2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's

I picked up a couple of packs from the card shop I go to for $4.50 each - I don't want to splurge too much on unopened breaks since I'm planning on getting a hand collated set of 2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's sooner than never.

Pack one

#256 Rickie Weeks

#170 Hanley Ramirez

#221 Salvador Perez

#159 Jose Altuve

#150 Reggie Jackson

#CAP-IN Inca - Civilizations of Ages Past insert

#26 Elvis Andrus - black bordered mini parallel

#326 Ruben Tejada - SP

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Hobby

I picked up this pack at the card show from two weekends ago. It came from the table of "Overpriced Wax Guy." I always feel a little bad, since he's at every show and all I do is look and run. As it turned out, he had a bunch of 2011 Topps singles I needed, so I added this old hobby pack to round out the lot.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
121 Fausto Carmona

82 Andy Sonnanstine
43 Buddy Carlyle
4 Justin Speier
281 Mark Buehrle
86 B.J. Upton
(Did you ever get a look at the back of this card? Everyone else's name on the back of their cards is written with colored print on top of a white drop shadow. On Upton's, the color starts to crap out at the period. I'll have to run a check to see if anyone else's is like that.)

203 Shane Youman
89 Josh Wilson (Future Brewer.)
11 Roy Oswalt
162 Mike Bacsik
84 Al Reyes
42 Chuck James

81 James Shields
159 Damion Easley
369 Jake Peavy (I've probably pulled this card eight times. and I've opened maybe seven packs.)
306 Jerry Blevins
387 Fred Lewis Season Highlights
324 Joe Koshansky
360 Eric Byrnes

OPC-ER Edgar Renteria O-Pee-Chee

Not an amazing pack, by any means, but still the best photography of any set since I've gotten back into the hobby.

2003 Donruss Hobby

So I picked up a pack of 2003 Donruss at the local Target [$1.59] - I was looking for 2009 Goudey, but there wasn't any and I found several 2003 Donruss packs in the loose repack box.

Pack #1
#83 Troy Percival



#43 P.J. Bevis



#10 Randy Johnson Diamond King subset - from what is listed in the pack, there is a version numbered to 2,500.
#2 of 20 Jim Palmer Donruss Anniversary 1983 insert



#111 Mark Buehrle - gives up a ton of hits because that is the type of pitcher that he is, but has been consistent innings eater, who works quickly and has won a lot of games [not to mention throw a no-hitter and win a World Series].
#130 Wendell McGee



#119 Jim Thome
#190 Kazuhiro Sasaki
#254 Juan Cruz
#235 Byun-Hyun Kim
#268 Ryan Dempster
#365 Kevin Young - I remember him tossing me a ball once coming in from batting practice either in 1996 or 1999.
#385 Reggie Sanders

2008 Upper Deck Documentary

I recently won a contest over at A Cardboard Problem. My prize? A hobby pack of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary. Can I find something worthwhile in this pack? Will it be a complete dud? Will I find a game involving the White Sox? We shall see.

I love the idea behind Upper Deck Documentary. Showcasing each game played from each team’s perspective. Sounds very interesting… right? It could have been, if Upper Deck didn’t cut some corners here and there.

The first card out of the pack illustrates this perfectly.

2138/BAL78 – Orioles 11 – Cubs 4

Is that a home uniform on the Oriole? I would certainly appear that way. But that can’t be… they’re supposed to be playing at Wrigley.

On through the rest of the pack!

2407/LAA87 – Blue Jays 7 – Angels 5

2715/AZD95 – Diamondbacks 3 – Phillies 6

1006/DET36 – Red Sox 5 – Tigers 1

1045/LAD35 – Astros 7 – Dodgers 1

1035/KCR35 – Orioles 7 – Royals 4

1133/SFG33 – Giants 6 – Pirates 12

1123/SDP33 – Padres 3 – Braves 5

HRD-1 – Josh Hamilton

3234/NYM109 – Mets 3 – Astros 7

3231/MIN109 – Indians 1 – Twins 4

3228/MIL109 – Cubs 11 – Brewers 4

3269/WAS108 – Phillies 8 – Nationals 4

3266/TOR108 – Rays 3 – Blue Jays 2

447/LAD17 – Dodgers 1 – Braves 4 (Gold?)
What was it on the Cosby Show? You can have a steak cooked to perfection with all the trimmings, but if you serve it on the underside of a garbage can lid, you wouldn’t want to eat that steak. That’s how I feel about Upper Deck Documentary. All this cool information was gathered and printed on each card, only to be undermined by a photo that was unrelated to the game being documented.

2008 Upper Deck Football Masterpieces Hobby

I splurged last weekend and got a pack of Hobby Football Masterpieces. I spent too much and I probably would have been better off getting Heritage High Series or some Donruss Threads, but I crumbled in a moment of weakness. Didn't do too bad though, let's check it out on this Turkey Day full of terrible, terrible football. All the blowouts you can eat!

56 Kevin Smith

This is my third Kevin Smith card from this set. They are really promoting the hell out of Zach and Miri Make a Porno.

68 Peyton Manning

Got the guy on the wrapper, nifty.

58 Limas Sweed

I don't know who any of these rookies are. This guy sounds like the title character of a Dickens novel.

CC56 Ray Rice Captured on Canvas

Who? It's a pretty purple jersey swatch at least...

8 Brett Favre

Some old drama queen. At least the floating spectre of Vince Lombardi isn't haunting the card.

89 Wes Welker

Eh, another double.

Got a hit of someone I don't know who it is, so that's a good pack right? I did better on my baseball pack. Did I mention I got a baseball pack? Well I did. I might show it off sometime. Or, maybe I might just save it for myself. We'll see.

Prime Paks Hobby Edition

Today is going to be the biggest baseball day of my life thus far, and I woke up after a restless night with an idea that will increase the fun factor exponentially. Seeing as baseball is the most superstitious of all sports, I thought I'd play a little game with myself that would add the element of chance to an already decidedly arbitrary game. I beat myself up yesterday thinking that if Prince Fielder had hit a ball another two inches or so on June 15 of this year, the Brewers wouldn't be in this spot, plus the AL Central race would have a different makeup altogether.

On the weekly trip to Target, I found a Fairfield repack box that intrigued me greatly. This Prime Paks box boasts six hobby packs. I enjoy opening stuff from a few years ago, so I thought "Why not?" I'll be opening these before and during the Brewers/Cubs game today. I'll be on the lookout for Brewers, of course, which will earn me a certain number of points according to quality. Marlins cards will result in a lower number of points. Mets pulls will equate to massive negative points, and Cubs cards will just be destroyed. All other cards are neutral. A positive score foretells a Brewer playoff appearance, or at the very least a Monday teaser. An overall negative result means the Brewers add to their MLB-longest playoff absence streak. (And, no, I do not take into consideration the Expos/Nationals franchise. The suffering for folowers of either of these autonomous teams has not nearly matched that of Milwaukee fans.) Sure, it's no Cup of Jamshid, but it'll have to do.

First of all, let's see what packs I get to open.

Not too bad, although the 2003 Flair is reaching back a little too far in time. I think I'll begin with the 2006 Sweet Spot.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
54 Chad Cordero
12 Orlando Hudson

84 Matt Holliday
64 Bobby Abreu

22 David Eckstein

Score: Neutral
Grade: F
I've seen piles of material that have been covered with sawdust by school janitors that looked better than this. I hope these packs get better soon. You can follow all of these hobby rips throughout the afternoon over at Thorzul Will Rule.

2007 UD Goudey Hobby Pack

As I was driving around Texarkana, looking for one of the school sites I was supposed to be visiting in order to install computers for the 3-5 year old kiddos, I buzzed past "Excalibur" comics, sportscards, collectibles... I made a mental note to go back after I was finished with the job.

He had a gazillion "Magic: The Gathering" cards and a ton of comics. I asked about baseball cards, and he looked at me like I was from another planet, telling me that, basically, the hobby was dying (not in so many words). I looked over the handful (literally almost) of cards he had in a case tucked back around a corner, saw nothing of interest, and looked over the small selection of hobby boxes he had open for display.

For $6.95, I bought a pack of 2007 Goudey Hobby cards. I don't know what I expected, but I guess it's not a bad pack....


Maddux (Padres - Green), Renteria (Braves - Green), and Delmon Young (Rays - Green)


Lou Brock! (Cardinals - Green), Maddux (Padres - Red), Renteria (Braves - Red)


Thomas (Blue Jays - Red) and Gary Matthews (Angels - Red)

Obviously, pulling the Brock was the card of the pack. If I collected Maddux, Renteria, Braves, or Padres, I would have had a nice hit with this one. I have no idea what the difference between the hobby packs and the retail packs are, so I can't really say if I got a "good deal" or not. That is a very subjective (and, judging by some blog posts out there - touchy) thing.

(edit: I have corrected the year of the pack. It was previously listed as 2008, incorrectly.)

2006 Topps Hobby Edition - Feeding the habit

I am in San Antonio this week, and I just had to feed my habit. I searched online and found a card shop near my hotel. Or thought I had. Turns out the shop was no longer there, but inside the Riverwalk Mall (or whatever its called), I found a sports shop that had packs for sale. I rifled through the offerings and decided to buy a 2006 Hobby edition pack of cards. I did find another shop with packs in the mall, so I may be feeding my habit again soon.


This pack contains the following cards:
Todd Jones (Tigers) - "The Tigers are Todd's 7th team in the last six seasons."
Derrick Turnbow (Brewers) - "Derrick threw an NL-High 40% of his pitches at 95-mph-plus."
Brady Clark (Brewers) - "Brady topped the 2005 Brewers with 94 runs scored."
Orlando Hernandez (D-Backs) - "'El Duque' is known for his unconventional win-up."
Dodgers Team Card
Eddie Guardado (Mariners) - Eddie bested 40 saves in 2002 and 2003 for the Twins."
Scot Shields (Angels) - "Scot's 197 IP over the last two seasons is tops among MLB relievers."
Andy Sisco (Royals) - "Andy is the tallest player in Kansas City Royals history." (Really, that's all they could come up with??)
Buddy Bell (Royals) - "Buddy ranks fourth all time in assists (4,925) by a 3B."
Checklist - Lists nearly every Mickey Mantle card, plus Walmart cards, Opening Day Relics, and OD Inserts.
Roberto Hernandez (Pirates) - "Roberto has now completed 20 seasons in pro baseball."

It feels good to be able to feed the habit, even if there was only about a day's worth of missing a pack......