Another Topps Pristine 2 Pack Break

I got these from the same seller as the first break, but decided against recording this one. It was probably for the best, as the pulls aren't near as exciting this time around. The EPA must have given Topps hell for all the wrappers this product generated. If you're not already familiar, these are packaged as a pack inside of a pack inside of a larger pack. Yes folks, THREE wrappers for one pack of cards. No wonder the Earth is rapidly warming (or cooling, depending on who you talk to).

Last time we started with the 2003 pack, so this time around it's 2004 that will be first up to bat. After opening the larger outer wrapper, I found this card (and another pack):

Shingo Takatsu uncirculated refractor #'d /499

I think this is of the uncommon variety, but it's hard to find solid info on this set.

After opening the second, slightly smaller pack, I found this card (and yet another pack):

Manny Ramirez Going, Going, Gone bat relic

Ahh, the good old days, when Topps actually let you know your chunk of wood is in fact from a game-used bat. It was so long ago that Manny still had short hair.

Each pack also contains one numbered rookie card. For as old as this pack is, it certainly could have been worse. At least I got a guy who's still in the league.

Erick Aybar numbered rookie #'d /999

Just like last time around, hidden in the innards of that final pack was an autograph. It's not Lance Berkman again, but it could definitely have been worse.

Ervin Santana Personal Endorsements autograph

I didn't say anything about it when I pulled the Berkman, but these are some UGLY cards.

So yeah, that was the '04 pack. Not too shabby, especially not for $10. Let's move right along to the '03 flavor, and see what that pack had to offer. After ripping the first wrapper, this puppy was found tucked away inside, along with another pack (naturally).

Michel Hernandez uncommon refractor #'d /99

If only it were someone else.... The Ryan Howard uncommon refractor books for like $200. Michel Hernandez might book for $2.

After opening the pack within the pack, this is the game-used card that greeted me... along with another stinkin pack!

Pedro Martinez Pristine Borders jersey relic

Hello old friend, wearing a Red Sox jersey, which is how I choose to remember you. The swatch is pretty tiny, but I can't really complain about pulling this card. It beats an Eric Chavez relic any day of the week.

The pack inside the pack inside the pack wasn't super exciting, but it did have the following 2 base cards in it, which I thought were pretty nice.

There are legends in this set? Awesome!

Now all I need is the uncommon & gold refractors to build myself a little rainbow. Based on recent eBay sales & listings, this card is pretty valuable for just being of the regular base variety.

There you have it, 2 more packs of Pristine busted and scanned for all the world to see. I've actually got 2 more packs of each on the way (4 more packs total), and they will be busted on video, most likely over the weekend. The eBay seller from whom I purchased the first 4 packs offered me the rest of his inventory at a very reasonable price ($10/pack). It will be a bit of a group break, as Jay from The Mojo Hand and I are splitting the costs 50/50. We're going to try to do something fun with it, and hopefully end up with a nice little pack break video.

What do you guys think of Pristine? Do you wish it was still around? Any ideas on why Topps chose to kill off the brand?

Topps Pristine Video Break

Welcome to my first video break. Going forward I promise not to be such a goober, and to actually hold the cards in front of the camera, and not off to the side. You know, so you can actually SEE them and stuff.

Both of these sealed blister packs (one 2003 & one 2004) came from eBay, and were a ton of fun to bust. I understand why this product is no longer around, as it is very similar to Finest, but the cards are still very nice. One thing that makes no sense to me is the whole "uncirculated" thing. These things are inserted into packs. Doesn't that count as "circulation"? I understand that they come in nifty hard cases, sealed with Topps foil stickers for safety, but how does that make a card "uncirculated"?

The Video:



The Goods:

2003:

Sweet! #'d to 1599. Not sure what this card is worth, but I know it's one of the better pulls in the '03 release.

Chavez is one of those players who haunts me. This has to be at least the third Eric Chavez "hit" I've pulled since starting this blog.

#'d to 1999. Not sure why I scanned this card. Probably because it's numbered. That's about the only way a damn Yankee makes it onto this site.

2004:

Cards like this are what I was afraid of when purchasing these packs. You only get one shot at an "uncirculated" refractor, and most of them are of rookies & prospects. We all know how that game goes.

I like bat relics, and I like Mike Piazza. Good times were had by all.

#'d to 1999 or something like that. It might be numbered to something lower, but I am at work right now, and can't check the back to be sure. I know it's not the "common" rookie variation, so it might be numbered to something slightly lower. Nippert is currently with the Texas Rangers, and enjoyed his best statistical season as a pro in 2009.

Certainly wasn't expecting to pull this "Big Puma" autograph. If you watched the video, you can see the look of surprise in mine eyes. This scan is plain crummy and the card looks a lot better in person. They tried to do the whole "etched metal" thing, and it looks much better when the card is in hand.

For only being a 2 pack break, there were some decent cards to be had here. I've got another pack of each on the way that I paid even less for. Hopefully, they aren't a letdown after pulling the Howard and Berkman cards.

Card Shop...

Today, I went back to Sport Card Depot, in search of some loose packs of '08 Masterpieces for my set. I was hoping to pull a short print or two I need, and a few of those black framed parallels as well. In all I purchased 6 packs for $3.50/pack. Even though short prints are seeded 1:2 packs, there were none to be found in any of the six packs I ripped. After opening 4 packs, I had only pulled 1 black framed parallel (needed it), and none of the remaining base cards from my want list.

Then along came pack #5. After ripping the wrapper, I saw the word "Congratulations" and knew I had a hit on my hands. Closer examination revealed that it was a Dodgers hit. "Dammit" I thought, "another Andruw Jones jersey card". As I was flipping the card over, I noticed that the card was rather thick, like thicker than a regular jersey card. "Dammit", I thought, "an Andruw Jones patch card".

You could imagine my surprise when I finally flipped the card over and saw this....
Totally sucks that there's a cat hair on the patch, but that's what happens when you've got one. There's nothing in this house without cat hair on it. Supposedly these patches are seeded 1:15 or 1:20 cases. Yes, you read that right, CASES. At least that's what a little birdie told me anyway. After a rought run of horrible luck, it's nice to finally pull an unexpected hit out of something. This may actually be one of my better pulls ever, if not the best. Sad, I know, but my box busting luck has been fairly lousy in the "big hits" department.

In case you were wondering, pack 6 contained another black framed parallel from my want list.

2009 Topps Mayo Pack Break

There were 6 cards in this retail pack, but somehow only 5 managed to get scanned. The card that is missing belongs to Mr. Albert Haynesworth. Here are the rest. This is the only pack of Mayo I've opened so far this year, and I've got to say it's really, really, really, really good looking. While there were no Ravens to be found, there were 2 cards in here that I was definitely on the lookout for.

Off to a good start. I've got Beanie on one of my fantasy teams, and think he should be a solid NFL back in the future.

How 90's is that hat? It's so 90's there's a 60% chance it was made by Starter.

Another nice rookie card. I had Harvin on one of my teams this year, but traded him in a deal that netted me Randy Moss.

Sweet! Let's check out the back.

Back to back! Best. Pack. Ever.

Topps Mayo is once again a nice looking football set, much like last year, and in my opinion absolutely matches up to the quality that Allen & Ginter's bring to baseball. Truly "retro" done right.

Enjoy the rest of your football Sunday everyone!

'08 Bowman Sterling Mini Box/Pack Break

A mini box IS a pack, and that my friends, is lame. I knew that going in, and it still didn't stop me from picking one up. I've always secretly wished I had the cash to be a high-end breaker, and every once in a while, that desire gets the better of me. A seller on eBay had a bunch of these mini boxes listed, with a starting bid of $20.00, and no one was bidding. Without thinking, I bid the minimum, and won the auction, which ended about 10 minutes later.

This is my first experience with any Sterling product, and honestly, since I'm not so much into prospecting, I'm kind of left wondering what people find so appealing about this product. The base cards are nice, sort of chromey, but they sure don't scan well, and it's not like these are cheap packs to rip. I wonder if that affects a products sales figures? With everyone getting their news and info via the web these days, does a release that doesn't scan well, and thus does not look good online, pay the ultimate price with decreased sales? I probably shouldn't be thinking anything so hard this early in the morning (6:15am).


Here's the wrapper:

See that guy right there on the front? Yeah, that's who we're looking for. Him, or one of those WBC patches that I keep seeing on the boards. Those things are nice!

And here is what I pulled:

Tom Hagan prospect base

Brett Gardner rookie base

Eww.

Quinton Miller prospect auto

Only 19, and looks like he may have some potential. A couple of years ago, he was the 52nd ranked prospect in the nation. Playing for a team like Pittsburgh, he'll probably get a shot to pitch in the bigs, since there should be no shortage of opportunities.

Seth Smith rookie auto

It could have been a lot worse than Seth Smith

Ryan Braun veteran refractor relic #'d /199

The only numbered card in the whole pack. At least it's a nice looking relic card, and I'm sure it will generate some trade interest from the Brew Crew fans out there in the great ether.

Well, that sure was fun. We won't really know how well I did for a few years, but I'm not holding my breath. One of the things that really irritates me is the use of sticker autos in high-end products. If you're going to spend more than $120 on a box, all cards should be hard signed. We're all going to be mighty pissed in 20 years when all we have are shiny or clear stickers to stare at, and are left reminisce about the beautiful signature that used to be there. Even if I'm wrong, and the signatures won't fade, and the stickers won't fall off, there's still something cheap and impersonal about having a signed sticker on your baseball card, even if it is "certified".

All cards for trade if you see something you like. If you happen to be a Rockies fan, I've got a bunch of cards to trade you. Where are all the Rockies fans anyway? They played in the World Series a couple of few years ago, so you'd figure SOMEONE would have jumped on the bandwagon, yet I've never met a single Rockies collector.

'09 Sweet Spot Hits

I broke down yesterday, and dropped way too much money on 4 packs of the spankin' new Upper Deck Sweet Spot. I have to admit, I came away feeling a bit empty, but that's mainly due to the fact that I didn't hit a Sweet Spot auto. What did I pull? Scroll down and see for yourself, silly!






All cards for trade, including Kung Fu Panda. Which is a beautiful card by the way, hard signed and not some crappy sticker auto. Props to Upper Deck for doing these Sweet beginnings autos right for a second year in a row. The jersey cards are a little on the dull side, and with the exception of Hamilton, the players I pulled are total duds. Sandoval definitely saved the day.

In my haste, I forgot to scan a base card. They're pretty nice looking. Very similar to last year's, which were also pretty nice. It's got the same embossed baseball, just oriented differently. The Panda should give you a pretty good idea of what they look like.

MNF Special - '09 Topps Chrome 2 Pack Break

For the second week in a row, I am stuck working the graveyard shift during Monday Night Football. While unfortunate, it doesn't mean that we can't still have a little card fun, right? Right!

While picking up cold medicine today (yeah, not only do I have to stay up all night, but I'm also sick), I also picked up 2 '09 Topps Chrome Football "fat" packs, with a live MNF pack break in mind. Why they call these things fat packs, I will never understand. 7 cards does not a fat pack make!

Pack 1 will be posted now, and pack 2 should be up around halftime. Unfortunately, because I am at work, I am also scannerless, so you'll just have to imagine what that Sanchez red refractor I pull actually looks like.

PACK 1:
#TC39 Chris Johnson
#TC30 Greg Jennings
#TC83 Larry Fitzgerald xfractor
#C71 Ted Ginn Jr. National Chicle insert
#TC73 Tony Gonzalez
#TC86 Patrick Willis
#TC96 Peyton Manning
Checklist 2 of 2

PACK 2:
#TC106 Brian Urlacher
#TC64 Willie Parker (boo Steelers!)
#TC160 Jeremy Maclin refractor
#C5 Tony Gonzalez National Chicle insert
#TC27 Wes Welker
#TC37 Clinton Portis
#TC48 Kevin Boss

2 packs, ZERO Ravens.

Pretty good game thus far. I'm hoping the Jets can pull this one out, but it's anyone's game at this point. Even though Rex Ryan left the Ravens to be the Jets head coach, I don't harbor any resentment, and wish him all the best. I think Braylon Edwards has caught more passes tonight than he did all of last season.

As usual, all cards for trade if you see something you're interested in.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...

This is officially post #250! Somehow that number was reached in less than 5 months.

So a beardy walks into a card shop with a 50 dollar bill and only gets 3 packs of cards, but walks out broke.

Which 3 packs did he get?


If you guessed 1 pack of 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection, 1 pack of 2009 Topps Chrome Football, and 1 pack of 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions, you would be correct.

You can't start out with the money shot, so I'll save Ballpark for the end. I will say that it was too expensive, and even though I pulled something sort of cool, there's no way a pack of that should be more than $25, which it most definitely was.

Let's start off with some football. This is honest to god the first pack of football cards I have ever purchased. Unfortunately for my wallet, I loved it and will probably be picking up more in the future. I picked up 1 pack of 2009 Topps Chrome and had dreams of pulling a card of any player who plays for the greatest team in all the land right now, my Baltimore Ravens.

#TC81 Joe Flacco

Well I'll be damned. The first card in the first pack of football cards i ever bought was Joe Flacco. This kid is the truth, and I'm so happy we finally have a franchise quarterback.

#TC25 Marques Colston

Another solid card, this time of one of Drew Brees' many reliable targets.

#C55 Dwayne Bowe National Chicle

This is a great card! Bowe is one of my favorite young recievers and is an absolute beast of a man. He was one of my rookie fantasy waiver pick-ups in fantasy football 2 years ago, and has been on my team ever since. If Bill Parcells has his "Bill Parcells guys", then Dwayne Bowe is a "Beardy guy".

#TC45 Brian Westbrook

I won't dare call him over-rated, but sometimes I think it. He seems to be injured quite often, but when he isn't, Brian Westbrook is capable of some big-time plays.

That was a pretty solid pack, as every player was at least of minor star status. The Flacco card being first was pretty special, and the Bowe insert was icing on the cake. Are you ready for some Goodwin?

This pack was purchased with the hope that at least 1 or 2 cards could be crossed off my want list. Mission accomplished.

#147 Crappy McPooperson

needed it


#61 Michael Beasley

needed it


#229 Chris Young mini (mini exclusive?)
needed it


#185 Josh Johnson
double

Still no bug, but at least I was able to get some cards I needed for the set out of this pack. That Young mini MIGHT be one of the "mini exclusives", which feature players who aren't in the base set. It might not be as well, I am too lazy to check the checklist.

Now for the big enchilada, the one pack of 2009 Ballpark Collection that I purchased. You're probably able to figure that this alone at up the majority of that $50 bill, which it most certainly did. I will say it was a fun rip, but putting that much money down on only one pack is not something I plan to do very often. Let's see how we did.

#30 Gary Sheffield base card
Seriously, why even bother with base cards in this set? Honestly? Who the hell is going to be building this set?


#127 Chone Figgins/Yunel Escobar "Emerging Stars" dual swatch

#224 Ohlendorf/Carmona/Johnson/Albaladejo "Emerging Stars" quad swatch
ummm... are any of these guys even decent? Johnson maybe?

now for the big "hit"...

#354 Sizemore/Mauer/Cabrera/Dye on the front....
Martinez/Cuddyer/Verlander/Swisher on the back!
This card was pulled from the pack already inside a penny sleeve, and the COA/legal jargon crap had to be on a second card, since this one is pretty crowded. While it's a nice card, do we really need 8 swatches on 1 card?


UD 20th Anniv. #2282 Tony Blair
This was the last card in my pack. When you're only getting 5 cards to begin with, in a pack this expensive, one of those cards SHOULD NOT be one of these lame inserts. LAME UPPER DECK, just LAME! This one isn't even of an athlete. I don't want cards of sissies with funny accents, but that's exactly what i got.

Overall, this trip to the card shop was quite fun, as it pretty much always is. This was the first time I'd ever ripped anything football, as well as my first Ballpark Collection experience. Both were pretty positive, although Ballpark Collection definitely isn't a perfect product. There are a lot of lousy swatches of lousy players, which shouldn't be the case when you're paying a premium product price.

If you see something you like, don't hesitate to ask. All cards except the Flacco are for trade.

Whole Lotta Chro(me)

Stopped by the LCS on Monday, and picked up 2 packs each of Topps & Bowman Chrome. As luck would have it, I managed to pull a hit from each brand.

We'll start with Topps Chrome. By now, everyone knows what to expect here; 4 cards per pack of chromey goodness, with some WBC inserts thrown in for good measure.

Pack 1:

#16 David Ortiz

#184 Shairon Martis

#3 Dan Uggla refractor

there's some sort of funkiness on the bottom left corner of this card. It's below the surface, so it appears to be a "factory defect"

#37 Carlos Delgado

Pack 2:

#6 Phil Coke

#119 Hank Blalock

#237 George Kottaras autograph

why couldn't you have been Nolan Reimold?

#132 Derek Lowe

Finally got me a Topps Chrome auto... too bad it's of a Red Sox player. Still not too shabby for $6 worth of chrome packs.

Now, let's move along to the BoChro. These were the first 2 packs of this year's that I've opened, and I must say that I like it considerably more than the flagship Bowman release, or even this year's Topps Chrome release. I also picked up 2 packs, so let's see how I did:

Pack 1:

#BCW48 Dennis Neuman WBC

BCW50 Alfredo Despaigne WBC

#115 Jason Bay

#29 Russell Martin

Pack 2:

#BCP171 Bryan Shaw

#BCP180 Taylor Harbin

#BCP161 Mark Hallberg #04/50

I'd of rather pulled Mark Wahlberg.

#31 Rich Harden

Well that about does her. 4 packs of chrome, posted for your viewing pleasure. All cards are for trade, so if you're interested in something, don't hesitate to drop a comment.

On a side note, how come no one ever told me "My Name is Earl" is so damned funny? I hate it when i don't realize a show's brilliance until it's in syndication. It happened with Futurama, King of the Hill, and now My Name is Earl. At least it's on TBS every day now, so I won't have to wait a week between episodes.