Birthday Boxes

I guess birthday’s aren’t all that bad.  As if my earlier post wasn’t proof enough, this year I got cold, hard cash.  Cash that I used to by a few boxes of cards and a small smattering of singles.

Sure, I considered using the sudden windfall for a single spree, but I figured this would be more fun and hopefully boost my trading coffers.

Beat up

First up is Zenith 8×10.  What I really want to try is the Dare To Tear 5x7s, but this came up randomly and I was able to grab it for about the price of what a retail pack of this stuff cost back in 1997.  I saw Nachos bust this as part of his group break and I was disappointed that I couldn’t join in.

checklist back

This is the only box that has actually been fully opened to this point.  As you can tell from the box, it was pretty banged up, something I knew going in, but I decided to take a flyer on it anyway.  Well, the normal sized cards are fine and will likely find their way into trade packages, but the 8x10s are almost all damaged to some degree, so I’m probably going to just hold on to those.  I didn’t get any rare ones, in case you’re wondering.

Smile awkwardly for the camera

The rest of the four boxes (yup, mini spree) are going to be opened at a rate of one pack per day.  Meaning one total pack, not one from each box.

I picked up the 2005 Studio not for the 3 promised hits you see here, although those should be fun, but for…

sealed back

…the Studio Portraits.  2005 was DLPs crazy time.  Each product had some sort of endless parallel structure.  The portraits come in many varieties, the checklist is pretty good, and I need any and all Gwynn, Thomas, Maddux and Wood portraits that may be hiding in there.  We’ll see if I hit pay dirt.  If not, I’ll have some low-numbered inserts to trade away.

Piece of some b-lister's robe is more like it

I don’t care about the 4 hits here either (3 relic – 2 baseball, 1 hollywood, 1 auto).  I’m again concerned/hoping for some good insert parallels to add to my binders.  There’s a wide variety possible.  I like the look of the set and the colored parallels appeal to my lack of color-blindness, so I’m giving it a go.

Panini bar hiding the lack of logo

This is a product that divides people, but I like what I’ve seen.  I love the throwback to the 1992 design.  I’m also not too terribly bothered by the lack of logos, but understand why people are.  Maybe it will annoy me after a full box, too.

I wish Panini gave the odds

Also, I need quite a lot of these cards and I’m looking forward to seeing some of those sweet acetate inserts in person.

3 autos per box!

Lastly we have one that I may be most excited about.  I love what I’ve seen from this set.  It’s virtually the baseball equivalent of Past & Present Basketball, which was my favorite product of last year.  Add to it that there are Gwynn, Thomas, Maddux, and Wood cards to be found, along with inserts for all of them, and you have the makings of a box I needed to rip.

Bunch of inserts

The hobby packs are jumbo sized and 1/4th of the packs will have an autograph of a fan favorite.  That should make for some good trading material.

I’ll post my pack opening progress sporadically on here, so keep checking back to see what I have to offer.  I should be through it all sometime early in 2014.  That’s one way to extend a birthday!