The older I get... the less attracted I am to the gambling aspect of card collecting. A few years ago, I enjoyed the thrill of busting boxes in hopes of pulling "the big hit". These days... I'd rather spend my hard earned money on hand picked singles for my collection.
However... Dave & Adam's lured me back to the dark side with two items I have wanted for a few years. The first item is an autographed baseball that I'll share in a future post. The second item is this black San Jose Earthquakes soccer jersey with their old logo:
With those two items sitting in my shopping cart, I decided to pick up a few boxes to take advantage of the free shipping.
The bulk of my money was spent on this 10 blaster box lot of 2011 Panini Americana:
I also grabbed a box of 2005 NECA Napoleon Dynamite Flippin' Sweet trading cards:
And of course, I had to have at least one box of baseball to break. I considered picking up a few different 2016 Topps baseball products, but settled for a pair of logoless Panini boxes:
These two boxes are obviously "low risk/low reward" options, but for under $24... it provided me with about 30 minutes of entertainment last night. Which brings us to the second course of today's smörgåsbord.
Second Course: Last Night's Box Breaks
I debated on busting all thirteen boxes in one sitting, but ultimately... I set aside the Panini Americana blasters and the Napoleon Dynamite box for another day. Then I grabbed the 2014 Panini Draft box and went to work. Here are the highlights:
I'm not a big prospect guy, so I was hoping I'd pull an autograph of at least one guy I recognize. I did. But it wasn't any of these three guys. I might have seen Cole Tucker's name in a Bob Walk the Plank post. And I'm sure I've heard Zimmer's name at some point, since he's the Tribe's top prospect. Unfortunately if you asked me about either of these guys before the box break, I wouldn't be able to tell you anything.
On the other hand, I do know who Michael Conforto is... and I pulled a redemption card for his autograph in the last pack I opened:
Unfortunately... it's expired. I still attempted to redeem it. Only time will tell if Panini takes care of me. For all of the prospectors out there... here are the other hits from the box:
The only other guy I recognize is Rusney Castillo, but he hasn't really lived up to the expectations many people had for him.
Overall... this box was okay. At least I pulled something I can eventually send over to Woody (@ CCW) and Matthew (@ Bob Walk the Plank).
The other box I busted was 2013 Panini Triple Play. In my humble opinion... this product is garbage. I guess if you're a five year old kid, it'd be okay.
I was able to build the 90 card short set:
I found an Altuve insert I didn't own (he's hiding under Adrian Gonzalez):
I also pulled an Ichiro insert I needed:
The rest of the box is a bunch of blah...
blah...
blah...
Luckily for me... the entire 24 pack box was only $3.50. I guess for that price, I can accept a few "blahs".
Third and Final Course: University of Washington Huskies
These days, I pretty much root for any Bay Area college team. But in the early 80's... I was a big Washington Huskies football fan... thanks to my cousin Keith who attended UW at the time. I'm sure he's probably celebrating today after finding out they'll be headed to Atlanta to face Alabama in the Peach Bowl. Go Huskies!
I have an important post regarding the Super Trader's group set for Tuesday. Until then...
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
10 comments:
Panini honors all redemptions. At worst you'll receive something. I always recommend calling them with expired redemptions as you can give them an idea on replacements you'd like and they often do a good job of taking care of you.
Are you willing to trade the Zimmer autograph?
Those Triple Play are rather... Odd.. Aren't they? I think I prefer the original series put out in 1992-1994..
Triple Play has to be one of the worst sets of all time. Even $3.50 seems like too much
Odd that a set called "Draft Picks" would include Rusney Castillo, who wasn't a draft pick.
I am with ya-go cheap or go home.I went a little crazy on boxes lately-worst one was the 2008 UD Goudey-which was also the most expensive-
Yeah, Tucker was a first round pick a couple of seasons back. I've shown a few of his cards on the blog.
You actually pulled some good names in that box. Zimmer and Conforto are/were big prospects.
I also pulled a Conforto redemption from that product. I ended up tossing it away on Listia, and that was a source of regret for me because he got hot right afterwards. BUT looks like that auto was never produced. I can't find any pictures of the card online. And if it wasn't produced by now, seem unlikely to ever be put out. But who knows? Best of luck at least getting a solid replacement for it!
I'm one of the five-year-olds who collects Triple Play. I do it now more because I have the 1990s sets, and the modern sets fit in with my "art" set collections. They aren't exactly beautiful cards, though.
That said - did you not get a hit in the Triple Play box? That must have been a retail box. I'm still trying to finish that set - all I need is the batting glove relic for a complete master set.
greg zakwin - thanks for the heads up. i'm pretty overwhelmed with life right now... but if i do have a few moments, i'll definitely call them up.
tshenson - considering the fact that he's worth less than $5... it's not worth the time to package or the trip to the post office for me. got a lot on my plate right now. the good news is there's at least one guy who has the same card on comc for $4.99.
mike matson - i definitely prefer the 90's versions too.
ketchupman36 - yeah. i'm okay with never purchasing this product ever again.
section 36 - great point.
b man - i still have an itch. took the day off to clear my head... and will probably take a trip down to the wholesaler to buy supplies. if they have any good deals on boxes, i might just pick up something to break as well.
matthew scott - yeah, i figured i'd heard of him from your blog. hopefully zimmer ends up being something. maybe one day he'll help cover the box.
defgav - yeah, noticed there's nothing except for a redemption card on eBay. we'll see what panini sends.
ryan g - hey buddy... hope things are going well. the next time in cali, i'll hand over every card i pulled from my break. unfortunately... no hits. i did consider building that same set of relics. i own the jersey card. if i come across the batting glove... it's yours.
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