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.

Baseball Fever!!!

The Baseball season is just about upon us. I have recently caught the fever between watching 30 Teams in 30 Days on the MLB network to participating in 3 Fantasy Drafts in the last few weeks. I'm also extremely pumped for Phil Hughes being named the Yankees 5th starter he is finally going to get a chance. Last week to kick off my Baseball fever I purchased an 11 game pack of tickets to the Yanks. The first game is Monday May 3rd against the O's. Now for some even more exciting news. On Sunday morning I'm flying out to Vegas for 3 days then driving to Phoenix for 3 days. In addition to be happy that I'll be away from work for 10 days (I hope they don't call me to much). I will be attending 2 games the first is a Texas Rangers at Cincinnati Reds game on Thursday @ Goodyear Ballpark. I got the tickets off Stub Hub for dirt cheap ($8) only a few rows behind the first base dugout. The second game is at one my favorite ballparks Chase Field. On Friday night I will be attending the Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks. Not sure where the seats are just yet a friend got them for me through a client for free. Last time they got me tickets for the D-back was back in 98 and they weren't to far behind the First base dugout so will see. I'm going to try to post some photos while I'm away. The day I come back is opening night Yankees vs Red Sox it don't get better then this. Hope everyone has a great week.