Am I Crazy? Wait... Don't answer that.... - Adam LaRoche edition

I received an email from someone I've been trading with for a looooong time. He asked me since when did I collect Adam LaRoche cards?

Only since 2007 I replied. He had no idea. I suppose that's my fault. I don't go around trumpeting or renting out a skywriter.

 

But just in case anyone else who reads my drivel didn't know that.... Yes. I want ALL the Adam LaRoche cards.

 

Of course Topps found out and decided to have some fun with me.

 

I call it Parallel Hell.

 

Walk down the path with me, won't you?

 

2013 Base card. Nice. Simple.

 

 the Base Mini... okay. Sure...

 The ubiquitous Gold

 

and of course the gold mini...

 

and the Not found in packs, blue sparkle wrapper redemption....

 

Wal Mart demands they have an exclusive parallel...

and so does the U.S. Army apparently

the Aqua Man seaweed version...

 uh... Gay Pride Parade version?

Toys R Us wanted to get in on the act

and of course so did Target...

Topps also put out an African American parallel

 

the sad part is.... even with all of those, I still don't have them all!!! I know there is a Pink mini, a Grey/Graphite version, as well as an Orange factory set only parallel.... among others I'm sure.

 

Just when your head is spinning, Chrome comes out...

 

 

with their pretty Refractors...

 

 

and X-Fractors. (don't give them any ideas or they'll make the other 25 letters as well)

 

a 1800's Sepia parallel...

a Burgundy (NOT red!)

of course the NAACP is represented again...

a light blue that doesn't look blue version

one of my favourites... Orange!

and Grimace gets his own as well...

 along with Gold, Camo, Pink, yadda yadda yadda.....


my head hurts now... and I'm sure most of you are now asleep dreaming of rainbows. (except you, Mr Putin)

So if any of you didn't know, now you do. And if you have ANY Adam LaRoche cards, please drop me an email so we can swap.

Thanks.

Well that didn't take long.....

so on Tuesday, October 8th, I posted about busting a box of the new shiny Topps Chrome baseball. Of course, it was missing one of the promised autos.

On Wednesday the 9th, I emailed Topps customer service with all of the requested information and attached scans of the upc symbol etc.. as instructed to do by Topps' fantastic website.

 

Later that day I received an email that they couldn't open the attachments. Apparently .png files are too modern for their software. So I switched to .jpg and re-sent.

 

The next day I received an email saying the attachments were too large. Apparently 2MB scans will overwhelm their servers.

 

So I reduced the resolution and re-sent.

 

Again.

 

I then received an email the next day (the 11th) asking me to send my letter and scans to a different email address within Topps.

 

Apparently Topps' software does not have a "forward" button. Or a "copy, paste" button either. They must be using Macs or some such useless crap.

 

So I did my own copy and pasting. And re-sent (for the fourth time) my request to Topps.

Now in my letter, I mentioned that I was a Braves fan and if they possibly had one of those, I'd be really grateful.

I, and a lot of other people have dealt with Upper Deck and they always ask your collecting interests to best match up a replacement whenever possible.

 

This isn't Upper Deck.

 

On Wednesday the 18th, FedEx showed up at my door at 2 pm.

 

I wasn't home. however they left a nice note saying they would try again and 2 pm the next day.

 

I wasn't home again. Who delivers residential in the afternoon when a signature is required?????

 

This time they left a not so nice note saying my package would be held at a really inconvenient location nowhere near my home or work until Saturday, where it would then be returned if I hadn't picked it up.

 

Great. One day to get it or else.

 

Oh, and pick up times at this remote hell hole are between 1:00 and 4:00 pm.

 

Apparently FedEx has a sense of humour.

 

Skipping to the chase, Topps immediately replaced my missing auto. Kudos to them for doing so in a timely fashion.

 

However.....

 

yeah.

These babies can be had for $1.50 on Check Out My Cards. Why? Because the Mariners don't have fans or people who collect them. That's why.

*sigh*

I can't complain really. Other than the inconvenient way of shipping, the time off of work to get the damn package, and the fight with Topps' customer care department, everything else went smooth.

Now I just have to locate Brandon Maurer's grandma and trade her this card.

Topps owes me.... I hope.

So at the last trade night I caved into peer pressure. My drug of choice? Shiny 2013 Topps Chrome.

It was either that or Shiny 2013 Bowman Chrome. Why did Topps put out two nearly identical products in the same week??? Who knows? They have a monopoly, so they can do whatever they want.

 

A couple of friends of mine spent about 10 minutes talking me into busting this box... I think it was because they wanted to see one but didn't want to splurge themselves........... Hmmm.......

 

Anyways, you all know about The Shiny. 24 packs, 4 cards per pack, and TWO autos GUARANTEED per box. (that's called foreshadowing kids)

 

I only managed to pull three Braves in the box, so you're going to get to see them all.

 

This is the first card of El Oso Blanco that I've pulled from a pack myself.

 

 Evan became the first player to win back to back Rookie of the Month since Jason Heyward in 2010.
It'll be a tight race between Evan and Jedd Gyorko for rookie of the Year. I think Gyorko will win it though.... too bad, evan had a helluva year. The most RBI's by a rookie, second by two in homers to Gyorko.

BMac! Maybe the last card of Brian in a Bravos uni....

 Of course, what are shiny cards without even shinier cards? Refractors everywhere...

And of course, Xfractors.... that black line is not visible on the card itself, but every Xfractor I pulled scans this way. It looks like a fault in the cards... there's a line on the card that looks like it's missing the Xfractor dust.

There are coloured parallels as well.... purple, red, orange, black, gold, and blue. Maybe more, I dunno. I got one gold, and one blue in my box.

The blue I pulled was Jon Lester. Jon thinks like my cat.... if I can't see you, you can't see me....

The scan of my gold parallel seems to have disappeared into the depths of the world. Sorry, my bad.

As for inserts, we get more of the 1972 reprints. I got two in the box, Pujols and Jason Heyward.

Topps also made a couple of odd die-cut insert sets. I pulled three of these monsters... Ortiz, Lincecum, and Gonzalez. Very colourful.... it's like the 90's again.

And then this thing.... the only one in the box. Evan Longoria.

Now we get to the autos. Or should I say, auto. Yeah. In big block red letters it's printed on the box THREE times, TWO autographs per box.

I got one.

*sigh*

But, at least I got the probable rookie of the year, the previously mentioned Jedd Gyorko, on a  black bordered card #/100

nice looking card.

Now to email Topps about my missing auto.
Anyone out there have experience dealing with Topps??? Sound off in the comments if you have any tips.