Yay for me!
Anyone can find 2010 Topps cards living in a civilized setting. That's no achievement. But finding 2010 Topps cards in a place where you get a foot of snow in one day and the kids still have to go to school? That's worth an award. Also, I would like to note that I found them a full week before I found them last year (of course, that's because Topps released its set earlier this year, but them's details).
The gravity feeder at my Target was jammed full. But instead, I went with the one blaster that was available. I know, I know. I said last post that I wouldn't get any blasters this year. Well, this is an exception because I bought this blaster with money meant for the card show. Those dollar bills were destined for cards. So it's all good.
I am going to show the entire blaster contents, but first a word about my blog crisis.
If you read the Play at the Plate blog, you'll remember that Brian posted about scanner issues recently. (By the way, he is holding a contest. See how smoothly I fit that in here?) In the post, he mentioned that he had used up about 11 percent of his available photo space. Some people commented that they didn't know there was a limit on uploading scanned photos. Well, I knew. Because I was dealing with that very issue at that exact moment.
My love for featuring as many scans as possible on posts had come back to haunt me. Last week, when I was detailing the dayf bipping, I tried to upload the Hershiser bipfest scan and blogger told me I had no more space available. After a period of puzzlement -- because all things computer puzzle me -- I figured out that there is a limit to how many scans can be uploaded and stored in my Picassa Albums. You can purchase more space. It's not much -- 5 bucks, I think. But ever since, I've been doing blog maintenance trying to free up more space.
I'm sure I'm going to end up paying because there's no way I can free up more space on my own -- that is unless someone knows of a way around this. I have two blogs, after all. I'm curious whether any veteran blogger has encountered this.
Anyway, this has forced me to rethink my posts. I'll probably be scanning fewer cards for each post, and limiting trade posts to a few key items. I don't want to do that, but actually it will be a positive. I won't spend as much time posting and it'll force me to be more selective and concise. That's not a bad thing.
So, with the contents of this blaster, I will be showing just one card per pack. That's 10 cards in all. And that amount will be the high end for future posts. No more 20/30-card posts. Sorry.
OK, first cards of 2010 purchased by MESELF:
189 - Adrian Beltre, Mariners
326 - Tyler Colvin, Cubs, rookie card
260 - Yankees franchise history
PP-8 - Justin Morneau, peak performance insert
FCTTT3 - Hanley Ramirez, toppstown
313 - Jason Kubel, Twins
246 - Leo Nunez, Marlins
50 - Zack Greinke, Royals
Notes: There are only eight cards per pack in blasters ... Beltre is the first card I pulled so I have to show that. ... The Peak Performance insert series is way lame. It's practically a Toppstown card. Same deal.
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249 - Jon Niese, Mets
242 - Bobby Jenks, White Sox
215 - Max Scherzer, Diamondbacks
292 - Tommy Manzella, Astros, rookie card
CMT43 - Tony Gwynn, Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert series ('94)
TR6 - Justin Upton, Diamondbacks, Turkey Red insert series
TTT5 - Evan Longoria, toppstown
113 - Willy Taveras, Reds
Notes: Nobody was throwing out cards in 1994. Nobody. ... I have no idea why the Hanley Ramirez toppstown card had an FC in its card number and the Longoria did not. They look exactly the same. ... Bobby Jenks needs to get rid of that thing on his chin immediately. If he's trying repulse everyone, he's doing a fantastic job.
295 - Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
34 - Michael Dunn, Yankees, rookie card
197 - Indians team card
TOG16 - Bo Jackson, Tales of the Game insert
LL21 - Hank Greenberg/Ryan Braun, Legendary Lineage insert
TTT12 - Miguel Tejada, toppstown
247 - Andre Ethier, Dodgers
179 - Ryan Spilborghs, Rockies
Notes: Woo-hoo, first Dodger! ... The Youkilis card is very interesting. Nice to see some young ladies in the audience, if that really is an actual audience from that game. One never knows. ... The Tales of the Game insert set rocks. The Legendary Lineage insert set sucks. It puts me to sleep.
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22 - Anthony Swarzak, Twins
163 - Josh Butler, Brewers, rookie card
HOTG25 - First MLB game played in Japan, History of the Game insert series
WTWY-AP - Aaron Poreda, When They Were Young insert series
TTT18 - Vladimir Guerrero, toppstown
257 - Bobby Crosby, Athletics
201 - Tigers team card
158 - Jeff Niemann, Rays
Topps Attax ad
Notes: I'm on the fence on the History of the Game insert set. It looks dull, but the concept might work. ... The Tigers team card features two guys no longer with the team -- Granderson and Rodney. ... There are a lot of players in this set that I've never heard of before.
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175 - Josh Hamilton, Rangers
236 - Andrew Bailey, Athletics, AL Rookie of Year
145 - Justin Upton, Diamondbacks
CMT54 - Ryan Howard/Cole Hamels prospects Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert series ('05)
689 - Ryan Howard/Cole Hamels prospects 2005 reprint
PP1 - Albert Pujols Peak Performance insert
TTT25 - Manny Ramirez, toppstown
252 - Ronny Cedeno, Pirates
Notes: I got both the Mom Threw Out card and the reprint variation card back-to-back. Getting a reprint of a 5-year-old card is completely ridiculous. The card is virtually the same as the actual 2005 Topps card, so I wonder how many sellers will try to pass this card off as the real thing. ... The Bailey card has the AL Rookie of the Year mention stamped in foil on his card. I don't know if Bailey has a seperate base card in the set or if this is his base card.
93 - Joe Nathan, Twins
148 - Cody Ross, Marlins
273 - Pat Neshek, Twins
287 - Jhonny Peralta, Indians
72 - Brewers franchise history
TR17 - Derek Lee, Cubs, Turkey Red insert
TT9 - Roy Halladay, toppstown
279 - Randy Wolf, Dodgers
Notes: The Wolf card is strange. Not only does the photo show the back of him, but he's wearing a red cap. Not a good photo choice. ... My inability to pull Twins has been cured by this blaster.
15 - Bobby Abreu, Angels
40 - Josh Johnson, Marlins
311 - Jose Valverde, Astros
LL8 - Tris Speaker/Grady Sizemore, Legendary Lineage insert
TT6 - Ichiro Suzuki, toppstown
70 - Cole Hamels, Phillies
55 - Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
105 - Madison Bumgarner, Giants
Notes: I do believe the Ramirez card is a night card. ... At least the Lineage card features players from the same team. ... The Valverde card is awesome. I'll have to show it some time. But not now. Photo limit, you know.
88 - Jerry Hairston Jr., Yankees
143 - Omar Vizquel, Rangers
263 - Placido Polanco, Tigers
269 - Checklist, Yankees Rodriguez, Jeter & Cano
CMT48 - Ivan Rodriguez, Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert ('99)
TMC-3 - Million Card Giveway code card (Gibson '63 card featured)
TTT23 - CC Sabathia, toppstown
152 - Nyger Morgan, Nationals
Notes: A-Rod's uniform pants are WAY too tight. I'll leave it at that. ... I am very curious to see what card I unlock with this Millon Card Giveway. It better not be anything from the late 1980s.
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193 - Sharon Martis, Nationals
323 - Jim Thome, Dodgers
196 - Ian Desmond, Nationals, rookie card
265 - Angels team card
CMT9 - Carl Yastrzemski, Cards Your Mom Threw Out ('60)
TMC2 - Millon Card Giveaway code card (Gary Carter '78 card featured)
TTT2 - David Wright, toppstown
146 - Yunel Escobar, Braves
Notes: Two throwback packs per blaster. That's a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. ... Very pleased to get the Thome Dodger card. ... The Yastrzemski Mom Threw Out Card is not a gray back card. ... Another code card. I'll see what happens on February 15th.
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60 - David Wright, Mets
135 - Ryan Dempster, Cubs
322 - Travis Buck, Athletics
329 - Rockies franchise history
CMT36 - Bo Jackson Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert series ('87)
PP37 - Hanley Ramirez, Peak Performance insert series
FCTTT19 - Justin Upton, toppstown
103 - Daniel Murphy, Mets
Notes: OK, I figured out the FC notation on the Toppstown cards. Those are the cards with gold backgrounds. I don't know what FC stands for. ... The Wright card is very cool.
My overall thoughts:
-- Too many inserts. The Tales of the Game series is excellent and I was disappointed to get only one. I can live with a couple of the other insert sets, too. But Lineage and Peak Performance are wastes.
-- The design is very colorful, which I love. The large logos are awesome. They make the whole card. (If you don't know already, Major League Baseball filed a lawsuit today against Upper Deck saying UD is continuing to use MLB logos even though it no longer has a licensing agreement. You knew this was coming. Upper Deck, I could never figure you out. Now, more than ever).
-- I wish they would have scrapped the foil. It's easier to read than last year, but this design reminds me of an old-school set, and no old-school set has foil.
-- The photos seem to be consistently good like last year. In fact, when I compare the two sets, there are a lot of similarities. I may like this set even better.
-- Card backs are better than last year.
Overall, I think this set is slightly better than last year's Topps set. That's saying something because I really liked last year's set a lot. For those who feared that Topps would mail it in, as the sole MLB licensee, I don't think that has happened. This set won't blow you away. But it's a basic flagship set, so you shouldn't be looking for your mojo jollies here.
I still don't know if I'll be collecting the whole set like last year. I'll see how many cards I accumulate here and there. If I find I'm close to finishing it off, then I'll finish it off.
Oh, and here's this thing:
Bleah.
On the good side, I did get five Dodger cards.
Comments
10 packs x 8 cards? 80 cards for 20 bucks and some of those are parallel versions that I can't put in my set. Boo.
20 bucks gets me 10 packs from the gravity feeder and they have 12 cards per pack. .. 120 cards vs 80 cards. Makes those cheapo patch cards not so worth it. When you are getting 12 cards per pack the 3 insert cards per pack dont seem excessive either. Getting the Target exclusive mini red back cards occasionally is nice too.
So there are actually cards on those million card giveaway things? Now I feel compelled to try to get the Gary Carter one, even though I don't normally stress over his post-retirement issues.
Got a blaster at K-Mart today. I kind of like all the inserts- at least they are not SPs. (are there SPs in the base?)
the only way around I've found is to flip the ole blog to multiple users. Picasa is user based, not blog based. So starting next week, we could have posts by "night hawk" and you'll get a brand new start on picasa.
use your "night owl" account for perusing everyone else, and leaving comments.
better than paying $5... but I think for $5 you get a LOT more space. Like 10x what you have now or something.
Or a Big Mac supersized meal with a shake and some apple pies. (I don't really know McDonald's prices.)
Or maybe a pack of Camels. (I don't know smoke stick prices either.)
To avoid the hassle of multiple accounts, spend the five bucks.
I hate the stupid USA Patriotic Holiday caps that teams have worn the past two seasons (Randy Wolf's card.) I wish they would go away, but I bet they won't.
Also, we have that Carter you're looking for. Check our site for a pic!