Mail has been rather sparse the last while but there are a few packages that I am rushing home daily in hopes of being greeted by them at the door. Today was one of those days where there were 4 envelopes sitting on the kitchen table and they were that familiar yellow colour that collectors have grown to love.
Three of those envelopes helped knock off one of the counters on my sidebar over there to the right. Well done Topps!!!
Compared to the 2009 versions of the Red Hot Rookie cards released in Flagship Series 3/Updates & Highlights the 2010 version of these cards look much nicer. Unfortunately, if early reports are to be believed, Topps will not be doing RHR Redemption cards in 2011. Kind of disappointing but not a tragic loss.
Two of my redemptions were of the same player.......
RHR-1 Carlos Santana (C), Cleveland Indians
The third card I received today was of a Philly......
RHR-7 Domonic Brown (OF)
Like I said, the design of these cards are the best of the last two years, and seeing as I have only been back collecting for two years, I have a pretty narrow frame of reference. These cards are a nice addition to a product that is usually a forgotten issue by the time it rolls around As well, this is a case where redemptions work. It is a nice fun feeling as a collector to be able to wait and watch as the "mystery" is revealed as to who your card will be, plus, coming home to an envelope in the mail is never a bad thing. If these are truly gone for 2011 I will miss them for sure.
As for the fate of these three cards, if there are any Indians or Phillies collectors out there that have a Starlin Castro that needs a home in Canada I would love to hear from you.
Until the next time we can eliminate a counter from the blog I leave you with the theme song of this segment.
With box number one out of the way and a general happiness so far with Topps' efforts with this product let us head directly into box break number two. Now, the reason I titled this "Box #2 + some" was that when I went to open this box I found that the packs were already busted and there were more cards than there should have been. I must have purchased some loose packs along with this box and ripped them during my plague-filled haze a while back. Whatever the case, as you will see, this product continues to satisfy.
First off, providing the soundtrack, Goldfinger's 2000 release 'Stomping Ground'
Box Break Stats ;
Base Cards - 157 Dupes - 17 Set Completion - 53%
Base Card Variants - 7 Dupes - 0 Set Completion - 14%
Piedmont-backed Mini Parallel Cards - 19 Dupes - 0 Set Completion - 6.3%
Base Set variants pulled consisted of #36 Jimmie Foxx, #61 Derek Holland, #83 Rogers Hornsby, #103 Andrew Bailey, #107 Fernando Martines, #207 Jackie Robinson and #224 Roy Campanella.
Bronze Parallel singles were of Ryan Howard (PHI), Juan Pierre (LAD), Dan Uggla (FLA), Matt Holliday (STL), Ian Stewart (COL), Bobby Parnell (NYM), Jonny Gomes (CIN), Justin Morneau (MIN), Jay Bruce (CIN), Jayson Werth (PHI), Walter Johnson (WAS), Randy Johnson (SFG), Ubaldo Jiminez (COL), Mark Melancon (NYY), Wade LeBlanc (SD), Daisuke Matsuzaka (BOS), Glen Perkins (MIN), Roy Halladay (TOR), Conor Jackson (ARI), Akinori Iwamura (TB), Johnny Damon (NYY) and David Freese (STL).
Piedmont-backed mini parallels were; Andrew McCutchen (PIT), Bobby Parnell (NYM), Mel Ott (NYG), Rich Harden (CHC), Cliff Lee (PHI), Ty Cobb (DET), Rogers Hornsby (STL), Ryan Perry (DET), Chris Dickerson (CIN), Tris Speaker (CLE), Elvis Andrus (TEX), Thurman Munson (NYY), Jhonny Peralta (CLE), Gordon Beckham (CWS), Carlos Delgado (NYM), Justin Masterson (CLE), Jose Reyes (NYM) *in all his bunting gloriousness* and that guy from St.Louis who is kinda good.
Next up are the mini inserts; Short printed variant was CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees. Seeded 1:20 packs is the Old Mill backed parallel belonging to Toronto Blue Jay rookie Travis Snider. The Polar Bear backed parallels seeded 1:10 were of Juan Pierre (LAD) and Micah Owings (CIN). Lastly, the serial numbered Cycle backed parallel #'d 43/99 was of George Kottaras (BOS).
This is the part of the break that I was most happy with. The box hits were there as well as a few "bonus" hits. All counted I pulled 2 autos, 2 inserts and 1 relic. Not bad for 25 packs in total. The autos were 1 mini Piedmont framed on-card auto of Ryan Braun and his accompanying regular sized card sticker auto. The relic pulled was an Old Mill framed pants relic, which are seeded 1:105 packs, of Miguel Tejada from the Houston Astros. Finally the last two pulls were a serial numbered insert and a one-of-one. I pulled my second framed silk card in as many boxes. The silks are seeded 1:160 packs. The 1/1 was a Base Card magenta printing plate. These are seeded 1:258 packs.
The silk is numbered 48/50 and is of Evan Longoria. The printing plate is Rick Ankiel. I think this is my first printing plate too.
So far, out of two boxes I am extremely happy with what I have seen from Topps. The only disappointments this time around were a miss-cut David Price mini and the sticker autographs do look pretty terrible. The shiny foil just does not work with a retro-themed set.
Thanks for wasting your time reading this and I cannot wait to see if my luck continues into box number three. Thanks also to my musical guests, Goldfinger, who provided a perfect soundtrack to this break. See you soon for the next box and rest assured my satisfaction with this product will be resulting in a box 4 and 5 break later on.
