Matt, author of the blog Diamond Jesters, writes one of my favorite series Time Travel Trading. He's always got some great stuff available, and I claimed five cards for our latest swap:
Two of the newest additions to his trade stack were the 1964 Topps Roman Mejias (really clean card!) and the 1976-77 Topps Jacques Lemaire. I jumped on those right away. The Moses Malone had interested me when Matt first added it to the stack, and since it was still available I claimed that, too. Matt nudged me in the direction of the Sweet Caroline card - which I had totally missed - and I threw in the Carlos Correa for my star player box.
As a bonus, Matt threw in the Martin Brodeur Pacific Heads-Up card and the Sunkist Protoceratops (I think I mentioned collecting dinosaur toys as a kid.) Matt, thanks again for another great trade!
I've been shuffling through my surplus baseball cards and trying to fill as many wantlists as I can. When I made my first trade with Bo (Baseball Cards Come To Life!) I kind of flaked out on checking his wantlist and just sent him a bunch of Yankees. This time I did my homework and found 31 cards he needed. Andso I picked out 31 cards from his tradelist...
Bo had two cards from 2011 Topps Update - this Andrew McCutchen All-Star and the J.D. Martinez RC at the top of this post. That J.D. is red-hot, so I expanded the trade beyond a swap of base cards.
Two more for my 2016 Topps set. Most collectors dislike '16 and '17 flagship, and I don't disagree with them. I can live with the smoky '16 set though - and it's been easy to piece together most of it. I only need 19 more cards ...if anyone can help me put that set to bed I'd sure appreciate it!
Some 1994 Leaf, a few stars, and a Rogers Hornsby insert. In my St. Louis post I mentioned that I'd like to add more Hornsby cards to my collection..didn't take long to address that.
I grabbed a bunch of Topps Lineage from Bo because the player selection and design appealed to me...
...and also because I think one of my blogger friends is collecting this set. I can always use more tradebait.
I showed these Giants in my San Francisco post. The Belt RC is a dupe, as it turns out.
Finally we have five Rockies. I had no idea that I picked so many of one team, but I'm not complaining. The Jimenez and Helton are keepers. Possibly the Walker as well.
Bo, thanks again for the great trade!
Before these trades were completed I had joined a group break hosted by Trevor P (Bump and Run Football Cards) Trevor is a fellow Packers fan, but this was a baseball box break-the first he's ever hosted and the first I've ever participated in.
The 4-box break included two Hobby Boxes of 2018 Stadium Club, a hobby box of 2018 Diamond Kings, and a blaster of 2018 Topps series 2. I was tempted to choose a potentially profitable team like the Angels or Yankees, but I played it straight and went with the Red Sox. My randomly assigned team was the Brewers..which would have been okay, except Robin Yount isn't in any of these sets :/
Here's the Diamond Kings. I've never bought packs of logoless Panini before..these aren't bad at all. Taking that 2016 Topps smoke effect to a whole new level. I got 5 of the 8 Red Sox in the base set (missing Harry Hooper, Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio.) Didn't pull any SPs or variations, but Trevor was kind enough to assign the J.D. Gallery of Stars insert to me. He's clearly pictured in Arizona colors, but the card says Boston. I'll take it!
Trevor's box of Diamond Kings yielded the entire Milwaukee Brewers team set. Here it is:
No Ryan Braun, no Robin Yount, no Gorman Thomas...nothin'. At least there would be some nice Brewers in Stadium Club.
The one Brewers card that I was really hoping for was the Keon Broxton, which in my incomplete analysis is a top-ten card in the set. Did I get it?
Nope! I got every Brewers base card except Broxton! Figures, huh? At least I got my first Milwaukee cards of Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich.
Here's the rest of the Brew Crew-including the four base cards from the Topps2 blaster. The Mike Fiers was one of four Brewer freebies.
Eight of the ten Brewers I have (and 8 of 11 overall) were vertical, but all of the Red Sox I pulled are horizontal. It just so happens that the three Sox I didn't get - Rafael Devers, Jackie Bradley, and Mookie Betts - are the only three vertical Sox in the set.
These two have drawn raves from Sox fans and non-Sox fans alike. Its no wonder Dustin Pedroia keeps getting hurt-his glove is much too big!
The Topps2 blaster yielded just one Red Sox base card, but two inserts in Williams and Devers. The Boggs insert, Vazquez, and Brian Johnson were among the ten Boston bonus cards Trevor added.
While I didn't get any 'hits' it was a fun break. I would certainly consider joining another one - when I have some extra money to spend. Great job Trevor, thanks again!
Have you participated in any group breaks? If so, what products were in the break? If not, what are your thoughts on group breaks?
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Thanks for the trade and the blog plug! You got some great cards here. I think Boston's photo representation in this year's Stadium Club is amazing. There's not a dud in the set!
ReplyDeleteI kind of took part in a break.. Peter Steinberg of Baseball Every Night did a Series 2 box a couple years ago and I took the Jays..
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, though no.. Either I find out too late to grab my team(s) or I don't have the money..
That Brodeur is sure making some moves across the blogosphere! Purchased by me in Fishkill NY, won by Matt in my contest, now back North to you!
ReplyDeleteI've done three group breaks. The first one was great, got me Steph Curry's autograph and a Kevin Durant jersey parallel sn 25. The other two cost me double and only yielded four cards, three of which I could have nabbed on COMC for a dollar or two.
DeleteDid you ever show the card on your blog? It would be amusing if a card showed up on 3 seperate blogs.
DeleteI have only participated in a handful of breaks over the years. To be honest, I do not remember what the products were in tbe breaks. That is pretty cool looking Brodeur card. I still wish there was more hockey cards available in my area so I can add to my goalie collection.
ReplyDeleteI only did a few free breaks . Not really for me. I like opening my own stuff. That's the best part of the hobby
ReplyDeleteNot being a team or a player collector, box breaks have never really appealed to me, although I will watch them on YouTube from time to time. On a somewhat related note, I don't understand the people that buy boxes and let these breakers open them on video, I couldn't imagine paying for a box, and not opening it myself!
ReplyDeleteI have a soft spot in my heart for 2011 Lineage as that arrived in the pre-current Archives days when I was head-over-heels over anything new on the market. Set was kind of cool, esp. the inserts.
ReplyDeleteI haven't participated in a group break probably since that time. Mostly money or time reasons. Tried to get in on a free one recently but got beat out of getting the Dodgers, so what's the point?
First time seeing that SC Pedroia card. Wonder what the story is behind that big glove.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the horizontal Red Sox, too. I thought that was a weird coincidence.
ReplyDeleteSo many cool cards here. Love seeing all these. Great post.
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