2014 Topps Stadium Club Group Break Swag from Nachos Grande

Couple of cards from a recent Nachos Grande group break. Unfortunately, Topps came up a little short on coallation and there were some duplicate autographs/hits in the break. Regardless 2014TSC has some quality photography and some fun shots.

2014 Topps Stadium Club #167 Domonic Brown

One of the blogs I miss most is Dinged Corners. I bring this up here because they had a collection of players smiling cards. If they are still collecting the above Dom Brown card surely would be a candidate.

When I first saw this card I also noticed that Brown is being interviewed by CSNPhilly broadcaster Gregg Murphy. I asked Mr Murphy about this via Twitter (@GMurphCSN) He noted "My Best side for sure"
 
Flip It

2014 Topps Stadium Club #165 Cole Hamels (A&B sides)

As mentioned above the collation among the boxes in the break wasn't great. A product of this was getting two Cole Hamels cards, which makes it easy to display the front & back of 2014 TSC in a single photo.  

Nice Pix, kind of a Meh back. basically a 6 year old blurb, minimalist demographic info and stats. I would think TSC would be better suited for more SABRmetric stats than WHIP.

Parallels

2014 Topps Stadium Club Gold Parallel #170 Ryan Howard

According to Cardboard Connection gold foil parallels appear one per master box. The card is running at a BIN of $3 on ebay


Bonus Cards

2010 UD Pure Heat #PH-13 Ryan Howard

Nacho's Grande being the good Group Breaker that he is threw in some bonus box breaks and cards. This is a nice Ryan Howard Die Cut by 2010 UD.  This was an unlicensed product and we don't see the Phillies nickname on the front, however it is on the text of the cards b-side.

Pure Heat is a 15 card insert set of 2010 UD. Among the 15 cards are 2 Phillies - Howard and #PH-4 Cole Hamels.

1989 Donruss #549 Darren Daulton

The 1989 Darrren Daulton Donruss Card is noteworthy for featuring the Phils Catcher posing in a right-handed batting stance. Earliest this year The Phillies Collector Blog asked Daulton about the card/pix and got the scoop from the subject himself. Happy to get this card as a bonus in the Group Break.

Sources & Links
Cardboard Connection
ebay 
Baseball Cardpedia
Phillies Collector

Swag from Nachos Grande

In January Chris from Nachos Grande ran a group break involving a bunch of boxes from the early 2000s.  If you're a Phils Fan the early aughts is a pretty quiet time - typically this means a lot of Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu - neither of which is a fan favorite.  Despite this the Nachos Grande break was a fun one and provided us with a bunch of nice cards.  Here are some of the highlights:

 A couple of Phils from my childhood.   These are from the UD Vintage set.  These are the cards that mimic 1975 Topps.

Fleer Vintage cards that homage 1954 Topps.

Topps Finest Bobby Abreu and Todd Helton - The NG break featured one random team, Team Phungo got the Rockies.  Not a great one if you like classic cards, I mean who are they going to put in the Vintage sets Larry Walker?   

 Fleer Inserts of Pat Burrell and Die Cut of Phungo Favorite Randy Wolf

Swag from Nachos Grande - Tier One plus A&G nno

Still catching up on postings - Last month Nachos Grande ran a Tier One Group Break.  Here is the good stuff.     

2011 Topps Tier One Tony Gwynn (Base #d to 799) 
2011 Topps Tier One Hunter Pence (Base) 
2011 Topps Tier One Cole Hamels (T4 #d 199)
2011 Allen & Ginter NNO Roy Halladay

Tier One as the name states is a Tiered product with several parallels.  The break was of the 15 team variety where you get a team you choose plus one at random.  My random squad was the Padres - Tony Gwynn is about as well as I could do personally for a Padres base card as he is one of my favorite players.  The Pence Base card may be my first of him as a Phil.  The Hamels was my best pull from the Tier One portion of the break. 

2011 A&G NNO Roy Halladay

Nachos Grande had won a box of 2011 A&G and he through cards from that box that he didn't need for his PC into the break.  Fortunately one of those cards was arguably the best card in the box.  A No Numbered Roy Halladay Mini.  This is only my 2nd nno mini.  I have a Cole Hamels from a different break I was involved in a few years back. 

Chris also gave each participant a team set of 2011 Topps Lineage, so in addition to the above cards, I also picked up the Phils and Padres Topps Lineage cards.

Right now over at Nachos Grande a group break featuring 5 turn of the century products. Phils from that era aren't not nearly as exciting as the current crew - maybe pick up a couple of cool Scott Rolen cards.  

Tomahawk Chopping running an interesting Group Break

Tomahawk Chopping is putting together a group break where everyone gets to draft cards from a pool of 300+ cards - Everybody is guaranteed an auto and a relic I think. 

deadline for entry is today Friday 11/4 for more info click here.

Thorzul Group Break Swag

Over the Holidays, I got involved in a couple of Group Breaks hosted by Thorzul.  I enjoy the Thorzul breaks because they are generally reasonably priced and with interesting products.  If your interested Thorzul is having last call for His January Break right now - I am particularly looking forward to the 05 Topps Pristine break. 

Here are some of the Highlights from last months break. 

Phillies 

 Jim Bunning, Lefty, Former Phil Matt Maloney, and Richie Ashburn

The HOFs are from SP Legendary Cuts.  The Maloney card is from Bowman Sterling.  

Cubs

Prior, Sosa, Zambrano, Cubs Quad, Castro, Sandberg, Hornsby, Soriano

For a second break the Phils already taken so I took the Cubs.  Some interesting stuff here - The Prior Card is an X-Fractor.  I am a fan of both the Goudey cards.  Always liked the Heads up cards.  Rogers Hornsby is from this years Vintage Legends set.    


Annoying Card

2010 Topps Tales of the Game #MTOG-3 "Seven Touchdowns"

This cards which came as part of my Cubs bounty commemorates the Cubs beating the Phils 26-23 on August 25th 1922.  When I think of high scoring Cubs v Phils games I prefer to remember the game on May 17th 1979.

Thanks Thorzul and looking forward to the January Break. 

2010 Topps T206 Case - Group Break Results - Twins

I couldn't get the Phillies in the T206 Case break over at A Cardboard Problem, so I took the Twins - They always have good young talent and plus guys Like Morneau Mauer and Liriano.

This is may be the first break I participated in this year and the first one I have ever watched live through the magic of UStream. Unfortunately one of the aspects of the break we were looking forward to was cashing in on a Strasburgmania - of course as luck would have it Strasburg would have Tommy John Surgery basically the day of the case break.

Still it was fun to watch the break as Marie performed the marathon of opening 140+ packs.

The Draw of the Twins cards included 2 Relic Cards of Kevin Slowey and a Cycle Mini of Jason Kubel

Click to enlarge
2010 Topps T206
#27 Jason Kubel (Cycle back #d 72/99)
#TR-KS Kevin Slowey Relic

I think they could have come up with a nicer way to stamp the Cycle cards. The numbers run right over the bottom of the first C. It is as if serial numbering the cards was an afterthought.

There were actually 2 Slowey Relics in the break. The one that has the b-side displayed here also has a stripe on it, but it is a bit crooked.


#228 Francisco Liriano
#349 Joe Mauer/Checklist #214-#257
#204 Justin Morneau (gold)

I have no idea what building Morneau is supposed to be looks like an older dorm at southern school. The Mauer card is a checklist, I also picked up a Mauer Base card in the break.

Minis
#127 Nick Blackburn (mini-Piedmont back)
#204 Justin Morneau (mini-Polar Bear back)

I am on a bit of a mini kick right now and enjoyed these. I am particularly fond of Polar Bear minis and will likely turn collecting those into some sort of obsession at some point.

There were a bunch of non-Twins base cards that I got including one Phils card.

#285 Jayson Werth

Bit of a fan favorite - especially among the ladies - this is likely one of the last cards that will be issues of Werth in a Phils uniform. Jayson will be a free agent after the season and is likely to head elsewhere for big bucks.


Thanks again to Marie over at A Cardboard Problem for running the break.

Swag from Thorzul UD Piece of History Group Break

Bill over at Thorzul recently ran a group break involving several boxes of Upper Decks 2009 Piece of History. In addition to picking up all 4 of the Phils card in the set, I received the cool cards featured in this post.

MMMM Serial!!

2009 UD PoH #71 Chase Utley (Turquois #d134/150)
2009 UD PoH Box Score Memories #BSM-PB Pat Burrell (#d 447/999)

The Box Score Memories cards all have the box of the game on the reverse. The Burrell card salutes a Phils playoff victory over Thorzul's Brewers October 5th 2008.

2009 UD 20th Anniversary Retrospective

#565 Julius Erving
#765 Mike Schmidt

Two pretty cool cards for any Philadelphia fan to get out of this set.

And a Hit!
2009 UD PoH #124 Lou Marson Autograph with Base Card

And I was lucky enough to get one of the autos from out of the set. Lou Marson was involved in the trade that brought Cliff Lee to Philadelphia and is no longer a Phil, but it is cool to get an autograph card of his. Marson is struggling at the plate for the Indians, but he is still getting the bulk of the playing time at catcher.

Thanks to Thorzul for running a fun break that fell within the Phungo Budget.

Group Break - Nachos Grande

2005 UD Classics
#125 Ryne Sandberg
#81 Richie Ashburn
#83 Robin Roberts
#48 Jim Bunning

These are just four of the cards that I recieved in a recent Nachos Grande group Break. The Break involved the 05 UD Classics and 1998 UD Collectors Choice as well as a handful of miscellaneous packs.

I really enjoy the 05 UD Classics such as the ones featured above. The 1998 portion of the package included a heavy dose of Curt Schilling and Scott Rolen as the star cards from a rather down era for the Phils.

If your interested in another break that is being run by Nachos Grande check out the current break featuring five different boxes from 1995-2005.

Thorzul $5 Fiddy Group Break

1999 Stadium Club #39 Bob Abreu

Late last year Thorzul ran a $5.50 group break. Unfortunately there weren't a ton of Phils this time around, but this sharp looking "Bob" Abreu card was among them. I picked up roughly a dozen cards in the break most were the 1999 UD MVP set.

The 99 Stadium club Cards feature some great action shots. I tried to play Name the Game with the Abreu card but unfortunately found two possible games. June 13th and 14th 1998. Abreu and Mickey Morandini played in both games. Both Games were day games and Abreu was on 2nd base several times between the two games. I am betting it is the 6/13 game as Abreu did everything but make the post-game buffet during that game.

This one was a little slow but I still always love the Thorzul group breaks, unfortunately I was out of the country and missed out on his latest one, but plan on getting involved in future breaks.

Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Group Break - The Phils and other Phun Stuff

Dave over at Tribe Cards hosted a great box break that was right in my wheelhouse. For a mere $5 one could get all the cards of a certain team out of a Hobby Box of Allen & Ginter. I obviously picked the Phils and was very happy with the results.

2009 Allen & Ginter #162 Shane Victorino
2009 Allen & Ginter Black Border Mini #151 Cole Hamels
2009 Allen & Ginter A&G Back Mini #68 Jamie Moyer


Love the Cole Mini and nice to get the A&G back Moyer mini also. The remainder of the PHils included Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Jamie Moyer Base Card and Brett Myers.

There are obviously cards in Allen Ginter that are not associated with any team. These were divided randomly amongst the break participants.

2009 Allen & Ginter #297 Bowling Champion Kolan McConiughey
2009 Allen & Ginter #2 Zack Greinke

And some teams were unclaimed - that is how KC Royal Greinke ended up in the Phungo Collection. Bringham Young and Justin Moreneau were some of the other bonus cards that were sent my way.

Dave did a tremendous job as usual with the break. He went the extra mile by reinserting the cards in an Allen Ginter wrapper (pictured above) which gave me the excitement of opening a pack. He also designed a Special Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Return Addy sticker:


Thanks again, and good luck to the Indians - 2009 looks shot, but hopefully some of the former Phils prospects will be able to contribute to Clevelands Future.

Thorzul $5 Group Break - Chase Utley

2006 Topps WalMart WM17 Chase Utley

Thorzul Will Rule recently held his own Group Break. Thorzul is very creative and ran a totally different spin on the group break. Instead of getting a High End product and having everyone put in $20 or $30 for a chance at a couple of Autos, he went the direct opposite route. He went low-end very low-end. Thorzul busted open about a bushel of cards from various repacked products. For Five count-em just five bucks you got into the group break and received all the cards from a specific team.

Naturally I picked the Phillies and I got 29 of em.

The Utley WalMart card above was the Highlight of the set for me. I love the Heritage sets, in 2006 Topps put together a WalMart only insert set of superstars on different Topps designs from the past. This was basically the predecessor to 2008's Trading Card History, I suppose. One interesting difference between the 06 WM cards and the 07s and TCH is that the 06 versions come with stats on the back.

One of the other highlights was an 06 Turkey Red Utley Insert which Thorzul featured. Thorzul is correct btw, For about a month after the World Series nothing bothered me - but the High does wear off. I have tried not to get to involved in worrying about Hot Stove topics etc, but slowly I have returned to my crumundingly normal self - still if I ever get down, I always can think of the World Series and it helps.

The remainder of the lot consisted of a nice mix of Phils past (Bedrosian), Present (Victorino), Retro (Ashburn), Gems (Daulton) and Duds (Freddy Garcia). Out of the 29, 20 to 25 were new to the Phungo Collection and well worth the price of admission.

Thanks to Thorzul for dreaming this up and going through all the work of sorting packing shipping etc. I hope he runs one of these again in the future.