Gint-a-Cuffs: The Conclusion (Packs 23 and 24)

Box total:  224 points

I'm down to the final pair of packs in the box...and I need nine points to eclipse CommishBob's box total (which is the leader as of the time of my writing this post).  Let's see if I can do it!

Pack 23:

58.  Alcides Escobar
269.  Derrek Lee
298.  Peter Gammons
178.  Ben Revere
175.  Jose Bautista
169.  Dan Haren

Hometown Heroes:
HH82.  Jim Thome  (+1 point)

Mini:
World's Most Mysterious Figures:
WMF4.  Fulcanelli  (+3 points)

Pack total:  +4 points
Box total so far:  228 points

I needed to average 4.5 points with each of the last two packs in order to beat the high score by one point.  Pack 23 let me down by half a point...so the last pack needs to score at least 5 points...

Pack 24:
219.  Johan Santana
40.  John McEnroe (-1 point, oh no! - That's a terrible time to lose points...must get at least six points now with the final six cards)...
235.  Cole Hamels
117.  Jonathan Sanchez
318.  Brett Wallace (+2 points.  That's better...four more points needed!)

Baseball Sketch:
BHS-25.  Ichiro  (+3 points, alright, one more point...any mini besides a regular base mini should do it...)

Floating Fortresses:
FF8.  Le Napoleon (+2 points, I didn't even need the mini...so long as it isn't a Yankee I've got it!)

Mini:
Portraits of Penultimacy:
PP8.  Sancho Panza  (+3 points)

Junk card

Pack total:   9 points

FINAL BOX TOTAL (barring any errors by me):  237!

What a crazy box that ended up being!  After the first half, I was extremely bummed that I didn't use the box that contained the N43 autograph (and, based on a quick addition of the possible points in that box, I still should have used that one), but the two Reds hits really carried the day for me here!   It should also be noted that I was shorted a mini card in one of the packs (and no pack contained two minis to make up for it).  I've already contacted Topps about that issue along with my missing rip cards (no response from Topps yet I might add).

Good luck to the rest of the participants.  I'm sure if anyone pulls a rip card in their Gint-a-Cuffs box (or an N43 auto or relic of a favorite player) that my score won't hold up...but hey, it's fun while it lasted!