2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 6.3 - Wrapping it up.

After the last two packs being very Topps intensive, time for all the non-Topps goodies.

The promised hit came from that category. While some wouldn't be to crazy about a Sage auto as the promised hit, I kinda like it. Mainly because offensive linemen rarely see themselves on cards nowadays, let alone on an autograph. So I'm definitely hanging on to this one for the novelty factor. Plus, that Justin Hunter quad relic auto redemption takes any edge off.

Not too much of a fan of the lack of first names on the front of cards. But this pack did remind me that "Oh yes. The Dolphins were one of the stops on Culpepper's farewell tour, which also included stops in Oakland and Detroit during the downswing of this career. The non-reused photos on the front are also pretty nice.

And now, lots of Prizm. 8 packs worth! At 4 cards each (I'm not counting or scanning the HRX cards), I can show off all the cards!

Pack #1. I'm guessing the Tebow is a photoshop special.

Pack #2. If they can update Donnie Avery being with a new team by just using a generic practice shot, why not with Tebow?

Pack #3. My first insert of the Prizms, not counting the 1 per pack HRX cards. I didn't grab any of the parallels, so I guess I can savour these. Of course, this Cardinals insert shows up just after sending an Arizona care package to jay barker fan.

A Bills card! An insert! And another domestic violence guy. And Darren McFadden.

I liked the Salsa Cruz card from Topps so much better than this one. Also, this was a Terrance Williams hot pack, as the HRX card was also of him.

Another Bills card.

Cornellius Carradine was probably the winner when it came to syllables among the 2013 rookie class.

And the final pack. Pretty ho-hum to end it, although that Chad Henne card will be set aside for whenever Too Many Manninghams gets my next envelope.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 6.2 - Topps of the (other) Topps

Yesterday, I highlighted the highlights of the Topps Prime cards from a 20 pack repack. I pulled a redemption from that box that based on the odds on the pack, came at a 1:433 level. Nothing like that this time, but there were 4 packs (1 rack, 3 retail) of 2013 Flagship and 2 packs of 2013 Platinum. That's what is on the bill for today's post.

Since I already built the Flagship set in 2013, I'm looking for interesting photos and inserts for my misc. collections, as well as some Bills cards.

And the big winner in the photographic wars of Flagship goes to this perfectly framed card of Victor Cruz. The official giving the touchdown signal contrasts perfectly with Cruz starting to salsa. Photos like this will make me miss Topps when they head out of the football game after next year. Unless Gridiron makes its return.

In which case, I won't care.

Bills content! The Fred Jackson is new to my Bills collection, but the team card is a contender for the card I have the most copies of.

Inserts! (and a parallel)

And minis! Of these of 11, 7 were new to my collection. (Tannehill, Drew, Romo and Allen were the dupes, for those that care).

Off to the two Platinum packs!

Texans hot repack! With honourable mention to the Dolphins. That Geno Smith X-Fractor will be set aside for the next package to Bob Walk the Plank. Other than that, pretty much what I expected.

So, I've got some retail packs of Prizm, one pack of Fleer Showcase, and I still haven't showed off my guaranteed hit.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 6.1 - World Record Redemption Turnaround Time?

One week ago, I picked up one of those 20 packs and a hit football repacks from Target. It was pretty 2013 intensive, containing packs of Topps Flagship, Prime, Prizm and Platinum, alongside a single pack of 2006 Flair Showcase.

I busted the packs that morning, and pulled this from one of the Prime packs:

I entered it immediately after pulling, which ended up being a good plan, since my Internet went kablooey for the long weekend, making most of my posts from that time period originate from the free wifi at the McDonald's a few blocks away.

But, yesterday, a FedEx package from Topps showed up.

After working my way through the Matryoshka doll packaging, here was my card:

6 days from entry to having the card in hand. Impressive! I'd rather see some variety in the swatches, but what can you do? At least they aren't 4 bland white swatches.

But, with Prime, you want some great photos. And there were some:

One of an action you won't see much of anymore.

In between all the rather bland Rookie Premiere photos, this one for the rookie portion of the set really stands out nicely against them.

But, I can't be too harsh, since my only Bills card from this portion of the break was this Rookie Premiere photo of Robert Woods.

But for me, my favourite photo choices were of the quarterbacks. And the reason for that is that they didn't take the obvious route and use a passing shot. In fact, it looks like the only one where the player actually has the ball in his hand is the Peyton Manning - and he's handing the ball off. This really makes for interesting variety.

And there we have the Prime portion of the repack box. More to come as I work my way through posting the rest.

Meet The Mets - that I got in the Nachos Grande Group Break

My brain isn't really working too well for an opening sentences, so I'll just state that Nachos Grande hosted a group case break of Series 1 Topps, in which I picked up the Mets, and here are some of the cards.

Sometimes, I like to end with the big hit, but sometimes I'd rather start with it. I was really, really happy when this one came out of the second box in the case. This is a birth year stamp/coin insert , limited to just 50 copies. There are also nickel, dime and quarter versions of this, and they're also limited to 50. If I'm going to get a manufactured hit, it might as well be something a little more than a manufactured patch/pin/coin. As for the coin, it is actually sealed inside some plastic, even though the stamp is touchable.

No Congratulations! on the back either. This really is an odd hit.

I did end up with either 7 or 8 cards each of the base. I don't really want to post them, so I'll just hit the parallels/inserts.

No numbered parallels, but these rainbows seem to fall a bit more frequently than the golds. Here's the three I ended up with. And yes, I'll clean my scanner glass at some point.

Another shiny insert - and more evidence of my scanner's filth.

And here's a second Piazza. Two Piazza means I can quote Charlie Dog of Looney Tunes fame.

"I'm going to have a piazza, I'm going to have a piazza!"

I've really got to get the historical events that go alongside these. For these, the 69 is the moon landing and the 80 is CNN.

I'm not at all a fan of his, but I'm still glad to get this insert. And I'm storing this one in my Mets binder just like all the other team cards.

And to wrap this up, here were some bonus cards that were in there. Bonus cards are always welcome! Thanks for the goodies and hosting the break, and I hope you like the 'thank you' envelope I sent your way.

The Best Cards in Life are Free

I decided to wait until Saturday to hit the LCS for my second pack of Jumbo S1, since Saturday was National Hockey Card Day, and some free packs awaited.

Last year, this meant two packs.

Both of which were collated identically. Will the same fate await this year?

Here's the checklist of the cards in the small set. No Johnny Hockey?

The Toews was actually a card shop give away. I'm not sure if they can be picked up through packs or not - at least I didn't get one in either of mine.

Speaking of the packs, here's the first one. 16 cards in a set means that the packs will be loaded with goodies.  A great rookie, big names, classic Nordiques blue, but those all take the back seat to that Terry Sawchuk. He's definitely someone I would not expect to find in such a limited release. But, given the current crop of Leafs...

Hey! The packs weren't identical! I automatically like this better than last years, even if I didn't pull the only Sens card in the set.

Classiest card ever?

Most card companies would just show the chaw in the mouth. You have to respect how, back in 1983, Fritsch Cards would just show the wind-up instead of the actual pitch.

Why yes. Yes I am 12 years old.

And if you at least chuckled at the name, so are you.

And since, much like the infamous Jim Moore card, this is a Photo Fact card, here is the fact on the back to go alongside the photo.

You Got Hobby in my Retail! Again!

Taking advantage of liquidation at Target means I picked up a second hobby box of 12-13 Rookie Anthology.

I won't post any of the base cards, but I'm now less than 20 away from completing that set. I'll probably do just that.

So, I'm starting with the inserts. And when the opportunity presents itself, I'll always start with a Sens card.

Meaning I open with a Mark Stone /999.

Since one Donruss Elite /999 deserves another (both boxes I've busted contained two), here is that other card. This was a pretty good box for inserts, since every pack contained at least one of them. There always seems to be at least one pack that only contains base.

And one more, although this is a nice shiny die-cut numbered /100. I seem to be a magnet for Panthers cards in box breaks of this product, with last year's product turning me into a Drew Shore super collector.

But 12-13's super-collector status goes to Carter Ashton. Two cards of his - one being the one per box promised Rookie Treasure the other being one of the Titanium cards numbered to the player's jersey. I would be a Carter Ashton super-collector, but both these cards are spoken for.

If this box could be called a hot box for a team, that would be for the Leafs, since they also made an appearance among the Contenders /999 inserts. Despite them not really being contenders for the Stanley Cup, that Kadri will be a nice addition to my Rangers alumni collection.

Any of the acetate cards would certainly qualify as my favourite inserts in this set.

Time to wrap things up with the rest of the hits. If you liked the Game Gear inserts, you'd love this box. That Kostitsyn is the second one in this subset that contains a swatch that is obviously not from the team he's pictured with. It joins a Dustin Penner that is obviously an Oilers swatch. If I'm going to pick one of these three to get a prime two-colour swatch of, it would definitely be one Nieuwendyk. Even though as a Devil wouldn't be the first team I pictured him with.

And finally, a certain keeper:

My first 'Scratching the Surface' auto. What a great design to work an autograph into.

I just realized I'd typed this up and not shown the Prizm pack yet. So, now is as good a time as any. No numbered card this time around, but pulling both Stone brothers on inserts makes for an interesting box.

Pack #2 of S1

My second jumbo pack. Picked up on a Saturday trip to the LCS, which also saw me get a pair of National Hockey Card Day packs. Those will show up later this week.

Bryan Morris - Not the most spectacular start. The card is centered fine. I just screwed up the scan.
Gary Brown
Eric Hosmer
Ian Kennedy
Rusney Castillo
Matt Dominguez

Tommy Medica - Alternate jersey!
Bryce Brentz

Eric Young Jr. - Mets card!
Adrian Beltre
Bud Norris
Brian Duensing
Kershaw/Cueto/Wainwright
Padres Team Card

Derek Jeter
Clayton Kershaw - Back to back checklist cards! Strangely, the Jeter is #319, and covers cards 1-71, while the Kershaw is #317, but has 284-351
Starling Castro

Jackie Bradley Jr - What a perfect use of a horizontal card.
Hernandez/Sale/Kluber

Madison Bumgarner - Game 7 - Royals fans might not like it, but there couldn't be a better photograph to summarize Game 7.
Paul Goldschmidt
Jeff Baker
Chris Young
Cody Allen
Brandon Moss
Andrew Susac

Jarrod Saltalamacchia - Gold 747/2015. For some reason, when stacked among the rest of the cards, the golds seem to be a fraction of a millimeter longer and wider than the standard cards. Take that for what it is worth, pack searchers.

Mike Trout - Archetypes

Randy Johnson - Free Agent 40
Live Aid

Fred McGriff/Freddie Freeman - Nothing too spectacular among the inserts, but I do like the two Freds combo on the Braves card.
Jake Peavy
Dustin Pedroia

Lucas Duda - Another Met!
Jonathan Schoop
Anthony Swarzak
Zach Duke
Jon Jay
Mike Napoli
Kendrys Morales
Alex Ogandi
Anthony Rizzo

Bartolo Colon - And another! I don't know why I'm excited to pull Mets when I've got a pile of them on the way via the Nachos Grande group break.

Dioner Navarro - And over 90 cards into the set, I finally add a Blue Jays card. And it is an odd one. Dioner Navarro sliding into third base! He didn't hit a triple last year, so it isn't that super rare moment captured on cardboard.
Tony Cingrani
Wilson Ramos
Lonnie Chisenhall
Domonic Brown
Jorge Soler

Warren Spahn - Highlight of the Year - I'm still not sure why these end the pack instead of being in the middle with the rest of the insert.

And there you have it.