2010 Topps Opening Day - First Pack

I am sure you are aware of this product. I picked up a single pack at Target, 7 Cards $1.05 including PA Sales Tax I am guessing.

First Opening Day Card of the Year:

Daniel Hudson. I actually like this card and drew it in the half dozen or so retail packs of regular Topps I picked up a few weeks back. It is probably the only rookie card that I don't mind the RC logo on. Unfortunately the additional opening day pushes the red white and blue from a nice small touch to two dueling logos.

Phils Cards

Unlike those half dozen packs of 2010 flagship Topps which yielded only one Phils card, this pack produced 2 including a serial numbered Shane Victorino insert. The light blue does nothing for me. Well certainly not as much as the Red did back in 2008 - which bordered the Phils cards perfectly.

The Rest

Other than stinkin Mr Met, A nice selection of cards. The Oswalt is a particularly good looking shot - Swoosh meshes into the card well - only draw back is Miller Lite ad in the background.

STS 8th Inning Results Freddy Sanchez

2008 Moments & Milestones Black Auto MA-FS Freddy Sanchez (09/25)

Freddy Sanchez won a batting title in 2006 batting an impressive .344 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has also won Major League Baseball Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity that same year. Sanchez was born with deformities in each of his feet (one clubbed, one severely pigeon towed) and it was once believed that he would never gain the ability to walk.

I tend to believe that Sanchez's 06 campaign is a career year, that I doubt he will duplicate. Regardless, one has to admire a person who has overcome such physical challenges and excel at a competitive sports highest level.

I am also glad to see the Pirates have locked up Sanchez for a few years. The Pirates are a team with a great baseball history and their fans deserve a better product then their management has put together for the last dozen plus years.

This auto is pack pulled form the only pack of Topps Moments and Milestones that I have ever purchased. I picked the pack up at a card shop on a whim while picking up some supplies. I am pretty sure this shop doesn't do any pack searching as I have had extraordinary luck with hits at this particular store.

Congrats to Stats on the Back, who persevered and found this auto. The Double will give his team another run and put him right in the middle of the mix for the runner up spot in this seasons Spot the Sig competition.

This ain't a pretty auto but you can make out the F and S pretty easily, and there were a bunch of Sanchez autos out across the Topps line in the last couple of years - that is why I went with double on this one rather than Triple.

The Bonus goes to Nachos Grande who was 3 off of the serial number of 9. It is hard to make out on the scan but it really is a 9. This bonus was for those collectors astute enough to figure out that this is a Milestone card and those have a fairly low serial number range. This particular card was a "Black" Auto only produced to a number of 25.

Here are the standings with one inning remaining.

PTBNL - repsresentin those Fightin Phillies - 9 Runs - bases empty
Night Owl - Dodgers - 3 Runs in man on 2nd
Cardboard Junkie - Braves - 3 Runs in - bases empty
Card Buzz - Angels - 2 runs in on Vlad Guerrero Home Run! Bases empty.
Stats on the Back - Mets - 2 Run in - Man on 2nd

Nachos Grande - Reds - 1 Run in. Men on 2nd.
Cardboard Addiction - Bosox - Man on First
A Cardboard Problem - Yankees - man on first.
Covered in Wrappers - Cardinals - On Deck

For further information regarding the Phungo Spot the Sig! contest click here and join the party.

Phun Stuff - Taste Like Dirt

One of my card collecting goals is to get involved in more trading this year and recently Team Phungo and Taste Like Dirt put together a trade.

Jim from TLD Features the Oakland A's and the occasional Rock n Roll post. TLD also features some great game Photos and has been a source of some helpful info regarding my own photography.

I sent some A's out to TLD and in return I got a bunch of 2008 Topps Series 2 that I needed for the set. One of the highlights is Freddy Sanchez:

2008 Topps #462 Freddy Sanchez

Why is this card a highlight? I just love the fact that you can see the birthday list in the background. This is likely from a game played May 17th (Sugar Ray's Birthday), although of what year, I don't know. It appears to be a home Day game, but I couldn't track one of those down for the Bucos over the last couple of years. But how cool would it be to be Marty Gallagher and have your name immortalized on a baseball card!

I am down to the last 19 cards that I need for the 08 series 2 set, any help would be appreciated. My Want list is here.

I am going to be more active in trading this year, and have some somewhat updated Want Lists here. The dupes lists aren't as up to date, but can give you an idea of some stuff I have that is looking for a good home. I will likely be liquidating my 07 Topps and 07 and 08 UD at some point if anyone needs those to complete their sets.