Spree Card #2

The second card from my eBay spree is this Matt Wisler auto from 2015 Five Star. Wisler was acquired from the Padres in the Justin Upton trade, I believe. He has shown a ton of potential and was able to pitch in 20 games for the Braves this season. He struggled with control issues at times and with an unimpressive stat line of 8-8 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.459 WHIP. Not terrible. A decent start to his major league career. I am hoping he will develop into a top tier starter.

As a side note, with this card I can definitely see why people really don't like the different format Topps went with for Five Star this year. Previously each box would yield something like four or five hits, all numbered, in the $300-$400 range. Now it's two cards for like $125. If I paid that much for a box of this and pulled this card, which is unnumbered, I would be pretty unhappy. And I say that with this card fitting nicely into my collection. Rather I was able to get it on the secondary market for less than $10.

Spree Card #1

I recently allowed myself to go on an eBay spree and picked up a bunch of cards to add to my collection. Here is the first.

09/75

First up is this 2015 Triple Threads Unity auto/relic of Braves pitcher Shelby Miller. I am optimistic that Miller is going to become a dominant presence at the front of the rotation for years to come. His stat line this year shows that he has the potential, as well as showcasing the level of the Braves futility this season...

6 wins

17 losses

3.02 ERA

1.247 WHIP

It's pretty obvious that he pitched pretty well but got zero run support. Frustrating for him I'm sure, and for fans like myself.

More cards coming soon!

Sousa's Favorite Box

Recently I picked up a box of 2015 Panini Stars and Stripes. I've always liked Team USA stuff regardless of the sport so naturally this set had my interest. One of the big draws was the possibility of pulling hits from Kris Bryant and other recent highly touted MLB call-ups like Joey Gallo or Carlos Rodon. I didn't pull anything huge but it was a fun box to bust.

Longevity parallel

Longevity holofoil parallel 36/99

Inserts

I think these Crusade cards are my favorite insert from any baseball set ever. They are just gorgeous in person.

Gold parallel 10/25

Hits

135/299

087/299

69/99

293/299

56/99

According to Blowout each box should contain four hits. Mine had five which isn't unusual for Panini, something I love about them.

Nothing huge but a lot of fun at a good price.

PS: See what I did there with the title? ;)

Bowman Chrome Jumbo

Recently I picked up a jumbo box of 2015 Bowman Chrome. It turned out fairly well.

A sampling of the inserts.

They call these "minis" but they're more like the "Tall Boy" inserts from Heritage. I feel like inserts of this type don't really fit into any Bowman product, particularly Chrome.

A logical addendum to the Top 100 inserts from regular Bowman.

Woo die-cuts!

Parallels

Refractor 368/499

Refractor 395/499

Refractor 193/499

Purple Refractor 218/250

Blue Refractor 013/150

Green Refractor 09/99

Autos

Base - with a nice looking signature

Base

Refractor 148/499

Purple Refractor 188/250

Also the rare Bowman prospect photo where the player's head isn't photoshopped onto someone else's body.

Blue Refractor 140/150

Davis is definitely the best auto in the bunch. He tore it up this year at High A Lancaster in the California League finishing with a .286, 26, 101 line. Definitely a bright future.

Jumbo boxes of Chrome are a lot of fun to bust, but they are pricey. I feel like I did ok. There are some better boxes I've seen and a lot of way worse ones. 

A very nice box of Topps Chrome

The final box I picked up at the new LCS was a hobby box of 2015 Topps Chrome. It turned out pretty nicely.

Prizm refractors

101/250

094/150

I'll add that while I like chrome parallels, I don't like this year's regular refractors. They're just less "refractory" than normal and there isn't anything on the back to indicate what they are like have had in years past. 

These Chrome Culminations inserts are 1:288 packs, ie. one per case. Woo insert case hit!!

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Not a bad auto to pull. Far from the worst name on the checklist, though I do think Baez is going to be a flop. I think Topps really screwed up in switching the auto area back to silver. It was awful before and it's awful again. Next year they need to return to the white area. It really makes the auto pop a lot better than the silver.

09/25

At 1:1,082 packs this is another case hit in the same box!! Needless to say I was pretty pumped to pull this card. I do have one complaint though. For once my scanner is accurate, the orange really is that dull looking. I wish it was more vibrant as it would go well with the Giants orange.

That's all from my trip to the "new" LCS. Until next time!