Group Break Wrap-Up: 2018 Panini Diamond Kings

 Another weekend gone, another group break completed!  This time around, we busted a box of 2018 Panini Diamond Kings.

In the past, I've had pretty good luck with Diamond Kings but I have to say that this wasn't the best box I've ever ripped...at least when it comes to the "hits."  The box promises "Two autographs or memorabilia cards on average."  Well, the only way to get two "on average" is either every box made has exactly two or some boxes have more than two hits while others have less than two hits.  You can probably guess what happened to us...one lonely hit in the entire box.

On the bright side, at least it was an autograph that went to a claimed team!  

I cut the bottom of the card off when I scanned it but by the time I realized it I had already packed this one up in a top loader for safe keeping!

Our lone hit was a Luke Weaver autograph numbered #21/99 which means this is a Holo Silver autograph parallel.  Can't complain about that!  I would have liked for a second hit to be in the box if for no other reason than this was a group break box and I like to see everyone happy!  

That all being said, most people aren't joining my group breaks looking for nothing but "big mojo hits."  There's plenty of other goodies including inserts, short prints, and variations to find and on that front we did quite well!

We pulled a total of four parallel/special variation cards of the base set.  Two red framed parallels, one gray framed parallel, and one black and white variation.

The gray parallel is numbered 89/99.  The Clint Frazier is a black and white variation.  Out of all of those, that red Santander rookie might end up being the best of the bunch  I didn't scan them but we also pulled a pair of short prints from the set: #127. Richard Urena (Blue Jays) and #135 George Brett (Royals) along with a single photo variation:  #10. Joe Cronin (Red Sox).

Moving on to the inserts...

Panini isn't usually shy about including insert sets and that certainly is true for the 2018 Diamond King set.

The first batch of inserts includes three pairs:  Gallery of Stars (J.D. Martinez and Daniel Murphy), Portraits (George Brett and Greg Maddux), and Trophy Club (George Springer and Mickey Mantle).  Not a bad collection of names to pull in a box!

The next batch includes the last insert set for which we pulled exactly two cards plus the one insert set for which we only pulled one card.

The Past and Present cards are pretty cool.  As a group break host, I "lucked out" in that the Yankees/Angels card didn't need to be randomized since Joe E. had claimed both teams in the break.  The other Past and Present features a pair of excellent Astros pitchers - and I think that Julie will be happy to add that one to her collection.  The Aurora card is the most colorful of any insert that we pulled and hopefully Jeff B. will appreciate it in all of its rainbow-y glory!

We end our summary with the most common insert set we found - The 500.

Babe Ruth seems like the big name here while it's kind of hard to say that either Sheffield or Palmeiro belong in the same class (or insert set) despite the fact that they all hit 500+ home runs in their careers.  I guess that is to say I never much cared for either Sheffield or Palmeiro (and since no one claimed the Rangers I ended up stuck with Palmeiro).  Still, I like the design of the set.

Overall, this wasn't the best box since we only had one hit but I thought we did quite well with everything else within the box.  Lots of nice inserts including a good mix of different teams represented (always nice in a group break to see that happen).  

The next break will be for a box of 1999 Topps Stadium Club and that break filled up in less than 24 hours!  I also plan to bust a box of Pacific Private Stock in a group break, perhaps that will go up this week as well since the Stadium Club is already sold out!  You'll be the first to find out about any new group breaks if you join my Facebook group break page here.