2013 03 08 Exton Mall Card Show Nickel Box

I never expect much from a Nickel Box.  Those low expectations actually improve the experience.  There are no worries about getting a good deal for a card or its condition.  The card is stinking nickle - The only issue it adds to my hoarding habit. 

2013 Topps Vance Worley

Yes there were 2013 Topps Phillies in the nickle bin, albeit only former Phillies.  X-Phil or not, I am a fan of the retro-uni cards.  With relatively little effort my 2013 Topps Phillies collectiion is off to a good start.  I think I have four of the cards so far, and that is from just one each of a  Hanger and single pack and the Worley above.

Note: according to the Current Twins Depth Chart, Worley is Minnesota's Opening Day starter.  I think the Twinkies may be in for a long year.

2009 Bowman First Card #BDPP2 Billy Hamilton RC

If your a prospector you have likely heard of Billy Hamilton - he stole something like 400 bases last year at  various stops in the Reds system. I have seen him ranked 11th among prospects in one of the polls.

Speed is always exciting especially with young players. Hamilton will also have the advantage of playing with a pretty good ballclub whne he reachees the major league level. 

There is a minor dinged corner on the caxrd, but still finding a prospect card in a nickle bin is a thrill. Especially when it appears he is on the verge of making some noise at the major league level.

2013 Topps Heritage Joe Blanton and Anthony Gose

There were also just released Heritage Cards commons in the nickle bin - lots of them. No Current Phillies but a couple of Formers.

Note: Again with the Depth Charts - The Angels Depth Chart has Joe Blanton penciled in at #3.  Makes it a little tough  for me to take them seriously as a contender. 

2013 Topps Heritage #300 Jason Heyward

There was at least one star in the Heritage nickel bin and on a Hero Number as well. This card shares its number with the 1964 Topps Hank Aaron card. I wonder how many heritage cards had their Heritage number shared between Hank Aaron and Chipper Jones. Dudes didn't play the same postion, but they were definitely the stars of their respective squads. 

For a look at the team Phungo 1964 Topps retrospective start here 

  

2012 Topps Archives First Look

My first impressions on Topps Archives is a thumbs up.  The price tag on this rack for a single 14 card retail rack pack was $5.34 at my local big box store. 
Highlights

 2012 Topps Archives #88 Mike Schmidt

2012 Topps Archives #108 Cliff Lee
2012 Topps Archives #188 Vance Worley

2012 Topps Archives Sticker #67S-I Ichiro
2012 Topps Archives #138 Joe DiMaggio
2012 Topps Archives #32 Adam Jones

That's right the 14 card pack included 3 Phillies!!! which is probably a record for a small pack for myself.

I like this set better then what Topps did with Lineage last year.  The base cards in Lineage was just to drab for me.   It doesn't hurt that the four years that were chosen for Topps Archives 1954, 1971, 1980 and 1984 are among the better designs in the Topps arsenal.  

My 2 initial complaints are 1) The cards are on the newer posterboard rather then the classic cardboard upon which the original sets were produced. 2) The 5.30/pack retail price comes out to over 40 cents/card - kind of heavy for retail.

Regardless, my first impression is a good one.  I haven't looked at the cards much in detail, but I am thinking that a Hobby Box may be in my future. The 200 card set size appeals to me, there appears to be a fun array of inserts - although they may be a bit confusing.

There is one other thing I like about Archives - judging from my limited 13 card sample, I like the photography - the shots are cropped as tightly to the subjects.  I am a fan of trying to figure out what game in which the photos were taken.  The last few years Topps has delivered some great digital close ups, but they are often too close for my liking.

Snapshots 2012 04 30 Cubs 4 @ Phillies 6

Phillies get a Win 6-4 largely due to a fine outing by Vance Worley, 1 Run over 7 innings.  Phils strung together a couple of hits off Chris Volstad early and were able to get 4 first innings runs.  Offense then returned to their more typical dorment form.  Chad Qualls blew the lead in the Top of 8th when he gave a up a Home Run to Bryan LaHair who is having a breakout year.  Phils got the lead back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a timely 2 run double from Placido Polanco.

W-Qualls L-Scott Maine, SV-J Papelbon, HR-LaHair 

Snapshots (click to enlarge on all)

 Premium Start from Vance Worley - 1.97 ERA over 5 starts for VW so far in 2012

Placido Polanco

Cubs speedster Tony Campana

etc
-I guess I must be getting better about what I eat.  It was a dollar dog night, and I resisted the hot dog temptation.
-I am surprised I was unfamiliar with Campana prior to this weekend - The Cubs had such a rought 2011  that they must not have made it onto my radar.  He appears to use the LH slap hitter technigue, we have seen from Ichiro a lot.  Getting several steps down the line while swinging. 
- Phils got 2 bunt singles (Jimmy Rollins, Pete Orr) while they were able to retire Campana on his bunt attempt.
- Jim Thome didn't play and the Phils have several players that may be coming off the DL soon.  He hasn't looked good at the plate and I am wondering if he gets involved in another Phils Home game. 
- Papelbon's save was his 8th in as many attempts. 

More Parallels from 2012 Topps Heritage

Topps Heritage is out with another set of parallels.  I think these were out last year - 3 Pack blister package of Heritage with a bonus of  3 "black" parallel cards.  The Blisters ran $9.49+Tax at Target.  Which is roughly a dime discount off buying 3 individual retail packs.  The 3 bonus cards make the blisters a slightly better deal then Rack Packs.

I think these looked a little sharper in the 2011 Heritage, but judge for yourself.

 

The Halladay Card is an insert of course.  The other 3 cards are the black Parallels. Nice to get a Phil among the bonus cards and also get one as an insert among the packs. 

 Other Phils (Utley, Cliff Lee) that were in the 3 packs, plus 2 high numbers - Ike Davis, Asdrubal Cabrera. 

 Blister Pack w/ Mr Longoria's face flashed out.

2012 Topps Value Pack

Value Boxes are back for 2012.  I have limited my pickups for 2012 to a Hanger and Rack for Flagship and a Blaster and a Rack for Heritage. 

With that few cards in the collection, I figured adding a Value Box would not dupe up to many cards I had already picked up.  The Box went for $15.10 at a big box store - (14.99 +/- PA Sales Tax/Store Discount Card)     


Highlights

2012 Topps Heritage #296 Jim Thome

2012 Topps #259 Michael Stutes
2012 Topps #307 Vance Worley
2012 Topps #98 Dominic Brown

The Worley is a dupe.  I also got a dupe of the NL Pitching leaders in one of my Heritage packs.

2012 Topps Heritage #279 Matt Kemp
2012 Topps Heritage #108 Vladimir Guerrero

Both Michael Taylor RCs (#253, #407)

2012 Topps Inserts - Of course the Thome here is my favorite.  The Koufax is the bonus GG.  Golden Greats is probably my favorite of the 2012 inserts, so getting 2 of those is a bonus for me.   

2012 Topps Bonus Chrome #MBC1 Mickey Mantle

The Stats

Flagship
30 Base Cards including 3 Phils Base Cards
2 Golden Greats (Ripken, DiMaggio)
1 Golden Giveaway (Braun) 
1 Timeless Talents (Molitor-Braun)
1 Golden Moments (Ellsbury)
1 Gold Standard (Seaver)
1 Walk Off (Thome)
1 Gold Futures (Kimbrel)
1 87 Mini (Bourn) 
1 GoldRefractor thingy (Juan Nicasio - Rockies)  
Note - I don't believe packs are retailer specific, so there are no red or blue parallels.    

Heritage
16 Base (1.5 Phils - Thome, NL pitching leaders)
2 Floating Head Stickers (Starlin Castro, Nelson Cruz)  

Bonus
1 Golden Giveaway (Koufax)
Mickey Mantle Chrome teaser Card


For The Collector - Value Box??? 


Click here for yesterday's dollar cents analysis of what is in a Topps Value Box.

Sources and Links
Vladimir Guerrero HOF Index

Junk of the Month - February 2012

Easy JotM - ok if your a Cardinals Fan, I am sure this card is fine. 

But if your a Phils Fan, the above Chris Carpenter NLDS game 5 is definitely Junk of the Month.

Honorable Mention 

Hate these - and check out the backs.    

 Half of these guys aren't even in the AL anymore. 

JOHAN SANTANA HASN'T PITCHED IN THE AL SINCE 2007!!!!


Pull of the Month

Any of the above cards featuring Phillies is a good pick for Pull of the Month.

Not a big fan of the 87 minis, but I suppose I would have to go with the Victorino as the favorite of this months picks.

Looking Back

Junk of the Month - January 2012

Phungo 2 Cents: I like 2012 Topps

Notice I say Like - I don't LOVE it, it is a reserved like.  

So what if the design is stolen from 2002 Topps Football, I still ended up liking it. 

A lot of my opinons on everything seems to be based on expectationis, Movies, Music, Books, TV, Linsanity etc.  If something gets overhyped - my expectations will quash it.  Somethings ridiculously panned inevitably I find something about it to like.  I blame myself for this a little - I really enjoy reading reviews and opinions...on everything.   

But part of expectation setting is due to our overexposed world.  I will likely never again see a baseball card design that hasn't been teased on-line for the past 6 months.  I mean when did we first see 2012 Topps - probably before Thanksgiving - certainly prior to the Ryan Braun PED issue emerged.

2012 Topps #307 Vance Worley


Therefore I have seen the 2011 Topps design since clear back in the fall of 2011, which is roughly an eon in internet time.  I have also seen maybe two dozen of this years cards prior to release. 

In a word I initially thought the design was dull. 

This is where expectations come in - A few weeks ago when I got the actual cards in my hands, I liked them.  I had low expectations base on prelease materials and I think largely because of this, I was like hey these aren't bad looking. 


Typically I don't like minimalist design on cards, but some of these designs grow on me.  2012 Topps makes me think of 1961 Topps - There isn't much to it but it is funcitonal.  Maybe it didn't  require much imaginations - and it does make me wonder which designs were rejected.  Regardless I like it well enough.  I like the pictures and I like the fact the design carries quietly through to the card reverse.


I wanted to get this post up because in the future I will speak to some issues that I don't like about the set such as Foil, Gimmicks, and Inserts.  


Full Disclosure


Here is a look back at our previous 2012 Topps postings 


First Look
Hanger Pack Phils
Hanger Pack All-Stars
Topps Back-loading Stars into Series 2
2012 Topps v 2002 Topps Football

2012 Topps Hanger Pack - The Phillies

Warning - Team Phungo will be piling on the 2012 Topps this week.

Apparently these are referred to as Hanger Packs, not Kindle Packs, or Nook Packs as I wanted to call them.  Just for the record at my local big box the packs were not on Hangers.  They were instead in a box on the bottom shelf in the card aisle.

Today we will look at the 3+ Phillies cards that I got in the pack.

2012 Topps
NL League Leaders HR - Kemp, Prince, Ryan Howard
1987 mini Shane Victorino
Red Target parallel Antonio Bastardo 
Base Vance Worley

Good mix of cards here.  Getting two inserts of Phils more than makes up for getting only one base card.  One reason to pick up at Target rather than Walmart is that the retail specifc red insert works better for the Phils then the blue from Wal Mart.

I am with Night Owl regarding League Leaders cards.  The format doesn't work and now they have added the rather odd AL and NL active leaders cards to the mix.  And hey Topps lets put the LL cards back together rather than scattering them throughout the set. 

There was one other noteworthy sort of Phillies card in the Hanger, that was the Jim Thome Checklist card which commemorates his 600th Home Run.  Thome is pictured as a Twin on the card, as that was the uni he was wearing the day of the Milestone homer.