Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Denouement: 2008 Topps Heritage Box Break, Part Six

Okay, I'd better finish this box break before dayf goes Incredible Hulk and starts smashing 2008 Topps Heritage displays in his local hobby shop. No worries, my next few packs after this will be of the non-2008 variety.

Pack 21
374 Baseball Thrills: Kenny Lofton breaks postseason steals record - The photo is recycled from 2008 Topps Series One. Sheez.
100 Jack Cust - Deadspin compared him to Rob Riggle, which I can kind of see.
163 Brad Ausmus
249 Jonathan Papelbon - His batting average against was .146 last year, which is unfair.
346 Daisuke Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett: Batter Bafflers - Say that five times fast.

363 Chris Duffy
180 Jorge Posada - Hip, hip, Jorge!
12 Curt Schilling black variation

Pack 22
184 Bronson Arroyo - He reportedly does a great cover of Pearl Jam's "Black", which is enough for me.
318 Jarrod Saltalamacchia - His last name is so long that the first and last letter are stitched on the front of the jersey.

110 Homer Bailey - His first name is actually "Homesworth". No it isn't.
219 Orlando Hudson - Back of the card calls him "O-Dog". Do we have a ruling: is it O-Dog or O-Dawg?
421 Jamie Moyer - Used to babysit Satchel Paige.
7 Joey Gathright
498 Josh Beckett All-Star SP - According to the card back, he "has owned" many thousands of baseball cards. "Has"? Where are they now?
301 Ronnie Belliard black variation

Pack 23
272 Aaron Harang - He's a San Diegan. The card back told me so.
1 Vladimir Guerrero - Vlad appears to be towering over the light standards.
48 Orioles Team Card - My second O's card of the box. Not a great ratio.
250 Felix Pie - I'm rooting hard for him, because no one deserves to endure this. Yow.
352 Carl Crawford - He and I share a birthday. We're joined by John Wasdin, though we don't often admit it.

383 John Maine and Willie Randolph: Words of Wisdom: I had box seats for Maine's ML debut, in which he was battered by the Twins. It's all in my new book, "Disappointing Memories".
BF8 Mickey Mantle Flashbacks: Mick's 11th Hour Heroics - A double. At least I didn't get another Antarctica card.
224 David Wright black variation

Pack 24
27 Greg Maddux - Another of the hallowed "all stats on the back" old-timers.
101 Carlos Ruiz - Won the "Rookie with the Most Chins" Award in the NL.
154 Bobby Abreu - His name was destined to be enunciated by Harry Kalas.
341 Vernon Wells - I will be strong. I will NOT draft him, no matter how weak my outfield may look.
396 Joe Blanton - I approve of the thickness of his goatee.
179 Austin Kearns
C67 Lance Berkman Chrome Refractor 343/559 - At least I think it is. What's the difference between Chrome and Refractor? It looks like a Chrome, but the serial numbering is lower.

267 Xavier Nady

Consider this hobby box broken, with...no relic or auto? Dudes, I got hosed. I've had some lousy luck with guaranteed pulls lately. Oh well, let's see how the box treated me otherwise:

Base cards (green backs): 156/500 31.2%
Black back variations (1:1): 24/110 21.8%
Short Prints (1:3): 7/75 9.3% (Okay, so they stiffed me on a short print as well. ARGH.)
Total base cards (black or green): 163/500 32.6%

Baseball Flashbacks (1:12): 2/10 20%
News Flashbacks (1:12): 2/10 20%
New Age Performers (1:12) 2/15 13.3%
Then & Now (1:12) 2/10 20%
Chrome Parallels (1:12) 3/100 Chrome (3%), 1/100 Refractor (1%)

Right, so my box was loaded up with Chrome, which I could give two figs about, and I got gypped out of an auto/relic and an SP. Well, crap. On the plus side, I get to do some trading to finish this set...in between a few pack and blaster buys, of course.

4 comments:

flem77 said...

Just got a hobby box of Topps Heritage 2008 from E-bay. Got 4 refractors from the box and a Yogi Berra ROA-YB autographed card. Granted the refractors were Todd Helton, Adam LaRoche, Grady Sizemore and Kelvin Escobar....but a Yogi Berra autograph. Holy snap!!!

ZarkonGT said...

I need to find something to trade you for that Berkman chrome :)

Mr. RedSox said...

If that was a Hobby Box you need to call Topps and tell them you got screwed. They will send you (a random) relic or auto. I did that with a 2007 Topps Finest Baseball. I didn't get my promised hit in a mini box. The sent me a Kevin Kouzmanoff autographed rookie. All I had to send them was proof of purchase. Topps is great when it comes to making collector's happy.

Kevin said...

Mr. Redsox - Thanks! I just might try that.