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A long running "joke" in my household is that whenever my wife has to go to Target (or Walmart) she asks me what I need, usually with an additional line like "don't say LEGO." Well, this time I said baseball cards, specifically Topps Gypsy Queen for her Target run. She didn't appreciate that much either (her ideal answer would have been some sort of toiletries or the like that I was in need of).
But, all that said, my wife does love me and while there weren't any Gypsy Queen packs at the time of her visit, she did pick me a blaster of 2018 Heritage because "the box looked retro and I know you like old cards." Plus, she added, "it had a coupon for a free pack with it."
Starting with the free pack, it was a pack of 2018 Topps Series 1. I'm sure all of the packs had been presearched but that's alright since I'm not after Topps flagship for the hits (and with stated odds of 1:2,200 for an autograph, you shouldn't be buying retail Topps for hits either)!
The pack itself did not provide me with any of the cards that I was still needing for my set, but I did get a nice shiny card of Angel's rookie Parker Bridwell along with a Manny Machado insert. It definitely could have gone worse.
Moving on to the real prize, the blaster of 2018 Heritage!
Now, I don't have plans to collect this year's Heritage set - but I was still happy to get the blaster since I do like the set a lot and I haven't bought any Heritage for myself (other than the two teams I ended up with in my recent Heritage group break). Thus, I knew that most of the cards would be new to me at least...little did I know how good this blaster would actually be!
Pack 1:
14. Cardinals Rookies
109. Chris Sale
113. Justin Bour
115. Kendall Graveman
120. Brad Peacock
204. Travis Shaw
318. Lance McCullers
356. Brian Dozier
Baseball Flashbacks: TS. Tom Seaver
I like the Seaver card a lot - so much blue on that one! I also think that there are four other cards in this pack alone that have a shot at making it into my Frankenset (whenever I get around to actually putting that together). Not a bad start.
Pack 2:
21. Mitch Haniger
25. Aaron Judge
79. Diamondbacks Rookies
156. Jordy Mercer
164. World Series Game 3
282. Francisco Cervelli
283. Brett Phillips
349. Dustin Pedroia
444. Eugenio Suarez
The first short print in the blaster is a Red! You can tell this isn't a blaster that I picked for myself because that never seems to happen for me. Definitely a keeper card. Getting the Aaron Judge rookie cup card is also nice.
Pack 3:
3. AL RBI Leaders
17. Zach Davies
33. Gio Gonzalez
34. Tommy Joseph
132. Maikel Franco
166. World Series Game 5
304. Padres Rookies
354. Felipe Rivero
Deckle Edge: 24. Amed Rosario
Admittedly, this wasn't the most exciting pack for me. I don't particularly care for the Deckle Edge cards, the Mets, or Rosario himself so that one doesn't do much for me. Even the portraits in this pack were almost all identical (and boring).
Pack 4:
63. Ian Happ
99. Twins Rookies
159. Jay Bruce
168. World Series Game 7
207. Jorge Polanco
239. Mike Foltynewicz
302. Matt Olson
392. Jerad Eickhoff
1969 Collector card: GS. Giancarlo Stanton
The Bruce base is a keeper (and the Astros winning Game 7 might make it into the Frankenset as well). The "collector card" is a Yankee which means I don't particularly care for it.
At this point, I'm halfway through the blaster and it seemed to be mostly pedestrian. I wasn't mad by any means (first because these were gift baseball cards from my wife and second because I did get a few cards for my collection including a Reds short print). Hard to ask for much more than that... Of course, there are still four packs remaining, could there be something unexpected coming up? (hint: yes, most definitely, yes).
Pack 5:
1. AL Batting Leaders
7. AL ERA Leaders
19. Wilmer Flores
147. Jharel Cotton
267. Trevor Bauer
277. Russell Martin
317. Taylor Rogers
327. Yasiel Puig
456. Aledmys Diaz
My second short print of the blaster (right on target since they are 1:3 packs).
Pack 6:
52. Bryce Harper
64. Johnny Cueto
76. Greg Holland
153. Elvis Andrus
228. Wilson Ramos
264. Carl Edwards Jr
367. Greg Bird
374. Austin Hedges
Then & Now: TN-3. Juan Marichal & Clayton Kershaw
Another decent pack, I was happy to land the Cueto (even if he isn't a Red any longer). The Then & Now cards look good this year, though I imagine both Giants and Dodgers fans are unhappy to see the two teams paired together!
Pack 7:
12. NL Strikeout Leaders
29. Andrelton Simmons
119. Alex Bregman
222. Steve Pearce
242. Jimmy Nelson
270. Matt Adams
308. James Shields
397. Evan Longoria
470. Yasmani Grandal
My third short print of the blaster was a pleasant surprise. Short prints usually sell for a couple of bucks each so I figured that was good. Quite honestly, had the blaster ended here I would have called the entire thing a success because again, they were cards from my wife! I mean, as a married guy, you can't ask for more than that!
But...I got more than that. Not only is my wife lovely and awesome and all those things, but she is also apparently a wiz at picking out the perfect blaster.
Pack 8:
32. Steven Souza Jr.
129. Randal Grichuk
223. Caleb Joseph
233. Kyle Seager
246. Jose Reyes
266. Dodgers Rookies
376. Manny Margot
387. Wil Myers
Real One Autograph: Red Ink: ROA-DT. Dick Tracewski
Uhm. What?!
That's a Real One Autograph Special (red ink) edition, hand signed on card and hand numbered 32/69. Those are seeded a whopping 1:1,002 retail packs!! You can only imagine my surprise when I pulled this card out of the final pack that I opened. I was so excited by it I even showed it to my wife (she asked if it was worth a million dollars to which I had to sadly reply "no") but still, very cool!
That does it for the blaster (plus the free pack) of cards. Getting cards from my wife is great. Getting unexpected autographs of players of yore, even better! This blaster will probably be hard to top this year...unless maybe my wife picks out all future baseball card purchases for me.
But, all that said, my wife does love me and while there weren't any Gypsy Queen packs at the time of her visit, she did pick me a blaster of 2018 Heritage because "the box looked retro and I know you like old cards." Plus, she added, "it had a coupon for a free pack with it."
Starting with the free pack, it was a pack of 2018 Topps Series 1. I'm sure all of the packs had been presearched but that's alright since I'm not after Topps flagship for the hits (and with stated odds of 1:2,200 for an autograph, you shouldn't be buying retail Topps for hits either)!
The pack itself did not provide me with any of the cards that I was still needing for my set, but I did get a nice shiny card of Angel's rookie Parker Bridwell along with a Manny Machado insert. It definitely could have gone worse.
Moving on to the real prize, the blaster of 2018 Heritage!
Now, I don't have plans to collect this year's Heritage set - but I was still happy to get the blaster since I do like the set a lot and I haven't bought any Heritage for myself (other than the two teams I ended up with in my recent Heritage group break). Thus, I knew that most of the cards would be new to me at least...little did I know how good this blaster would actually be!
Pack 1:
14. Cardinals Rookies
109. Chris Sale
113. Justin Bour
115. Kendall Graveman
120. Brad Peacock
204. Travis Shaw
318. Lance McCullers
356. Brian Dozier
Baseball Flashbacks: TS. Tom Seaver
I like the Seaver card a lot - so much blue on that one! I also think that there are four other cards in this pack alone that have a shot at making it into my Frankenset (whenever I get around to actually putting that together). Not a bad start.
Pack 2:
21. Mitch Haniger
25. Aaron Judge
79. Diamondbacks Rookies
156. Jordy Mercer
164. World Series Game 3
282. Francisco Cervelli
283. Brett Phillips
349. Dustin Pedroia
444. Eugenio Suarez
The first short print in the blaster is a Red! You can tell this isn't a blaster that I picked for myself because that never seems to happen for me. Definitely a keeper card. Getting the Aaron Judge rookie cup card is also nice.
Pack 3:
3. AL RBI Leaders
17. Zach Davies
33. Gio Gonzalez
34. Tommy Joseph
132. Maikel Franco
166. World Series Game 5
304. Padres Rookies
354. Felipe Rivero
Deckle Edge: 24. Amed Rosario
Admittedly, this wasn't the most exciting pack for me. I don't particularly care for the Deckle Edge cards, the Mets, or Rosario himself so that one doesn't do much for me. Even the portraits in this pack were almost all identical (and boring).
Pack 4:
63. Ian Happ
99. Twins Rookies
159. Jay Bruce
168. World Series Game 7
207. Jorge Polanco
239. Mike Foltynewicz
302. Matt Olson
392. Jerad Eickhoff
1969 Collector card: GS. Giancarlo Stanton
The Bruce base is a keeper (and the Astros winning Game 7 might make it into the Frankenset as well). The "collector card" is a Yankee which means I don't particularly care for it.
At this point, I'm halfway through the blaster and it seemed to be mostly pedestrian. I wasn't mad by any means (first because these were gift baseball cards from my wife and second because I did get a few cards for my collection including a Reds short print). Hard to ask for much more than that... Of course, there are still four packs remaining, could there be something unexpected coming up? (hint: yes, most definitely, yes).
Pack 5:
1. AL Batting Leaders
7. AL ERA Leaders
19. Wilmer Flores
147. Jharel Cotton
267. Trevor Bauer
277. Russell Martin
317. Taylor Rogers
327. Yasiel Puig
456. Aledmys Diaz
My second short print of the blaster (right on target since they are 1:3 packs).
Pack 6:
52. Bryce Harper
64. Johnny Cueto
76. Greg Holland
153. Elvis Andrus
228. Wilson Ramos
264. Carl Edwards Jr
367. Greg Bird
374. Austin Hedges
Then & Now: TN-3. Juan Marichal & Clayton Kershaw
Another decent pack, I was happy to land the Cueto (even if he isn't a Red any longer). The Then & Now cards look good this year, though I imagine both Giants and Dodgers fans are unhappy to see the two teams paired together!
Pack 7:
12. NL Strikeout Leaders
29. Andrelton Simmons
119. Alex Bregman
222. Steve Pearce
242. Jimmy Nelson
270. Matt Adams
308. James Shields
397. Evan Longoria
470. Yasmani Grandal
My third short print of the blaster was a pleasant surprise. Short prints usually sell for a couple of bucks each so I figured that was good. Quite honestly, had the blaster ended here I would have called the entire thing a success because again, they were cards from my wife! I mean, as a married guy, you can't ask for more than that!
But...I got more than that. Not only is my wife lovely and awesome and all those things, but she is also apparently a wiz at picking out the perfect blaster.
Pack 8:
32. Steven Souza Jr.
129. Randal Grichuk
223. Caleb Joseph
233. Kyle Seager
246. Jose Reyes
266. Dodgers Rookies
376. Manny Margot
387. Wil Myers
Real One Autograph: Red Ink: ROA-DT. Dick Tracewski
Uhm. What?!
That's a Real One Autograph Special (red ink) edition, hand signed on card and hand numbered 32/69. Those are seeded a whopping 1:1,002 retail packs!! You can only imagine my surprise when I pulled this card out of the final pack that I opened. I was so excited by it I even showed it to my wife (she asked if it was worth a million dollars to which I had to sadly reply "no") but still, very cool!
That does it for the blaster (plus the free pack) of cards. Getting cards from my wife is great. Getting unexpected autographs of players of yore, even better! This blaster will probably be hard to top this year...unless maybe my wife picks out all future baseball card purchases for me.
She's a keeper and should pick all of your boxes! The Tracewski is super cool! And you can keep the Suarez SP, please just return the actual player to Detroit and unto that stupid trade, we'd like him back.
ReplyDeleteCongrats.. Sweet red ink auto!
ReplyDeleteIs the Giancarlo insert available for trade? I'd dig up some cards on your wantlist for it if so.
defgav, yep the Giancarlo is available. Shoot me an email.
ReplyDeleteDennis: Yeah, that was a pretty good deal (for my Reds). It seems that my team isn't on the right side of trades all that often so I'm afraid I cannot return Suarez to your Tigers!
Congrats on the auto! Any chance the Rosario Deckle could be up for trade?
ReplyDeleteTim, yep the Deckle is available. Shoot me an email.
ReplyDeleteI wish my wife would pick our blasters for me. Maybe she has talent yours does.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a terrific blaster! Love the Grandal SP and the Tracewski auto! I agree that your wife is a real keeper and you should let her choose all of your boxes.
ReplyDeleteWow.. Dick Tracewski has more World Series rings than Willie Mays and Hank Aaron combined.
ReplyDeletei am floored by that pull! congrats! Mrs. Grande has the magic! should I be watching ebay for this one? or is it staying with your collection?
ReplyDeleteWhat's a guy got to do for the Bryce Harper and the Jose Reyes base cards? A nice little PWE deal would be spectacular. How's if I knock off a few from your needs list... lmk!
ReplyDelete