Dipping back into buying some 2018 cards

It was a very slow summer for me for buying 2018 cards for a few reasons. First and foremost, my Target just never restocked 2018 cards. After flagship, I found a blaster of GQ and then never found anything new after that.

But that wasn't the only reason. I just wasn't inspired by very many 2018 releases. I'm not sure why. Maybe I got Aaron Judge'd last year and was tired of trying to keep up with all of the releases. Also I just feel like each set is the same year after year, and that gets a little tiring. I end up just accumulating without being overly excited about the cards.

Anyhow, two weeks ago I went to a different Target with my son. We were out running errands so tried a different location. They did have a much better selection of cards, and I found one lonely Chrome Update Mega Box, as well as a hanger of 2018 Update.

Side note, the term Mega Box does not make sense to me. 28 cards (7 packs of 4 cards) do not need to be in such a giant box. I'm not a conscious save-the-environment type of person, but the size of this box, and all blasters really, are so over the top for the contents inside.

Despite the usual buyer's remorse after buying retail, I still managed to pull some great cards. 28 cards of Chrome for $20 is pretty dumb, but at least there's a strong rookie class this year. Here are some of the highlights:

I was very happy to get the Gleyber RC from Chrome, as it's my first pack-pulled Torres. I didn't get Ohtani, but did well with Soto and Acuna for sure. Those guys are studs.

Also, it feels like Hoskins has been around forever, so weird to still be getting his RCs still.

This Bryce Harper card is very awesome. It must look event better as a Refractor. I really wish the Yankees would open up their large checkbook and sign Harper. I prefer him to Machado. I would also really relish all the whiny "Harper and the Yankees are made for each other" or "now I can hate the Yankees even more" freezing cold takes and tweets. It would be awesome. But it's not going to happen.

Lastly, these International Affair cards fall 1:2 and are very nice. I don't understand the premise of the set at all, but the cards look great and I was very happy to get a Judge. Probably the second nicest insert set after the 1983 Chrome Refractors.

As for the hanger box, nothing specular, but a solid break for $10. I prefer these to blasters since you get about the same amount of cards, but the 72-card brick is less fun to open. Basically you have about 35 cards on top, the inserts all stuck together in the middle, then all of the horizontal cards pack together as well. Kind of weird and unexciting.

I managed two Torres cards this time, which is great. I guess neither is his true flagship RC because of the 2018 Series 2 SP (which I don't have....GRRR). The debut card of him coming out of the dugout is great. And the AS card isn't a shot of him from the game, as he didn't play due to injury.

Stanton was the card on top of the bricks, and I love cards of trade deadline acquisitions.

I got a nice Ohtani!

And a great looking Bo Jackson.

The Bruce Harper cards come 2 per hanger at Target. The design is a little too political for me, but I get it. Washington DC.

That's it. Overall, I did ok with the break given the players I got, but I still think I should have spent the $30 on something else. But I always feel like that after buying retail.

Jeter Highlights - Send 'em my way

I've been meaning to post my want list for the 2018 Topps Target Derek Jeter Highlights set. While I'm not a set builder, and likely never will be, I do like the looks of these. Plus, there are only 30 of them, and I'm sure many don't care about them or are looking to get of them. I figure I can definitely make a run at completing the set.

I'd actually like two sets when all is said and done - one to binder up, and one to somehow display. But for now, I'm just going to focus on one set.

Here are my needs:

1, 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30

If you can help me out, let me know. Would love to work out a few PWE trades to make it easier.

Thanks!

Finally snagged some 2018 Topps

I was finally able to pick up some 2018 Topps Series One. It was released on Jan 31, and I grabbed some the next day. However, it felt like an eternity and like I was the last one to find some.

In a cruel twist of fate, I arrived at Target and realized I forgot the two gift cards I had set aside! I toyed with still buying some, but I put my foot down. I saved these gift cards for this occasion. So I went in to check to make sure Topps Series One had arrived and it had! Glorious! So I picked up the grocery item my wife asked for, and left with only one pack of cards. For now.

I cracked that pack in the car and the first card was this:

I then returned home - about a 12-15 minute drive - and it was a about 8:50pm. I ran in and grabbed the gift cards, and made my way back. I got back to Target at around 9:10pm, grabbed three blasters and two hanger boxes - more than I planned but got caught up in the excitement - and was home a little before 9:30pm.

I made my way up to my ugly attic and sat on the ugly carpet. I opened the two hanger boxes first, which I should have known better than buying more than one of these because there were a bunch of dupes in the exact same order in both boxes, like in previous years. And it seems as though the back half of the brick were nearly all horizontal cards, right in a row. Interesting. The collation on these hangers are never good and I know that.

I then proceeded to open the rest of the packs. I laughed to myself because I should have just ordered a hobby box if I was going to buy this many packs, but oh well.

I think the base cards are completely fine looking. I know it's more fun to hate the design than I like it because it's enjoyable to be #madonline, but I think they are decent. Not the best and not the worst. Also, please stop with the lazy criticism that these cards are now designed for the digital app BUNT. This was last year's Bunt design. It's not the same as flagshape. Maybe it shares an element or two, but it's not a carbon copy. And it's ok for cards to look good in person and on a cellular telephone device. Really, it is.

The photography seems decent. I noticed a lot of good action shots, and I was thrilled to see this Brett Gardner. This will be his 11th season and I think this will have to go down as his all-time best base card. That photo is what I think of when I think "Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner." Kudos, Topps.

Another great base card here. For knowing prospects fairly well, I do have to say that I have no idea who Richard Urena is. But what a bad ass rookie card, right?

I did get a bunch of Yankees (time to prep my TTMs!) and did exceptionally well on Judge cards. Six total, including all three in the base set (p.s. he's not the only one with three cards). I was happy to pull a fancy Rainbow Foil of him.

I was thrilled to get a few Yankees RCs as well, especially of this guy. I love that he was given #7 in the checklist. Nice troll move by Topps. Goodness gracious I hope Suzyn Waldman doesn't get too offended.

And was finally glad to get some Marlins cards! For the first time ever!

I pulled a handful of Topps Golds, highlighted by this Cody Bellinger rookie cup. I agree with others that they are a little hard to spot the first time, but it was easy after seeing one.

I also snagged a SP, and outside of Judge, what better player for me to get? I knew it was an SP right away thanks to the internet showing these BP-type jersey cards, notably the Trout.

Let's go to some inserts. I like the Manu-relics more than I thought I would, but I was expecting them to be a little heavier like the coins from the past. Not a big deal. Just an observation. The Hoskins is a blue parallel /99. I wish I could see his name on his jersey!

It was a Cutch hot box, by the way! These are going to our favorite McCutchen collector. However, I did notice that my inserts were sort of grouped by player. I observed that if I pulled one Arenado insert, others were to follow. And one pack had two Buster Posey inserts. Both different, but I wonder how that works?

I like Legends in the Making the most, I think. They do remind me of 2016 Topps Fire inserts though. The parallels were a little tough to spot, but not bad once I knew to look for them. I didn't do my homework, so I wasn't aware that there were different colored versions.

I also like the '83s - my birth year! I wish they were on vintage stock versus glossy, but I think they look great.

Here are a few others.

I also got one of the HR Challenge scratch offs. Good guy to get!

Lastly, I like the looks of the Jeter set available at Target. I can imagine it's frustrating for non-Yankee/Jeter collectors to have a set dedicated to him (for the second year in a row). I get it. Aesthetically though, I think it's really nice looking and I might try to complete the set, so feel free to send any my way. I hope card #30 is him trading Stanton to the Yankees. What a great SSSSSP that would be.

That about wraps up it. It was fun, and I'm glad to be in the 2018 club now. I definitely went a little overboard, but it's good to be excited about something in life, right?

Now, time to send these puppies out for the 2018 Topps Yankees Project.

K-Mart saves the day

This past week, I took Tuesday-Thursday off. It was kind of weird to take three mid-week days off, especially during a busy time. My wife traveled for work, and without family members able to come down to help with school drop-offs and pick-ups, I just decided to burn a few extra vacation days and stay home.

On the final day, I decided that I'd swing by Target after I dropped off each kid at school. I was hoping to look for a a few card products, in this order: Topps Chrome Mega box, Topps Fire, Topps Update.

Here is what I found:

No baseball cards. Ok, I should clarify. There are two baseball cards. A blaster of 2016 Series One, and a bunch of untouched Mets team sets. Plus some baseball stickers. Meh.

Now on one hand, this is the cleanest I've ever seen the card aisle at this particular Target. Usually it's a mess and has a cart filled with all the store returns just sitting there.

On the other hand, baseball cards were sold out. In speaking with someone in the industry recently, he told me what a huge year it was for cards. Obviously this is the Judge/Bellinger effect, but the hobby is strong right now. This is a good thing. I don't want cards to be a scarcity, but it's good seeing them fly off of the shelves versus collecting dust like the hockey cards.

Disappointed, I headed to the toy aisles and picked up a few small Christmas gifts for the kids. Cruz Ramirez and Hudson Hornet McQueen!

On the way home, I decided to stop at a local shopping plaza that has a Dollar Tree and K-Mart. I went into the Dollar Tree first to see if they had any of their repacks. Bone dry.

I then went to K-Mart, and luckily found some Update. Salvation!

They had two 36-card jumbo backs and two 72-card hanger boxes. For some reason, K-Mart doesn't participate in the same pricing as the other big box store, as the hangers were each $12.99 instead of the standard $9.99. I decided to buy the two jumbo packs and leave the hanger boxes.

Overall, I did pretty well! This is the very first card that greeted me.

I also snagged this HR Derby Bellinger, and three Judge cards total, two of which I didn't have. Those are certainly worth the price of the packs.

 

 

This Gary Sanchez was new for me as well.

I was happy to see these guys get some Update love. TTM fodder for the spring! Higashioka is a great signer. I'm not sure about Torreyes. I sent to him once without success.

Is this the first card to feature a dab?

Lastly, a few more solid pulls. I thought the Rizzo was a buyback, but it's actually a Rookie Cup insert.

I still wish I would have gotten a Mega Box, but my two packs ended up being pretty darn good from K-Mart. Not a bad way to end my mini staycation.