Group Break: There's More Gold in Gold Label!

As we start another work week, here's my promise to all of you...this will be the last week where I have group break posts for this particular break!  In order for me to hold true to that promise, I need to get through the remaining packs in the 2001 Topps Gold Label box...so let's not dilly dally this morning!

2001 Topps Gold Label:
Pack 9:
17.  Cal Ripken, Jr. - Orioles
Class 2:  16.  Brian Giles - Pirates

56.  Jorge Posada - Yankees

63.  Kazuhiro Sasaki - Mariners
71.  Manny Ramirez - Indians

The Ripken (not scanned since the Orioles weren't a claimed team in this break) is quite nice but the real prize of the pack has to be the Class 2 parallel of Brian Giles for the Pirates (a claimed team).

Pack 10:
105.  Tony Batista - Blue Jays
76.  Mike Sweeney - Royals
110.  Tim Hudson - Athletics
Class 2 Gold Parallel:  20.  Charles Johnson - Marlins (#460/699)

13.  Bobby Abreu - Phillies

The Class 2 Gold Parallels are seeded 1:11 packs meaning we ought to get two in a box (with a few boxes getting three such cards).  This is our second such Class 2 Gold Parallel in the box so if we do end up with a third we will beat the odds there.

Not a bad start to the work week.  Hopefully by the end of today I will have gotten half of the Gold Label box posted.  We are moving along at a decent clip - stay tuned for more soon!

Group Break: Is it Too Early to Put Up the Christmas Tree?!

Yesterday, we woke up to a backyard and deck covered in snow.  While most of the snow did melt off by dinner time, it was still a little disconcerting to have that much snow this early in the year in north-central Pennsylvania.

All that said, my wife decided that we ought to get a jump on the Christmas season this year and put our tree up about a month early.  Normally, I fight against Christmas creep until at least after my birthday (which is next weekend) and usually I try to delay it until after Thanksgiving.  However, she wooed me with the prospect of some homemade Christmas cookies to enjoy while decorating...

...and so now my tree is up!

All that said, I've got a present for all of you as well in the form of a couple more packs out of the Gold Label box.  Enjoy!

2001 Topps Gold Label:
Pack 7:
80.  Pat Burrell - Phillies
89.  Carl Everett - Red Sox
67.  Larry Walker - Rockies

Gold parallel:  88.  Travis Lee - Phillies (#445/999)

43.  Jason Giambi - Athletics

The Class 1 gold parallels are seeded 1:8 packs making them not overly rare (three per box) but still, it's hard to actually track down the gold parallel of a player you might actually collect *cough* Larkin *cough*.  At least our gold parallel is going to a claimed team - the Phillies did quite well in this pack!

Pack 8:
5.  Alex Rodriguez - Rangers
65.  Kevin Brown - Dodgers
59.  Josh Hamilton - Rays
90.  Quilvio Veras - Braves
72.  Mark McGwire - Cardinals

That's a good looking McGwire card!

Happy (early) Holidays everyone!

Group Break: Finding a Barry Larkin in Gold Label!

I've enjoyed the group break a lot thus far, but I have to say that I think this Gold Label box is currently shaping up to my favorite of the eight boxes in the break!  That's good though, since I like to save the "best" for last and this is it in terms of the break.

I have a full work week this week, but then next week I get Wednesday - Friday off.  My hope is to have all group break packages ready to be mailed no later than end of Thanksgiving break.  Before I can get there though, I need to finish posting the packs from the Gold Label box, so let's keep it going!

2001 Topps Gold Label:
Pack 5:
102.  Tim Salmon - Angels
31.  Eric Munson - Tigers
14.  Bobby Higginson - Tigers
52.  Jim Edmonds - Cardinals
9.  Barry Larkin - Reds

Woo!  It's always a fun day when you get to pull a Barry Larkin from a pack of cards.  I admit that I was hoping to pull a parallel of Larkin (either gold or one of the Class 2 or Class 3 cards) but beggars cannot be choosers in this case!

Pack 6:
54.  John Olerud - Mariners
42.  J.T. Snow, Jr. - Giants

16.  Brian Giles - Pirates

49. Chan Ho Park - Dodgers
6.  Andrew Jones - Braves

Well, no parallels in either pack but we did hit a few different claimed teams in the group break (which is always nice)!

Group Break: I Love Me Some Gold Label

I love the Topps Gold Label brand - and so far this particular box hasn't disappointed at all (we've already found a Class 3 gold parallel #/299)!  Let's see what the next couple of packs brings us, shall we?

2001 Topps Gold Label:
Pack 3:
73.  Mark Quinn - Royals
Class 2:  52.  Jim Edmonds - Cardinals

50.  Jermaine Dye - Royals
98.  Scott Rolen - Phillies

25.  David Segui - Orioles

The Class 2 parallels are seeded 1:4 packs according to baseballcardpedia.  Nice to see our first goes out to one of the claimed teams in the group break!

Pack 4:
69.  Steve Finley - Diamondbacks
35.  Garret Anderson - Angels
36.  Gary Sheffield - Dodgers
Class 2 Gold parallel:  40.  J.D. Drew - Cardinals (#075/699

12.  Bernie Williams - Yankees

The Cardinals made out well in both packs this time around!  The Class 2 Gold parallels are seeded 1:11 hobby packs.

I'll have more soon from the box! 

Group Break: Crackin' Open the Gold Label Box!

It's finally time to open up the last box of the group break:  2001 Topps Gold Label.

Personally, I love the Gold Label brand which is a big reason why I saved this box for last - I think it was the box that I was looking the most forward to breaking!

The box contains 24 packs with 5 cards per pack.  Like many shiny offerings, Gold Label has parallels out the wazoo.  There are Class I (common base), Class II, and Class III cards for each and every base card in the set.  There are also gold parallels of each Class I, II, and III card.  There are rookie cards that are short printed even more - and if we get really, really lucky there are 1-of-1 parallels too.

Sheesh.  That's a lot of stuff to keep track of - and did I mention that we ought to pull a hit in the box as well?  ...if you read one of my earlier posts I actually gave a hint about the hit where I said it is going to go to a claimed team that isn't one of my teams.  You'll have to stay tuned for that!

For now though, let's dig into the first couple of packs.

2001 Topps Gold Label:
Pack 1:
79.  Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
81.  Paul Konerko - White Sox

53.  Jim Thome - Indians
101. Terrance Long - Ahtletics
28.  Edgardo Alfonzo - Mets
Paper checklist

For the purposes of the group break posts, I won't be mention the paper insert any more.  You can count on each pack having either the same paper checklist or a paper advertisement typical of Topps' products from that time period.  Neither are of any long term interest.  I also won't be typing out the "class" of the card if it is a Class I card (the regular "base" version).  I will be sure to mention any time we get something other than a base Class I card, however!

As for the cards themselves, I love them.  They are super shiny - and they simply look nice and classy.  I don't know that the '01 set is my all-time favorite Gold Label design, but I do know that I like the cards a lot.  I wouldn't mind having a complete set of this stuff for myself someday!

Pack 2:
58.  Jose Vidro - Expos

94.  Roberto Alomar - Indians
47.  Jeff Cirillo - Rockies

30.  Eric Karros - Dodgers
Class 3 Gold:  39.  Ivan Rodriguez - Rangers (#235/299)

The Class 3 Gold parallels are seeded 1:26 hobby packs making this better than a box hit!  That's a great start to the box - and hopefully everyone is excited to see what else we pull from the Gold Label box as we move forward in the break.  I'll have more from the box soon - enjoy the shiny everyone!