Counting The Days - Vol I

Today I came home to an envelope from The Topps Company.

It was one of the redemptions I have been tracking on the sidebar.

It is not the one I was expecting to hit first.


A quick glance through the cards has me pleasantly surprised and extremely happy with this shipment from the Topps MCG.

The '71 cards especially.

Once I get them all scanned I will let you be the judge of what Topps charged me around $15 for.





Cheers,

Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo - Pack #10

Well, here we are....finally. 10 days ago I brought home a brand new full box of Topps Series 2 Baseball Jumbo Packs. Everything was shiny and new and expectations were high for what we might see throughout this box break. When this break started Stephen Strasburg and the 661 fiasco was only a marketing idea, it had yet to be employed. All that is left now is to see what the Bambino has to offer. We started with Babe and we are ending with Babe........

.....but.......

....before we do, there is a bit of business to take care of. Along the way I have been counting down my 'Top 10 Favorite Television Show Theme Songs'. With this last mack we also reach what will be my #1 choice. My favorite, if you will. Let us recap, shall we?

#10 - It's Gary Shandling's Show
#9 - Taxi
#8 - The A-Team
#7 - The Muppet Show
#6 - S.W.A.T.
#5 - Doctor Who (Tom Baker years)
#4 - The Mod Squad
#3 - Sanford & Son
#2 - M.A.S.H.

..and...

There is not a single thing about this song, this show, this opening sequence or the actors in it that does not epitomise COOL!!

#1 - Hawaii Five-O



Simply Awesome!!!

Seeing as this is pack #10 of the jumbo box I am not expecting too much. We have the three "hits" guaranteed on the packaging and I already have a completed base set. All I am hoping for now is a collation error and a pack full of Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays.

Unfortunately the QC was working diligently this time at Topps. I did at least get one of each. Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs and Dustin McGowan of the Toronto Blue Jays.

All that is left worth showing is the inserts, everything else is just doubles at this point. The Gold parallel card is a checklist featuring Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton #d 1259/2010. I forgot how much I liked the design of the 1992 40th Anniversary Topps set until I pulled the Griffey card that might have been thrown away by, as dayf puts it, YO MAMMA!. The 'History of the World Series' card tells me just how happy the Brooklyn Dodgers were when Johnny Podres led them to their first WS win in 1955.

The 2020 3D All-Star set is one that grows on you. The more you look at it the more you appreciate it. I am definitely going to create a want list for these cards, but I won't need to want David Price, I got 'em. Adam Dunn takes a practice swing on his 'Turkey Red' card and the 'Peak Performance card features Mike Schmidt's unfathomable feat of hitting 4 Home Runs in 4 consecutive at-bats, TWICE in his career. Even more amazing is that he did it once in a single game.

In a last ditch attempt to get me to like 'Legendary Lineage' Topps gave me one featuring Jackie Robinson. Even with Ichiro on the other side I am not sold on this set. Sorry Topps.

The set that I am sold on is the 'Vintage Legends' set which puts heroes of yesterday in designs of Topps cards from....well....yesterday, but not the same yesterdays. Anyway, Cy Young looks as powerful as ever in the 1987 Topps wood grain Allstar design.

This is the final Topps 'Million Card Giveaway' redemption card from this box and my last shot (probably) at getting a Stephen Strasburg 661. It all rests on Ichiro now.

The transmorgifier says........

After working my way through the the whole box I am left with the same conclusion I am always left with when it comes to base Topps. How can you not be pleased with this product. It delivers on every level. There are some things that may need tweaking but overall it is another solid release. The only real problem I had with this box is the number of mis-cut cards. All totaled there were 22 cards that were off-centre or mis-cut, in this day and age those should never make it in to packs.

For those who have stuck with me and followed throughout this break I not only thank you but congratulate you as well. I hope you enjoyed the addition of my 'Top 10' list as well. If you want to create your own 'Top 10' list and leave it in the comments to this post, please do so. I would be interested to see what your choices are.

Until the next break on LFB2b, thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo - Pack #9

Mickey Mantle is as ready as I am to kick off the weekend. We have wound our way down to the final row of this box and Ty Cobb is holding on to the "best pack" title right now. With all three "hits" from the box revealed it is going to take something extra special to shine here on out.

We have also come to the point where I announce the runner-up in my 'Top 10 Favorite Television Show Theme Songs'. Alot of people might have this as their number one, understandable, it was almost mine. I enjoy watching this show every time I can and it is one of the few shows that can tug at the old heartstrings. To this day it is a show that produced the best final episode EVER!

#2 - M.A.S.H.




Tomorrow brings #1 in the list, but it is time to take a look and see what 'The Mick' has in store for me.

If he is trying to impress me then he has started off terribly. Zero Toronto Blue Jays out of this pack and only one Chicago Cub, and a double at that. Carlos Marmol stretches one out towards home in this shot.

One redeeming base card pulled is the third one of Series 2 that features a a player bunting. This almost makes up for your complete disregard of this photographic subject in Series 1. Practicing the art this time is Michael Bourn.

The only other base cards worth showing off here are not even really worth showing off. I will include them simply because they are a part of my Fantasy Baseball squad that are currently locked in a dogfight with everyone's favorite Bearded Blogger. Besides, what other blog is going to feature Matt Cain, Jake Peavy and Anibal Sanchez together?

As I head into the inserts it does not look like this pack will be deserving any kind of recognition of "best". A Nolan Reimold Gold parallel numbered 1375/2010 might be of some interest to someone who likes the O's and if they happen to beat me this week I may send it along as a bonus. Steve Carlton's 1982 Topps card looks completely washed out here, wonder if the real version is the same, or else the Black printing plate went missing. Bob Gibson's Record of 17Ks in a World Series game is highlighted on the 'History of the World Series' card.

I think I have decided I like these 'Team 2020' 3D cards enough to collect them all. Ryan Howard winds it up at the plate on this one. Jackie Robinson looks classic as usual as TR70. Ian Kinsler is featured on the 'Peak Performance' card from this pack. 'Legendary Lineage' offers me Luis Aparicio and Alexei Ramirez.

I was expecting 1 "original back" Card Your Mom Threw Out from this box and it came in this pack. Not exactly who I was hoping for but not a disappointing pull. Who can complain about a 1985 Robin Yount?

Another set that I really like form this release is the 'Vintage Legends'. To me it is like having a custom card made but not having to worry about learning how to make custom cards. I like when my laziness is rewarded. Tris Speaker dressed up in 1981 Topps rewards that laziness.

I have been on a fairly decent run this box with the 'Million Card Giveaway' redemption cards. With the added chance to snag a 661-Strasburg now it makes the entering of codes a little more fun. This time however, it was not really any fun. Roger Maris took the day off and turned in from this.....

into this......

UGH!!

I guess they all cannot be winners. But you would think something wrapped in the visage of Mickey Mantle would produce something a little more stellar.

We are nearly done this journey. 9 packs have been presented and 9 T.V. shows have been themed. Tomorrow we wind it up where we started 10 days ago. Babe Ruth, 50 baseball cards and one kick-ass tune.

See you tomorrow.

Cheers,

Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo - Pack #8

It is Thursday night, Strasburg-mania is still running strong on eBay and The Chicago Blackhawks are the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champions! More importantly, we have been waiting to see if Dustin Pedroia can wrestle back his "best pack" ribbon that Ty Cobb forcefully took away from him yesterday with 8 Chicago Cubs and one of them being a jersey relic. Maybe we will see 8 or 9 Toronto Blue Jays in this pack....one can wish!

Before we do we need to take care of the third place finisher in my 'Top 10 Favorite Television Show Them Song' list. This one is just a fun, funky, feel good tune written by a guy you might have heard of, Quincy Jones.

#3 - Sanford & Son




Now that we are in a feel good mood, time to rip this pack.

Sadly, Dustin did not bring the Blue Jay bonanza my way. In fact, Dustin only produced one lone Toronto Blue Jay in Jason Frasor....

...and in a seeming act of defiance I pulled ZERO Cubs base cards. Not a good start there Dusty. There was a nice run of Rookie Cards that came in this pack, 5 in a row, in fact. Not a bad straight but it does not make up for the lack of Jays and Cubs.

The rookies were Scott Sizemore of the Detroit Tigers, the recently recalled Ruben Tejada of the New York Mets, the recently demoted Esmil Rogers of the Colorado Rockies, John Raynor pictured in a Pirates uniform for whom he played all of 11 games. Raynor was drafted by Florida, selected by the Pirates in the Rule 5 Draft and then returned to Florida. Kinda neat trivia for his RC photo. Finally, Austin Jackson of the Detroit Tigers.


Next up is yet another entry in the "WTF Topps??!" department. Did they find someone else's disposable camera that had this photo on it and decided to make it into a card?

Seriously, WTF Topps??!

Final base card I want to show in this pack is one I had not really noticed until I went back through the pack for the third time. What is up with the photo of Luke Hochevar on his card?

When I looked closely at it the first thing that jumped into my mind was.........


Weirdness, indeed!!

On to the inserted inserts. Jose Reyes is safe in all his landscape-oriented-gold-plated-poorly-ink-printed-serial-numbered-goodness #'d 1331/2010.

Hard to believe someones mom would consider throwing away a 1963 Harmon Killebrew, BUT, for it to be in this set it MUST have happened. The 'History of the World Series' card features Mickey Mantle and one of his 18 Home Runs. Pablo Sandoval looks all action-packed in his Sportflics 2020 3D card.

Having been in possession of one of the #1 Red Hot Rookie Redemption cards I got excited when I pulled this because it looked for a split second like another #1, but I will gladly take a #7. Billy Butler is the 'Turkey Red' card for this pack and Max Scherzer is bringing the heat on the 'Peak Performance' insert.

Dustin made a valiant attempt at best pack with this next card and it will remain in the PC, but, I still do not like the 'Legendary Lineage' set even though they brought Andre Dawson and Alfonso Soriano together.

The 'Vintage Legends' card in this pack is a 1993 redux of Pee Wee Reese in all his Ted Turner-ish colourisation.

Finally the 'Million Card Giveaway' redemption card went from being Bob Gibson.....

....to being Bobby Bonds. Not a bad deal at all.


A truly valiant effort by Dustin to reclaim his title but Ty has kept a firm grip on it. The run of Rookie Cards was a nice touch and researching who these guys actually were was fun.

You have stuck with me now for eight of the ten packs from this box and I am immensely grateful for you doing so. We have two packs left to go, one is Babe Ruth and the other is Ty Cobb. I think I am going to open the Ty pack tomorrow to see if he can best himself.

Also, we are getting close to the #1 choice in my 'Top Ten Favorite Television Show Theme Songs'. I assure you you will not be disappointed. However, tomorrow I unveil the runner-up which should be a no-brainer once you see it.

Until then.....

Cheers,

Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo - Pack #7

Today is rainy, cold and all together unimpressive. Just wanted to get home from work and rip open another pack in this 10-days of Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Break. Ty Cobb is smirking at me like he knows something is up. Ty might also be smirking because he has the inside scoop on the Top 4 in my 'Top 10 Favorite Television Show Theme Songs'. I left him face down on the list, now he's gonna blog about it and spoil everything!!

Before he does though, I can at least get #4 out of the way. Everything about this show is cool, hip and solid!! It was way before my time but that is what reruns are for kids!! You get to discover stuff like.......

#4 - The Mod Squad



...and there is NOBODY cooler than Clarence Williams III.


Now to find out what Mr. Cobb is smirking about.

Suffice it to say Ty knew that today was going to be a good day for ripping packs. Although I did get shut out of Toronto Blue Jays, it was more than made up in the number of Chicago Cubs pulled in these 50 cards. Watch and see......

Five Cubs base cards in total for this pack. Marlon Byrd, Randy Wells, James Russell, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano.


I can almost hear the sarcasm now..."Oooooo, wow!! 5 Cubs!! Way to overhype!!"....keep reading....

I mentioned before that some of the photo choices for the 'Franchise History' cards had me completely baffled. There were however two in this pack that make sense to me and look really cool as well.

Kansas City Royals


I was in KC in 1994 when Kauffman Stadium was unimpressive to say the least. It is amazing what a face lift natural grass can give something.

Detroit Tigers

Also in this pack was the second Series 2 card to feature a player bunting the ball. I love to collect these cards so this makes me VERY happy. The player in particular here is Sean Rodriguez.


When it came to the insert section of this pack it started to get a whole lot more fun for me again. More Cubs!!! Alfonso Soriano decided to show up covered in gold with a 0340/2010 printed on his back, Raul Ibanez looks pretty spiffy in his 'Turkey Red' pose and Johnny Bench reminds all those 1970's collectors out there what his card looked like before mom got a hold of it.


The 'History of the World Series' card tells us that Enos Slaughter ran really fast in 1946, Ryan Braun looks like he is launching on in all his 3D Sportflic glory and Ozzie Smith is cheering the heck outta this pack because he knows what is up next.


We have the third "hit" of the box and we also have a jersey swatch and we also have ANOTHER Chicago Cub!!! Nothing like pulling a relic of a player from your favorite team. Ryan Dempster 'Peak Performance' Relic Jersey...


The 'Legendary Lineage' card is of Dale Murphy and Matt Kemp. Still not liking this set. And, the 'Vintage Legends' card looks like it could have been actually from the 1957 set. VLC-18 is the same guy whose card momma chucked just a little while ago, Johnny Bench.



Last night everybody was caught up in 'Strasburg-mania' So much so that redemption codes were being redeemed in the dozens. I have to admit that I snuck the redemption code out of this pack last night in hopes of getting a Strasburg. I kept the integrity of this pack rip intact though as it was officially my wife who opened and removed the MCG card.

Mickey Mantle turned from this.......


...into THIS!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!

RICK-FRACKIN' MONDAY!!!!!

Not Strasburg but I don't care!!! Rick Monday in a Cubs uniform PWNS!!!!

AND, that makes for yet another Cubbie out of this pack. All totaled I scored eight Cubs with two being inserts. There was bunting-goodness thrown in for good measure and Johnny Bench x2!!!! Dustin Pedroia, please remove the "best pack" ribbon from your lapel and hand it to Ty Cobb.

Thank-you.

This pack chased away the crappy day and revitalised me for the last three packs in this break. I am excited and looking forward to it. Hopefully you are too. I am also excited that the final three choices in my Television Theme Song list are coming up too. Tomorrow is Dustin Pedroia's last chance to reclaim the ribbon and you will also find out who #3 is in the list.

Stay tuned......

Cheers,

Box Break - 2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo - Pack #6

With all the excitement surrounding 'Strasburg Day' in MLB this post is a little bit late. I spent the evening watching to see if the hype was sustainable while participating in a very cool and impromptu live chat over at 'A Cardboard Problem'. There were almost 50 MCG cards redeemed amongst the participants there and not a single Stephen Strasburg card #661 was to be had. We all still had a great time though.

Not to disappoint though I wanted to complete today's pack rip of 2010 Topps Series 2 Baseball which happens to be pack #6 of this box and we will see how Babe Ruth does this time around.

Of course, before we do, we need to take care of a little thing I call my Top 10 Favorite Television Show Theme Songs. We currently stand at #5 and this one caused me a great deal of deliberation. While I am a HUGE fan of Science Fiction shows and several of their themes are everlasting, only one of my favorites made this list.

#5 - Dr. Who (ESPECIALLY the Tom Baker years)



At one time in my childhood this actually scared me if I was alone in the dark. As I got older I just learned to put on a braver face.

Pack #6 was not exactly busting with Blue Jays and Cubs but it was not void of them either. I pulled two Blue Jays in Brett Cecil and Aaron Hill and one Cub, Kosuke Fukudome.

Other notable base-cards in the pack were two good ole Canadian boys, one of which was featured on 'Coaches Corner' during game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals. Justin Morneau and Russel Martin.

Seeing as Strasburg-mania seems to have taken hold of the planet, I thought it was appropriate that I pulled the card of a player who enjoyed similar maniacal attention earlier on in the season but has quietly come back down to earth. Guess the HOF career is gonna take a bit to get going again. Thankfully it is the pie-less version.

Last pack I posted the Baltimore Orioles 'Franchise History' card because I had no idea what such a terrible photo was doing on a Topps card. Today I post another card and pose a similar question. Why Topps?

The standard issue inserts were here with the Gold parallel of Delmon Young numbered 1982/2010, an Ed Mathews Milwaukee Braves card that someones mother may have trashed and a 'History of the World Series' card that tells the story of how Bob Feller was apparently robbed of an out on a pick off play. If you want to talk about World Series controversial umpiring calls, ask Kelly Gruber and any Blue Jays fan about 1992 and tagging Deion Sanders.

Hunter Pence graces the Sportflics 2020 3D All-Star card. These cards are starting to grow on me. Mr. No-hitter Ubaldo Jimenez is TR89 and Toronto Blue Jay Aaron Hill is the 'Peak Performance' card commemorating his crushing of the Blue Jays single-season home run record for his position.

The 'Legendary Lineage' is the first one of this set I can say I really like. It looks like a cool card and the subjects deserve to be linked. Good job Topps, still do not like the set though. Babe Ruth and Ryan Howard will go into the PC though.

The 'Vintage Legend' card, which I have already decided from pack #1 that I will be collecting, is of Roy Campanella dressed up to look all 1979.

I held on to the 'Million Card Giveaway' redemption card from pack #5 in hopes of turning it into a Stephen Strasburg card #661. I also hoped to use the power of Mike Schmidt to transmorgify into Strasburg...........

....yeah, if you look real close you will see the same thing I did. That is NOT Stephen Strasburg....

....and neither is this.....

...oh, well.

As if my disappointment could not get any deeper, I pull this piece of garbage.

I have been made to feel alot of things by Topps in the past, but, never have I been made to feel insulted. 'Topps Attax' taking up the space of a base card is excusable. It is dumb, but excusable. This 'You Sketch It' uselessness? Plain insulting. So much so it ended up like this.

All things considered I enjoyed this pack better than the first Babe Ruth pack. Hopefully the last four packs in the box help was away the stench that is 'You Sketch It'. Hey Topps, SKETCH THIS!!!!

Tomorrow will bring with it pack #7 and Ty Cobb. Also we start into the top 4 of my T10FTSTS. Hope you will take the time to join me.

Cheers,