Christmas Came Late

I was really jealous when I saw a bunch of bloggers busting 2019 Topps Holiday Boxes back in December. I think it's safe to say that this product is universally well-liked - I couldn't find you a collector that has anything bad to say about it.

I don't normally shop at Wal-Mart, but I started to make some Wally World pit stops once these hit the shelves, and I was lucky enough to stumble across a box in December. My plan was to open it around Christmas day. I ended up doing a lot of travel around the holiday, and then forgot that I had the box stashed away. 

I finally got around to opening it today. Merry Christmas to me!

Several of the rookie headliners showed up and I'm pretty pumped about that. I think Austin Riley might just have the best career out of these four. Don't @ me. 

If there is one Pirates card in the set that I was hoping for, this is the one. It's nice to add the base card to my collection. I already have the sparkly snowflake parallel which I highlighted as my #9 favorite card in my top 10 cards of the year. That came my way via a PWE swap with Matt at Diamond Jesters.

I kept a keen eye out for SPs, which come aplenty in this set. Some are subtle, and some are incredibly obvious, like Carlos Correa holding a giant candy cane. It's easy to hit big league pitching when you know what pitch is coming - but no word on the ease of swinging a giant peppermint stick.

Each box promises an autograph or memorabilia card. I have yet to see an autograph on the blogosphere, relics only. For a plain white relic, I think this is pretty much best case scenario. Very happy to add this to my collection. 

Who out there is building this set? I remember reading a few blogs that were going for it, but can't recall. I'd be happy to send out set needs to fill holes where I can. 

Thanks for reading!

Secret Santa Has Arrived!

First off, let’s all take a minute to say a big thank you to Jon at A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts for hosting another successful Secret Santa. This was probably my personal highlight in terms of collecting in 2019. Waiting for my Secret Santa package to arrive admittedly gave me a the good old kid-on-Christmas feeling. I also had tons of fun putting together a package for my Secret Santa, Henry at Cardboard Greats. He recently posted a recap of what I sent him if you’re interested in checking it out.

I received my secret Santa package last week in the form of a bubble mailer. I didn’t recognize the return address, so I had a feeling this was the surprise that I had been waiting for. Upon opening the mailer I was greeted by a nice typed letter revealing my Secret Santa as Jim, who joined the fun via The Trading Card Database. Jim mentioned in his letter that our collecting habits didn’t exactly align so he didn’t have a lot to send my way. So what did he do?

Jim went out and bought something that he knew I’d love. HOW COOL! This really resonates with me. If you’re going to join a Secret Santa to voluntarily send a stranger a gift, I’d say you’re a kind and generous person. But Jim took it to the next level by going out of his way and spending some money to get send something that he knew I’d enjoy. No matter what was in the packs, I was already overjoyed.

I’ve opened several packs of 2019 Topps Chrome Update and I have yet to pull a base card from “THE guy” of 2019 baseball collecting. You know who I’m talking about:

There he is. 

I for one am not a believer of the Vlad Jr. hype – or least the level of hype that he’s getting. I think he’s going to be very good in the MLB, but I haven’t seen enough to merit the first ballot HOF acclaim that he’s been garnering and I certainly wouldn’t pay the sky high prices for his rookie cards. But to pull one out of a pack that was a gift? Now we’re talking! This will be archived with my other rookies and revisited someday.

Out of all the Topps Chrome Update that I’ve ripped, it’s been exclusively Mega Boxes which do not include the Pink Parallel packs. Those are exclusive to hanger packs.

This could have gone a whole lot worse! Chavis is an exciting rookie on a promising team. I don’t know much about this other dude – but it’s a chrome rookie parallel, and I’ll never complain about that.

Aside the packs, Jim also threw in a few Pirates and one awesome Steelers card:

I’ll be honest – These two names are new to me and I had to hop on Google to learn who these guys are... and wow, I'm glad I did. Both of these guys have some cool stories:

Dick Stuart enjoyed a 10 year career in the majors after serving briefly in the military. He had a handful of nicknames due to his subpar fielding abilities, such as "Dr. Strangeglove" and "Stonefingers," which was given to him by none other than Hank Aaron. At the plate, it was a different story. The slugger finished his career with 228 home runs. In 1963 on the Red Sox, he hit 42 home runs and led the majors with 118 RBI. 

On the topic of nicknames, Richard "Ducky" Schofield also enjoyed a great career. While his statistics wouldn't indicate anything special (career .221 hitter, 21 HR and 211 RBI in 19 seasons), he played for nineteen damn years! He must have been doing something right. In 1960, he took over at shortstop in September after the legendary Dick Groat broke his wrist, and Ducky batted .403 for the rest of the season. He was instrumental in the playoff run, any Pirates fan and most baseball fans can tell you how the 1960 ended. He's also got one pretty autograph.

To wrap it up, a beautiful 2007 Topps Chrome Hines Ward Refractor. I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again – Pirates and Steelers cards look sensational with black, yellow, and gold borders. This card is no exception. The black border matching with the black jersey is such a smooth combination.

Thanks again to Jim for this awesome Secret Santa package, and thanks to Jon for hosting. Until next year!

Busting three Mega Boxes of 2019 Topps Chrome Update

I have been itching to get my hands on some of these boxes ever since they began to emerge a few weeks ago. Topps Chrome Update is a retail exclusive to Target - which theoretically would be great for me. There's a Target about a mile from my home and it's on the way to and from work. They do a great job of stocking cards there as well, so I felt like my chances would be decent. I stopped in often but it was to no avail. 

I started to lose hope. How many times can I stop in a Target for baseball cards? In addition to stopping in to the store, I also stayed tuned to the Target App. I finally got lucky and some boxes popped up late last week. Not only that, they were on sale for $17.99 each. Being a RedCard member gives me free 2-day shipping. I wasn't planning on grabbing more than a box or two, but the killer price inspired me. I pulled the trigger on three, totaling $55 delivered to my door.

I'm not going to go pack-by-pack here. Just the highlights. I only hit one Pirate - #87 Josh Bell ASG. I was really hoping to hit #29 Bryan Reynolds. I'd love to trade for it if anyone has one.

I was fortunate and hit on most of the top rookies. #38 Keston Hiura, #22 Carter Kieboom, #86 Pete Alonso ASG, and #54 Fernando Tatis Jr. Rookie Debut.

More rookies, #42 Cavan Bigio, Vlad Guerrero Jr. Family Business Insert, and #62 Keson Hiura.

Now, on to the "hits," if you will.

On the left is a Griffin Canning x-fractor, #/199. x-fractors fall 1:93 packs, so I beat the odds here and was fortunate to pull this. On the right is Lane Thomas refractor #/250. Refractors fall 1:74 packs so I beat the odds here too. Interestingly, you have the best odds on hitting an autograph, which fall 1:40 packs, which are awesome odds for retail. 

I also this pulled beauty. Walker Buehler x-fractor #/199. I really love this card. Buehler is a super likable guy and already one of the best pitchers in the game. Add in the ASG graphic and the All-Star Rookie graphic - icing on the cake!

Overall, this was tons of fun. I'm big on Update and I'm a chrome guy so this is one my favorite releases of the year. I really love that refractors and x-fractors are serial numbered. I'd rather pull one of these for a decent player than a no-name auto. Lots of great stuff to stash away to re-visit in a few years.