1992 Pinnacle Series 2 Pack break

As you saw from the last blog, I tried my luck at the vending machine in Shoprite with a pack of 1992 Pinnacle Series 2 cards. For a whole dollar I got 27 cards, and I definitely got my dollars worth if you ask me.

Since some people were curious what was inside the pack, I scanned it for your viewing pleasure. My favorite card in the pack was the Ken Griffey Jr , and the Sidelines John Wetteland card. For an old pack of cards the design kind of still appeals to me for some reason. Maybe it's because I haven't seen this design in so long, or I'm just sick of what's out now.




The Greg Maddux card is pretty cool, too. I like oddball cards like that and the Sidelines. If I had opened this pack in 1992, my favorite cards would have been the Stankiewicz (now I would know better), Ken Griffey Jr, Kirk Gibson , Sammy Sosa (now, I don't care), and Avery (who? lol).

It was fun flipping through a retro pack for a buck.

The search for "Mojo"

Since it was quite nice out here today I decided to detail my car for the majority of the day, and while not properly scrubbing the undercarriage and under the hood it is passable. He got the works today, wash, wax, and clean interior. Well, what good is a clean car with no where to go? No good.

I went out tonight just basically for a ride (and to rummage through Target and Barnes & Noble) to see if I could discover a way to get our mojo back here at A Cardboard Problem. Sadly Target did not have the answer, which if you have read this blog for more than a few weeks, you would have thought the answer was there like it always used to be. No such luck.

Ah, on to Barnes & Noble where perhaps they may have a magazine baseball related, medical book, or workout book I can check out and enjoy. Well, while browsing I discovered something that may be able to cure me and Sooz along with some of you experiencing similar pain.


Surely this book was written for card collectors, and more importantly with perfect timing. (I did not purchase this, nor did I open it.) Perhaps I should read this and share the knowledge. Nah, who cares about mojo, it's a stupid word anyway.

I kept walking and saw a sign that said "Baseball" and I made like a laser beam and shot myself straight there. Now, these books looked like fun. They certainly won't get my card mojo back but if I had time or money to go on a loooooooooong road trip, this would probably be the ultimate "funness" for me.


Well, that was all the fun that was in the mall. No mojo and no Target purchases (gasp!), partially because I don't want Topps Attax cards and the cards I still need from Heritage are not going to be in a pack or blaster so there is no point in wasting money to be disappointed.

No baseball cards meant saving money, which in turn left money for an ice cream cone with sprinkles for the win. Yum.

My final stop was Shoprite. As I was leaving I checked out the vending machine because I can't not look in a card vending machine and see what's new. That's when I felt it... a little bit of the inner child, and smidge of mojo peaked out through the darkness and lightning in the baseball card area of my brain...

Yes!!! ONE DOLLAR for TWENTY SEVEN cards. Despite the fact that there will be nothing I want in this pack, it is ONE DOLLAR for TWENTY SEVEN cards. I win. (Yes, I also know I am trying to get rid of my unwanted cards and this will not help.) How could I turn this down?

If you guys want to see what was in the pack let me know and I will post the contents tomorrow at some point.

The most random pull ever

As many of you might have noticed, I should win worst blogger of the week for being MIA. I have been back in school, 2 classes turned into three, and they are slightly higher on my list of priorities now. I still love all of you, promise.

My mom being the good sport she is, was out shopping the other day while I was at school and thought she was being nice by picking me up a couple of packs of cards. I say thought because she grabbed some American Heritage rack packs. I thought about returning both or one of them, but then decided why not open them since I haven't seen any of them yet. I wasn't impressed at all, I got a couple of reprint Jackie Robinson cards, a Firefighter card, and some other random crap. However, there was this card and I swear this Target is the best ever.



I find this card a little on the eerie side considering what happened to the space shuttle. I have no idea what I am going to do with this card. It was really cool to get something that wasn't a white swatch of a jersey, but it strikes me as odd. Interesting piece of history, but not sure if it's something I really want to keep in my collection.

My writing for the Upper Deck blog paid some nice dividends in terms of a hobby box of O-Pee-Chee which I will crack this weekend. Perhaps a live box break, though with no camera. We'll see how it goes, because if for some reason the Yankees are rained out tomorrow night the game may be played as a double header Saturday in which case I'll end up there and not playing with cards.

Anyone have any pre-orders in for any boxes? I still need to order a box of Goodwin, I am less excited about the release now only because I haven't really had much time to think about cards in the last week or two.

Takin' it back to the old school

The other day I was leaving Shop Rite, and yep you guessed it... I left with a pack from the vending machine. Poison of choice was a pack of 1998 Topps Series 1 Hobby pack. I took a picture of the wrapper so everyone could have a good chuckle of it like I did when I saw it.



I got only 2 decent cards in the pack and the rest of the cards were draft picks that never were, and scrubs. I got a Tony Gwynn and Vlad Guerrero.




It was a fun blast from the past for a change of pace. Anyone else open something old and get something cool lately? I'll be back a little later, got no sleep last night between this stupid cold and Step Brothers was on again, so of course I watched it. Last test is tomorrow and then I will have completed 12 credits in 10 weeks which I know know is quite possible, yet brutal.

A visit to the card shop

Well, it is sort of a card shop. There is only one store left near me with hobby products and it is mostly a toy store, and a place to buy and trade Magic cards for kids (and some adults). They sell supplies at a higher price, comic books, wrestling figures, and a small section dedicated to sports cards. I'm reluctant to give the name of the place, but I scanned the wrapper so you can decide on looking there yourself. The store is a complete and utter rip-off.

I've seen the owner/manager in Target buying an entire shopping cart full of the newest toys leaving the shelves bare, only to drive them up the road and double the price. I understand they are looking to make money, but at the expense of who? Small children who want to get the newest toys from new movies or tv shows? So really you are putting the hurt on parents who may not have the extra income to spend double to get their child a toy.

I think I have mentioned this store before for their 50% box of packs. I went up there to buy a 2 row box for my GU/AU cards, and to pick up a case or two for my Lind cards. Since I can't help but rummaging through that box, that was my first stop. It looked like pretty much the same packs since the last time I was there so I walked away and went to the supplies. On my way I checked out their hobby box prices, I only looked at 2009 Goudey ($103.99!!), 2009 Finest ($106.99, not terrible), and 2009 Piece of History ($89.99). Hobby packs of Goudey were $5.99, and a mini box of Finest was $56.99. As much as I want to open some Goudey, I can wait for retail and spend half as much. They were charging $2.99 for a thick (180pt.) snap case, or I could get a 15 ct. hinge case for 55 cents. I got 2 hinge cases for 55 cents each and they will serve the same purpose. I looked for a magazine toploader for my Opening Day program, but they didn't have any. I needed a binder, saw they were $6.99 each and thought that I would come back for that another day or pick up one for $5 at the White Plains show next time it's around.

Here is where the plot thickens a wee bit. I asked the kid behind the counter if he could get me a 2 row storage box since they don't leave them out, he said sure. While he was in the back, I went back to the bargain box. There they were, packs I have never opened before- 1994 Bowman's Best. Best part, they were $1.50 each! Good thing I am too cheap to buy a binder there because now I can buy useless packs! I grabbed a couple and started to the counter when something else caught my eye.

I saw a gold Yankee card, looked down and saw $24.99 and THEN read "Chase Wright". It was a 2007 SP Rookie Edition Chase Wright. I wonder if you get to meet him after buying it for that price so even he can kick your ass. Then on the next shelf was an odd Goudey advertising panel of Jeter, Ruth, and Griffey, Jr. for $9.99, which I assumed was a rip-off since almost everything else in the store was. I figured I would find out what it is, and find a price online to see if it is worth going back to pick up for Sooz. There is only one on eBay, and it seems to be a promotional Upper Deck item. Price of $9.99 seems fair so I will go back Wednesday and pick one up for Sooz. I don't understand why they used the 2007 cards, but who I am I to say what looks stupid.

I ripped my packs and here are the better cards:

2003 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Pack

I was bored. That's my defense. Well, and it was half price, so for $1.50 I figure I would see what I get. The answer is not much. My intention on going to the store I went to was to see if there were any 2001 packs in the half price box, and there were Topps Chrome and Topps Series 2. I was unsure what the price for just the Pujols card would be by itself, so I decided against buying packs. The Chrome was 4 cards per pack, and $2 per pack. The Series 2 was the same price for 10 cards. I did buy 2 packs of Series 2 and got air.

Here are a couple of cards I pulled from the 2003 Jumbo pack:

-13 Team picture cards were at the front of this pack.

-Joe Mauer/Justin Morneau Prospect card (made the pack an instant success since I love Joe Mauer)


I scanned a couple of the better cards (not sure why the left side of all of them is cropped), the rest were nothing to write home about.






I was going to go back to that store at some point to possibly pick up some Chrome packs, but I figure I won't get the card anyway so it would probably make more sense to just buy the one card either on eBay or at the card show Friday.

Snow Day (Not) Fun With 08 UD Documentary

Lucky for me I ended up taking home the keys to the store last night by accident, forcing me to go there this morning before the snow started. I dragged my mom so she could pick up a Yankees wreath at 50% off, and for my good deed I bought another pack of 08 UD Documentary to make up for the pack I opened last night. (Issues, I know.)

These suck. Flat out suck. I like that for the money I get 15 cards, thats about it. Makes me feel like I go so much, when really all I got was crap.

I got 1 Pujols card in 5 packs, not one Yankee card. I also pulled my first White Sox card in 9 packs (Yes, it's all yours Steve). I got 2 YSL cards, a Guidry and Mattingly, and an All-Star game Fukudome card (no recollection of him playing in it, but then again I was sitting there for 18 innings so a lot of things went in and out of my brain that night).

I scanned some cards to make the blog look like this was fun. The gold cards that I got were scanned, except for the pack from last night since you all already know who that was.

Now I sit here with one hobby box, 2 blasters, a box of hazelnut coffee cups for my Keurig, and no desire to go to the basement and workout. I want to take a snow day on gym activities since I am always good about that, however I was planning on taking tomorrow off. Bah.

I will end up sitting on my ass playing with cards until I have to move. There is about 4"-5" of snow outside now, and the party I was supposed to go to later will probably have to go on without me since the road I need to take to get there is covered, and my brother is now sitting on that road for well over an hour trying to get home. (That hour plus should be 4 minutes tops.)

So feel free to comment, e-mail, etc. I am sitting here horsing around bored.

1989 Bowman Gem...

Shoprite got 75 cents from me, and I got a Mint Robin Ventura Rookie....

My mom even gave it a whirl with a $1.00 pack of 95 Score Summit, and landed a Dion Sanders (!), Kirby Puckett (RIP), Tom Glavine, and some insert of Julian Tavarez who was just as scary looking then as he is now.

Stay tuned for the Card Show blog from the show we went to yesterday. It was fun, and I got a good trade in... at least I think so, I'm happy with it.