The Quest for a White Whale Comes to an End

This quest was a long and frustrating one, but after 17+ years it is finally over. Way back in 2001, Topps released a 10 card insert set featuring some of the more well known stars of the Negro League. From the moment I saw this set staring back at me from a pack of Flagship(series 2, I think), it was one of my favorites. I finished the set relatively quickly and was excited to see that Topps Chrome would apply its shiny base and refractor technology to the set. I immediately knew I'd have to track down a refractor version of my favorite player in the set, Josh Gibson. In the weeks after Chrome was released, I happened to find 2 different copies at my local card show. I was young and the asking prices weren't in my collecting budget so I had to leave them behind. I remember seeing a few more on eBay and the end result was the same, too rich for my blood. As time went by, I had trouble finding any available copies at all. Over the years, I had a few near misses which I wrote about in this post showing my top 5 white whales. I couldn't even find a picture of a sold copy of the card for that post so I just subbed in a picture of the base version. I published that post in early November 2017. Close to six months passed and there were no signs of an available copy on either eBay or COMC. Then it happened. I was performing searches on COMC for a list of cards that I don't usually find available. I typed in '2001 Topps Josh Gibson' as I'd done a hundred times before. Only this time, among the few results was a copy of the refractor I was searching for. It was listed a bit high for my liking, but fortunately I had earned a good bit of credit by doing challenges. I added some store credit via PayPal just for good measure. I wanted to be ready for negotiation. I quickly made an offer I could live with. It seemed like it took forever for the seller to respond(it was actually only a few hours). They countered and I felt it was reasonable(and I didn't want to lose out again) so I accepted. A huge weight was lifted! However, I knew that I wasn't very likely to request shipment until the Black Friday promo. So, seven months after I purchased one of my most sought after cards, I finally had it in hand and here I am finally writing about it four+ months after that. Better late than never I suppose.

I only wish the scan actually did this card justice. It is extremely satisfying to finally acquire a card I'd searched for so long to find. Quite honestly it's a feeling I'd really like to replicate again in the near future(fingers crossed). Anyway, thanks for reading.

Chrome-y Topps Star Wars - TFA

A few days ago, while looking for some Chrome Baseball at an out-of-town Target, I found these:

I had to pick up a few to see what they were like.

Pack 1:

Base cards are exactly like the regular version, but given the Chrome treatment which is great if you like Chrome(like I do).

Found this insert, not too shabby.

I found a refractor too! These are incredibly cool because they look more like the various 'wave-style' refractors that have been found in Bowman Chrome the past few years. They're not numbered, but they look so dang cool, they don't have to be!

Pack 2:

I was a bit bummed that of the 4 base cards in the pack, two were already dupes for me.

Another insert. This one doesn't do anything for me at all. I'm not a huge fan of these behind the scenes cards, at least not his one.

Though you can't really tell in the scan, this was another refractor. I really like these. Too bad it would be incredibly difficult to put together the refractor set...

Overall, a nice product. I may have to snag a Hobby box since there are Daisy Ridley(Rey) autos in there. Who knows, I could get lucky and pull one, right? Thanks for reading.

First Taste of 2016 Topps Chrome Baseball

Over the past few days I've been seeing a bunch of breaks posted for Topps Chrome. Honestly, ive thought about grabbing a spot in one of them. My local retail stores haven't even put any Ginter on the shelves as yet, so I assumed it would be some time before I'd be able to grab any Chrome-y goodness. This morning I was proven wrong. Though my local Target still doesn't have any Ginter on the shelf, they did have a few of the Jumbo/Rack packs of Chrome. I quickly grabbed one and it was practically busted before I got back to the car. Let's take a look at it pack by pack. Please pardon the less than optimal photos I took in the car.

Pack one:

The Russell Future Stars looks really nice and I was thrilled by the unexpected Youth Impact insert of Piscotty. They fall at a rate of 1:12 packs so I was happy to start off ahead of the game and he's not a bad player to pull either.

Pack two:

This pack was a home run for me! Two Yankees(albeit one of them now a former Yankee), Harper, and a refractor of Kluber. I may not actively collect Harper, but I always love to pull his cards. The refractors are noteworthy for two reasons. First, the front has the 'honeycomb-like' effect in the corner which helps in identifying it, but also...

...they printed 'refractor' on the card back! All I can say is that it's about time. At least it will be easy to pick them out this year.

Pack three:

The base cards here were pretty pedestrian, but I really bucked the odds by pulling a second Youth Impact and it was awesome that it was Trevor Story. Bummer that he's likely done for the season after suffering a thumb injury a few days ago.

Pink refractor pack:

These really look nice in hand. I could have done better as far as player selection, but overall I can't complain about the Jumbo/Value Pack. I will definitely be hunting for more of these as the days go by. As for the product, it was easier for me to tolerate the 'cloud effects' on the Chrome cards than on the flagship. Perhaps it is because I've grown used to seeing it. Maybe it just really looks better in Chrome. After all, everything looks better with a little bit of shiny added to it, right?

Thanks for reading.

Single Card Post Sunday

Today I'm going to start a regular new series of posts: Single Card Post Sunday. I'm not going to set any rules on what type of cards show up here, they'll mostly be ones that I want to share that don't fit easily with another theme or group.

Before I share the first card in this series, I wanted to take another moment to make the suggestion that you guys check out the latest Nachos Grande group break. It'll be the final one of 2015 and it should be a lot of fun. Chris always runs a great break. So, if you haven't claimed a team yet, click here to check out the few remaining teams. Let's help him sell this break out!

Fittingly, I start this new series of posts with a true baseball pioneer. Rube Foster was one of, if not the greatest, African-American pitchers in the first decade of the 1900's. Some say he was unequalled on the mound, even by the likes of Satchel Paige! When Foster's playing career was over, he founded and served as president of the National Negro League. Known as 'the father of Black Baseball', he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.

This card hails from a great insert from 2001 Topps Chrome, called What Could Have Been. It highlights ten great Negro League players. I completed the flagship version of the insert set way back in 2001 and currently have more than half of the Chrome set that I still need to hunt down. I've toyed with the idea of chasing the refractor set as well, but in searching eBay, singles are often priced higher than I'd want to pay. I was lucky enough to find this one floating around on Listia and won it for a reasonable amount of credits. It stands as the only refractor from the set that I currently own. Perhaps this pioneer will lead me on a new collecting endeavor as well.

Busting Chrome - The Hobby Box Edition

I heard that Topps Chrome retail had started showing up in stores over a week before the official release date. So, I went hunting for some. Target after Target, Walmart after Walmart and I found nothing. Then the official release date came and went...still nothing. Since I couldn't get my retail fix, I contacted my former LCS owner. He was able to sell me a box for a really good price. Here's my hobby box haul.

I actually pulled the two autos out of the first three packs I opened, but that doesn't make for a good presentation. I hit one of the high number SP rookies. It would have been nice if it was Buxton or Correa, but I can't complain about what I can only assume is beating the odds on that pull(haven't seen actual SP rookie odds). The green refractor Wainwright is #/99 and the purple Fernandez is #/250. In addition to these, I hit right on the odds for the regular refractors and the prism refractors too.

The base auto Moya was less than exciting for me, but I may know someone that would be interested in it. The Wong is quite shiny, as is the Hamels and Barnes. I was fortunate to pull the refractor parallel of Jose Pirela and the prism refractor of Ian Desmond for the team/player collections.

The orange refractor Pompey auto #/25 was a heck of a pull! Oh wait, is that a Christmas card? Why yes, it is, 12/25! I honestly couldn't care less about the player, but it was another example of beating the odds in this box. Overall, the box wasn't the greatest as far as anything hat I was interested in, but it could have been way worse. Some of these are already on their way to new homes, but if anyone is interested in any of these, let me know and we can work out a deal. Thanks for reading!