More repack goodness

In my last post I shared a 2008 Topps Gift Set card from a recent Fairfield repack cube. In and of itself it wasn't that interesting a card, just something I'd never seen before.  I've been through the entire "cube" (it's really a rectangular box) and pulled the three best cards in it. These cards aren't just the best cards in this box, they are good cards, in and of themselves.

The first is something else I've never seen, or heard of.

2006 Topps National Baseball Card Day Insert

I was not aware of "National Baseball Card Day" in 2006, but I have about half of the 12 cards from the set, which I've gathered from various repacks. The first 6 cards were produced by Topps and the other 6 by Upper Deck. What I didn't know is that there were 3 insert cards in the set. I don't know how they were distributed (one in every pack or rarer than that). This is the #2 insert. Unlike the regular cards, which feature the same design as the regular Topps set, this is an original design. It's also printed on foil board. The back looks like the regular 2006 Topps cards.

I have not been able to figure out what this card is.

 It's a reprint of May's 1952 Topps card all done up with chrome refractor goodness. The front looks like a Topps Heritage Chrome card. Beckett.com lists 293 Willie Mays cards in 2012, not one of them seems to be this card. Whatever it is, it's a great card.

2013 Topps Chasing History Relics Brian Wilson

You don't usually find a loose relic card in a repack box like this. After I found this I looked at the label on the box and saw that it said "Every other cube contains an autograph or relic card *on average". How 'bout that?

Repack Madness #2

A few more selections from the 290-card Fairfield repack.

2012 Topps #465 Michael Schwimer

Schwimer appeared in a handful of games for the Phillies in 2011 and 2012, before being traded to Toronto in early 2013 and then released. The important fact is that, besides various parallel cards, this is the only Schwimer Phillies card. For that matter, it's also his only major league card.

2012 Topps #502 Collin Cowgill

My first Collin Cowgill card was in the pack.

2012 Topps Opening Day #167 Orlando Hudson

My second card with Collin Cowgill.

2012 Topps #658 Juan Pierre

Juan played a single year with the Phillies, in 2012. Again, not counting numerous parallels, there are only 3 Juan Pierre Phillies cards, all from 2012. This, an Allen & Ginter card (which I have) and a high-number Topps Heritage (which I suspect will be hard to get).

2012 Topps

This looks like some sort of promo card. But a promo for what? I figured maybe I'd learn something if I tried the web site address, bunt.topps.com.  What I got was the web site for Houston Community College. What?

2012 1987 Topps Minis #38 Chase Utley

There were two of these in the pack. I didn't have the Utley card.

2012 Topps Opening Day #7 Mickey Mantle

There were 4 packs of 2012 Topps Opening day. I'd say this was the 3rd best card in the box.

2012 Topps Opening Day Mascots #10 Pirate Parrot

According to Wikipedia, the Parrot was introduced in 1979, in response to the Phillie Phanatic. In the early days the Parrot featured more pirate-related items. The Parrot changed as a result of the Pittsburgh drug trials of 1985. The wearer of the costume, Kevin Koch, was revealed to be the 'middle-man" distributing cocaine from dealers to various Pirate players. Koch was fired and the mascot revamped.

2012 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations #9 Ryan Zimmerman

There are two interesting things in this photo. The guy with the Mohawk haircut and that there is a guy named Zimmerman and a guy named Zimmermann in the photo.

Repack Madness #1

I found a new Fairfield repack package at the local Target earlier in February. The box advertised "20 packs!" and "Now Includes One Hit Per Box". For only $19.99. Since there wasn't anything new (I'd already bought all the Series 1 Topps I was gonna buy). I picked this up.  There were 290 cards in the box, since several of the packs were jumbo rack packs.

2012 Topps World Series Medallion Mickey Mantle

Normally, I wouldn't get too excited about a manufactured relic like this but at least this one was reasonably hard to get. It came as an insert to the retail 2012 Topps Factory set. No way was I buying a set just to get one of these. There are three cards in the set, this being #3. Since I think there was only one of these in each factory set (at least it was displayed on the outside of the box so you knew which one you were getting), getting the set would be pointless.

1991 Score World Series Trivia

The oldest cards in the box were two 1991 packs of Score. Topps had gum, Fleer had stickers, Donruss had puzzle pieces and Score had "Magic Motion Cards".

2007 Fleer #169 Greg Maddux

This pitiful design was the last year of Fleer, after Upper Deck bought the company. I understand that Upper Deck will release a Fleer set this year. I hope it's better than this. The worst thing about this card is the back where the player number is huge and the card number is barely readable.

2007 Fleer Soaring Stars Alfonso Soriano

Soaring Stars was a 20-card insert set. The box had a jumbo rack pack which implied that these cards were exclusive to this packaging. Since you could get them in regular packs as well, perhaps there were just a few which were only available in the rack packs. This Fleer set was all about plain. No gloss, no foil, no nothing special.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update #420 Mariano Rivera

There were several packs of this, very likely the most worthless set from 2008.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update #447 Matt Capps

The pitcher equivalent of a card featuring a batter holding a bat extended in front of him.

2012 Topps #30a Joe DiMaggio

Everything else in the box was 2012 Topps products. This came from a jumbo rack pack. After the Mantle medallion, this may be the second best card in the box. This is a veteran variation card. I bought a lot of 2012 Topps and didn't get one of these. The regular #30 features Derek Jeter.

2012 Topps Ian Desmond

Here's Ian Desmond practically taking off Justin Heywood's head while trying to turn a double play.

2012 Topps #180 Mariano Rivera

 

Over the years I collected a number of players in binders. For some reason, I never collected Rivera. I may have to go through my boxes of commons and pull Mariano cards out. I'm retired, I've got plenty of time.

2012 Topps #231 Dexter Fowler

I love cards featuring plays like this. Is he safe or out? You make the call.

2012 Topps #443 B. J. Upton

OK, one more.

2012 Card Review - Part 2 The Inserts

Part 2 of my year-end review. This time I'm going to focus on the insert cards. This will not include parallel cards to the base cards since I thought it would be redundant to Part 1 of the series. And I'm not going to include every type of insert card from 2012, there are just too many of them.

1987 Topps Minis #55 Justin Verlander

Quantity: 20
Price Paid: $0.23
I was pretty much predisposed to like this set since 1987 Topps is one of my favorite sets. This card combines a retro uniform and a goofy pose. What more do you want?

Topps Gold Futures #48 Dellin Betances

Quantity: 9
Price Paid: $0.23
Better than most of the Topps inserts. The space where the relic goes doesn't take up most of the card.
  
Topps Golden Greats #7 Nolan Ryan

 
Quantity: 8
Price Paid: Acquired through trade
A good concept. I like the Ryan in the classic Astro's rainbow uniform.

Topps A Cut Above #12 Stan Musial

 
Quantity: 4
Price Paid: $0.23

Topps Archives 1977 Cloth Steve Carlton

Quantity:3
Price Paid: Acquired in trade

Topps Allen & Ginter Mini Man's Best Friend #1

Quantity: 1
Price Paid: $0.46


Who's a good doggy?

Topps Opening Day Elite Skills #20 Yadier Molina

 
Quantity: 6
Price Paid: $0.15

Topps Gypsy Queen Moonshots Mickey Mantle

Quantity: 8
Price Paid: $0.43

2012 Topps Stickers - First (and only) Look

Baseball card stickers. I can take 'em or leave 'em. I bought a blaster of this product last year and it turned out pretty blah. This year I only bought a handful of packs. Still pretty blah. Not much change from last year. The logo cards have lost the foil look. The fronts have a variation of the 'surf board' from flagship Topps, which is, I think, I good idea and done well. The photos are the usual group of mixed action and posed shots. Topps also brought back the mascot cards. Here's a small sample of what I pulled.

I bought 6 8-card packs. These yielded 7 mascot cards. But at least I pulled the Phanatic.

If there is a Mantle card in the set I'm happy to see it. It's card #27. There are 7 of these Legend subset cards. This is the only one I pulled.

Like last year, this is actually two stickers, one for each logo. As such there are two numbers on the back, 152 (Cubs) and 160 (Phillies).

I pulled 2 Phillies, the Phanatic and the logo sticker, pretty good for only 6 packs. As I'm writing this (on 4/5), Halladay just won the first game of the season, a 2-hit, 8-inning 1-0 shutout of the Pirates. Paplebon for the save.

The craziest card I pulled. Man, that looks nasty.