Just One Pack: 1996 Upper Deck SPx

One pack - one card - dis betta be good . . . 

Ooh - fancy! Does Bob Walk the Plank's Matt have this card yet? I might just keep it if you do....

A Fantastic Break

I joined the break for Fantastic Catch's propsects boxes, and as expected, I took the Twins. This was actually my first group break ever, so I'm excited to share these cards today! Weston busted boxes from 2008 Tristar, 2011 and 2012 Elite Extra Edition. That meant a ton of prospects, and right in the sweet spot of the best draft positions for the Twins in several years.

 Adam Brett Walker, Jose Berrios, and J.T. Chargois 
Walker is still leading the AA Chattanooga Lookouts in Homers -
Berrios, also in Chattanooga, is just 21 years old and is striking out about 9.8 batters per 9 innings -
Chargois had a pretty serious injury and missed pretty much all of 2013 and 2014. This year he dominated high A ball and was recently promoted to the Lookouts as well. These Twins have a bright future.

 Hey - there's Aaron Hicks and Byron Buxton - that Diamond Kings card is awesome.

Former Twins CF'er Ben Revere, recently promoted to MLB outfielder Eddie Rosario, and Mason Melotakis. Melotakis had Tommy John surgery before the start of the year so it remains to be seen what will happen next year. 

Here's the hit from the break - very cool green ink auto numbered to 10. Dan Osterbrock is now pitching in the independent leagues, but it's still a very cool card.

Thanks again for hosting the break, these cards are fantastic!

Just One Pack: 1995 Topps Stadium Club High Numbers

1995 Topps Stadium Club has Series 1, Series 2, and these... High Numbers.

Let's see what we get in a pack:

Base cards - look the same as Series 1 and 2... not much to say about these guys.

A lot to be said about this guy, punching his ticket to Cooperstown.

Inserts - TransAction (for traded players) and Extreme Corps ... for uh, Extreme Players? I guess?

Each pack is seeded with 4 inserts, the last one was my favorite...

EXTREME!!

A 1964 Venezuelan Topps Update - Braves

I've been able to find a few lots of 1964 Venezuelan Cards - here are a bunch of Bravos.

I will probably want to replace that Joe Torre at some point, but at first I am going to be adding these cards to my set in any condition. Who knows if I'll be able to find a good replacement?

There was no Hank Aaron in this lot, so I will still need to acquire that big one at some point, there were a few big ones, though:

 ALOU!!!! All three Alou brothers are in the Venezuelan set, I'm 1/3 done with that subset now.

As you can see, these backs are rough, rough, rough. Ed Mathews is pretty clean on the front, it is tempting to say that it will be good enough for the final set until you see all the paper loss on the back. Then again, I might not see one in better shape that is affordable.

That's the game you play with these super rare cards!

Long Lasting Flavor

Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum and I just completed our first trade! Jeff has been reading the blog and checking the want lists, that is for sure!

 Ya know what? I don't care how often Topps re-uses this image - it's awesome.

 Greatest Hitter of All-Time*

Some fun Opening Day inserts - these were both new to me!

Before Kennys Vargas (Lil Papi), There was Big Papi.

Thanks very much Jeff, these were awesome!