2018 Topps Heritage High Blaster Break (2 boxes)

I was able to get my hands on one of these to break not to long ago. I know blasters don't usually pay off big but I like that I don't have to have a large monetary commitment to just see what the cards look like up close. Didn't do to bad though. Hit all the big names.

Soto, Gleyber Acuna and Ohtani. Couple rookies, couple inserts, no complaints here. The set for High Number is pretty small so to hit the big guys isn't too hard. For Bellinger's rookie year I opened 7 boxes back then and I now own 7 Bellingers. (also hit the Action Variation for those interested)

I was able to pick up one big Hoskins card this past week. I will scan it shortly and show everyone. I just think the look of the card is fantastic.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer time. Thanks for reading!

A little bit of Nola!

I have a small Aaron Nola collection going. I enjoy watching him pitch and have seen him in person several times. He had an outstanding year last year and has had some rough spots this year but he has the stuff to get through it. He pitched a gem earlier this week against the Braves. For a while his auto's were basically all in the 10 dollar range. Pretty sure I got this one for that price.

Also, added bonus, his auto is actually nice looking. Doesn't have the scribble look as many other players seem to have these days. In fairness my autograph isn't all that great but no one is paying me (yet) to sign a card for them. I like the on-cardness of Gypsy Queen. I am not a fan of the price of the boxes though so I stick to singles if I'm getting anything.

Here is a nice quartet of Bowman and rookie cards. Nothing crazy but decent action shots.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the holiday and if you had the time off enjoyed that as well.

Thanks for reading!

2017 Topps Chrome Break

I not so recently picked up a few retail blaster/boxes of Topps Chrome. I am disappointed case prices have driven me away. One day I'll make enough money to set aside to open a case. I rarely ever sell too much so I'm not in it for the money. I just find it to be an immense amount of fun to open that much baseball cards at one time.

Here are some of the cards from the break.

 

These were the nicer X-Fractor cards from the mega box thing. (not sure what they call it) The Betts is a nice picture. I do like the xfractor design look. Only thing that beats it in Chrome is atomic refractors. How about Stanton getting hurt again, he's been really snake bitten this year. 

This was my 'big' hit! Never upset to hit an auto. Don't think he is doing to much.. (checks..) currently in Triple A and his Era is up over 7. He needs to get it going to get back to the majors. Who knows it can happen!

Thanks for reading!

Some 'older' inserts

I hate to call these old inserts, cause then that means I'm old and I don't feel old so I'm not old. Solid logic there. I always enjoy a good late 90's early 2000's insert set. I feel the creativity in the industry really ramped up because of all the competition and everyone was trying to stay relevant (also wow did they print a lot of cards!) Some rarities still hold value but most of the cards did not. Made getting back into collecting all that much more fun to pick up cards that were expensive back then and are not now.

Check out these inserts!

Upper Deck Ionix Mark McGwire and Greg Maddux Pyrotechnics inserts. I remember opening this box back when it came out and enjoying it. There are lots of different cool inserts and the cards have a nice stock to them.

What are your favorite 'old' insert sets?

Thanks for reading!

A Plate for Printing!

I don't specifically collect plates but I have quite a few Ryan Howard ones from random purchases through the years. I do like when the picture still looks good and isn't all ink stained up from the printing process. I think this one qualifies as nice.

This is the 2016 Topps Chrome Cyan Printing Plate. I do not have the superfractor of this year. It has been on ebay since 2016 for 400 dollars and I am just not willing to pull the trigger on the over spend. I have overpaid for Superfractors in the past but that was when it was the last card needed for a rainbow. I would still be several cards away from a rainbow in this case. Unless I hit the lottery, in which case I already have a plan to buy every single Ryan Howard card on ebay because who cares about price at that point. That mail day would be epic!

Thanks for reading, let's not talk about the game today (Braves won 15-1 yikes)

A sweet Orange Hoskins!

I picked this card up in an Inception auto lot. I figured I'd pay about what I paid for the Hoskins anyway so the other cards were just bonus. I plan on eventually selling or trading off the other cards since they don't fit my collection but some of them are pretty nice with the patches and the autos. I love the look of inception just box prices these days price me out so singles buying has been my thing lately. Always on the lookout for a fun or good deal but not too disappointed when I deem everything is overpriced. Pre-sales are crazy these days. I would love to continue my What's in a Case series with Topps Chrome but I haven't been able to budget a case in each year at this current rate. (I've hit some good cards out of these cases!)

Anyway /end rant, Here is the card this post is about.

A low numbered (9 of 10) Hoskins Patch auto. I know it's not his rookie patch auto but that's ok. It's one of those really visually pleasing cards that will stay in the collection a long time. I've been selective about which Hoskins autos I pick up and I am now up to 6 autos of his. Pretty solid! The most expensive one is the blue auto I showed in the previous post since it's Bowman and the cheapest one is probably the Bowman Tek one (although I love the look of those cards).

Thanks for reading, maybe another HR derby at the Phillies ballpark tonight!

Dark blue... light blue!

I recently picked up this rare-ish Ryan Howard card. Last year I saw with my wife Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness in concert (formerly Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin lead singer) It was a fun show and this card is blue so it totally ties into one his hit songs. Work with me on this I'm a sports card blogger.

The tape is on the top loader. It's the 2003 Bowman's Best Rookie Relic with the cool Phillies logo stamped into it. Based on odds these were 1 in 22 boxes and apparently only 10 of each player. Don't know how accurate that is but they do not come available very often. I actually paid less for the red one that I have which is twice as rare. Both of them look nice next to each other.

Thanks for reading!