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A Cardboard Problem
Yesterday at Target I was in the baseball card aisle and as I was walking away 2 2010 Topps Chrome baseball rack packs fell into my wagon. I felt compelled to try my luck and see what orange refractors I could get.
Here are the highlights (note one pack had an extra card):
If the rack packs were priced at an actual bargain it would be more fun to buy them. For $8.99 you get 3 packs ($2.99 each normally) and 3 orange refractors in a pack. I get that the bargain is supposed to be the additional refractors, but making them like a dollar less would be more fun.
I like this years chrome set because there are so many different insert cards and not just a boring base set. I bought one card from this set on eBay which I will show off later. The addition of the Chicle refractors, purple and orange refractors, and the rest make this a fun set to track down if you are a player collector. Well fun and frustrating, but I need something to do besides science so this is a good distraction.
These are all for trade except the Halladay which is going to Stale Gum. I need the Cano and Pujols orange cards. Actually as far as Cano goes, I am looking for purple, orange, red, and xfractor.
Anyone pull anything super sweet from the Chrome yet? Any trade bait to dangle in front of me?!!
Earlier this week I went on a little binge on eBay. I picked up a couple of single cards I really liked to save myself from buying a box of something I can't afford and really won't want once I open it. I decided to put in an offer on a 2010 Topps Triple Threads Adam Lind auto, and I won it. Great. Today I get my mail and there it was, within days I got my card. That made me happy, until I opened it.
Now, I can't get mad because the card isn't damaged and was wrapped in bubble wrap however, the card is missing on essential element. Look closely... Click to zoom in... That's right, no top loader. Not even a penny sleeve. Just thrown in a team bag. Sigh. I know Lind isn't all that good, but he deserves a toploader.
Yes, I know how crazy the title of this post sounds but it is exactly that. We are approaching the League Championship Series this week and the World Series isn't that far off, so it is definitely the best time of the year. The downside is that baseball season is almost over, which means a countdown to pitchers and catchers and nothing to watch on tv. I would say this even if the Yankees weren't in the playoffs, I just love playoffs.
What will be great this week, no matter who wins either series are the pitching match-ups between the teams. Obvisously when you have the four best teams playing each other that will happen, but something about this year just feels exciting.
Friday night will start the ALCS, where C.C. Sabathia and C.J. Wilson are scheduled to pitch. Both pitchers had great seasons, Sabathia winning 21 games and Wilson winning 15. Two or three of Sabathia's rookie cards happen to be in toploaders in my PC, and I think I ended up with it from a bargain pack a year or two ago. He also has one autographed version of his rookie card. What an idea, a few rookie cards to chase and none of them command an $8,000 price tag (ahem, Albert).
This is the part where I say I'm glad Cliff Lee can't start game one. This is also the part where I say I'm not sure if that matters because he can still pitch twice in the series if need be.
Now, the NLCS seems like it will be an absolutely incredible pitching duel. Roy Halladay, who in case you live under a rock, threw a no hitter in the NLDS will be pitching against Tim Lincecum who happened to have pitched a game where he struck out 14 batters. Sounds pretty boring, right? NOT (said in Borat's voice). During the regular season Halladay won 21 games for the Phillies, and Lincecum won 16 for the Giants. I honestly don't know if I have any Halladay rookie cards, but I know I have a bunch of Lincecum base rookie cards in my binder.
With all the excitement in the air this week it will be really hard for me to concentrate on studying for my midterms.
Which pitching match-up are you most looking forward to? Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how Phil Hughes pitches for the Yankees. I feel like Andy is going to go out there and give you everything he has just as he always does, and well C.C. is C.C.
While in Target today I noticed an open shipment box that was waiting to be put on the shelves so I rummaged through it. I saw gravity boxes of 2010 Topps Chrome Football, as well as rack packs, and blasters. I debated dabbling with a blaster but then remembered I really don't care about football cards, and other than Tim Tebow I wasn't sure what I could flip out of the set.
It didn't dawn on me until just now to think to have checked the blaster prices on those to see if they would ring up $17.99 like the 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball blasters have been.
I just looked up a couple of the Tim Tebow cards in the set and figured that if you are looking for them, you would now have a quick link guide here:
Hooray something new came out to buy? Yeah, that's it... Hooray.
I had a gift card for Target and since I had heard a rumor about 2010 Topps Chrome blasters ringing up for $17.99 instead of $19.99, I figured I would take a ride and see if there were any left. As luck would (not) have it, there was one lonely blaster left. I grabbed a blaster and 4 packs and left knowing I would be sorry I wasted my gift card on 12 cards and a potential box of air.
I only opened the packs so far because I was so busy finishing schoolwork due Tuesday. I will post the contents of the blaster later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Here are the packs:
One thing to note about the retail version of 2010 Topps Chrome baseball is that the cards seem to have the same centering problem as 2010 Bowman chrome inserts did, they are terrible. The plus side is that it seems that they used better stock to print the photos on. I also noticed the back of the cards feel kind of waxy, if that makes sense. Other than that, I kind of just bought some of this product to check it out and open something.
Here is the deal: I have posted many blogs and twitter updates, sent DM's on twitter, IM's, etc. asking if the owners of the teams from the 206 break were claiming their teams and those who have not responded or paid are now out of luck. There were several people interested in getting in on this break and now is your chance.
These teams are NOT available and have been PAID for:
I will pick up the case on the release date, and providing I do not have a test to study for, I will break it that night or on the weekend if that works better for people to be able to watch.
I want to get this filled by the end of the week at the latest, so please send your $31 (AS A GIFT) to cardbandits AT gmail DOT com, along with your team name and mailing address.
Last week at the card show I picked up a couple of cool cards for my PC, but just haven't had time to blog about it until now. The show as I mentioned in an earlier blog was pretty small compared to the previous shows at the Westchester County Center.
I know most of the vendors there because they are always the same guys. I stopped at one table and picked up a card:
2008 Topps Opening Day Robinson Cano (red line is on the penny sleeve)
Nothing else exciting at that table so I moved onto the guy who knows who I collect and just rattles off what he just opened of my guys before I look for them. He pointed out he still had the Albert Pujols Finest /25 for me, and had just opened some 2010 206. He said he thought of me when he pulled this card:
Naturally, I bought it. He also had these two mini American Caramels that I needed so I snagged them as well.
I also grabbed a couple of other random cards that I needed from guys that were selling them for a quarter or fifty cents.
Last but not least, I finally snagged one of the 2010 Topps blue back Albert Pujols cards. That made me happy.
While it was nice to walk around at the card show and flip through some bargain cards and pick up some good stuff, it honestly was not very exciting. I hope the next show has more to offer because this one was kind of blah.
Go figure, when I finally couldn't care any less about pulling a Strasburg RC he pops up unexpectedly. I'm over the moon. Really.
