My favourite pulls of 2013

I might as well do this. I'm limiting this to hits only, as "cool photo" cards would have me very busy and make for a long post. Secondly, I'm also going to limit these to cards either I personally pulled from a pack, or were pulled for me from a pack in a group break. No COMC or ebay cards. Otherwise, this one would win for sure due to its industrial strength WTFery. Thirdly, since I could only fit 6 cards on the scanner, with 4 of them being in top loaders, it will be a top 6.

I'm doing this alphabetically, so Bautista, José will lead the way. This beauty came my way in the Daily Dimwit's Gypsy Queen case break. I spent some time with this break debating between Jays and Mets. Both teams ended up with 3 hits if I remember correctly, with the best on the latter being an RA Dickey redemption. Not bad either way, but penmanship makes me give it to Jose.

If this were in order of awesomeness, this one would be number one. It wouldn't be close. I pulled this from the Panini wrapper redemptions at the Toronto Expo this past November. It's just a gorgeous card, and the layout works beautifully with the auto. And the fact its from one of the greatest hockey players ever? Bonus!

One of two relics to make the list. I often say that one of the better things about being a Raptors fan and collector is that they tend to be a really cheap date when it comes to group breaks done by team. It's like "Who's going to take the Raptors?" and I'll jump in and get it for a low price. I usually end up with at least one nice card out of the deal, whether an auto, a relic or a card numbered to the double digits. This might be my favourite Raptors card of 2013, a nice thick three-colour patch from DeRozan. They don't really have shoulder patches on their white jerseys, so I'm guessing this either comes from the number or the name somewhere on the jersey.

And the only other relic on this list - a piece of Mike Piazza's pants! I'll stop right now before getting too creepy in talking about another man's pants.

I bought a few retail hanger packs of Black Diamond, and while I did pull a double jersey hit from one of them, this by far was the best pull. This is a great addition to my Kitchener Rangers alumni collection, and falling at a retail rate of 1:126, a pretty tough pull. The sides of the card are clear, and the ring portion is all refractor-y, or Prizm-y, or whatever UD calls this. Wikipedia also states that he is the only player to hoist the Memorial Cup, Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup as a player. I know that's wrong, as another Kitchener Rangers alum has done so - Wendell Young. But I'm fairly certain that Mikhe is the only one that can also add Olympic gold to that résumé.

And finally, one I'm fairly certain I never posted. I busted a box of Cooperstown, and this one was my autograph from it. Even though it was the guaranteed hit, it is still nice to add a hit of any kind from a HOFer to my collection. A bonus is always a pretty legible signature - and Billy's is pretty nice.

A pretty good year for someone who leans towards retail and repacks for his card fixes.