As I mentioned before I have a couple of Topps Series 2 box breaks to post here. Part of the delay has been spent trying to figure out just what to post about it. Nobody needs to see the base cards; there have been more than enough images of those made available. In the end I decided to post what I would find most useful; the actual breakdown of what was in the boxes. I ended up purchasing two of the HTA Jumbo boxes which supposedly contain 10 packs of 50 cards. I say supposedly because not a single pack contained 50 cards, it actually ranged between 46 to 48 cards per pack. Nonetheless, the appeal of the Jumbo boxes for me is the potential to have a box yield a complete base set. Once again, notice the adjective there? In a perfect world where quality control would actually mean something you would get a complete set of base cards in a box. This was not the case here. On that I still do not know how I feel.
Just in case you are interested I will post the pack ratios for the inserts in the Jumbos;
Gold Parallel, Ring of Honor, Legends of the Game(LOTG) and Turkey Reds are 1:1
Topps Town 1:2
Black Parallel 1:10
Platinum Parallel 1:2,500
Printing Plates 1:210
Red Hot Rookie Redemption 1:10
WBC Stars 1:2
LOTG SP Variations 1:17
LOTG Career Best 1:6
LOTG Gold 1:345
LOTG Platinum 1:1,400
LOTG Stamps 1:590
WBC Stamps 1:1,733
Sketch Cards 1:2,800
Framed Silk 1:55
Ring of Honor Autos 1:823
LOTG Relic 1:1,282
LOTG Career Best Relic 1:3,100
Career Best Relic Platinum 1:160
Career Best Autos Group A 1:71, Group B 1:13
Career Best Relics Group A 1:56, Group B1:15
WBC Stars Autos 1:270
WBC Stars Relics 1:51
1959 Mickey Mantle Reprint Relic 1:18,000
LOTG Cut Autographs 1:16,500
LOTG Career Best Cut Signature 1:101,220
Career Best Auto/Relic 1:538
WBC Stars Auto/Relic 1:2,700
Career Best Dual Relic 1:92
Career Best Base Paths Quad Relic 1:535
American Legends Cut Sig 1:101,220
Career Best Jumbo Patch Relic 1:1,335
LOTG Letter Patch 1:40
Legendary Letters Commemorative Patch 1:20
489 Cards Pulled*
425 Base Cards (318/330 96% of a set)
64 Insert Cards
95 Dupes
*23 Damaged/Mis-cut cards
I like the carry-over of the Inserts from Series 1, in particular the ‘Turkey Red’ and ‘Legends of the Game’. However, I have a couple complaints.
#1 – The ‘Legends of the Game’ inserts in Series 1 were numbered to 1 to 25. WHY could Topps not have continued this and gone from 26 to 50? WHY must the same themed set be numbered completely different in Series 2? It is a small but OH SO ANNOYING variation.
#2 – The ‘Turkey Red’ cards in Series 1 had a muted retro cardboard look to the fronts. Series 2 shine like they have been handled by someone who has finished a dozen glazed doughnuts. This is sin when you are continuing a set. The operative word here is continuity!!
Here are the scans of my Insert pulls pack by pack;
Pack #1
Pack #2
Pack #3
Pack #4
Pack #5
Pack #6
Pack #7
Pack #8
Pack #9
Pack #10
The other appeal that the Jumbo Boxes have for me is the opportunity for 2 Relic and 1 Auto card per box. At heart I am a set collector and rarely do “hits” hold that much of a draw for me. However, understand I am addicted to busting packs and the excitement of pulling something relatively unique from a pack can be lots of fun too.
Here are the “box hits”, so to speak, from this break;
Career Best Jersey Relic - Matt Kemp
Career Best Autograph - Akinori Iwamura
Legendary Letters Commemorative Patch - Mel Ott (#34/50)
I think this break was, on the best, average. Nothing really jumps out at me and the only high-spot was the SP of Wade. Box #2 was way more exciting and once I get the scans of it sorted I will post it. One thing I will say is that there were a couple pulls that will make some fellow bloggers quite happy as I will be sending them along in the near future.
Keep looking for my traders list on the side of my blog too. I will be uploading a list that hopefully people will find some useful cards for their collection.
Cheers,
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