May 2012 Affordable Group Break - 1986 Leaf

We're finally at the end of this month's Affordable Group Break with the box of 1986 Leaf.  I've never opened anything older than 1992 in a break I've hosted so this was kind of fun.  It was nice to open some old wax packs again.  There were a lot of big names, but few RCs.  Here is just a small selection of the cards pulled.

  

  

  

  

I'm in the process of packing up all the cards now and I hope to have everything in the mail Wednesday at the latest.  Thanks again for everyone's support.  If you didn't already see the box in the upper right corner of the blog then you'll see I'm taking a mini vacation next month from hosting.  There are plenty of great bloggers that I'm sure will pick up the slack.  See you again in July!

Pack Break - 2012 Upper Deck Football

Some how, some way Upper Deck is staying alive.  I guess it makes sense for them to get their money's worth out of their collegiate license so here we go w/ 2012 football.

Robert Griffith III is this year's poster child for UD football



Full bleed photos of 2012 rookies in their college unis.

(top to bottom, left to right)
Dan Persa, Junior Hemingway, Case Keenum
Keenan Robinson, Alameda Ta'amu

I'm not a big college football fan so these early football releases usually don't cut it for me.  I'll probably seek out any Carolina Panthers rookies in the set, but other than that this is an easy pass for me.  If anyone wants any of these 5 cards they are available for the low low price of a SASE!  Just leave a comment...

Sunday Verse

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Are you catching onto the theme here everyone?  Amazing that some people just don't "get it".  Each one of us was loved so much that He sent his son to die for us.  Do you love anyone enough to die for them?  Would you die for a complete stranger?  Jesus did...

May 2012 Affordable Group Break - 2002 Donruss Best of Fan Club

The next box in this month's break is 2002 Donruss Best of Fan Club.  At the time of choosing this box I didn't catch the "Best of" in the title.  I remember opening a few packs of Fan Club back in '02 and I liked it.  I didn't even know that this product existed.  After opening a few packs it reminded me of what Upper Deck did with their Victory and Ultimate Victory products.  As it turns out the base cards are really shiny and nice looking.

The set is comprised of 300 cards - 200 veterans, 60 rookies (#d to 1350) and 40 Fan Club cards (#d to 2025).  There is also a parallel set called Spotlight that are #d to 100.  Inserts include League Leaders (#d to 300), Records (#d to 300), Records Book parallel (bat, #d to 150), Franchise Features (#d to 300), Double Features (#d to 125, two swatches of game-used #d to 50, Artists (#d to 300), Master Artists (jersey, #d to 150), Pure Power (#d to 300), Power Masters parallel (bat, #d to 150), Craftsmen (#d to 300) and Master Craftsmen (bat or baseball, #d to 150).  Overall odds are 1:2 packs.

 The downside to these cards is they don't scan well.  They have this "mirror board" kind of look are are printed on thicker than normal card stock.  I really like the look of these.  They do show fingerprints so I tried to handle these carefully.  It appears any fingerprints will easily wipe off however.

 In addition to the red foil serial numbering, the rookies also feature a refractor-ish look on the front.

 Spotlight is the parallel set.  These are easy to miss as they look a lot like the base cards.  Check out the numbering of the Soriano - 100/100!

The Fan Club SPs sport a really nice design.  These have that refractor-ish look with added broad vertical stripes on the front.

 No one claimed the Diamondbacks (surprising, eh?) so this Randy Johnson card will be randomed off to the teams that didn't get a numbered card/insert or hit.

Shannon Stewart (Blue Jays) - League Leaders 

Not familiar w/ this guy, are you?  I know how a lot of collector's feel about sticker autos and I'm in the same boat.  The "authenticity" stamp on the front also looks weird.  Oh well, congrats to The Dutch Card Guy!

Nice looking memorabilia card.  I seem to have a knack for pulling game-used Pudge cards!  The serial numbering 150/150 is also cool.  This is the 2nd card to have the final numbering in this box.  Congrats to aj245!

That wraps up this box.  Overall I was much happier with this product.  There were a couple of teams that didn't get any cards (Royals & Tigers), but again I'm going to try and toss in as many freebies as possible.  One more box to go - 1986 Leaf.  I'm still in the process of opening this box so the results may still be a day or two away.  Stay tuned!

May 2012 Affordable Group Break - 2002 Donruss

 

I want to thank the fine folks at the Baseball Card Exchange again for helping sponsor this month's Affordable Group Break.

I've had a lot on my plate this week thanks to some things at work so I apologize for the delay in getting this started.  On that same note I hope everyone understands and is OK w/ me not listing the results of each pack.  I don't have much time this weekend and I hate to continue to drag this out any longer than necessary.  So I'll just be highlighting a few cards plus all the SPs, inserts and hits.  At least for those of you participating they'll be some element of surprise once your package arrives as to what is in it.  I'll also be doing my best to toss in extra freebie cards as usual.

The base set is comprised of 150 veterans, 50 Rated Rookies (SPs) and 20 Fan Club (SPs).  Inserts include Diamond Kings (#d to 2500), Diamond Kings Studio Series parallel (#d to 250), Elite Series (#d to 2500), Elite Signatures, Elite Series Legends (#d to 2500), Elite Series Legends Signatures, Production Line (#d to a career stat), All-Time Diamond Kings (#d to 2500), All-Time Diamond Kings Studio Series parallel (#d to 250), Longball Leaders (#d to 1000), Longball Leaders Seasonal Sum (#d to 2001 HR total), Jersey Kings, Bat Kings, Rookie of the Year Materials and Recollection Collection (autos, 1:2000).  Overall odds for the inserts is 1:5 packs.

Now you know what could be in the box let's take a look at a few base cards as well as the SPs and inserts pulled.

I like the overall design for 2002 Donruss...but I can't get past the black bar across the bottom.  My first pack of cards was a Donruss product so I've always been partial to what they've put out.  I still miss the brand.

 Rated Rookies are short printed, but I'm not sure what the odds were for these.

Career Stat Line parallels are serially numbered to a certain career stat.  For Richard Hidalgo 299 represents his career RBI total as of 2001.

Fan Club is another SP subset.  The other card pull from this set was Luis Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks.
 

The real winner here was the Dodgers with this nice Diamond Kings Studio Series parallel of Shawn Green.

Production Line Chipper Jones rounds out the box.  It's #516/605 and the 605 represents his slugging percentage.

We didn't get any other SPs or inserts, but most of the teams claimed were well represented w/ base cards.  The next 2002 box should yield even (and better) cards.