Uncharted Waters

Super Bowl Sunday. A great day if you're a football fan(I am), but it's also a great day if you only focus on baseball. It means that the release of Topps Series One is imminent. Since I really don't care who wins today, I'm just hoping for an entertaining game(and some great commercials). Then I'll be setting my sights on the new baseball card collecting season. Last year, I bought more flagship products than I had in many years. Thank you Masahiro Tanaka, and as I've mentioned before, the Mariano Rivera checklist card in series one is perhaps my favorite card of last year. This year's series one is lacking in sought after Yankees rookies, but I will be looking for whatever card Topps has created to highlight Derek Jeter. I can only hope it is as good as the tribute to Mo. I've seen this image splashed around.

I'm hoping that it is 1. A real card(not some photoshopped fan creation) and 2. Not some super SP that I'll likely never see with my card budget being what it is. 

Other than the Jeter farewell, there wasn't a ton in the checklist that really got me interested for my collection's purposes. I had hoped for a Jose Pirela RC since he made his debut in September, but no luck there. So, in an effort to mix things up and create some more excitement around its release, I decided to take a leap into the unknown. I saw an opportunity to join a group break on the great blog: Nachos Grande. Chris posted that he was planning to break a case of jumbo boxes at a reasonable cost per team slot. I had read about this group break concept, but it is a fairly new idea to me. This is the first time I was really tempted to take the plunge. I scanned the list of teams that hadn't been claimed. Sadly, the Yankees were already spoken for. I figured that my urge to jump in would just go away. It did not. So, I began searching for the next best team to claim. I would have claimed the Rays, but there isn't much in the way of possible hits to make it worth the cost and there's only four base Rays that I'm going to be seeking. So, I chose the Cubbies. They've got a few great rookies, a Future Star, and a LOT of autos and relics on the checklist. I was happy with the decision. I thought all that was left was to wait until the break... I was wrong. I little while after finalizing my slot, I saw the name next to the Yankees was gone. I quickly emailed Chris and asked if they were available. He told me they were, so I claimed them as well. I guess if you're going to jump in, you might as well do it with both feet! So, now I sit here waiting for the release date so I can watch my first break video to see what  cards will be headed my way. It's an all new and different kind of anticipation!

Once again, I'm happy to say that I'm excited for this year's series one to come out this week. So, to everyone planning on busting some packs this week, good luck and happy ripping!