Nachos Grande

Group Break: 2002 Fleer Showcase (4 more packs)

2012-02-11T21:30:00.030-05:00

This is the second to last group of packs from the 2002 Fleer Showcase box. We've already found our three promised hits so I don't expect a whole lot else from the packs. Will we be surprised? Let's find out together.

Pack 1 of 4:
31. Vernon Wells - Blue Jays
52. Jim Thome - Indians
94. Mike Sweeney - Royals
121. Geoff Jenkins - Brewers
20 of 20: Baseball's Best: Alburt Pujols - Cardinals

Another nice pick up for the Cardinals - and another pack win (their sixth).

Pack 2 of 4:
6. Luis Gonzalez - Diamondbacks

8. Carlos Lee - White Sox
20. Matt Williams - Diamondbacks
24. Omar Vizquel - Indians
108. Jay Gibbons - Orioles

I guess the Diamondbacks wanted another pack win as they arrived in force (40% of the pack)! Congrats Arizona, you now have four pack wins!

Pack 3 of 4:
5. Roberto Alomar - Mets
57. Damon Minor - Giants
60. Vladimir Guerrero - Expos
89. Shannon Stewart - Blue Jays
104. Charles Johnson - Marlins

I'm giving this pack to the Marlins because I happen to like the Charles Johnson card the best. That's the Marlins third pack win of the break.

And one more for now...

Pack 4 of 4:
29. Marty Cordova - Orioles
59. Carlos Beltran - Royals
100. Richie Sexson - Brewers
124. Mike Lowell - Marlins
56. Legacy Parallel: Larry Walker - Rockies #143/175

Another nice score for the Rockies - the serially numbered Walker card means the Rockies now have three pack wins (and a relic!).

Trade Stack 36: A mini, a rookie card, and an Oriole walk into a bar...

2012-02-11T18:00:00.008-05:00

Here is how this works:

Every so often (i.e. whenever I feel like it), I will add a card to a "Trade Stack". Whenever the stack becomes appealing enough to someone, that person needs to comment on the post saying they'd like to claim the stack AND tell me which card they are sending off of my want list. That's all you have to do - trade me ONE card (or more, of course) card from my want list for the entire stack of cards that I'm offering. Each time, it will be first come, first serve...so act quickly (unless of course you are a gambler and hope to wait it out until there are 10+ cards in the stack that you want in exchange for a single 2004 UD Vintage card that I am looking for)!

The Trade Stack:

Last update: 2/11/12

So a mini card, a shiny card, a team leader card, a Red Sox pitcher, and a rookie card weren't enough to convince you to claim the trade stack? Fine then, let's add another card and see if that's good enough for someone to take this stack off my hand. As always, first to leave a comment stating which card (or cards) they will send me from my want list gets the full stack.

2011 Topps Heritage:
112. Luke Scott - Orioles

2010 Bowman Platinum:
42. Daniel Nava - Red Sox

2009 Upper Deck:
433. Mets Team Leaders - Mets
Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado

2010 Allen & Ginter:
63. Matt Carson - Athletics

2009 Upper Deck:
52. Jonathan Papelbon - Red Sox

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter:
Mini:
Short print:
332. Luke Hochevar - Royals

Want the card(s) in the stack? Act fast - tell me which card you will send me off my want list in the comments below! You must leave a comment on the trade stack post in order to claim the card - no more claims via email! If no one claims this card within a reasonable amount of time (a few hours up to a few days, depending) - I'll add another card to the stack and the process will start again!

Previously Claimed Trade Stacks:

Stack 01: 2 cards by dayf
Stack 02: 8 cards by Justin
Stack 03:  17 cards by Cam
Stack 04:  4 cards by Cam
Stack 05:  9 cards by Daily Dimwit
Stack 06:  4 cards by The Lost Collector
Stack 07:  1 card by Baseball Dad
Stack 08:  1 card by M. Spiegel
Stack 09: 6 cards by bwsmith25
Stack 10:  6 cards by Baseball Dad
Stack 11:  1 card by Patrick
Stack 12:  5 cards by Matt B.
Stack 13:  4 cards by Steve G.
Stack 14: 3 cards by ShaneK
Stack 15:  7 cards by Ryan G
Stack 16: 1 card by longlivethewho
Stack 17:  4 cards by hiflew
Stack 18: 4 cards by Potch
Stack 19:  2 cards by Axemanohio
Stack 20: 5 cards by by Play at the Plate
Stack 21: 5 cards by BA Benny
Stack 22: 1 card by IkesCards
Stack 23: 8 cards by Axemanohio
Stack 24:  1 card by BA Benny
Stack 25: 2 cards by Jeff P.
Stack 26:  10 cards by Axemanohio
Stack 27:  1 card by BA Benny
Stack 28: 7 cards by ThingsAreFunnerHere
Stack 29:  3 cards by TheBrooklynMet
Stack 30:  4 cards by Adam C.
Stack 31:  10 cards by Play at the Plate
Stack 32:  8 cards by Josh D.
Stack 33:  6 cards by Baseball Dad
Stack 34:  1 card by Potch
Stack 35:  9 cards by Cool Breeze
Stack 36:  ?? by ??

Barry Larkin Collection 119: 1992 Fleer Ultra - All-Star #13

2012-02-11T13:00:00.001-05:00

Barry Larkin
Year: 1992
Brand: Fleer Ultra
Insert set: All-Star
Card number: 13 of 20

Although the card doesn't scan particularly well (you can barely see the foil at the bottom of the front of the card), the '92 Fleer Ultra All-Star cards were actually quite nice. I don't know why Fleer went with the whole marble stone look but it was certainly different for the times. The front of the card features a fairly dull action while the back of the card has an equally boring head shot. The redeeming factor is the write-up on the back of the card...any card that mentions the Reds winning the World Series has to be good, right?!

Group Break: Four More Packs of 2003 Donruss Team Heroes

2012-02-11T08:30:00.028-05:00

I had thought it might be possible to finish up the group break before the week was over...unfortunately that was wishful thinking as there were simply too many remaining packs! What I CAN say is that the break will certainly be finished by next weekend...and all packages should be in the mail by then as well.

The only way for that to happen though, is for me to keep rippin' the packs. Here's another 4 from the Donruss Team Heroes box.

Pack 1:
Mark Grace - Diamondbacks
Corey Patterson - Cubs
Elpidio Guzman - Angels
Preston Wilson - Marlins
Einar Diaz - Indians
David Wells - Yankees
Kyle Lohse - Twins
Andres Galarraga - Expos
J.D. Drew - Cardinals
Ben Howard - Padres
Gary Carter - Expos
Ernie Banks - Cubs

Glossy parallel: Greg Maddux - Braves

The glossy Maddux card is nice, but I'm giving the pack win to the Cubs thanks to the Ernie Banks (and to a much, much lesser extent, the Corey Patterson).

Pack 2:
Carlos Cambrano - Cubs
Paul Konerko - White Sox
Luis Rivera - Orioles
Jeremy Affeldt - Royals
Austin Kearns - Reds
Alfonso Soriano - Yankees
Brian Mallette - Brewers
Hank Blalock - Rangers
Josh Fogg - Pirates
Randy Winn - Rays
Nolan Ryan - Angels
Bo Jackson - Royals

Glossy parallel: Casey Fossum - Red Sox

Bo knows winning the pack.

Pack 3:
Freddy Sanchez - Red Sox
Jason Marquis - Braves
Marcus Giles - Braves
Carlos Hernandez - Astros
Chin-Feng Chen - Dodgers
Anderson Machado - Phillies
Omar Daal - Dodgers
Tim Hudson - Athletics
Josh Phelps - Blue Jays
Mike Cameron - Mariners
Rickie Henderson - Athletics

Robin Roberts - Phillies
Glossy parallel: Byung-Hyun Kim - Diamondbacks

A pretty nice pack for the Athletics. Unlike some of the previous breaks, the Athletics haven't had a great showing thus far...but they did get their second pack win with this pack.

Pack 4:
Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks
Adam Bernero - Tigers
Kirk Saarloos - Astros
David Elder - Indians
Placido Polanco - Phillies
Al Leiter - Mets
So Taguchi - Cardinals
Tsuyoshi Shinjo - Giants
Rafael Soriano - Mariners
Jack Morris - Twins
Ryne Sandberg - Cubs

Glossy parallel: Mat Clement - Cubs

Another nice pack for the Cubs - the Sandberg is probably the best card of the bunch...and certainly enough for another Cubs pack win.

Group Break: 2003 Fleer Flair - Packs 13 through 16

2012-02-10T21:30:00.043-05:00

The 2003 Fleer Flair box has been decent so far - the box promises a hit every 4 packs and so far (through 12 packs) we've found 2 hits (Roy Oswalt and Bernie Williams). If the odds continue to hold, we ought to find our third hit in this group of four packs. Let's find out!

Pack 13:
6. Sean Burroughs - Padres
26. Mike Sweeney - Royals
46. Scott Rolen - Cardinals
53. Orlando Cabrera - Expos
87. Bernie Williams - Yankees

Not a whole lot to choose from in that pack, I suppose the Bernie card is the best of the bunch since Philly fans don't seem to care for Rolen much. Congrats New York on your eight pack win - you are now tied with the Braves for the group break lead. By my count, that is also the Yankees' 36th base card of the break - to go along with two serially numbered relic cards, a serially numbered insert card, and seven (yes, seven) insert cards. Quite the haul for the Yankees!

Pack 14:
2. Derek Jeter - Yankees
28. Torii Hunter - Twins
42. Josh Beckett - Marlins
50. Jeff Kent - Astros

70. Larry Walker - Rockies

The previous pack may have been lacking in true star power...but this pack certainly isn't! You could arguably pick any of the teams for the pack win! I'm going to go with the Astros though since Kent is rockin' the sunglasses and none of the other guys were.

Pack 15:
15. Craig Biggio - Astros
20. Omar Vizquez - Indians
67. Cliff Floyd - Mets
DC-JD. Diamond Cuts: Relic: J.D. Drew - Cardinals

That's the Cardinals second relic of the break (the other being a Pujols) which means the Cardinals also were a great selection this time around! This pack marks the Cards fifth win of the break, making them one of eight teams with at least 5 pack wins so far.

Pack 16:
40. Curt Schilling - Diamondbacks
63. Preston Wilson - Rockies
80. Troy Glaus - Angels
83. Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
54: Row 1 parallel: Richie Sexson - Brewers #020/150

How about that, a surprise serially numbered card for the Brew Crew! This pack makes two wins for the Brewers, enough to push them ahead of five other teams in that category.

Not a bad group of packs - and we got our third relic right on cue. The last four packs ought to have one more relic if the stated box odds hold true.

Group Break: 2002 Fleer Showcase - Three More Packs

2012-02-10T18:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday afternoon. Here's three more packs to help you get through the last few hours of the work day.

Pack 15:
12. Chuck Knoblauch - Royals
17. Doug Mientkiewicz - Twins
64. Curt Schilling - Diamondbacks
92. Tsuyoshi Shinjo - Giants
110. C.C. Sabathia - Indians

If I ever decide to chase another set from 2002, I think I will seriously consider the Fleer Showcase set. The set reminds me of Topps Gallery crossed with UD Masterpieces and I like it. As for the pack, I've gotta hand it to CC as he's probably the best of the group - plus he fills out the card nicely.

Pack 16:
1. Albert Pujols - Cardinals
27. Rafael Furcal - Braves
77. Troy Glaus - Angels
119. Mike Hampton - Rockies
10 of 22: Derek Jeter Collection - Derek Jeter - Yankees #0460/1000

The Derek Jeter Collection card is extremely foily and clearly doesn't belong in the set (think Chrome cards in Topps Heritage). That said, a serially numbered Derek Jeter card is a nice pick-up for the Yankees, a team that has done VERY well this break!

Pack 17:
7. Bobby Abreu - Phillies
62. Phil Nevin - Padres
79. Greg Maddux - Braves
105. Ryan Klesko - Padres
126. Avant: Derek Jeter - Yankees

As if the last pack wasn't enough, now the Yankees scored our second Avant card of the box. The Avant cards are basically framed artwork and are exceedingly nice. If there were a Larkin Avant card, I would have gone to eBay to buy one by now, that's how much I like these! Congrats New York on your seventh win (now only one behind Atlanta for the group break lead). And apologies to the Padres - if it weren't for the Avant Jeter card, you would finally have landed your first pack win...them's the breaks I guess when it comes to group breaks.

Barry Larkin Experiment: Round 1G

2012-02-10T12:30:00.002-05:00

I need to start overlapping the voting periods if I am ever going to get through the first round - so that's why there are now two polls up on the sidebar (Round 1F is still active as well). As a reminder, I decided to "seed" the cards in the exact order that I posted them for my Barry Larkin Collection Series. For the most, I started off posting cards in chronological order, which is why today's post also contains cards from the same era. Around the time of Larkin card #36 (with one exception before that), I stopped trying to post in chronological order. I suppose that might make the later votes more interesting as there will be a greater variety in card design, philosophy, etc.

However, that's jumping the gun a bit - we still have Round 1G which will get to send two participants to the next round. Here are your choices:

1992 Upper Deck base:

Clean, simple, and basic - the 1992 Upper Deck set certainly won't ruffle many feathers out there. I wasn't a huge fan of the text name design on the fronts (I prefer team logos) but even so the card design is solid. The particular Larkin card is actually perfectly suited for the card design - this is a card that I could easily see making it into the later rounds.

1993 Fleer Ultra base:

By 1993, the card collecting world had changed drastically. At that point, card companies had caught on to the idea of "low end" and "high end" and the glut of produced sets was extremely palpable. Some card sets catered to the higher end (such as Fleer Ultra) while others, like base Topps still catered to the lower end of the collecting spectrum. As for the vote, I have no idea what people think of the 1993 Fleer Ultra set - it seems to be one of those sets that never gets mentioned on the blogs...this card could end up with a ton of votes or being completely shut out, I don't think I'll be terribly surprised either way.

2008 Donruss Playoff Prime Cuts - Relic

Remember in the intro how I said I posted in chronological order (for the first 36 Larkin cards) except for one exception - here's the exception! Will a relic card (numbered out of 99 no less) prevail over the over produced base cards of the early 90s? I'm guessing it will...but I must admit that the design on the relic is a bit lacking - might that affect the voting? We'll see!

1993 Pinnacle Hometown Heroes:

The Hometown Heroes were a subset in the '93 Pinnacle set. Of all the cards in Round 1G, this is the card that I expect to get the fewest votes as it doesn't really match-up well against the competition. The front design is ok but the backs are awful (2011 Lineage anyone?). There are no team logos to be found in the design either - other than on Larkin's jersey. On the bright side, the card is a subset card - and I remember thinking those type of cards were pretty cool in the early '90s, maybe this card can gain some "nostalgia votes" on that alone.

Those are your four candidates for this round - now go vote on the sidebar for your favorite. Remember, the top two vote getters will move on to the next round!

Barry Larkin Collection 118: 1997 Leaf - 8 of 15 - Leagues of the Nation Insert #0415/2500

2012-02-10T08:30:00.021-05:00

Paul Molitor & Barry Larkin
Year: 1997
Brand: Leaf
Card number: 8 of 15
Insert Set: Leagues of the Nation

The Leagues of the Nation cards are quite interesting. One side features an American League star while the other side features a National League star. The little round bits between the ribbon are all die-cut out of the card and the red and blue ribbons are actually felt. To top it off, the card is numbered out of 2500.

Despite all the gimmickry, the card is actually quite nice! I wish Larkin was on the front rather than the back of the card, but otherwise I can't really complain. I don't know why Leaf decided to put the date of 8/29/97 on the card though. In that game, the Reds beat the Twins by a score of 5-3. Larkin served as the DH that day and went 0-4 with a run. He was taken out for a pinch runner late in the game. Molitor fared slightly better going 1-3 with an RBI. He also served as the DH that day. Certainly a weird match-up to highlight though perhaps Leaf made up the dates before the actual games were played (since this was a '97 set after all). At least it would make more sense that way - but only marginally.

Hello eBay - I See You Are Tempting Me Again.

2012-02-09T21:30:00.031-05:00

I spent too much time on eBay last week looking for cheap Barry Larkin cards that I could add to my collection. After purchasing this lot in a moment of weakness, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't bid on any more Larkin cards unless they were either a hit (relic or auto) or a serially-numbered card. The thinking behind my self-imposed requirements was that I could probably trade for most of Larkin's not-so-rare cards through a combination of begging, bartering, and more begging.

What happened? I found a pair of auctions (different sellers) each selling a single Larkin card...and both were serially-numbered cards. So I put in a low bid (and won) each...so here's two more cards... As always, each card will get its own proper post at some point...but honestly I'm so far behind in posting my Larkin cards who knows when that will happen!

First up, another Topps Tier One card:

Did I say another? Yes, I did. You see, I'm an idiot - and this one more reason why I can't collect parallel sets. According to the scan of the card in the eBay auction, this card looked like it had a much darker background. I knew I had a Larkin Tier One card numbered to 199 but the color looked different so I bid.

Well, you guessed it - the card arrives in my mailbox, I open, and I see that I'm holding proof that I'm an idiot. In a strange quirk, I now own card 151/199 and card 152/199. That's cool I guess, maybe I should try to play parallel card rummy since I'm working on a straight.

Next up, a card that I did need (thankfully):

This one is from the 1997 Leaf set and it's funky.

The card is die-cut and the blue ribbon is actually felt. The other side features Paul Molitor and has red felt. Totally overdone in a 90s kind of way - I love it!

Group Break: 2004 Cracker Jacks (Half the Remaining Packs)

2012-02-09T18:30:00.021-05:00

There are six packs remaining in the Cracker Jack box - here's half of them:

Pack 1:
Greinke - Royals
Giambi - Yankees
Jones - Braves
Cruz Jr. - Rays
Choy Foo - Indians
Burrell - Phillies
Rivera - Yankees

Mini: Abreu - Phillies
Sticker surprise: Sierra - Yankees

Gotta give the Yankees this pack - two base cards plus the sticker insert, not a bad haul at all. That's the Yankees fifth pack win of the break, still three behind the Braves and two behind the Red Sox.

Pack 2:
Colon - Angels
Klesko - Padres
Hudson - Blue Jays
Valdez - Giants
Maddux - Cubs
Damon - Red Sox
Contreras - Yankees
Blue mini: Lo Duca - Dodgers

Sticker surprise: Burnett - Marlins

The blue minis are seeded 1:10 packs (meaning we should get two per box - which we did - the other being the CC Sabathia card). Certainly a nice score for the Dodgers given that the background is blue...and an easy choice for the pack winner!

Pack 3:
Alou - Cubs
Benson - Pirates
Myers - Phillies
Gonzalez - Royals
Everett - Expos
Thomas - White Sox
Clemens - Astros
Mini: Floyd - Mets
Surprise sticker: Mulder - Athletics

We haven't gotten a lot of great players in sticker form - so the Mulder seems like a better card than it probably is. However, it's good enough for the pack win as not much else jumped out at me (though the Clemens cards is also quite nice I must admit - and I don't even like Clemens)!

Group Break: Once upon a time I was ahead on these posts.

2012-02-09T13:00:00.030-05:00

As the title suggests, for a few days I had a bunch of posts all pre-written and queued up. Then the work week started and I didn't even get on the computer (at home) for more than five minutes. Now all of the sudden, it's Thursday and I'm out of fresh material. However, the group break must go on - so here's a few more quick packs (from the 2003 UD Patch box).

3. Robby Hammock - Diamondbacks
34. Karim Garcia - Indians
94. Edgardo Alfonso - Giants
113. Kevin Mench - Rangers
117. Josh Phelps - Blue Jays

Wow. I don't know if you could hand pick a worse five card pack from the set if you tried. I would have been incredibly mad/disappointed if I had paid money back in 2003 and this was the one pack that I ended up with. I don't feel like giving any of the bums the pack win - but since the rules (that I make up) say I have to, the Blue Jays get the win for having a guy who almost sounds like he could be an Olympic champion swimmer.

Next up, a slightly better pack...

11. Chipper Jones - Braves
30. Aaron F-ing Boone - Reds
53. Shawn Green - Dodgers

88. Brian Giles - Pirates
98. John Olerud - Mariners

This pack was much, much better than the first pack at least. I'm giving the pack win to the Dodgers because the celebration shot is one of the few "unique" photos in the set. Mostly the photos are batters swinging or pitchers throwing - having something else as a subject is all it takes to win the pack apparently.

And the final pack for today:
30. Aaron - F-ing Doubles - Boone
44. Roy Oswalt - Astros
53. Shawn - I want to win two packs in a row - Green
90. Sean Burroughs - Padres
110. Rafael Palmeiro - Rangers
MVP-13. Ichiro - Mariners

If my memory is correct, this pack provided us with our first doubles of the break - and that's including every single box! An amazing run that had to end at some point I guess... In addition, how about the Ichiro patch? Pretty nice huh? A great pack for the Mariners - their second pack win of the break!

The Ichiro marks the third patch card out of the box so if the box odds are correct, we shouldn't find any more hits in the remaining four packs. Given that, I decided to open the next four packs already...but not show them since there IS more good stuff to come. Let's just say we crushed the stated odds for the box (and we already got two of the jumbo all-star patches when the front of the box says you only get one). Good stuff all the way around - and more good stuff to come from the box, stay tuned as we wrap down the break!

And a big thanks to the sponsor - Baseball Card Exchange!

The Barry Larkin Experiment: Round 1F

2012-02-09T08:30:00.001-05:00

The voting ended for Round 1E yesterday so let's take a look at the results and then move on to Round 1F.

As you can see by the above poll numbers, it was a clean sweep for 1991 Upper Deck. The Silver Slugger card finished first while the regular base card locked up second place. The other two cards only mustered three votes between them - combined they'd still miss a tie for second by two votes.

Now, on to the next round! As always, the poll is on the right.

1992 Donruss Triple Play:

The 1992 Donruss Triple Play set looks like it was designed using a beta version of Microsoft PowerPoint. I don't think that's a compliment exactly as no one that I know of uses PowerPoint to design baseball cards. Of course, just because it's not my favorite (seriously, red fading to yellow fading back to red, yuck) doesn't mean you guys don't love it.

1992 Fleer All-Star:

The 1991 Fleer All-Star card ended up winning it's round (back in round 1D) - will the '92 All-Star version also rule its group? If I had to wager, I'd guess that the card finishes in the top 2...but I said that about the Diamond King card...and we all know how that ended (not well for Donruss).

1992 Score base:

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Score managed to create some of the nicest designs with some of the worst color schemes. A green half-border with a blue background for text looks terrible with the Reds' uniform (and logo). On the plus side though, the '92 Score card does feature the running man logo on the front - always a plus in my book!

1992 Score All-Star:

This round features the first "different" type of Larkin card in the Experiment. Up until the '92 Score All-Star card, all of the Larkin cards featured nothing more than an image (or multiple images) of Larkin. The All-Star card doesn't feature a photo but rather a caricature. Will the uniqueness of the card be enough to convince voters to choose Score or will a more classic design win out?

Group Break: 2003 Donruss Team Heroes - Packs 13, 14, and 15

2012-02-08T21:30:00.034-05:00

It's getting late - so here's three packs instead of the usual four.

Pack 13:
Jorge De La Rosa - Red Sox
Kevin Millwood - Braves
Horacio Ramirez - Braves
Mark Grudzielanek - Dodgers
Franklin German - Tigers
Shawn Green - Dodgers
Terrence Long - Athletics
Eric Junge - Phillies
Jamie Moyer - Mariners
Scott Rolen - Cardinals
Joe Carter - Blue Jays

Willie McCovey - Giants
Glossy parallel: Wilson Betemit - Braves

With three cards, including the one-per-pack parallel, it's almost impossible not to award this pack to the Braves. That's their eighth pack win (assuming my count is correct) of the break!

Pack 14:
Pedro Martinez - Red Sox

Curt Schilling - Diamondbacks
Tim Redding - Astros
C.C. Sabathia - Indians
Rene Reyes - Rockies
Rey Ordonez - Mets
Brett Jodie - Yankees
Deivis Santos - Giants
Kazuhiro Sasaki - Mariners
Matt Morris - Cardinals
Mike Schmidt - Phillies
Robin Yount - Brewers
Glossy parallel: Manny Ramirez - Red Sox

Another case of the rich teams getting richer. This is the Red Sox eighth win which moves them back into a tie for first place (with the Braves). Even so, these packs offer plenty of cards for everyone so hopefully each group break participant is enjoying the box!

Pack 15:
Sammy Sosa - Cubs
Troy Percival - Angels
Jon Lieber - Cubs
Brad Penny - Marlins
Ryan Dempster - Reds
Joe Mays - Twins
Bartolo Colon - Expos
Dennis Tankersley - Padres
Travis Hughes - Rangers
Wade Boggs - Red Sox
Eddie Mathews - Braves
Harmon Killebrew - Twins

Glossy parallel: Doug Devorce - Diamondbacks

I'm giving this pack win to the Twins because it's hard to beat a nice Killebrew card!

Delivery Time! Cards from Blog Reader Stephen

2012-02-08T18:30:00.016-05:00

While most of you have moved on to the latest and greatest (2012 Topps Series 1 at the moment), I'm still working my way towards completing sets from last year. My latest swap - with blog reader Stephen - netted me the final Minds that Made the Future card that I needed from Allen & Ginter (even after opening a case and a half of the set):

I like the Minds that Made the Future set quite a bit - and I'll be sure to talk about it more during an upcoming theme week (consider that your spoiler alert for the day).

Stephen also sent me one of the two remaining Cabinet cards that I needed:

I now only need Cabinet card #9 (which is the one pictured below - image yanked from eBay):

This is the last cabinet card that I need - hit me up if you have one to trade!

If you happen to have this card sitting around, please let me know! I'd love to try and work out a trade so that I can knock another set off my want list!

Finally, I landed 30 (!) more diamond parallel cards for my set. At this point, I think I'm finally over the halfway mark towards having the Series 2 diamond parallel set complete.

Thanks for all the great cards Stephen! And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!

Group Break: 2002 Fleer Genuine - 4 More Packs (Night Owl: Don't Look)

2012-02-08T13:00:00.022-05:00

It's time to finish off the second (of three) mini boxes within the 2002 Fleer Genuine hobby box. Without further ado, here are the next four packs:

Pack 9:
6. Mike Mussina - Yankees
11. Sean Casey - Reds
32. Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
60. Gary Sheffield - Braves
120. Franklin Nunez - Phillies #0521/2002

Hey, a serially numbered rookie card of a guy that I've actually heard of! That's a good card for the Phillies - certainly enough to net them the pack win. I also like the Casey card - and the Mussina card since he was born in the neighboring town where I teach.

Pack 10:
22. Rich Aurilia - Giants
49. Ben Sheets - Brewers
95. Jim Edmonds - Cardinals
97. Scott Rolen - Phillies
GL 3 of 15: Genuine Leaders: Alex Rodriguez - Rangers

I always want to type "Sheetz" rather than Sheets for Ben's name... I guess you probably have to be from my area of the country to understand that connection but it happens. As for the pack winner, it's not Ben Sheetz (no matter how you spell it) but rather the Rangers with their nice and shiny A-Rod insert card. That's the Rangers fourth win of the break so far, a pretty good showing indeed!

Pack 11:
31. Eric Munson - Tigers
59. Darin Erstad - Angels
75. Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays
80. Jeff Kent - Giants
BI 7 of 25: Bat's Incredible: Manny Ramirez

By my count, the Red Sox now have seven pack wins (one more than the Braves). Unlike the Braves though, the Red Sox have earned most of their pack wins on the backs of some really nice cards (including a pair of parallels, a pair of inserts, a serially numbered card, and of course a relic. Hard to believe the Red Sox were the last team claimed in the break, huh?

Pack 12:
71. Tom Glavine - Braves
96. Geoff Jenkins - Brewers
98. Tim Hudson - Athletics
Genuine Leaders: Relic: Hideo Nomo - Dodgers

First, apologies to Night Owl - last break he bought the Dodgers and didn't get a whole lot of note from his team...this time he sits the break out and the Dodgers land two relics (both from this box)! As for this card, the back of the card says the jersey is from the Red Sox but the card is clearly labeled Los Angeles, so into the Dodgers' pile it goes! That's the fourth pack win for LA for those that care about such things (if anyone cares except me)...

Group Break: Four More Fleer Showcase Packs

2012-02-08T08:30:00.035-05:00

Good morning! I'm writing this post about an hour before the Super Bowl airs...it's nice to (finally) be a bit ahead on group break packs. I'm currently listening to Cris Collinsworth talk "blah blah blah." Let's rip a few more packs instead, that sounds more fun.

Pack 11:
10. Todd Helton - Rockies
83. Ben Grieve - Rays
85. Magglio Ordonez - White Sox
117. Russell Branyan - Indians
147. Ron Calloway - Expos #0926/1000

The Expos get their second pack win thanks to the serially numbered rookie card of Calloway. Rookie cards are sort of funny things years later, aren't they? Even though Calloway didn't become a superstar, it's still a nice pick up for Montreal.

Pack 12:
18. Richard Hidalgo - Astros
35. Barry Bonds - Giants

58. John Olerud - Mariners
99. Corey Koskie - Twins
103. Rich Aurilia - Giants

A good pack for the Giants, easy win thanks to Bonds and Aurilia.

Pack 13:
55. Jeromy Burnitz - Mets
67. Mark Grace - Diamondbacks
70. Craig Biggio - Astros
114. Barry Zito - Athletics
11 of 20 BB. Baseball's Best: Chipper Jones - Braves

The Braves haven't been the best performing team in the break - but hopefully this is a sign of positive things to come. The card design is simple, but I really like it. Good win Atlanta!

Pack 14:
42. Jermaine Dye - Athletics
50. Adrian Beltre - Dodgers
69. Jorge Posada - Yankees
Baseball's Best Relic: Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks

How about that?! Who saw a relic for the Diamondbacks coming? Let alone a future Hall of Famer pitcher?! What a great pack win for Arizona (their third win of the break).

Group Break: 2003 UD Patch Collection - You guessed it, 4 more packs!

2012-02-07T21:30:00.019-05:00

The pack wrappers for the UD Patch Collection cards say that there are short prints seeded 1:4 packs. Unfortunately, even with a brief internet search, I couldn't find any type of complete short print checklist for the set. I guess when the group break participants get their cards they can try their own Google search, maybe you'll have more luck that I did. Of course, if someone does find a complete short print list, let me know and I can post it on one of the UD Patch posts for everyone to reference.

Here's the next four packs in the box:

Pack 10:
25. Troy O'Leary - Cubs
50. Mike Sweeney - Royals
78. Miguel Tejada - Athletics
89. Phil Nevin - Padres
109. Mark Teixeira - Rangers

I guess the Teixeira card is the best of the bunch, so here's your third pack win Texas! The one thing I don't like about the card is every time I glance at the Rangers' uniform I think it's actually a player for Toronto.

Pack 11:
36. Preston Wilson - Rockies
40. Eric Munson - Tigers
49. Carlos Beltran - Royals

83. Pat Burrell - Phillies
120. Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays

I've been trying to post the various group break pack busts as quickly as my schedule allows. As such, I never took the time to truly look at the back of the Patch Collection cards. It turns out that the backs are quite nice - each player gets a full paragraph write-up and it's much more than "Carlos hit two home runs on May 23" like many card backs feature. Reading through the five card backs in this pack, I'm giving the pack win to the Royals since Beltran is a "fantasy baseball manager's dream." Dreams should always win, right?

Pack 12:
7. Oscar Villarreal - Diamondbacks
12. Tony Batista - Orioles
42. Josh Beckett - Marlins
57. Torii Hunter - Twins
62. Jose Vidro - Expos
156. Rookie Innovation Patch: Ryan Cameron - Rockies

The Rookie Innovation patches are seeded 1:20 packs making this a box hit for the Rockies. It's funny how group break fortunes ebb and flow, especially in the format that I do where I reveal a few packs at a time. Until now, the Rockies had been one of the poorer performing teams - not they join ten other teams in the "got at least one hit" club. It's also the Rockies second pack win of the break.

Pack 13:
18. Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
23. Corey Patterson - Cubs
56. Richie Sexson - Brewers

74. Jason Giambi - Yankees
105. Tino Martinez - Cardinals

I suppose you could make an argument for all the teams (except the Cubs) to earn the pack victory...but I'm giving it to the true underdog - the Brewers. The Sexson card is much cooler than any of the other cards because of the photo. You've got Sexson crashing into the Astros dugout with the majority of the "other team" just watching him. There's one guy on the far left who is pretending to help but he's no where near close enough to keep Sexson from cracking his head open on the dugout.

Group Break: 4 More Packs of 2003 Fleer Flair

2012-02-07T18:30:00.028-05:00

I think I've run out clever (and not-so-clever) ways to say "here's four more packs." But, here are four more packs!

Pack 9:
11. Barry Larkin - Reds

36. Jorge Posada - Yankees
59. Jeff Bagwell - Astros
71. Mike Piazza - Mets
75. Geoff Jenkins - Brewers

Not only did I get a new Larkin card, but it happens to be the same number as his jersey. That's doubly nice! Pack win Cincinnati!

Pack 10:
10. Pat Burrell - Phillies

25. Michael Cuddyer - Twins
56. Alfonso Soriano - Yankees
73. Ben Grieve - Rays
76. Kazuhiro Sasaki - Mariners

I guess I'll give this pack to Pat "the bat" Burrell. Congrats Philly.

Pack 11:
12. Roberto Alomar - Mets

32. Ken Griffey Jr. - Reds
37. Rodrigo Lopez - Orioles
58. Jason Giambi - Yankees
86. Paul Lo Duca - Dodgers

As much as I would like to give the pack win to the Reds for the nice Griffey Jr. card, I know that the Mets deserve it more since they ended up with the Hall of Famer. Good work Mets on your fifth pack win of the break thus far!

Pack 12:
5. Luis Gonzalez - Diamondbacks
19. Josh Phelps - Blue Jays
27. Phil Nevin - Padres
45. Sammy Sosa - Cubs
74. Eric Hinske - Blue Jays

Sosa is a cheater so this pack goes to the Blue Jays (they had 40% of the cards so isn't that much of stretch, now is it)? That's Toronto's third win of the break.

Delivery Time: Night Owl Trades Peanuts for Good Stuff

2012-02-07T13:00:00.031-05:00

Greg (from Night Owl Cards) and I recently completed our gabillionth* trade. This time, I sent Greg 25 base cards from 2011 Lineage (or as he calls them, packing peanuts). In return, I was able land about a dozen cards from my own want lists!

*approximately

What amazed me the most about this trade is that no matter how many times I trade with Greg, he always manages to knock a substantial chunk of cards off my want list. It's almost like he is manufacturing cards specifically for my want list in an effort to keep wooing Dodgers (and packing peanuts) away from me. Whatever he's doing, I hope it continues because there's not much better than getting to knock cards off the 'ol want list.

We'll start with the only card that Greg sent me that wasn't on my want list...but it's probably the coolest of all the cards - 2011 Topps Diamond Platinum Cognac Blue Tint Sparkly Exclusive* card of Fred Lewis (#ed 57/60)

*real name for the parallel unknown since I never pull anything this rare, but I'm guessing that it some of the above words in it somewhere so I'm close enough.

Next, a pair of regular 'ol diamond parallels. I'm still working my way towards completing the set so every bit helps!

Greg also sent me a pair of Topps Lineage cards.

First, a Hunter Pence stand-up card (which means I'm now only missing the A-Rod stand-up and the Hank Aaron stand-up). The other Lineage card was a platinum parallel of Joey Votto. I decided against trying to complete any of the parallel sets in their entirety, instead I am focusing only on the Reds in the three parallel sets (diamond, platinum, and 1975 minis).

The above cards were all appreciated, but not entirely surprising (other than the Lewis card) because they are relatively new. Greg blew the trade package out of the proverbial water with his inclusion of seven different 2008 UD Timelines cards that I needed.

Given that group of cards, I'm oh-so-close to having the Timelines set complete. I'm only missing the following 22 cards:

Base: 232, 235, 274, 276, 279, 288, 300, 302, 304, 308, 332, 334, 336, 341, 345, 356, 361, 363, 366, 373, 374, 375

Not bad considering there are something like 250 short prints in that set!

Thanks a lot for yet another trade Greg! And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade, check out my want list and make an offer!

Group Break: 2004 Cracker Jack - Packs 11, 12, 13, and 14

2012-02-07T08:30:00.042-05:00

The second group break of the new year is beginning to wrap up. At this point, we are on the second half of each of the boxes - and we've already found 13 different hits! Let's see if we can up that total with another four packs of Cracker Jacks.

Pack 11:
Pie - Cubs
Comiskey - White Sox

Delgado - Blue Jays
Guiel - Royals
Nix - Rangers
Matos - Orioles
Buehrle - White Sox
Mini: Bonderman - Tigers
Sticker suprise: Guzman - Twins

I like the Comiskey card quite a bit, certainly enough to give this pack to the White Sox since they also picked up a Buehrle base card to along with it.

Pack 12:
Martinez - Indians
Nomo - Dodgers
Radke - Twins
Guzman - Twins

Castillo - Marlins
Hoblitzell - Reds
Hudson - Athletics
Mini: Byrd - Phillies
Secret sticker: Sheffield - Yankees

Thanks to a pair of base cards (plus underwhelming inserts), the Twins pick up their first pack win of the break. At this point, only the Tigers, Angels, Brewers, Athletics, and Padres are without at least one pack win. On the flip side, the Red Sox have six pack wins while the Braves have five.

Pack 13:
Reyes - Rockies
Sizemore - Indians
Jenks - Angels
Blalock - Rangers
Loaiza - White Sox
Chavez - Athletics
Blake - Indians

Hill - Blue Jays
Mini: Vina - Tigers
Surprise sticker: Castillo - Marlins

A pair of Indians means Cleveland takes the pack. So far, besides the one Albert Pujols relic, the secret surprise packs have been severely underwhelming. I guess when you pull a Pujols relic though you ought to be happy, huh?

Pack 14:
Schmidt - Giants
Wood - Cubs
Ortiz - Braves
Oswalt - Astros
Gonzalez - Diamondbacks
Griffey Jr. - Reds

Beltre - Dodgers
Mini: Mauer - Twins

Secret sticker: Hawksworth - Cardinals

I happen to like the Griffey Jr. card the best, but I'll give the pack win to the Twins since the mini Mauer is also quite nice! Either way, I win since I have both the Reds and the Twins in this break (neither of which have a yet though by the way)...

Delivery Time: The Card Hobbyist sends my Shiny Bowman (and Diamonds)!

2012-02-06T21:30:00.028-05:00

By my count, I have twelve different trade packages sitting on the furniture behind me waiting to be scanned, cataloged, and uploaded onto the blog. Of course, I also have six boxes full of group break packs that are waiting to be opened, scanned, and sorted. As you can probably tell from the majority of my posts lately, most of my energy has gone to the group break side of things. However, sometimes you have to take care of the other side, so I'm going to do that a bit tonight.

Here's an envelope full of cards from Patrick over at The Card Hobbyist. It seems that a lot of my old trade partners have mostly flown the proverbial coup, so it's nice to find new people to trade with to help keep my extra card piles a bit lower! This being our first trade, Patrick and I swapped a few cards from the other person's want list. I sent him a bunch of 2011 Allen & Ginter Ascent of Man insert cards plus three of the Floating Fortresses insert cards (also from '11 Ginter).

In return, I nabbed six more cards that I needed for my 2011 Bowman Platinum set...

...and three more diamond parallels from the 2011 Topps set.

Thanks for the trade Patrick! And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!

Group Break: 4 Packs of 2003 Fleer Flair

2012-02-06T18:30:00.038-05:00

The Fleer Flair box promises 1 memorabilia card for every packs. Since there are twenty packs in the box, odds suggest we should end up with four different hits. So far, we've found exactly one hit (Roy Oswalt). Will the next batch of four packs provide us with our second (and possibly third) hit(s) of the box?

Pack 5:
Joe Borchard - White Sox
30. Ellis Burks - Indians
61. Manny Ramirez - Red Sox

65. Shea Hillebrand - Red Sox
78. Miguel Tejada - Athletics

Two more base cards for the Red Sox, if my statistics are correct that's now 17 total base cards for Boston. It's also Boston's sixth pack win of the break - two more than the next closest teams!

Pack 6:
4. Rich Aurilia - Giants
8. Randy Winn - Mariners
22. Darin Erstad - Angels
44. Jason Kendall - Pirates
48. Aubrey Huff - Rays

I have no real desire to give any team the pack win - a bunch of boring players if you ask me. Since I have to award someone the victory, I'll give it to Tampa Bay since I think I like Huff's card the best out of the five...or maybe I should say I dislike it the least out of the five.

Pack 7:
13. Tony Batista - Orioles
33. Magglio Ordonez - White Sox
34. Mark Prior - Cubs
69. J.D. Drew - Cardinals
72. Andruw Jones - Braves

Another pack where there is no clear winner (at least not to me). I'm giving it to the Braves because Jones is a one belt failure away from mooning Fleer's photographer.

Pack 8:
38. Todd Helton - Rockies

85. Frank Thomas - White Sox
89. Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks
PT-BW: Power Tools: Relic: Bernie Williams - Yankees #472/500

And the Yankees land their second serially numbered relic card of the break! This one is pretty nice with the whole wood power tools motif that Fleer had going on. The card is numbered out of 500 on the back which is also a nice touch! Easy pack win for the Yankees. I also scanned the Helton because I know hiflew likes to see those whenever they are pulled...

All told, another nice set of packs. With 12 packs left in the box, we should still get another couple of hits out of the set. Stay tuned for more group break posts over the course of the week!

Group Break: 2002 Fleer Genuine - Half of the Second Mini Box

2012-02-06T13:00:00.029-05:00

It's time to bust open the second mini box (of three total). Here is the first half of that box.

Pack 9:
41. Ken Griffey Jr. - Reds
77. Torii Hunter - Twins
79. Charles Johnson- Marlins
91. Ryan Dempster - Marlins
TC 19 of 25. Tip of the Cap: Ken Griffey Jr. - Reds

I enjoy Griffey Jr. hot packs...especially from years when Griffey Jr. was a Red! Good pack win for my Redlegs.

Pack 10:
18. Pat Burrell - Phillies
20. Mike Hampton - Rockies
29. Barry Larkin - Reds

85. Roger Clemens - Yankees
NG 8 of 30: Names of the Game: Brian Giles - Pirates

Sorry Pirates, even a nice insert isn't enough to defeat a brand new Barry Larkin card that goes directly into my collection. Congrats Reds on two consecutive pack wins!

Pack 11:
19. Ryan Klesko - Padres
30. A.J. Burnett - Marlins
69. Richard Hidalgo - Astros
Relic: Bat's Incredible: Shawn Green - Dodgers

I really like the design of the Bat's Incredible cards - a very nice relic for the Dodgers (and a pack win too)!

Pack 12:
2. Manny Ramirez - Red Sox
7. Ichiro - Mariners
28. Luis Gonzalez - Diamondbacks
33. Lance Berkman - Astros
TC 12 of 25: Tip of the Cap: Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays

We end the first half of the second mini box with a nice die-cut insert for the Blue Jays. That makes two pack wins for Toronto, not bad at all!

Group Break: 2002 Fleer Showcase - Packs 7, 8, 9, and 10

2012-02-06T08:30:00.027-05:00

My goal is to finish off all six boxes of the group break by the end of the week. If I'm lucky, I'll have all the cards packaged up and ready to be mailed out by Saturday. I don't know if that's possible, but that's the goal. I know my wife would love for all the stacks of cards to disappear...

Only way to reach my goal then is to rip a bunch of packs! Here are four out of the Showcase box.

Pack 7:
22. Mo Vaughn - Mets
39. Adam Dunn - Reds
90. Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks

97. Tim Hudson - Athletics
123. Mike Lieberthal - Phillies

I happen to the Adam Dunn card best of all - but in an effort to not be too Reds-biased, I'll award this pack to the Diamondbacks since Randy Johnson is a mulleted beast.

Pack 8:
3. Frank Thomas - White Sox
78. Mike Mussina - Yankees
87. Ivan Rodriguez - Rangers
Baseball's Best: Relic: Barry Bonds - Giants

Woah, a Barry Bonds relic - our second Bonds relic of the break! That ought to make arpsmith happy since he claimed San Francisco. Bonds happens to be the cover boy on all the Fleer Showcase packs too, so you know this is a big deal hit! Easy win for San Fran.

Pack 9:
28. Jeff Bagwell - Astros
30. Lance Berkman - Astros
33. Larry Bigbie - Orioles
107. J.D. Drew - Cardinals
68. Legacy Parallel: Rafael Palmeiro - Rangers #050/175

The Palmeiro is a Legacy Parallel set (all of which are numbered out of 175 according to the pack wrapper). The front has a gold inside border (rather than the usual silver) and the serial number resides on the back of the card. I couldn't decide which side to scan! That makes a pair of pack wins for Texas.

Pack 10:
11. Juan Gonzalez - Rangers
13. Jason Kendall - Pirates
46. Jim Edmonds - Cardinals

98. Bud Smith - Cardinals
112. Josh Beckett - Marlins

Two cards for the Cardinals (and nothing else of note) means St. Louis gets their fourth pack win of the break.

The Barry Larkin Experiment: Round 1E (Plus Results!)

2012-02-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

A quick formatting note before I begin:
I've decided on a slightly better naming convention, this is the fifth vote of the first round - so I'll call it Round 1E. The previous votes being Rounds 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D respectively (even though I won't go back through the archives to fix my titles).

It's time for another round of Barry Larkin card voting - but before we get to the next vote, we need to see which cards are moving on to the next round and which are going nowhere but back in the binder.

Round 1C:

In round 1C, we had a runaway winner in the 1990 Upper Deck base card. The vote for second was tight...but 1990 Upper Deck managed the clean sweep with the Larkin team checklist card winning by a single vote over the Diamond King card (!) and the Score card. Honestly, I thought that the Diamond King card was a shoo-in to the next round but I guess I severely overestimated the popularity of early 90s Diamond King cards... Even so, never in a million years would I have guessed that 1990 Score would tie the Diamond King card, that's embarrassing for Donruss!

Round 1D:

In round 1D, we had out first card get shutout of the competition. We almost had two cards shutout but the 1991 Fleer Team Leaders card must have found one Pirates fan out there to save it from the same bitter ending. The winner by a fair margin was the 1991 Fleer All-Star card which also happens to be the first insert Larkin card featured in the voting. Is this a sign of inserts ruling the way as we get to the votes that include more of them? Or will cards like the second place bright yellow Fleer base card find success? They both move on to the next round of voting so I guess time will tell.

And now, let's take a look at the next foursome to vote on. Once again, the top two finishers move on to the next round.

Round 1E:

1991 Topps All-Star:

The 1991 Topps set is special for Reds fans because the Reds won the World Series in the previous year. Although no mention of the World Series is on the All-Star card, it still evokes strong memories of the Reds' sweep of the A's in 1990. In my humble opinion, this is surely a worthy card to make it to the next round.

1991 Topps base:

Of course, some people would prefer the base card to the All-Star card, this vote happens to have both such cards from the 1991 Topps set. I like the action shot of the All-Star card better but I am more interested in classic base cards so I could see this vote going either way.

1991 Upper Deck base:

Like both 1989 and 1990, the 1991 Upper Deck set had an advantage over Topps in terms of gloss (and holographics). The set also featured photos on the front and back of the card, something that boring 'ol Topps didn't do until the next year (and even that was only stadiums). Will it be enough to knock out at least one of the Topps 40th Anniversary cards though? We'll see what the voting public decides!

1991 Upper Deck Silver Slugger Insert:

I don't know the exact insertion odds for the Silver Slugger subset, but I know that I ended up with two of them as a kid - and luckily for me, one of them happened to be this particular Barry Larkin card. Of all my early Larkins, this was the first card that I recall considering "valuable." I'm sure Beckett would disagree with me, but eh, what does Beckett know about value anyhow?

As usual, the poll is up on the side bar of the blog - now go vote!