Quite a Few Pack Breaks!

Hey guys, Drew back here. As I left off on Wednesday, I still only have my mom's laptop and a busy schedule to work on. However, I have been able to open a few packs over the past couple weeks. Take a look at my results:

First was a pack of 2010 Allen & Ginter. There really wasn't anything special in here, minus the Joel Pineiro A&G back mini and the Soriano insert. I already have the whole set so now the packs are just for fun.

 

 

I also got a pack of 2011 Topps Jumbo from Dad! We didn't hit anything overly spectacular, but a Swisher base, Mariano Rivera base, and the Jeter insert made it a hit for me. I unlocked a load of garbage with my code card, but thats ok I guess. I did get a few cards for my 2011 Topps set so I'm happy.

Finally, I opened about 4 packs of 2011 Topps Heritage! I really love the way these cards look this year, and I think I did fairly well with these. Sure, at about $5 a pack for some base cards and SP's may be a ripoff, but I think this is the most I've ever bought of a Heritage product. In Pack 1, I pulled a nice AL Win Leaders card starring CC Sabathia, David Price, and Jon Lester, as well as an SP of Roy Halladay.

Pack 2 provided pretty much nothing special, outside of a Miguel Cabrera card displaying his power and a card of Babe Ruth during his Twilight years as a Dodgers coach. I already pulled this card so I was a little disappointed to see it again, especially with all of the other Ruth cards I could have pulled from this product.

Pack 3 was perhaps the best, based on star power. You can never go wrong with pulling Chase Utley, Brian Roberts, Joe Mauer, and Prince Fielder base cards. Of course, I had to pull the AL Win Leaders card again, but I also got a rookie card of who may be the rookie of the year this year, Mr. Kyle Drabek of Toronto! I have him on my fantasy team and he's done nothing but good things so far in his few starts this season.

 

The last pack was pretty solid in my opinion, with base cards of Miguel Cabrera, Yadier Molina, and Jimmy "Red Hot" Rollins, who has started the season on fire for the Phillies! I also pulled a Lincecum card and a Chris Sale rookie card, so in my opinion I was pretty successful.

If you're curious in trading for any of the cards other than the Yankees, please leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks again Dad, and See Ya!

Set Completion Mailday!

Hey guys, Drew back here, with a very small trade that I made with reader Tom S. We made a 1 for 1 trade that finished off a set for me and gave him a card of a player he wanted a card of! Here's what arrived in my bubble mailer:

I finally got my 2010 Allen & Ginter card #75 of Jayson Werth! That 350 card set is finished! He also threw in a 2009 206 Swisher bronze border card! Thanks so much!

See Ya!d

Mail from someone obsessed with Baseball!

Hey guys, Drew back here with some more mail! Yay! I could be writing all of this stuff into one post, but I just don't have time, considering I spent the last 2 hours typing an essay! I got a package recently from Kelly, from Baseball Obsession-itis! She and I worked out a very nice deal, we got some hits exchanged, and some wantlist needs too! Check out my haul!

First, a bunch more 2010 Allen & Ginter cards! This makes me only need 1 more card to complete the base and short print set, card #75, who I believe is of Jayson Werth. If anyone has it let me know! By the way, this scan came out really cool hahaha.

From one of the best designed relic/auto sets of all time, a 2010 Allen & Ginter Ryan Howard jersey card with a pinstripe! I haven't gotten anything major of Ryan Howard really except a dual relic from the card show that dad got me! As you've probably noticed, I've been working on branching my collection out and getting cards of players not playing for the Yankees that I like. This guy is certainly one of my favorites! And wow, this card looks spectacular!

I never said I stopped collecting Yankees too though! Here's a very nice 2010 National Chicle jersey with pinstripe card of Mark Teixeira! This is now my 4th Yankees relic card from this set, 3 of them being pants cards! And the weird thing is, the only one that is numbered has game used "memorabilia" instead of pants. This is a really card, but again, my biggest complaint is that pink and purple should never be used on a baseball card set!

Thanks so much Kelly! Everyone please check out her blog!

See Ya!

Dad Strikes Again (Show Recap Part IV)

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've been pretty busy lately, but I'm back, with Part 4 of the show recap, the one where dad buys everything in. Take a look!

PART 4:
DAD ATTACK

So, while I bought my things and waited in line, dad bought quite a bit of stuff. He requested a copy of my wantlist and really helped do some damage to it. Check out his set list attack:

First of all, the rest of the 2010 Allen & Ginter set, except 1 card. He accidentally missed card #75, so we need that. This isn't all though, I'm expecting a few more needed cards in some trades coming up. But, yeah, a ton of the cards I needed for Allen & Ginter, which isn't as nice as 2009 but is still great nonetheless.

Also, he knocked off a majority of the 2010 Topps Series 2 Legendary Lineage cards. I really like the looks of these, and they look awesome side by side.

Also, he raided the .10 cent bin, and found a nice lot of Yankees goodies, including 4 Bernie Williams rookies, and a Marcus Thames rookie, which I needed for my Yankees rookie card collection. Nice!

A sweet chrome card from 2010 Topps Heritage of Mariano, numbered 1227/1961.

And a ton of other rookies, including:
- 1984 Fleer Don Mattingly
- 2000 Bowman Chrome Adrian Gonzalez
- 2001 Topps Justin Morneau
- 2003 Bowman Chrome Sergio Mitre
- 2006 Bowman Chrome Jeremy Hellickson
- 2007 UD SP Rookie Edition Tim Lincecum
- 2007 Bowman Tim Lincecum
- 2007 Bowman Phil Hughes
- 2008 Donruss EEE College Ties David Price/Brett Jacobsen /1500
- 2009 Topps Magic Mark Sanchez
- 2010 Bowman Gold Austin Jackson

A really sweet lot! My favorite is the Hellickson, then probably the Rookie Edition Lincecum, but they're all awesome.

Then onto some hits!

2009 Sweet Spot Josh Hamilton Jersey

Josh Hamilton has evolved into one of my favorite players in baseball, because I like how he got through all his troubles and became an MVP candidate this year. I loved his display at the Home Run Derby a few years ago, oh, and did I mention he was on the Renegades, my minor league team? I may start a small collection of Josh, so be on the lookout for a future announcement regarding that.

2007 Topps Joe Mauer Bat Card

Well played, Mauer. A very nice bat chip of former MVP Joe Mauer, another non-Yankee favorite of mine. I've always respected Joe and he seems like a cool guy, plus he's a great batting average hitting catcher, something we don't see often.

2007 Topps Ryan Howard All Star Jersey

ANOTHER one of my favorite non-Yankees, Ryan Howard. Ryan has had a nice little career so far and I really like this card. Except it says patch for the whole set, which isn't right. Plus, black jerseys are cooler than white/gray jerseys, more unique.

2010 Donruss Elite Santonio Holmes Jersey /135

Another awesome card, haven't gotten much 2010 football cards yet, so this is a nice start. Also, it's a black jersey again, which is awesome too, and it's numbered relatively low. Santonio is gonna be a monster once he gets out of his 4 game suspension, and the Jets are going to need him down the stretch.

2010 Topps Heritage Evan Longoria Bat Relic

Look who decided to show up again? It's Mr. Longoria and he found his hat it looks like, which is good. Here's a nice little sliver of his bat for you, a very nice card indeed. I like these relics, even though this is probably one of the top 3 cards in the set, which isn't really impressive.

2010 Upper Deck Mariano Rivera Jersey Relic

This is a card I've bookmarked before, because it's so nice! And now it's mine, honestly, I think it may be my 1st Mariano Rivera jersey card, which is kinda unimpressive. Mariano is a legend, and I really really like him, he seems like he could be any man's best friend. And 500+ saves? 1st ballot Hall of Famer all the way. Cool Card!

2006 UD Future Stars Boone Logan Auto

Well, Boone has emerged as a top reliever for the Yankees this year, after starting off slow. He came back however, and replaced Marte as the left handed specialist. It's nice to have his auto, and it's a RC auto so I guess I can count it in the RC PC too.

2005 Bowman's Best Michael Bourn RC Auto /974

This guy is becoming a pretty good player, and I like him. He steals a lot of bases, doesn't do much else, but he's fast, and I like speed a lot. No, not the drug, fastness, running hard, that stuff. 44 steals so far, nice!

Thanks so much dad! You da man! See Ya!

Great Set Help Mailday

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've got some stacks sitting here waiting to be posted, so I guess I'll post them! These 2 stacks are both for help with my sets, and we'll start with what I got from a Sports Card Forum member, from Tdpkid. He sent me all these cards just for a Chipper Jones jersey from 2008 Goudey and some other base I threw in:

That Regis card is pretty awesome I must say

84 2010 Allen & Ginter cards I needed! 84!!!!! This was a huge help for my set, and now I need 114 or so more, with some more coming in. Please check my wantlist if you have anything that could help me out! Thanks Tdpkid again for the help if you're reading!

On to the next one...

This stuff was courtesy of Steve, who commented telling me he had some inserts for trade, and we worked out a deal. He put Topps Attax cards on the outside, which I'm not collecting but, I needed them anyway, and maybe I'll go for the set.

Here's 4 more inserts for my set, which helped narrow some sets down for me.

Last is this Yankees gold card from 2010 Topps, which was a nice little card to have, and it may be one of the best cards in the set! Thanks Steve!

Remember, if you have anything I may need for my set, please let me know! Thanks, and See Ya!

Autos, Autos and More Autos!

Hey guys, Drew back here. After a long day of family parties and stuff, time to settle down. I've gotten a ton of autographs the past few days in the mail, plus a few other small things. So.. without further adieu, let's get started!

First, I got this card in a deal with Blowout Cards Forum member sportscards1013. It's an on card auto of Javier Vazquez from 2005 Cracker Jack. Javier has had an up and down year, but this guy offered it to me so eventually he got me to take it off his hands. It's a small card, about the size of a 2007 Goudey card. Javier's auto is very nice, and it's a pretty nice card I must say! Thanks!

Jim of Sixty Feet Six Inches and I swapped Allen & Ginter autos, him getting my Max Scherzer auto and me getting this Chris Young auto. I kinda figured, they both sell for the same relative price, and Young was an All Star this year, so I gave up Max Scherzer. I may trade this card for another auto in that set I may prefer, but for now I'll hold on to it.

Also, Jim included this card of Joba from Allen & Ginter for my set. Thanks Jim!

Cam from Collectable Cards asked me about the Hunter Pence black bordered parallel from my 08 Masterpieces break, and I took these 3 inserts in exchange for it. I needed all 3 of these, pretty sure the Teixeira is only a retail rack pack thing, and the Jeter is an insert from 2008 Spectrum. The A-Rod is an X Ponential 2 insert from 2008 UD X, which actually had very nice inserts. Thanks Cam!

These next 2 I bought on eBay. This one is a 2007 UD Black Nick Swisher Prodicious Auto /75. I got it for about $10 shipped, which seems to be a typical price now for most Swisher autos. I like the card, it has a nice shine, and it's the first UD Black card I own. But one small problem, the card is showing some wear, with a bunch of black dots all over the place. Looks like the shiny part is getting wrecked up. Anybody else have this problem? It's a nice card nonetheless, and it's my 6th Swisher auto I own.

This one was a must have when I saw it. I got this for about $22, a 2009 Topps Tribute Prince Fielder dual jersey auto /50. I've been a big fan of the Fielders ever since I met Prince's papa Cecil at the White Plains show almost a year ago. I drafted Prince with the 7th pick in the 1st round in my league with school friends. He's a heck of a hitter, and one day, I would love to see him make a quick appearance as a Yankee. As for the card, it's really nice, but it doesn't have the crazy shine that the blue, and regular cards from this set have. It's very nice, 2 pinstripes, numbered only 3/50, and he has a decent auto. Overall, I'm happy with the 2 purchases.

Thanks again to everyone involved in the makings of this post, and See Ya!

Set Lists Attacked and Cano Collection Grows

Hey guys, Drew back here, with some mail courtesy of Marissa, a girl that just emailed me a few days ago who had some cards for me, and William, of course, the one guy that never stops sending me cards! We'll start with Marissa, who sent me a care package, of Masterpieces cards and a Cano I needed. She collects Cano too, and it's always cool to see other people's collections to compare. Here is what she found for me.

Here are the cards I needed for my Masterpieces set. A few nice ones, the Mauer is probably my favorite though. I now need 8 more base cards and 21 out of 30 shortprints, check my wantlist to see if you can help me out!

Next are the 2 SP's she included, Warren Spahn and Bob Gibson. I don't know much about Spahn but I really like Bob Gibson, and these are 2 nice cards to add to the set.

Wow. Just wow. The special Cano I needed just happens to be an awesome patch card from 2009 Topps Unique. It's a nice card, but the patch is kinda meh. I like the yellow color, and you can see stitching in the bottom right corner, but what can you expect, it's a Yankees patch! This is a pretty awesome card though, it's numbered to 50 so I'm glad I own 1 of them! Thanks Marissa!

William sent me a birthday gift, as well as a 1 for 1 mini trade. He first started by knocking off 11 cards off my 2010 Allen & Ginter wantlist. Not shown is the Brandon Inge card. My favorite is either the Hunter Pence or Josh Johnson.

If you did the math, then you probably thought I was dumb, but no, the last 2 are both Short Prints, which definitely helps. These SP's are gonna be a pain in the butt to collect but I hope I get them all eventually. I still need about 100,000 Allen & Ginter cards, so again, help is needed, check the list!

The other set I really got help on was 2010 Topps Turkey Red Inserts. He sent me 25 Turkey Reds I needed, 3 doubles in that 25, so 22 total to knock off the wantlist. First are the Series 1 Turkey Reds, which includes Ryan Howard, David Wright, Mark Teixeira, Hank Greenberg, and Babe Ruth. Not a bad bunch. I need 8 Turkey Reds from Series 1 still.

And here are 8 of a bunch of Series 2 Turkey Reds, these being my favorites. My favorite is the Yogi Berra followed by the Derek Jeter. Just 2 awesome cards! 22 more on this set.

And lastly, our mini trade was my Russell Martin jersey from Legendary Cuts, for this Robinson Cano bat card from 2007 Topps 06 Highlights, commemorating Robby's 15 game hitting streak. Robinson is having a great year and it's always nice to add more relics to the collection! Thanks so much for everything William, you're a great friend and an awesome set helper!

Thanks again everyone, and See Ya!

2010 Allen & Ginter Box Break Review Part 2

Hey guys, Drew back here, with the grading time of 2010 Allen & Ginter. Here we go!

Design: 2010 Allen & Ginter's new design looks better than ever, with a new green tint in the background with the usual tan color used as a border. The cards remind me of a fresh piece of spearmint gum, not only due to the green tint but also because they have a nice feel to them. I was skeptical at first when the product first came out, because I didn't know how they would look. That happens every year it seems for me, but it looks better than in my opinion, it ever did before. All the insert designs look nice too, but the one part of the set that wins most improved for me, is without a doubt, the relics/autos. The border is so bright and colorful, so no doubt, this is the best Hawaiian border to date in this product. Design Grade: A+

Price: Too much. My only complaint with Allen & Ginter year after year is the price. Sure, there is a chance you can get back what you paid for the box, but, more often than not, you normally don't. The cards sure are high quality and excellent looking, but spending $80-100 on a box with 3 hits, typically all relics and maybe 1 auto, is ridiculous. My love for this product is the only reason I keep going back and buying boxes. Price Grade: C

Hits: I already started to talk about the look of the hits this year, but I will continue here. Again, I'm lovin the Red Border that Topps used for the border for the autos and relics this year. My 3 hits in the box were pretty good, Kemp jersey, Dunn bat, and Scherzer auto, but nothing spectacular. But, I don't care. Why? Because they look amazing! Thats why. Hits Grade: A

Overall: Well.. 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter was a definite hit in this house. I definitely enjoyed opening the box, so did my dad, my mom liked some of the cards of the oddballs, and so did my sister. I was very impressed with the product this year though, but would I buy another box? Last year I bought 2, but only bought the second at the card show because I won a $50 gift certificate to any vendor and I bought it for $25. So, unless I get lucky again, I'm going to try and trade for the rest of the set that I'm missing. In my opinion, this is the product of the year, followed by Topps flagship. Great job Topps! Overall Grade: A

Not bad.... leave your thoughts in the comments! See Ya!

2010 Allen & Ginter Box Break Review Part 1

Hey guys, Drew back here, with the second of four box break reviews, my box of 2010 Allen & Ginter! Here's the product information:

PRODUCT CONTENT
24 Packs Per Box
8 Cards Per Pack
192 Cards Per Box
1 N43 or Cabinet Card Boxtopper per box
1 Mini Card Per Pack
1 This Day In History Insert Per Pack
3 Baseball Sketches Per Box
3 Hits Per Box (Relic, Auto, Plate, Rip, Cut)

Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let's see what I pulled!

MY BOX BREAK:

Cabinet Card: Great Engineering Achievements- Mount Rushmore

Wow, sweet looking card. Now, what do I do with it?

Base Set: 123/300

This was my first experience with 2010 Allen & Ginter, and I must say, I really like the new design. The greenish tint behind the photos make it different and fresh looking. There's a ton of interesting inclusions into the base set, including Leonardo da Vinci, Jordin Sparks, Tom Knapp, the Warwa fire eater guy, and Regis. Of course, Area 51 and Betelgeuse have cards, as Allen & Ginter keeps up it's odd and distinct popularity.

SP's: 12/50

I pulled 12 shortprints, which I'm pretty sure is double what others have been getting. I got Adrian Beltre, Trevor Cahill, Austin Jackson, Brad Lidge, Bobby Abreu, Joe Nathan, Brandon Phillips, Roy Oswalt, Stephen Drew, Alcides Escobar, Gaby Sanchez, and Casey McGehee (last 4 not pictured). It's a lot less work now thanks to this, got pretty lucky on that part.

Base Set + SP's: 135/350 (38%)

This Day In History Inserts: 24/50 (48%)

A very unique idea by Topps to use this idea for an insert set. If you don't know, each card represents an event that occurred on a player's birthday with a picture of the player. The random newspaper guy got boring, but the concept is awesome. I'm definitely gonna try to build this set if I can.

Regular Back Minis: 7/350

I've always liked the minis in Allen & Ginter, but my selection of regular backed minis was not special. We did get 2 SP minis in Daric Barton and Hiroki Kuroda, and a paper airplance world champion. This was a great box based on SP's.

A&G Back Minis: 6/350
Black Border Minis: 2/350 (Nelson Cruz, Mariano Rivera)

Wow, 6 A&G Backs? I don't get the point of these, they should just have the regular and black border. Another SP popped up in Roy Oswalt, and we got a King Tut! The black borders look as good as ever, especially the Mariano Rivera, which is taking a seat in the Yankee Collection box.

Monsters of the Mesozoic: 2/25 (Protarchaeopteryx, Protoceratops)
Lords of Olympus: 2/25 (Apollo, Aphrodite)
World's Wordsmiths: 1/15 (Marcus Aurelius)
Sailors of the Seven Seas: 1/10 (Sir Walter Raleigh)
National Animals: 3/50 (Honduras, Italy, Colombia)

Lots of nice historical inserts in this set this year, with some dinosaurs I've never heard of and don't know how to say, some Greek Gods, a writer, a sailer, and some National Animals. This is part of the fun of Allen & Ginter, you don't know whats gonna show up in your box.

Baseball Sketches: 3/15 (Ethier, Teixeira, Wise)

A well designed insert set, the Teixeira and Wise are nice, but Night Owl has a candidate for Worst Card of the Year with the Ethier. That face looks nothing like his!

Relic Cards: 2 (Matt Kemp, Adam Dunn)

Speaking of Night Owl, here's a hit he may want. I kinda wanna keep the card unless there's something nice to get in return. That goes for everyone that may want it. It's actually not a bad card, a jersey of a pretty good player.

The Yankees are closing in on Lance Berkman, which leaves this poor guy in the dust. He's a great player hoping to get out of Strasburg land, and go to a contender, something he's never experienced in his life. I like Adam Dunn, so for now, I don't know if I'll trade this, again, unless you make a good offer.

Autographs: 1 (Max Scherzer)

Not bad, I guess. At least it's a baseball auto, and it beats Rich Hill from last year that I pulled. Scherzer isn't bad though. It's for trade but only for another 2010 Allen & Ginter auto (I like the Nolasco and Chris Young autos).

I guess it was a pretty good box, hit some nice cards and had a lot of fun opening it! Part 2 of the review is coming soon! See Ya!