2010 Heritage Box Break (Box 3 of 3)

This box wasn't the greatest box in the world but it was better than the others.

Mariano Rivera to close out the base cards

Short prints galore

A relic of a relevant player! And the Mets box topper.

Ruth '61 chase cards I didn't have.

Maris and Mantle inserts.

Finally, Dice! Unfortunately it's a Red Sox player. I think I know someone who would appreciate this card more than me.
That's it and that's all. I think I might be done buying boxes. Although, the price is on the rise.

My wantlist is posted on my blog and I should probably post all the doubles. If anyone is collecting the set let me know and I can help them out with base cards.

Topps 2010

14 Packs of Topps 2010 from Target

Not completely sold on the card design but they did a good job with the pictures. And I like the subsets and inserts I've seen so far. They're ahead of last year's set in that respect.

The Cards Your Mom Threw Out (my favorite insert set)

*NOTE* these are reprints and only the front of the card is reprinted, the card backs are not the original backs.

Topps Town

Turkey Red


Peak Performance (top)
Legendary Lineage (bottom)


Million Card Giveaway promotion (top)
When They Were Young (bottom)


History of the Game (left)
Tales of the Game (right)

Red Backs (top)
Topps Gold (bottom)

Something interesting I noticed on the Topps Gold back is the numbering

digi-numbering instead of the foil stamping

That's the new Topps product. Not bad for a first showing. But I'm more intrigued with what Upper Deck will come out with this year. I hope they do keep the logos on there and fight MLB and Topps.

Opening Day for 2009 Yankee Collecting

It's spring training and the start of the collecting season. As a player collector and set building you learn to pick your battles. I'm one card away from finishing my '09 Topps Series 1 set. And I've given into temptation and got 2 blasters of 2009 Upper Deck base. So I'll work on that set as well. And I know for sure I'll be working on Heritage this year.

But for those other sets I'll be looking around for some of my favorite Yankee players. And maybe jumping on the Teixeira bandwagon due to his Mattingly connection.

But I'm really excited that there will be a bunch of cards of Xavier Nady in a Yankee Uniform. I know 2008 Updates & Highlights, 2008 Documentary and 2008 Ultimate(?) had him in a Yankee uniform but there's nothing like pulling your favorite player from a good ol' fashioned regular set.

Also Phil Coke has made his mainstream debut in both Topps 2009 and Upper Deck 2009. I know he has an auto card in Spectrum which I hope to pick up when my eBay hiatus is over. I've seen his Heritage rookie card which looks great. I actually own a Jim Kaat rookie from the 1960 set and the rookie cards are similar in design except they have that ROOKIE CARD MLB logo in the middle of the ribbon as shown here. I'll have to dig into the 2009 checklists and see what sets he's in.

And my man Phil Hughes is a hobby regular in this year's sets. I have a feeling I'll be tracking down quite a few Phil Hughes cards this year. I've seen the 2009 Heritage Hughes card and I love it. I want it! I hope he somehow finds his way into the rotation this year. I'm really rooting for Hughes to do some great things in his major league career. Which is pretty unheard of for me. I'm used to sticking with players that are established and Phil Hughes is a pretty big gamble. The odds that he'll be traded within the next 3 years is probably extremely high given the state of the rotation at the moment. I held my breath this off season hoping to not see his name in the hot stove reports and I've been lucky. I don't know how I'd feel if he got traded.

I really like Upper Deck's Game Used Jersey insert for this year. The letters are a bit more exciting than putting a big square swatch or X shaped swatch (I'm talking to you Upper Deck X) in the middle of the card. And it's better than that stupid UD thing they had in 2008. I never liked that.

So in summation, if you find yourself with a bunch of Phil Hughes, Xavier Nady and Phil Coke cards that you don't really want. Just drop me a line and I'll see if we can work something out.

Oh yeah, if you have any of those YSL thingys hangin' around, I'm interested in them too.