I stopped by Target today and picked up a total of 4 of their "old school" 2009 blasters. The Topps set has been quite the adventure this year. I loved the original white bordered set (which, at the time, was all we thought we were getting). Then I cracked a mysterious black bordered blaster, and although I didn't really like it at first, I ended up liking the black set more than the white bordered set. Now, after buying a bunch of the "old school" blasters, I think I like the "old school" set even more than the black bordered cards!
What I got:
A ton of base cards - but amazingly, not a single duplicate in the four blasters!
Topps Town: 35 of the gray version, 5 of the gold version.
I didn't mind these at first, but I'm really sick of pulling them. If they made the set have 50 players it would have made the one per pack inclusion a lot more bearable.
Gold Parallel: 4 total
146: Glen Perkins
236: Kelly Johnson
303: Zach Duke
309: Humberto Sanchez
I don't really care for the gold parallels, but they make decent eBay fodder I guess.
Legends of the Game: 5 total
LG2: Honus Wagner
LG6: Tris Speaker
LG10: Jimmie Foxx
LG15: Pee Wee Reese
LG20: Mickey Mantle
It's no surprise that I pulled a Mickey Mantle card in a Topps product. Boy, Topps really has cheapened the Mantle "name" in the last few years.
Turkey Red: 7 total
TR2: Evan Longoria
TR5: Nick Markakis
TR6: Ian Kinsler
TR12: Jermaine Dye
TR15: David Oritz
TR30: Christy Mathewson
TR41: Cole Hamels
The Turkey Red inserts just feel right in this set. The old school cards and the old school inserts are a great match. I was happy to pull as many Turkey Reds as I did, since I seem to have been shortchanged with Turkey Reds on my other blasters.
Commemorative Patch cards: 4 total
LPR-1: Babe Ruth
LPR-5: Jimmie Foxx
LPR-27: Ernie Banks
LPR-37: Carl Yastrzemski
I still really wish there was a Cincinnati Reds player featured in this set. Since there's not, these are going up on eBay to help me recoup some of my costs of these blasters.
Short Print Variation: 1 total
44: Barack Obama
After pulling 3 of the short prints relatively early in my blaster buying, I went on a long dry spell which was finally broken in the third (of the four) blasters I bought. I don't particularly care for (yet another) presidential card in my baseball set, but it's not a complete misfit since it shows Obama "pitching" on a celebratory first pitch.
Overall, I really like what Topps did this year. At first, I thought it was a terrible gimmick, but in the end it really gives collectors a lot of choices on which version of a great base set design they'd like to collect. Of course, being the set collector I am (or perhaps, the sucker that I am), I'm trying to complete all three versions of the set. (So if you have any cards I need, check my want list, and then make an offer!)
What I got:
A ton of base cards - but amazingly, not a single duplicate in the four blasters!
Topps Town: 35 of the gray version, 5 of the gold version.
I didn't mind these at first, but I'm really sick of pulling them. If they made the set have 50 players it would have made the one per pack inclusion a lot more bearable.
Gold Parallel: 4 total
146: Glen Perkins
236: Kelly Johnson
303: Zach Duke
309: Humberto Sanchez
I don't really care for the gold parallels, but they make decent eBay fodder I guess.
Legends of the Game: 5 total
LG2: Honus Wagner
LG6: Tris Speaker
LG10: Jimmie Foxx
LG15: Pee Wee Reese
LG20: Mickey Mantle
It's no surprise that I pulled a Mickey Mantle card in a Topps product. Boy, Topps really has cheapened the Mantle "name" in the last few years.
Turkey Red: 7 total
TR2: Evan Longoria
TR5: Nick Markakis
TR6: Ian Kinsler
TR12: Jermaine Dye
TR15: David Oritz
TR30: Christy Mathewson
TR41: Cole Hamels
The Turkey Red inserts just feel right in this set. The old school cards and the old school inserts are a great match. I was happy to pull as many Turkey Reds as I did, since I seem to have been shortchanged with Turkey Reds on my other blasters.
Commemorative Patch cards: 4 total
LPR-1: Babe Ruth
LPR-5: Jimmie Foxx
LPR-27: Ernie Banks
LPR-37: Carl Yastrzemski
I still really wish there was a Cincinnati Reds player featured in this set. Since there's not, these are going up on eBay to help me recoup some of my costs of these blasters.
Short Print Variation: 1 total
44: Barack Obama
After pulling 3 of the short prints relatively early in my blaster buying, I went on a long dry spell which was finally broken in the third (of the four) blasters I bought. I don't particularly care for (yet another) presidential card in my baseball set, but it's not a complete misfit since it shows Obama "pitching" on a celebratory first pitch.
Overall, I really like what Topps did this year. At first, I thought it was a terrible gimmick, but in the end it really gives collectors a lot of choices on which version of a great base set design they'd like to collect. Of course, being the set collector I am (or perhaps, the sucker that I am), I'm trying to complete all three versions of the set. (So if you have any cards I need, check my want list, and then make an offer!)
No doubles in four boxes, sounds like a good break! I was going through my list seeing if I could trade you a bunch of my throwbacks for a few Tigers, but amazingly (with 80+ cards) I don't have a single card that you need. We must have gotten very similar boxes.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was quite happy not to pull any doubles, especially since I'm a fool and decided to collect three versions of the exact same set!
ReplyDelete