2010 Heritage Box Break (Box 1 of 3)

I bought 3 boxes of Heritage from Blowoutcards.

I think Topps did a much better job on card quality than last year. Last year I remember a lot of smearing and bleeding on the cards.

Here are the highlights:

Base cards (Nick Johnson pedo-stash is kinda creepy)

Don't know why but I like the airbrushed uniforms.

Short Prints
Chrome (Markakis, Uggla, Carpenter, Hamilton)
Chrome Refractor (Jurrjens, Dice-K)

Babe Ruth 61 Chase cards

Flash Back inserts
New Age Performers

Relic (Jojima)
'61 Buyback cards
Then & Now (Maris/Pujols)
Boxloader (Royals)

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.

Cool pull from 2009 Heritage Hi# Retail

Went to Target tonight with the crazies. Not because I needed anything but that's just what I do when I'm in Kernserville. I got a couple fat packs and 4 retail packs.

I was waiting in the car for Kim and I couldn't wait so I opened a fat pack and got nothin. Then I opened one of the retail packs and I got something pretty damn cool.

It's a piece of seat from the old Seals Stadium.

The thing that really excited me about this is that I knew who the San Francisco Seals were. Three of the DiMaggio brothers (Joe, Vince and Dom) played for the Seals. I remember a very long time ago, I wrote a report about Joe Dimaggio and I thought his time (as well as his brothers') with the Seals was intriguing.

Having a piece of that stadium is pretty cool. I like it way better than the Adam Jones relic I got out of a hobby box. It isn't exactly a Roger Maris pants jersey. But getting a piece of baseball history in a retail pack is pretty frickin sweet.

Merry Christmas to everyone in the blogosphere. I'd like to give a shot out to William of Foul Bunt,PA of The Player To Be Named Later, Marie and Sooz of A Cardboard Problem, Happy Holidays to you and your families.

Black Friday Booty: Part 2

Part of my order from Blowoutcards were 2 boxes of 2008 Masterpieces retail. I was hoping to get some of the 5 short print cards I needed. Also the boxes contain Yankee Stadium Legacy cards which is a plus and there are some neat inserts in there.

These are the cards I pulled. I didn't get a single short print I needed and the inserts were "meh." I needed almost every Yankee Stadium Legacy card I pulled.

The cards below are available for trade EXCEPT THE OZZIE SMITH. That one goes in my personal collection. The Sizemore is #/125 and the SPs are: 95,96,99,108,113,117,117,118.

Box #1

Box #2

The box would've been a total loss except for the YSL cards I pulled and I like the Ozzie Smith card.

And I went ahead and bought the rest of the SPs I needed for 2008 Masterpieces so that set has finally been completed.

Black Friday Booty: Part 1

I'm going to try to show off some of the cards I acquired from my purchases from Blowout Cards during Black Friday.

These cards were part of the 2009 Topps National Convention VIP 1959 Retro Card Set.




I really bought this set for this card. What could've been a 1959 Roger Maris card as a Yankee.



The set is sold out at Blowout Cards but Dave and Adam's sells it for 24.99.

I was able to purchase this set for $9.99

I've wanted them ever since I've seen them but I wasn't going to pay $25. For $10 I get all 5 cards even though I only wanted the Maris.

It would've been pretty interesting if there were traded sets back in the 60's. I'm trying to think of a big name player who would be the most popular traded player but I'm drawing a blank.

If you can think of any I'd love to hear them.

My Masterpiece of Mattingly Obsession

I've just spent an hour or so scanning about 30 Mattingly cards. I feel a sense of accomplishment and am very proud of myself. Most people will think I'm crazy for doing this. I found a set that had inserts that were obtainable and that I actually liked. So I kept a watchful eye on eBay for the cards. I have to admit that once I got to the final 3 cards I went way overboard to get the cards. But I was so close to having every single card that I didn't care.

I like the 2008 Donruss Threads set. When I returned to the hobby I was upset to learn that Donruss didn't have a license. I was a Donruss collector back in the 90's and I really enjoyed their 94 and 95 releases. So I bought a box of 2008 Threads and pulled a Pete Rose auto relic and a Don Mattingly base card. But I didn't stop there. I kept going.....

Mattingly jersey relic (#/150) and bat relic (#/250) and base card

Green Proof (#/250) and Silver Proof (#/100)

Gold Proof and Gold Proof Signature both (#/50)
Platinum Proof and Platinum Proof Signature both (#/25)

Prime Jersey # to 10

Century Collection Prime (#/10) Regular (#/75)

Baseball Americana
Relic (#/100) Position Relic (#/50) Regular (#/500)

Relic Auto (#/25) Auto (#/25)

The Diamond Kings

Silver (#/250) Gold (#/100) Platinum (#/25)

Diamond King Framed Red (#/100) Blue (#/50) Green (#/25)

Diamond King Black Border (#/10)

Diamond King auto (#/25) and base

Diamond King Relic Cards
relic (#/150) Prime (#/25) relic auto (#/25)

And the grand finale the Prime relic auto (#/10)

Well there you have it. It took a year but I finally collected every available Don Mattingly card from the 2008 Threads set.

I double checked my cards with the checklist found here (it was the only one I could find).

So this is my obsession.

That card "you'd like to own someday"

We all do it. We scout over eBay looking for cards we'd like to add to our collection. Some cards are "must haves." We've seen them before and always wanted to add them to our collections.

Then there are those really awesome looking cards you would love to add to your collection. You didn't know it existed. But once you saw it, you knew someday you would make that card yours. I'm not talking about a short print Derek Jeter/Albert Pujols auto card. I'm talking about something attainable but might be too much for you to shell out at the time.

I found a card like that not too long after getting back into collecting. It was a Mattingly card from a set I'd never seen (nor will ever open a pack of).

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Signature Edition Don Mattingly and Yogi Berra


I just thought it was a really cool card and it features two Yankee LEGENDS. Not only that but something that made me even happier when I finally got it was that the autos are ON CARD! That means both Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly had to touch that card to sign it. So I could do a NCIS analysis of the card and see both Yogi's and Donnie Baseball's finger prints. That might be taking it too far.

But I was able to get this card for HALF of what I've seen it go for before. Thankfully it's a buyer's market. I'm extremely happy to have this piece added to my collection.

Is there an awesome card floating around eBay that YOU plan on adding to your collection someday?