Cards from the Astrodome

The above smattering of cards was delivered last week and were courtesy of Marc from Remember the Astrodome. Between work, hosting breaks and getting ready for a camping trip this weekend I just haven't had time to do much blogging, however I wanted to take a moment to publicly thank Marc for the cards.

I decided to skip the annual Gypsy Queen set for the first since it debuted in 2011. This decision was made before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and threatened the 2020 baseball season...and as a result the 2020 baseball card season as well. To date I've not bought a single pack of 2020 GQ so these cards of Freddie Freeman and new Braves catcher, Travis D'Arnaud represent the first new GQ cards in my Braves collection.

I opened my first pack of 2020 Topps Stickers earlier today as well so I'm excited to see the Mike Soroka card in the package. I still think he is going to help solidify and anchor the rotation for years to come...plus these sticker cards have a fun design.

I honestly can't remember if I have the included Donruss, Heritage, Archives or Opening Day cards, but I do look forward to sitting down and updating my Google Sheets file.

Marc, if you're reading I'll try my best to have a package out to you. Thanks again for sending these my way.

1997 Leaf Group Break Results

This week's Affordable Group Break has come and gone, but like with every other break I've hosted it was still fun. This time around we broke a retail box of 1997 Leaf Series 1. The possibility of the Fractal Matrix parallels and the innovative inserts is what attracted me to selecting this box. Leaf has some really fun inserts in the late 90's and while the production run of some of these may have been serially numbered to 5000 (or less), they still can be a tuff pull. I thought by the pack odds of inserts falling 1:6 packs we'd get 4 "hits", however we only came in with 3. What we go however were still pretty cool.

First insert pulled was this nice Knothole Gang. These are printed on wood and mimics a hole in a fence a kid may have been peeking through to catch a ballgame. These are numbered to 5000. 

Several packs later we hit the retail exclusive insert, Dress for Success. These are printed on nylon and have the feel of cloth (kind of). The letters on the jersey are done in felt. These are serially numbered to 3500. 

We finally hit a Fractal Matrix parallel and it was the non-diecut Bronze variety of Reds player Chat Mottola. Not quite what we were expecting, but I guess you can't win them all. None the less these parallels looks much nicer in hand than when photographed.

Overall this was still a fun break and I hope those of you who participated had as much fun as I did. I'm not sure what product will be featured in the next Affordable Group Break, but keep your eyes here on the blog and across my social media channels for the next installment.

Affordable Group Break - 1997 Leaf Series 1 (Retail)

** 05/13/20 UPDATE ** Prices have been reduced on the remaining 4 teams! $4 will take the remaining 4 spots.

This break will feature 1997 Leaf. Series 1 consists of 200 cards with each pack consisting of 8 cards, 24 packs in the box. For more info on this set, be sure to visit the Trading Card Database or BaseballCardPedia for checklists. Lots of great inserts such as Fractal Matrix parallels, Dress for Success (retail exclusive), Knothole Gang and Statistical Standouts.

I'm posting these signs up to the Facebook group, my blog and on Twitter all at the same time so if you want to claim a team(s), I recommend you don't wait.

Price is listed beside each team. The price does not include shipping. Like with my recent previous breaks, stacking applies so if you bought into a previous break or want me to hold your cards until you see what's next, I'll send you a PayPal invoice for shipping whenever you're ready. We'll break this box Live on my YouTube channel as soon as the break fills up. We'll break the box as soon as all the spots fill up. I'll update all of my social media outlets (FB group, Twitter @flywheels) with a date/time of when the break will occur, however because of vacation plans I will be aiming to break Thursday, 05/14/20 if possible.

To claim your team(s) please comment with your request and submit your payment at that time. If you haven't participated in one of my breaks, please email me your name & mailing address. Please send your payment as Friends & Family: http://paypal.me/flywheels86


Anaheim Angels $2 - Tom T. paid
Atlanta Braves - Colbey paid
Baltimore Orioles $3 - Scribbled Ink paid
Boston Red Sox $2 - Scott C. paid
Chicago Cubs $2 - Ben M. paid
Chicago White Sox - Colbey paid
Cincinnati Reds $2 - Ben M. paid
Cleveland Indians $3 - Wade F. paid
Colorado Rockies $3 - Adam K. paid
Detroit Tigers $2 - Scribbled Ink paid
Florida Marlins $1 - @RubenCollects
Houston Astros $3 - Marc B. paid
Kansas City Royals $2 - Wade F. paid
Los Angeles Dodgers $3 - Colbey paid
Milwaukee Brewers $1 - Ben M. paid
Minnesota Twins $3 - Colbey paid
Montreal Expos $2 - Tom T. paid
New York Mets $1 - Ben M. paid
New York Yankees $5 - @Lost_Collector paid
Oakland Athletics $3 - @cardboardpocalypseNC paid
Philadelphia Phillies $2 - Vrooomed paid
Pittsburgh Pirates $2 - Wade F. paid
San Diego Padres $4 - Colbey paid
San Francisco Giants $3 - Dustin D. paid
Seattle Mariners $5 - Ben M. paid
St. Louis Cardinals $3 - Kerry B. paid
Texas Rangers $3 - @cardboardpocalypseNC paid
Toronto Blue Jays $2 - Scott C. paid

1995 Upper Deck SP Group Break Results

Another edition of my Affordable Group Breaks has come and gone. I really appreciate everyone's support and participation since I've brought back the breaks. It's been a lot of fun opening the packs and I'm glad people are getting cards they want without having to open their wallets too wide. As long as you guys keep supporting me I will do my best to keep these breaks rolling along. Prices on older boxes of cards is starting to creep up, but I'll do my best to keep these cheap and affordable as much as possible.

The design for 1995 SP I thought was pretty clean. The left side has a pyramid like section of metallic foil with a gold trim, the SP logo checkboard in the background. Different colored foil was used - red for AL teams and blue for NL teams. The SP Salute subset feature a monochrome blue background and a die-cut top, similar to the Premier Prospects subset and Platinum Power inserts. 

We managed to pull several base cards of the bigger names such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Kirby Puckett, Chipper Jones and Tony Gywnn. We also got a few of the SP Salute cards - Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Schmidt and Nolen Ryan.

This box of 1995 Upper Deck SP really only boasted one standout RC and that was of the Dodgers' Hideo Nomo. The box does yield a nice rainbow foil parallel called Superbafoil that fall on per pack. Die-Cut Platinum Power inserts were 1:5 packs while the chase was on for the Special F/X inserts at 1:75 packs. While we did strike out on the HoloView technology used in Special F/X, I thought the box was still pretty good to us.

We did land the Hideo Nomo RC so that was nice, but we also pulled the Superbafoil parallel version. The Premier Prospects were already nice cards with the die-cut top and the etched foil, but the parallel are even nicer with the rainbow sheen. These look much sharper in person than photographed. I'm sure @dodgersdennis who claimed the Dodgers will be happy with these two.

Speaking of the Superbafoil parallels, we pulled some nice ones including Barry Larkin, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Mussina, Dennis Eckersley, Paul Molitor and Mike Piazza to name a few.

Platinum Power inserts were well represented in the box with the likes of Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell, Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Piazza and Raul Mondesi. The only question I have pertaining to these cards is why don't they have a more platinum or at lease silver color? Hmm...

Overall this was yet another fun box and I hope all that participated got a few cards they'll enjoy. We'll keep the breaks going next week with a box of 1997 Leaf. This is the overwhelming winner of the poll I posted in both my Facebook group and on Twitter. Stay tuned for more info as it'll be posted very soon.

Pack Break: 2018-19 Upper Deck Marvel Annual

Being an avid comic book reader/collector and a trading card collector you would think I would have been all over a set let this, but somehow these Upper Deck Marvel sets have eluded my attention until recently. I ended up with two sealed packs of the 2018-19 set and eagerly ripped into both of them. Here I'll be sharing the contents of one of the 4 card packs.

As I figured the cards all hail from storylines that took place in 2018 and 2019, such as this card of The Final Host which took part in the beginning of the current volume of Avengers.

Love this Captain Marvel card. She played a big role in the somewhat recent story with the Infinity Stones coming back into our reality.

I haven't read much in the way of any of the X-Men books in years, but I did hear that the former villain, Pyro, had reformed and fought alongside the X-Men now.

This is the Comic Covers insert set and features an inset cover to the first part of the epic "No Surrender" storyline from Avengers. These gorgeous covers feature ary by none other than Mark Brooks.

After opening these two packs I instantly fell in love with the set. Unfortunately these cards can be pricey on the secondary market so I don't know if I'll ever complete the set, but now that they are on my radar I will be looking to score a set or a box if they ever come at the right price.

Sunday Verse

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 New International Version For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Read at Bible Gateway Read all of 1 Thessalonians 4

2005 Topps Rookie Cup Group Break Results

Friday evening we busted a retail box of 2005 Topps Rookie Cup. While I have a few random cards from this set in my Braves collection, I've never opened a pack or really looked into the set that much. However I got a good deal on the box and thought it would be fun to feature in one of my Affordable Group Breaks. The break filled up rather quickly so I'm guessing I chose a good product.

Part of the draw to this set was the inclusion of autographs. While the cards are sticker autos, the checklist had some good names such as Pujols, Manny Ramirez and Cal Ripken Jr. Retail boxes didn't have any guarantees as the hobby boxes did, so I wasn't sure what we'd get. For a second straight week our box defied the odds!

The 3rd pack in yielded this First Year Orange Autograph of the Orioles' Brandon Synder. These were seeded 1:232 packs and numbered to /199.

We also pulled some of the various colored parallels. Green were numbered to /199, Yellow were numbered to /299, Orange were numbered to /399 and Red were numbered to /499. Yes, the Red and Orange parallels were very tough to distinguish from the color alone.

Overall this was a great box and a lot of fun. The base design is different, but nice. The colors are a little drab, but the various parallels add a nice splash of color. I think the participants in this break had just as much fun as I did opening the box. Check back next week as we'll be opening a hobby box of 1995 Upper Deck SP.