Last Tuesday, I started up my second Nachos Grande Breaker's Club of 2021. For the first night of box breaks, we ripped a box of 1994 Select (Series 2) and a box of 2015 Topps Finest. Of course, those two boxes are simply the start of the Breaker's Club - we will have a total of 16 boxes in the Breaker's Club when all is said and done!
As usual, I like to show off some of the highlights from the break so let's begin with the box of 1994 Select. I try to pick a mix of boxes so that some are more "base card / team collector" focused while others are more "insert / parallel" focused and then a few that are "hit" focused. The Select box definitely fits into the "base card / team collector" category!
Throughout the box rip, I ended up getting more and more impressed with the 1994 Select set. Some of the photography is actually top-notch! My one complaint about the base set (besides the terrible collation within the box) is that no where on the card is the actual team listed! That's a nightmare to sort for a group breaker...and for that reason alone I don't think I'll ever buy another box of '94 Select for a group break.
Besides the giant pile of base cards, the box did yield a pair of inserts for us. Unfortunately, I tossed the pack wrappers before I could verify the odds but according to baseballcardpedia the Select Skills inserts are seeded 1:24 packs. If that's the case, then we beat the odds by pulling two from our box!
The Select Skills cards are definitely good looking inserts. It's kind of shame they are so rare! Barry Larkin is in the Select Skills insert set but unfortunately for me we didn't pull his card (I still need it for my collection). Still, we did pull a couple of nice ones...in fact, that Randy Johnson card is near perfection with the baseball hovering in mid-air while he plays in the clouds! Good stuff and a fun start to the break for sure.
Our second box of the evening was completely different: 2015 Topps Finest. A set all about the hits and parallels and our box didn't disappoint.
Before I get to the inserts, parallels, and hits, let's first take a quick peek at the base cards.
Admittedly, you probably don't buy 2015 Finest thinking you are going to collect the base set but I happen to find the base cards to be pretty good looking. They are certainly nice and flashy!
Moving on to the "goodies" from the box - let's begin with the two refractors.
They didn't scan particularly well but the refractors do have a nice shine to them when you tilt the cards in the light (they are easy to miss, however)... In fact, I missed one at first when I was ripping the box (luckily an eagle-eyed commenter watching saw it and drew the card to my attention). The Nationals cleaned up the refractors in this particular box!
We did pull some other parallels but before I show them off, let's get the inserts out of the way beginning with our lone Finest Firsts card.
That's probably one of Soler's better looking rookie cards!
The most common insert in the pair of mini boxes was the Generations set. We ended up with four different cards - and as the name suggests the featured players do indeed span generations of baseball talent!
It's a nice enough design I guess, not much else for me to say about that set.
The other (relatively) common insert set was the Topps Finest '94 set. We pulled three from this particular set (in all of their green-bordered goodness).
I love the retro look here - and since no one (ever) claims the Angels I was actually plenty pleased to end up with that Mike Trout for myself. Not sure if I'll actually keep the Trout though or if I'll try and use it for some trade bait on TCDB...everyone on that site seems to be goo-goo ga-ga for Trout!
Finally, we get to the rest of the parallels beginning with a pair of purple parallels #/250:
I often joke with Night Owl that I pull more Dodger hits for him than anyone else...and here's yet another bit of evidence in favor of my conjecture. I'm guessing Greg will be plenty happy with a shiny purple card of Kershaw. That said, if he's not quite happy there's another nice card coming up...
...but first, we pulled one blue parallel (#/150):
Nice to see the Phillies get in on the action here - and that shiny blue is SHARP looking. Of all the colored parallels in this set that we pulled, the blue is easily my favorite looking one. It'd be awesome to get the full blue parallel base set put together...but even I'm (probably) not insane enough to try and do so on my own.
Our final parallel from the box is a gold parallel (#/50):
And there's more proof that I pull Dodger hits like no one else out there!
We end today's wrap-up post with the two promised autographs:
Not a bad mix, we certainly could have done worse on the autograph front. I like that both are on card - and they are shiny cards to boot!
Overall, I'd say this was a great start to what promises to be a fun Breaker's Club. All 30 teams have a stack of cards started - and some have quite a few cards already! There will be plenty more goodies for everyone though, so keep coming back every Tuesday evening for more Breaker's Club live box breaks.
Speaking of the video box breaks, if you'd like to watch the break in all of its (recorded) glory, here's the full video:
See you next week for more from this edition of the Breaker's Club!
Believe it or not, this is my FOURTH auto of Dilson Herrera, who has compiled a gaudy career WAR of -0.2. (But apparently he's still active in the Orioles organization, so there's hope for a comeback!). Blue Jays obviously got the better auto, but I'm happy to be on my way to "Dilson Herrera supercollector" status! B^}
ReplyDeleteWow, you really do pull a lot of Dodgers. The Trout insert and Donaldson auto are great pulls, too.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I was just happy with the Kershaw base Finest card. It had eluded me.
ReplyDelete