Heritage were much better.  I decided to stay away from Heritage for the most part this year for several reasons, so opening these two packs were kind of a treat for me.  Could care less if they were hobby or retail.

Pack #1 gave me a SP.  Not one of the limited color swapped cards (I still don't get that "gimmick"), but a SP none the less.

#476 Prince Fielder

I'm not really a fan of Prince, but man is this a nice looking base card.  This design is really growing on me the more and more I look at it.

Pack #2 was even better.  Check it out...

#ROA-AJ Adam Jones Autograph

It's rare that I get to pull autos from packs regardless of hobby or retail origin.  I know Adam isn't the biggest name out there, but it's still cool to pull an auto (on card auto at that) from a pack of cards.  Now the question is what to do with it?  There are only 2 on eBay as of this afternoon.  I'll give it a few days and see what people offer.  I haven't looked at the Heritage auto checklist, but you should know by now I'll trade it for any Tim Hudson auto I don't already have or just about any other Braves player.

I also got the one Chrome card I was hoping for...

#MBC3 Ken Griffey Jr.

So do I try my hand with another Value Box or do I quit while I'm ahead of the game.  I think at this point I'll stop while the getting is good.  Go ahead and fire off an offer via the comments if you want that Adam Jones auto or the Prince Fielder SP.

Variant Golden Moments Relic?

While researching 2012 Topps earlier this year looking for the various Tim Hudson cards I wanted to track down I noticed he had a relic in the Golden Moments set.  Ok.  Cool.  That should be a $1-3 card that should be easy to find.  Once I started looking I noticed that most of the cards featured a white piece of jersey.  Then I saw one or two with a gray piece of jersey.

Huh?  Nothing I read said there would be different colored piece of jerseys in this set.  Does anyone know if this was an unannounced variation or something?  Do any other players in this relic set have different solid color pieces of jersey?  It's not like the back of the cards offer any information anymore.

I struck Huddy gold!

Say what you will about the current programs for 2012 Topps, but when it yields a card like this for me call me a satisfied collector!

  

The card is serially numbered #31/50.  Being that these are randomly inserted into the Gold Rush packs that are only available in the month of February makes me think I won't see a lot of this card floating around the market.  I haven't picked up the regular version of this card yet so I was amazed at how nice these look.  I like them a lot better compared to last year's wrapper redemption program.

My Tim Hudson auto collection is slowly starting to grow.  Eventually I'll have a virtual album of his in the sidebar.

2012 Topps Braves Want List

Thanks to Sports Card Radio I have finally put together a want list of the various Braves (plus a few non-Braves).  Some I know I probably won't obtain anytime soon.  Others have a higher priority (anything Tim Hudson for instance).  I'll migrate this to my official want lists eventually, but for now here you go.

Classic Walk-Offs:
#CW-09 Rafael Furcal

Gold Futures:
#GF-04 Freddie Freeman
#GF-10 Craig Kimbrel
#GF-11 Julio Teheran

Gold Futures Autographs:
#GFA-JT Julio Teheran

Gold Futures Relics:
#GFR-CK Craig Kimbrel
#GFR-JT Julio Teheran

Golden Moments:
#GM-36 John Smoltz

Golden Moments Autographs:
#GMA-BM Brian McCann
#GMA-CJ Chipper Jones
#GMA-TH Tommy Hanson

Golden Moments Relics:
#GMR-BM Brian McCann
#GMR-CJ Chipper Jones
#GMR-DU Dan Uggla
#GMR-MP Martin Prado
#GMR-TH Tommy Hanson
#GMR-THU Tim Hudson

Gold Rush:
#15 Dan Uggla
#32 Tommy Hanson
#35 John Smoltz
#45 Tim Hudson
#50 Hank Aaron

Gold Rush Autographs:
#45 Tim Hudson

Gold Standard:
#GS-16 John Smoltz
#GS-21 Chipper Jones

Historical Stitches:
#HS-HA Hank Aaron

1987 Minis:
#TM-09 Jason Heyward
#TM-17 Craig Kimbrel
#TM-18 Michael Bourne
#TM-24 Dan Uggla
#TM-32 Tommy Hanson

Parallels (Black):
#058 Tim Hudson

Parallels (Gold Sparkle):
#058 Tim Hudson

Parallels (Purple):
#058 Tim Hudson

Parallels (Red):
#020 Craig Kimbrel
#058 Tim Hudson
#085 Jason Heyward
#087 Craig Kimbrel
#113 Craig Kimbrel
#115 Tommy Hanson
#215 Freddie Freeman
#227 Mike Minor
#305 Chipper Jones

Prime 9:
Hank Aaron

Short Prints:
#215 Freddie Freeman

Silk Collection:
SC-08 Craig Kimbrel
SC-22 Jason Heyward
SC-29 Tommy Hanson
SC-49 Freddie Freeman
SC-53 Mike Minor
SC-88 Chipper Jones
SC-97 Tim Hudson


Timeless Talents:
TT-09 John Smoltz / Craig Kimbrel
TT-10 Ryne Sandberg / Dan Uggla
TT-11 Johnny Bench / Brian McCann

Timeless Talents Autographs:
TTDA-SK John Smoltz / Craig Kimbrel

Timeless Talents Dual Relics:
#TTDR-SU Ryne Sandberg / Dan Uggla
#TTDR-MB Johnny Bench / Brian McCann

World Champion Relics:
#WCR-MH Matt Holliday
#WCR-LB Lance Berkman

World Series Pins:
#GCP-CJ Chipper Jones

February 2012 Affordable Group Break - 2012 Topps Series 1 Jumbo

We'll get those Prime 9 cards randomized along with the other multi-team cards right away.  My plan is to get to the next box this weekend and with any luck have the cards in the mail the first of next week.  Keep watching the blog for more group break fun!

2012 Topps Laziness / Beautiful Tim Hudson

My promise to you.  I will not flood this blog with post after post after post of 2012 Topps.  Outside of my pending group break I plan to keep the 2012 Topps post minimal.  That said I wanted to share this.

I watched Chris Olds' Beckett video the other day on YouTube and I was happy to see an awesome card of Craig Kimbrel hunched over on the mound getting ready to throw some gas.  Later on in I ran across a different card of Kimbrel in his sharp red jersey.  Since Topps hasn't released anything about the SPs I thought maybe, just maybe I got lucky.  Turns out the red jersey is #87 while the latter is #20.

The thing that got me all worked up however is the back of the card.  Just take a look.

Do you see what I see?  It's the exact same card back!  C'mon Topps.  I'm glad you made 2 Kimbrel cards, but couldn't you at least come up w/ a different back?  Perhaps a brief story on how he won the NL Rookie of the Year award or something?  Heck, I'd even take a write up of his and the Braves September collapse!

However all is not lost.  Topps redeemed their selves with this awesome photo of Tim Hudson.  I will be chasing the rainbow.

It is evident in my opinion that Topps has upped the quality of the photography for this year's flagship set.  I've seen lots of great play at the plate action shots among others already.

Back to the Huddy card.  I wish they would've made mention of the game he hit this homer he's starting at.  I'd even take a card with his batting statistics.  Now that would be a "game changer".

February 2012 Affordable Group Break featuring 2012 Topps! Sign up now!

February's break will include 2 boxes - 2 teams for $15.00.  That's less than the price of a blaster!

 

2012 Topps Jumbo HTA

10 packs per box, 50 cards per pack

- 1 auto per box & 2 relics per box

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom (hobby)

20 packs per box, 12 cards per pack

 - 3 autographed relic and or relics per box

In an effort to make sure the entire break is filled up we'll be going with the format of choose 1 team and have a 2nd team randomly assigned.  Of course you are welcome to trade teams after all the teams have been assigned.  Just make sure that you let me know so you get the correct cards.  Each slot will be $15.00 shipped.  After all 15 slots are filled the unclaimed teams will then be randomized and assigned to each participant.

To claim your team please leave a comment with your requested team(s) and then please submit your gift payment via PayPal to cardboardcollections at yahoo.com.  Due to PayPal cracking down on gift payments PLEASE DO NOT PUT ANYTHING IN THE SUBJECT LINE OR COMMENT BOX!  Please e-mail me your full mailing address and the team you claimed after payment is sent.

01) Atlanta Braves (Cardboard Collections) (PAID)

02) Baltimore Orioles (Justin G.) (PAID)

03) Texas Rangers (Play at the Plate)

04) Toronto Blue Jays (moremonkeys138) (PAID)

05) Colorado Rockies (hiflew) (PAID)

06) New York Yankees (NY Hitman 23) (PAID)

07) Cincinnati Reds (Potch) (PAID)

08) Philadelphia Phillies (daddyohoho) (PAID)

09) San Francisco Giants (arpsmith) (PAID)

10) St. Louis Cardinals (IkesCards) (PAID)

11) Boston Red Sox (jaybarkerfan) (PAID)

12) New York Mets (TheBrooklynMet) (PAID)

13) Milwaukee Brewers (cynicalbuddha) (PAID)

14) Washington Nationals (Cool Breeze) (PAID)

15) Cleveland Indians (Baseball Dad) (PAID)

 

2012 Topps Jumbo HTA Group Break?

2012 Topps Series 1 is just around the corner so I thought I'd throw this out there.  I've decided not to build the set or buy any (many) blasters, rack packs or looseys.  That said I will want the Braves cards from the set so why not do a group break!  Surely I can find 14 other people to participate.  Here are the options:

1) What I'm proposing is a jumbo box (10 packs, 50 cards per pack with 1 auto & 2 relic cards).  Cost would only be $10.00 for 2 teams - 1 team of your choice and 1 team randomized.  That's less than the price of a blaster!

2) I also thought about tossing in another box just to up the card count as well as a chance of hits.  I can add a hobby box of 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom (3 hits) for an additional $5.00 per slot ($15.00 / 2 teams).

So - any takers for either option?  Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in either option.  I'll gauge the interest and officially open sign-ups based on the response.