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.

The Great Pat Foley TTM

The Chicago Blackhawks continued their unprecedented start last night, running their record to 17-0-3.  While I don't have any autographs from the current players I do have both of the Hawks outstanding broadcasters.

Last spring I sent requests to both Eddie Olczyk and Pat Foley.  I received a response from Eddie in just a few weeks.  Here it is.  I was disappointed that I didn't get anything back from Pat.  From watching him over the years I couldn't believe he would turn down an authograph request.  I sent my two letters at the same time to the same place, United Center.  Anyway, I figured something must have happened to Pat's request.
Fast forward about eight months to a day in early December.  I reached into my mailbox and pulled out an envelope with my handwriting on it:

Here's what Pat wrote on the back of the envelope:

Not sure what this piece of standard letter size paper is, maybe something like placecard?  It's cool though.

This was written on the back:

Lastly, the card I sent.

This is a great promo featuring Ed Olczyk and (sort of) Pat Foley.

I Saw It on Ebay

Here's a pretty cool item I saw this week on Ebay.
I'm sure you can find the individual stamps on a regular basis but how often do you see the album?

1962 Topps Baseball Stamp Album and Record Book

Hot Stove, Frozen Brain

The other day I was thinking about one of my favorite former Cubs,  Ryan Dempster.  I know he was traded last summer to the Rangers but I couldn't recall what had happened with him after the season.  A quick check on the interweb gave me the answer -- he signed a two-year contract with the Boston Red Sox.  At this time of year, and into the early part of each season I often find myself saying, "I didn't know he was with them now".  With 30 teams making trades and dozens of free agents I guess it's forgivable to miss some moves.  Does this ever happen to you?

Anyway, speaking of Ryan Dempster I recently added some cards to my collection, which has reached a modest 80+.  Good luck in Beantown, Ryan!