2010 Topps Series One Hobby Box Breaks (4 boxes)

My brother and his family gave me a check for my birthday and Christmas with the caveat that the money must be spent on something fun.  Twist my arm why don't ya!?  So I bought four 2010 Topps hobby boxes.

I'll just show some of my favorite cards, inserts, and the hits.

 

I have to lead with this card for two reasons.  First, Bumgarner has pitched two seasons in the minors and accumulated some of the best stats in the history of minor league baseball (1.65 era, 27-5, 273 innings pitched).  And he was just a teenager.  I hope the Giants have him in the rotation all season.  I'm very curious to see what becomes of Bumgarner.  Having Lincecum around will no doubt help him learn even faster.  

The second reason I chose this as the first 2010 card to appear on my blog is that this picture of Bumgarner could fit into almost any era.  It could be 1958, 1968, or 1978.   Also, he looks closer to age 35 than age 19 in this shot.  Add to all this a very suspicious looking microphone and we have card perfection.

What a great photo!  Little Ichiro winning a game with a home run, presumably.

Fielder hit a walk-off home run against the Giants.  He jumped on home plate and pretended to "explode".  The force of the "bomb" knocked his teammates down.  This has the feel of football showboating (a bad thing).  It is also a reason purists could point at Fielder and say they dislike him.  The Giants certainly were not happy with the Brewers' behavior.

My feeling is although I generally hate showboating, I found this to be so alarming, original, and shocking, that I laughed like mad.  As they said on MLB Network that night, it was a clever and hysterical thing....once.  Two times or more and this funny moment becomes a terrible trend.  They never did it again.  They knew.  And from it we have one of the best cards ever.

This was the day Henderson eclipsed Ty Cobb in career stolen bases.  When he passed Brock, Rickey proclaimed himself the greatest player of all time (or that's how everyone took it).  Nolan Ryan threw a no hitter that day, stealing much of Rickey's thunder.  Rickey gave us a thousand goofy quotes.

Like others, I really enjoy the Tales of the Game inserts.  They picked out some unusual moments.  You get about six a box.

Wow.  I had no idea.  Pretty amazing.

Boggs ate chicken before every game.

The Legendary Lineage insert set design doesn't really do much for me.  It manages to be both plain and busy at the same time.  

Although the lineage info on the back of the Robinson/Guerrero card is lame (apparently both hit home runs and that scares pitchers), for the most part the ties prove interesting.  For example, on the Cobb/Granderson card, the back notes Granderson's 23 triples in 2007 were the most since Cobb's 24 in 1917.

Nine per box.  

 

The Franchise History cards really capture the romance of stadiums.

Doesn't Honus Wagner look five feet wide here?

Hmmm...I guess I didn't scan a single of the Peak Performance cards.  The mix ranges from today's stars like Sizemore and Utley, to legends of the past (even Dizzy Dean).  You get nine PP per box. 

The backs of these have some pretty cool information too.  I think Topps really put a lot of care and heart into what they wrote about this year.  I am impressed.  Also, the back of the Mize card uses the word penultimate, which is one of my favorite words.  Win.

Turkey Reds never leave me.  Never.  I pulled nine per box.  

When I was a kid (35) you used to be able to buy entire boxes of Turkey Reds.  Every card in the pack was a Turkey Red!  The Salad Days (2007).

You get about six History of the Game cards per box.  Who is that giant guy on the top left?  This is two pictures combined, I assume.  The Ruth shot is sublime.  The catcher and the giant man aren't needed.

 

The Athletics had first pick in the first MLB Draft in 1965.  "Hmmmm, we'll take...let's see...Johnny Benc---wait.  No, no.  We'll take Rick Monday."  

 

The Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert set is super.  I like reproductions of old cards.  The only problem I have is I hate the name of the insert.  It works fine for this Yaz and other old card remakes, but the set also includes newer cards such as Longoria from 2009 Topps.   Topps is either saying "Our cards are so worthless moms throw these out a year after their kids buy them," or they are saying moms are really dumb.

The original backs like this Yaz come about one per box.  The standard back cards come nine per box.  

These are the other three original backs I pulled.  Ripken and Murray!  Pretty lucky for an Orioles' fan.

Some of my favorites of the standard backs.

 

What a card!  The gold works perfectly with the Giants' colors (these are serially numbered to 2010).

The Giants sure have a handful of exciting players.  All very young too.

 

Six gold cards per box.  Click images for a larger look.

Black serially numbered to 59.  Utley!

Not bad.

Better.

Better still.

Ah ha!  The big hit.  S/N to 99.  A sweet card for sure.

I am a bit disappointed that four boxes yielded no autos, but that is my only complaint.

I think 2010 Topps is one of their best sets in years.  I love the base design and there's some excellent photography along with interesting inserts (and lots of them).  The packs are a lot of fun to open considering the cost ($45-50).  I'm also kind of excited to redeem my 24 'Million Dollar Card Giveaway' cards.  It adds another layer of intrigue.

Mr. Topps Company, I approve.  Brother and family, thanks!

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus Hobby Box Break

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus Hobby Box

20 packs, 6 cards per pack

Every Box contains (4) Autograph Cards, (1) Game-Used Memorabilia Card, and (4) Parallel Cards
Cost:  $24.95 (Blowout Cards - Black Friday deal)

These cards are of surprisingly nice quality.  The stock is sufficient.  The design is fairly unique; an industrial look with a splash of color.

As is the case with these type of prospect boxes, there are a lot of names I didn't recognize.  But there are enough well-known prospects that it keeps it enjoyable.  Look at Gordon Beckham's neck.  Friggin' huge.

I was glad to get two of my favorite young Orioles: Matusz and Arrieta.  The New Baby Birds.

Here is the first of the nine hits.  Bryan Shaw (s/n: #36/50, green version).  As you can see it appears Shaw is pitching in the dark.  There are some issues with lighting in this set but it isn't a major distraction, and in fact it looks pretty cool in this case.  Shaw was in Advanced A ball in '09.  At age 21 his era was 4.70 in 107.1 ip.

 

Brad Hand (s/n: #19/25, yellow version).  Hand struggled mightily in Greensboro (A ball) in 2009 (4.86 era, 127.2 ip), but he was just 19 years old so he has plenty of time.  This is one of the first cards I've ever seen in which the player was born in 1990 or later.  I recall being shocked when the back of cards reported birth dates of 1980.  I'm getting old.

Lance Lynn (s/n: #08/50, PROminent die cut green).  This 22 year old Cardinals prospect was very effective in AA last season (2.92 era, 11-4, 126.1 innings pitched).  He was promoted to AAA and was strong in his one start before the season ended.  He is 6'5" and 250 pounds.  Not a bad pull.

 

Madison Bumgarner (s/n: #16/25, PROminent die cut yellow).  This is the pull of the box.  Bumgarner has been brilliant in two professional seasons.  His minor league lifetime record stands at 27-5 with a combined 1.65 era in 273.1 innings (A and AA ball).  He was just as impressive in his cup of coffee with the big club (1.80, 10 inning, 10 strikeouts).  He will be just 20 years old in 2010.

 

Ryan Flaherty (s/n: #009/199) is now age 23.  He has not played above A ball yet.  He did hit 20 home runs but at his age, at that low level of minor league ball, it's nothing to get excited about yet.  This game used jersey card is a good example of how terrible a white jersey looks when combined with white cardboard all around it.

 

Josh Lindblom seems to be a solid prospect as well.  He got beat up in AA (4.71 era, 57.1 ip), but was strong in AAA (3-0, 2.54 era, 39 ip).  He is in the Dodgers' system and is just 22 years old.

 

Brian Price was in the Red Sox system in 2009.  He does not appear to be a very good prospect at this point.

Ike is the son of former major league pitcher Ron Davis.  Ike Davis was drafted by the Mets.  He does not have any professional at-bats listed.

Edgar Olmos (s/n: 19/25, auto) is a 19 year old Marlins' minor league pitcher who has very little experience in pro ball so far.

That's pretty much all the cards worth scanning.

There's a chance at some nice autos with some low s/n inserts as well, so I feel this box is a worthwhile buy at $25.  However I see it priced $50 often as well.  Somewhere in-between the two prices is about the ceiling I'd pay. 

Thanks for reading!