Baseball, Fireworks, and an Unexpected MiLB Team Set

This past Saturday I took the family to Durham Bulls Athletic Park for our first family outing at the ballpark this season. The Bulls played the Gwinnett Braves, there was an appearance by a Minion, and there was to be post-game fireworks. It was a fun, relaxing night at the ballpark and the weather was actually just about perfect for taking in a game.

As is usual when I go to a game, I have to check out the ballpark corner store. I was hoping that maybe the 2015 Bulls team set would be available, but i had no luck on that front. I did find an older, unexpected team set that I didn't remember seeing before on clearance though. I wasn't sure who was in the set, but for $4, I was willing to gamble. So, I picked up the advanced rookie level Princeton Rays set.

As designs go, it's not a bad set. The set was short on players that actually made an impact so I chose these six to show off based solely upon the photos. I really dig the old school 'No Hitting Baseball Against Backstop' sign and the Kroger ad in particular. There was one player that made me glad I gambled on this set.

One of my favorite former Bulls players before he played in Durham.

Here is the card back. It's one of the better minor league designs I've seen. I could go for a slightly less prominent Wendy's logo, but the rest is well done. It's particularly nice to see the photo credit included.

Matt recently completed another tour in Durham while on rehab assignment. Now that he's made it back to Tampa, I'm hoping he can stay healthy and be productive for the Rays in the second half.

Busting Topps Series 2 - Blasters, Hangers, and a Loosey...Oh My

I know it's been out for a while, but this Post will highlight my first bit of Topps Series 2. The delay was partially due to the fact that I couldn't find any product on shelves during the first week it was out. I tried. I made multiple trips to multiple Targets and Walmarts with nothing to show for it. Almost a full week after the release date, I finally tracked some down. On day one of finding Topps, I grabbed two blasters from Target, followed the next day by two hanger boxes from a Walmart.

These were some of my favorites from the base set. A bunch of rookies, a former Durham Bull, and the Scherzer photo variation.

These were the best of the horizontal part of the program. I absolutely LOVE the Yankees team card. It looks like I'll have to hunt down some parallels of this one just like the Jeters from series one. I didn't realize until I lined them up to scan, but I've got a Zimmermann highlighting his no hitter and Souza who made the catch to save said no hitter. Though I don't really care for the Highlight of the Year set, I'm digging the photo on the Rickey. Similarly, the design of the Hot Streak set isn't that great, but I like the concept and was happy to pull a Mattingly and a Livan Hernandez(among others).

Continuing on with the inserts, I pulled four from the Target-exclusive Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth set. I wasn't really looking forward to this since The Babe Ruth Story set was just done, but I think the design of this set is far superior. I got a decent start on the First Pitch offerings from series two as well, though I must admit I was mostly underwhelmed by the celebs included(except Gabriel Iglesias - Yay Fluffy!).

Conversely, I was really looking forward to the Walmart-exclusive Cal Ripken Jr. set, but after pulling these from the hanger boxes I must say that I am not impressed. This design is weak. Odds are I'll try to put his set together because the backs are done fairly well, but these could/should have been done much better.

As new inserts for series two go, I really like the Eclipsing History set. Granted, it is an excuse to do the standard two player insert that Topps has done over and over, but this one kinda feels/looks fresh for the first time in a number of years. I'm still loving the 1st Home Run insert, so I'll be trying to finish the second series of those. It's nice that the series two checklist includes a few pitchers. I was lucky enough to pull the Maddux. The only way it could have been better is if it had 'chicks dig the longball' on the card back. I've historically not been a huge fan of the hanger box, but as I looked a bit closer, the odds on parallels and some of the inserts are better than blasters or individual packs. The Pollock snow camo is a prime example of this. It's up for grabs if anyone has any interest.

These are the two medallion cards from the blasters. For my tastes, the checklist is a bit lacking in players for my collections in series 2. I'm on the fence about holding on to the Big Mac because of my younger self's affinity for the Bash Brothers, but I haven't quite decided yet. Though the Kershaw is cool because it's a pitcher, I don't really have any other specific ties to it. I'd more than likely trade it away if someone was interested.

That wraps up the highlights of the blasters and hanger boxes. However, since it took me so long to post this, I have to add the single loosey that I have picked up this far. A few days ago, I had another one of those looong days at work. I decided to treat myself to some pack therapy before going home. When I walked into the card aisle at my Target there wasn't anything that I wanted to rip. I stayed there trying to decide if I should just go with another jumbo of Donruss or something just so I wouldn't be completely disappointed by walking away with nothing to bust. After a minute or two, an employee came out carrying an unopened box of series 2. He took the wrap off and placed it on the shelf. I hardly ever buy the loose packs anymore since I'm rarely at a hobby shop, but suddenly it was like I was back in my favorite LCS with a freshly opened box on the shelf. I grabbed the pack on the top left which was my usual go-to pack. I waited until I got home to open it. As I was opening the wrapper, I thought the pack felt a bit more substantial than I expected a loose pack to be. 

Turns out I was right. This was sandwiched between a few cards on either side. Kinda makes me wish that I was a Dodgers fan. I like Puig pretty well, but this is likely headed for eBay or one of the many Dodgers fans in our great community here. After the shock faded, I got a bit curious about the odds on this one.

It's a bit hard to read, but the Hot Streak relics fall 1:5,068! Not a bad way to beat the odds. Maybe his is the start of my own 'hot streak'.

Congrats to Brett Gardner, AL All-Star

I was thrilled to hear that one of my favorite current Yankees was named to the All-Star squad yesterday. I had been voting for him as my Final Vote candidate. In the absence of The Captain this year, he has really been the heart of a team that is exceeding expectations at the halfway point of the season. His drive and work ethic are unmatched plus he's been an underdog for his entire career which makes it all the easier to pull for him. In honor of his first All-Star Team selection, I wanted to share the only 'rainbow' that I really feel I've completed.

2005 Bowman

2005 Bowman Gold

These two are the paper varieties.

2005 Bowman Chrome

2005 Bowman Chrome refractor

These are the non-serial numbered Chrome versions.

2005 Bowman Chrome xfractor

2005 Bowman Chrome blue refractor

Finally, these are both serially numbered. The xfractor is #/250 while the blue is #/150. Granted, I didn't have to track down any 1/1's here, but this 'rainbow' has more of a place in my collection than any I could try to put together of these more modern day products with a dozen or more variations I'd have to get.

Congrats on the awesome achievement Gardy!

Flexing Those Old Trading Muscles

About two weeks ago, I wrote a post about the art of negotiating trades. For me, it had practically been a forgotten skill from days long gone by. However, thanks to my involvement in a Facebook group centered around sports cards, I've been slowly shaking the rust off that old skill. In fact, I recently completed my third negotiated trade with a member of said group. Here were the two centerpieces I received.

I really like them both. They're nice, clean, on-card signatures on solidly designed cards, but I didn't actively seek these autographs. I simply made a comment that the Lyle, which had just been pulled from a box of Archives was a nice card. One thing led to another, the Nettles from last year was mentioned/offered, I agreed to part with two autos that have been sitting in my trade box for over a year, and here they are. I got a bunch of 'extras' thrown in too.

Most were keeping with the Nettles and Archives theme. From L to R, there's the base set SP, the Glossy All-Star, and the Hockey insert from last year, but it didn't end there.

Sandwiched in between two 2015 Topps Series 2 inserts is the Nettles Deckle Edge insert, also from last year's release. All in all, I can't possibly complain about this swap. As previously mentioned, it was definitely more work to complete than the other trades I've managed since starting this blog, but the extra work paid high dividends for my collection.

First Completed Set of 2015

Okay, okay, the title's a bit misleading. A recent trade with JayBee who runs the Sports Card Blogroll did allow me to complete my first insert set of the year though. A few weeks back, JayBee posted some cards he pulled from a few jumbo packs of Archives. I saw that he listed the Bryce Harper from the Topps Game insert which I needed for my set build. Despite his repeatedly stating that he doesn't trade very much, I figured I'd take a stab at acquiring it from him. I briefly checked his want list and unfortunately didn't have anything from it to offer. However, I've seen his multiple posts talking about his affinity for the Topps retail team sets. This interest was reiterated in the same post in which I read about the Harper. Since I routinely visit many local Target locations, I figured I'd offer to send one of the team sets that I have access to, hoping that he didn't already order whatever he couldn't get his hands on. Fortunately, there was a set I had access to that he needed and our trade was born. JayBee also sent me a bunch of other set needs to go with the Harper.

Here's the one that started it all. Another of the bigger stars checked off my list, this one puts me at 17 out of 33 cards in-hand(I have three more that are in transit, putting me at 20/33).

I normally wouldn't highlight another Topps base card, but this puts me three cards shy of completing Series One. I'm almost as excited as these guys are!

Next up, I'm three more cards closer to finishing the first series of the 1st Home Run set. I am not picky as to which variation of a player makes it into my set, so long as I have at least one of all 40 players.

There we have them! Those two First Pitch cards finally let me close the door on that set. I finished in time to ramp up my search for the next 10 in the set that were just released in series two! Lastly, He sent me that awesome Puig Robbed insert. It leaves me three shy of finishing that set as well.

Thanks for a great trade JayBee. I'm blown away by your generosity and hope that we can trade again sometime in the future.