2008 Timeline Box Break #2

I've come to really like the Timeline set. Although the short prints are a little over the top, the product is relatively inexpensive and features some nice designs. I was pleased with the hobby box I busted. I saw a lot of new faces that I hadn't seen before so that helps me get closer to completing the set.

Here we go...

A very determined Phil Hughes.

My favorite card of this set:

It reminds me of the elusive 1993 Derek Jeter SP rookie card. I wish they would resurrect this as a complete set in 2009 as a type of "Heritage" edition. The foiling technology today is far superior to that of 1993 and I think a full set of these would come out extremely sharp.

Gold Parallel cards - 5
20th Anniversary stamped cards - 2

4 Yankee Stadium Legacy cards

I've never pulled a numbered parallel from any packs or the previous box. But I did this time. It's a Daric Barton numbered 25/25. You can barely see the number on his thigh and if you notice the A's logo is kind of hologrammed.

2 autos: Brian Bocock and Clay Timpner

His autograph looks like "BBQ"

I'm fairly familiar with Bocock's cards, but I've never heard of Timpner.


There was this one pack that was in my box and it's nothing I've ever seen before. It looks like when register tape is almost finished. They have that strip of color to let you know you're about to run out.

So I decided to open this pack last and these are the highlights of that pack:

A towering Travis Hafner...

A-Rod...

Joey Votto prepared to do battle...

And yet another awesome looking Longoria card:

I posted my doubles and I'll soon post my wantlist. I know the short prints are a turnoff but Hobby boxes are really chock full of them and the product is cheap.

If Upper Deck had put in new players in the short print section and put the more common players in the base set I think it would've made this a better set. It's really stupid to have Jeter and A-Rod in this set 3 times each. I really would've liked to be in the meeting when they designed this set.

I get so frustrated when I look at this set and then the rest of the Upper Deck products. Topps uses chrome technology and from what I can tell the majority of people like it. Couldn't Upper Deck do something like that? I mean the hologram on the back is cute and all but when you think of Upper Deck is there a specific technology that comes to mind? Holograms and Foiling, perhaps? They just never really took technology like that and made it a staple. You don't have to put it in ALL of your sets but instead of stupid gold foil stamping on just the name, make the entire card foil similar to what's on the 1993 set. And maybe make one set foil and give it a higher price than base but don't make it unaffordable. Like I mentioned before, take a look at Topp's chroming technology and how they use it and apply the same principal.

I think Upper Deck is going to have a horrible 2009 year, especially with Masterpieces and Sweet Spot gone. If they release Goudey and it has the same short print design as 2008, I'm not touching it. Everyone harps on Timelines for having so many short prints but at least you can buy a box for $30 and get only 2 base cards and the majority of the cards in the packs are the short prints. Goudey is still $70 a box and trying to put together a set of short prints is like finding a needle in a haystack. You're not guaranteed a short print in every pack. I don't believe I'll ever put that set together because of the scarcity of the short prints. And it doesn't encourage me to buy more boxes like they think it would. Now, if I buy a pack it's because there's really nothing else to collect until the '09 stuff comes out. When that happens I'm sure Goudey 2008 will be on the backburner.

Anyway, that's my box break complete with mini-rant. Wantlist will go up soon and doubles are already posted. Take care.

2008 Masterpieces Box Break #3

Sometimes it's really hard to say "I'm content with the box I just broke." Usually box breaks go either two ways, you got one really awesome hit and the rest is kinda meh or it's just all crap and you feel like you blew your money.

I'm here to say, I'm content and very pleased with my break. I can't remember the last time I broke a box and was just happy with everything I got from the box. I think the part that helps is the fact that I only paid $39.95 for this box of 2008 Masterpieces.

I knew this would be a pretty good box when the first Yankee Stadium Legacy card I pull is non other than Don Mattingly.

Here is what I ended up with:

4 base cards I needed - Joba, Fukudome, Mauer, Tulowitzki
4 short print cards I needed - Eddie Murray, Derek Jeter, Al Kaline, Albert Pujols
2 short print doubles - Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench

4 Yankee Stadium Legacy cards (including Don Mattingly game #5171)

Captured On Canvas Relic: One of the newest Yankees...Mr. C.C. Sabathia

Stroke of Genius Auto: Joe Nathan

I think I made out the best with the border cards

Border Cards
Black: Magglio Ordonez, Freddy Sanchez, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn

Red Border: Greg Maddux

And the highlight of my box break:

Blue Border

Cal Ripken Jr numbered 30 of 125

Can't beat that for 39.95. I really enjoyed opening this box, there seemed to be something in every pack and that's always a plus. I'm down to 14 cards I need to complete the set. I doubt I'll buy another box but if I can find one for $40 (the price of 2 blasters), I'll be very tempted to get another.

On tap this week on Dropped Third Strike

I'm pausing on trades based off of my wantlist until I break a couple of boxes I have coming in. According to UPS, my boxes should be arriving on Tuesday.

I got a steal of a deal on 2008 Masterpieces and 2008 Timeline from Blowoutcards. Also, I got Kim a box of 2008 A Piece of History. And she gives me the YSL Legacy cards from her packs so I plan on getting a bunch of those. I'll add any doubles to my tradelist after those boxes are broken.

I bought 3 lots of YSL cards on eBay and I'll have some doubles so keep an eye on my cards available for trade.

That's all I have so far, I've been keeping an eye on people's wantlists and seeing if I have anything they need. If you're interested in anything especially Goudey 2008 base or 2008 Topps U&H let me know. Kim has a whole bunch of A Piece of History doubles and 2008 A&G doubles so either shoot me or Kim an email of your wantlist. And it's never too late to start a 2008 Upper Deck base set, I'd be willing to send whatever you're looking for either via trade or simply for the actual cost of shipping (but Shoebox Legends has first dibs on them) .

If I get ambitious enough, I may blog about a 4 way box break of 1991 Topps we did at All About Sports this past Saturday with Kim, PA, and William.

Origins: The Flash

Sometimes I feel like my card collecting lives in perpetual flashback. Looking at new designs or cards from the '98-'07 time period are alien to me sometimes. Pictures of Mid-90's Fleer Ultra or Donruss insert cards are comforting and remind me of the card shop I used to work at. That is the origin of the "Flash."

I'm sure a few of you have noticed "Flash" show up as my name when I publish comments on Blogspot blogs. That's me, Peter of Dropped Third Strike, we are one in the same. I've been wearing Flash in almost every aspect of my Internet life, it has proven to be a very useful nickname. The majority of my username handles contain Flash.

Anyhow, I began working for a local card shop "Kearny Rare Card and Coin" in Kearny, NJ during the 8th grade. I was a regular at the shop during 7th grade and one summer while at a card show I somehow convinced John, the owner of the shop, to have me work at the card shop. I don't remember if I began working there that summer or if I started when school started. But during my lunchhour I would walk about a block to Peter's Pizzeria to get a slice of pizza and then walked 3 stores over to the card shop to handle lunch duty. I barely worked 40 minutes but I helped handle the kids coming in to buy packs of cards, individual cards or pogs (that was the fad at the time). I didn't really get paid much but then again I was only 13 or 14 years old. What was I going to spend my money on, really......well, other than baseball cards.

And that brings me to one faithful night early on in my employment. See I worked at lunchtime but I also worked Friday nights and sometimes Saturdays. One Friday night, my dad came to pick me up and I was fighting that internal struggle of spending my just earned money on cards. Now, I've walked away from that shop with no pay and even out some of my own money but with a Hank Aaron or Willie Mays or a crap ton of Fleer Ultra. It was a blessing and a curse to work in that shop. After having my father wait however long it was until I made up my mind, I started moving toward him and the door. He looks at me and goes, "You all done there Flash?" With that my boss chuckled with a laugh that could only be described as Santaesce. He then says "Flash, I like that, I think I'll call you that." It just happened to be a name my dad threw out there. My dad calling me Flash was a little change in pace. He used to call me "Chief" all the time which is what we would sometimes call my grandfather (who is also named Peter and has his own nickname of "Fish.") Anywho, my father and I were departing John says, "Have a good night, Flash." And thus my card shop name of Flash was born.

While you might think it's strange to walk into a building and take on a completely different name, it's something that apparently happens routinely for me. While I worked at a Pizzeria here in North Carolina I was called "Pino" which I think is an Italian singer. And where I work now, the HR people call me Uncle Pete because I became an uncle about 4 and a half years ago.

But when I walked into that shop or anytime I was around John, I was Flash. And it felt like I had just put my shoe on the wrong foot if someone called me Peter or Pete while I was at work. All my co-workers called me Flash and none of them really knew my real name unless they asked. Conversely, outside of the card shop if anyone called me Flash it felt awkward and uncomfortable.

My Flash nickname is as much apart of my collecting baseball cards as the box of Mattingly cards I accrued while working at the shop. It doesn't bother me on the Internet because that's the place of anonymity and different personas. But in person I reserve the right to be called Flash by only two people, my father and "John from the card shop." And I had the privilege of being called Flash during my recent visit to NJ...

but that's a story for another time.

The MLB Network

I'm not happy at all with Time Warner. I received the emails from MLB.TV about the new MLB Network Channel. After some searching I was able to find the channel among my HD channels. But the channel was unavailable and I would have to "order" it. If I can get ESPN and Versus with my regular package why can I not get MLB Network?

I'm a premium subscriber with MLB.TV and I would love to see what they do with their own channel. MLB 24/7? Are you kidding, I would never have to watch ESPN ever again!

Anyway, I sent an email to Time Warner. But concidering the horrific MASN incident that's been going on with them, I don't believe I'll have the MLB Network channel anytime soon. MLB.TV would blackout Orioles-Yankee games because of the region I'm in. MASN would've been the way to watch it but Time Warner refused to add MASN to the lineup.

Can someone explain to me why there's only one cable company in this region?

Anyway, any channel that can bring me non-stop baseball information is alright by me. But until Time Warner gets off their ass and actually does something, I'll be in the dark.

To Be Continued...

Cards from Boxbusters.net

Ross from Boxbusters.net sent these cards as well as a few more Yankees cards.



I really love the Joba and Bernie Williams cards. And the 2008 Goudey Matsui card which I needed to help complete my set.

I'm glad Ross liked the Heroes cards as well as the extras. I have tons of Heroes cards so if anyone is interested please don't hesitate to ask.

My gmail username is pcaprara. If you see anything you need just shoot me an email or just send me a link to your wantlists and I will see what I can do.

Thanks again to Ross!

And now for something completely different

And now for something completely different

New posts coming soon.

And this one too

And Rutgers beat NC State in the Papajohns.com Bowl