Cracking Some Ginter - Does My Hot Streak Continue?

I'm a few days behind the release date, but I was finally able to track down some retail Allen & Ginter packs last night. There wasn't much variety on the shelves of my local Target. I basically had a choice of a few standard loose packs or a blaster. I opted to use my $1 off coupon that came in my series 2 blaster to purchase two loose packs. I figured it would be a nice way to get a quick intro to the product first hand. So far, I've liked what I've seen which has mostly been from following Nachos Grande's case break - thanks Chris. Here are highlights from my first look.

My two packs were heavy on young pitching talent. The Betances was, unfortunately, my only Yankee pulled. I chose these three because of the incredibly strange look of each. I had read about the 'measles' filter that Chris described in several of his posts from the first box of his case, but it didn't really come through in the scans that I saw in those posts. All three of these cards(and the majority of the others from both packs) had that same filter. It looks so out of place. I'm not sure what the design team was going for, but I know they missed the mark. Maybe as I see more of these cards in person, I will begin to overlook it, but right now, it sticks out like a sore thumb! That being said, Harvey looks like he has a lazy eye, and Scherzer's heterochromia(two different colored eyes) is front and center.

I happened to pull an SP in each pack and this awesome Ancient Armory insert fell out of one. The minis were nothing to speak of, both regular back, non-SP, players that I don't collect(thus the lack of a scan). However, there was one more card of note in these packs.

When I first saw this card, I wasn't thrilled. I saw the stamp and figured 'oh great, a buy back. Woo-hoo...'. It was when I was flipping back through the stack of cards that it caught my eye. I noticed it was this year's design which made me realize it couldn't be a buy back. So, I looked a little closer...

That's when I saw that stamp on the back!  Serial numbered out of 10?!?! I scanned the back of the pack and it looks like my odds on this 'Base Card 10th Anniversary Parallel' were 1:522 in the retail packs. Not quite the long odds of the Puig relic I found in the series two loosey, but still pretty darn good. I obviously wish it was a player or personality that I'd be interested in keeping, but it's a nice piece of trade bait. 

The verdict on these packs: I'm still on the fence about the design/execution of the base set. I like the insert that I pulled which will likely be good enough to get me to pick up at least a few more packs. Since the Anniversary parallel was pulled along with an SP in each pack I'd have to say that my Hot Streak is still intact!

I Heard A Bowman Hanger Calling My Name

This has been out for a long time now. I thought for sure that I was done for the year. I was in a Walmart and wasn't even planning to look at the poor excuse for a card aisle that they had. We all know how this story ends though... My name is Tim and I'm a pack-aholic. I walked out with this box shaking my head and muttering to myself about having no willpower at all. How could I lose that internal battle once again? I'm not sure why/how, but my gut knew I needed to take this box home.

Pretty decent base and prospect cards.  Love that I pulled the Chrome Bryant too(maybe this will be a sign of my ability to pull his cards going forward, fingers crossed). The yellow Russell is the first decent yellow parallel I've pulled.

I've pulled several of the Top 100 inserts and I like the design. It's great to have this shiny Severino. Here I was thinking this was a good hanger box, my feeling of buyer's remorse mostly gone...then:

I flipped to this. He's not the top of the organization prospect that would've really blown me away(or Rodon or Bryant), but I don't usually have great luck pulling autographs from products, let alone a Yankee auto! Taylor was actually called up to the bigs earlier this season, but was optioned back to Triple-A before logging an AB.

I'm still. It sure what made me decide to grab that box, but I'm sure glad I did. This makes three good pack/box breaks in a row. I think that can qualify as the hot streak I was hoping for. I'm gonna ride it out for as long as I can. Thanks for reading.