Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Topps Chrome and Allen & Ginter

I made a trip to Target upon hearing about the new Office stuff that was showing up in the dollar section.  I figured that while I was there I would check out the sports card section and maybe I'd be lucky enough to stumble across an Allen & Ginter blaster box.  Luck wasn't with me, but I decided to grab one of the new Topps Chrome blaster boxes and 3 packs of A&G retail knowing full well that I had no shot at any memorabilia cards.

I'll start with the Allen & Ginter packs:


A&G Pack 1
:

Mark Teixeira

Ivan Rodriguez

Dan O'Brien (SP)

Eiffel Tower mini (Bazooka back 14/25 - 1:214 packs)

Roy Halladay

Chris Burke

Not a bad pack.  It's kind of a bummer that my Bazooka back ended up on the back of a monument and not a superstar, but it's still a nice pull.

Grade: A

 


A&G Pack 2
:

Lou Pinella

Caesar Augustus mini

Nick Markakis Perez Sketch Card

Tower Bridge

Elijah Dukes RC

Eleanor Roosevelt

Chris Capuano

This pack wasn't as good.  The Dukes RC is alright.

Grade: C-

 


A&G Pack 3
:

Ted Lilly

Roger Clemens SP

Road to 500 - 252 (1:24)

Russian Federation Flag mini (1:12)

Checklist two

Luis Castillo

Roy Oswalt

This pack had a couple of hits.  The weirdest thing is that the flag mini might end up being the best of them.

Grade: B

 


Chrome Pack 1:

Jon Garland

Zach McClellan RC

Brian McCann (Blue Border Refractor - 1:6)

Juan Lara RC

Not a bad pack.  Two rookies and a blue refractor.

Grade: C+

 


Chrome Pack 2:

Dice-K RC

Kei Igawa RC

Johan Santana Refractor

Josh Fields (RC)

This is an excellent pack.  Even though he's having a rough second half, I was hoping to pull the Dice-K card.  Santana is a nice pull for the refractor.

Grade: A+

 


Chrome Pack 3
:

Garret Anderson

David Ortiz

Jack Wilson (X-Factor Refractor - 1:3)

Brian Roberts

I'm a big Ortiz fan so pulling him is a plus.

Grade: B-

 


Chrome Pack 4:

Pat Burrell

Khalil Greene

Chien-Ming Wang Refractor

Jeremy Hermida

A mediocre pack made worse by the fact that the best card is that of a Yankee.

Grade: D

 


Chrome Pack 5:

Cole Hamels

Adrian Gonzalez

Carlos Delgado Refractor

Jonny Gomes

Blah.

Grade: C-

 


Chrome Pack 6:

Aramis Ramirez

Jose Contreras

Vernon Wells X-Fractor

Chris Capuano

This would be a very good day if I were a Capuano fan as I pulled his card in both sets.
Grade: B+

 


Chrome Pack 7:

Freddy Garcia

Kelvim Escobar

Hideki Matsui Blue Refractor

Brian Bannister

Matsui's not a bad pull for the refractor even if he is a Yankee.  :)

 
Grade: B-

Chrome Pack 8:

Hank Blalock

Albert Pujols Refractor

Mickey Mantle Home Run History #350 (1:24)

Jimmy Rollins

Not a bad way to finish up.  It's too bad that the A-Rod and Mantle cards aren't worth much at all because many collectors are sick of them and just want to dump them all and I don't know if there's much interest in them.

Grade: B

Monday, September 3, 2007

Let's give it a shot

Even though I haven't been doing a lot of active sports card collecting lately, I have been keeping up on the hobby through various blogs and websites.  One thing that I've been enjoying on various sites is box breaking entries.  I don't have the cash at the moment to break open a pack a day or a high-end product box every week, but I will write about what I do open as sporadically as I purchase it.  I also want to include other things in this blog such as stuff that I've sold on eBay and additions to my collection.  So, here we go with the first post on some retail wax that I purchased at Target.

 

 

 

2007 Topps Chrome Baseball

Ivan Rodriguez

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Scott Rolen

David DeJesus Refractor

Aaron Harang

 


2007 Topps Baseball Target Value Pack

Mike Rabelo (RC)

Carl Pavano

Ronny Paulino

Ted Lilly

Steve Trachsel

The Streak -JD11

.406 - TW21

Josh Phelps

Gerald Laird

Alex Gonzalez

Nelson Cruz

Alex Escobar

 


2007 Topps Baseball Target Blaster Box

Ted Williams pack

.406 - TW19

.406 - TW25

.406 - TW27

.406 - TW30

.406 - TW34

.406 - TW35

 


Interesting hits
- (There's too many cards not even worth mentioning to do them all.)

Trading Places - Wes Helms

Opening Day - Angels vs. Rangers

Hit Parade - Frank Thomas

The Streak - JD7

Generation Now - Hanley Ramirez

Roger Clemens

Mickey Mantle - MHR346

Hanley Ramirez

Generation Now - Nick Swisher

Terry Francona

Trading Places - Shea Hillenbrand

Hit Parade - Ken Griffey Jr.

Generation Now - Ryan Zimmerman

Distinguished Service - Joe DiMaggio

The Streak - JD39

Opening Day - Pirates vs. Astros

Mickey Mantle - MHR348

Devern Hansack (RC)

Josh Beckett

Mickey Mantle - MMS18

A-Rod - ARHR213

Generation Now - Hanley Ramirez

Coco Crisp

David Ortiz

Barry Bonds

Ken Griffey Jr.

Generation Now - Nick Swisher

Trading Places - Gary Sheffield

Hit Parade - Barry Bonds