A Pretty Great Repack Box

After I returned my bike, I planned to just get something cheap to break the fiddy dollar bill I got in return so I could re-deposit half of it.  My first four packs of 2015 Topps weren’t very good though, and the dupes were already starting to pile up.  So I bit the bullet and grabbed pretty much the only other thing of interest to me that Target had: a $20, 20-pack (plus bonus) repack box that was almost completely devoid of junkwax.

Here’s the breakdown:

One 1991 Score

Three 2012 Panini Triple Play

One 2013 Bowman Platinum

Three 2014 Topps Series One 8-card blaster packs

Two 2014 Topps Series One 12-card retail packs

Four 2014 Topps Heritage

One 2014 Topps Heritage Jumbo rack pack (20 cards)

One 2014 Gypsy Queen

Three 2014 Topps Series Two 12-card retail packs

One 2014 Allen & Ginter

Bonus Item- Three loose 2014 Topps MLB Chipz

It sounds like a pretty lame bonus, but it turned out to be significantly better than expected.  Take a looksie, won’t you?

Poker chips are a somehow apt metaphor for pack-bustin’..

Turns out that gold-bordered glow-in-the-dark Tulo is actually pretty rare and reasonably valuable.  A run through the very few sold listings had them going for $5-20 a pop (with Jeters in $50 range), depending on the player.  The only two gold borders up for the bidding at the time were a Travis d’Arnaud Gold/Glow-in-the-Dark and Jose Reyes Gold/Blue, which sold for $13.01 and the opening bid of $9.99, respectively.  So this seemingly silly, innocuous bonus item was probably the hit of the box.  But this little repack had more going for it than just the bonus.  Much more, as you will see below.

Every once in a while, the gamble pays off..

Hit #1!  Yeah, there’s more on the way.

Flagship inserts..

Seein’ red..

Great name, one of only three Cubs, Bonifacio is #’ed 1282/2014, and Keppinger is 228/2014..

Topps Series One proved much more interesting than Series Two even without the sweet Zack Wheeler relic.  Better inserts, and the Target Red parallels aren’t something I see much of, even if there weren’t any huge stars.  Cosart, JD, and the series dos Hoz aren’t too bad though, and everyone is at least pictured (Cosart became a Marlin at the trade deadline) on teams that should trade easy enough.

Princert, Altuve base mini, Cuddyer SP, Choice RC..

GQ was meh, as it usually is.  But I never buy it anymore, so it was nice to find a pack in there.  It’s a meh that tastes a whole lot better when it costs $1 than when it costs $3.

Alen Hanson Top Prospects, Gary Brown base, Richie Shaffer chrome..

Bowman Platinum is the shiny version flipside to GQ’s old-timey style pointlessness, but it has been fairly forthcoming with the marginal prospect autographs & such for me, especially in 2012.  I don’t buy at full price anymore either, but it also makes for decent repack filler.

Mercifully, the only junkwax..

 

1991 Score wasn’t terrible, as junkwax goes.  A RC of a solid player who had nice, lengthy career that included a couple monster seasons and a stint with the Cubs & a couple late career Hall-of-Famers is the best you can really hope for in a pack like this.

Heritage base..

My resemblance to Holmberg is kinda uncanny..

The repack was heavily weighted towards Heritage, which is another product I’d never normally buy on its own, but am quite happy to get in numbers in a repack.  Despite my snarking to liven up the uneventful rack pack in my first post in ages over at APtbNL, that’s probably what ultimately made me decide to keep the repack while I was wandering around Target desperately trying to find something cheaper.  The McCutchen is fantastic.

Heritage inserts/SPs/parallels..

Outside of the red Yadi (my only complaint about this box is all the damn Cardinals inserts!), there wasn’t really anything all that special in there.  Just low level inserts & a trio of highly trade-able SPs.  I’d already pulled my hits before I got to them though, so it’s cool.

From the rack pack..

Quite possibly my only keeper from the entire box came out of the rack pack, so that helped too.

Captain Marvel Jr. insert and Giancarlo base mini..

Finally, main event time.  Allen & Ginter is consistently the best, most fun product Topps puts out every year (though 2014 had some legit competition for once, in the form of Finest and Stadium Club).  I’ve pulled a few hits & some rarer minis & other such nonsense (sea monkey card, flower card, World’s Biggest Mini SP) over the years, but the following, while not all that extraordinary, might still be my best pull to date.  Easily top-3.  Feast your eyes…

Kipnis Everdeen..

This Jason Kipnis is the first auto I’ve pulled out of retail in seven years of buying Allen & Ginter packs & blasters, and it is a beaut.  The funny thing about this outstanding repack box is that I had just started carrying that Prosperity Bean TJ sent in my Nerd Week prize pack that very morning.  Maybe it’s legit, maybe I’m just a superstitious and cowardly lot, I dunno.  I’m mostly just happy to have pulled some nice stuff out of a repack after the disaster that was January’s Greatest Chase repack/turd.

Anyway, that pretty much wraps up this post.  Let me know if anything strikes your fancy, and thanks for stopping by.

Back to the COMC Order

Heyo.  More keeper goodness for the pleasure of visual stimulation today on the show while I continue making trade offers on the Diamond Giveaway site in the background.  Still about 180 cards to move to get me down to 40 that I want, but that’s another post.  We were on baseball, yes?  Well then, to the scans!

YOU try scanning warp-assed chrome cards straight. EX-ARod sample, and an early American Ichiro, from Cardboard Icons' COMC, no less..

I require a sample..

$1 well spent. 🙂

Big Dave. I dunno why, but it amuses me greatly how much he absolutely dwarfs everyone else whenever he's playing analyst..

My inner-WBC wonk got the best of me. That's my first ever quad jersey though. It's niiiice..

Classic SPx, scanned spectacularly..

A crazypants Vlad insert, an early '80s oddball, and a Nomah #'ed /173..

Ol' Rock is plastic like a credit card. This is the back..

And here's the Vlad & Nomah backs. Vlad was also from Cardboard Icons..

Always hate on manu-relics until you have one in-hand. This is freakin' suh-weet..

GQ Papi jerseys..

Starting to think breaking the scans down before I posted was a really dumb and definitively time-consuming idea.  I mean, it probably makes for better viewing and reading this way, and it’s easier if you need to download or link to a particular card, but man does it take forever.  So let’s just get to the end of the (not Cubs) baseball keepers already.  I’ll give my Cubs and Bears a post of their own next.  Moving on down the line, we veer off course and take a side trip to funky(card)town.

The On-Deck Circle swatch featuring borderline Hall of Famer Carlos Delgado..

The swatch feels plastic and rubbery at the same time.  If the crazypants of the swatch isn’t enough for you though, it gets a little weirder still when we turn it over.

Foilboard shine on the back, but not the front... Cuz why not?

Foilboard doesn’t exactly work in scans, but you can tell it’s different than the front.  I dunno, it’s hella strange, but I likes it.  It’s unique, that’s for sure.  And it has rhyme and/or reason to it at least.  Who doesn’t love All-Star-related cards and swatches (besides roughly half of you)?  Can’t say the same for this next (and mercifully final) one though.

I... What? What is this, I don't even..

But... but why?

I don’t understand the point of this card at all.  Not complaining though, I must admit I enjoy the quirky weirdness of it all.  I’d be delighted if some could explain what the meaning of this is.  Blue archer needs background info badly.

And that is hopefully it for this one.  If I missed anything, I’ll throw it in with the Cubs and Bears next time, unless I decide to post up something else tomorrow.  I do have a couple other directions I could go if I feel like it.

Till then, mi amigos…

That Old COMC Order…

Better get these posted up, since my ginormo 123 card order got here a few days ago and will be scanned soon.  Plus there’s another good-sized order I’ll be having shipped before Christmas!  I’ll see about getting the trade bait added onto it’s proper page after I finish (this could mean tomorrow or 2018, I don’t know).

In other news, I have at least three packages going out over the weekend as well, possibly more.  Now then, onto the pretty pretty card pictures.  Huzzah!

Iconic minis, Agent Zero, Japanese stickers, a set completing starlet, and some numbered Cats..

None of these are for trade.  The Kenn/Cat is a red parallel #’ed /50, the Fusion is to /150.  The 1980-81 style Arenas is part of a booklety-type thing, except his was missing.  I have a Chris Paul that’s all together though, so I’ll go into more detail whenever I get CP3 scanned and posted.  The COMC pics don’t adequately describe it.  Kosuke and Tuffy aren’t too exciting to look at, but I didn’t even know there were stickers like that made in Japan.  Finally, Selma Blair completes my PopCardz relic set, but that too is another post for another time.

A tire swatch, a shiny Vlad, a super thick and transparent (and I guess die-cut) 'Twoine, The Sarge, Vitters, a great player with a lame patch, Gale Sayers, and a '60 high number..

Only The Sarge is for trade.  Ed is my second ’60 high number, which is pretty good considering I’m just barely into double digits overall.  I say maybe die-cut on Antoine Walker because the five tiny squares at the bottom and the three near the top are holes that go clear through the card, which is patch card thick.  Love that tire swatch; trying to at least one of every single type of relic card in existence.  The Vlad is from the golden age of shiny cards.  In fact it doesn’t so much shine as glow.  It’s a lost art.  Topps just doesn’t have it, and every attempt I’ve seen Panini make at shiny is downright atrocious.  Papi’s patch really is lame.  It’s hard to say for sure that it’s even a patch.  Vitters only set me back about $.75, if I recall correctly.  And Gale Sayers… well, it’s GALE SAYERS, what more need be said?

Horford & some guy, a couple swatches of maybe the most underrated player ever, old school Wiz Rip, Brook & some guys, a giant floor swatch, Gallinari, and J-Rich

All of these are for trade.  I think the theme here is underrated.  If you keep offering up any of these guys for as little as this, I suppose I will feel compelled to take them every time.  There’s just a certain price point for some guys.  The Hawks are probably all going to Dayf unless someone else wants to make an offer on them.  I’ve got a mess of stuff for him already, so if he doesn’t come over and outright demand them, it’s probably not a big deal.  Anyway, have at thee.

An unfortunate necessity, Maury, BJ, Pettitte is already claimed, I think V-Mart is too, Carlos Lee in his days on the South Side, Buchholz (was he claimed too?), Atkins on the Rocks..

Have at these too.  They are all for trade, or were.  Pettitte was claimed by zee Dimwit, I think Baseball Dad got V-Mart, and I want to say Buchholz was claimed too, but I don’t know for sure.  If you claimed it, speak up, otherwise I’m listening to offers again.  Cardinals, bleh.  But we Cubs fans need to have some around for our Missouriable rivals.  It’s a symbiotic thing.  Better to send ’em to someone who will inexplicably cherish them than make kindling out of them I guess.

The Marlins last hope get a fanbase, Iceman, Addai, a fellow headcase, Amar'e, Mr. Kardashian, and some card backs..

Reyes is bound for Wicked Ortega country, Amar’e was claimed by Plaschke ages ago, but the other four are available.  I despise all that the Kardashians stand for, but that Odom is just a good looking card.  It’s also hilarious.  Listed as a Laker, pictured with the Heat, and the back says the jersey swatch is from his time with the Clippers.  I’d like to believe the floor came from his high school, lol.  Does Vince Young still have fans or collectors?  Do the Colts?  Also, there’s the back of the Antoine Walker card.  Yup.

That’s it.  No more pretty pictures and even more incoherent than usual babble for tonight.  Feel free to stake your claim on any of the available cards you like.  And as always, thanks for stopping by. 🙂

*BAMF*

Diamond Giveaway Update

Since I haven’t mentioned in awhile and it’s all I’ve got handy, here is where I currently stand in the Diamond Giveaway.  I’ve managed to score several Diamond Die-Cuts via random vintage trading, and have finally landed a few keepers.  Behold, for I now have a screen grabber!

Vlad, via Carlos Santana..

Shin-Soo Choo, via Ricky Romero..

Big Papi, via David Price..

King Felix, via Roger Maris..

Aramis, via '66 Bolin, '75 Bumbry, '78 Pentz, Dierker, & McClure, '82 Cey, and '85 Ozzie Smith..

Not bad.  And if you’re wondering how I have 46 cards, I let go of the second Carlos Santana for 14 vintage cards because I was about out of trade bait.  A few of those netted me a Brian McCann Die-Cut which shortly thereafter landed me 31(!) more cards from 1973-1985, including several stars (one keeper- ’76 Dick Allen) and a Cub.

See?

I peaked at 52 cards, but seven of them landed Aramis over the weekend.  So despite all the randomness, there is a method to my madness, and these are the rest of the Diamond Die-Cuts I’m after:

Ernie Banks

Starlin Castro

Tyler Colvin

Dave Winfield

Ichiro Suzuki

Adrian Beltre

I also have a secondary list of players I’d like to pick up any of (for various reasons) if possible.  These would be my main priority from the secondary list:

Mark Buehrle (for my dad)

Carlos Santana (3rd time’s a charm, right?)

Hanley Ramirez (still flirting with the idea of collecting him on occasion)

Andrew McCutchen (ditto)

I’m not sure I have anything anyone wants, but if you’ve got any of the above on the site (or any others really, whatevs, I’m not too picky or in a hurry or anything) and want to swing a deal for my random, mostly ’70s nonsense, and if you can find me… maybe you can hire– Wait, ha.  I’m game.

So that was a pretty boring post, but at least I had some pictures this time right?  Right??  Anyway, next time, a “Look for Vintage” Fairfield pack that didn’t suck.

‘Til the crossroads…

The Lonestarr Personal Collection #6

I’m falling way behind on posting, because well, I am me.  Yeah… (Hit me with that shifty eyes emoticon!) >.> (Thank you!)

So here’s another time-buying quickie while I deal with several partially finished posts and documenting my ridiculously awesome RANDOM PACKS OF KINDNESS from David for future posting considerations.  Yes, they were so awesome I had to put them in caps and italics.

Maybe I’ll get around to tackling the seven or eight emails I need to send out before I go on to other stuff tonight.  Maybe.

And here’s today’s card from the PC:

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Generations Jim Rice/David Ortiz DUAL JERSEY

This beaut cost me all of 99¢+ shipping on eBay back in the day, and it just seems like right time to post it, with both guys getting headlines recently.

Congrats on FINALLY getting into the Hall of Fame, Jim Rice!  You have certainly earned it, sir.  I hope it was worth the wait.

And I still really like David Ortiz, PEDs or not.  Deal with it, haters.  Kthx. 😉

Life’s too short to hate… especially someone as likable as Big Papi.