Hobby box vs Blaster - You choose

Today's experiment tries to answer the age old question, Hobby box or Blaster? A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a blaster of UD Hockey Series 2 at wally world. At the card show last weekend, I grabbed a hobby box of the same. Let's crack 'em open and compare value.
The Blaster. 12 packs of 5 cards each. They stiff you right off the bat with only 5 cards in each pack, unlike the 8 cards in Hobby boxes.

51 Base cards

0 duplicates

1 Young Gun SP
6 Victory cards, inserted at one per pack

2 insert cards from UD's many, many insert subsets...

0 Jersey/ Swatch cards

COST: $25

The Hobby Box

24 packs, 8 cards per pack (that wrapper says 5, it's the only pic I had)

123 base cards

32 duplicates

7 Young Guns SP's
24 Victory cards, inserted one per pack

6 insert cards from UD's many, many insert subsets

and

2 Jersey / Patch cards, one numbered /100

COST: $75

A review;

Blaster
51 base cards

0 duplicates

1 Young Gun SP

6 Victory cards

2 inserts

0 Jersey / Patch

$25

Hobby Box

123 base cards

32 duplicates

7 Young Gun SP's

24 victory cards

6 inserts

2 Jersey / Patch

$75

The Young Guns are the key here. These babies sell anywhere from $5 to $35 depending on who you're after. For a set collector like I am, I need to go Hobby here. If you go 3 Blasters, the base cards, Victory, and inserts all wash... but the Young Guns and Jersey cards put Hobby out front.

update...

If you haven't yet read my post on In The Game's 08/09 release of Between the Pipes, scroll down and read that first.
Back? Good.
I contacted In the Game's customer service department this morning about the five packs with only three cards in them.
Within 45 minutes, I received an email from Dr. Brian Price, head of In the Game. He of course apologized, explained the process of packing, and promised to send out some replacement base cards right away.
Very nice. Prompt, personal service. No waiting. No sending in the boxtop, 24 wrappers, and a DNA sample while chanting a french hockey mantra all while standing on my left foot.
Not at all like some other card companies. Not mentioning any names (Topps)

Thanks to In The Game.

Cardshow bounty - ITG box break

I mentioned that at the cardshow I picked up two boxes. This is the first. A 2008/09 In the Game Between The Pipes. I've wanted to grab one of these since they came out. At $110, I overpaid a little, but you know how it is. With no baseball to be had, I needed to come home with something.
I'll try and keep this to the facts, but I have to say, I love this set. Love it! So to be fair, I'll start with something disappointing. The only downside to the box break in fact. Can you read on the box top there? About how many cards per pack? See the little asterisk? No? Well how about on the wrapper?

Can you see the little asterisk better? Well, if you flip the pack over, and peel back the flap, and look for the fine print, you'll see this...

You'll have to click on the image to actually be able to read the fine print. Or use the Hubble telescope if it's not busy.... It says that there are actually only 4 cards per pack. Plus this:

A decoy card. Yes. This counts as a card. But it is worth one point towards a jersey card redemption from ITG. Only 249 more cards, and I get a free jersey card. (that's a little over 10 boxes worth....)

Well, no big deal, right? They do tell you on the pack. Why am I whining? Well, if this little subterfuge wasn't enough, in five of the packs, I only got three cards (plus the decoy). I got jobbed out of five cards. To a set builder like me, that's no good.

Okay. Enough nit-picking over the details. Let's look at the base set. It's divided up into four main parts. The first part is for the "Future Stars" These are the guys who are just now making a rookie impact, or are getting ready to be drafted this year.

The first 60 cards are like this...

Team Canada Gold Medalist Hero Dustin Tokarski

Future Leafs savior Justin Pogge

and probable 2009 NHL Rookie of the Year Steve Mason.

The next section is devoted to the current stars of the game. This is the smallest part of the set.
As it should be. Only twelve goalies make up this part.

Maybe a little early to be putting Price in this part.......

That's better.....

Here's where the set gets great. The first 60 cards were for the rookie collectors and prospectors. Then came the names everyone knows. Now comes the next two sections. First, Greats of the game. 19 of 'em.

I love these guys......

Gump didn't wear a mask... that goose egg on his forehead is from a puck. And he's still smiling!

Jacques was the first to ever put on a mask during a game. Sacre Bleu!

Rogie! Look at that picture. That picture describes hockey in the '70's. Awesome.

The last part consists of 9 goalies who joined up and played with the rival WHA league. When the WHA folded, Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Hartford joined the NHL. (or I guess you should now say, Colorado, Phoenix, Edmonton, and Carolina)

Gary's nickname was "Suitcase". Gary switched teams a lot....

These complete the 100 card set. In the box that I opened, I got five hits. This seems to be indicitive of this product.

The first was a Silver version of the Masked Men insert.

Then came the autos....

Al Montoya got called up to play his first game the day before I bought this. April 1st. In his first game, he won, and got a shut out. No foolin'.

Auto #2 was Kurtis Mucha

Kurtis is hoping to be drafted this year after a really good season in Portland.

The jersey card I pulled was a "Prospect Combo"

Leland Irving is a top prospect for Calgary, and the swatch is from his time playing for Team Canada.

The last pull? If you're a Leafs fan (I'm looking at you Tricia) then this is the card for you.

An auto/emblem #'d to /9 of the Leafs main netminder Vesa Toskala. Pretty sweet pull. Even if I do hate the Leafs.

I'll give the box break an 8.5/10. The whole missing card thing pulled it down. But as a set, it's beautiful. Great cards, nice checklist, and I love reading the info on the backs.

That's what a card set should be.

Cardshow bounty part 2

I found this guy at the cardshow who had a lot of binders with autographed cards in them. As usual, they were all hockey. But he overheard me talking to someone and said that he had baseball too... he just never displays them on the table. He dug around under the table and came out with three binders of baseball for me to look through.

Here's what I came home with...
Drew Denson, the Braves 1st round pick in '84 played 12 games for Atlanta in '89.
Dion James ended up with twice as many SB's as HR's in his career. That's what you get from a guy with two hats.
Russ Nixon is one of my favourite managers. Because of his beautiful .376 winning % as manager, the Braves were forced to bring in Bobby Cox as skipper. Thank you Russ.

Tommy Gregg was one of a thousand no-hit outfielders the Braves employed in the late '80's early '90's. 13 homers in 6 years? Seriously?
Joe Boever pitched for 7 teams in 11 years. Nice sig though.
Rick Camp was 56-49 with a 3.37 ERA over 9 years on some horrible Braves teams. And his middle name is Lamar. Really.

Mike Stanton is #2 on the All Time list for games pitched. According to Baseball Reference, he pitched in 1178 games over 19 years.
Don Hood???? Well, I needed him for my 1976 Topps set. Auto or no, he fills up a slot in my binder.

You may have heard of the next two....

That's Greg Maddux with the soon to be retired by two teams #31, and a young rookie named Tom. Hi Tom.

.50 cents each for the early ones... $2.50 each for the Hall of Famers.... $9 bucks well spent.

wrong, terrribly wrong...

It's Opening Day. My Braves are playing. I turn on TBS to see when the game is on. It's not on. On to the internet. Look up TBS, looking up the Braves schedule... I find this....


Sun.
April 12
1 p.m.
Mets @ Marlins
Sun.
April 19
1 p.m.
Indians @ Yankees
Sun.
April 26
Noon
Phillies @ Marlins
Sun.
May 3
1:30 p.m.
Red Sox @ Rays
Sun.
May 10
12:30 p.m.
Braves @ Phillies
Sun.
May 17
1 p.m.
Twins @ Yankees
Sun.
May 24
1:30 p.m.
Mets @ Red Sox
Sun.
May 31
12:30 p.m.
Yankees @ Indians


WTF!?!?!?!!!??

Card Show bounty...

I went to the show last night, hoping to get to the good stuff early, before the rush today. (the autograph "guests" are at the show today. Doug Gilmour and Lanny McDonald. Only $25 per sig. Um. no thanks.)
I was wrong about the show. It wasn't 99% hockey. It was 99.75% hockey. *sigh* There were 3 wax boxes of baseball there. Period. A box of '08 A&G for $110. And two unmarked boxes of '09 Heritage. I held them up to get the attention of the dealer. "How much?" I asked. Looking over, he says "$160".
"You're selling them as a pair?" I asked. He gives me a strange look. "you mean, $80 each, $160 for the pair..."
"No." he says. "$160 each... they're new, and highly sought after... really rare right now."

I'll leave that rant for another post...

So with no baseball or football wax to buy, I changed tactics and went for some vintage singles. Out of over 75 tables, only three had any baseball. Fine. I grabbed what I could, along with two boxes of hockey, which I'll share later, and got out.

The singles I ended up with? This is the first. I found it in the bottom of a monster box filled with late '80s Topps singles. No namers mostly.
"How much for this?" I ask. "Oh, that's a special card there. It's from the 1963 set... that's before you were born"
Should I bother correcting him? 1963? Really? Let's try another tactic first.
"If it's a special card, why was it tossed in the bottom of this commons box?" Put him on the defensive.
"well, uh... I must have misplaced it." He knows defeat.
"it's got four dented corners... I'll give you a loonie for it" (that's a canadian dollar)
"uh, okay... you're getting a really good deal there. It's unmarked. That's rare from the '63's"

I turn it over. "Nope", I say, "it's been marked with a dull pencil, and someone has erased the marks."

Leaving him with his mouth hanging open, I leave with my new 1959 Braves check list.

The rest of my loot to come.

Going to the show...

Just getting ready to go to the Calgary Sports Collectors Show... I don't really have any strategy or hopes for this... they advertise "100 dealer tables"... umm.. no. The last one had about 20. And 99% hockey. Oh well. I'm gonna go anyways.

Maybe the blind nut will find a squirrel.

I've been neglectful...

So with everything that has been happening over the last couple of months, I somehow have stopped acquiring cards of my favourite (or at least, top 2) player. Adam LaRoche.

In an effort to remedy that, I made a trip to the local card store. Here, that means ebay. A quick search, a couple of clicks, and voila! A brand new 2009 Upper Deck SPx Adam LaRoche auto jersey for $3.
Wait a sec... this is the brand new 2009 Upper Deck SPx Adam LaRoche.... in an Atlanta jersey?!?!? He's only been in Pittsburgh for over TWO YEARS! Can Upper Deck not do anything right? Remember this from the new 2009 base set?

idiots.

Anybody have old wantlists still?

I guess it's spring cleaning time (even though there is still snowbanks 4 feet high on either side of my driveway)
Somebody from down the street knew I collected cards (how, I do not know) and dropped off four monster boxes of cards on my doorstep. 20,000 cards. About 45 lbs of them.
They are in pack fresh condition, having not been touched in about 17 years. So if you are still trying to finish off any of the following, lmk and I'll root around the boxes for you.

Baseball;
Topps - 1989,1990,1991
Donruss - 1988,1989,1990,1992
Score - 1991
Upper Deck - 1990,1991

Hockey;
1990/91 ProSet, Score, Bowman, OPC, Topps, and OHL
Upperdeck - 1990/91 and 1991/92
Parkhurst 1991/92

OPC - 1978/79 and 79/80
OPC 1982/83

Basketball
1991 Hoops and Skybox


Yeah, I know... a lot of stuff that should be sold by the pound to a recycling depot. Anyways, I can help out those still in need.
Leave a comment or send an email to remain anonymous.

more cards I want to see....

The latest installment in the 2009 Goose Joak Baseball Card Set consists of 3 Braves.

Yunel Escobar, turning two...
Mike Gonzalez, closing out another one...

and Huddy... getting ready for a strong second half.

to see the rest of the set, in all of its' colourful glory, click here....

I did it...

I said I'd get the first wave of packages in the (semi)Great Tradeaway out in the mail today and I did!
(well, okay, I said they'd be out yesterday, don't be picky)

So today, with two big bags stuffed with oversized bubble mailers, I set out to the post office.
$104.78 later, thirteen packages were loaded on the sled dogs and should be arriving to your door in about two weeks. (sorry, only John in the U.K got Airmail)

Thanks to;

Beardy (whose blog I can't remember for the life of me... sorry)
Shane from ShoeBox Legends
Jim from GarveyCeyRussellLopes
Greg from Night Owl Cards
Jeff from I Am Joe Collector
Duane from Democratic Roadkill
Andy from Off Centered Cards (although I don't think he's posting on that anymore...)
Dave from Cardboard Junkie
John from Pursuit of 80's

and a big thanks to readers;
Julie and Nick
Don
Kevin
Sara

be on the lookout... sled dogs on the way!

EDIT: if you sent me an email, and I haven't got back to you, or your name isn't listed... send me another email, or leave a comment here... (my email is a big crap fest right now...)

YYEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) - The Atlanta Braves say they have agreed to terms with third baseman Chipper Jones on a three-year contract extension through 2012 with an option for 2013.

The agreement Tuesday virtually guarantees that the 36-year-old Jones will play his entire career in an Atlanta uniform.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
A six-time All-Star, Jones was the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1999. His .310 lifetime batting average ranks second among switch hitters, trailing only Frankie Frisch's .316. He has 408 home runs, trailing only Mickey Mantle (536) and Eddie Murray (504) in homers by a switch hitter.
He is the only switch hitter with at least 300 homer and a .300 career batting average.


WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

part of the great tradeaway...

as first seen here, I just wanted to show a little piece of what's available in the (semi)great tradeaway...
That's right. A 1988 Score Rack Pack. This one has some guy by the name of Dale Murphy on the front. There's more... a lot more.
I've got about 25-30 wax boxes for this tradeaway. In all glorious junkiness....
Who wants some?

EDIT: thanks you for the 27 emails... I now know two things. One: people actually read this stuff, and Two: it's a 1989 Score rack pack. I appreciate the support.

Calling all 1971 collectors...

I need a little help here. As most of you know, I live in Calgary. That's Canada. Which means O Pee Chee, not Topps. So I have a lot of these....
with these types of backs....

not these....

I have around 350 of these 1971 OPC cards... who in the heck can I trade with to try and get the rest??????

Also, why are all the backs like the Nolan Ryan above... except for one, which looks a lot like the Topps Palmer

If anyone has info on these, I'd love to hear it.... and if anyone knows a Canadian with a box of these in their attic, I'd like that info as well...

idle hands you know...

So I find myself with a little spare time now that I don't have to worry about that whole career thing. Why not get some trades going?
Trading for my wantlists has been rather slow lately... so I figure why be so specific? Here's what came to me.
I found a box of 92/93 Pro Set Jumbo hockey ridiculously cheap. 20 packs. I opened one and posted on A Pack A Day, the other 19, as well as a lot of other junk wax I have are available. For next to nothing. Or less than nothing.

Here's the deal. If you would like a pack of junk wax, shoot me an email. Offer me something in trade. A card. A picture of your cat. Or even, a surprise. I don't care. Include your address and I'll send you a pack or two of junk wax. I have a couple boxes each of hockey, basketball, and baseball.

You'll get something to open, and I'll be able to start my spring cleaning.

a cure for depression... maybe not...

So I was a little depressed today... so I thought I might make a trip to the nearest card shop. That will cheer me up, right?

'09 Spectrum - $145 a box
'09 In The Game Between the Pipes $120 a box
'09 Upper Deck Hockey Series 2 - $85 a box
'09 Champs Hockey (hockey's version of A&G) - $150 a box
'09 Upper Deck Baseball Series 1 - $110 a box

Seriously? Is this what the new stuff is going for? I haven't been on th 'bay for awhile, but really? For new stuff?

It's no wonder I always wait and buy wax a year or two after the fact.

It happened to me...

What has happened to so many others, has finally happened to me. I thought I was safe, being in the industry I was in, but no.

Success!

Tonight's six pack performance has been shortened due to weather. Well, okay, not weather. I found the "case hit" in the third pack I opened tonight. Yes. Even in 1992 they had case hits.

Pack 13;

John L. Williams RB - Seahawks
Burt Grossman DL - Chargers
Randall McDaniel G -Vikings
Bobby Hebert QB - Saints
Bobby was always one of my favourite players growing up.

Clyde Simmons DE - Eagles
James Lofton WR - Bills
Pack 14;

Mike Pritchard WR - Falcons
Anthony Carter WR - Vikings
Jay Novacek TE - Cowboys
you ever seen a Hall of Famers security blanket??? Take another look at Novacek.

Steve Sewell RB - Broncos
Tony Zendejas K - Rams
Giving the kickers some love....
Duane Bickett LB - Colts

Pack 15;

Anthony Thompson RB - Cardinals
Mark Rypien QB - Redskins

Rob Burnett DE - Browns

Dave Meggett KR - Giants

Clarence Verdin KR - Colts

Only one card left..... you're breathless, I know....

Warren Moon QB - Oilers

wait. that's it? No. Flip it over. Oh, wait.... here. Let me do it for you....

That's braille my fine sighted friends. An Action Packed braille card. 1992's equivalent of a case hit.

All I need now is that Barry Sanders auto.

EDIT: okay, upon a little investigation on the ole interwebs, unlike 1991, in 1992, the braille cards were a little more common. Like one per two boxes... mea culpa people.