Pack Break: 2014 Prizm

I broke open a 2014 Prizm Retail Pack.  The pack boasts only 4 cards.  I guess the Piazza insert is the best pull of the pack.  Although, I was more excited to get the Henderson and Harper cards.  I barely have any of this product.  I think the reason is that this is not a MLB licensed product.  Don't mention any team names.  Otherwise, we'll have to pay money.  I find these unlicensed cards to be sort of cheesy.  Give these folks a license, MLB!

Pack Break: 2015 Topps Jumbo Pack

I recently opened a jumbo pack of 2015 Topps Series One.  The pack contains 36 cards.  The highlights are in the photo.  I didn't really get anything too extraordinary.  There were 4 insert cards.  I think my favorite card is the Machado/Ripken insert.  Otherwise, the remaining cards were the standard Topps fare. 

Pack Break: 2015 Donruss Value Pack

I recently opened a 30 card value pack of 2015 Donruss.  I know that because the pack said "value pack" in big letters.  And, it said "30 cards per pack" in even bigger letters.

Aside from the fact that Donruss is essentially unlicensed bootleg baseball cards, I like the set and I like the old school Donruss logo.  There seems to be a good mix of current and former players.  The idea of a player being on the Texas Baseball Club instead of the Rangers is corny.  But, maybe it also has some charm.  I am a fan of the card backs.  They remind me of 1990 Donruss.  Although it's the worst of junk wax, the set carries fond childhood memories.  

Of the 30 cards, 7 were inserts.  I like the variety of inserts.  Too many inserts for one pack?  I don't know.  This seems like a brand that I would buy a little bit of throughout the year, but that would be it.  If MLB would grant a license to Donruss, I think I would be inclined to buy a little more of this product. 

2015 Topps Series 2 From the Dollar Store

The Topps base set is a lot a nice dinner.  Series 1 is the appetizer.  Much like filling up on bread and salad, I usually buy enough Series 1 to satisfy me for the entire year.  Series 2 is the main course.  It looks good, but I have had too much of the Series 1 product, so I only take a nibble.  The Update Series is the dessert.  I don't have any room for it, so I typically skip it.  I bought 8 packs of Series 2 at the dollar store.  This will probably be my only Series 2 that I buy.  My haul was rather ho-hum.  The highlight of the packs was the base card of hobby friend Pat Neshek, which comes in an attractive landscape format.  The only duplicates that I found were of Twins' infielder Danny Santana.  I got what I paid for.  No complaints. 

Pack Break: 2013 Topps Series 2

I broke open a pack of 2013 Topps Series 2 cards.  I didn't really pull anything noteworthy.  I did get a David Freese mini card.  However, I did notice something odd about the Jonathan Papelbon card.  It seems as though he is about to eat a large meal, possibly Bryce Harper.  If there was any doubt as to whether Papelbon is nuts, just look at this card.  

2012 Topps Stickers Part 2

The rest of my 2012 Topps Sticker packs were relatively uneventful.  There aren't any parallels or inserts to look out for.  However, I did pick up cards of Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter.  I do have a few complaints.  First, many of these cards were damaged.  I don't know whether the retailer, Listia seller, or Topps is to blame on this one.  The cards do seem a little flimsy since they are actually stickers.  Second, there are way too many cards of team mascots.  Some of them don't even have names.  Finally, there are many cards which feature two team stickers on them.  That's fine, but don't put two card numbers on one card.  You can see the picture below.  It's confusing.  The price was right.  However, for similar money, I think I would prefer Topps Opening Day.  That's just my two cents. 

2012 Topps Stickers Part 1

I won an auction on Listia for 20 packs of 2012 Topps Stickers.  The whole lot set me back about 4400 credits, which is less than two bucks by my calculations.  You can see in the photo that the packs were marked down from 99 cents to 93 cents.  So, I would have paid 18 bucks and change in a retail store.  What a bargain!  Well, let's see what's inside the packs before declaring this a bargain.  Here's the first pack:

Nothing too spectacular.  I'm not a fan of wasting cards on team mascots like the beloved Raymond from the Rays.  I assume that fans love him.  The Ichiro is definitely the pull of the pack.  I will share the highlights of the remaining packs in a separate post. 

Pack Break: 2007 Fleer Ultra

I found a lonely pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra and decided to liberate it.  Here are the results:

Tim Hudson
Brad Lidge
Hunter Pence
Hideki Matsui
Jim Edmonds

That's not a bad haul.  I got a Pence rookie and a Yankee card.  I like the design of this set.  But Fleer could have given us a few more cards in the pack.

1989 Bowman: The Cadillac of Junk Wax

 

I decided to bust open 4 packs of 1989 Bowman that were sitting around.  Would I get a Ken Griffey rookie card?  No.  But, I did find a Gary Sheffield rookie card.  That's not a bad second prize.  Also, I came around a Barry Bonds that was badly disfigured due to its proximity with a stick of gum for the last 25 years.  I mean this thing was gnarly looking.  Otherwise, there wasn't really much to write home about.  Maybe next time.  

Pack Break: 2014 Topps Jumbo Pack

I popped open a jumbo pack of 2014 Topps Series 1 over the weekend.  It was a decent pack with plenty of parallels and inserts.  The Mariano card has got to be the best card in the pack.  Here are the highlights.

 

Yu Darvish
Junior Lake
Carlos Villanueva

Lee Smith
Mike Carp
Ryan Howard

Mariano Rivera
Mike Trout
Manny Machado

2014 Topps Chrome: Now with Bonus Pack

I recently purchased 3 packs of 2014 Topps Chrome which happened to come with the bonus 3 card pack of Orange Refractors. The Orange Refractors turned out to be the best cards of these packs. Without further ado, here are the spoils.

Pack 1

CC Sabathia

Tommy Medica (Xfractor)

Marcus Stroman

Mark Trumbo

Pack 2

Giancarlo Stanton

Francisco Liriano

Joey Votto (Refractor)

Yangervis Solarte

Pack 3

Curtis Granderson

Brandon Moss (Refractor)

Tommy Medica (again)

Robinson Cano

Orange Pack

Justin Verlander

Stephen Strasburg

Kolten Wong

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Update

I recently opened up a pack of 2012 Topps Update.  I remember when this was called Topps Traded and it only included players who were in their first years or traded to another team.  Now there are cards for participants in the Home Run Derby and All Star Game.  That seems unnecessary.  Anyway, here is the haul.

Ryan Ludwick
Joe Mather
Matt Lindstrom
Travis Snider
Jeremy Hafner
Melky Cabrera (Gold)
Yoenis Cespedes (Blockbusters)
Weird Royals Card
Michael Saunders
Jose Bautista

Joey Devine
Jeremy Hermida
RA Dickey

The question on the blue Royals card is what happened before George Brett homered in the first at bat of his 4 for 4 game in the 1985 ALCS.  Bueller?  Bueller?  The correct answer is that Willie Wilson was caught stealing.  But, we all knew that. 

Junk Wax Pack Breaks: Part 2

So here is my 1988 Donruss haul.  When you look at these cards, it’s amazing that any team had a winning record in 1988.  Actually, I did pretty good with these packs.  By the way, if anybody needs anything from this set, I probably have it.  Here are the best cards from each pack.  And yes, I got two Glavine rookie cards.

Don Mattingly
Mike Schmidt
Jack Morris
Tom Glavine
Tom Glavine
Dave Parker

Junk Wax Pack Breaks: Part 1

I recently acquired 6 packs of 1989 Bowman and 6 packs of 1988 Donruss.  This post will focus on the 1989 Bowman.  I will post about the 1988 Donruss on another day.  There was no Griffey rookie card.  However, there was plenty of junk wax goodness.  Each pack was $1 and there are 12 cards to a pack.  I find the unusual size of the cards to be quite annoying for storage purposes.  If anybody has any needs for some strange reason, shoot me an email.  Without further ado, I will present the best card from each pack.  (There was one judge and it was me.)

121 George Brett
179 Dave Winfield
Richie Ashburn Sweepstakes Card (Roberto Kelly was runner up)
237 Rafael Palmiero
316 Eric Davis
258 Sandy Alomar

Pack Break: 2007 Upper Deck

Here’s a quick pack break.  This is a 2007 Upper Deck pack of just 5 cards.  It came out of a repack at some point.  I pulled Jeremy Accardo, Jason Frasor, Mike Jacobs, Johnny Estrada, and Delmon Young.  Meh.  I hate the dark Blue Jays uniform.  At least a poisonous lizard didn’t emerge from the pack and attack me.  That’s a positive. 

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Series 1

I tore open a pack of 2012 Topps Series 1 recently.  Not an exciting pack but it was good enough.  There was 1 Yankee card in Phil Hughes.  I also found 2 Twins cards in Carl Pavano (former Yankee) and Scott Baker.  The Twins have become my second favorite team.  Anyway, here are the spoils:
32 Detroit Tigers
265 Aroldis Chapman
257 Seth Smith
276 Scott Baker
254 Philip Humber
TM20 Evan Longoria (Less is More, Right?)
TT19 Musial/Berkman
42 Drew Pomeranz
313 Phil Hughes
164 Carl Pavano
157 Anibal Sanchez
86 Brett Cecil

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Series 2

Here’s a pack of 2012 Topps Series 2 Baseball that I opened recently.  It was an OK pack.  The best card is probably the Mike Trout 2nd Year card.  I also found an expired code card for the Topps Golden Giveaway, which would have been exciting two years ago.  The insert card was a Cliff Lee Golden Moments card.  Meh.  Otherwise, it was mostly relievers, rookies, and backup players. 

Pack Break: 2011 Topps Series 2

I opened a pack of 2011 Topps Series 2 recently.  I have bunches of Series 1 but not much Series 2.  Anyway, here are the spoils:
620 Luke Hochevar
411 Josh Bell
659 Clint Barmes
602 Ivan Dejesus
521 Joaquin Benoit
549 Jayson Nix
496 Gavin Floyd (Diamond Anniversary)
TDG-13 Diamond Giveaway Nolan Ryan
448 Colby Rasmus
399 Adam Moore
599 Travis Ishikawa
585 Dan Johnson
Topps Attax Promo
If anyone is interested in anything here, let me know. 

Pack Break: 2009 Topps

I ripped open a pack of 2009 Topps recently.  I never bought a lot of this product, but I really like the design.  This was a decent pack.  The highlights of the pack include a Nolan Reimold rookie card (with corner ding), Ryan Langerhans Gold Card, and Mariano Rivera Toppstown card.  It’s always a good pack when Mo makes an appearance. 

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Chrome

Here’s a pack of 2012 Topps Chrome.  The pack only contains 4 cards.  The score of the pack was the Ricky Romero Refractor.  The base cards were pretty decent too.  I got Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Cain, and a Tsuyoshi Wada rookie.  I am still left with a feeling that I got ripped off.  I get that feeling whenever I open a pack containing 3 or 4 cards.