Christmas Gift Pack War Part 2

My wife gave me these two hanger boxes for Christmas.  I thought I'd share them with a pack war. Series 1 received 177 points.

Here's Series 2

Mr. Tiger

This one gets 15 points

9 Points

6 Points each

5 Points each
Great young player, great shot

4 Points

Likewise

4 Points

4 Points each 

I love the photo and one is gold SN so 4 points each

The rest of these are notable either for their careers or a good 2013.  They get 3 points each.

There were 32 other cards in the box.  They each get 1 point because they're cards.

That should be 186 Points for Series 2.  That makes Series 2 the winner by a relatively small margin of 9 points.  I know.  I'm excited too.

Christmas Gift Pack War Part 1

My wife gave me these two hanger boxes for Christmas.  I thought I'd share them with a pack war. 

 Here's Series 1.

This is a sharp looking insert set.  

10 points

10 Points

9 Points 

7 Points

5 Points each

I collect Ted so I was happy to pull this one.  

5 Points

Both of 2013's Cy Young winner and the Swashbuckler

5 Points Each

I haven't been impressed with Topps' photography the last two years.  These two get extra credit for being interesting.  It's coincidental that they're both Red Sox.

4 Points each

The rest of these are notable either for their careers or a good 2013.  They get 3 points each.

There were 37 other cards in the box.  They each get 1 point because they're cards.

If I added correctly that's 177 points.  Coming soon we'll see if Series 2 can beat it.

Blaster Redemption

Back in February I bought a blaster of 2013 Topps Series 1 and was underwhelmed with the results.  I did get a trade out of it and sold the rookie patch card.  I also got a few nice inserts so I guess it wasn't all bad.  Forward about six weeks and I received another blaster as a birthday gift from my father-in-law (I'm really easy to buy for).  I might have waited  but my wife insisted that I open the patch card.  Here's what I saw:

Nothing against Chipper Jones (the pull from my first blaster) but that's more like it.  Looking at the checklist this card would rank at the top of my want list.  So immediately this blaster was a winner.  

Sandy Koufax no-hit the Cubs in 1965.  My first blaster was also a Cubs "no hitter".  More redemption here:

There was also a David DeJesus basecard.

A few more highlights:

Another complaint that I had about my first blaster was the fact that the red parallels were almost all duplicates of base cards in the same box cutting my number of players by a large amount.  This new blaster, with Wal-Mart blue variations, did not have that problem at all.

Hey, .500 is great for a hitter.

2013 Topps Baseball Pack Break with Arbitrary Scoring

Recently I sold the hit (Chipper Jones silk) from my disappointing 2013 Topps Baseball blaster.  I reinvested some of the meager profits in two retail packs of the same.  I thought it might be fun, at least for me, to do a couple of complete pack breaks and give them my own personal scores.

Here's pack one in the exact order I pulled the cards:

I looked for my relic and autograph cards.  I didn't find them. :(  

 All-Star -5 points, Gold Glove 5 points, from a team I like 5 points (15 points)

 I like the name Edwin 2 points, born in Neu-Ulm, Germany 3 points, threw a no-hitter 3 points, current Cubs player 10 points, wearing the stupid 4th of July uniform -5 points, (13 points)

 He took a ball away from a meddling Hollywood star (see below) 10 points, I like the photo with determined look and the blurred background 5 points, not fond of the name Howie -3 points (sorry anyone out there named Howie) Topps calls him Howard on the back, (is "Howard is movin' on up" a reference I'm missing?) 3 points (15 points)

 Guess I don't follow the D-backs enough cause I really don't know who this guy is.  0 points, quoting a cliche on the back (I'll play anywhere as long as I get to play) -5 points (-5 points)

 All Star 5 points, very fast 5 points, why do I want to know what douchebag ARod says about him? -5 points (5 points)

Won a game as a relief pitcher 5 points, love the cartoon bird 5 points, like celebration pictures 5 points (15 points)

 Injured rookie I never heard of  0 points

 5 time Gold Glover 5 points,  Looks like Jeff Durham's, Walter in this picture 10 points (15 points)

 Eh! 0 points  like the baby blues 3 points, like the use of the word "whitewash" 5 points (8 points)

The Swashbuckler! 25 points, it's an emerald variation 10 points (35 points)

 

Former Cub I liked 5 points, pretty good photo 3 points, the Reds --not so much -3 points  (5 points)

 My favorite current Cub 30 points, great photo of Darwin having just hit a game winning HR, 10 points (40 points)

So this pack gets 161 points which I realize is in comparison to nothing.  We'll see how the second pack stacks up.  Obviously, the two Cubs made the pack for me. The entire blaster I bought I had none at all.