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. 

More 2013 Topps

Here’s a quick eBay purchase.  The loot was a pair of 2013 Topps Series 2 cards featuring Emilio Bonifacio and Tommy Hanson.  The cost was 12 cents.  Oddly enough, neither player is still with their 2013 team.  Hanson is now a Ranger, while Bonifacio is with the Cubs. 

Pack Break: 2013 Topps Series 2

I had the urge to open up a leftover pack of 2013 Topps.  This is the Series 2 product, which I don’t have much of.  The highlight of the pack is the Henderson Alvarez Emerald Parallel.  I also picked up the Joe Mauer WBC insert.  Here is the entire haul.
571 Melky Cabrera
502 Patrick Corbin
579 Adam LaRoche
650 Nelson Cruz
520 Peter Bourjos
395 Alexei Ramirez
WBC13 Joe Mauer
358 Henderson Alvarez
474 Brian Omogrosso
378 Joe Kelly
554 RA Dickey
577 Matt Harvey

Two Jersey Swatches for the Price of One

I picked up this nifty dual game-used jersey card on eBay for less than a buck.  The card features Chad Billingsley and Bronson Arroyo.  I’m not sure why these two were chosen to share the same card, but they were.  The card is from 2009 UD Ballpark Collection.  It is numbered 333/400.  Finding a card with these two subjects was probably a bigger deal back in 2009.  Arroyo pitches in Arizona these days, while Billingsley is trying to recover from Tommy John surgery. 

TTM Mailbag: Ricky Nolasco

This is the card I received signed from Ricky Nolasco.  I sent it to him at Twins Spring Training in Fort Myers.  It came back signed in blue Sharpie in just 21 days.  The card is a 2010 Topps.  I think the Twins will live to regret the Nolasco signing.  And the Hughes signing.  Just saying. 

Random Vintage Card

I picked up an old vintage card on Listia recently.  I don’t really collect older stuff, but it was kind of an impulse purchase.  The card is a 1968 Topps base card of Jackie Hernandez.  Hernandez was mostly a utility player.  He played for several teams over 9 seasons.  The card is in decent shape.  It has no creases, some soft corners, and is slightly off-center.  It only cost me a little over 500 credits though which is not too bad. 

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Update

I opened up a pack of 2012 Topps Update that was laying around from a repack.  I did pretty good.  I received three inserts and parallels.  I was also happy to see the Dozier and Hefner cards.  Here are the proceeds. 

Scott Elbert
Chris Iannetta
Troy Patton
Jeremy Hefner
Christian Friedrich
Elian Herrera (Blue)
Brian Wilson (Gold) #1331/2012
Edgar Martinez (Golden Moments)
Brian Dozier
Tim Byrdak
Joe Wieland
Gio Gonzalez

A New Autograph Added to the Collection

I purchased a 2013 Topps Tier One Autograph Card of Kirk Nieuwenhuis of the Mets on Listia.  I paid about 1,200 credits, but it was well worth it.  The card is numbered 283/399.  The autograph is in blue Sharpie with the number 9 at the end.  Nieuwenhuis started the season at AAA Las Vegas.  He will likely be in New York at some point this year.

Pack Break: 2014 Topps Opening Day

So I finally opened the three packs of 2014 Topps Opening Day that I picked up at last week’s card show.  Without further ado, here are the results.

The first pack is a good one.  There is a Jeter base card, a blue Jordan Zimmermann card, and a Giancarlo Stanton insert that reminds me of the old Sportflics cards from the 1980s.

The second pack was even better.  That is an Opening Day Autograph of Andrew Lambo.  The odds run at 1 in 278 packs.  Not bad for a buck.  That’s the first time I have ever pulled an autograph out of a loose pack.  If you are anything like me, you have no idea who this guy is.  Lambo got a cup of coffee last year, but he will start this season at Triple A.  He hit .095 in spring training, so he is not Albert Pujols. 

The final pack was also decent with a base Puig card and a blue Everth Cabrera card.  I also got a card of the Rangers Mascot which is some kind of moose apparently.  That's a pretty good haul for three bucks though. 

First Pack of 2014 Topps

Here is my first pack of 2014 Topps Series 1.  I paid a couple of bucks for the pack at a card show this past weekend.  So my first card of 2014 Topps is …

Jake Peavy.  There’s nowhere to go but up.  The rest of the pack was pretty decent though.  Here it is.

Bryce Harper

Chad Bettis

Nate Schierholtz

Kurt Suzuki

Vernon Wells (Red Parallel)

David DeJesus

John Mayberry

Corey Kluber

 Rajai Davis