2013 Allen & Ginter's Blaster Pack 2

I bought a blaster of Allen & Ginter's yesterday.  Pack 1 is here. Here's pack 2:

 With not one but two World Series Championships in Boston I sincerely hope Billy Buck has found some peace.  We loved him in Chicago. It's nice that Topps picked this nice smiling image.   And the eyebrows are awesome!

Crush launched #41 yesterday.

The Braves are on fire and Kimbrel seems on his way to a third straight NL Saves crown.

 Never heard of this place but it's cool!  Check it out on Google images.

Hall of Fame pitcher Prince Hal looking quite regal here.  

Mini Trumbo

 Free swinger Trumbo leads the Angels with 25 round trippers.

I liked pack one and was worried that pack two might be a letdown but it was another great assortment.  No complaints.

I hope you'll come back to check out pack 3.

2013 Allen & Ginter's Blaster Pack 1

As promised here is pack one of the blaster I bought yesterday:

I love the design on this one.

Topps version of my daily feature "Blow Out the Candles".  Though more inclusive (they didn't have to find all the pictures and videos), it does have a similar mix of sports and pop culture personalities.

Jose is 8-5 and has won his last three starts giving up just four runs in 23 innings.

If you're a big fan of A&G it's probably because of cards like this.  I do watch Man vs. Food on occasion so this one is a winner for me.  Kind of wish they had used a food related image though.

I don't know what to say about Ian.

Joey Bats is staring you down.  I do approve of the Blue Jays uniform change.  I never liked the angry Jay version.

Pretty good one for my first mini.  Maddux and Glavine HOF next year.  Will Smoltz be in the Class of 2015?

Overall I like this year's design. The framing is subtle and the images are allowed to fill the card.  This pack delivered with a good mix current players, a fun non-sports subject and a legend mini.  

Stay tuned for pack 2!

Went to Target Today -- Guess What I Found!

Stopped at Target this afternoon.  Came home with two boxes of Honeybunches of Oats and this:

Stop by tomorrow after birthdays to see what's inside.

A Rainbow 8 Months in the Making

Who doesn't enjoy a rainbow?

This 2012 Panini Copperstown Collection Ron Santo rainbow took me about eight months to complete. 

 The base card below was easily obtained and I first posted it last November.

I picked up the blue and red versions, #'d to 499 and 399 respectively a couple of months later.

The last one, #'d to 299 proved very elusive.  After seeing a couple early on that got too pricey for my taste, it seemed to disappear. This one finally showed up this month and actually cost me less than the higher #'d versions.  Mission accomplished.

Here's the original photo.  It was captioned as being from Spring Training in 1969.  To me it looks much earlier.  I love the fact that, pitching mound aside,  it looks like it was taken in some one's back yard.

The Real Hebrew Hammer

With the suspension of Ryan Braun and apologies to Al Rosen let us appreciate the original "Hebrew Hammer", Hank Greenberg:

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Hope everyone is having a great 4th of July holiday!

Happy Father's Day!

Here's the reason I'm blogging today about baseball and collecting.  My Dad.  I guess this picture was taken sometime around 1940 on the North Side of Chicago, probably within a couple of miles of Wrigley Field.  He's been gone now for around 15 years and I do miss him, especially during baseball season.