The Wait is Over- Partial Topps Comeback

Hey guys, Drew back here. I got a very random, but nice surprise in my mailbox the other day. Out of the blue, Topps sent me one of the three redemptions they've owed me! Take a look:

Out of 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen, a sweet Eric Hosmer on card autograph! I pulled this card as a redemption back during the Summer of 2012 at a card show, and although Eric was having a down year, I was excited to receive the card. A little over a year later, it arrived, and while my excitement generally wore off by the time it came, I still really like the way it came out. Hosmer had a much better season in 2013, batting .302 with 17 home runs and 79 RBI for the surprise Royals team! Kansas City is out of the playoff race, but they experienced their best season in a while and Hosmer was one of the major reasons why. 

I will consider trading this if you have a solid offer for me, but if not I plan on holding on to it for a little while! Thanks Topps for finally cashing in on this one! See Ya!

2012 East Coast National Recap! (Pt.1)

Hey guys, Drew back here! All summer, there are certain events I pinpoint as being the highlights of my summer. Sunday was one of those very days, as Dad and I geared up to make the trip over to White Plains, NY, for the East Coast National! As most of you know, we're common customers to JP's Sports autograph signings and card shows, and with a pretty solid lineup, we couldn't miss out on it. I met 6 players, which will be shown later this week, and bought a couple of nice cards, but for today, you guys will see the results of the few packs I opened at the show (hint: I didn't do too badly!). Here we go!

2012 Topps Archives (1 Pack):

- Nyjer Morgan

- David Ortiz

- Josh Hamilton

- Jon Lester Gold Parallel

- Andy Van Slyke

- Starlin Castro

- Jose Valverde

- Clay Buchholz 

If I didn't get the Hamilton card I wouldn't have been very happy at all with this pack. Every card besides it is for trade.

2011 Bowman Chrome (1 Pack): 

- Chase Utley

- Dillon Gee RC

- Michael Blanke

- Dickie Joe Thon

I'm not quite sure why I bought a $7 pack that only held 4 cards in it. I was feeling good, so I thought maybe a sweet auto would be coming, but well, the results of this pack gave me a pretty solid reality check. 

2011 Allen & Ginter (1 Pack):

- Brandon Belt RC

- Daniel Descalso RC

- Peter Bourjos

- Tim Lincecum

- Miguel Tejada

- CJ Wilson

- Jonathan Sanchez Black Bordered Mini

- Roy Halladay Hometown Heroes

I wasn't paying attention when looking for these packs, and instead of grabbing a pack of the new Ginter, I got some of the old, boring, last year Ginter. I believe I have the set, so these are for trade too. 

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen (2 Packs):

- Casey Kotchman

- Ryan Dempster

- Heath Bell

- Jhoulys Chacin

- Jimmy Rollins

- Ryan Braun

- Troy Tulowitzki

- Roy Halladay

- Willie Mays

- Bob Gibson

- Ty Cobb

- Geovany Soto

- Scott Rolen

- Trevor Cahill

- Jemile Weeks

- Angel Pagan

- Carlos Ruiz Gypsy Back Mini

- Willie Mays Moonshots Insert

- Matt Garza Mini

I love the look of this year's Gypsy Queen, and by far these were my favorites of the packs. The mix of older and newer players makes for a really strong checklist, and it's fun pulling cards of people I actually know (unlike Dickie Joe Thon)! But, I did say earlier that I did pretty well overall, and well, one card in the Gypsy Queen pack just about made up for the cost of the packs....

I saw blue when I opened the pack, and I suddenly thought it could be Griffey or Koufax or Darvish or just something beyond incredible. It wasn't at THAT high of a level, but I'll take a Gypsy Queen Eric Hosmer on card auto any day! Hosmer is having a sophomore slump type season, but I think he's got enough potential to be a star for the next decade or so! I redeemed this when I got home, and unfortunately, the Estimated Shipping date was around the beginning of December. A long wait, but I believe it will be well worth it. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the recap! See Ya!

The Redemption Has Arrived! Strasburg?

Hey guys, Drew back here! I'm in a really good mood today, considering I finished my winter track season off yesterday at the sectional meets where I did fairly well, and have gotten a TON of awesome mail in lately! However, nothing topped this one. Last Saturday, I got a paper in the mail saying that a package from TriStar was missed, and I needed to sign for it. I assumed that maybe TriStar sent me a box to review, so I got a little excited, but on Tuesday, I realized that this wasn't the TriStar I thought it was. It was actually one of those tiny little Topps redemption envelopes, and I immediately knew what it was. I could not wait and I ripped the envelope open to reveal this beauty...

Woah. If you don't remember my box break of 2010 Topps 206, Dad and I pulled a redemption for an autograph of Stephen Strasburg. While I really wanted to sell it because of all the hype, I decided to keep it to remember one of the greatest pulls my Dad and I have ever had. My grandma bought me the box of 2010 Topps 206 from our local hobby shop as a gift for my 1st quarter grades, and here in February the card is finally mine!

Topps couldn't have done a better job with the design of this card, and it truly looks incredible! The redemption called for an American Caramels autograph of him, which would have been a sticker autograph, however, I think Topps decided that an on card auto would be more fitting for one of the biggest prospects of all time.

Now that I own an autograph of Mr. Strasburg, I hope for all the best for his career, not just for the sake of the value of this pull but for baseball as well. Thanks Topps!

See Ya!

Upper Deck Situation Resolved.. FINALLY!

Hey guys, Drew back here. So, the day I received my DeAngelo Williams TTM auto, I received quite a few other things in the mail. One was a surprising package from the folks at Upper Deck. I've been very upset with Upper Deck's Customer Service lately, because for my birthday, IN JULY, my parents got me a tin of 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic. In it I received 2 base cards of Gus Zernial and Bob Horner, 2 relics of Dennis Eckersley and Fred McGriff, and an expired redemption for a Harold Baines Sweet Spot autograph. I contacted Upper Deck on the redemption, and they did not have the card, so they said they'd get me a replacement and told me to wait the standard 8-12 weeks. Then, I emailed them 12 weeks later asking where my cards were, and they told me to wait 8-12 MORE weeks. Well, I waited 24 weeks (aka 6 months) and Upper Deck FINALLY came through, when we were about to call and complain. Here is what they sent me:

Nothing like a Harold Baines autograph as a replacement for a Harold Baines autograph. I mean, I can't complain considering this was the card and it's really nice, but I was kinda hoping for a nice Yankees card to add to my collection. Baines was actually better than most think he was, one of the more underrated players of his time. He played for 22 seasons with many teams, had 2866 hits, 384 home runs, and a career batting average of .289. He won a world series as part of the White Sox coaching staff in 2005, after going his entire career without a ring. Had he played for better teams, he may have had more consideration for the Hall of Fame, and would fit with the Jim Rice's and Andre Dawson's of his era.

This card on the other hand is really nice. It's numbered to 75, and the auto is on the glove in blue sharpie, which makes for a nice layout. For now, I'm planning on keeping this, but if you have a similar Yankee autograph I may be willing to trade it.

Thanks Upper Deck, still not a huge fan, but we all do miss you.

See Ya!

Some Super Red Hot Rookie Came In..

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yesterday I got a mini package from "Tristar", which apparently is Topps' undercover corporation that produces redemptions, missing hits, NPNs, and damaged cards. I got this red hot rookie redemption in my jumbo box of 2010 Topps Series 2, which was for the 3rd card in the set. This card happened to be...

of Tigers rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch. I had Brennan on my fantasy team for a majority of last season and I was really impressed, even though his stats went down as the season progressed. Overall he hit a poor .256, but he had a monster May and June, batting in the upper .330's and hitting 11 home runs. For a rookie, I was extremely impressed, and I hope he's not a one year wonder!

The card looks fantastic, better than any of the past Red Hot Rookie cards. This year they actually added a refractor touch, and the chrome cards also don't have a bend to them! I was extremely impressed when I opened this package, and I probably will keep this!

Did you get your redemption? What did you think?

See Ya!

Mail from Tristar... er... Topps, and an eBay purchase... again

Hey guys, Drew back here, I got a few things in yesterday. Tomorrow I will have a very special post, a few people I have told this to already. First though, I have to post the 2 other things I got yesterday, and a quick update on the contest. The winner, Spastik Moose gets to choose any card for about 10 dollars off checkoutmycards.com and I will buy it and send it to him. The other 4 will get a random game used/autograph plus some cards of their favorite teams. I gotta pick the prizes tonight before I do the random, but the random will be shown on here as soon as I can get around to it. Now, on with the mail.

The 1st thing I got yesterday was from Topps.... wait... what??? Tristar?

This isn't the first time I've gotten a Topps redemption, in fact I got one of these last year too.

This one is a Red Hot Rookie Redemption of Mat Latos, a Padres Rookie, who I've never heard of, but hopefully he's good. In the minors it says on the back of the card that he was 15-6 last year. Not bad! Last year was Chris Dickerson, this year Mat Latos!

I also got some nice eBay mail yesterday, a sweet Cano I needed, here it is:

Yeah, it doesn't look like anything special, but it is one of the short prints in the relic set, along with the Swisher, and only one of those has been on eBay so far. I got it for 15 bucks, but I could've gotten it for better prices in the past, but have been busy whenever they would end. I knew I had to get it soon before the prices go even higher.

Can't wait to show you guys my mystery mail! See ya!

Recent Stuff...

Hey guys, I just got some redemption mail. It says it is from Tristar Inc, but I've seen that with other people and I'm assuming it's Topps. Back at Valentines Day, I pulled a redemption. I got the card today, and it's really nice. It is probably the nicest refractor style I've seen.

Also, I forgot to post this but Mike recently got his redemption in as well, and here is what it looks like...


If you remember from the Heroes Football Box, Mike pulled this redemption, and just got it in, so it only took about a month and a 1/2.

Also, I've had this saved as a draft for probably a week by now, because I didn't understand the issues with the printer, but I also got some more mail. Check it out...

Yes, for my Hall Of Fame PC, a legendary Red Sox player Carl Yastremski Game Worn Jersey Card numbered out of 99. See Ya!