Showing posts with label David Wright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Wright. Show all posts

Jan 9, 2010

UDX Blaster Turns into Fine PC Day

So for the past 3 months or so, I have walked past (read: labored in front of for 10-20 minutes) the local SprawlMart trading cards section and noticed one recurring, unselling blaster box. It is a box of 2008 Upper Deck X, marked down 40% to $11.48.

Every time I think about getting it. A plain black box with a sleek holofoil "X"...is tempting (I love holofoil, I'll admit it.) Today I picked it up, noting that before I had been discouraged by the fact that there was little writing, and that it doesn't state how many cards are in each pack (therefore box). But today, however, I noticed the message on the side: "One Memorobilia Card in EVERY Box, on average!"

So I bit. What's the worst that could happen? Pull a few die-cuts, some trippy Xponential inserts, knock off a good portion of a decent checklist, for $11.48. I could tell which pack had the hit once I got home and observed every pack. In fact, the hit:

GBOAT (Greatest Blue Jay of All Time) #2 Carlos Delgado, is actually equal in thickness to five base cards. I was pumped about this card, placing it at the bottom of the stack. Also, I was glad that it was a Jays relic, not a Mets one. However, the color in the background is Mets, the card says Mets, and Carlos has not played in Toronto since 2004, yet he has a Jays jersey on. More on this card in another post.

The best Xponential (X^3) I pulled was a very nice David Wright. Once I got back on to blogger this afternoon, I noticed Dinged Corners posted David Wright, Curtis Granderson and Barry Zito as players they wanted to trade for, so this guy will have a good home over at Dinged Corners. Enjoy it!

The Xponentials are really cool for X^2s I pulled David Ortiz (who has been haunting me since this fall) and Pedro.

Also added a Tulo to the PC:

Often when I buy cards, I like to mix it up. Buy one plaster, add a random foil. Today random foil was actually wax(ish), and was 2008 Topps Heritage. I really like these, and got none other than my main man Dusty Mc:

Also added David Eckstein in a Jays uni, and a Hanley Ramirez. Always noting that Topps like to play the short print game, i turned all the cards over and checked for irregularities. The Hideki Matsui was the only rogue, with a black background behind the number. I did a little research and found that short prints are inserted 1:3 to mimic the original '52 set. The black backs were not listed as a short print...so how knows.

Dec 28, 2009

2009 Topps T206 Jumbo Pack Rip

Solid pack. Steep in price, but the quality was premium. We'll start with some solid base cards...

Card 1 - Mickey Mantle Checklist 2 of 7
Card 2 - Todd Helton #200

Card 3 - Tommy Hanson #262 (Rookie Card)
Card 4 - Derek Holland #61 (Rookie Card)
Card 5 - Roy Campanella #224
Card 6 - Derek Lowe #45
Card 7 - Luke Scott #152
Card 8 - Alex Gordon #256
Card 9 - Cy Young #143
Card 10 - David Ortiz #24
Card 11 - Troy Tulowitzki #293 (Added to Player Collection)

And Now for the HITS. Yes, HITS. Although this was a jumbo pack, and I never expect to pull much out of them, this one had two solid hits within it.

Card 11 - Josh Outman Framed Piedmont Autograph

I've got a few autos lately, mostly from ebay bargains (see: Dexter Fowler, Jesse Carlson) but I haven't seen a good on-card auto in a long time. Outman has a solid, legible auto, as you can see in the scan, and the sunset background goes well with the blue framed border. Though I had been a fan of Allen & Ginter's Framed sets prior to this pull, I have to side with T206 here, again, as their mini doesn't rattle around inside and worry me of corner dinging.

Card 12 - David Wright #171 CYCLE Mini #/99.

Very solid pull. I was wondering if there would be minis or bronze/gold parallels in the jumbo packs, and now I know they at least have minis. Pulling my first mini T206 short print was great. Now I want more.