Returning to the sucker club

 

I made one of my six-times-a-year visits to Walmart on Sunday.

I'd like it to be less than that, but I've documented the pitfalls of living in a semi-populated area many times. I tell myself at least it's not as often as 10 years ago when I was making once-a-week trips to find cards.

But speaking of that, I was there to get a couple household items, a combination of which you can only find there, or by ordering online and waiting two weeks for them to arrive in the mail. I naturally ambled over to the card kiosk section to take the edge off. It's really a candy-and-such kiosk but do I see any of that other stuff? No.

It's funny how Walmart has suddenly become the place to go for cards now. Target has been a disaster since mid-2020. But Walmart, which had been a card desert for at least five years, has rebounded a bit. There, I found blasters of Allen & Ginter, Heritage, Stadium Club, Bowman Platinum and various Panini things that didn't register.

I felt lucky. And then I realized that very little there would make me happy. I'm not collecting any of it. I've opened all the 2022 Heritage I care to open. A&G is always fun, but I'm done with that. Buying Platinum would just make me sad, even if there's Dodgers in there I need.

But I succumbed. Stadium Club it was. I still need a couple of Dodgers from that set. I haven't opened any of it yet. The pictures are always nice. These are all rationalizations. Welcome to 2010, night owl! You're a sucker again. And at five-dollars-a-box more!

But enough of beating myself up. We all know these cards are useful to more than my collection. It's trade bait. It's blog material. It's substance-abuse free (well, except for the Canseco card I'm about to show).

 

 

 

Let's get to it.

 

 

PACK 1

 

82 - Ted Williams, Red Sox

PZ-15 - Freddie Freeman, Dodgers, Power Zone insert

146 - Rodolfo Castro, Pirates

160 - Jose Altuve, Astros

248- Ivan Castillo, Royals

 

All right, we see why I'm not buying cards once a week anymore and also why I'm glad I bought this. Glad I bought it because DODGER INSERT. Not buying once-a-week because 2 rookie cards in a 5-card pack is modern-card nonsense. I may be a sucker but at least I'm not a rookie-card sucker.

 

(P.S.: My dad would really like that Williams card).

 

 

PACK 2

229 - Teoscar Hernandez, Blue Jays

T-20 - Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners, Triumvirate insert

153 - Chas McCormick, Astros

128 - Tony Gwynn, Padres

36 - Drew Ellis, Diamondbacks

I rarely pull those Triumvirate things and Junior to boot, so yay. Rookie card count: 3.

PACK 3

74 - Jose Berrios, Blue Jays/Rod Carew

100 - Wander Franco, Rays, red foil parallel

23 - Nolan Ryan, Rangers, chrome parallel

119 - Jo Adell, Angels

23 - Nolan Ryan, Rangers

The Ryan chrome card is a nice pull (doggie!). As for the Franco, I think I've pulled his card in every blaster I've opened in the last year. Rookie card count: 4.

 

 

PACK 4

20 - Ernie Banks, Cubs

TOF-3 - Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays, Team of the Future insert

167 - Spencer Torkelson, Tigers

264 - Randy Johnson, Mariners

234 - Tyler Gilbert, Diamondbacks

I AM THE HOT ROOKIE KING! ... That Team of the Future insert is ugly. Rookie card count: 6.

PACK 5

114 - Jose Canseco, Athletics

127 - Anthony Rizzo, Yankees, black and white parallel

207 - Luis Gil, Yankees

126 - Cedric Mullins, Orioles

276 - Cody Bellinger, Dodgers

I used to really like the black-and-white Stadium Club cards, which I think were called "orange parallels" back then. Now they're very blah. Rookie card count: 7.

PACK 6

 

109 - Eli Morgan, Guardians

134 - Casey Mize, Tigers, red foil parallel

17 - Nick Castellanos, Phillies

270 - Aaron Ashby, Brewers

100 - Wander Franco, Rays

THREE ROOKE CARDS. And another Franco. Rookie card count: 10.

 

 

PACK 7

 

107 - Jeremy Pena, Astros

67 - Jim Abbott, Angels, black foil parallel

10 - Robbie Ray, Mariners

286 - Bo Bichette, Blue Jays

262 - Kyle Schwarber, Phillies

 

HOT ROOOOOKIES. Rookie card count: 11.

 

 

PACK 8

 

232 - Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees

66 - Colton Welker, Rockies, red foil parallel

161 - Aaron Judge, Yankees

73 - Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox

194 - Lorenzo Cain, Brewers

 

The Judge card is probably my favorite look out of the box. I must be a sucker for MLB stunts, too. Rookie card count: 12.

 

So, that's the whole box. For the rundown we've got:

 

Rookie cards: 12.

Regular veteran players (which make up the vast majority of baseball rosters): 22.

Inserts/parallels: 9.

Cards needed to complete the set if I was completing the set: 34.

Percentage of the set that I received: 11.3%

Price per card: Around 62 cents.

 

Yup, I'm back in the sucker club. I can't even get interested in most of the images anymore..

See you in a few months, Walmart.

 

(P.S.: There was also a Master photo insert thingy in the box, but I'm saving that to send to someone. Shh, it's a surprise).