2010 Topps National Chicle Dual Box Break with Contest!!!!

Product: 2010 Topps National Chicle
Boxes: 2
Packs: 24
Cards: 8 per pack
Price: $88 per Box (Includes Shipping)

Box 1
Chicle Variation Back: 7
Bazooka Variation Back: 4
Autos: 2 (Neil Walker / Koji Uehara)
Jersey Black Back Variation: 1 (Sandoval #/25)
Cabinet Card: 1 (Walter Johnson)

Box 2
Chicle Variation Back: 6
Bazooka Variation Back: 3
Black Back Variation: 1 (Sabathia #/25)
Autos: 2 (Pablo Sandoval / Michael Brantley)
Pants: 1 (Teixeira)
Cabinet Card: 1 (Nolan Ryan)

Review: Some of the art in this product is awesome and other cards are horrible. I think I did ok but not $176 worth. Nice box if your a Sandoval fan. There are way to many back variation for me I 'd rather the variation be on the front. I hate having to flip a card to find out if it different. I don't think I'll buy another box of this product I'm just looking forward to the Bowman release in a few weeks.

Contest: I will give 1 reader there choice of the Brantley or Walker Autos + whatever dupes I get of there team of choice. All you have to do is guess how many dupes I got out of the 2 boxes with out going over. Only open to US residents contest ends Monday.

I think the Beckham on the Left & Stoner on the Right really suck

Another Hughes to the collection.

Investing in Cards: Ricky Romero

In high school I was very interested in the Stock Market I thought I wanted to be a stock broker. I was even in a club called the Stock Market and I won there yearly annual award twice. Everyone I spoke to told me not to go into that field so I didn't. Now I invest in the card market. I have had successes and some failures. My current investment is Ricky Romero who last week when I was watching his game against the White Sox he pitched a No-hitter into the 8th inning. So I searched Ebay for some of his cards. I bought 3 of his 2009 Topps Chrome Autos for $7.25 each. These cards look great as they are on card Autos. I thought this was pretty good deal. He currently has a 1-1 record and has looked extremely good in his starts. My investment goal is to sell them for over $20 each by seasons end. Do you think that's possible? Have you made a card investment before?

Taking a Look at the Collection: Andy Pettite

I want to start a new feature called Taking a Look at the Collection. I will pick a player and feature a card or two of theirs. I will try to do this at least once a week.

First up is Andy Pettitte he has been a favorite of mine for the last 15 years. Today Andy started the season opener at Yankees Stadium and pitched very well. The 37 year old 5 time world series champ threw 6 scoreless innings. Before last year everyone was saying he was finished but it looks like he still has a few good years left him. I have at least a hundred of his cards. One of my favorites is a 2005 Donruss Prime Patches I picked this up on Ebay a few years back for a couple bucks. It has a Bat, Home Jersey, Road Jersey & Glove its numbered to 150. I know he is featured in an Astros uniform but boy it is a nice card.

Topps Finest Redemption #1 ????

This Just In!!!!!

Topps just announced that Topps Finest Redemption #1 is Jason Heyward and that 10% of the cards made will be Autographed. Redemption #1 is now going for about $90 on Ebay. I think that might be a bit high for card that only has a 10% chance being an auto. Is he really the real thing?

2010 Topps Finest 3 Box Break

Haven't seen to many of these breaks over the blogs so I'm not sure how I did. I really wasn't to impressed with my break but here is how it went down.

Product: 2010 Topps Finest
Boxes: 3 w/ 2 Mini Boxes per Box
Packs: 6 Packs per mini box
Cards: 5 per pack
Price: $84 per Box (Includes Shipping)

Box 1
Letter Patch: 2
Daniel Hudson #16/25
Michael Brantly #104/134

Finest Moments Auto: 1
Dustin Pedroia

Rookie Redemption: 1
#10

Base Green Ref: 1
Chipper Jones #41/99

Base Blue Ref: 3

Base Ref: 6

Base: 47


Box 2
Letter Patch: 2
Josh Thole #09/75
Drew Stubbs #193/217

Rookie Redemption: 1
#1

Base Red Ref: 1
Pedro Viola #07/25

Base Green Ref: 1
Chris Johnson #10/99

Base Blue Ref: 3

Base Ref: 6

Base: 47


Box 3
Letter Patch: 2
Eric Hacker #48/75
Tyler Colvin #216/217

Base red Ref: 1
Mark Reynolds #25/25

Base Green Ref: 2
Tim Lincecum #37/99
Chris Pettit #50/99

Base Blue Ref: 2

Base Ref: 6

Base: 47

Dupes: 37

Set: 104 of 150 (69% Complete)

My Trip to Arizona Wrap Up Part 1

I got back from my week long vacation yesterday. It sucks to be back but I did take an extra day off today to get back in the swing of things. I'm just going to take a jog and relax today my alarm will be going off at 4:30am tomorrow to head back to work.

As for the trip Spring Training wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. The last time I attended was back in 1995 and that was Florida I remember getting extremely close to the players and tons of players were signing. I went to the Astros camp and scored over 40 Autos. Well here is a little recap my trip.

On Thursday morning we headed over to Goodyear Ballpark to see the Rangers play the Reds. Neither team took batting practice which was a major disappointment. For the first hour I was there all I did was walk the park and watch some of the relievers have a catch with Saltalamacchia.



About 30 mins before game time the reds started coming out and kids started to swarm none of the big players were signing so I saw there weren't many people on the Rangers side so I headed over there. I only got 2 players Autos but they were 2 of the bigger ones Josh Hamilton & Michael Young. With the help of my Wife & Father I scored 4 Hamilton Autos & 3 of Youngs. Both players were extremely nice. I talk to Josh about the 2008 Home Run derby telling him I attended it and he said it was a lot of fun.



The seats were awesome 2 rows behind the Rangers dugout. Only disappointment was that there was netting over the dugout I guess safety trumps clear views.

I moved around the stadium and got some good shots spoke to some ushers who told me a lot of the Red regulars had already left town.


The Reds ended up winning the game with a walk off home run by minor leaguer Daniel Dorn.