Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo

This past Wednesday my second box of Series 2 Topps came in to my LCS. Sadly, this will probably be the last box I get from 'Allstar Cards and Comics' because he is shutting his doors in a couple weeks. This store is on its third owner. I began shopping at this store when it first opened and roughly the same time the first owner sold was the time I got out of the hobby. I never knew the second owner and by the time I returned to collecting the third owner had been running it for a few years. All that leaves in town is a guy who is so dishonest in his business that outside the small circle of "regulars" he deals with I know of no one who frequents his set-up.

I previously dragged out the first box break for 10-days so there is no desire to revisit any of the base cards. So, without further ado and lamentation here is a quick rundown of the inserts and "hits" from this box.

Before that though, these a little matter.

Soundtrack - The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing


Okay, first the 'Turkey Red' inserts......

TR52 - Adam Dunn
TR55 - Aaron Hill
TR58 - Joey Votto
TR63 - Nate McLouth

TR67 - Grady Sizemore
TR70 - Jackie Robinson
TR74 - Tom Seaver
TR79 - Raul Ibanez

TR94 - Kurt Suzuki
TR100 - Derek Jeter

I needed 7 out of the 10 and am almost halfway to completion of the set. 26 to go.

'2020 3D Allstars'

T1 - Ryan Braun
T6 - Hunter Pence
T9 - Madson Bumgarner
T11 - Joe Mauer
T12 - Chris Coghlan
T13 - Andrew McCutchen
T14 - Ubaldo Jimenez
T15 - Pablo Sandoval
T19 - Zack Greinke
T20 - Matt Kemp

Not so lucky with these ones. I guess hoping for perfect collation with the first box is too much to ask...lol. I needed only 3 of these 10 and I am 6 away from the set.



'Vintage Legends'

VLC3 - Reggie Jackson
VLC4 - Tris Speaker
VLC6 - Willie McCovey
VLC10 - Babe Ruth
VLC17 - Mike Schmidt
VLC18 - Johnny Bench
VLC20 - Ty Cobb
VLC22 - Roy Campanella
VLC23 - Cy Young
VLC24 - Pee Wee Reese

This lot absolutely sucked, I only needed 2 of the 10. As for the set I am 9 away from completion.

The last insert set I am chasing came as a bit of an afterthought and made sense seeing as I gathered the first two history related insert sets from Series 1.....


'History of the World Series'

HWS1 - Christy Mathewson
HWS3 - Babe Ruth
HWS4 - Rogers Hornsby
HWS5 - Babe Ruth



HWS13 - Yogi Berra
HWS16 - Brooks Robinson
HWS17 - Dennis Eckersley
HWS19 - Jason Varitek
HWS24 - Chase Utley
HWS25 - Nick Swisher


This collection went the best of them needing 8 of 10. I have 18 of the set so only 7 left to find.

The rest of these, minus the Cubs and Jays needed, are all up for grabs as I have no interest in putting the sets together.

'The Cards Your Mom Threw Out'


CMT60 - Mickey Mantle
CMT72 - Carl Yastrzemski
CMT78 - Frank Robinson
CMT82 - George Brett
CMT84 - Tom Seaver
CMT87 - Joe Morgan
CMT94 - Don Mattingly
CMT97 - Frank Thomas
CMT102 - Babe Ruth
CMT109 - Joe Mauer


'Legendary Lineage'



LL31 - Johnny Bench/Joe Mauer
LL34 - Eddie Mathews/Chipper Jones
LL37 - Jackie Robinson/Ichiro
LL38 - Cal Ripken Jr./Hanley Ramirez
LL46 - Luis Aparicio/Alexei Ramirez
LL52 - Dale Murphy/Matt Kemp
LL53 - Nolan Ryan/Justin Verlander
LL54 - Ozzie Smith/Elvis Andrus
LL57 - Yogi Berra/Jorge Posada
LL60 - Ryne Sandberg/Chase Utley








'Peak Performance'

PP52 - Lance Berkman
PP55 - George Kell
PP67 - Derrek Lee
PP70 - Joe Morgan
PP74 - Dan Uggla
PP79 - Matt Kemp
PP82 - Yogi Berra
PP94 - Nick Markakis
PP97 - Thurman Munson
PP100 - Zack Greinke



Gold Parallel


335 - Jordan Norberto
341 - Texas Rangers 'Franchise History'
403 - Jimmy Rollins
408 - Detroit Tigers 'Franchise History'
445 - Miguel Olivo
497 - Edgar Renteria
516 - Marlon Byrd
561 - Ryan Zimmerman
563 - Bronson Arroyo
595 - Mike Lowell





















The final inserts out of this box are the "original back" parallel from 'The Cards Your Mother Threw Out' set. I pulled a 1988 Darryl Strawberry........

.....the black border parallel numbered 14/59 was Kanekoa Texeira of the Seattle Mariners....

....and the 'Red Hot Rookie' redemption card would have netted me a nice 40-50 dollars a few days ago, but now not so much.


As always, showing last are the three "hits" per box. Just like the last box I pulled 1 'Peak Performance' auto and 1 'Peak Performance' relic with the manufactured hat patch making for "hit" number three. The manufactured patches are fairly decent looking but I find it depends on the logo you pull. I pulled a Detroit Tigers logo featuring Max Scherzer, pretty nice looking.


I was happy to get an autograph of a player I have actually heard of this time, although the scrawl leaves something to be desired. I guess its a signature only Andre Ethier fans can get excited over.


The relic had me looking over the wrapper to see exactly what it was. Turns out I pulled a fairly limited parallel of the regular 'Peak Performance' insert. The blue parallels numbered to 99 are seeded 1:95 packs in the jumbos so I guess this makes it a case hit technically? If it is, then a plain white swatch on a case hit is VERY boring Topps. I pulled Grady Sizemore #'d 91/99.


Now, the one thing I want to address here is the MAJOR disappointment in the quality of the cards that Topps has released this series. I have opened two jumbo boxes and have a significant stack of mis-cut and off centre cards. What is even worse is that all of the off centre cards are the same ones. In two boxes I have not been able to pull a decently centred card of either Ryan Sweeney OR Miguel Montero. 4 cards of each player are ready to be packaged up and sent back to Topps along with over two dozen more.

The thing is, this is not a simple cutting error, it is a printing error. The front of the card seems relatively centred but the back is off. I understand that these things can happen, but when they do Topps should make sure these kinds of sub-standard garbage never make it into the hands of the consumers. Whether Topps wants to believe it or not, collectors judge a company on how they treat their customers and this is inexcusable. Just because there is no alternative to turn to when it comes to product does not mean collectors do not have an alternative. We do. Its called quitting the hobby.

Never forget that Topps.

Thanks for stinking with me through this box break and now, to play us out, here are The Ting Tings. Also, if you really want to get a feel for how good this duo is, look up their performance from this past season of SNL. It is what hooked me.




Cheers,