The Flagship Flies North of the Border

Seeing as everyone else has been enjoying the budding emergence of 2010 Topps Series 1 Baseball and the mercury here has been sitting below 0 for the last couple days I decided to venture out and see if I could do something to warm the cockles. If there is one thing I succumb to easily it is envy.

I am not proud but I am accepting of my foibles.

Alas, as I walked into the card shop there it was in all its smurfy-blue/Wally-gator-green glory!!!!


Once again a tip of the hat to Topps for taking care of the pack collector. Four variants with four big names. (on a personal note to Topps, Jackie better be in Series 2, okay?) Lets rip the pack with The Mick on the front and see who is first out of the blocks this year in my collection......................

What th............HEY!!......Stop that guy!!!!! He's got my lunch!!!!

Right out of the blocks I am pumped about this product. Chris Snyder launching out of the pack and charging into spring!!

The Detroit Tigers are represented next by Aubrey Huff.

Third card in is elicits another "Yay" from me. My namesake, stretching for a line-drive and adding some nice symmetry to this card........


First Checklist - Texas Rangers Andrus and Kinsler.

Insert Time - Gold Parallel Ichiro #31/2010, Turkey Red Andre Ethier (this set is going to be another hit this year for Topps) and Topps Town Josh Hamilton. Last year I managed to build two full sets of the Topps Town baseball cards. Not sure if I will try for it this year.


Atlanta Brave Yunel Escobar was next followed by Milwaukee Brewer Mat Gamel. The last card in pack number one of the 2010 collecting season sums it up nicely and sends us off the field into the dugout for pack number 2. Magglio Ordonez giving us the "We're outta here!!!" pose......


Pack #2 (Ryan Howard on the front)

Chicago White Sock - Alex Rios (what else do you grammatically call a single player from Chicago's south side? Also, still has one of the coolest birthplaces I have ever seen. Who would not want to be from a place called Coffee??!!??)

Franchise History - Washington Nationals (no matter how hard I try when I see their logo I cannot help but think there is a missed opportunity to brand merge the franchise with Walgreens)


Baltimore Oriole - Luke Scott
Baltimore Oriole Team Leaders card
San Francisco Giant - Randy Johnson (going airborne)
Batting Average Leaders card

Insert Card time - Tales of the Game - 1969 Amazin' Mets, Peak Performance Vladimir Guerrero (a player who's appearance is forever insanely announced in my brain thanks to Stale Gum) and Topps Town Kevin Youkilis.

Closing out this yawner of a pack is San Francisco Giant Barry Zito.

Pack #3 (Albert Pujols front)

Colorado Rockie - Jason Marquis (this card confirms what I have been thinking so far about this design. Clearly the better move is to have the team logo from the back moved to the front of the card. This card is plain "fugly")


Kansas City Royal - Jose Guillen
Cleveland Indian - Michael Brantley (the new RC logo?? - Not a fan, sorry Topps. Switch it back!!)
Cy Young Award Winner card - Tim Lincecum (this pose is TERRIBLY overused)


Cleveland Indian - Asdrubal Cabrera

Insert Card goodness - Gold Parallel Atlanta Brave Reid Gorecki #515/2010, WTWY - Ryan Doumit (ugh, aluminum in the hands of a child....sacrilege), Topps Town Ryan Howard.


Tampa Bay Devil Ray - Ben Zobrist
Houston Astro - Mike Hampton

Finally, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh there we go....thank you Topps. I was starting to feel neglected, starting to think you no longer cared about me. I thought I had done something to upset you. Whew!! Now I can go about my business. I have been ADVERTISED to!!!!! (if anyone actually plays this online email me for the code, it is yours.)


Pack #4 (Going out with a BANG or a BUST rides on the shoulders of Babe Ruth)

San Francisco Giant - Freddy Sanchez
Walgreen National - Shairon Martis (until I become bored of it, that is how I will refer to this team from this point forward. So shall it be......)
Los Angeles Dodger - Jim Thome (sweet looking card or is it just that anyone looks like a classic baseball superstar in Dodger blue?!?)


New York Yankee - Michael Dunn
Arizona Diamondback - Justin Upton

Inserts - Tales of the Game - Ozzie Guillen "flips", Legendary Lineage - Reggie Jackson/Adam Dunn (*note to Topps - leave the 'Then and Now' subset in Heritage and think up something original) and Topps Town Ryan Braun.


Lastly, giving their grittiest effort to bring this pack home as a winner, just look at the strain on their faces. Kansas City Royal, Zack Greinke and Cincinnati Red, Willy Taveras.


As always with any product you care about as a collector there are minor changes you would personally make. However, on the whole I like what Topps is putting out for 2010. The photos, as usual, are well chosen and the design, for the most part, works. I am not sure I will be chasing as many of the subsets this year, like I did last. Turkey Reds will be another big hit for Topps this year and I can see The Cards Your Mom Threw Out set being popular as well.

I will be building this set this year and have already placed the order for my box of jumbos at the local hobby shop.

Before I shut this down I also picked up a single pack of 2009 Topps T-206. I am addicted to this stuff. I placed an order for my fourth box while at the same store. As a bonus pack rip, here is what I got from this.......

Base Cards - Jacoby Ellsbury, Rickie Weeks, Brad Lidge, Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto, Alex Rodriguez, Andrew Bailey and a Mantle Checklist.


Inserts - Bronze Parallel Fernando Perez and Polar Bear back mini Robinson Cano.



Cheers,

Impulse buy #4

If you head on over to A Pack To Be Named Later you can read my latest contribution to the project. I posted a rip of the hotly anticipated and highly popular 2009 Allen & Ginter's World's Champions release that hit my local hobby shop today. I had no plans of buying any packs this year and was hopefully going to raid others breaks for the cards I coveted. As the fates would have it I won a few dollars on my coffee break scratch lottery ticket. The weak impulse buyer that I am, I immediately thought of what I could do with the money;

Flowers for the wife? (unfortunately didn't cross my mind first.)
Coffee for the rest of my co-workers (once again, not first on the list.)

I KNOW!!!!!....2009 A&G!!!

Let's face it, I'm pathetic.

The very first pack yielded the best hit of the four I bought. I like the look of the framed minis and for some reason the mini jersey cards work for me. My first introduction to a mini card patch was the 2008-09 Champs Hockey set where I bought a Dion Phaneuf swatch.


As I said, these just work for me. Here's the framed mini I pulled from pack one. Hideki Matsui. I have seen one posted on eBay also with a pinstripe. I imagine they are all like that. Still, regardless of it being a Yankee, I like the card.


Pack #2 yielded base cards of Jose Reyes, John Maine, Michael Cuddyer, Derek Lowe and Kerry Wood. The 'National Pride' card represented the Dominican Republic and featured Francisco Liriano.
The one's I scanned from the pack were a black bordered mini of RHP Chris Duncan,


The advertisement insert for the 'Crack the Code' contest,


and a really cool card that matches up perfectly with the Roy Halliday card I got from pack one via a trade for C.C. Sabathia with my local card shop owner. Gunfighter Doc Holliday.


Pack #3 had base cards of Matt Kemp, Chone Figgins and Carl Crawford plus 2 nice looking "landscape" style cards featuring, yep ANOTHER Yankee (see Impulse Buy #3 & 3a), in Chien-Ming Wang and a presumably safe Jimmy Rollins.


My only beef here is that the backs are not the same orientation as the front. A small issue yet one nonetheless.


This next card I am strictly posting for my fellow Canadian, Captain Canuck. If you put your ear up to the computer monitor and listen reeeaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy close, you can almost hear Russel saying "Brian who??". Just kidding my friend.

The mini I got in this pack would have scored me some decent points in the 'Gint-A-Cuffs' contest going on with Beardy and combatants. A nice A&G backed card of Burke Kenny the World Champion Full Beard, Styled Moustache.


and lastly the 'National Pride' card from this pack goes to the good ole' U.S of A and features Stephen Drew.


The fourth and final pack of my purchase had the base cards of Luke Hochevar, Brad Hawpe, Andrew Bailey and Adrian Beltre. Representing the Dominican Republic from the Cincinnati Reds in the 'National Pride' set is Edinson Volquez. The cool card from this pack is one that was first shown on bdj's Topps Baseball Card Blog. 2008's 'Crack the Code' winner, Jason Wong.


Anyone have any idea where I would start trying to find a way to attempt a TTM autograph of this card?

The next to last scan is of the Baseball Highlights Sketch series. This card features C.C. Sabathia. Needless to say even though he is in a Brewers uniform he still has that Yankee aura about him. Still though, nice card.


Lastly, not to end on a down note but simply to call it as it is, we finish up with a mis-cut mini of Milwaukee Brewer Rickie Weeks. In this day and age of computerized processes and high tech production methods I would think card companies could make mis-cuts a non-issue.


To reiterate what I said on AP2BNL, I look forward to the coming days and weeks of posts about the 2009 Allen & Ginter box breaks, pack rips and discoveries. It was fun to be able to be a part of the initial rush to post on the release, but now I will quietly sit back and watch the fun the rest of the way. Right now I would say the only card I am itching to get a hold of is the Loch Ness Monster card. If anyone manages to pull it and feels the need to send it north of the border I will gladly make it worth the while.

Impulse Buy #3 & #3a

On the eve of what is turning out to be one of the most highly anticipated days yet this year in the card blogging/collecting world I figured I would dial it back almost 365 days with another impulse buy.

I decided to add to the anticipation and grab 2 packs of;


I have collected a few singles from this set but never opened any packs until now. I am growing to like the design and overall idea of the set, maybe someday I will collect it but for right now I think I will ride out the wave and enjoy the ride vicariously through fellow bloggers.
Upon first impression I liked that all the packs in the box at the hobby store felt the same. What I mean to say is that I like how, it seems to me, that simple pack searching by bending would yield no clues as they were all fairly unbendable. I am a fan of dummy cards used to discourage dummys.

Okay, let's get to the packs.

Pack #1

The first card to see daylight is a confirmation that the card gods have a wicked sense of humor. This will be explained soon.

First out, the man who looks like he wears Depends under his uniform, Jorge Posada.


I cannot explain my dislike of Posada, all I know is that it exists. I cannot explain why I dislike lima beans, spinach or cauliflower either. Jorge Posada is kinda like that.

Next up are Scott Rolen, Jeremy Hermida and Jeff Clement;


The mini parallel belongs to Richie Sexson. I can see how it would be addicting to chase the mini cards, they're kinda fun and even though they are a parallel they look distinct enough to be their own card. Nice!


Next is the card that made this pack unbendable and therefore, IMHO, helps to discourage the quick pack searcher. I know somewhere out there that someone is collecting this set. If this is one you need, let me know and I will send it on its way. The great state of Nebraska is represented by Alex Gordon.


And finally pack #1 ends off with the non-baseball card of WNBA star Lisa Leslie. Damn, she netted over 5,000 points too!! Ya see, this is what I am discovering I like about A&G. I like cards that teach me a little something along the way.


Not a bad pack at all in my estimation. As I said, I have never cracked this stuff so I have no idea how it should be but I liked this pack. All except for Posada. BTW, Topps, if you noticed the card count there, it was 7. Pack says 8. Makes me think Jorge had something to do with it.


Pack #2

I mentioned earlier how I would explain that I knew the card gods had a wicked sense of humor. Well, here is the proof. The first card to see daylight from pack #2 is...................


YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....'nuff said.

This trio of cards includes a guy who used to be a staple on my Fantasy Baseball staff when I had a Fantasy Baseball staff, a player who is much loved in Calgary and one of the better baseball names going. Roy Oswalt, Brian McCann and Wily Mo Pena.

This pack's mini is of Jeff Francoeur. I used to like the Braves at one point, never enough to cheer for them but definitely enough to watch them and appreciate their talent. Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux were a great time. Now, not so much.


The unbendable card from this pack is another state representation card for Utah featuring Brandon Lyon with a mysterious divot on his right eye. Perhaps the oddest packaging dent I have ever seen.


The non-baseball card in this pack is my favorite of the pack. I mean seriously, come on, who would not get excited over a card featuring a Champion Bass Fisherman. Even Kareem would say this is a cool card. Kevin Van Dam.


And finally this pack comes to a close with the full 8 promised cards. Perhaps the diaper wearing catcher from The Bronx was too full to devour this card. Eugenio Velez in all his rookie glorinessity.


I hope you enjoyed this 2009 A&G's Eve refresher of last years crop. I am glad I could contribute to the anticipation and I will definitely be looking forward to the flurry of posts starting later this week. I am especially looking forward to how the Gint-A-Cuffs Melee over at Beardy's Baseball Blog is going to play out.

Stay tuned.................

Cheers,