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!

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Hobby Box Break (Box 2, Twelve Hits - Any Good?)

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars Hobby Box

24 packs, 4 cards per pack

Content Highlights (on average):
4 autographed rookie cards (printed on silver foil board)
7 foil-numbered inserts
Find limited triple signature cards
Cost:  $29.95 (Blowout Cards - Black Friday deal)
Estimated Cost Through Ebay (with shipping):  $35-50

Take a look at the Upper Deck Future Stars Box 1 break if you wanna get a wider scope of the base in this set.  This box break won't recap base stars because it's pretty much the same, but here is what they look like:

This card is being set aside for Carl Crawford Cards (yup I got doubles as I hoped).

Now for the hits:

Elijah Dukes (s/n: #328/999).  How many of us are still waiting for Dukes to flourish?  His lifetime .771 OPS is better than many would have guessed.  His ability to walk and hit with a bit of power makes him a reasonably valuable player.  It also keeps people hoping he can turn into a 20 hr, .900 OPS type player.

Chase Wright/Joe Smith (s/n: #388/999).  Joe Smith is a serviceable middle reliever (career:  3.49 era, 141.2 ip).

Chase Wright (s/n: #100/500).  Two, count 'em, two Chase Wright inserts!  Ugh.  Wright was in Milwaukee's minor league system in 2009 (AAA:  4.51 era, 131.2 ip).

Jeff Baker (s/n: #070/500).

Michael Bourn (s/n: #099/500).  Hmmm, I got a different serial numbered card of Bourn in the first box of this product.  He won the NL stolen base title in 2009 (61 sb).

Brandon Webb (s/n: #009/199).  The first star hit.

Derek Jeter (s/n: #180/199).  Now we're talkin'!

Anthony Lerew auto.  The end of the road may be near for this 27 year old pitcher.  His lifetime 3.52 era in the minors is decent, but in parts of four seasons in the majors (just 35ip total) his era is 6.69.  He's in the Royals system now.

Jared Burton auto.  A fairly successful middle reliever for the Reds (3.47 era, 161 ip lifetime).

Levale Speigner auto.  He'll be 29 throughout 2010.  He pitched relief in AAA for the Marlins in '09.  This guy is pretty much dominating the minors now, but his major league career, as brief as it has been, is terrible so far: 9.19 era, 48ip.  I don't know if the Marlins picture him as a bullpen arm in the majors or if he is a roster holder in AAA.

Mike Schultz auto.  He may be out of baseball, but he's still very tall.  They can't take that away.

So you are saying, Field, there is a lot of garbage here.  True.  However, just like in the first box, I received five autos (four were expected).  The fifth one saved the box:

Prince Fielder auto.  My first Fielder auto!  As some probably know by now, I have a lot of respect for the way Fielder plays the game, not to mention the stats he is racking up at an early age.  When I pulled this I said what I assume everyone says when pulling a Prince Fielder auto: "Goody Goody Gumdrops".

So I got a lot of good base (not shown), two nice serial numbered cards (Webb, Jeter), and the Fielder signature.  This box trounced the first one.  Nonetheless, after opening two boxes now, this is a product that seems to have a LOT of dud inserts.  You need some decent luck to come away happy if you pay full price for the box ($50ish).

2008 Topps Series 2 Hobby Box Break (A Surprise Hit!)

2008 Topps Series Two Hobby Box

36 packs, 10 cards per pack

One Relic or Autograph per box

Cost: $21.00

Just about everyone has seen thousands of these 2008 Topps cards by now, so I'll keep it simple.

Great card of Prince Fielder doing what he always does:  Full barrel hustle.

This is the first 2008 Topps Series Two box I've opened.  I opened a lot of Series One.

Markakis Gold!  Me likey! (All gold s/n to 2008.)

Okay Andrew.  It's now or never.  Start dominating already.

Gold rush of commons.

This card is a bit bizarre.  It's ultra thin like a throw away contest card (because that's what it is), yet it's serial numbered to 999.  This is one of those cards you are supposed to fill out and mail off to enter the Home Run Derby contest.  I wonder if people actually did that.

I never tire of Mantle inserts.

I received numerous cards from this great subset but these are the two coolest.  Taveras because he is doing an old school pose while wearing an old school glove, and Pedroia because he loves dirt.

I know these Trading Card History cards are all over the place, but the retro look wins me over.  The only one of these I previously had is the Peavy card.

Topps Stars inserts.

Alex Gordon game used jersey.  Hm, where does black come from?  Aren't Royals jerseys powder blue, navy blue, and white?

But look!  A hit!  I was so unprepared for this type of hit that I nearly threw it out.  I mindlessly treated it like another expired contest or pointless code card.

This is supposed to be Evan Longoria.  Is this really going to be a Longoria auto?  By looking at Ebay it seems to be.  If and when I get this card I will pass out.

Obviously I am thrilled with this box.  You get heap plenty base stars (not shown) and a bunch of inserts and a game used card.  I lucked out on the Red Hot card but even without it this box gives a lot of bang for the buck.