House update and Topps Update

Hi - I moved. I painted. I raked. Now I can start to unpack and reorganize all that cardboard.

That's my tiny house! 

I have a couple trade posts coming, and the break from Nachos Grande arrived mid week. I still don't have Internet in the house, so posting will be sporadic.

To commemorate the new home, I picked up some Topps Update during one of the hundred trips to Target this week.

Chrome vs. Update base 

Fun stuff from Update

Fun stuff from Chrome 

loading . . .

Well, I'm way way behind on posting and I don't have any drafts.

I'm packing this week, moving next week, and hopefully unpacking shortly after that.

I just received a package from Adam of Cardboard Clubhouse fame, so I will have a post about that soon.

Other than that, I'm not going to sweat the small stuff and will post when I have the time and the Cardboard...

Transatlantic Triple Break: 2010 Bowman Chrome

 I'll be honest, I was hoping for a Kennys Vargas parallel in this box. Didn't think I would get one, but that was the hope. No Vargas card, but the third Transatlantic Triple Box Triple Break was a success!

 Check it out:

 Some key rookies that made a splash in the 2015 season (and post season)

 A couple more rookies, including poster boy Stephen Strasburg.

 This Gold Refractor is numbered to just 50!

 This subset has 100 cards, all numbered to /999.

 Some unnumbered refractors...

The hit! And the base card version. This /500 refractor Auto of Gary Sanchez is on the way across the sea as we speak.

It was a lot of fun to break these three boxes, and I was rooting for Kevin and Matt to get some good stuff the whole time. I think we did pretty good!

Transatlantic Triple Break: 2013 Topps Mini!

 Box #2 in the Transatlantic Triple Box Triple Break! 2013 Topps Mini-Cards

 so cuuuuuuuuuuuuute.

 The main insert was Chasing History.

 There were six of those!

Gold! I had AL Central and NL West, Matt had AL East and AL West, Kevin had NL East and NL Central. They busted a box of this before, so I switched up the divisions to give them some new cards to look at.

 Big hit!

 Since Jedd is from Matt's home town, this /25 parallel is walking the plank to West Virginia!

Matt is also the lucky winner of the box auto! Hellickson is one of several promising young Rays starters.

One more box to go from me! You can check it out tomorrow.

Transatlantic Triple Break: 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars

My contribution to the Transatlantic Triple Break was to provide three smaller dollar boxes for a triple box triple break!

 First up is 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars - 5 Autos per box!

 Here's the first pack - this was a window into the collation - lots of doubles. Each pack had one World Baseball Classic card. The box had no Pirates! What?

 Parallels of /1799

Some more of the WBC cards - I think these are pretty cool.


And finally, those 5 signatures we were promised:

Ryan Rupe, Nelson Cruz (!), Jeremy Accardo, Alay Soler, and . . . . Huh? Oh, Man, it's a redemption. Insult added to injury, the redemption is of Martin Prado, who apparently didn't sign for Upper Deck.

That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. I've added a stack of trade goodies to each package for Matt and Kevin as insurance in case they got skunked by a box, and also because I haven't sent much out recently...

Transatlantic Triple Break! Walkin' The Plank

The Transatlantic Triple Break Begins! Bob Walk The Plank busted a box of 2014 Panini Classics. Between myself, Matt, and Kevin of The Card Papoy, we each get two divisions. I received cards from the AL Central (Featuring my hometown Twins) and the NL East. Let us look to the East first . . .

 Giancarlo is featured prominently in the box, I ended up getting four different Stanton cards. I really like the "Legendary Lumberjacks" insert set.

 Ol Satch! Paige is featured as a Kansas City Monarch, which I am guessing is coming my way since the current KC team, the World Champion Royals, are in the AL Central. He's a PC guy of mine, so I'm very happy to have this card!

 In the AL Central portion there's plenty of star power, too. Jose Abreu and Miguel Cabrera are featured prominently.

And now, the hits...

A Giancarlo Relic! Numbered to 99.
Also, a Danny Santana Autograph! Nice to get a Twins player in the box.

Now, the way this Triple Break works is each one of us buys a box (or boxes) and then adds in some trade goodies. No money is exchanged, but we all get awesome cards. Here are the trade items that came my way from Matt:

 Now we're talking! Byron Buxton.

 Miguel Sano! If the packs of Prizm I got had either of these guys, I would have flipped out. Too Cool.

Two Time World Series Champion Kent Hrbek. Giant Slayer. Women want him. Men want to be him.

Awesome! This is going to be a great Break!

My Twins Frankenset: Page 18

Hey, why so late posting today?? I blame the end of Daylight Savings... 

I've seen a few FrankenSets out there - for example John has a Braves set and a Uniform Number Set, Tom has a Cubs set, Nick has the Dime Box FrankenSet, Robert has a serial numbered card set, Night Owl has a night card set. Jeff's got a White Sox FrankenSet. T.J., The Junior Junkie, just started showing his Griffey Frankenset. I'm sure there are many others. Tell me about yours in the comments!

I decided this would be a good way to at least start organizing my Twins cards.

My own "rules" for the set are pretty simple -
1. Each card should be a Twins player in a Twins uniform (and exclude multi-team cards)
2. If at all possible, each page should have 9 unique players and 9 unique sets
3. Have Fun (Mandatory)

Here's Page 18:

 The Backs:

154 - Harmon Killebrew 2014 Topps Archives (1989 Topps Design)
155 - Brian Dozier 2015 Topps Archives (1976 Topps Design)
156 - Minnesota Twins Team Card 1972 Topps
157 - Zoilo Versalles 1965 O-Pee-Chee
158 - Rick Aguilera 1999 Topps
159 - Marty Cordova 1995 Score Select Select Rookie
160 - Paul Molitor 1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice
161 - Boof Bonser 2007 Upper Deck
162 - Josmil Pinto 2014 Topps Red Hot Foil

I feel OK about having two cards from Topps Archives in a row - they show different designs at least. The big winner for me is:

1965 AL MVP Zoilo Versalles looks like a grandpa in those glasses, but he had a fantastic season in '65, and it didn't hurt that the Twins made the World Series that year. 

And Hey, O-Pee-Chee!

Just One "Pack" of 2015 Onyx Platinum Elite

It's more like a box.

 4 Cards, 2 of which will be autographs.

 Each Pack is in plastic inside a faux velvet nest inside an onyx cardboard box. DJ Peterson from Seattle is the first base card.

 2nd Base Card is an Outfielder - Teoscar Hernandez of Houston.

 A hit! Bradley Zimmer was one of the guys featured at the National in the Onyx promo packs, so maybe he's not terrible?

 All of the three cards shown have this style back. Based on the chart this Zimmer card is out of 200, but there's no serial number, so who knows for sure?

 2nd hit is St. Louis Cardinal farmhand Breyvic Valera.

Valera played most of the season in AA this year, and has a career average of .301 over 6 minor league seasons, currently playing in the Venezuelan Winter League. He'll be 24 in 2016. The card has noticeable damage along the edges,  but it is hand numbered in silver ink to 150, so that's kind of cool.

Anyone want any of these? I generally stay away from products like this - the chances of getting something I collect is pretty small when I am only getting one box. This set has Sano and Buxton, and was heavily discounted on Dave and Adam's, so I took a shot. I wouldn't say I regret it, but I probably won't do it again, either.