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Delivery Time! An EPIC Box from Alaska! (Part V)

This is the fifth (and final) post detailing the awesome box of cards that I recently received from David up in Alaska.  Who knows, maybe now that I've finally gotten all the cards posted on the blog northcentral Pennsylvania can finally stop having Alaska-esque weather.

That'd be nice.

Getting back to the package at hand, I greatly appreciate all the goodies that David sent that I've already shown but I definitely saved the best for last!

Before David sent the package, he asked me if I was planning on collecting the 2014 Stadium Club set.  I informed him that I had bought a single box of the stuff for myself to open (which I still haven't opened) and that, yes, I liked the base set enough that I hoped to eventually complete the whole thing.  David informed me that he'd be sending some of his duplicates my way...

...nothing strange about that - lots of us do that for fellow bloggers.  But here's the kicker.

The 2014 Topps Stadium Club base set contains 200 cards.

David sent me 197 different base cards!!

That's 98.5% of the set - and not just any set but one of the most beautiful sets that Topps has produced since I got back into collecting around 2005!!

While I only planned on collecting the base set, David also whetted my appetite for some of the insert sets.

In no particular order, he sent me a trio of the Future Stars including a Yasiel Puig.

Although I like most of the Stadium Club inserts, the Future Star cards do the least for me.  The die-cut seems gratuitous and the background design looks like it was nothing but practice for the Topps Tek set that came out a bit after Stadium Club.

Moving on to a die-cut that definitely works for me - the Triumvirate cards.

David sent me this gorgeous Troy Tulowitzki card - and it's a beauty.  I only wish that the Reds would have been represented in this insert set...if they were I think the set would become a "must collect" in my book.

While the Future Stars earn the distinction of my least favorite insert set, the Beam Team set is a close second.  The only redeeming feature to the Future Stars set is that the Reds are represented (via a Joey Votto card).

Wouldn't you know it - David had a Votto for me!  The Votto is a for sure keeper but I don't think I'll be chasing the Beam Team set...unless perhaps if my unopened hobby box is chock full of Beam Team cards for some unknown reason.

David also sent me a single parallel...

...and despite the fact that it's a Cardinal, I have to admit that I love this card.  Stan Musial transcends the typical Cardinal "stink" that plagues most players from St. Louis.  I think the coolest part of the photo is how the umpire and catcher are both watching the drive that Musial just put on the baseball.

The Stadium Club goodies keep coming with two more awesome insert sets.

The first is the Legends die-cut set - and David hooked me up with four of those including the Griffey Jr. card which was a "most wanted" card for me (despite Jr. not being featured as a Red).  I actually like all four of the cards quite a bit - that Nolan Ryan is especially nice (and I'm a big fan of Cal Ripken Jr. so I'm happy with the Iron Man card too)!

The final Stadium Club insert set that David helped me out with was the Field Access set.

I like the idea that Topps used for the Field Access.  Basically the gimmick was that each photo in the set was a previously unused image.  While that is cool, it does make me wonder where we've gotten as a baseball card collecting community where we now get a "special set" full of new images.  Shouldn't all sets only feature new images?  Heck, I understand the repeat use of photos for some of the old legends of the game...but there's no excuse for guys like David Wright or Clayton Kershaw to not get new images with each set release!

And with that - we are done with the entire box of greatness that David sent me...EXCEPT for one more card.

It's the best card in the box.

Maybe even the best card I've received so far in 2015.

Maybe even the best card I've received in 2014 or 2015.

It's...

...

...

...

...

amazingly enough...it's my first Barry Larkin autograph card for my collection!

That's right, my first Larkin autograph arrived as a special throw-in bonus on a trade box FULL of greatness.

That David guy is pretty awesome!

I'll have more to say about the Larkin when I feature in my ongoing Barry Larkin Collection series - but I had to give a special thanks to David here!

Wow.

Comments

  1. Whoa! Larkin is bananas!

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  2. Great Larkin! The Clemens Field Access uses the same photo as his 1991 Topps card did.

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  3. I agree that Musial is an exception to the Cardinal rule. Class transcends team.

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  4. Can't wait to see what you have to say about that Larkin signature.
    Do it now, do it now!

    ReplyDelete

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