Can I Get An Update?

After 6 days of repacks, here's some stuff that you'll have to wait to see in repack products - 2019 Update.

I grabbed a trio of hobby packs from the LCS. I won't show off all the cards, but will hit the highlights.

Pack 1:

Here's my first update card of the release. At least it wasn't one of those completely unnecessary All-Star game or Home Run Derby cards.

The only Blue Jays card in the packs, but at least it was one more than the Mets content.

While this was easily the most interesting photograph from the packs, the framing might make it one of the best photographs of the year.

Even if it is numbered all the way up to 2019, it still deserves to be highlighted as the only numbered card in the packs.

I'm going back-to-back with Diamondbacks cards in this post, since this one opened up the second of the pack.

You know I liked that Harrison card when this great photo of a throwback jersey barely registers as a contender for the best photo in the packs.

While this isn't a numbered card, this was probably the best pull in the packs, as this is one of the veteran variations. This photo can be obviously traced to the 1985 World Series, and one of the games played in Kansas City. Since that's Willie McGee sliding into third, it has to be from one of the first two games, since he was hitless in the last two. He doubled in both games, but was tagged out in the first trying to stretch it into a triple. So, this is from the 5th inning of that game.

And the reason I was so verbose about the previous card is that the final pack was really dull. Just this 150th Anniv. variation of Edwin Encarnacion stood out.

There you have it!

More Packs

A few days off does give me a chance to hit the LCS and sample a few more packs beyond the original. So, 4 different hobby packs today - Big League, Diamond Kings, Pro Debut, and some football with Legacy.

Looks like I'm starting with Big League. It is nice, it isn't too expensive, but I'm still bitter about the fact that doggy cards weren't included in last year's release.

A parallel and a drawn card. That's just fine for that portion of an inexpensive pack.

The base of Diamond Kings was a nice mix of legends and current players. Since he doesn't make a lot of appearances in modern sets, the easy winner of this group is Walter Alston. The same could be said for Hubbell, but I'll give a manager's card the nod.

Just like with Big League, there's an insert and a parallel in the pack. The Sisler is a 1919 Diamond Kings insert.

Next, some minor league cards. Here, the easy winner is the Lazardo, for the "Music City" jersey sported as a member of the Nashville Sounds.

I guess this was an Alex Kirilloff hot pack, as he appeared on both a base card and on an insert. If that uniform were any more tropical, I'd think he was a Marlins prospect, as opposed to the Twins.

Let's end with the football pack. Legacy appears to be replacing Classics this year, with a smaller 200 card set (100 current players, 50 rookies, 50 legends), and you can see all the different designs for the base cards. I'll have some Bills content from a group break show up shortly, so I'll be able to get a little more detailed then.

And the only numbered parallel of the 4 packs. Better than zero, I guess.

And there you have it!

Saturday Sampler

I've got a trio of packs to show off today. The first two are from the LCS, while the latter was marked down at Wally World.

Baseball stands alone in this threesome, so here are those. There were problems set wide for cards having dinged corners coming out of the pack, and those are visible on the Bregman and DeGrom. Dinged corners or not, that's still a nice Mets card for that PC, with it joined by David Wright's (regular) cardboard finale. The star-spangled parallel has a matte finish to it.

And here's the back of the card. I like that Wright had his final season stats, abbreviated as they were, on his.

No hits out of the Select, but a coupe of parallels. I didn't know this until he showed up at a game in Toronto wearing his jersey, but DeAndre Jordan's brother plays for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Thomas parallel is /249, and will likely be one of only a handful where he's pictured with Denver. I'm really surprised he's only played on 6 teams so far.

The Select backs.

My favourite basketball card may have come from the Excalibur as the first card out. Even though that might be the only photo Panini has of him on the Sonics, it still features a classic uniform.

I won't scan everything in the pack, but here's a sample of the base cards. Some nice photos, some nice legends. A good mix.

To end this post, my two promised Camo Crusades. Pinstriped Shaq? Yes, please!

There you have it!

Hobby Pack Sampler

Stepping off the repack kick I've been on lately, and into the hobby shop with packs of some recent hockey releases.

Yes. This means I bought a Maple Leafs pack. I'm not proud, just a completist.

Artifacts was the first one of these released, so I will lead with that. Here's the base cards in the set. Pretty standard look for the set, with the foil returning to the top and bottom of the card after last year's left and bottom design.

Here are the backs. A little different than the usual with the re-used image on the side instead of the middle.

The final card in the pack is either a hit, a redemption for a rookie or a numbered base card or parallel. I got the numbered base card. At least the Senators base card saved the pack from being a total wash.

Team Canada Juniors is the suitably patriotic set, in all its red, white and black (black?) glory. I'm not sure why it is called Juniors when the Sakic is obviously from post-WHL. And hey, my first Nolan Patrick card!

The card back. Interestingly, the guys' cards get the re-used photo, but not Emerance. I wonder why that is...

And the one-per-pack insert/parallel is another photo of a player taken during his NHL playing career.

And the dreaded Leafs pack. No complaint about the design. If you're going to zap the background, using the team logo and colours is a pretty good choice for the replacement. The standard base set is 100 cards, so I admit I'm surprised to see cards of guys like Reid over guys from the Original 6 era. I don't think guys like Bill Berg, Allan Bester or Kyle Wellwood would make too many Top 100 Leafs lists.

The second 100 cards are SPs, saluting Captains, trophy winners, and similar things. Here's a card honouring Leeman's 50 goal season.

And that's it. 3 packs. No hits, but enough in terms of nice cards. The Team Canada is the only one I'd consider getting a box of, though.

Pack Sampler

1 pack each of the newer entries on the hockey market.

Is there such a thing as too much gold on a card? Unless it is a gold standard release, the answer is yes. The pack configuration this year is the typical UD of 4 base cards, and an insert/parallel.

Standard backs.

I think these are the most common of the inserts in this release. All I know is that it makes my scanner look filthy and I hate it for that reason alone.

Platinum is a little more random. Generally, three base cards along with the 4th being a rookie or an insert/parallel. Much like with Chrome/Optik, the base photos are recycled over from the regular OPC issue, although Connor Brown is given a different photo from his base release.

And the 4th card is a shiny orange rainbow parallel. Not bronze. Not copper. Orange. A pretty good get landing a rookie as the parallel as well. Rainbow is to OPC as refactor is to Topps as Prizm is to Panini.

And the backs. Not too different from their regular cousins, just add a re-used image and scrunch the rest of the top-or-the-card info into a smaller box. And, the rainbow is /25, which should at least cover this trip to the LCS.

Just one Pack Each...of A&G and Optic

Unfortunately for Ginter, the release of it couldn't have come at a worse time. It came right in the middle of two releases I was and am really excited about - 2015-16 Champ's and 2016 CFL. But, that doesn't mean I can't at least sample a pack or two.

I was actually planning on getting two Ginter packs, but then I saw Donruss Optic's pack...

Hey! That's a Met on the packaging! Or at least a New York Baseball Club guy.

And for one pack, getting an auto is a pretty good score. I've already got an auto of Edwards in my collection, so one of them will be supertraded away in the future. The Burns is also a holo variation, so that's a hit and a parallel in the same pack.

There is one problem with the Diamond King cards, though.

The space bar for the guy who wrote up the backs of the cards only worked periodically.

Off to Ginter!

A little more colourful than previous years, but still nice. A very A's and Rays two pack break.

But that's only 6 cards. The pack did read 8. That means 2 for 2 with packs with hits!

And it is definitely a very Ginter hit. Ernie Johnson is a basketball/baseball broadcaster on TNT/TBS. I don't get either of those channels, so I seriously thought for a bit that the TNT was an abbreviation for "The New Testament", which would have been odd.

But it looks like my ability to pull hits from random packs at the LCS still holds true! I am willing to rent out my services to anybody wanting me to grab packs for them at their LCS. Just pay for my first-class airfare and hotel and I'll be there.

The Champ('s) is Here! - Box Break - Packs 1 through 5

I don't think I've been excited for a hockey release in a long time as Champ's makes it return for the first time since 09-10. And this was actually a pretty good box, as I got above the promised odds on several inserts.

Pack 1:

The set is broken up into 4 groups. 1-180 are the standard base. 181-270 are standard SPs (at a rate of 1 in every 1.5 packs), 271-315 are High # SPs (1 in 5) and Rare SPs are the last 5, (1:600 packs). Parise is a High SP in this pack, and Pavel is the standard SP. The first card theory is tested here as a Leafs card was my first one. It is strange to see Dion as a Leaf, when he already had Senators cards in SP Authentic. But at least I landed a real Senators card.

The back of the cards are pretty standard for the return of the set.

Pack 2:

And now we reach the interesting insert portion in the second pack, as I land a card featuring a  Park Reserve on Vancouver Island. The Evander Kane is a gold front parallel, and these supposedly fall at a rate of 1:10 packs, although my box turned out not to be representative of that.

Pack 3:

All vertical cards in this pack. The Connor McDavid is one of the high SP cards. I guess that's the one I should want most from that group. But, as can be expected from someone who was awaiting this set, it is the oddball SP that is my favourite. Skookum Jim Mason is of the people co-credited with making the Discovery Claim, which lead to the Klondike Gold Rush.

Pack 4:

Just hockey in this one. Staal is a short print, and there's my second standard gold parallel. But two Senators in a pack is nice for me.

Pack 5:

And my first of the fish cards to wrap up this portion of the break. The Esposito is one of the High # SPs.

5 more packs tomorrow!