I'm a big fan of the hobby store exclusive HTA jumbos that Topps releases every year. The main attraction to these boxes for me is that you usually get a complete set out of the box. In a day and age where most sets require the opening of multiple boxes and some sets are completely impossible to complete, it's a nice reminder of the old days when you can bust open just one box and have a complete set.
The extra benefit of the HTA jumbos are all of the extra insert cards that you pull out of the boxes. For example, each jumbo of 2009 Topps has a ToppsTown insert, Turkey Red insert, Ring of Honor insert, a Legend of the Game and a gold parallel card. On top of that, every other pack contains a "hit" of an autograph, memorabilia, manufactured patch or silk card just to name a few. 2009 Topps has some extremely nice "hits" for a base set. It's nice when you are buying a product to build a set and get some nice cards along the way. Usually you have to pay a lot more a pack to have a shot at some of the cards that are out there in 2009 Topps Series 1.
Here are the insert cards that I pulled out of my box:
LG3 - Christy Mathewson
LG4 - Ty Cobb
LG5 - Walter Johnson
LG11 - Lou Gehrig
LG13 - Jackie Robinson
LG17 - Ted Williams
LG19 - Bob Gibson
LG23 - Carl Yastrzemski
LG24 - Nolan Ryan
LG25 - Cal Ripken Jr.
I was happy that I pulled both Teddy Ballgame and Yaz since I'll hold on to those. I don't think that I'll be putting this insert set together so the rest of the cards will be up for trade.
RH9 - Dwight Gooden
RH13 - Derek Jeter
RH15 - Don Zimmer
RH17 - Gary Sheffield
RH19 - Pedro Martinez
RH21 - Johnny Podres
RH23 - Mariano Rivera
RH27 - Kevin Mitchell
RH29 - Francisco Rodriguez
Too many current or former Yankees and not enough Red Sox. Seeing cards from the '86 Mets hurts. I don't think that I'll be putting this set together either so these cards will be up for trade as well.
TTT13 - Albert Pujols
TTT14 - CC Sabathia
TTT15 - Alfonso Soriano
TTT16 - Ichiro
TTT18 - Miguel Cabrera
Gold TTT19 - Carlos Quentin
Gold TTT20 - Lance Berkman
Gold TTT21 - Chipper Jones
Gold TTT22 - Tim Lincecum
Gold TTT23 - Josh Hamilton
This is a set that I will probably end up putting together. The ToppsTown cards are one per pack no matter what pack you buy so it should cost too much to finish the set. I don't have a webcam so I'm not interested in that functionality of the Topps Town website, but I have played some of the games and done some trading on the site when I can't sleep.
TR7 - Andre Ethier
TR8 - Ryan Ludwick
TR14 - Chase Utley
TR18 - Jose Lopez
TR23 - Garrett Atkins
TR25 - Alex Rodriguez
TR31 - Justin Upton
TR42 - Geovany Soto
TR43 - Torii Hunter
TR45 - Miguel Cabrera
I think that I'll put this set together as well. It is kind of large, but the Turkey Red cards are pretty easy to come by and shouldn't cost too much. It's a shame that there isn't going to be a Turkey Red set this year since these cards look better than any of the previous sets.
As far as my "hits" go, they were hit and miss. The Josh Bard black (24/58), Cameron Maybin bat, Steve Pearce auto and Greg Smith auto are probably worth less than a handful of the cards in the base set. My manufactured letter patch was the E of Ty Cobb's "GA Peach" which sold on eBay for $10. I'm just glad that I didn't get the double printed "A." ;) The best pull of the box was the Mike Mussina silk card numbered 30/50. That card also sold for $10 on eBay. I used some of that money to purchase a David Ortiz bat card from 2009 Topps since eBay seems to be flooded with them. You can't get them that cheaply in any card store here in Boston.
I'm a big fan of this year's Topps set. The design is much better than it had been the previous two years and the variations weren't cards that made you want to set all of your Topps cards on fire. The photography is great and on many cards it is complimented by the great card design. You can tell that Topps spent some time on getting these cards to look good. They didn't just come up with a design and then slap in any old picture.
I give 2009 Topps a B+ and my jumbo box a B- since I was 6 cards short of the set and my best "hit" was a Yankee.
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