Topps Series 1…The Sequel

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 9, 2015

The second part of the blog posts from my Jumbo box brings the hits and nice little slices of hobby cards that i’m happy about. I’ve never been a guy that gets the great hits in a box, this is the main reason for me not typically buying a pack or box just to open. I typically only buy boxes when i plan to put the set together and I rarely do any type of insert set building. In the past, i’ve found ways of passing the parallels or minor hits off to eBay or sending them to someone in dire need. That said all but one of these cards are up for trade if you likey…

I’m going to start with my favorite sub set/insert from this years production.

The Gallery of the Greats. I think these cards are fantastic. I love the smooth texture on the border and the recessed metallic foil photo of a great. Now one of the guys i got from the box is hands down one of the greatest of all time, if not the single greatest player ever. I understand that’s a huge can of worms to open up, but if i’m looking at top to bottom best of all time i have to put Willie Mays at the top of my list. I’m loving this image of a young kid rockin’ the New York Baseball Giants cap.

The next guy though, maybe isn’t so great…or maybe he is in your opinion?

Steroid era or not, McGwire was a slugger and a respectable hitter…but far from a legendary baseball player. I like my ball players to be more rounded in their game than donkin’ the ball over the fence…but again, that’s just me.

Topps did the buyback thing again with the ‘Original’ foil stamp on a vintage-y card. I’m not so opposed to this, kinda like it actually as i don’t see it ruining the cards since most of them are commons. If they did this to a Mantle or Mays card, my words may take a different route. Here are the two kids i pulled from the packs.

I received one variation card…at least that i immediately noticed. It’s a pretty cool one too. I was a huge fan of Hayward when he came up with the Braves and thought he would be one of those guys that spent their career in the same town and won a championship or two the Bravos…but baseball being a business and teams wanting to move in different directions when things don’t work out, he’s a Cardinal.

When i saw the next card on other bloggers sites i was crazy excited to see it in person. Great young talent from a really fun team that I enjoyed watching make it to 90′ of tying game 7 of the World Series.

Yordano Ventura!

The only problem is that this card is hella grainy…or noisy as the camera people may say…plus it’s not TACK sharp, which is another thing they would say. Complete shame because that pose on a card is fantastic. Why isn’t this guy a Future Star card, especially if Gattis is?

I pulled a few first pitch cards and as i mentioned in the previous post, the Eddie Vedder was the one I really wanted. Side note, Eddie will be making his way to work at some point this week and chillin’ with two mini RGIII’s and a Ganesh. Back to the first pitches. This one made my scratch my head a bit. As i’ve mentioned here multiple times, i’m a huge fan of the rap music…i grew up on it. But you see, I grew up on the greats like EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, Big Daddy Kane (my personal favorite) and the Biz Markie! Now, Biz is from Long Island but is tossing out the first pitch at an A’s game…I understand Oakland has had some legendary Hip-Hop acts (Too Short, Hieroglyphics, E-40) but other than that i can’t really see the connection, unless of course he lives in the Bay area?

Some of you may love Biz for Just a Friend and that’s cool, to each his own, but for my money his best song is Vapors. Also, not really sure about that form…seriously

Keeping in the Hip-Hop frame of mind, i love the B-Boy poses captured in this card. So old school.

Now for the hits. One isn’t quite a hit to you maybe, but it is to me. It’s a Rickey “hit”

Ok, now to the real hits from the box. I got your standard 1 auto and 2 relics but have seen some others get a bonus hit with the silver bordered cards…lucky bastards. My hits were ok, but nothing to shout about. Like this Kinsler…in a Rangers jersey.

I also pulled this Brett Cecil auto. This, i believe is the 4th Cecil auto i’ve pulled from various boxes in my rebirth of collecting. If i was a Cecil collector i would be crazy happy…but i’m just eh about it. Not really feeling that tattoo, but his ERA is nice.

This last hit is quite cool. It’s face value is 26cents, but i think it may have more value than that on the black market. The stamp of Mt. Rainier is pretty cool, especially with the moon looming over the shy mountain. Rainier is a stratovolcano for all you volcano enthusiasts out there and can often be seen from downtown Portland, but not this time of year. It’s gray. The card also has a penny which i flipped for the fun of it and it’s numbered 9 of 50. I really like it and one of the better hits for me in a while. Again, not outstanding, but i’m quite happy with it. Bumgarner kinda looks like Eddie Vedder, no?

Panini Redemption, a story.

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 4, 2013

Just like you, I hate redemption cards. Why? Well, let me tell you a story…

On June 17th of 2012 i purchased a box of Panini Rookie Signatures from my local card shop, The Sports Room. When i opened the box in front of Rick he quickly noticed my disappointment in the cards i pulled, and of course the freakin 80pt white card with a scratch off code. I pulled a redemption card, which meant I didn’t get my full hit on the small box of cards i purchased. Not to mention it was of Dre Kirkpatrick, the Bengals (then) rookie cornerback. Nothing against Dre, i’m sure he’s a wonderful kid with a great family and loving parents but i’m not super excited about a Bengals CB. Now, if it was Dr. Dre, that would be a different story, sign me up for that auto. No big deal though, i’ll post it to ebay when i get the card back…if, i get the card back.

As time slowly dragged on I began to wonder if i would ever get my Dre card in the mail.

Dre Day never came. But there will always be this.

A few months later, and by a few months later, i mean 10 of them, I stopped back in to Ricks’ shop. He asked me if I ever received my redemption card and I told him, ‘nope!’ He then informed me that i should give them a call and ask for my card, or better yet, ask for a Redskin. I thought he was crazy, you mean I can actually ask for my own redemption card! WONDERFUL!! Not wanting to talk to someone over the phone (if you knew me, this would make sense…) i sent them an email. A wonderfully worded email of course that very politely asked for a replacement card of Washington Redskin…an RGIII would be great. That was on April 8th of this year. This is when i got the ‘players schedule crap and being busy…’ blah blah blah. I get it. These guys are professional athletes and can’t be bothered half the time. The thing is, if you don’t have an autograph session with them locked up, don’t put them in your packs and boxes!

Anyways, more time flies by and so i decide to give them a call. Scary. I very politely ask for a Redskin card and they oblige. I get an email that my Phillip Thomas Spectrum Autograph is on its way!

AWESOME! HAIL TO THE REDSKINS! #HTTR

I start tracking the card, excited to write a post about the card and whattayaknow? The card is sent to freakin Ohio. Ohio! Who the hell lives in Ohio…Westernville, Ohio? Who lives there? Seriously, who? Not me. This kid lives in Portland F****N Oregon. There is a shirt that says that. Ok, time for some more phone calls and emails over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Then today, after 512 days from the initial purchase. I am the proud owner of a shiny, non serial numbered sticker autographed rainbow-y Phillip Thomas Rookie Card. Nice. I am happy. All good things come to those who can wait…and wait…and wait…

Most of you may not know this, but Phillip Thomas caught a lisfranc injury this preseason and was placed on injured reserve before the season started. The whole lisfranc injury is interesting to me. It sounds so harmless, like it was named after some sweet old lady that fell down the stairs to her root cellar and got a small fracture on foot. “OH NO, I LISFRANCED MYSELF!

This got me wondering’ as i tend to do, my mind floats off into multiple tangents. So i wiki’d the Lisfranc injury and it sounds painful as hell. But wait, it gets better. Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin was a pioneering gynecologist. I guess if you get a foot injury named after you and your daily task is to study vaginas, that’s pretty pioneering…or possibly just weird? He also removed rectums and amputated cervixes, so there’s that…jack of all trades i guess.

good night.