Target, Temptation and Twitter

Last week when I returned from the National I hit up Target on Monday and Tuesday to see if anything new was out early, or anything was out period since 2017 baseball has been scarce on the retail level.  Monday and Tuesday there was a cart full of boxes, about half of what is pictured, in the aisle unopened.  I attempted to open some and an employee said neither I nor they can open the boxes.  Bull.  Everytime in the past I have asked someone to open them they have done so with no problem.  This lady coincidentally was there everyday all week, and the pile of boxes grew and grew.  She still would not help.

I decided to take my gripe to Twitter and tag Target and AskTarget in my tweets with the pictures and see what happened on Friday since they moved the cart but refused to display or open when asked.  It made me mad for several reasons, the obvious being that I wanted Chrome.  The other is that in terms of customer service, if you are standing around, not busy and only scowling at customers you can help and open a couple of boxes.  Her reason for not wanting to was "the person who opens them has to know how many of each are on the shelves.  Bull.  Never seen a packing slip in the boxes nor have I seen a vendor ever check them as they shelve them.

AskTarget messaged me and asked for location and description of events because they were going to contact the store.  This conversation took place probably around noon on Friday.  I went back to Target around 230-3pm Friday and every box was gone and all merchandise displayed.  

I got all the Chrome they had and half the Optic blasters because I like it for some reason.  I never buy Panini stuff because it's not licensed and the no logo cards are pretty boring but for some reason Optic became my friend.

I'm not entirely sure that my Twitter conversation got the cards shelved or if it was just the day the vendor was going there anyway but I hit the blaster jackpot.  I still have 2 Chrome to open and the 2 Optic.  I like to spread the fun out.

Here are the highlights from the first two blasters in case you missed it on Twitter.  Notice the Future Stars cards...  Those are the same ones from the 2 hobby boxes I opened so now I have 4 of each...  Good thing I didn't want to try and complete that set.

Anyone pick up any retail Chrome and pull something to trade me?!  Pujols, Cano, Judge, Sanchez?

A Target Problem

I went on a binge last week...  This was Thursday's haul.  Keep in mind I HATE Allen & Ginter.  H A T E.  Every year I buy a few packs just for the hell of it.  It's usually just to remind myself that I do not want or need a card of a ferris wheel.  Which I got coincidentally.  At any rate, here are the highlights from Thursday's catastrophe.  

Was there a catastrophe at Target Friday?  You bet your bippy.  I may have also gotten into a convo with Target on Twitter about their lack of vendor participation in moving the goods to shelves.  Stay tuned....

Rack Pack Hit!

I wanted to follow up on the post Suzy did about the odds of a rack pack vs. a blaster.  While I had never read the two to compare them until that day, it makes much more sense to go with a rack pack now.  The difference in cards is not enough to warrant buying a blaster especially when the odds of hits goes up so much.

I bought two rack packs of 2014 Gypsy Queen a week or two ago just because I was bored and I hate money.  I never get anything so imagine my face when this card appeared...

Ben Revere, serial numbered /49 on card auto.

While I couldn't care less about this player or his autograph, it was nice to actually pull something cool from retail for a change.  Anyone that is interested in this card, I am more than willing to part with it for a pack of pens or something.

2013-2014 Score Hockey blaster

I picked up this blaster over the other hockey ones they had a Target because this had the most cards for the money.  Part of me regrets picking it based on that reason alone because it is a boring base set.  They had OPC, Black Diamond and some other Panini one that only had 5 packs or something ridiculous in it.

Anyway, here is what I got.  The highlights for me are the Rangers, and more importantly a shiny new card of my boy McD.

Could the back of these cards be any more boring?  At least put the logo in color.

Anyone have a Henrik Lundqvist net camera card they would part with?  Anyone else open one of these blasters and get anything good?  I bought a rack pack of these not too long ago and those came with a couple of red parallels.

2011 Bowman Chrome Blaster

I did it again. I seem to binge buy Bowman and Bowman Chrome in recent years and I honestly have no explanation as to why since I don't prospect and I don't have a big interest in amassing a huge collection of who "might be" when I collect 3 guys basically.

I'm going to go with the excuse that I bought it for the sake of the blog since I have been using that one for years. I probably should have labeled every post I've used that as an excuse for this way we could have kept track. Maybe it's better that I didn't...

This year the blasters are the usual price, with 7 packs per box plus one "extra" pack. 24 cards = $22 with tax. Good thing I didn't buy this with the intention of breaking even.

Base cards
3 Rookies - Danny Espinosa, Cory Luebke, and Andrew Cashner
2 Refractors - Dan Uggla and Mike Minor

Bowman Chrome Prospects
Purple Refractor /799 (Every purple refractor I have pulled the last two years has been a dude I had never heard of and probably won't pan out.)
Bowman's Best Miguel Sano
Bowman Chrome Throwback Nick Franklin
Die Cut Jameson Taillon
Die Cut refractor Miguel Sano

I feel like if this were 2010 then I could have made back about $10 on the Sano's and Taillon cards.... Now those are keeper cards because it's not even worth trying to get rid of right now. Out of the 4 die cut cards I have pulled from retail 2 have been damaged/imperfect out of the pack. I was curious to see if the same will happen in hobby packs, so I spoke to Wes about it briefly and in his case he said many of them die cuts were cut horribly or had things that needed to be removed on them.

I also can't decide if it makes more sense to buy the blasters for the extra cards, or the rack packs for the green xfractors. Part of me thinks the green xfractors if you hit the right ones would make that the better buy. Odds of hitting something big in retail are slim but at least if you pull a couple of good green xfractors you can sell them and pay for your rack pack.

Reminder: Looking for Cano, Pujols, Lind, and Banuelos cards from this set- in preference order.

2 2011 Bowman Chrome Rack Packs

I had to go to Shop Rite earlier to return Bad Teacher to the Red Box and since Target is across the street I figured why not go there and buy cards for no reason if they had them. Lucky me, they were fully stocked with 2011 Bowman Chrome and probably had them yesterday even by the looks of things.

I walked around the store carrying blasters and rack packs while tweeting to see what everyone voted on me purchasing. The reviews were mixed. Whether or not my purchase was, well, you will have to stay tuned.

Here is what I got:

Hi Derek Jeter!
Hector Noesi RC
Phil Franchise refractor
Bowman Prospects
Purple Refractor, Erasmo Ramirez

Future Fractor/Refractor


Bowman Chrome Throwback, Shelby Miller

Exclusive Rack Pack Green Xfractors




I really thought I would be more excited about the green xfractors than I am. They don't do much for me, but then again I don't like green anything so that could be why. The die cut cards are fun, but the xfractor I pulled on the back of the card it was peeled on a corner out of the pack.... I like the idea, but I feel like these will be harder to pull mint and/or keep mint.

If anyone pulls any Manny Banuelos or Jesus Montero cards, please get in touch with me if you want to trade.

Anyone pull anything cool from retail? Basically I want you to give me a reason to go back to Target.

2011 Topps Chrome Rack Pack Breaks

Yesterday I took a trip to Target for no reason other than to see if they had chrome and return the bag full of empty water bottles in my trunk. I figured if they have 2011 Chrome, I can use some of the return money to buy some packs and if not I'll buy coffee. Either way I was going to win.

As luck would have it they had cards. They only had rack packs though, no blasters and no loose packs. I wouldn't have bought loose packs anyway when you can get the rack pack and get 3 orange cards. I took the 10 or so rack packs off the rack, and picked two that I wanted and checked out. I didn't feel like taking the first two for whatever reason, and it worked out to my advantage.

Here are the cards from rack pack #1:

I have a problem.

A Cardboard Problem, that is.

Two days before the National I was at Target to get some travel size items and saw that they had 2011 Bowman Platinum rack packs. I also saw you get 3 purple refractors in them. I grabbed two and then kept walking for what I really went there for which was not rack packs.

While I was walking around I almost put them back 4 times because I was wondering why would I buy packs of cards when I was going to the National and could just buy packs there, or get the singles I wanted. However, we all know how this story ends.

Here is what was in the rack packs that I didn't need but bought "for the sake of the blog post". I wish I had tagged posts that contained purchases that I told myself I bought them to see what was inside for blogging purposes and general knowledge. I bet there would be at least 100 over the years. Anyway...

Here we go:




I usually don't pick good packs in terms of getting guys I like or collect but this time I hit the jackpot as far as I'm concerned. 3 purple refractors that I really like out of 6 is awesome. The Jesus Montero, Hector Noesi, and Dustin Ackley are by far amazing pulls and I am glad I didn't put the packs back.

Overall I really like this set based on a small sample size. I have a hobby box here to break so expect a more comprehensive opinion and review coming soon.

Anyone pull either green version (serial numbered and non-serial numbered) of Cano? I'm looking for those two if anyone has them. Also looking for same for Pujols, plus red version.

2011 Topps Value boxes at Target: Yeah, I bought one

I want to say I went to Target simply to buy toilet paper and hand soap, but CVS is much closer and I get reward bucks there. Obviously, I had other reasons for going to Target.

I don't think I would have bought anything either. Really, I just like looking.

But I couldn't help myself when I saw a new packaged product on the shelf:

2011 Topps Value Box. $14.99. Sold.
- One of three exclusive chrome refractors (Either Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson or Babe Ruth)
- Five packs of Topps Series 1
- Two hobby packs of Heritage
- Two Diamond Anniversary giveaway cards

Here are some of the goodies from Heritage (I can never seem to pull my own guys).

And, lucky me, I got a double of this. I'm sure the dog would love a new chew toy.

Here are some of the cooler inserts from the Topps packs.

I've grown a new respect for these History of Topps cards. While they are not the prettiest of cards, I like the idea of Topps informing collectors on the history of baseball. In Series 2, it has Before They Were Topps inserts.

What's also fun about opening these packs is that even though they are Series 1 from this year, there are still some fun cards you can find.

Remember us?

The exclusive chrome refractors are very nice. I like the design a lot. Out of three, I also got the player I wanted most.

There was a nice little surprise in the box: A collector's guide for 2011 Topps products. I haven't read it yet, but I fully intend on going through this and reviewing the guide.