Two Packs: Ballpark Collection

I showed off the Hamilton quad jersey I pulled out of my Ballpark break yesterday.  Today, I’ll show you the rest of the goodies.  You are supposed to get either one autograph and two memorabilia cards per pack, or three memorabilia cards.  I got one of each variety.  All things being equal, in this product I would rather have the memorabilia cards.

Base Cards (1 per pack, these might be a pain to come by if you are looking for someone specific)

Autograph – like I said, I’d rather have the jersey, although I must admit I love the look of the cards.  As an aside – I am a Phil Coke magnet.

Dual Jerseys – I like the design.  I am no longer trying to decipher the meaning behind some of these pairings, but I like the design.

Quad Jersey - in addition to the quad jersey featuring Hamilton, I ended up with a Red Sox quad jersey.

Six Swatch Jersey – looks like a collection of pitchers. 

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Break Results: The Hamiltons

In addition to the (awesome) box of Goodwin I broke today, the shop had Ballpark Collection in.  I am a sucker to pull relics.  There is no better place to pull relics than Ballpark Collection.  I will give everyone a complete breakdown of Ballpark probably tomorrow, but I decided to show off the Hamilton cards that I ended up with out of today’s breaks.

First up, a Goodwin base card, and one of those awesome Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Collection cards.  This one actually is awesome, because it features Josh Hamilton.   All other hits aside – this is probably one of the most impressive Hamilton cards I could pull.  Sure – he has 10 different cards in the 20th Anniversary set, but there are 2500 total cards, spread out over how many different products this year?

I also hit a pretty cool Hamilton out of Ballpark.  Yes, relics are incredibly easy to pull from this product, but the checklist is incredibly varied, and it is awesome anytime you pull your guy.  Hamilton headlines (yes, headlines) this quad jersey card with Holliday, Markakis (these two get paired up a lot), and Chris Young.

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Goodwin Box Break: The Hits

I went up to the local card shop today, and I am glad I did.  First, a little story.   My shop is upstairs in a building on the main drag.  As I was walking upstairs, I could tell there were more people there than usual (I always go early on a Saturday morning, so this is kind of unusual).  As I walked in the door, I said ‘Hello’ to the owner, he smiled, and then he ‘Shushed’ me, with that universal finger over the lips gesture.  I was confused, because I was going to ask about the Goodwin he said he would have this week.   Then he took a few steps over, pointed at the floor behind the counter and mouthed ‘I have a box for you.’

It was as close as I am going to get to being in a spy movie.  Turns out, his order for Goodwin got cut, and he only got two boxes.  He had already sold one, and someone had been asking about it, but he had already set it aside for me.  Yay me!  Anyways – this is one of the reasons it makes sense to support your local shop.  Also, the fact that I grabbed a bunch of cardboard boxes and penny sleeves without the exorbitant shipping costs I would incur buying online.

Bottom line:  My shop owner is cool.

Anyways – onto the box of Goodwin.  One of the reasons all the subterfuge was worth it?  the box was freakin’ awesome!

I will post lists of base, SPs and minis that are for trade shortly, but here are the hits.

Game Used Jerseys

Two Red Sox, which kind of sucks, but the player selection could have been much, much worse.

Entomology Redemption:

I was psyched.  Then I read this card, and it turns out these can’t be sent to Canada.  I guess it makes sense, because it is basically an animal carcass.  Hopefully I can flip this into something cool for my collection.  I’d love to get one of the Omaha Beach Sand cards, or maybe a sweet Hamilton.

Why wasn’t the anxiously anticipated Bug Card the highlight of the break?  Because this little guffer popped out next!

There’s the hits.  Like I said, I will post the smaller cards later this weekend, but I was really excited about how this break turned out, and wanted to share.

2009 Upper Deck Football: 3D Inserts

Since my shop didn’t have Goodwin in yet, I did a box of A&G (summarized earlier) and a box of 2009 Upper Deck Football.  I don’t collect a lot of football, but it does make for some amazing looking cards.  The photography in base Upper Deck products are amazing across the board, and it gives pretty good bang for your buck.  This box guaranteed 3 jerseys and an auograph per box, which I hit as well as 2 3D inserts, which had me intrigued.  Basically, they are a lot like the old school Sport Flicks cards.  I was happy with my luck on these – I pulled Adrian Peterson and Reggie Bush.  I am considering doing this set as well.  Some say I am insane.  Likely this will never materialize, but you never know.

My jerseys were fairly good – Mark Sanchez and Mohamed Massaquoi Rookie Jerseys, and an Eddie Royal for my veteran.  My autograph was Chris Long, which is cool, but it is a bit damaged (kind of scuffed) on the front.  Its really not worth sending back to UD though, so I will just suck it up.

One of the other features of base UD Football is rookie cards.  Lots and lots of rookie cards.  The product guarantees four per pack, and there are 16 packs in the box.  That works out to 64, but I had some packs which had a few extras.  Most of these guys have already been cut, or relegated to a practice roster, but there are some gems in there.

Bottom line – its a fun product to break.  I didn’t hit big, but I got exactly what I was supposed to, with perhaps a little better than average player selection.  A fun break, and the 3D cards are a cool idea.  Definitely worth checking out if you have a chance.  Maybe not anything to break by the case, but it is reliable if not spectacular.

Another box of 09 A&G: Hamilton N43

This is my third box of 2009 Allen & Ginter (my shop is getting Goodwin in next week), and the first one that had significant Hamilton content – it was only one card, but it started right away.  This was in my first pack.

The rest of the box was as expected – I got my three hits (Fukudome and Gagne jerseys & Johnny Cueto autograph), and my assorted minis (two black borders for my slowly progressing set).  It seems as though most of my base and SPs were doubles, but that might be my imagination.  I will have to check when I am putting things away.

One quick question – I hit my first ‘Inventions of the Future’ – is this shorter than the normal mini inserts, or just my typical luck?  The Protecto-Bubble made an appearance here.

Feedback on a Custom Cut

My last post was about some new products commemorating World War II, and the soldiers who fought in it.  After hearing about this product, I was somewhat inspired to go digging through my box of TTM autos, and try my hand at some custom cut autographs.

Several years ago, I wrote to many of the men whose stories were featured in the excellent HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers”.  I received many replies, and have a nice collection of signed index cards, which are among my most treasured.  Often they took the time to respond to my questions, and were unfailingly polite.  One note, which is a bit of a sad commentary on how this hobby sometimes goes – almost all of them explicitly asked me not to sell the autographs I received.  I have been more than happy to comply with this request.

I have been thinking that I would like to come up with some type of ‘set’ design, and display these cuts somehow.  In that vein, I am looking for feedback on the design below.  Obviously, not all my signatures are the same size, and I actually might end up needing to make the set in 4×6 size (they all included inscriptions, which I intend to keep intact), but the basic elements are in place.  If you have any tips to offer, or suggestions, please feel free to comment or shoot me an email.

History Cards: Band of Brothers, D-Day….

In keeping with the trend I just recently started with my American Heritage box break that I recently posted, we are staying in the past.  Trader’s Crack alerted me to an awesome product – put out by icardz, a Canadian company based in PEI.

Their World War 2 Series I cards focusing on D-Day will feature the 101st Airborne in one set, and more general coverage i in the other set.  Each box contains a complete set of both subsets.  You can check out proposed pictures, and sign up for presale information here.

icardz also has a D-Day set focusing on Canada’s contributions (this set is already out) and a Canada at War set scheduled for release this fall.

I am going to be picking up a D-Day set, and also likely a  box of each of the Canada and America at War products.  Its an important chapter of history, and we should not forget.

Fantasy Football Interlude

I need 8 fantasy points out of Zach Miller for a win this week.  A 20 yard TD or 80 yards would do it.  I’m not optimistic.

Six in Thirty Challenge: Team Canada Binder

Just when I was running low on ideas, Dinged Corners comes up with something.  Basically, flip through a binder in 30 seconds, and grab 6 cards that make you happy.  I knew just where to go – my Team Canada binder!

These cards aren’t in the order that I pulled them or anything like that.  Basically, they are grouped together so that I can talk about why they make me happy.

Colleen Sostorics O Canada Jersey Card – I played minor hockey with Colleen for two years.  I have had passing interactions with guys who have gone on to play in the NHL, but I was never in a position to pick up cards of someone I knew quite well.  Colleen has two Olympic gold medals to her name, and is currently working towards making Team Canada for the 2010 games.

Luke Schenn O Canada Jersey – Luke Schenn is the main reason most Leafs fans haven’t jumped off a tall building.  That’s a lot of pressure for a 19 year old, but that kind of comes with wearing a Leafs jersey.  Schenn has bore the pressure admirably.

Hayley Wickenheiser Autograph – best women’s hockey player ever.  You know when you play hockey (or any other sport) and everyone wants #16 or 9 or 19?  90 % of girl’s hockey teams in Canada have a #22, and it was hotly contested.

Carey Price Autograph – I know, I am a Leafs fan and Price plays for the Habs.  But – before he played for the Habs, he played for Canada.  And that means he was awesome.  His play has tailed off a little bit,  Incidentally – so has his autograph.  Possibly the two are connected?  Sign your full name, Carey!  This card also has a special place because it was the last card I needed to polish off the set.

Luc Bourdon Autograph and Jersey – These next two cards make me happy/sad.  Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident after his rookie season in the NHL.  That’s the sad part.  The (somewhat) happy part is having a reminder of a vibrant young man who had achieved his goals in life.  A cardboard memorial of sorts.  And hopefully a reminder to someone else to drive carefully.  I guess the happiest part might be the guy that doesn’t make the news, because he took a safe driving course and didn’t get hurt.

There you have it, six cards that make me happy (happy/sad).  Much more than just a slab of cardboard in a plastic binder page.

2009 Topps American Heritage: The Inserts and Hits

Here’s the ‘goodies’ from my box of American Heritage.  Most of this is available, if you are interested.  I am going to finish off the Medal of Honor set for myself, so if you have those and want to trade shoot me a note.

Chromes /1776 – C3 (John McCain), C16 (Hiram Rhodes Revels), C29 (Mother Jones), C32 (Red Adair), C48 (John Moran), C54 (Navajo Code Talkers), C64 (Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail), C76 (Florence Kelley), C88 (Woodrow Wilson)

Heroes of Spaceflight – HSF-3 (Friendship 7), HSF-17 (Apollo 1), HSF-19 (Apollo 8)

Presidential Medal of Freedom – MOF-4 (Billy Graham), MOF-10 (Duke Ellington), MOF-15 (Jimmy Stewart), MOF-16 (Richard Petty), MOF-20 (Colin Powell), MOF-25 (William Safire)

Medal of Honor – MOH-11 (William McBryar), MOH-15 (William Harvey Carney), MOH-19 (Billy Dixon), MOH-20 (Benjamin Brown), MOH-21 (Isaiah Mays), MOH-28 (Ira Clinton Welborn), MOH-30 (Hiram I Bearss), MOH-31 (Webb Hayes), MOH-32 (George F. Shiels), MOH-36 (Louis Cukela), MOH-39 (Christian Fleetwood), MOH-44 (Bud Day)

A Hero’s Journey (Abraham Lincoln) – 5, 7, 13

Heroes of Sport – 7 (Mantle), 10 (Frank Robinson), 16 (Hornsby), 18 (Wagner), 20 (Walter Johnson), 25 (George Sisler)

Heroes of Sport Gold /199 – 23 (Ty Cobb)

American Heroes Relic – John Flynn

Heroes of Spaceflight Relic – Space Shuttle Endeavour Orbital Payload Bay Liner

This was a very fun product to break.  How cool is it to own a piece of something that has flown in space?!?  I had been thinking of trying to trade this for a WWII relic, but the more I thought about it – the more I realized that I already have half a closet full of WWII relics.  I’m probably not heading to space anytime soon though.

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