Silver pack attack.

That’s how they get ‘cha!

Apparently Topps is doing a giveaway for purchasers of their hobby boxes, which is fantastic.  I believe the “catch” is that you have to buy hobby boxes in order to get the four card per pack freebie…which i’m totally fine with.  Most of my boxes, actually all of them now since i don’t really do blaster boxes, are from Dave and Adams or my LCS down the street.  So, as a collector it’s a win-win chicken din-din!

Wanna see what i got?  Take a look-see.

17-tosp-freddie-freeman

It’s a Freddie Freeman from the Atlanta Braves.  Wonder how he feels about the local football team crappin’ the bed last Sunday?

17-tosp-joey-votto

I also got a Joey Votto card.  He’s a Canadian.  I work with a Canadian and she’s great, really nice.  I always imagine Joey Votto would be a nice guy as well, until i saw him swat that fans shirt last year…he did end up giving him a souvenir afterwards, so maybe he is nice.

17-tosp-andrew-benintendi

Next guy is Adrew Benintendi.  Name is much harder to spell than i had expected.  Seems like yet another young superstar for the Sox…great…they have a pretty stacked lineup and don’t think they will miss Papi much this year, except maybe the veteran leadership?

17-tosp-wil-myers

One of my best friends is a Padres fan…he was a Chargers fan, but i think he’s since moved on.  For his sake, i’d love to see Will stay healthy and lead his team to the playoffs, maybe even the World Series.  Dreamers gotta dream i guess.

17-tosp-yoenis-cespedes

I love Cuba and I love Cuban players.  This guy is from Cuba and a solid power hitter.  Seems a bit like a wild card though…how great of a player can he be for the Mets this year?

17-tosp-miguel-cabrera

Piggy!  Next to Verly, he’s my favorite Detroit player…that’s all i got.

17-tosp-hank-aaron

Hammerin Hank Aaron with the Atlanta Braves and high stirrups.

17-tosp-jackie-robinson

Last card is Jackie Robinson…love this card and love the image.  Great card.

That’s all i got tonight…crazy tired from the Run the Jewels show the other night…i’m too old to go to midnight shows…but hey, it was well worth it!  I love RTJ!

Black Friday Heritage

So, I did some Black Friday shopping in my pajamas like a good American.

No, I wasn’t at Wal-Mart at 3am busting down the storefront and trampling mustached women in rascals.  Even better, I did it online over at the Check Out My Cards wonderful website.  I had been building up my cart for some time, nearly 6 months, and decided I needed to work on completing some sets.  Most of what I picked up was 2010 Heritage base cards, but I also picked up some New Age Performers from this past years set along with a couple Then and Now cards.

And here they are!

Miguel Cabrera involved in a deeply personal thought about SABRmetrics

13 TH Miguel Cabrera NAP

Yoenis Cespedes.  It took me about 5 tries to find this card, because apparently Yoenis is nearly impossible for me to spell.  Yoenis.

13 TH Yoenis Cespedes NAP

Billy Butler is both excited and nervous about the pitch he just hit…one can only wonder…

13 TH Billy Butler NAP

Check out the baby faced Aparicio and the babier face of Michael Nelson Trout.  I believe the Mathews/Dunn card would have been perfect if we could have gotten some chest hair on the Dunn photo…Taco meat for everyone!

13 TH Mike Trout Adam Dunn T&N

Time permitting, i’d love to scan some of my other pick ups from COMC…but i’m not sure time will permit in the next few holiday days.  One cool thing of note is that I have Boxing Day off.  This is the second year we’ve had this holiday since we were taken over in a not so hostile manner by a Canadian company.  I’ve heard positive things and negative things about the holiday, so i’m not sure if I should let my white guilt reign over me or if I should just buy some more baseball cards.  Any thoughts out there from our friendly neighbors to the north?

Road Trip Packs III – The end of the Trilogy.

The second day of driving was great, we finally got out of Texas.  Anyone that has had to drive from one end of Texas to another knows that this takes a total commitment in patience and perserverance…long stretches of nothingness and not a whole lot of beauty along the way unless you like the color brown.

Our second stop was Montrose, Colorado which didn’t have a Wal Mart or Target close by and frankly I was really exhausted from the day of driving…so I didn’t pick anything up that night.  Our third day of driving took us through the remainder of Colorado, Utah and we stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho.  I’ve never been to Utah or Idaho and would definitely love to go back for a visit sometime and see all the beautiful rock formations and landscapes…that will be a road trip for the future and a great way to have some family time during the summer.  By the way, if anyone has stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho I would love to know more about the town.  It seemed like a really great place as we sort of passed through.  The gorge with the waterfalls was quite amazing…and the golf courses looked like they would be great to play.

Enough about non card things.  After we checked in I located the nearest Wal Mart and strolled in around 11:30 and picked up a couple more packs of Topps Archives Football and some Archives Baseball.

Archives is doing some tall boys for the baseball version and this guy is becoming a very very special player.  Not the best photo ever of him, but the card design is cool and classic.  Glad to see Miggy  get his career and hopefully his life straight after the DUI a couple of years ago…always room for redemption.

13 TA Miguel Cabrera Mini

Pablo is way too big, like scary big.  When his career winds down, he’s going to have some serious health issues with his ballooning weight.  Look at that guy busting the bottom button loose…and that face!  Obesity in America is a serious thing and seriously needs to be addressed.  I hope the Giants are hooking this kid up with a nutritionist and a 24 hour personal trainer.  That much weight is bad for the joints and not to mention his heart.  Let’s get fit America!

13 TA Pablo Sandoval

The Griff card is pretty amazing.  Look into those youthful eyes.  So much hope and promise in that young face.  Griffey was never one of my favorite players, but I always loved the way he played.  Now living in the Northwest, his importance to the game and the way he played is magnified, especially with the constant PED issues the MLB has had the past several years.  I LOVE THIS CARD.

13 TA Ken Griffey Jr

I also LOVE THIS CARD.  I would have been happy with the die cut…but now i get a transparent “stained glass” card!  I guess these cards were issued at a time when I wasn’t collecting so therefore I have no recollection of them…but they are awesome.  Love that Topps has included them in the set this year.

13 TA Roberto Clemente Gallery of Heroes

Now for the Football version of Archives.  The first card out of the pack was this Adrian Peterson in the 1985 Topps version.  I’ve said many times here that this is one of my all time favorite sets, along with the 1986 Topps baseball…it’s probably the black border thing and the superfonts.  AP came back nicely from his ACL tear, here’s hoping RG3 can do the same…or better! – HTTR!

13 TA Adrian Peterson

I also pulled this Arian Foster.  Loved that two of the prominent running backs were in the ’85 Topps version.

13 TA Arian Foster

There was also this nice looking Gronk mini card.  Wonder if he still hangs out with BiBi?

13 TA Rob Gronkowski Mini

Last up.  This little gem.  A Cornelius Bennett auto.  The autograph is pretty sweet and you can never go wrong with an autograph from a great NFL Linebacker that played in 4 Super Bowls.

13 TA Cornelius Bennett Autograph