Blaster Disaster?

I'm still in my Topps Update phase, thus I recently purchased a blaster box.  So far, aside from the hobby box, I've purchased only rack packs.  But, I was feeling a bit daffy and wanted to see which "Blockbusters" patch card I would luck into.

I always open the patch card first.  I feel like it sets the tone for the rest of the box.  However, my vanilla luck regarding hits has been well documented [Ed. Note: No it hasn't, but just trust him on this one], so I wasn't expecting to get my absolute top choice -- Gary Carter.  

But, given that there were loads of great possibilities, I was semi-confident that I couldn't go wrong.  I mean, Tom Seaver, A-Rod, Fisk, Darvish and Ichiro were among those on a pretty robust checklist.

So, who did I wind up with?

#BP-22

Josh Beckett.

Whoop-dee-do.

Not saying Beckett's acquisition by the Sox wasn't a big deal.  Because it definitely was.  And, I'm not even saying that I'm not a Beckett fan.  I mean, I've got a nice little cache of his cards. 

But, of all the possibilities, this was certainly in the "Meh" category.  

Kind of a downer.

Luckily, the rest of the blaster was decent.  I netted 17 cards towards my base checklist, including this cool Adrian Beltre All-Star card:

#US220

Topps photogs captured a nice little moment between teammates at the Midsummer Classic.  I was initially excited because I thought maybe this was one of those short-print do-dads.  But, um, no.

My gold parallel cards were pretty good, also.  I've had some eerie consistency with Update when it comes to these two guys:

I have the SP Update cards of both of these hefty All-Stars.  And I also have the gold parallel of Ortiz's regular All-Star card.  That works for me, since I collect each of these players.

Finally, one of the two gold sparkle cards that came in my blaster is truly a keeper:

#US208

I just really like this card, and I'm pretty high on Tyler Moore's potential.  He was a monster in the minors, and he had some pretty big moments for the Nats after his call-up early in the season.  Just another good, young bat for a team that is primed to be atop the NL East for quite some time.

All in all, this blaster averted disaster status.  Despite the initial bad omen of the Beckett card, the yield was pretty decent thereafter.  

I don't think I'll be buying any more blaster boxes, as I'm within single digits of wrapping up the base set.  I really do like the manu-patch cards, though.  So, I'm not ruling out the possibility of an impulse buy somewhere down the line...

MK 

Group Break Recap: Home of the Toddfather

I recently participated in my second-ever group break event.  My buddy Tim over at Home of the Toddfather had a tasty selection of products for his seminal group break, so I had to jump in.

Topps Update '12, Topps Chrome '12 and Topps Pro Debut '12 were the hobby boxes in play, and the Mets and Nationals were my two teams of choice.

Having already seen and acquired cards from the first two products, I was most excited to see what I would get from the Pro Debut box.  And I was not disappointed.

2012 Pro Debut, #145

The lone reason I chose the Nats as my second team was to hopefully snag some more Bryce Harpers, so I was naturally happy to get this card.

2012 Pro Debut, #178 & 160

And of course I was keeping my fingers crossed for a pair of future Mets aces, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler. Glad to add these to my collection.

No hits from the Pro Debut box, but I'm pleased with the cards I received for both teams.

The Update box didn't net me much in the way of helping complete my base set, as I only got one card towards the checklist.  At least it's a pretty cool one:

2012 Update, #US11

Great celebration shot of the eventual NL East champs.  Looks like they just wrapped up a victory at Fenway Park.  And, yes, Bryce Harper makes a cameo.  Who else?

2012 Update '87 Mini, #TM-177

I've been having poor luck with the '87 Minis from Update packs, as I've been getting hammered with duplicates. Luckily, I did not have this one.  Even if I did, my Gary Carter player collection would have received a nice addition.

2012 Topps Gold, #181

I guess this would be considered my "hit" from the Update box.  League Leader cards don't really get me jazzed up, but I'll take it since it's Jose Reyes and it's Gold.  This one is numbered 1265/2012.

That leaves us with Topps Chrome.  Thankfully, I got David Wright, but for my money this card takes the cake:

2012 Topps Chrome, #192

One of the absolute best photos from any Topps product this year.  And that's saying something since this has been a stellar year for Topps photography.  I'm kind surprised that Nieuwenhuis didn't make the Update set.  A head-scratcher for sure.

2012 Topps Chrome Refractor, #53

My "hit" from the Chrome box is this refractor of All-Star Gio Gonzalez.  Could've done better, could've done worse I suppose.  Gio is a helluva pitcher and, from what I've seen in interviews, is a quality dude.

So that's it for my group break highlights.  Thanks to Tim for running the break.  A great job with your first voyage, sir!  I look forward to future events.

But, wait!  There's more...

In addition to my group break loot, Tim hooked me up with five cards towards my Topps Series 2 set pursuit, including this high-flying Chase Utley card:

2012 Topps Series 2, #361

That means I need just THREE more cards to put a bow on the Series 2 base set.  That's THREE more cards. For those of you that have gobs of Series 2 doubles and triples laying about, take a glance at my "Wanted" page from the tab menu and let me know if you can lend a hand.

Thanks for checking in, and happy collecting!

MK

Trade Post: Hurricane Edition

Greetings from Mother Nature's war zone.  As I write this, Hurricane Sandy is less than 100 miles outside of Atlantic City, NJ.  Here in northern Delaware, we've been getting heavy rain and steadily-intensifying wind gusts since the early A.M.  

But, my thoughts and prayers truly go out to those folks who live on the N.J. barrier islands and in the Delaware beach communities.  Those places have already met disaster, with the worst of this event yet to come.  Millions and millions of dollars in damage.  Just complete heartbreak.

For any of you within the path of Sandy, all my best to you.  Remain safe!

******

Back to the business of blogging, let me first congratulate the Giants on another World Series title.  I have no ill will towards either team, so I would've been fine with the outcome in favor of San Fran or Detroit.  

And now we put baseball back onto the shelf til pitchers and catchers report in February.  Kinda sad, if you ask me.

BUT, the hobby blogs have no offseason!  So thankfully we continue to turn the wheel and keep the game of baseball vibrant even during the fall and winter months.

An important bit of business to handle today deals with my first-ever trade with Nick at Dime Boxes.  Great, great blog as most of you know.  Not only does he have a killer card collection, but he's a darn good writer. So hats off to Nick.

Anyhow, I recently contacted Nick to flip him a few cards for his 2012 Update pursuits plus some red, blue and gold parallels from this year's Topps set.

In return, I got a bunch of neat stuff.  How about some samples?

Like, lots of Vlad cards!

1998 Topps, #5

A nice big stack of cards ranging in years from 1998 through 2010 has upped my Guerrero player collection to 161 unique cards.  Without checking, I think that qualifies it as my largest player collection.  Couldn't have gotten there without lots of generous bloggers and readers out there.

1195 Topps Traded, #12T

This has become a pretty iconic card, has it not?  In their 1995 Traded set, Topps screwed up by ascribing a photo of Carlos Beltran to a card designated for Juan LeBron.  [Ed. Note: Must've been the mustache.]  I've seen this card a lot on eBay, etc., but now I have my own copy of it.  Very cool!

2002 Stadium Club, #16

SHINJO!  I became an instant Shinjo fan after watching him in his first Mets game.  He came to America with quite a reputation from his many All-Star years in Japan.  Flashy and photogenic -- the Japanese Jeter, so they said.  He never became a MLB star, but that hasn't faded his star.  I was recently told by a friend's fiance (who lived in Japan her whole life and recently moved to the U.S.) that Shinjo retains his icon status in Japan today.

1999 Pacific Prism, #95

Speaking of flashy, that pretty much sums up Rey Ordonez's approach in the field.  For my money, he's still one of the top-3 best defensive shortstops I've ever watched.  Unfortunately, my scanner was unimpressed and decided to capture an image of this super-shiny Prism card in the throes of a supernova.  

2000 Bowman's Best, #7

Along with Ordonez, Olerud was a piece of the 1999 Mets infield that Sports Illustrated featured as being one of the best defensive quartets ever.  Pictured in this Bowman's Best card as a Mariner, Olerud wasn't too shabby with the bat either (a .295 career hitter).

A trio of 2012 Heritage

All right!  Three more cards for my 2012  Heritage base set.  That leaves me just 19 cards short of completing that sucker.  Anyone out there who has some doubles laying around, give me a holler!  I'm itching to complete this thing.

And a quartet of 2011 Heritage

And, yes, I'm absolutely still working on the 2011 Heritage set, as well.  Just an awesome looking set.

Well, a big 'thank you' once again goes out to Nick for an enjoyable trading experience!

MK

Here Comes Sandy...

1998 Stadium Club, #22

No, not him.

The Category 1 hurricane working its way towards the U.S. Northeast has brought the first phase of rainfall to us here in Delaware.  If all the forecast models are right, this thing is going to bring heavy rain and destructive winds for a 2-3 day period.  Basically a real mess is on tap.

Anyhow, I thought it was appropriate to honor the impending catastrophic storm with a card from one of my favorite all-time backstops.

Sandy Alomar, Jr. has plenty of awesome cards featuring actions shots of all varieties.  But this '98 Stadium Club issue really called out to me as I was flipping through my Alomar collection.  He's either spotting an infield pop or he's alerting the denizens of the Megalopolis to the wicked storm that is churning in the sky above.

I don't know if the storm "Sandy" is supposed to be a guy or a gal, but I'll personally choose to assign it a female designation.  I just can't bring myself to imagine a male Sandy -- like the good and talented Mr. Alomar -- causing so much drama.  [Ed. Note: Is that sexist?]

To all my friends in the eastern U.S., exercise caution and stay safe!

MK

From the Backstop to the Clubhouse

Always a treat, I received an unexpected package in Friday's mail from Marcus at All the Way to the Backstop. My long-time trading partner (and an all-around good guy) never fails to put together a fun and interesting assortment of cards for my collection.

Let's get to it, shall we?  As usual, I'll just show you some of the highlights.

2012 Heritage SP, #494

YES!  How can I not begin with a short print gem from the 2012 Heritage set?!  By now, you know I'm a Heritage addict.  Slowly but surely, I'm nearing the completion the base set and still working my way through the 75-card SP checklist.  Next to David Wright, Zimmerman is my favorite third baseman to watch.  Love this card!  Marcus, you are The Man!

2012 Update Gold Sparkle, #US151

I first saw this card on Marcus' blog a few weeks ago.  He pulled this from a rack pack and mentioned he had an idea which Mets fan was going to receive it.  I was secretly hoping it was me.  And, well, it was!

2012 Update, #US276

While we're on topic of Update, I received not one, but TWO of these Matt Harvey "Rookie Debut" cards.  Which is great because I still needed this for my set, and now I can add one to my Mets/player collection.  Awesome!

2012 Topps "Cut Above", #ACA-18

With this Halladay card off the checklist, I need just nine more "Cut Above" cards to knock out that Series 2 insert set.

2012 Topps "Gold Standard", #GS-34

A bit further to go with the Series 2 "Gold Standard" set.  Thirteen more needed in that quest.  Great pic they used of Reggie in this one, by the way.

2011 Update Cognac, #99

Speaking of collecting "quests", I still have an APB out on 2011 Topps Cognac parallels.  Thus, I'm happy to receive thie Ben Revere rookie!

1988 Topps UK, #11

I love these UK cards.  I hate their smaller size.  What was Topps thinking?  Nevertheless, this Gary Carter card is a winner.

1985 Topps, #9

Also from the "What Were They Thinking?" file comes this unique piece of hobby history.  Quality control please, anyone?  Further, I've seen some badly miscut Topps cards before, but never one that had dotted lines. How did this occur??

1992 Stadium Club, #676

I don't have to ask former Mets prospect Bill Pulsipher what he was thinking when picked out this shirt.  I mean, those of us who were in middle school or high school during the early-to-mid '90s had a shirt like this in our closet, no?  Silk, probably.  And we thought that it made us look cool, no?  Or was that just me...and Bill?

1981 Topps, #119

Ah, vintage football!  Nicely played, Mr. Backstop!  I knew Foreman was a star for the Vikings during the 1970s, but didn't realize he landed on the Pats further down the road.  Great addition to the package, Marcus!

Once again, sincere thanks to Marcus for a stellar group of cards!

MK

Game Two Gold

On my way home from work, I bought a jumbo pack of Update with hopes of getting a few of the remaining base cards I needed.  And perhaps a nice insert or two.

No such luck on the former, but in honor of tonight's Game Two of the Fall Classic, I present a pair of golden heroes.

From the NL champion Giants, victorious in last night's Series opener:

Hunter Pence, #US297

And from the Junior Circuit's top club, looking to bounce back tonight:

Prince Fielder, #US237

The Tigers could use a couple of long balls from the reigning Home Run Derby champ.  I don't know if he'll oblige this evening, but I have a hunch Detroit will knot the series heading back to Motown.

Enjoy the game!

MK

High on High Numbers, Plus a Little Update Attitude

Been absent from the blog for a little bit since I was away on an extended weekend.  My buddies and I took our annual trek up to Western N.Y. to take in a Buffalo Bills game -- as well as soak up all the local food and drink. It's always a great time, despite the fact that the team usually isn't very good.  This year was no different, as the Titans dealt the Bills a crushing 35-34 loss.

Anyhow, I was scouring Facebook earlier today and came across some exciting news about the 2012 Heritage High Number series.  Looks like Topps finally released the checklist, including most of the autograph subjects.

The obvious highlights are the debut Heritage cards for Bryce Harper, Yoenis Cespedes, Yu Darvish, and Will Middlebrooks.  Additonally, the Ichiro card is of interest since he'll be donning the Yankee threads.  Andy Pettitte, Adam Wainwright, Raul Ibanez, Pedro Alvarez, Jamie Moyer, and Bobby Abreu are some other names of note.

In terms of the autographs, each of the aforementioned big-time rooks is included, plus guys like Pettitte, Cody Ross, and Zack Cozart.  I'd be on Cloud 9 if my pre-ordered box were to contain a Harper, Pettitte or Yu auto, but I won't hold my breath.

As far as my Mets are concerned, Jonathan Niese, Andres Torres, Jordany Valdespin and Kirk Nieuwenhuis each has a card.  On top of that, the latter two each has an auto card.  I'd certainly be happy if I managed to pull one of those as my guaranteed auto.

All in all, it's not an overwhelming checklist but it certainly has enough to keep me excited.  The Harper alone has me geeked.

I know most of you out there are sour about Topps' ploy, and I'm not blaming you (as stated in my previous post).  But, that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be pumped up for this release.

And I'm certainly pumped!

Oh, and since we're on the subject of things that have irked the majority of the collecting community, let me just say that I love this card and I'm glad it was included in Topps Update:

 
I think it's A-OK that Topps gave Stanton an Update card to reflect his "new" first name.  In fact, I think it's pretty great.  I mean, if that's not an update worthy of Update, I'm not sure what is.  Plus this is absolutely one of the best photos Topps has used in any product this year.  It's top five at worst.

Therefore, I'll happily accept my spot in the sitting room for dissidents.

Whew.  Okay, glad I got that off my chest.

MK