2008 Topps Hobby Box Break Series 2 (Box 2 - Happiness Again!)

2008 Topps Series Two Hobby Box

36 packs, 10 cards per pack

One Relic or Autograph per box

Cost: $21.00

The first box was a hit:  Topps 2008 Series 2, Box 1.  In that box I got an Evan Longoria Red Hot Rookie redemption auto card.  I nearly fainted.  Obviously I remained in bed for several days until I recovered.  Fortunately I was able to reach my cards and carry on.  They call that "being brave".

Box two did not disappoint:

I got very lucky with the gold card pulls in this box.

Last time I received just one star (and one potential star) out of seven gold cards.  This time I got two Hall of Fame locks (F. Thomas, Jeter), a star (Sizemore), and a guy who may still  become a star (Gordon).

Luis Gonzalez isn't so bad either (2591 lifetime hits, 354 home runs, .283 ba, .845 OPS).  Gonzalez is an impressive 15th on the all-time doubles list (596).  Had he hit just 29 more doubles he would have climbed into the top ten.  He has more doubles than Palmeiro, Yount, Murray, Hornsby, Frank Robinson, Boggs etc.  He had over 1000 extra base hits in his career.  Not bad at all.

One Mantle insert (two in the first box). 

A lot of commons and a star.  I still enjoy this subset.

Great cards, especially the Michael Young and Markakis.

Topps Stars inserts.

David Ortiz bat card.  I like the borders on these cards.  It works in small doses.  Strange to highlight a doubles record for Designated Hitters.  Does anyone know the doubles record for left fielders?  Pretty random record.

Jared Weaver (Black, s/n: #55/57).

Alright!  I thought this was my big hit of the box.  But I was told every box has a Red Hot Rookie redemption.  Not sure if that is true.  A few sources online do verify it.  I'd think Topps would advertise that type of promise on the box.

Of the twenty cards in the Red Hot Rookie redemption set, just two are autographed:  Evan Longoria and...

Jay Bruce!  Back to back Topps auto boxes!  I have had my share of bad boxes (just check out my breaks), but boy howdy these two were gems.  Like the Longoria, I have no Jay Bruce autos.

I am still confident Bruce will become a star.  He's just age 22 (23 for all of 2010) and already has 43 career home runs.  Even though he had a rough 2009, Bruce is just too impressive and too powerful to dismiss (as some prospectors already have).

Of course I won't fully believe I'm actually going to get these two autos until they are in my hands.