Group Break: 2008 Upper Deck Heroes

Ok, so now we're on to a big chunk o cards.  Four blasters of 9 packs of 5 cards, plus one extra pack that I picked up along the way.  That's a total of 37 retail packs.  This is where scanning and listing every single card became impossible.  I did keep a couple of cards for my set, but only base cards.  I replaced each one with the same player's black parallel from my own collection where possible.  There were a couple of cards where that wasn't possible, but I was able to replace that player with an Upper Deck Masterpieces card or an Upper Deck APOH card.  Again, if you need specifics on base cards, just drop me an email.

In total, there are 98 base cards

and 14 multi-player/team base cards

Obviously the cards where the players are all one team will go to that team.  The Boggs/Mattingly and Carlton/Santana cards had dupes, so one goes to each team.  The other cards have been set aside and will be randomed to the teams when the group break is winding down.

There are also 49 regular black parallels

Maybe the only time you'll see Daric Barton grouped with Bob Gibson and Joe DiMaggio

and 7 multi-player/team black parallels

Ok, so 2 cards that came out of the packs really have me confused.  I'll show them, then explain:

I threw a regular base card in to show the odd darker color of the Boggs and Mattingly.  Some of you are saying, "well, spankee, those are beige parallels".  But, I have pulled beige parallels in the past, and they have been numbered, whereas these are not.  These were in consecutive packs of one of the blasters.  Has anyone else come across these before?

A stack of Yankee Stadium Legacy cards came out of these boxes as well, but I'm not showing them, because we don't need to see that many Yankees.

On to the colorful cards.  Four numbered parallels came out of the blasters



I love the colors on these.  These are so much better than the brown and beige parallels.  The Bedard and sick Kaline are #'d to 249, the Mauer is to 499, and the Uggla is to 199. This is the point at which Tigers collectors should start to realize they should have bought in.

Well that does it for the...oh, wait, what's that, there was one more card in one of the blasters? That's right, the first hit of the break goes to...



The Dodgers!  A sweet Chad Billingsley number lucky 13 of 125.  Congrats to Josh for picking up the first hit of the break.

At this point, the Yankees have roared into the lead with the Red Sox in second place, mainly because 2008 Heroes is overloaded with both of them. 

You can see the Yankees nearing 50 as their color gets closer to yellow...how nifty is that.  The little scissors logo next to the Dodgers is my quick reference that they have a relic...get it...scissors...jersey...get it?  For autographs, a pen shows up.  I'm enjoying this break, it gives me reason to screw around in Excel. Just like that, we're 330 cards into the break.  It really says something about the current state of cards when 21% of the cards are parallels, and there are three times as many parallels as inserts. 

Group Break: 2011 Topps Update Jumbo

I swung by the LCS on Monday and picked up a few random packs to throw in as well as a 2011 Update Jumbo pack.  I'll ruin the post here by saying there wasn't a hit in the pack, but still some nice cards.  Since I started the break before it closed with some 2011 Update, I figured why not start it officially with some Update.

Most break posts will be all scans, and some may have videos if I'm feeling frisky.  Obviously, I didn't scan every single card.  I tried to scan the good stuff, but scanning every single card just isn't happening.  I will show updated team counts with each post.  If you absolutely want to know what base cards you have from a certain product, send me an email and I'll let you know.  If I type out every single card, it'll be months before you get to hold any of them.  Anyway, back to the Jumbo pack:

Liquorfractors for the Rays, Reds, and Mets and a Sparkly for the D-Backs.  The Rangers pick up a nice gold parallel of rookie Cody Eppley.  The Hawk goes to the Cubbies and the Royals hit with their first insert.  Mini Lance Berkman is clearly not impressed. 

With this jumbo pack and the Update cards from the last post, here are the current card counts:

The Cardinals take the early lead (just like the playoffs...whoa that's crazy), though don't expect them to hold off the Yankees for long.  The color in the far right column of total cards will change as your team approaches 50.  Since I guaranteed 50 per team, I wanted a way to see where I stand.  The color changes gradually from red at 0 to yellow at 49, then to green at 50.

A Hokie from Charlottesville...

This card unexpectedly arrived in my mailbox a few days ago, and it is my first ever VT baseball card.  I love the Hokies jersey with the VT on the helmet.  This card came courtesy of Kevin of The Mojo Beard, or I guess The Mojo Beard, though now it's really kinda just Kevin's blog, haha. Kevin, who works at that other college in Virginia, is very generous to send Hokies my way.  I've tried sending him some Wahoos, but they keep catching fire before I mail them. Weird. 

Working in housing there must be tough.  I can't imagine what it's like dealing with all of those kids saying, "Mommy and Daddy said I could have the big dorm room!"  and "I demand a larger closet, where else will I keep all of my gameday ties?" and "What do you mean I can't have Zima in my room?".  

I can help with the "ties" problem, Kevin.  Just tell them to pick out the four they like and wear those to the games UVA wins. 

Thanks, again, Kevin.  I really dig the card.

Group Break Closed

All teams have been claimed, just awaiting payment.

2011 Topps Update packs and Group Break Bidding Ends tonight!

Check out the group break details here and see the current bidding here.

How crazy am I? So crazy that I am showing group break cards before it's even locked.  I picked up two rack packs and three loose retail packs of 2011 Update, and they will kick off the break. 

Let me start by saying this is my favorite Update card so far.  Good timing on the photo and the placement of a gigantic beer ad is awesome, even if Budweiser sucks.  Just think if this was a '70s RC of a good player.  How awesome would that be.  Anyway, on to the good stuff:



Well, looky there.  A few nice cards of Red Sox and Giants, which haven't been bid on yet. 



Sparkly unclaimed Brewers, Angels, and Yankees galore! And I realize the Red Sox may be one of the more expensive teams, but you would at least walk away with the best card of these update packs:

A Cognac sparkly of the Babe! These should be called liquorfractors.  Geez, do you really need any more reason to bid on the Red Sox than a blue parallel and a Cognac Sparkly Legend. I recommend the Yankees as well.  Really, you can't lose on any of the teams that haven't been bid on.  There are a ton of great teams in there, and I will do my best to make sure you get your money's worth.  I will be adding packs as we go, in addition to the massive pile I've shown a few times lately.  I'll even add a sweet bonus for last minute bidding tonight. If I get bids on both the Yankees AND the Red Sox, plus any one of these teams:

Los Angeles Angels,
New York Mets,
San Francisco Giants,
Minnesota Twins,
Detroit Tigers,
Los Angeles Dodgers,

I'll add this to the break:

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures

Tigers, Rangers, and Brewers, but not the Cardinals...

...are still without bids in my group break, as are several other great teams.  Go here for the details and here for the current bidding.  I'm sure at least one of you is waiting to snipe a team Sunday night, but you can always leave me a max bid and I'll autobid up to that.  I'm surprised the Mets and Dodgers are still sitting there, too.  As many fans as there are out there, I expected some interest by now.  And sure, the Yankees are the most expensive team, but they always have a lot of potential for good stuff. 

Look at the teams $10 and under still out there:
Oakland Athletics
Washington Nationals
Toronto Blue Jays
Florida Marlins
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Diego Padres
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays

Half the price of a blaster for 50+ cards of your team?  I'm practically giving this stuff away.

Just for good measure, the other bidless teams I haven't plugged in this post are:

Boston Red Sox
Los Angeles Angels
Chicago White Sox
San Francisco Giants
Minnesota Twins
Colorado Rockies
Seattle Mariners
Milwaukee Brewers
Baltimore Orioles
Cincinnati Reds

Lots of great cards to be had. Hit me up!

Sick of this picture yet? I'm not.

2011 Chrome Value Packs x2

I picked these up on separate occasions with some birthday cash.

Some Base cards for the PC.

Some regularfractors.

Xfractors of a decent rookie and a guy with a terrible last name.

Retro inserts that I can't decide if I like or not.  Of course, I love the David Wright.

But you really came to this post for the orangefractors.

Batting .500 on Phillies is okay, since they're going to win the series, hand down.

Three new cards for the PC make me happy, and I got some good trade stuffers.

By the way, don't you want a piece of this:

Tons of great teams still without bids in my group break.  Trust me, you won't be dissappointed, even with the expensive Yankees! Go here to see where bidding stands, and go here for an explanation of this madness.