2008 Topps Chrome

I saw a blaster of 2008 Topps Chrome in WalMart. I was pretty sure I hadn't seen this before so I bought it. I guess its been out for awhile (there was a post here in early July) but its new to me. There were 28 cards total in the box.

Of the 28 cards, 16 were base cards. I got 2 Rookie Cards (Brian Bocock and Gregor Blanco), one Rated Rookie Gold Cup (Ryan Braun, not to bad). Nobody else really special, the best of the rest was Pedro Martinez. I'm not gonna show a scan since they look just like the 2008 Topps cards only with that extra special chrome shininess.

There were two refractor cards as well.
I got one Blue Refractor card. It's Brad Penny who was 16-4 with the Dodgers last year.I got two Xfractor cards. In addition to the Gallardo pictured, I also got Fernando Hernandez. I don't know anything about either of them so lets see what Baseball-Reference.com says. Gallardo was 9-5 with the Brewers last year but has only had 3 starts, with no record, so far this year. Hernandez has a win in relief this year, no MLB experience before 2008.
And isn't this nice, a copper refractor of Ryan Howard. It's the only Phillie in the box but its a good one. The card is #518 of 599.
There were two Trading Card History cards, this Pujols on a 1916 Zee Nut card and Ryan Braun on a 1960 Topps card. The Zee Nut is pretty much a mirror which shows up every little imperfection when it is scanned.

There were two Topps Chrome Heritage cards in the box. This was a surprise. There was Akinori Iwamura of the Rays, and Aaron Hill of the Jays. Reminds me of a comedy routine, "you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay...". The Hill card is also a refractor, numbered 91 of 559.

One checklist (which doesn't count as one of the 28 cards).

A Mickey Mantle Chrome Home Run History card. Are we tired of these yet? Also a Topps Chrome Mickey Mantle Story. I still like these.
There was a little special bonus pack with two of these Dick Perez cards. The one featuring Joba is also a refractor. The other was Miguel Cabrera. The checklist calls these cards "Wal-Mart Continuity Program". The Beckett catalog calls them "Topps Chrome Dick Perez". Beckett doesn't list a refractor version of these.

I'm pretty pleased with this box, although I'd have been happier with a few better base cards and perhaps an Astro or Phillie base card.

2007 Bowman Heritage Baseball

I feel like I need to get back on the Pack-A-Day Pony after a somewhat long absence. Thanks dayf for keeping her well fed. Sorry about those Bulldogs, though. For what it's worth, I hate Ohio St. LSU/GU would have been the much better matchup.

I remember the mantra of late-'80s/early-'90s pack buying was "Pick from the bottom." I tried that today with a couple of pack of 2007 Bowman Heritage at Target.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
18 Zach Duke
251 Joba Chamberlain ("Jabba" to those of us in the Midwest unsure of how to pronounce his name because we were too focused on Ryan Braun.)

205 Hector Gimenez Rainbow Parallel

BHP50 Luke Hochevar
BHP44 Chris Coghlan

214 Brian Stokes
12 Hank Blalock
148 Paul Konerko

Grade: B
The Joba will basically pay for this pack, should I decide to put him on eBay. The rest is just OK. The cards themselves look fine, nothing special aside from the backgrounds. The backs of the prospects cards have these two baseball at the top that look like they need to have a stat in them or something. What a waste.