Group Break Swag from Juuust A Bit Outside...

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

I got into my first (but not my last) group break over at Juuust a Bit Outside last month.  Kyle was busting 4 boxes: 2004 Fleer Platinum, 2007 SP Authentic, 2011 Bowman Platinum, and 2012 Topps Heritage.  As far as needed cards go, I struck out on 3 of the 4 boxes.  I got several cards from the 2004, 2007, and 2011 boxes, but I already had them.  You might think at this point that this break greatly disappointed me, but you would be VERY wrong.  This is arguably the best break (definitely top 2) that I have ever been in and all I got was 8 needed cards.  Let's take a look at what nearly made me change my pants.

 Let's start off with a pair of throw in cards which I did need.  I have a good chunk of the Rockies from 2008 Upper Deck Documentary, but I think I still need over half for the team set.  I've said it before that set was fantastic in theory, but not very good in practice.  The Tulo from 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum finished out the team set for me, so it was especially appreciated.  This is the type of set that I think Upper Deck did very well, a smaller set with multiple parallels.  Although, I do miss their 1000+ card base sets as well.

Let's start with the non-short print Rockies that I picked up.  I can't stand the Rookie Star cards, mainly because of the multiple uses of the same player.  I understand that they wanted to use the same amount of cards as 1963 for rookies, but the 1963 set was 576 cards while Heritage is only 500.  They could have cut some and still been fine.  But enough complaining (for now anyway).  Next up is the first Rockies card of Guillermo Moscoso who came from Oakland in the Seth Smith trade.  I have not been too impressed with Moscoso in Spring Training and this might end up being his only Rockies card ever, much like Jose Lopez in 2011 Heritage.

Now we'll go onto the SPs.  I actually got more short prints than regular cards in this break.  It helps that Rockies make up nearly 10% of the final 75 cards in this set with 6 total SPs.  I am really liking the backgrounds in each of these three cards, especially the Chacin.  Getting 3 of the 6 Rockie short prints out of one break would have made this break worthwhile, but Kyle was not done yet.

MY

BIG

HIT

WAS

THIS

BEAUTY

This is the image swap short print Troy Tulowitzki relic hand-numbered 02/63.  This is one of the best pulls I have ever gotten in a break!  I am not one that normally cares about certain serial numbers and such, but I do like that this is Tulo's uniform number as well.  This card might get buried with me one day (NOTE: future grave robbers...I am just kidding).  I was speechless when I saw this card and I think this is the best card that came from the break.  Considering an Albert Pujols autograph #'d to 100 came out of the 2004 box, that is some high praise indeed.

I didn't do as good in JABO's Break #5 (which I will be showing off as soon as it comes in), but I did get a decent #'d hit of my non-Rockies team choice.  Rhubarbrunner you will want to pay attention to that post.

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Group Break Swag from the Dimwit (March Edition)

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

One of the two breaks that I try to get in every month is with Sam of The Daily Dimwit.  Rarely does one of Sam's breaks go poorly for my Rockies.  Unfortunately, this was one of those rare occasions.  I only got 9 Rockies total and 4 of them were dupes.  Considering that with the sets involved, I only had maybe 8 total cards before the break...4 dupes ain't good.  You can't win them all and I did get 5 new cards of my Rockies.  Here are all nine cards for my Rockies.

These 3 were the highlight of the break for me Rockie-wise.  Sam actually decided to include this 2003 Playoff Portraits in this break because of a trade with me that included a relic from this set.  It really does look and feel very nice.  The cards are textured just like a canvas, you can actually feel the brushstrokes.  A very nice set.

Here we have from 2004 Upper Deck Diamond Collection Pro Sigs, the Rockies non-SP team set.  I didn't have the Walker, but I had the other two.  I still need several SPs and all the parallels from this set.

The other two boxes in this break were 2003 Topps 205 and 2003 Upper Deck Standing O.  Above is the Rockies entire haul from both boxes combined.  Ugh.  The even worse news is that the Jennings mini is the only card I needed.  The cherry on top is the Helton die cut is the only card from Standing O that I had before the break and it stayed that way.  So like I said, my Rockies did horrible.


However, with my second team, the Cubs, I did relatively well.  I picked them up in a trade with Ryan H of O No Another Orioles Blog for my randomized team, the Blue Jays.  I didn't get a "hit," but I did get some interesting cards and a couple of SPs.

The Ryne Sandberg from the Playoff Portraits box is probably my favorite card from the break.  It's absolutely dead on.  The middle card is one of those instances where it kind of sucks to be a fan of a team created within your lifetime.  It is a George "Peaches" Graham from the 2003 205 set.  Graham played half year for the Cubs in 1911 after being traded from the Boston Rustlers.  The Rustlers was one of the many former nicknames of the team now known as the Atlanta Braves.  I can't learn that much history from a team created in 1993, because I was there.  The Sammy Sosa is a silver signature parallel for the UDDCPS set.

Here is smattering of Cubs that I collected for one person in particular.  Jon from Community Gum is a big-time collector of both Kerry Wood and Greg Maddux and is one of my better trading buddies.  Jon if you read this, you have dibs on these six.

It wouldn't a 2003 set without an abundance of Mark "The Bird" Prior (yes I know that's not his nickname, but his career mirrored Fidrych).  I ended up with both the base Prior with the modern logo and the SP with a what looks like roadkill logo.  The Sosa is just a base mini, but doesn't he look douchey with the shades tilted on his hat.

I'll end this with a trio of SP rookies.  In the early 2000s, many sets had short-printed rookies.  If a player took off, like Pujols or Ichiro the card became worth a mint.  Most of the time you end up paying like $2 for someone you never heard of like these three.  Actually that's not true, I have heard of Todd Wellemeyer but you get the point. 


All of these Cubs (and many others I didn't show) are for trade, but like I said Jon has dibs on the Woods and Maddux. 

Thanks for the break, Sam, and I am looking forward to the Trade Bait Draft tomorrow night.

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Group Break Swag from Nachos Grande

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Chris over at Nachos Grande held another group break last month and I jumped in because most of the sets being busted were very sparse in my collection.  It was a one chosen team, one random team style break.  I of course chose the Rockies and was randomized the Blue Jays.  I ended up trading the Jays for the Rangers because I was low on trade bait for that team.  I don't think I have ever made such a good trade as you ill soon see.

Let's start out with looking at some Rockies from early in this century.

Here is a pair from 2002 Fleer Genuine.  I hadn't ever seen this set, but I gotta say I kind of like it.  I like most sets with colored borders though.  I did complete this team set.

Here is another Fleer offering from 2002.  This one being 2002 Fleer Showcase.  I am not as big a fan of this particular set.  It just seems kind of blah even with the colored border.  I don't like duplicate pictures on cards especially the ghost-like close up behind the main photo.  I ended up missing two for the team set here.

Next up is 2003 Donruss Team Heroes.  Numerically, this was my most successful box in that I got 5 cards I needed.  This set is okay, but I am not really a fan of the odd-shaped polygon that is used for the photo.  I still need 6 cards to complete this team set.

Next up is 2003 Flair.  I usually enjoy most Flair sets, but I think this may be the worst looking Flair set I have ever seen.  Once again the photo is duplicated (and smooshed) at the top.  It is sort of reminiscent of 1994 Upper Deck or 1996 Topps.  With this team set I am missing one short print, the Clint Barmes rookie.

2003 Upper Deck Patch Collection is next on the agenda.  I like this set even if it is sort of a common style.  I enjoy all of the information that is shown on the front, especially uniform numbers.  The pinstripes at the bottom and top definitely scream baseball set.  The one downside with this set is short prints are randomly strewn throughout the set.  From my team set, all I am missing is one SP, Jason Jennings.


There was one other box opened, 2004 Topps Cracker Jack.  I didn't get any base card I needed from this set and I remain 1 short.  I did get one parallel from that box that I needed though as shown below.

The Preston Wilson is a mini sticker from the 2004 Cracker Jack.  It is about the same size as the 75 or 87 minis.  From the Fleer Genuine box I also got a Genuine Leaders Todd Helton insert.  I really don't like when a set repeats its name in the title of an insert set.  When I type up my want lists, I feel really weird typing Fleer Genuine Genuine Leaders.  Couldn't they just call it Leaders?

My good luck with the Rockies was not yet over as I also got two serial numbered cards.  The Rene Reyes from Genuine is one of those numbered rookies (#'d to 2002) that lots of sets put in at the end of the base set in the early 2000s.  It's good if the player turns out to be successful.  It sucks to have to pay a premium for a guy like Rene Reyes 10 years later just because the card is short printed.  The Larry Walker is from Showcase and is a Legacy parallel #'d 143/175.  It is always nice to pull a card #'d that low, because 10 years later they are really hard to track down.

I also got a hit for the Rockies, well sort of anyway.  This Ryan Cameron is from UD Patch Collection and is one of 10 manupatches of rookies numbered 151-160 at the end of the 150 card base set.  One of those 10 is inserted in each box, so I feel a bit lucky there.  Where I don't feel lucky is, I already had this card.  This is a first for me, I had never gotten a duplicate hit from a break before.  I guess that means my team collection is starting to get impressive.  Eric you have first shot at this one since it fits two of your criteria for a great card.  Too bad Cameron looks to be about 12 in the photo (which scanned poorly) and can't quite grow a mustache yet.

Here is some of the selection of Rangers that I picked up which are currently en route to Brian from Play at the Plate.  I never knew Ryan Ludwick started out with Texas.  I am sure Brian will love the Will Clark that was pulled as well.  I definitely know he will love it more than me because I still get nauseous whenever I pull a Nuschler card.

Here is another trifecta of Rangers.  I still don't know why Texas hitters don't get nearly as much crap as Rockies hitters.  The Ballpark at Arlington is just as good (if not better) for offense as Coors.

AND NOW FOR THE BIG HIT

From the Donruss Team Heroes box, I got this Mark Teixeira autograph #'d 48/50.  What an excellent pull and a really nice looking signature.  I love it when players include their number in a signature.  Brian had gotten the Rockies as a random team in a group break of his own and I traded him the Rangers for them BEFORE the Teixeira was pulled.  He is still getting it because my word is good and I am glad that it is going to the biggest Texas fan I know.  This one was a bit harder to let go than say a Palmeiro jersey or something though, but like I said I'm glad it's heading to Brian nonetheless.

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