Repack Wars: it's been a while

It has been a while since my last repack wars post. Almost 2 years!!! REALLY????

Man..... I suck at this blogging thing. (shut up GCRL, P-Town Tom, Dime Box Nick, Night Owl, Fuji...er.....everyone).

I have been buying repacks, but long breaking them down before thinking "hey - post fodder". And as repacks go, this is not too shabby. Let's us peer closer into a 10 pack repack from Target. $12. You get to see the front packs, and I selected one showing a fat pack of 2016 A&G and a pack of Panini Contenders. It was more the fact that I could see a pack of 2015 Topps Update when I shuffled the box side to side that I grabbed it, hoping for one of the throwback inserts from that pack. Let's go through the packs from oldest to newest.

First up - 1988 Topps Big Baseball. This pack was loaded with some big names - Jim Abbot, Dave Winfield, Doc Gooden and Mike Scioscia. But I like the fact that Rex here is obviously on some high school field waiting on a grounder. Let's hope Mrs. Wilson over the left field fence brought over Kool-Aid and popsicles to cool down the boys.

Next is a pack of 1992 Stadium Club series 3. I had no idea that set was 900 cards strong. Wow. Again, a couple decent names in the pack with the Kid Gary Carter and a White Sox Bo Jackson. But love this card of Vince Horsman. Be honest - you are all reading his name as "horse-man". Plus, dig the Jagr mullet he is sporting.

Big leap from 1992 to 2013 Panini Pinnacle. Baes of Jeets and Harper, but how are you going to not give the top position to a Museum-ish card of recent 3k hit club member Beltre?

My pack of 2015 Topps Update had no throwback variations. It was a total snooze. Here's a gold card of Byron Buxton. Zzzzz...

Boom. The pack of 2015 Panini Contenders gives up a hit of Jalen Miller. He is toiling in A ball and barring a miracle change in his play, will probably never get a cup of coffee at the big league level.

All 2016 flagship cards just hurt to look at. This is from series 2, and I almost went with either the Bunt code card or that card they put in to set off the door sensors, cuz this pack was dreadful. I went with this Tejeda for one reason: how bad it looks. Or, if you are missing Topps Gallery, how amazing it looks. The over the top enhancements done to the image makes it look like a painting, or just over exposed. Topps - knock it off. License an image from AP or Getty, frame it and click "Print". Moving on...

Another pack from 2016. This is Update, and technically the first of the ten I opened. I cannot say I know all the set layouts to everything released, but the moment I saw this card, I knew there was something special about it. And I was right. Image variation SP of Almora. Don't think this will pay for a mortgage, though. Ebay shows a few sold. One was listed with a BIN of $99.99, but the seller accepted an offer. One week later, another copy sold in an auction format for less than 6 quarters. I do hope that BIN buyer made a REALLY low offer that was accepted.

A second pack of 2016 Update. I passed on giving the best in the pack to a card of Chris Sale. Not from any animosity, but simply to show that Topps can make really nice cards. It just sucks when the card design completely ruins the image selected. While the wide space is nice. I think they could have gone horizontal with this, showing a full body of Coghlan and would still have enough greenery to give this card a high score with me.

2016 Bowman. And if you are scoring at home, this is hit #3 from the box (I count the SP as a hit). Brady has made it to AAA, though got demoted back to AA. Still, he is promising. While the Jalen will head to a blogger out west. this card is destined to leave the US.

Final pack is the 2016 Allen and Ginter. I need three base cards, but non fell out. I am not 100% sure if I need this card, but I select it because of the weird look of the image. What's with Donny Baseball's hat logo? I'm not the only one that thinks it's quite off center, am I? I thought he had the cap on crooked, but if you look at the top of the cap, you can see a notch that looks lie the dip in the cap seam. The interlocking NY is nowhere neat centered on that notch. Even if you just eyeball the edges of the ca bill, that logo is too far to the left.

I obsess over card images. Hope A&G never releases cards of Antony and Cleopatra. Wait - they did release Cleopatra. TWICE!

Making an appearance

For a lot of us in the blog world, one of the finest bloggers and traders around was Collective Troll. I have had some amazing trades with him in the past, and even though he took a good 10 months off from writing, I would drop him a PWE from time to time to let him know I didn't forget him. Fortunately for us, he came back around and can be found again in the innerwebs.

Finding a Rays blogger is a rarity. In fact, I only have one other person that I send any Rays cards to. It's not like you friggin' Dodger fans that multiply like rabbits.

In defense, that is pretty dang irresistible.

 I saw Troll post a few weeks back, and then he shoot me an email to watch my mailbox for some cards. Gave me some thanks for the numerous mailings I sent him to keep him in the card hobby. Let's hope the Troll hangs around a while - we are all better for it. Here's some highlights of the package.

There were a few blue bordered Sox in the envelope, but just the one gold. Do I dare go for the rainbow on DeAza here? Ummm - nah. My Beckham is proving to be hard enough. 

Sure - they look like 2013 Allen and Ginter. More specifically, they are all numbered above 300, so that makes them all SP Allen and Ginter cards. Is it me, or are the 2013 SPs harder than in the past few years?

Yup. More short prints. A total of 11 SPs, the one SP mini of Rios, and then another dozen or so A&G cards. A nice dent in my want list for sure.

Thanks a bunch, Troll, for coming back out from under the bridge and stopping my goat in it's tracks with some great cards. Was that too much of a reach for a witty final line? I'll just let me YouTube video do the talking I guess....

The end is near.

I had set some goals at the start of this year to try and complete a couple sets I have been working on. The progression on a few has been pretty amazing, and after the envelope I received today, it just keeps getting better.

After my last LCS' pack wars, I showed off an Orlando Calixte auto I pulled from a pack of Bowman. Didn't thrill me in the least, but reader Doug sure liked it. Now, I don't think Doug runs a blog (correct me if I am wrong, bro), but he made a comment inquiring about the card. You know how much of a pushover I am.

Hang out with Usher and married to Kate - you bet I'm signing!

I think it was more the angels on my side, cuz when the package arrived today, I was in heaven. Doug helped delete a lot of numbers from all my A&G set needs with over 50 cards. He also knocked on the Topps series 2, GQ and Heritage.

Oh - and a sparkley 2012. Could someone explain what 10 year old was allowed into Topps HQ and did that horrendous shop on the Wheeler? Man, that is terrible. The Wright just happens to be a SP for Heritage. But that was not the only SP in the envelope.

Yes - that totals 21 SPs, almost half the total cards sent. Such a fantastic number of cards I can cross off and not worry about hunting for in dollar bins. 

As usual, let's do the best of the package. I am going with this card, that when you only know the number, you don't realize you are missing.

Mo's end has come. Now, I think they were a little over the top with his retirement season and all the honors around the league. Sure, he was pretty dominating. I saw it all a little silly. I think the strangest part is Hard Rock Cafe "retiring" Enter Sandman from all its restaurants except the one in the Big Apple in homage to Rivera. So allow me to join in on the silliness. Vote for the best version of Mo's entrance music from these three selections. Vote in the sidebar.

How I play the game.

I'm a nerd. I embrace the label. My career is in computers. I have been doing support of one form or another 20+ years. When I was younger, I was way into NASA and the space program. And if my regular email address isn't enough of a clue, I sort of like this certain pair of trilogies from a galaxy far, far away.

Though I nerd quite a bit, I am not going to call myself a gamer to the extent other people are. Oh - I game. When I can. I just don't feel the need to purchase every single release. There are a ton of games I have never played, and I have had zero desire to play them. And when it comes to MMOs, I only ever played three: Grepolis, Star Wars Galaxies and The Old Republic. I stopped playing Grepolis because I didn't have the desire to put in the time required for the changes they implemented. Galaxies got shut down. And TOR - I still have an account, but I have taken a break for a few months.

One of the main components of any MMO is the economy. Crafting and selling, or looting that rare item and putting it on the market gains you the game credits to do whatever. Me? I like wrecking economies. I think the whole premise is a bit silly, especially when you consider the price they put on some items. Think Listia cards from 1990 with a 999 credit start bid. So I am the guy that gets items, and completely undercuts the market. My basis is simple: an item is only worth what is sells for. I don't give a crap some rare crystal is "worth" 25 million credits. And the fifteen that are listed are no lower than that. However, they have been on the market for months! In my world, those are all worth zero, because that is how much credits each one has earned. So I get that crystal, post it for say 5 million, and it sells in less that 4 hours. Now I can go shopping.

Ok, "nice story, nerd" you think - "get to the point". My point is you would be surprised what I will trade for.

Those 5 SPs came from Roger at Sportscard Mask-a-Rade. Roger asked about a few A&G and GQ relics on my trade bait and offered these five SPs, plus another 7 cards. I said "pick out five". I hate stuff just sitting there, going nowhere. So 5 relics for 5 SPs is an awesome trade in my book. And when all 12 cards knock off wants, it's even better. Thanks a ton, Roger!

Continuing the SP train, here's a couple GQs from Listia

The Ginter SP of Barney comes from everyone's favorite Netherlander, Jereon, the Dutch Card Guy.

Well, everyone except for Nigel I guess. I have dropped a couple PWEs on Jereon (yes, it can be done with a forever international stamp), and Jereon stated he would return in kind. And he did - with about 60+ cards! Wat de hel ya grote flater!! (Google Translate don't fail me now!). In with that shortprint was a nice stack to kill my A&G wants for 2013. We have all seen them - do I really need to scan some? Fine, I will....

Pretty women all in a row.

Remember me from last year?

Daily, sweetheart. Daily....

And then, somehow, Jereon added about 20 ChiSox cards that I don't think I have a single copy of any. One would think, by now, I would get a dupe here and there when someone throws in some random team cards. Jereon did the improbable. Here's a small sample.

Good ol' Metal! Thanks again, Jereon. You have upped the ante on my return package.

eBay pick up

Thought I would go a little nuts on eBay and snag a hot pack of 2006 UD SP Legendary Cuts. Sure it's a crap shoot. Here's what I got for $22 - don't think I did too bad. What's your opinion?

If it had to be a Cub, at lease it's a Cub I can respect. Still a Cub, though. #48/125. I will say this - decent offers will be considered. You like? Let's talk.

'12 Gypsy Queen SPs

All the latest buzz in on Topps 2012 Gypsy Queen offering. I have said a few times I am quite unhappy with myself for the lack of 2011 GQ I bought (or didn't buy when you really get down to brass tacks). I'm not going to say I have, or will, gone nuts on the 2012 version. I have picked up a few blaster boxes and a couple rack packs. Nothing great to shout about when I opened pack. However, as I was going through the checklist online concerning short prints, I found something.... interesting.

Here, according to all the checklists I have seen, is the short print version for Mr. Strasburg. 

His regular GQ card has him in home whites with a side shot of him early in his pitching motion. A few of the short prints in GQ are subtle cropping of the images, but the Strasburg, like most, is an easily identifiable image change versus the card from the base set. But look at that card. Look close. See if you can see what I see....

I don't watch the show - what's with the pineapple?

I lied - there isn't anything to really notice about that short print, except when you see this:

c-c-c-c-combo breaker!

I have zero base cards of Stephen and 3 SPs! Either someone is REALLY wrong about which is the shortie, the seeding of cards really sucks at my Walmart, or I am re-donk-u-lously lucky in pulling his SP. Which is it?