Blog Case Break Results Part 2

Next up we have the gold parallels and the Diamond Anniversary Sparkle cards.


Kimball Champions









Diamond Anniversary









Diamond Anniversary SP



Short Prints)


Stay Tuned....

Blog Case Break Results Part 1

I am breaking the results up for the case just like last time to make it easier on me and it will give you guys something to look for during the day. The hits will be in the last scan later on.


Black SP's /60



Sparkle SP's /60



Diamond Stars






Kimball Champions




What do you guys think of the Diamond Stars cards? I kind of like them, it's something new.

2011 Topps Series 2 Case Break Links

Since it will take me until Christmas to sort these base cards, I am posting the links to the videos if you have 7 hours of your life to waste watching them. I kid, it was like 3 hours....

I will be scanning the SP's, parallels, and hits during the day and posting them starting with the blog results then the Facebook case results. But in the meantime if you want to watch, here ya go.

Blog case


Facebook case

An early look at Topps Series 2

Even though the hobby version of Topps Series 2 hasn't been released yet, the baseball product has sprung up across eBay because retail outlets have been shipped this product early. (By the way, we have two cases coming with teams still available (here and here)... email cardbandits@gmail.com if you are interested. Once those cases are ripped, there will be a more comprehensive look at Topps Series 2.)

Most of Topps Series 2 is the same as Series 1. Designs and inserts are uniform especially with the
60th anniversary and Kimball Champions.

But Topps Series 2 really seems to focus on Hall-of-Famers and retired players.

A few example include the leather nameplates and Kimball Champions. I would love to show you pictures, but for I can't figure out how to steal photos from eBay on my parents' Mac.

The SP Legend variation I actually like a little better in this series. I spotted Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan (as an Angel), Mickey Mantle and Phil Rizzuto.

Then, there are these seemingly new inserts: Diamond Stars and Before There was Topps.

And, please, don't forget the sparkly cards. There are plenty of those too. In case you missed it, Topps is having a bounty contest for Series 2. Check out their Facebook page for more info on that.

My overall impression is positive with Topps Series 2. I really liked the first series. It was fun a break and it seems as though the second one should be the same. I haven't seen prices on hobby boxes, but I am also not interested in getting any since there are two cases on the way. 

Near Mint Vintage Pick Up

Today I had to go to the card shop to pick up a boat load of boxes for the two cases of 2011 Topps Series 2 that we will be breaking later this week and as usual I had to look around. Actually, I didn't have to look very far at all.

When I walked in Dave was sorting some cards that he recently acquired and since I am nosy I had to see what was there since it was vintage and the top card on the pile was a 1962 Maris/Cepeda in very, very good condition. The next card was the one. The One. I have wanted a card of this player for a long time and kind of just figured I would eventually come across one I liked. I saw a bunch at the National last year and they were in pretty crummy condition for the asking prices so I decided to wait for a nicer one.

Here is what I stole... Well, borrowed... Well, I have a tab at the card shop now as a result of this card but I think it's well worth it.

1962 Yogi Berra




While the card is off center left to right, most cards of this era were not centered so I can live with that. The corners are pretty sharp, and there is little wear to the edges. It feels old. It also looks freaking awesome in my collection.

What do you guys think of my vintage pick-up? Looks pretty sweet, right?

If anyone is looking for cards from this year, please get in touch with me for Dave's e-mail and you can ask him what else he has. I am sure he would ship them to you and take PayPal, however he probably won't run you a tab.

My collection just took a drastic hit

Being away from a computer all day feels pretty good, especially when you're logged in on one as much as I am. But being away from a computer and not checking Twitter and the sorts for updates also means I might miss a bit of news.

Today, Kevin Kouzmanoff was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. He has not played well this year (.221 average, nine errors), but I am fairly disappointed.

Kevin Kouzmanoff is the only non-Yankee whose cards I chase. Several years ago, I learned 'The Crushin' Russian" was actually Macedonian. Being of Albanian heritage, I was thrilled to find this out because there are not many players from this region of the world in baseball.

That's when my Kouz collection started.

I have 285 original Kouzmanoff cards.

Here's the breakdown:
autos - 79
game-used -25
rookies - 4
1/1 - 4

As Chris Olds pointed out on Twitter, I could probably find some good deals on the guy now as people may look to unload his stuff cheap. It'd funny because in the last several hours, a 1/1 and a rare rookie parallel have both popped up on eBay. Perhaps, I'll chase a few more cards.

Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well for Kouz's future. He's 29 years old.

Even though Kouz struggled, I think this move caught a lot of people by surprise, including the man himself.

"Surprise, shock. I didn't see it coming," Kouzmanoff told MLB.com. "As everybody well knows, I started off slow on both sides of the ball. I was unsatisfied with my play so far this season. I got the news that I'm going down, and all I can do is just go down and get my reps in and keep working and try to work my way back."

Hopefully, he could turn it around and maybe get back with the club. Perhaps there is team out there willing to trade for him - preferably some place on the East Coast.

Another reason it stinks - the Oakland A's are scheduled to play Philadelphia in two weeks. I haven't seen Kouz play live in two years. :(

Think Topps will add Kouz to their minor-league sets?

Sunday Question

While I am aware that this may be a very loaded and dangerous question, I think this would be a great chance to see what really bothers all of us or what we all like. With all the releases that have come out this year so far we have seen some great ideas implemented by Topps and some not so great ideas. We have seen poor quality control issues, lack of innovation but we have seen products that have also included some nice inserts (The Diamond Anniversary cards), and a nice year long promotion with the Diamond Giveaway Code cards.

If given the opportunity to voice your concerns, ask questions, or praise a particular aspect of a set what is it that you would let the Topps company know? Is there something you would like to see brought back? Anything along those lines. Please drop a comment.

Topps does read our blog and I do communicate with them when I read enough about something being wrong or strange so if I see a consistent theme throughout the comments I will make it a point to contact Topps and see what we can find out.

For me personally, one of the things that really bothered me was the missing autographs in the Gypsy Queen and how that was known about prior to release leaving all of us to spend money sending UPC's back. I think the lack of Quality Control in too many instances would be my biggest concern.

A First for my Cano Collection

Lately I haven't been making many trades, mostly because it seems like many of us are buying less packs and boxes and more singles. I have been doing that, well... with the exception of the great Bowman Binge of 2011as I will now call it. That product sucks the life out of me every year, not just the last two, I always end up in way too deep to end up with 2 complete sets.... Anyway, that's not the point of the post.

I got an e-mail about a month or two ago from a reader who claimed to have a Robbie Cano card I would want. Boy was he right! I had told him to give me a little time because with the end of the semester and finals coming up I couldn't really devote the time to turning my room upside down for a trade. Being a nice guy, he put the card in a safe spot and held onto it for safekeeping just for me.

We completed the trade last week, him getting almost my entire David Wright collection (including a RC /100 that he looked amazingly cute in, you know, for a Mets player). Believe me, I didn't shed a tear to send them off. In return, I got a bunch of Pujols cards with some of them being serial numbered (which I wasn't expecting, or at least forgot about so it was a fun surprise) and a Cano card that kind of completes my set in a way. This is the card I got:

2008 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatch dual patch card Robbie Cano/Brian Roberts /25


I am in no way a fan of the Orioles, but I like Brian Roberts. Yes, I will admit it partially because he's cute but the rest is because he's gritty (when he's not on the DL). This card marks the first patch card in my Cano collection. When I search for cards I usually go straight for autographs, and game used stuff is secondary because I feel like the game used cards will be easier to get later. So, I have a dirty Cano card and now a patch.

I freaking love this card.