Game 163: 2012 Topps Archives #159 David Price

Game 163: It is not by technically a playoff game however it is pretty much the definition of a Playoff Game. After all, tonight's contest between the Rangers and Rays is a win or go home game.     

2012 Topps Archives #159 David Price

The Tampa Bay Rays are sending out David Price to start game 163 while the Rangers will have Martin Perez on the mound.  Both clubs are familiar with the postseason and I hope we get to see a good game to kickoff the (pre)postseason.

2012 Topps Archives
The David Price 2012 T Archives card above echoes 1984 Topps, a set which is similar to 1983 Topps but not quite as sharp for me.

Within the 2012 Topps Archives the 1984 retros are the fourth Set represented, running from card #151-#200.     

Sources
Cardboard Connection
MLB.com
baseball-ref.com

2011 Topps Heritage NOT Hot Box

As usual, I am a little behind - everybody is checking out Gypsy Queen and I am busting Topps Heritage, but at least I am busting a box from the current year.

Backstory

I was initially on the fence about building 2011 Topps Heritage - A recent Posting by A Cardboard Problem speculated on the rumour that the Hot Boxes (containing green tint chrome cards) were packaged differently.  At the CSA show in Oaks PA a few weeks back I found one of these Potential Hot Boxes.  In the name of Trading Card Research I was compelled to break the box.

Unfortunately, The Box was not a Hot Box but remained a fun box to open and I am happy to be building 2011 Topps Heritage.  It is the first Topps Baseball Set I have elected to build since 2008 Heritage.  I am pretty sure that at some point I will look into 2009 Goodwin Champions, but right now that project is still in the thinking about stage.

Box Toppers

The Box had two toppers - A 50th anniversary of Don Clendennon and a David Price Baseball Fiver. 

Not sure how I feel about Topps QC on this one, The Clendennon card is in reasonable shape if I was picking it up at a show as a 50 cent common, but this card is in fair shape and horribly cut.

Don't get me wrong the Anniversary cards are my favorite box topper, I just think that at 1 in every other box Topps could do a little better on the buyback end.  I was also hoping for a baseball buck and Price is a nice one to get.

Base Set

Low Numbers 194/425 (45%)

Phillies 7/17 (41%) 0/2 Hi Number

Hi Numbers 8/75 (10%)

Babe Ruth 5/10

checklist 3/6

Hits

CCR-JJ - Josh Johnson Clubhouse Collection

#143b - Jackie Robinson Story SP

Chrome

C12 Batting Leaders (Refractor 212/562) 

C27 Omar Infante (1941/1962)

C35 Casey Blake (1690/1960)

I don't get including the leaders cards in Chrome.  It is only a 100/200 card set why bother with duping a couple of floating heads on a single card.
 

Baseball Flashbacks

BF-4 Robin Roberts - would of liked him more in a Phils Uni for this one. 

BF-5 Yaz

New Age Performers

NAP-2 Jim Thome

NAP-7 Joey Votto

I love Thome, but I don't think of him as a New Age Performer at this point in his career.  Votto might be my favorite non-Phil young player of the moment.

News Flashbacks

NF-4 JFK/Cuban Embargo

NF-9 Jamaican Indepence

gotta love any card that celebrate Ganga and Reggae Music

 

Then and Now

TN-5 Mantle & Prince (this is a dupe of a retail I already pulled)

TN-7 Killebrew & Bautista 

every year this is my least favorite insert in heritage - although they are the easiest to make fun of. for example I refer to the Mantle/Fielder card as a celebration of Drunk Vegetarians - which reminds me of every "art student" I knew in college.

 
Phungo Says

 
Yes I was disappointed this was not a Hot Box, but I am happy with my decision to build 2011 Heritage.  I remain a fan of heritage,  and have always enjoyed the 1962 Topps set.  For the most part the inserts are interesting and the 50 or so Heritage cards I already picked up had enough unique cards to get me over the half way point in the set.         

 

Faux Blaster - 2009 Topps Heritage

I have been on vacation for the past week and have taken a much needed break from all Net related activities. Thanks for your patience while I sort through some stuff and figure out what I was working on pre-vaca. Today I will open by posting a Faux Blaster. Basically my Faux blasters consist of $20 worth of Hobby Packs of a particular product.

This entry will focus on 2009 Topps Heritage. For my $20 I was able to pick up 6 packs of Heritage Hobby at a recent card show (ok it was a couple of months back - but who's counting).

Here are some of the highlights:


2009 Topps Heritage # BF1 Mickey Mantle Flashback (643 Foot Homer @ Tiger Stadium)
2009 Topps Heritage # 218 Ozzie Guillen
2009 Topps Heritage # 73 David Price Rookie Star
2009 Topps Heritage # 387 2008 World Series Game #3 (Carlos Ruiz)


2009 Topps Heritage # 319 Mike Aviles Topps All-Star Rookie
2009 Topps Heritage # 449 Nick Swisher (SP)
2009 Topps Heritage # 163 Johnny Damon
2009 Topps Heritage # 397 Chicago Cubs / Checklist

I am particularly fond of the Carlos Ruiz card of course and also the Johnny Damon base card. and here is why:
2009 Topps Heritage #163 Johnny Damon (B-side)
2008 Seattle Mariners @ New York Yankees game ticket 2008-05-03
(click to enlarge)

Check out the first season highlight on Damon's card. It occurred at the final Major League game I attended at Yankee Stadium last year. Pretty cool and I get to add it to my Phungo Games collection.

Overall the faux blaster was okay, I came out with a couple of stars but was a little short on inserts and was not lucky enough to pull any big hits - The Swisher card was my sole short print. I did get the vendor to throw in a 70 card grab bag box that contained some good stuff including a few Phillies and a couple of 08 Topps Finest.

And I also cheated just a bit on my Faux Blaster by picking up this buyback card that I spotted.

1960 Topps #47 Don Zimmer (2009 Topps Heritage Buy Back)

The Zimmer card went for $3 and was in a sheet of other buybacks of lesser known players. The card is in pretty good shape and for $3 I consider it a steal. Don Zimmer is not a Hall of Famer but surely doesn't deserve to be slumming with a bunch of commons.

So there you have it for $23.10 (includes a single of Ronny Paulino as a Phil out of a dime box also) I have picked 50 2009 Topps Heritage cards. The only Phil I recieved other than the Paulino was the WS Highlight of Ruiz. Including tax, a 2009 topps Heritage retail Blaster would typically run $21.59. For hobby I consider these 6 packs a little disappointing simply for being short on Phillies and running below expected on the insert ratios, but finding the Zimmer card makes up for any issues with the rest of the content.

I will be catching up on things the next week or so (and maybe sneaking out to a card show today) but should be back with a Phungo 5 sometime next week.