On the border

I'm not one to think that Topps seeds packs with cards representing the cities in which they're pulled.

In other words, I don't believe that if you live in New York, you have a greater chance to pull Yankees or Mets, or if you live in Kansas City, you pull a whole bunch of Royals.

But sometimes I wonder.

I took a trip to see some relatives over the holiday break. A bunch of them live in the Buffalo area, which is about a half hour from the Canadian border, sometimes less depending on where you are.

I happen to live close to the Canadian border, too (also about a half hour away), but for some reason, I think of being closer to Canada when I'm in Buffalo. I guess that's because Canada is talked about as more of a realistic destination for activity when you're in Buffalo than when you're in my town. Plus, there's all that hockey talk in Buffalo. We don't get that where I live, although we should.

So, while in Buffalo I received some cards for Christmas from my sister-in-law, who lives there. I've documented her luck with pack purchasing several previous times on this blog. Just this past Thanksgiving, she bought me a fat pack of Heritage High Numbers and these fell out:

That's pretty darn good for one fat pack of High Numbers. I usually pull a bunch of "Whozis?" when I buy High Numbers.

So, anyway, keep your eye on the Vlad Guerero Jr. card in the bottom right corner, or at least keep that name in your mental rolodex.

I opened the three packs I received for Christmas -- a hanger box of 2019 Update, a fat pack of 2019 Archives and a three-pack hanger of 2019 Allen & Ginter, with the five gold-border mini exclusives -- in the middle of taking the picture above.

The Update box contained the usual stuff (close to half of the non-insert cards were rookies) and three cards of mild interest:

Look, it's Vlad and dad.

It's also two Blue Jays and an Expo, so close to the border.

A couple of months ago, I was struggling to pull Vlad Guerrero Jr. cards, but that's not the case anymore, especially since my sister-in-law started supplying packs.

The back of the Vlad Sr. card mentioned his starting berth in the 2002 All-Star Game. I believe the photo is from that All-Star Game because that was the famed All-Star Tie, which happened in Milwaukee in 2002. Note the Milwaukee-themed NL jersey (aside: this is my least favorite All-Star Game ever).

Up next was the Archives pack.

There were no Guererros in this pack but there was one Expo.

I was happy to pull this specific player in this Expos insert because it's of a player I was pulling as a kid back in the late '70s.

It wasn't until I went back to look at the cards several hours later that I noticed the back of the card was numbered.

The Expos "50 Years" stamp on the front is blue instead of the usual silver foil, making the card rarer.

I think creating "rare" cards through stamping is pretty ridiculous, but I did note that I pulled this card near Canada. I was starting to believe in that border influence.

I then opened the Allen & Ginter cards, which didn't yield much of anything, just a bit of trade material. I think A&G is losing its sway. I even tried to get my daughter fired up over the possibility of pulling the egg card but she didn't care, and then I thought about it and I didn't care either.

Now a bit sad, I opened the gold-bordered minis. This is where I usually pull Marlins or Rockies and the cards rot on a shelf for years.

But not when my sister-in-law buys packs:

Nifty.

You can't buy this card for less than 10 bucks on the COMC site.

Also, Vlad Jr.'s 192 card number fits nicely into my frankenset binder.

Without a doubt, those Blue Jays and Expos were the highlight of those three packs, and seeing as though the Blue Jays are the closest Buffalo gets to a local major-league team and the first time I discovered Expos TV broadcasts I lived in Buffalo, that made me think about whether there's an abundance of Canadian cards in packs near the border.

Of course, my Canadian readers will likely chime in that this is definitely not the case when they're opening packs in Canada.

I suppose that's for the best. I already pull enough Yankees.