Discounted Archives and (FINALLY!) an Update Checklist

Has anyone else noticed that the rack packs (I refuse to call them "jumbo" packs) of various Topps products have gone to discount at Target?  Last week I was in and noticed that the Archives packs were marked down to about $3.89 or something like that.  It's still kinda overpriced for, what, 18 cards, but I'm still chasing the set and I quite enjoy the inserts and SPs.

Well, I bought three rack packs and the most noteworthy card I got was Mr. Lynn (above).  I think I managed to net an unimpressive nine or 10 new cards towards the base set.  The inserts were kinda 'blah' -- including a four-panel Yankees sticker that doesn't need to be shown.

But, the Lynn is cool.  So is this one, which I also pulled:

I bought this card for a buck at a card show over the summer, but that's okay because now I have one for my Archives binder and one for my Jefferies collection.

I think I'm probably done buying Archives by the pack.  From here on out, I'll fill in the holes in my checklist through card shows and/or trades.  I'm sure I'll use COMC.com for some of the SPs that I'd like to own, too.  I don't anticipate chasing down all the short prints, in case you were wondering.  That sort of lunacy is only reserved for Heritage.  But, if that's your thing, I think that's pretty cool.  I just don't have the dough to chase both SP collections, and Heritage is my first love.

*****

I've been barking for a while about the lack of a 2013 Topps Update checklist online anywhere.  Well, I haven't been able to find one, anyways.  And the dang product hits shelves later this week (and it may even be on some retail shelves near you right now!)

But, today I finally stumbled upon one via the Topps Twitter account, of all places.  Here's the link to the checklist page in case you have similarly been finding dead-ends on your checklist search.  Not sure why this was such a freakin' task to find, but whatever.

I've been jonesin' to find out which Mets were going to make the Update cut.  Two months ago, I put forth my six-card wish list in the event that Topps was spying on my insignificant little blog.  Well, whether they meant to or not, they somewhat got it right.  Thankfully, the crucial players are included, but there are also the obligatory fluff and misfires that makes Update such an endearing entity.

Okay, no more delays.  Here's the Mets Update breakdown for 2013:

US1 -- Matt Harvey, All-Star

US49 -- Marlon Byrd (Hey, one of my wishlist cards!  Too bad he's no longer a Met...)

US50 -- Zack Wheeler RC (A no-brainer!)

US129 -- David Wright, HR Debry (Enough with the HR Derby cards, please.)

US199 -- Juan Lagares RC (YES!!!)

US220 -- Zack Wheeler Rookie Debut (I could do without these, too; gimme more regular player cards!)

US236 -- Shaun Marcum (Uhh...what?  Why?)

US238 -- Eric Young, Jr. (Double YES!!!  I had a one-thousand word hate letter at the ready if he didn't make it.)

US316 -- David Wright, All-Star

And there you have it.  Nine Mets cards in all, four of which are subset cards of varying madness.  Which means the 330-card Update set has exactly five Mets players which didn't make the regular set.  I asked for six, they gave me five.  Byrd, Wheeler, Lagares and Young were on my want list; Marcum most certainly was not.  I will steadfastly maintain that either LaTroy Hawkins or Omar Quintanilla would've been infinitely better inclusions than Marcum (1-10 with a 5.29 ERA this year, by the way), but what do I know, I'm just a stupid fan.

In any event, I'm ready for Update, warts and all.  I'll be swingin' by my local shop either Wednesday or Thursday to snag my hobby box.  I look forward to sharing my yield, and I also will be anxious to see how everyone else made out with their purchases.

MK