Happy Independence Day!! Part 2

So I get cheap retail or blaster boxes every once in awhile and keep them around for a rainy day. And today was a rainy day! As today was July 4th I figured it was also a special occasion so I decided to break a 16 pack retail box of 2010 Topps Series 1.

Here are a few of the inserts I pulled.

Uh....What??

These are both from the "Cards your mother threw out" insert set. The Juan Marichal card makes sense as the original was from 1965. But the Lincecum from 2008? A reprint insert that was only from two years prior to this set being released? If Topps really wanted a more authentic feeling "Cards your mom threw out" insert set they should have had nothing after the 1980's. But that's just my opinion.

Cards like this showing players as youngsters are always interesting.

I didn't realize they had inserted Turkey Red cards into the flagship set.

Great insert with a great photo of one of the most important athletes in American history.

Well this came as a big surprise! I had never once pulled a relic from a flagship set retail pack so I was quite surprised when I pulled this Rickie Weeks Game-Used bat relic. I didn't even realize it at first because I was watching news coverage of local flooding due to all the rain. I initially thought this was just a regular Peak Performance insert as I was distracted by the TV. But then my thumb slid over the wooden bat chip. Quite an unexpected pull but a great one!

So despite the rain my Independence Day turn out to be pretty great! I hope everyone else had a great day celebrating America!

Happy collecting! 

PS: This box was purchased from Dave and Adam's Card World. Check em out!

Happy Independence Day!! Part 1

What is the most American thing you can think of?

Baseball, right? Well that's what comes to my mind first. I knew I wasn't going to be attending a game today so I thought, "What's the next best thing?" Baseball cards of course! As it turns out I had to make a trip to Wal-Mart #2 this morning to pick up a few food items. Naturally I paid a visit to the card aisles first thing after entering the store. I picked up a 2012 Topps S1 rack pack that was marked down to $3, two packs of 2013 Topps Heritage, and two packs of 2013 Panini Prizm. Both of the Heritage packs were pretty boring so I won't be featuring anything from those. I've had very little luck with that set this year and I don't think I will be buying any more. It just isn't as interesting to me as it has been in the past. Here are a few highlights from '12 S1 and '13 Prizm.

I'm a sucker for inserts that feature HOF members.

Topps always has a few base set cards with photos that are out of the ordinary. Most cards seem to feature a photo of a player batting or throwing. But this one is definitely different. Especially in that you cannot see Arencibia's face. I found it interesting.

I found the photo in this Jayson Werth card to be particularly odd. Upon closer inspection I realized that the photo had been taken THROUGH the backstop! Modern camera technology allows for the photo to still be high quality with the focus on the players in the background rather than the backstop in the foreground. But honestly I don't think this photo should have been used. Surely they could have found a better option for Werth's card.

Prizm pack 1

Prizm pack 2

Honesty time...these were the first two packs of Panini cards I have EVER bought....and I love the cards! I generally don't care for cards that have the team logos etc. edited out. But despite that fact this set looks amazing! Just holding them they feel like cards worth the $3 per pack price tag. I will likely buy a few more of these this year. I particularly like the Blue Prizm Scott Diamond RC. It also happens to be a refractor but I'm guessing that all of the parallel Prizm cards are refractors due to there being nothing mentioned on the outside of the pack about it. I do wish Panini would print the odds on the pack like Topps does. The nerd in me likes to check the odds every time I rip. Instead the pack only mentions the number of cards in the set that have each type of parallel and how many of each type of insert there is. Not the insertion odds.

I also wish MLB didn't have the exclusive license deal with Topps as Panini definitely deserves a shot too. But perhaps having that deal in place has motivated Panini to put out excellent products like this to convince the consumers like me to purchase their product in spite of the heavily edited photos. Good job Panini! I will definitely be checking out some of their other products soon.

Part 2 coming shortly...