Topps 2012 Series 2 - Hobby Box Results

I've been busy with the end of the school year, so I've been opening my hobby box a few packs at a time, making sure I enjoy each.  And series 2 has grown on me, even though I feel it has been widely panned here on the blogosphere.  I'll start with my box hit - and it's the first bat piece card I've ever pulled.  Touching the card is nice - and I prefer the "Gold Standard" relic to the "Golden Moments" relics.

Even though I'm going to focus on stats with this post, I wanted to share ALL of my "Cut Above" cards - a total of 6 from the hobby box.  This is my favorite insert, and I hope the scans do the cards justice.  I'm going to hit a card show this weekend, and see if I can complete this set. I only completed one insert set from series one, and that was the '87 mini's.  Speaking of them...

These were my two favorites - I pulled a total of 9 in the box.

I hated these at first.  I like them more now.  I pulled these four in my box. The foil pops more in-hand than on the scan, perhaps - maybe that helps me like it more.  Still don't really understand the strike zone, but maybe it just adds color - and that was sorely lacking with the series one inserts which were soooo goldish...

And I think the variety of colors helps this insert set, as well.  These were all 6 of the "Career Day" inserts pulled in my box.  I am 50-50 on chasing these and/or the "Mound Dominance."

If I go back and complete any series one insert, Gold Standard would be the one.  These are two good names, too.  I pulled 9 of these, and 9 Golden Moments.  I am not scanning those.

I know I didn't need to scan these, but I hate them less than you do.  I pulled six in my box.

Stat Recap:

One short print (so far, unless I've missed some) - Longoria
SIX golden giveway
ONE topps pennant advertisement
NINE gold shinies
TWO topps bunt (artsy)
NINE '87 minis
SIX career day
SIX gold standard
NINE golden moment
FOUR mound dominance
SIX cut above
SIX gold futures
ONE relic - Frank Robinson bat relic 39/50

Topps 2012 Series 2 - Four more packs!

Forty more cards, and here is the best of the lot!  We'll begin with the best base player - Strasberg - and he best base picture, Maybin.

Will the Nats win the NL East?  They look pretty tough, and their pitching could definitely continue its dominance.

Next up, a couple of Mets!

Johan gave the fans a night to remember, for a team that expected to have a season of nights to forget.  The very strange re-birth of R.A. Dickey makes my Mets an interesting story, and with an extra wild card slot to chase, who knows?!?

Let's see some shinies!

The Chisenhall photo is kinda cool.  I think he missed the tag.

And some inserts:

Any Nolan Ryan card is just fine by me, and the Gold Standard is the most palatable insert set, I think.  And another Mound Dominance card.  What's up with the strike zone graphic?  Is it supposed to be telling me something?  If so, I'm not sure what it is. 

Topps 2012 Series 2 - First Packs

I haven't seen much posted about series 2, and I am pretty sure there are two good reasons.  First, it is pretty much a continuation of series 1, and who needs to restate so much of what was said about the first offering.  Second, I simply haven't been as active on the blogs, so I may have missed some of the initial buzz.

I'd like to share the contents of my first 2 hobby packs - but I won't go crazy.  From pack one, I'll share my two favorite base cards - since I'm the guy who likes to scan and post base cards!

I remember so much of the response to series one as negative - but can I point out the beauty of the photography of these two cards?  The Beckham action shot is great, and Cody Ross' face (and even the shine on his helmet) is crystal clear - two GREAT pics!

I see no reason to talk about the carryover inserts, so here are two new ones:

The "Cut Above" are fine - I know the gimmicky nature of the card shape irks some, but I'm okay with it.  The other one, though, is simply hideous.  You can't read the "mound dominance" print above the strike zone - sorry about that - but the pun is atrocious, and the card is just not aesthetically pleasing at all (just like some of the other 2012 inserts, actually).

And here are the backs - the Mound Dominance back is better than the front - an interesting tidbit about Eck's four pitch save to close out the '89 series.  Maybe it'll grow on me.



Topps 2012 Archives - Hobby Box stats

Just a quick stat rundown, in case you are interested in buying a hobby box now that the price has come down a bit.

I picked up 160 base cards (of the 200) - and curiously, I picked up one duplicate in the box.  The first hobby box did not have any duplicates.  The base cards were spread evenly - 40 out of 50 of each of the 50-card base sets.

The two auto's for this box were Bud Harrelson and Bill Madlock.

I pulled 6 of the Archives stamped reprints, and 6 of the high numbered SP's.  This was the same in each box.

Two deckle edge, just like last box - Cepeda and Gibson.

Three 3-D cards and three stickers.

Four cloth stickers and two rainbow foil parallels.

Also, the Yovani Gallardo relic - and I only pulled the relic in this, the second hobby box.

Topps 2012 Archives - Hobby Box TWO

Let's start with a hit!

Two hobby boxes, and this is the only card like this I pulled.  I like it, but wish it were a Met.  I never really pull Mets, so not sure what I expected.  At least it's not a Giant - the team I pull more than any other!

My auto's DO feature a Met - so that's pretty cool.  I do think the auto's are my favorite part of Archives, and I know others have said that, as well.

I haven't looked through the entire list, at least not enough to be angry that I didn't pull someone else - but my four auto's definitely have that flavor of the late 70's and 80's when I fell in love with the game and with cards...

My favorite insert set is probably the deckle edge:

I don't know why I like them so much - probably the fact that they are not really "card-like" - they seem like some photo hanging on a wall somewhere.

I love the 3-D cards, as well - and the Ruth one is really well done (the Kaline, not-so-much) - I'm not sure they come out as well on the scans, but this is a pretty good threesome, nontheless!

I like the cloth stickers, too - and as I look at this post, I guess I am definitely "pro-archives" - I think I'll try to track down the rest of them.  I feel like people are 50-50 on them, so maybe they will have some to deal cheaply...

I don't really undersand reprints, nor do I understand how or why they are different from the high numbered SP's...  Are they harder (or easier) to track down?  Because they are not sequentially numbered, I don't really feel like bothering - yet I will chase down the high numbered SP's, probably.  Why did they separate these two?  What makes them different?



The "in action" Palmer card is a bit of a tease, because I believe there is an "in action" subset in retail packs - but I didn't pick up any of those.  Here are the high numbered SP's:

It's a Mets party!  Aren't you glad you made it to the end of the post?  I started out whining about pulling Mets, and then get Ventura, McDowell and Kranepool - fully HALF of my 6 SP's are wearing the blue and orange!  And no, it doesn't lessen the sting of the games with the Yankees this weekend...

Finally, my least favorite insert - stickers.  And the rainbow foil things are weird, too - but mainly because I don't really care for parallels.  I'll think about selling the Rivera - his name could probably draw a few bucks...

I want to break Topps' sticker machine.  Unreasonable?

Topps 2012 Archives - final 8 packs

I'll blow through these pretty quick, especially since it looks like people are "Archives-ed Out" -

A quick scan of my favorite base cards in these eight packs:  Go Johan!  What a friday night!  Nice classic names in the oldest cards, the 71's featured a cool Mike Schmidt, while the 80's Yu Darvish rookie stands out.  No 84's of note, so I didn't scan them.

Two high-numbered SP's - Kingman,  a Met!  And a rainbow Marcum...

The great names of the late 70's and 80's continue with Stargell and Brett.  I don't remember the Brett card - I was a bit young, but I do remember the Stargell - loved the all-yellow card and all-yellow uniform.

I am still not feelin' the stickers.

And still my favorite insert set of Archives.  Any extra's that you don't want?  Send them my way!  I gotta link up with Lifetime Topps Project and see if he had any dupes, with his two hobby boxes.  Then again, I gotta open my second box, too!

(Two hobby boxes were probably overkill, here - wish I had realized that sooner!)

Topps 2012 Archives - 8 More Packs

Finally had some time to open more packs and get some scans up.  This is taking longer than I would like, but it's because I've been busy at work - and for me, that's a GOOD thing!  First up, here are some of the best base cards in my packs - two from each year.  King Felix and my favorite Met (though Santana just jumped a whole bunch of spots after last night) highlight the 84's, and Catfish and Longoria represent '80.  Longoria's career is in an interesting spot, right?  He needs to get back on the field - it's funny, I get the feeling that he is always hurt, but looking at his career numbers, that's just not the case.  I'd like to see what 4 healthy years in a row would produce for him...

The Kemp card is probably my favorite, though Reggie reminds me of my first days watching baseball.  Did you see espn.com's comparison of Braun's 2011 vs. 2012?  Very interesting argument to support his performance - not that I'm a fan of his, at all...

With the help of some of you out there, I think I have finally correctly identified these three cards as high-numbered short prints.  No Archives stamp, and the numbers all fall 201-240.

Three more inserts, leading off with the shiny rainbow something-or-other Fielder.  Also, reprints (not high numbered SP's) of Seaver and Brooks Robinson.  Interesting posting a Seaver card the day after Johan truly cements his name in the Mets history books.

My final scan presents my favorite insert and least favorite, side-by-side.  Maybe I'm just stickered out from Heritage, especially because they are so similar.  The Cano 3-D is really cool in hand, the 3-D effect works better than I thought it would, and not nearly as cheesy as I feared.