Repack Bang or Bust Part 3

There was nothing new in the local target so I bought this.

4 packs, 50 loose cards and a bonus for $7.99. Through the windows on the front and back of the box we can see that 2 of the packs are 2016 Topps Heritage and 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen. 

I didn't buy a whole lot of Topps Heritage last year. There were 9 cards in the pack. I needed 4 of 8 base cards. There was one insert.

This is a Topps Heritage 1967 Stand Up. Presumably the original 1967 card was a punch out thing that made a creepy standing head. This was the only non-relic, non-auto insert from 2016 Topps Heritage I didn't have so along with 4 base cards, this pack is a bang.

I bought even less of 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen. There were 4 base cards in the pack and I needed 3 of them. The 4th card was an Astro I don't mind getting a dup of. There was also a mini card as expected. And then there was this.

An on-card autograph card. I can't say I knew who this guy was even though he played 3 years for the Astros (2011-2013) and finished last season with the Phillies. He appears to be an extra outfielder who doesn't hit. But an autograph is an autograph and I didn't have any of these from 2016 Gypsy Queen. This pack was a total bang.

The two hidden packs were 2015 Series 1 Topps. Not promising since I already have the whole set. These two packs were a total bust. Not even a card I didn't mind having a dup of. There was one insert in each. Both were the Topps Highlight of the Year cards. 

Fernando certainly had a great year in 1981. I remember his 8-game winning streak to start the season. I also remember that his first loss was to the Phillies. I remember listening to the game on the radio. I had to look it up to get the details. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 4-0 in LA that night. Marty Bystrom, of all people, got the win.

Another great pitcher but of whom I have no personal memories.

Of the 50 loose cards I needed 22 of them. I usually figure if I get close to 50% needs on something like this I'm ahead, especially if I get some players I collect that I need. So the loose cards are also a bang. Nothing especially exciting however.

A relatively early A Rod card from 1997 Upper Deck.

1994 SP. Two cards I needed that are on foil board, which I hate. I wonder why Cone is wearing a green hat. Spring training game on St. Patrick's Day perhaps? I know the Phillies have done such a thing.

1994 Bowman's Best. Utilizing Topps' still new 'Chrome' technology, this is way better than foil board.

I guess Greg Luzinski's son seemed like a good bet. The Dodgers made him their #1 draft pick in 1992. He was a catcher in their minor league system at the same time the Dodgers had some guy named Mike Piazza. Ryan played in the minors until 1999 but never was able to crack into the majors.

And the bonus? 

I think this thing is called a Teeny Mate. It's made by Topps. I bought a few and have gotten a few in this type of repack before. I've 8 of them now sitting in front of my computer monitor.

All in all, mainly based on the autograph, I'll call this repack a bang.

Random Cards from My Collection #82

Card #5,407: 2003 Upper Deck #1 John Lackey

Lucky was the Angels #2 draft pick in 1999 and made his debut in 2002. He was 9-4 with a 3.66 ERA.

Card #8,698: 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection #9 Steve Carlton

Card #9,032: 1992 Topps Kids #200 Lenny Dykstra

Ha ha, I always liked this set.

Card #27,407: 1987 Donruss Opening Day #58 Robin Yount

I bought this 272 card set for $16 in 2003. The big deal of this set is that some of the Barry Bonds cards have Johnny Ray on the front. The set I bought actually had 2 Bonds cards in it (and was missing another card) but neither was the error card.

Card #26,026: 2002 Topps #634 Josh Beckett

Beckett was the Marlins #1 draft pick in 1999 and made his debut in 2001. He was 2 and 2 in 4 starts.

Card #22,224: 2003 Upper Deck Victory #70 Brett Myers

This was a horrible set. It has just about everything I dislike: abstract backgrounds, rounded corners, a game and multiple colored parallels. 

Card #39,544: 2009 Topps Heritage #405 Robinson Cano

I liked this set and bought a lot of it.

Card #17,098: 1993 Select #236 Tim Raines

For some reason, I've always had a soft spot in my head for this set.

Card #27,371: 1994 Collector's Choice #305 Todd Zeile

Good photographs on both sides of the card.

Card #4,039: 1995 Topps Embossed Golden Idols #120

Topps Embossed was an idea that never really caught on. The player on the front was raised. This is a parallel. There was a silver version as well.

1994 - Roberto and Sandy Alomar

It doesn't happen often but I love it when I find a pair of cards like this.

1994 Fleer #337

1994 Topps #675

These two cards have to be of the same play don't they? The only real clue is from the stands in the background but I think the angles are sufficiently different that it's hard to tell.

I have 197 Roberto Alomar cards and another 113 Sandy Alomar cards and these are the only two I have featuring an action shot of the brothers on the same card.

2017 Topps Heritage - The Inserts

Yesterday I posted the cards I got from the single pack I'd bought. Altogether, I ended up with 132 cards. Of those, 124 were base cards. Quite unusual in my opinion. Many of the inserts are relics, autographs, coins or other esoterica, which I certainly don't expect in what I bought. I did expect at least one chrome parallel, but no. So here's what I pulled that I didn't show yesterday.

I pulled another of these 1968 Game Rookies. At least this guy is an Astro although I had to look it up to identify him.

The baseball flashbacks cards have been part of Topps Heritage forever. I pulled two of these.

I think the front border of these is very unattractive.

 

Another long time Topps Heritage insert is the News Flashback and I got 2 of those.

This was interesting to me as we have a niece who is very heavily involved in Special Olympics. She's a swimmer.

Someday I'm going to try and acquire a card for each US President, if that can be done. Between Topps Heritage, Allen and Ginter, various Panini releases and old Donruss Americana releases, I think I have a pretty good collection of presidents now.

Hey, another buy-back, this time with a gold stamp. Apparently, according to this, there are 5 flavors of foil stamps, bronze (most common), silver, gold, blue and red (most rare). Comparing this to the Joyner card I posted yesterday, I'm pretty sure this is a gold stamp. How excited I'm supposed to be about that is unclear to me. On the one hand, it's a 1989 Topps card of which I already have a better example. This stamped card is suffering for poor color registration, making it look muddied and out of focus. On the other hand, it's got a gold stamp. How rare is that supposed to be?

The other common inserts, like "Then and Now" and "New Age Performers" exist this year but I got none.  Boo.

I did pull a good selection of Phillies and Astros at least.