2013 Topps Opening Day

Opening this pack, I realized that you can give any player a nickname with little to no thought. Just take the start of their first name, add the beginning of their last name, throw a hyphen in there, and PRESTO! Instant nickname! Let's see how this works.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
198 Ryan Howard (Ry-Ho. Futuristic, would fit in well with the Voltron crew or the Thundercats.)

155 Brandon Crawford (Bra-Craw. Kind of Neanderthal, maybe a little too Broseph-y, but it has potential.)

22 Felix Hernandez (Fēl-Her. Suggestive, a little TOO suggestive.)

BF-18 Darwin Barney Ballpark Fun (Dar-Bar. A new desert available at Dairy Queen in limited test markets.)

183 Fernando Rodney (Fer-Rod. Too many -Rod nicknames as it is, plus no one wants to think about a furry shaft.)

212 Pablo Sandoval (Nope, already has quite the nickname.)

81 Miguel Cabrera (Mig-Ca... oh,forget it.)

Never mind, bad idea, it only works out like 10% of the time.
Gotta say I like these cards, though. Although Topps probably heard how much we liked it when their OD product is designed without the foil player names, then decided on difficult-to-read light gray. Why do we even bother?

Repack Resurrection: 2007 Topps Opening Day

This is the pack I was least excited to find in the repack thingy. I liked this set enough to collect the whole thing along with all of the inserts, so unless something amazing emerges, there is literally nothing new I can get from this pack.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
217 Andre Ethier
146 Alex Rios
6 Adrian Gonzalez
31 Chad Tracy
25 Chipper Jones
136 Chris Capuano

What a miserable pack of junk.

Repack Resurrection: 2008 Topps Opening Day

Here's the first of the non-visible packs from the repack pack, 2008 Topps Opening Day. Is it the most famously red design since 1990 Donruss? We'll let history be the judge.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:

220 Nyjer Morgan
"Tony Plush" is now a Brewer. A hurt Brewer. I guess he has more of a chance to use his gentleman's name at the Water Street bars.

3 Jeff Suppan
Pictured as a Brewer, but a Brewer no more.

133 Carlos Delgado
No connection to the Brewers whatsoever.

83 J.J. Hardy
Brewer. Then, not now.

194 Troy Tulowitzki
Finished a close second to Brewer Ryan Braun in the 200l NL Rookie of the Year voting.

146 Fausto Carmona
Again, no Brewer connection.

All in all, I have to say I liked it. This pack has aged well.

2008 Topps Opening Day

Keeping this blog alive with another freebie insert I got with a trade. Can't complain about the star content of this pack. Gold foil lettering scans as black. These are very red....

Wrapped in this...

First up, Mr. No-Hitter...


Then Dice K. The red works OK for this one...

Next up, Johan Santana. Three horizontals in a row!..


Now Michael Young. He seems to be the guy I get in every couple packs...


Home town hero Brian Roberts...


And last, former Yankee, now Angel watching from home, Bobby Abreu...


Not a bad lineup even if this set is just the big names. They could package M&Ms on the team letters, like poke through pill packaging.

These are still very red....

2007 Topps Opening Day

Can you go wrong with two-year old gum? It's even still in the wrapper. Surely gum has a longer shelf life than a couple years, right? The gum lost some of its flexibility, as it bent one direction, but when I tried to straighten it back out, I broke it. It certainly has that powdery sugar coating on it. The small piece I broke off and popped in my mouth crumbled as I tried to chew it. It's a lot like eating a Razzle - with about the same flavor. What didn't disintegrate in my mouth actually formed a small bit of chewable gum with very little flavor. I spit it out. Well, I suppose I could get some cards for my good grades. If only I had a participating location near me. Better yet, if I had ANY location near me...


Adam Lind (Blue Jays), Adrian Beltre (Mariners), Bernie Brewer (umm, I'll let you guess which team)


Drew Anderson (Brewers), Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), and Checklist card. Wow, the whole set, including inserts, fits on one card. That is some seriously small font sizing we got there, Tex.

Royal Rumble 2009 CONTEST: Gettin' Out the Repack

I thought it might be time for me to come in from the bullpen to relieve dayf and timrooks, who are both kicking ass on this blog as of late. Since I'm pretty sparse with my posts here, I thought we'd have a fun contest today. If you're a wrestling geek like I am (anybody? *crickets*) you should know that tonight WWE (formerly WWF) will hold their annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The Royal Rumble match is my favorite gimmick match in wrestling. It's a 30-man battle royal, where you have to throw your opponents over the top rope to the floor to eliminate them from the match. Last man standing wins. But the twist is this: the match starts with just two men in the ring, and another wrestler enters every two minutes afterward until all thirty men have entered. It allows for some creative scenarios to unfold instead of the usual horrendous clusterfrick that occurs when thirty large, muscly men are all trying to fight at the same time. Plus, you get the anticipation of counting down from ten seconds every two minutes...the buzzer sounds...and someone else's theme music hits. Who will it be this time?

Anyhoodle, here's what I'm going to do. I bought a 10-pack repack box from Sports Authority last weekend, and I've grabbed five packs that total 30 cards:

-2006 Topps Opening Day (7)
-2006 Fleer Ultra (5)
-2006 Topps Series 2 (6)
-2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition (5, with one disqualification bringing it to 4)
-2006 Upper Deck Series 1 (8)

I'll number the cards in the order that they're pulled and ask you to choose a number from 1 to 30 and leave your number in the comments to this post. Each number can only be chosen once. I'll cut this off at 9:30 PM EST, which is roughly the time that the Rumble match should start. Your number corresponds to the wrestler that enters the Rumble at that numbered slot. If your guy wins the match, you get a prize! The prize will be an assortment of cards from the team of your choice. Pick wisely...

P.S. I'm running late with this, so scans will come later.

2006 Topps Opening Day

1. Barry Zito - The $126 Million Dollar Man will have a tough road to victory today!
2. Alex Rodriguez - Uh-oh, it's the villainous A-Fraud!
3. Jason Bay - Hailing from British Columbia, it's the Canadian Clubber!
4. Danny Sandoval RC - 31 major league games in an 11-year pro career? Your wrestling gimmick is Mr. Coffee, as in cup of.
5. Nomar Garciaparra - Who needs a wrestling name when your birth name is NOMAAAAAHH?
6. Tadahito Iguchi Rookie Cup - Watch out for the mysterious green mist sprayed by the devious Iguchi.
7. David Ortiz (front)/Dontrelle Willis (back) Funny Photos - How appropriate! Big Papi has clamped a bear hug on Rafael Furcal. There is no escape!

2006 Fleer Ultra

8. Shannon Stewart - I forgot that he played for the Twins. I hereby dub thee "Twinkie".
9. Jake Peavy - Also known as "Ace", a nickname he can borrow from 1980s mainstay Bob Orton.
10. Julio Lugo - Um...Lex Lugo?
11. Robinson Cano Rising Stars - Switch it to Kano and he can go with a Mortal Kombat gimmick.

12. Brad Radke Gold Medallion - He was just elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, so we'll go with Goldenarm.

2006 Topps Series 2

13. Jason Lane - I guess he'd take to the ring with a hockey mask and machete.
14. Jason Vargas - Jason and Jason? Sounds like a tag team.
15. Moises Alou - Would be the Hitman, the second-generation star from the great Alou family.
16. Jon Lieber - Translating his last name from German, he will wrestle as "Loverboy".
17. Chris Young - At 6'10", he is the Tower of Doom.
18. Jamie Moyer - Now 46 years old and still plugging away. Rip Van Vader.

2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition

19. Todd Helton - Went from Tennessee to Colorado. Rocky Top is a no-brainer nickname.
DQ. Nomar Garciaparra - You can't enter the Rumble twice! I started posting and realized that I'd forgotten to account for the extra Funny Photos card in the Opening Day pack. So Nomar must go, having already popped up in the first pack.
20. Jim Thome and Pat Burrell Hot Tandems - I normally wouldn't permit a tag team to enter as one, but the Philadelphia Phantoms can be very persuasive. E-C-Dub!

21. Carlos Delgado - El Hombre.
22. Lyle Overbay - Hails from Washington state, just like Ted Bundy and Green River killer Gary Ridgway. I'm thinking of a serial killer gimmick: Lyle Wayne Overbay.
(Leave it to Fleer to put "draft" and "prospects" in the name of a product, and then give me a pack that has neither of the above.)

2006 Upper Deck Series 1

23. Luke Scott - LUUUUKKKKEEE! He is a proud gun owner. I say Cool Hand Luke.
24. Jason Marquis - Snooty Frenchman Marquis de Jason? Oui!
25. Brian Lawrence - Attended Northwestern State University of Louisiana, whose mascot is the Demon. His nickname is self-evident. Just don't confuse him with the KISS Demon, played by Jeff Torborg's son Dale.
26. Carlos Zambrano - The hotheaded Big Z is a force to be reckoned with.
27. Aaron Rowand - A dark horse in this match could be scrappy cruiserweight "Crash" Rowand!
28. Kirk Saarloos - The Sar-loose Cannon?
29. Bob Gibson Diamond Debut - WOW! A surprise entrant at #29! Hit the deck, it's Hoot the Headhunter!

30. Robert Fick - Sure, he used to be a valuable and versatile hitter, but I look at him and see "Third Bushwacker".

Wow, I have wayyy too much time on my hands. Tell you what...If you're especially curious and impatient, I'll live-blog the Rumble match on my Orioles blog. Updates should start some time around 10 PM. Now get those guesses in, you pencil-neck geeks!

2004 Topps Opening Day

I honestly have no idea where I got this pack. I am pretty sure it was in a repack box of some sort, but for some reason I hung onto it instead of sorting it into my collection. There's not much here. Opening Day cards really only work in theory (it would be nice if the cards had different photos from the base design) and also only if the design variation looks decent. I think this year's red look is okay and the white look from 2007 wasn't terrible (though, don't get me started on the mascots.) This, however, was not a good idea. Even the pack wrapper is hideous. Theres one reason I chose to post the pack, which you'll find out below.

Let's see if I pulled a "Hot Young MLB Star" like Jerome Williams:

23 - Steve Finley (The miniature outline of the player in the lower left corner is incredibly silly. This came from the regular 2004 design, of course.)
78 - Angel Berroa (A Rookie Cup guy.)
9 - Kevin Millar (I guess you'd have to like Boston to appreciate this guy.)

60 - Greg Maddux (Here's a guy we can all appreciate. This is a great photo of Maddux in a throwback Braves uniform. I'm not a Braves fan by any stretch of the imagination, but it's hard not to like this card, although I'm sure the regular set uses the same photo and looks better.)

On the back, we learn that Maddux threw a shutout in 12 consecutive seasons. Will anyone ever do that again? That's amazingly consistent work. Maddux is set to announce his retirement on Monday, in case any of you slept through the entire weekend, Friday inclusive.

12 - Jay Payton
63 - Alex Gonzalez (Yeah, there were two more cards left in this pack, but none worth talking about.)

2007 Topps Opening Day

My son recently spent a few days with his great-Aunt. During his stay, she bought him a 'snack pack' that had some peanuts, crackers, Cracker Jacks, and baseball cards in it. After he ate the snacks and opened the pack, he decided to give me the cards since he has not quite developed my habit (despite my best efforts!). The cards in the pack were actually not too bad at all....


First up, we have Robinson Cano (Yankees), Tom Gordon (Phillies), AJ Burnett (Blue Jays), and Brandon Webb (D-Backs)

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Next we have Julio Lugo (Red Sox), Glen Perkins (Twins), Randy Johnson (D-Backs), and Jim Thome (White Sox). Thome and Johnson in the same pack - NICE!

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Finally, we have Ian Kinsler (Rangers), Jason Giambi (Yankees), and Hideki Matsui (Yankees).

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Is it just me, or were there a lot of Yankees in that pack?? Overall, a very nice pack - especially since my teen-aged son took a moment to think of his old man.... Now, THAT'S guaranteed scarce! :-)

2007 Topps Opening Day

After starting the variety pack from Monday it's time to open up the next pack. Well all know that Topps' Opening Day series is a way for them to squeeze those extra bucks out of the hardcore collector. The first difference you notice between the original series and the OD series is the cards of the OG are black and the OD are white. On to the contents (as always, from top to bottom).

14 Mike Lowell
24 Nick Markakis (AS Rookie) I absolutely love this card. I am one of the biggest Orioles fans out there.
213 Lou Seal (Giants' Mascot)





















19 Matt Holliday
46 Derek Jeter
OD Puzzle 9 (From looking at the complete picture on the back, it appears that I have Pujols' front foot and Webb's groin)

I would grade the pack a solid B. I'm not too familiar with the Opening Day series, so I'm sure the reason I got nothing but 2 World Series MVP (including the one for that respective season), the NL MVP of that respective season, a mascot and the face of a franchise turning things around into the right direction.

2006 Topps Opening Day

I got two of these packs in my box, so let's get the worthless things out of the way quickly so we can get to the good stuff.

Pack 1:
19 Scott Rolen
99 Miguel Tejada
91 Michael Young
405 David ortiz
106 Lyle Overbay
152 Robert Andino RC
Funny Photos 22 Ichiro and Johnny Damon

Ok so this pack was good. Ichiro + Big Papi = win. Rolen & Miggy ain't bad either. I still hate the blue foil.

Pack 2:
128 Luis Castillo
131 Dmitri Young
88 Rich Harden
113 Wily Mo Pena
133 Nick Swisher
94 Johan Santana
Funny Photos 20 Todd Helton and Khalil Greene

This pack not so much. For a pack that's only two years old, it's odd that 5 of 6 base cards are all players who are now on different teams. Rich Harden will make 6 of 6 as soon as the A's trade him for a bunch of Double-A prospects with high on base percentages. The SI Phunny Fotos card is awesome though as we get to see the moment right before Todd Helton gives his teammate a big wet sloppy kiss. The back of the card has Khalil Greene getting kicked in the head by a leaping Brave. The blank word balloon is meant to allow you to write in your own cation, but I think leaving it blank is a good way to express the concussion Khalil just got.

Leave your own captions in the comments and also pick what pack you want me to open tomorrow. Your choices:

a) '06 Topps Updates & Highlights
b) '05 UD MVP
c) no more junk wax - '08 UD series 2
d) surprise me

$10 Wal-Mart Legends Re-Wrap: 2006 Topps Opening Day

Topps Opening Day is the Wild Irish Rose of baseball cards. Whereas "Wild I" is a cheap, stripped down, imitation of actual wine; Opening Day is a cheap, stripped down, imitation of an actual baseball card set. Nonetheless, packs of Opening Day are standard for these re-wraps, and it comes as no surprise that two packs of the '06 edition were found in this one.

As you'll recall, the design of 2006 Opening Day is recycled from the real Topps baseball set, only with cyan-colored foil stamping. The base set was 165 cards, and each pack contained one of 25 SI For Kids inserts.

Pack #1

Base:
David Wright
Garret Anderson
Shawn Green
Eric Gagne
Mark Mulder
Anderson Hernandez

Insert:
SI Funny Photos: Nick and Randy Johnson (one-per-pack)

Pack #2

Base:
Jhonny Peralta
Carl Crawford
Chone Figgins
Greg Maddux
Ichiro
Jason Botts (RC)

Insert:
SI Funny Photos: ManRam and Ronnie Belliard

2008 Topps Opening Day

Let's see if I can get this post in before the thunderstorm knocks out the lights. If I can't it's no great loss. This stuff sucks, folks. Not that Opening Day was ever any great shakes to begin with, but this is... uh... well, see for yourself.

118 Brandon Phillips
24 Erik Bedard
22 white Orlando Cabrera #1917/2199
17 Yovani Gallardo
10 Miguel Cabrera
40 Josh Beckett
If the cards looked like the pack I'd have no problem. Unfortunately they card don't look like the pack. The cards look like the inside of an abattoir. Red. Red red red red red. With gold stamping, which looks like crap next to all the red. The one per pack white cards don't look much better. Without the circle motif, they look like an inferior knockoff of 2004 Topps. They also make the base cards look worse by comparison. After you see a white bordered card all the red borders look like someone colored on the cards with a red sharpie. It's so dreadfully boring too, just red red red red red red red. Give half the set blue borders and all of a sudden it's interesting. Make the tops red and the bottoms blue like the '75 Topps set and the stuff would actually look good. This? Mailed in, contractual obligation drek. This is what I imagine the development meetings for this set sounded like:

MLB sez we gotta have a dollar pack so it looks like we're marketing to the kids or else they'll yank our license. We'll take the base set, cut out a third of it and give it a colorful border. Kids like colors right? Let's use eye-bleaching red. Let's throw in a parallel so we sell 16% more packs to those dumb-ass set collectors. Har har! No color on the border though, we'll save on ink that way. Who cares if it looks like crap, the die hards will buy anything we throw out there as long as there's a press plate in every case and the little bastard kids are all buying Pokeyermon anyway. We better throw in tattoos in case anyone questions us though. They're really expensive, so only put in three per box. Kids don't want fun stuff anyway. Hell, we're giving 'em gum so whaddya want?

Topps got so lazy with this set they didn't even bother picking up the airbrush. Miguel Cabrera is magically a Marlin again. Note the "M" escaping the confines of its circle as well. M's and W's tend to wander in this set. Do me a favor and don't buy this stuff. We need to stop encouraging them to put out half-assed stuff like this when they kill off actual good sets like Topps Total and Bowman Heritage. Two packs of this is not worth a pack of Topps. Five packs of this is not worth a hobby pack of Upper Deck. 100 packs of this is not worth a pack of Sweet Spot. Hell, one pack of this is not even worth the pack of '92 Donruss or '89 Bowman in the dollar bin. Don't spend your money on lousy cards. Wait until Topps discontinues the brand and you can pick up a box online for about 10 bucks if you absolutely must collect this stuff. Do it for the good of the hobby.