2010 Tristar OBAK Box Review CONTEST!!

Hey guys, Drew back here, with my box break review of 2010 TriStar OBAK. The great folks over at TriStar sent me this box for not even a dime, absolutely free, so first off I just want to thank them so much for the opportunity to break and review their newest product. So, this is going to be a long post, so let's get started.

PRODUCT CONTENT
20 Packs Per Box
6 Cards Per Pack
120 Cards Per Box
11 "Hits" Per Box, Including:
- 4 Autographs (2 Prospects/2 Retired)
- 2 Parallel Cards
- 1 Mini Parallel
- 3 Short Print Cards
- 1 Cabinet Card

So, there's certainly a lot to look for in this box. The cool thing about 2010 OBAK is that only 3000 boxes were made, and there's a serial number on the front of every box. I just pulled a picture of the box off Blowout Cards, but my box was actually 0007/3000, lucky number 7! Will it be a lucky box? Let's find out shall we?

MY BOX BREAK:

T4 Cabinet Card: 1 (Roy Hofheintz- Created the Astrodome)

Interesting box topper. Hofheintz was the first franchise owner of the Astros and created the Astrodome. It's smaller than a A&G cabinet card and Masterpieces, and yet, still a pain to lug around the house.

Base Set: 90/117 (76%)

All of the following cards, plus 3 more base for a friend, and 2 minis, will go into my collection. That's it. Everything else is yours if you win the contests. The base set is cool, many exciting backgrounds, loving the one with Jackson/Heyward, and the Heywards with fireworks look outstanding. A lot of cool stories behind some of these cards. In this box we found cards of: Ray Chapman, one of the only men ever killed during a game, Ed Kurpiel, who supposedly hit a ball over 700 feet, even Doc Adams, the man who invented the shortstop position! For you history buffs out there, this is certainly a really cool box for you!

Here's just some of the 72 base cards I'm giving away, and as you can see, this is a set for not only history buffs but prospectors as well, with cards of future stars Starlin Castro, Drew Storen, Donovan Tate, Dustin Ackley, Kyle Drabek, Desmond Jennings, Jason Heyward, Austin Jackson, Austin Romine, and many, many more. I guess I'm starting to know my prospects because I just did that without glancing at the cards! Yay!

Minis: 15/45 (33%)

That is all the base minis we pulled, about 1/3rd of the mini set. They look almost nicer than the base in a way, since this is based off a vintage "mini" sized design. I'm planning on keeping the Strawberry and the Ripken is going to a good cause, again, everything else is being given away.

Inserts:

- Jason Heyward Circle Back Base SP
- Hank Greenberg Square Back Base SP
- Jose Canseco Circle Back Base SP
- Jeff Burroughs Black Back Parallel /50
- Eddie Cicotte Black Back Parallel /50
- Col. John Stevens T4 Insert
- Chick Gandil Mini Insert
- Smead Jolley Mini Parallel /25
- Jason Heyward Mini (forgot to post earlier)
- Hank Greenberg Mini Circle Back SP
- Jason Heyward Mini Circle Back SP
- Jason Heyward Mini Triangle Back SP

I'll tell you what, this is one heck of a confusing set. With Circle Backs, Squares, and Triangles too, plus the vintage looking Gandil, plus numbered back parallels make this hard to record on video, and you have to really take your time with these breaks. While very nice cards indeed, it's very hard to spot out the parallels.

Autos: 4

Reymond Fuentes /75
Jason Kipnis /75

Ok, I really don't know these guys, but from the back it says Fuentes is the cousin of Carlos Beltran, currently the 7th ranked prospect in the Red Sox organization. As soon as I saw Red Sox, I knew that was part of the giveaway hahaha. As far as Kipnis goes, he's the 10th best prospect in the Indians organization, which I thought was a bit of a push to be included in the set with these stars. Nice looking autos and low numbered which is nice, and you can win both of them.

Robert Nelson /125
Tim Raines /125

The retired autos were pretty good, first the weaker one in Nelson, who was a co-inventor of Big League Chew. Yay. The other is of former All Star Tim Raines, which is a pretty nice card and I was very tempted to keep it, but all 4 autos are being given away, so one of you will get this card!

Overall Rating: out of 5 Stars (Letter: B+)

Quick Review: While I haven't broke any 2009 OBAK before, this was my first test with the product, and I must say I was impressed. I enjoyed all the oddities in the base set, and all the prospects, in a very nice not overpopulated way. All of the different little subsets in the base set are spread out evenly, so it's not like 100 prospects and 17 retired players, which is cool. I learned a lot from this box, about certain players that failed to succeed in the majors but had strong careers in the minors. The only reasons why this product didn't rate 5 stars was because first, the different parallel backs just don't flow with me. It's very hard to open a box and notice the parallels that are only recognizable from the back side. Another reason is the weak autograph inclusions, seriously, we should have some higher ranked prospects than #10 in the Indians farm system and #7 in Boston. A small checklist should mean a strong autograph checklist, and finding an auto of the co-inventor of Big League Chew didn't help things. If we didn't get the Tim Raines, I probably would have made this a 3 1/2 star box. Not a stand out product, but not a horrible product either. It was a really fun break for me as a semi-history buff.

Now on to how you guys can win. There will be 4 lots from this break, each containing a similar amount of cards. Group A, B, C, and D, will be the 4 regions, and you will have to do 4 different things in order to win these groups. You can only win 1 group, but it will be randomized so you never know what you could end up winning.

CONTEST!!!!

GROUP A: 18 Base Cards, 3 Base Minis, Smead Jolley Mini Insert /25, Canseco Circle Back Base, Jason Heyward Circle Back RC Mini, Greenberg Square Back Base, Robert Nelson Auto /125

To win Group A: Please leave a comment telling me if you have subscribed to this blog. If you haven't subscribed, and you want to win this lot, please do so and say "Yes I subscribed" or something like that in the comments.

GROUP B: 18 Base Cards, 3 Base Minis, Jason Heyward Regular Mini, Eddie Cicotte Base Parallel /50, Jason Kipnis Prospect Auto /75

To win Group B: Please post a plug to this contest and leave a link to your post in the comments below! Just tell everyone to check this contest out, because they could be missing out on something they may want!

GROUP C: 18 Base Cards, 3 Base Minis, Chick Gandil Mini Parallel, Jason Heyward Circle Back Base Parallel, Col. John Stevens III Insert, Reymond Fuentes Prospect Auto /75

To Win Group C: Please leave a rating of 2010 TriStar OBAK in the comments below, 5 at the highest, 0 being the lowest!

GROUP D: 18 Base Cards, 3 Minis, Hank Greenberg Circle Back Mini, Jeff Burroughs Black Back /50, Jason Heyward Triangle Back RC Mini, Tim Raines Autograph /125

To win Group D: Please in the comments below, write up a little review of 2010 TriStar OBAK, with your opinions on how to change the set and make it better, and what you like about the product, if you've opened it yet or not.

Now that perfectly divided all the cards out, and we're left with one more. The Cabinet Card of Hofheintz, and what I'll do for you is whoever at least enters one of these 4 Group contests, will be in the random for the cabinet card. If you enter for each group, you get 4 entries to win the cabinet.

For a quick review, Group A requires a subscription to this blog, Group B requires a plug post for this contest, Group C requires a box rating of 1 to 5 stars, and Group D requires a little review of what you think of the product, the pros and cons. If you do it all, it will be your best chance to at least win one of the groups!

THE CONTEST WILL END EXACTLY 1 WEEK FROM TODAY, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH, AT 1:00 PM (EASTERN TIME)! I WILL RANDOMIZE AND ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS THAT NIGHT!

Now go out there and enter the contest! Thanks again so much to TriStar for the free box, I really appreciate the opportunity! See Ya!

Mailday and Cards from Dad's Friend

Hey guys, Drew back here. I know I've been a little off lately, but I've got reasons and I guess I'll start now. One is that I've been talking to friends a lot more lately and stuff, two is that I've been busy playing baseball and doing other things, and 3, I've had near no interest in any of the 2010 products so far. Sure once I start National Chicle I'll be addicted, but right it's kinda boring. I kinda feel lost since I've been so busy, and although I still love getting cards in packages I'm in a little collecting hole. But, I wanna break out of it, so I'm gonna try to get back on track.

So, for starters, got some mail lately but first, here is some stuff that my dad's friend from work gave to me. He already gave me one group earlier, and here is part 2, well, the second stack. Pretty nice stuff, here are the highlights:

Some 90's odd ball ish cards, of some good players, Kruk, Larkin, Cecil, Bagwell, Bonilla, Sierra, and Will Clark. Not a bad bunch right there.

Here's some more 90's stuff including a Ventura, a cool little 4 way with Casey Stengel from 1992 Topps something, a Brad Ausmus RC (who knew he was a Yankee?), a Kenny Lofton rookie, and a really cool shot of Mike Piazza.

But the best card of the bunch had to be this Junior Seau rookie card. It's not a super valuable card or anything but it's certainly an awesome yet creepy mug shot of a future Hall of Famer! Really cool!

Thanks so much again, some nice stuff without a doubt!

The second and last part of this post is from the mailbox, from Night Owl. By this point you probably know that he and I have been trading buddies, I think this was at least the 3rd or 4th time we've traded, and he came through again! Here are the highlights:

We'll start with some Yankees team set needs, which was the main purpose of this trade for me. I got a Roger Maris History of the Game that I needed for the Yankees PC, a Gehrig for the 2010 set (which means I still need another for the Yankees team sets), a Maris for 2010 Topps, a really nice 2010 Heritage Gehrig for the Yankee sets, a Maris for 2010 Topps, a Damon for Yankees, a Sabathia for 2010 Topps and a Pettitte for the Yankees. Ok, now that the blabbering is over with, I really like the look of the Sabathia Turkey Red, my favorite card of him as a Yankee by far.

Ok, I'm not doing what I did on the last pic, so I'll say that the 4 Lineages are for the Yankees PC, and the Tales of the Game. I'll never forget Jeter's flip, that was an amazing play. Also, 3 more Yankee stadium legacies, only need like 7000 more haha. The Jeter Timeline insert is certainly a favorite of mine too, what an awesome card!

Some 90's stuff, including some faves of mine, Wade Boggs (as a Yankee), Doc Gooden, Strawberry, and Donnie Baseball. Yeah, I know you all know I met him but yeah, I'm going to another show soon but the lineup is kinda disappointing. The Sanderson card is interesting too, never saw one of those before.

And lastly, some newer ones, Icons of A-Rod and CC, pretty sure I only need the Tex from that set now, an X of Jeter (yawn), a really cool die cut of Ross Ohlendorf, and some other cool ones. That x-fractor of Melky is sweet, I miss him in pinstripes (stupid Randy Winn). The last card I will talk about is the very nice 71 Topps Ron Klimkowski. Although I have pretty much no clue who he is, it's in good shape and really nice. A cool add to the Yankees collection!

Thanks so much Night Owl, and I'll be back probably Saturday with the next post, got very busy plans tomorrow. See Ya!...............

oh wait one more thing....

I now officially have a sponsor on drewscards! Thanks so much Tristar! Speaking of which, enter that contest now foos!