Showing posts with label 2012 Topps Opening Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012 Topps Opening Day. Show all posts

Friday, August 3, 2018

First Ever "Charity" Group Break - Let's Help a Fellow Cardboard Addict

08/07/18 UPDATE - The break is FULL!! Thank you so much to everyone participating. Boxes have been ordered and should arrive Wednesday, 08/08/18. I've got a previous engagement this Saturday night, so I'm planning on going Live on Twitter around 9 PM Eastern this Friday, 08/10/18. I hope you can be there. I'll do a separate post of the highlights pulled afterwards. See you Friday!!

08/05/18 UPDATE - We are only one slot away from filling up the break. I'm going to go ahead and order the boxes this evening so we may be able to move up the break a week from 08/18 to 08/11. I've already purchased a blaster of 2018 Topps Chrome and it'll be added once the last spot is filled. Thank you all that have signed up and to those of you that have donated extra to the cause. Stay tuned to the blog as well as to my Twitter feed for updates.

I've been given a platform (so to speak) and I've been led to do something good for someone else. I'm hoping that you'll stop long enough to listen to my idea and I hope that I can find others that are willing to support this endeavor.


Everyone, meet Nick. Nick is an Orioles fan and a fellow baseball card collector. You may have seen his name claiming the Orioles in several of my previous Affordable Group breaks since I started that up earlier this year. Nick and his wife are in the process of trying to adopt a child from China to add to their family. When I read his story on his GoFundMe page, I was shocked to see how much it costs to adopt. I did some missions work in Kenya, Africa years ago and the adoption topic came up while we were there. I knew adoption was expensive, but $20K+?! Nick and his family have already secured some financial backers that are willing to pay one half of the cost, so he only has to raise $11,250. Easy right? Well not really...but that's where I'm hoping we, the cardboard community, come into play.

In lieu of this month's Affordable Group Break, I'm going to host a Charity Group Break where the proceeds of the break go directly to Nick's GoFundMe campaign. My goal is to give them as much money as possible. The entry price of $10 will include a small donation to the cause. Any amount over $10, 100% of the additional funds will go directly to the campaign. While extra donations are appreciated, they are not required. Simple enough, right?

The product in this break include 2 Hobby boxes (2013 Pinnacle & 2013 Prizm) and 1 Retail box (2012 Topps Opening Day). For more information about each product, please click on the name.

2013 Pinnacle 
Box will include 2 autographs and 23 inserts including 2 Artist's Proofs and 3 Museum Collection. Possible RCs: Yasiel Puig, Manny Machado, Jose Fernandez, Evan Gattis, Gerrit Cole and Jackie Bradley Jr. If you like acetate cards, this product is for you!

 2013 Prizm
Box will include 2 autographs and 3 Prizms (Refractor). Hobby exclusive orange die-cut Prizims #d to 50. Possible RCs: Yasiel Puig, Manny Machado, Zack Wheeler, Nolan Arenado, Gerrit Cole, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Jose Fernandez.

2012 Topps Opening Day
Possible autograph or Printing Plate (though not likely). Inserts include: #'d Blue parallels, lenticular Opening Day, Fantasy Squad, Elite Skills & Mascots.

BONUS: If we can fill the entire 15 slot break by Monday morning, 08/06/18 at 12 PM Eastern, I'll throw in a blaster of 2018 Topps Chrome!


SKUNK PROTECTION: If any one of your teams don't receive any cards, I'll dip into my own stash and provide you with base cards/inserts. (I'll probably add a few cards to everyone's stack...just because!)

This will work in similar fashion to previous Breaks I've hosted. We'll have 15 slots, each slot contains two teams. You'll get to pick your first team and once all 15 slots are full, I'll randomize the remaining unclaimed 15 teams and assign them to each claimed slot. The entry price will cover the cost of the product (which I've been given a discount on) and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Nick Dusenbury's GoFundMe campaign. I'm going to rely on you, the reader, to help spread the word so that not only can we fill up this break as soon as possible, but that we also can generate as much money for this great cause. Last question, are you with me?!

RULES:
* $10 entry price per slot - while not necessary, if you want to up your pledge it will greatly be appreciated.
* Please add $4 for shipping for each slot claimed. Cards will be carefully packaged and shipped in a bubble mailer.
* Because this is for charity, there won't be any multi-slot/team discounts.
* All cards ship!
* Payment (Goods & Services please) - PayPal.me/flywheels86
* When sending your payment, please include the team(s) you chose
* If there are cards with multiple players, the card will go to the team with the least amount of cards from that product.
* Boxes will be opened live on Twitter.
* I don't have a schedule date/time for the break as the boxes will still need to be ordered, but I'll post updates on my social media channels (Facebook & Twitter). Aiming to get started Saturday, 08/18/18...if not sooner.
* Questions? Please let me know. You can message me on Facebook Messenger or send me a Direct Message on Twitter.

01) Braves - @flywheels (pd)
02) Reds - Jason German (pd)
03) Astros - @thedimwit (pd)
04) Pirates - @thedimwit (pd)
05) Red Sox - @thedimwit (pd)
06) Diamondbacks - @awmckenz (pd)
07) Random Team (Mets) - @awmckenz (pd)
08) Cardinals - @cardsoncards (pd)
09) Cubs - @communitygum (pd)
10) Yankees - @madglavsmoltz (pd)
11) Random Team (Padres) - @awmckenz (pd)
12) Tigers - The Sewing Machine Guy (pd)
13) Dodgers - gcrl (pd)
14) Angels - @DionSoskin (pd)
15) Mariners - @workoutbaseball (pd)

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Pack Break - 2012 Topps Opening Day (Jumbo)

April 2012 is just around the corner and what does that mean in the baseball card world?  The release of Topps' annual Opening Day cards.  I'm not building this set, but I'm always intrigued by new cards so I grabbed a jumbo pack to get a hands on impression.

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First thing I noticed this year is the slight price increase.  Retail packs are now $1.09, jumbos are $3.19 and blasters are $10.49.  I doubt this will be a deal breaker for anyone that was already planning on buying this product.

Jumbo packs contain 24 cards and seem to have the best odds when it comes to inserts:

  • Superstar Celebrations 1:2
  • Fantasy Squad 1:2
  • Elite Skills 1:2 
  • Mascot 1:2
  • Opening Day Stars 1:2
  • Blue Border Parallels (sequentially numbered)
  • Printing Plates (sequentially numbered)
  • Opening Day Autographs 1:142
By now we should know what we're getting with Opening Day, but let's go ahead and bust the pack and take a look at the cards.

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#161 Hunter Pence (Phillies)
#098 Ben Zobrist (Rays)
#104 Alexi Ogando (Rangers)
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#146 Ian Desmond (Nationals)
#135 Josh Reddick (A's)
#176 Geovany Soto (Cubs)
#038 Brett Myers (Astros)
#175 Jason Bay (Mets)
#001 Ryan Braun (Brewers)
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#100 Matt Kemp (Dodgers)
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#FS-27 Mike Stanton - Fantasy Squad (Marlins)
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#061 C.J. Wilson - Blue Border #0602/2012 (Angels)
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#M-13 Dinger - Mascots (Rockies)
#047 Nick Swisher (Yankees)
#128 Lance Berkman (Cardinals)
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#201 Jose Reyes (Marlins)
#126 Danny Valencia (Twins)
#087 Ryan Howard (Phillies)
#192 James Shields (Rays)
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#186 Martin Prado (Braves)
#185 Jeff Niemann (Rays)
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#200 Albert Pujols (Angels)
#190 Stephen Strasburg (Nationals)
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#163 Heath Bell (Marlins)

This was a good pack for me as I got a Brave and 3 other players I collect (Berkman, Pujols & Bell).  The look of the card is what I expected - lack of foil which for me is an enhancement to the design. 

As far as the inserts go I was glad to see that the gold foil stamping has returned for the serial numbering on the parallels...even though the parallels seem pointless to me.  Since the Mascots have been done before I could do without those.  The Fantasy Squad cards are OK looking, but nothing spectacular.  I had to resort to Google image searches for the other inserts.  I like the Superstar Celebrations, but the Elite Skills are just too bland for me.  The only inserts I'm chasing this year are the 3D Opening Day Stars.  That has kind of become a thing for me...chasing the various 3D card sets.

All in all it's decent product for the price.  I know Topps isn't targeting hardcore collectors here and that is OK.  Like with many hobbies kids are the lifeblood.  I'm all for anything that drives more people to the hobby and I hope that is the case with 2012 Topps Opening Day.