Mixed Box Break Results

I had a blast online last night with my team collecting buddies as we had our latest break.  4 boxes of Heritage, 2 of Donruss, and 3 Opening Day.  Opening Day was a little disappointing compared to previous years, but the hits more than made up for it.

I'll just get the monster out of the way early.  We hit it in the first box of the night.  Talk about tough to beat.  The first box was better than some cases I've seen.

The Odorizzi is a gum stained variation.  We hit between 9-10 SP's in each box, including a few packs with 2 SP's in them.  I think that's just a little higher than the average odds.  And I luckily hit the Polanco SP, which is the only Pirates SP in the base set.  No luck on either of the McCutchen variants, though.

Heritage box 2 was a little less exciting.

But box 3 and 4 were solid.


The Samardzija is a mini /100.  We had pretty nice luck, hitting three autographs out of 4 boxes.  I don't know if autos are more common than in past releases of Heritage, but it's definitely a nice bonus.

Not much luck for my Pirates, but it's always nice to see the hits spread out amongst the teams.

Donruss was one of my favorite breaks last year.  The set has a ton of serial numbered cards, some nice inserts, and a good number of hits per box.

There wasn't much love for the Pirates on the checklist this year, but we had a couple solid boxes.
Box 1

Box 2


I was hoping to hit at least one McCutchen image variation, since he has them in all three products.  No such luck.  But I did hit a nice Gregory Polanco parallel /99 from Donruss.

And we had a ton of inserts from Donruss.



Opening Day was a big disappointment this year.  I don't like the blue rainbow foil nearly as much as the blue sparkle cards, they got rid of the serial numbering, and we only had about 3-4 blues per box.  I'm guessing they ramped up production this year, since I remembering hitting blues every 2 or 3 packs last year.


The inserts were pretty meh, and again not much in the way of Pirates.
But between all the boxes, we had plenty of inserts.  It seemed like things were pretty well split up among the teams, which is always nice for a group break.


By the end of the night, we had a 400 card box filled with inserts, SP's, and parallels.  Not bad for a couple hours of breaking.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Pirates I got, and I'll have a highlight up when I get my cards in.

Group Break - 2000 Topps Stars

I was going through my scans folder and realized I missed a couple boxes from the group break over the weekend.

Topps Stars was a fairly high end product when it came out in 2000.  At $3 a pack, it was a premium product with textured base cards and some pretty nice looking foil inserts.  But the real draw was the autograph lineup of stars and Hall of Famers.  We didn't land an auto in the box, but the product still yielded some nice inserts of stars of the day.  The Beltre is a blue parallel, and looks really nice in person.

Some of the cheaper 90's boxes like Stadium Club and Stars are a worthwhile gamble for some rare autographs of top stars.  Even when you strike out on the autos, the sets had some well designed base sets, high quality card stock, and nice foil inserts.  Personally, I'd take that any day over a box that all but guarantees an auto of Chris Owings or Dean Anna.

Group Break - 1999 Ultra

I'm posting the box results from the 11 box late 90's/early 00's group break individually.  I always try looking online to find box breaks of older products before buying them, and having each box in its own post should make it easier if anyone out there likes to do the same.

This was the first box we opened, and things started out with a bang.  Ultra offered a decent selection of inserts, great looking Gold Medallion parallels at 1 per pack, and some of the nicest photography of the year.

Our break pretty much fell in line with the odds, hitting the expected number of inserts.  The highlight is definitely the Kevin Young Platinum Medallion /99, the lone Pirate parallel from the entire break.  But hey, I'll take it.  The World Premiere and The Book On inserts have some textured embossing, and look great in person.  And this may be my favorite year for the Gold Medallions, which really make the photo pop with a strong gold color, and gave us a really nice mix of teams.

Group Break - 2004 Playoff Prestige

I'm going to post the scans for each box individually.  I always try looking online to find box breaks of older products before buying them, and having each box in its own post should make it easier if anyone out there likes to do the same.

This box was by far the star of the show.  It delivered just about an insert or parallel in each pack.  The box guaranteed two autos or game used, and delivered 1 of each.  The Rolen dual gu /150, and the Youk auto /100.  It also yielded 3 Achievements inserts, 2 Xtra Bases parallels /150, a Stars of MLB Sammy Sosa, and a slew of unnumbered inserts.

The numbered cards are all on various types of mirror or foil board, and look fantastic in person.  For the price, this box was an absolute steal.

90's Group Break - 2002 Upper Deck Victory

I'm posting the box results from the 11 box late 90's/early 00's group break individually.  I always try looking online to find box breaks of older products before buying them, and having each box in its own post should make it easier if anyone out there likes to do the same.

Upper Deck had some strange fascination in the early 2000's with making products with massive base sets with obscure parallels, and absolutely no other appeal in the set.  The result?  Either a ton of this stuff is sitting unopened, or in boxes in somebody's basement.

The box yielded these gold parallels at a rate of 1:2, and it held true to its word for most of the box.  The parallels were literally alternating in every other pack.  They're nice and tough to find.  I didn't hit any Pirates (there was actually only 1 Pirate parallel in the entire break), and quite a few of the golds we hit were of unclaimed teams.  If you find a stack of these in a dimebox somewhere, scoop them up without hesitation.  This may be one of the most under appreciated, sneakily-scarce parallels of the 90's.

90's Group Break - 2002 Upper Deck MVP

I'm posting the box results from the 11 box late 90's/early 00's group break individually.  I always try looking online to find box breaks of older products before buying them, and having each box in its own post should make it easier if anyone out there likes to do the same.

Simply put, this box was pretty much a dud.  A retail only product, 2002 MVP drew on the formula from the previous years' sets.  Kid friendly base card design, with numbered parallels that would attract collectors.  A big part of why this box ended up in the break was how nearly impossible it has been to find the Gold /25 and Silver /100 parallels from this set.

And this box proved why they're so damn tough to find.  We didn't pull any numbered cards.  The only inserts in the box were the two Ichiro inserts above, with an example of the base card to the far right.  This one was a big swing and a miss.

90's Group Break - 2001 SP Top Prospects

I'm currently buried in a mountain of cards, boxes, and wrappers.  After over two hours of breaking last night, all 11 boxes were opened.

I'm going to post the scans for each box individually.  I always try looking online to find box breaks of older products before buying them, and having each box in its own post should make it easier if anyone out there likes to do the same.

This was definitely one of the better boxes in the break.  The box promised 2 autographs and 1 gu, and delivered.  The set has a pretty solid autograph checklist for a minor league product of the era, with a number of players developing into major league regulars and All-Stars.

There was some sticking issue with the packs, but most of the base cards came apart undamaged.  The wood grain theme to the insert sets is a nice touch, and ties the set together nicely.  And from the perspective of the guy who has to sort a couple thousand cards, the fact that the back of the card lists the parent organization is a nice plus.

Cardboard Mountain

The UPS man just showed up with this.
I'll email those who joined the break with the details for the live stream.  I'll have scans of the goodies up on the blog late tonight or tomorrow.  Let's hope for some nice hits!

Revisiting Some Old Box Breaks

I've been laid up in bed with the stomach flu.  But with our 11 box 90's break coming up, I wanted to revisit some previous box breaks I've been a part of with my gang of team collectors.

Much like blogging, part of the fun for me in the breaks is seeing all the cool cards from other teams.  It often gives me an idea of what non-Pirate cards I want to keep an eye out for at shows, whether it's due to awesome base card photos or just a really nice design.

This break was from Halloween night last year.  Once all the candy was passed out and millions of kids across America were gorging on chocolate bars and Skittles packets, we got together on Google Hangout and had a small break.

2013 Topps Mini
2014 Stadium Club
2014 Topps Update Jumbo X2

Mini has quickly become one of my favorite products, but that's largely because the price dropped from $50 to $25-30 a box.

It's great for team collectors, with lots of low numbered cards per box.  Sure, your odds of hitting a big name are slim, but I'm just as happy with Travis Snider as I am with McCutchen or Neil Walker.  Unfortunately the Cutch didn't end up with me, since we go by the player to the left on the LL cards.

Stadium Club had to be the biggest disappointment of the year.  The product was loaded with junk autos, and many of the players in the product had already seen their big league career come and go by the time the product went live.  What a joke.

We broke 2 boxes.  The first we paid $100 for at release, and pulled a Hank Aaron auto redemption.  I think boxes were down to about $70 at this point, and would continue falling.  The 2 boxes I ripped myself during Black Friday sales made me think this product would have been better at a $40 price point...

You win some, you lose some.  And thanks, Topps.  We definitely lost.

But with a break, salvation is always around the corner.  At this point I was feeling pretty shitty.  It looked like I had thrown away $15 or so on a stack of some base cards.  With any break you win some, you lose some.

Update was yielding some nice hits.  Just not for me.  Through Box 1 and most of Box 2, I hadn't hit so much as a gold or red foil.  

We did hit this guy though.

But like I said, a break saver is always just a pack away.  In the next to last pack,  we hit a Clemente.

Not just any Clemente.  Some 00's nostalgia throwback awesome goodness.  2000 Gold Label was the set that was always just out of reach - a great looking, high end product that was way too expensive for my 12 year old budget at the time.  I still absolutely love the design, and I'm really happy to pull such an awesome card.

90's Group Break

Apparently group breaks are all the rage these days.  I guess I missed the memo, since I've been doing group breaks for years with a fantastic group of team collectors, including fellow blogger and all around great guy Mike G from The Sexy Geek's Sports Room.

Every few months we pool funds to bust some boxes of the latest releases.  Our latest break is going to be a bunch of late 90's/early 2000's boxes, which anybody who even occasionally reads my blog knows is my collecting sweet spot.

We are a few members short for this break for one reason or another, so I wanted to open it up to see if any of my fellow bloggers would like to join in.

It's pretty simple - the buy in is $20 (shipping included), which gets you every single card of your team.  It's s sliding pool (not a slip 'n slide, the cardboard kind), so the more people join in the more boxes we'll be able to buy.  Right now we're slated to bust 9 boxes.  More people = more boxes!

We're planning to collect money and put the order in by the end of the weekend to do the break around the middle of next week.  The break will be live on Google Hangout with yours truly doing the ripping, and a fun time to hang around and talk about cards with other collectors.

Here's the list of boxes we're planning on opening, with more to be added if additional teams are claimed:
2000 Bowman Baseball Box (Hobby)
2000 Topps Stars Baseball Box (HTA)
2002 Upper Deck Victory Baseball Box (Hobby)
2002 Upper Deck MVP Baseball Box (Hobby)
1999 Fleer Ultra Baseball Box (Hobby)
1999 Bowman Baseball Series 1 Box (Hobby)
2001 Upper Deck SP Top Prospects Baseball Box (Hobby)
2003 Upper Deck Baseball 40 Man Box (Retail) 
2004 Topps Baseball Series 1 1st Edition Box (HTA)

Teams Available:
Angels
Brewers
Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Giants
Indians
Mariners
Marlins
Mets
Phillies
Rangers

Rockies
Royals
Tigers

If you're interested, leave a comment or email me.  It should be a really fun break, with hopefully a chance at a big card or two being pulled. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Stay Gold: Group Break Results

The group of team collectors I'm a part of did another group break on Halloween night.  The break was a little smaller this time, since new low to mid tier products have come to a trickle this time of year.  But we managed to scrounge together a decent break: 2 jumbox of Topps Update, 2013 Topps Mini, and a box of the heavily discounted 2014 Stadium Club, which was down to something like $67 when we ordered (compared to the cool $95 we paid for our first box).

While I'll always stick to buying singles over boxes, I love group breaks.  Not the 85 Monster Case Break Blowout, complete with dbag acting like Don West from Shop at Home.  But a small break like this with some good buddies?  Sign me up.  For $10, I knew I would be getting the Update team set, a few other commons I needed, a couple low end inserts, and at least a fighting chance at a nice hit.

And fight I did.

The break was actually looking bad for my Bucs heading into the last box.  Nothing of note, except for a foil and gold parallel.

And then - bam!  The next to last jumbo pack held a beautiful Clemente Gold Label card pictured above.

Anybody who even occasionally reads this blog is probably sick of hearing about how much I love 90's cards, and how 2000 was the year I got back into collecting.  And Gold Label from 2000 was a set that still holds fond memories, though I don't think I ever opened any packs until a few repacks years later.
 And though the scan doesn't show it, the card is insanely thick.  Like...I have it in a one of those old 25 card snap cases right now, because I couldn't find anything that was the proper size.  I don't know if the card had to be printed that thick for a specific reason, or if they just thought it would look better in a quarter inch thick gold frame.  But either way, it's a beautiful card that brings back some warm and fuzzies for me.

On top of that, I was able to just about complete the non-parallel team set from Topps Update.  I didn't pull the Josh Harrison Stat back variation, and I'm still missing one of the Polanco FIN inserts, McCutchen Power Players, and all the World Series Heroes.  But along with the Clemente I did score the Polanco image variation SP.

While it is a cool photo, and I'm thrilled to not have to actually spend money on this card...could somebody tell Topps this is the exact same photo they put into Stadium Club?  You'd think in the day and age of digital photography, where photographers can literally take an unlimited number of photos without any real concern for printing, storing, or running out of film, that Topps could find one additional cool image to use for this SP.

Not bad for $10, right?

Group Break Goodies

I'm part of a group of team collectors.  It started as a trading group years ago, but at this stage it's really more like a group of friends spread across the country who just happen to collect cards of men playing sports.   And every few months the group pools some money and does a group break.

Typically the breaks would be an entire case of one of the more recent low to mid end products, but with the snoozefest Topps has been putting out this year, we decided to mix it up with a multi-box break at a slightly lower price point.  At just $10/team, we were able to get

2013 Topps Mini
2014 Prizm
2014 Topps Chrome
2014 Topps Series 2 Jumbo
2014 Donruss Series 2

The break had some pretty cool hits, including a 1/1 plate from Mini and an Edgar Martinez gold auto /10 from Prizm.  Plus tons and tons of inserts from the Panini products.  Chrome was painful to watch, pretty much void of any color.

 Overall, the Pirates treated me pretty well.  I picked up a second team to help make the break happen, since we don't have collectors for all 30 teams.  I ended up with the Indians as my second team, and let's just say that stack was far less impressive.  I think I got an insert and a few red foil cards from Topps, but that $10 was pretty much a sunk cost.  If anybody needs some Indians cards from those products, let me know!

 The McPherson is a gold mini /62, and was probably the highlight of the break for me.  The gold cards seemed pretty plentiful - I think we hit 3, plus a 1/1 plate and pink mini /25 from the box.  It was on sale for something like $30, and was definitely worth the cost.  The mini sets have been a real pain for me over the last few years, and I'm still a long way from finishing any of the team sets.

 Topps Chrome was a big disappointment this year.  They must have really cranked up the presses, since most boxes seem to have at best 1 colored refractor.  I do like that they included a nice number of Bucs this year, but this Cole refractor was the best the box had to offer for me.  Luckily singles have been pretty cheap on ebay, with the obvious exception of Polanco cards.

 Prizm may be my favorite product of the year with its colored parallels and inserts.  It has become everything Topps isn't doing anymore.  And the box was kind enough to yield ye ole Pirates hit for me as well.  Sure, I was hoping the break would net me a Polanco auto, but I'll take Grilli as well.  After all, I may have used up all my luck on the last break.

I certainly can't complain.  A nice stack of base cards I didn't have, a few low end parallels, a numbered card, and an auto for $10?  That's probably right around what I would pay in singles.  Certainly not a bad deal, considering I had the chance of pulling some much, much better cards.