Big League Hits & Want List

To fuel my quest in building the 2020 Topps Big League set I took a different approach this year by purchasing five blasters. Yes, I'm aware I could have gone with two hobby boxes and come out, with any luck, a dozen or so cards away from a full set.

Yet, hobby boxes don't have purple parallels on the side of them that one can cut out.

Behold!

Is it me or is Topps really pushing Aquino this collecting season? Did you see the Reds have assigned him to the minor league facility for Spring Training 2.0?

While I'm on it, Aquino reminds A LOT of another hot rookie during the junk wax era who also hit a bunch of home runs in a short period. Here are the stat lines for comparison.

Maybe you can remember who I am referring to? Bonus if you can!

Back to Big League . . . Orange parallels come at a rate of one per pack, but five blue parallels, which are so eye-catching, accompany each blaster. Just another reason to go with blasters for the set build.

The Trout highlight card was probably my second best blue parallel. You may see the Mookie I pulled on a Dodger card blog in the future, but I would consider that to be the best of the 25 blues.

Let's take a break from the parallels so I can show off my favorite base card from this year's set.

I really enjoy cards showing a player getting doused with Gatorade or pied in the face during a post game interview. Sunflower seeds is one I haven't seen before!

Okay, back on the parallel train. Only one of the five blasters didn't contain a numbered card, so I'm call that a win in my book.

 The Bryant card is the big card out of this group. Oddly enough, I didn't pull a Kris Bryant base card though!

 Is there a Jesus Aguilar super collector out there?

 Perhaps a Red Sox fan would be interested in this one?

Again, this one is up for trade, too.

The foil parallels are serial numbered to 100. For what it's worth, the last one came from a hanger pack and not a blaster.

I was fortunate to pull a black and white parallel as well, which are numbered to 50.

Zack Greinke is a good dude, but this one doesn't really fit in my collection either. Any one up for a trade?

The blaster that had the Greinke black and white card also had an auto. It's not numbered, although it is a parallel. I wasn't expecting an auto as the odds are long on finding one.

I'm not sure what to do with this one either. I know a Tigers fan who also fancies catchers in gear. Hmm...

That's the end of the "hits" portion, but I have one more which I was more excited about than anything you've seen above. You can probably guess who it is. I am fairly predictable after all.

The Superstar Caricature inserts fall at a rate of one per every four packs and the checklist for this insert set is 30 players deep. I feel pretty lucky to have pulled this one for the player collection, but I still need another for my set build.

Speaking of which, my want list for everything Big League is located at the top of the blog as one of the tabs, but I've also linked it here so it's easy to access if you're on a mobile device.

If you have anything I need please send me an email to mrcoach00 at yahoo dot com and I'll see what I can do about sending you something back of equal value. Thanks in advance for the set help!

Have a great Independence Day weekend!

Resolved and a Gift!

Ten days ago I received three Austin Meadows autos from an Ebay breaker who busted 3 cases of 2020 Topps Archives Signature Series.

That was a bummer of a day. I received quite a bit of feedback on that post and I'd thank those who wished me a quick resolution.

Today the cards arrived.

Prepare yourself for super Vogel Mojo!

2013 Bowman, #60/99

2014 Bowman Platinum, #19/47

2015 Topps Heritage Minors, #23/34 -- This one's my favorite. The card design is in my Top 10 from Topps and the uniform top is similar to a throwback. The whole card has a vintage-esque vibe to it, you know, besides the gold foil stamp and what not.

It only took ten days to turn three unwanted Meadows into three VOGELMONSTERS. That's a pretty quick turnaround if you ask me.

It was an honest mistake and I'm just happy to have my cards. Glorious Vogelbach cards!

But, wait! That's not all!  The seller slipped in a pack Topps 2020 Series 1. Not needed, but totally appreciated.

I'm not going to buy and packs this year. That's my thing. I'm forty-four days in to the new year and going strong.  Yet, if someone wants to gift me a pack . . . well, that's something different altogether.

So, here's the highlights. We'll start with my first card from a pack for 2020:

 Hey, a rookie I've heard of before!  Not a bad way to start a pack!

I also found this guy in the pack.

 Two Blue Jay fledglings. Nice.

And then there was this:

I have a feeling this pack was meant for someone north of the border. Wow. 

Here's another checklist.

 I guess I didn't realize last year's All-Star batting practice jerseys were sleeveless. Huh.

How about a second future star?

I liked the brazen future star font of the late 80's. This is way too subtle for me. 

Rookie Cup!

This fourteen card pack is bringing the young talent!

1985 Topps is an underrated design in my book.

The Willie Mays card is a sweet pull if you ask me. 

Photography.

 Topps, from what I have seen, did a most excellent job this year with photo selection and cropping.

Ha!  No Vogelbach in the pack, but I did pull a Kike card!  I don't think gcrl needs the base card, but I'll send it to him anyways.

I tell you what, I'm not into using my blog space as a promotional tool, but here's the business card of the Ebay seller. Yes, he mixed up the packages. But, he fixed it as quickly as possible, owned his mistake, paid for ALL the shipping, and tossed in a free pack of cards to make sure I had a good experience.

If you're looking for an Ebay breaker who does an honest break and treats their customers right, then give Sport Card Breakers a shot.

Have a great Valentine's Day, everyone!

Series 2 Box Break Over at Baseball Every Night

2017 Topps Series 2 hits the stores this Wednesday and Peter, author of the Baseball Every Night blog, is holding a box break. I've read through his post three times, and from what I understand, he is only charging $3 per team to cover the shipping. That, my friends, is a great deal!
I've laid claim to the Seattle Mariners, because THE VOGELMONSTER is in Series 2! If no one else claims the Cubs I'll jump on them, too.

So, head on over to Peter's blog and claim a team or three. He's a terrific dude and you won't be sorry.

School's Out Box Break - 2015 Leaf Ultimate Draft

 Yes, today is my first official day of summer break. I still have many school related responsibilities filling up my agenda, but as with any summer I'm looking forward to the following:

1. The ability to sleep in
2. Turning into the "House Husband" super hero my wife adores
3. Watching more baseball (TV & live) 
4. Baseball cards and blogging

Today, I will accomplish all four on my list.

The cats allowed me to wake up naturally this morning, which is happening with more regularity as of late. The kittens are finally growing up. (Thank the heavens!)

 My wife returns this evening from visiting her sister's family in Denver. I'll spend the morning tidying up the house and taking care of the yard. My better half has a demanding career and I enjoy easing the responsibilities at home to make life a little easier on her. Happy wife, happy life.

I don't have cable or satellite, but I can pick up the Cubs/Cardinals game this afternoon with my little rabbit ears. How about that? This evening I get to coach my high school baseball team in the Regional Semi-final game.  It's always nice to still be coaching after the school year is officially over.  It's a sign that you had a good season!

Joe's still in high school!

I'm blogging and it's wonderful. My blogging has been forced and sporadic as of late. I'm typing with renewed enthusiasm this morning. It certainly doesn't hurt that I snagged a "high-end" box on sale from Dave and Adam's just for this occasion. If you know me at all, you know I love my prospects.

I've ordered the cards in this post from least interesting to most. The above card comes in as the third best in this box, and the first name that I recognize. I was hoping to pull an auto of the Cubs' 1st round selection from the 2015 draft, but alas, my attempts were foiled. Jorge Mateo is no Ian Happ, but he'll make Zippy Zappy happy.  So, he makes me happy!

If you're counting at home, then you'll realize this is the sixth card of seven from the box, and it's no slouch.

 Dansby Swanson was the overall #1 pick in last year's draft, and he's already been traded from the Diamondbacks to the Braves in the Shelby Miller deal. He is currently raking in AA. One of the guys on the high school team I coach has the nickname of "Dansby" because his "flow" is very Dansby-esque.

 Yeah, I know, it's tough to keep up with all the new lingo.

You may be wondering what could I pull out of a box that would trump last year's #1 pick?  How about arguably the best pitching prospect in the minors!

Did I mention it's numbered 9 of 10?  Sweet! Jose Urias is only 19, pitching in AAA, and sporting a WHIP of 0.780 as of this writing. He will be on a heavier workload this year, but it was just reported that Urias will only see a modest uptick in the number of innings he'll pitch this year to allow for the proper development of his arm. Surprisingly, Scott Boras, his agent, is on board with the Dodger's plan.

I plan on sitting on the Urias and Dansby cards until they make their MLB debuts and then putting them on Ebay when the iron is hot. Those funds will go to purchase the next big Cubs prospect and/or that elusive Ian Happ autographed card I've been stalking. 

Thanks for reading and happy summer to all!

Archives Case Break Mojo

My portion of the Nachos Grande 2015 Topps Archives case break arrived yesterday, and I must say that I am pretty pleased my haul!

For a modest fee I was able to pick up the Chicago Cubs and I was given one random team, which wound up being the World Champion Giants.  Not a bad team to pull through randomization if you ask me!

The Giants actually did really well, including a master set as well as three additional bases sets.

I traded the Will Ferrell Giants card to Nachos Grande, but otherwise I think he pulled every Giant insert card and a JT Snow autograph to boot!  Additionally, there's a gold parallel (#'d to 50) of Buster Posey and a Hoyt Wilhelm SP.  Man, those SPs are crazy hard to pull!

I don't really have a place for Giants in my collection so I've already worked out a trade to ship them off to ARPSmith.
I'm sure he'll enjoy them!

I'll save you the boredom of the five card Cubs base set, as it has already been broken down over at Wrigley Wax. So, on to the inserts!

First up, we have the Rookie Cup cards in the 1990 Topps design.  It seems like Topps is on the Baez bandwagon and it's nice to have a little variation, so I was glad Soler was given a card in this insert set.

Wrigley Wax showed off the 1968 Game cards as well, but I had to show them again because they are so neat.

 Topps takes a bunch of heat from the blogging community for many of its decisions or lack of thought, but they nailed these two cards.  Baez displayed last year in his brief call-up that he was a prolific strike out artist, and Rizzo is leading the league in in being struck by pitches.  Nice job, Topps.

Here's the Will Ferrell card and a 1972 Topps buyback card of Paul Popovich.  I'm not really sure what to do with the buyback card.  What do you guys/gals do with yours?

 I think everyone has seen the front of the ten different Will Ferrell cards, so here's the back of his Cub card.

 I like that they have his full playing career day on the back and his listed weight is pretty hilarious!

There are FIVE short prints in this year's Archives, which makes it nearly impossible for a team collector on a budget to knock out.  Argh.   But in my opinion Chris pulled something even better . . . autographs!

The autographs on the 1989 design do look really nice.  No?

 I have a couple of Grace signatures in my collection, but this is my first certified autograph.  This is my third Prior autograph and it's a shame he's already considered eligible for the Fan Favorites Autographs.  I'm not arguing his selection, but he's only 34 and if it weren't for injuries he should be contributing for some MLB team.

And now the big dog! FYI, Kris Bryant's autographs are going for outlandish prices.

To be completely honest, the main reason I entered the Nachos Grande case break was just for a chance to pull this card.  I never actually thought it would happen, and after coming up empty in the first seven boxes I had resigned to the fact that I was going to be shut out.  Then box #8 happened and it was victory lap time!

I put in the redemption code this morning and now the waiting game begins.  My LCS owner said that a customer pulled a Topps Finest Bryant redemption and that individual called Topps and asked when he might see his card. The answer he was given was in the September to October range.

I must have patience, which shouldn't be a problem.  I'm a Cub fan so I have a lifetime of patience!  Right?
(No, seriously.  Topps, don't cross me.)

Thanks for hosting the group break, Chris!  I know that they can be a lot of work, but you have one VERY happy customer in P-town!

2015 Archives: Checklist Distribution Rant

pic via cardboardconnection.com

So, I ponied up and joined Nachos Grande's 2015 Topps Archives case break.  (You should, too!)

The checklist was released the other day and I just got done scouring the list for my team of choice: The Chicago Cubs.

I'm not arguing about the number of cards the Cubs have altogether.  Out of a 330 card set, each of the 30 MLB teams should have 11 cards on average and after five consecutive years of finishing in 5th place in the NL Central I'm pretty stoked about the Cubs having 10 cards in the set.  Some teams only have 5 or 6 cards in the set, while others 15+, but that's a different rant for a different blog.

Let me break this down for you real quick.

First, I'm a Cubs team collector who likes variety.

Secondly, this year's set features designs from 1957, 1976, and 1983.  All cards with numbers over 300 are short prints.

Cards 1-100 and 301-310 are modeled after 1957 and the Cubs have 2 base and 3 short prints.
Cards 101-200 and 311-320 are in the 1976 style and the Cubs have 2 base and 2 short prints.
Cards 201-300 and 321-330 have the 1983 template and the Cubs have 1 base and 0 short prints.


What I'm griping about is the distribution of the number of cards a team has over the three different styles.  Why can't Topps spread the Cubs cards out a little bit so that they get more than one card in the 1983 style?

Shoot.  Why can't they spread them out more evenly across the board?

I've taken the time to break down the distribution by team:

TEN teams have only one card from a particular design, while the Diamondbacks aren't represented in the 1957 design at all.   Some of the distributions don't make any sense at all like the Indians and Padres.

So what gives?

Is it simply laziness?  Or is it poor planning?  Or maybe Topps doesn't have the time, money, and/or foresight to have some schlup sit down for thirty minutes and disperse the chosen players more evenly throughout the checklist. 


Ugh. The whole thing just makes me nauseous.