2012 Topps Heritage Retail Blaster Phils Cards

2012 Topps Heritage was available at my local Target in 3 configurations.  Blaster $19.99, Rack $5.29 and single packs at $3.19 I think.

Here are the Phils relate cards from the Blaster I picked up. 

2012 Topps Heritage #136 Jonahtan Papelbon

My first card of the offf-season catch as a Phil. 

2012 Topps Heritage #29 2012 Rookie Stars

This is the 2012 version of the card I referred to yesterday.  I believe this is the regular version (2012) while the 2011 version would be the variation.  Who knows?

2012 Topps Heritage #7 LL Pitching 
2012 Topps Heritage #13 Phillies Team

More floating heads League Leaders and the Team Card - that gives me 2 Phils Base cards out of 71 which is about the right ratio.

By The Numbers
1 Blaster Box
$20.15 (including PA Sales Tax minus 5% Target Discount)

71 cards

65 Short Set

67 Base Cards

4 Phils Related with 2 Phils Base Set Cards

 

1 sticker - M Cabrera 

2 High Numbers - K Seager, CarGo

1 Target Red Parallel - A Avila

1 T&N - M Bourn w/ Aparicio

1 NAP - T Lincecum)

1 NewsFlash - Alcatraz Closes

Etc
Will glance at some of the non-Phils over the next couple of weeks - intersperse those cards with some Opening Day postings. 

2012 Topps Opening Day Rack Jr

The always maligned Topps Opening Day release is live - 24 card Rack Packs Retail at Target for $3.19 (3.21 w/ combo of Target discount and PA sales Tax) - They are single packs and about 1/3 smaller then the Rack Packs for 2012 Topps, thus I have chosent to refer to them as Rack Juniors.  

The price point is slightly cheaper then 9.99 for a 72 card Hanger Pack of Topps Flagship.  The single packs are a dime more then a year ago at 1.09.  77 card blasters are $10.49 I believe.


Here is a glance of what you might find in your Rack Jr. 

Phillies

 
Wrapper

Copare with 2012 Topps

Serialed Blue Parallels

Rookie Cups

Inserts

Photo Shopping

Etc
Over the next couple weeks I plan on giving 2012 Topps Opening Day a little overanalysis by elaborating on some of the above cards - I am sure that is much more then TOD deserves. 

Phungo's Two Cents - 2010 Topps Base Cards

In all I picked up 5 packs of Topps and had mixed results. Here are my thoughts on the five packs. I have posted a full break of the first pack previously.

Foul = Dearth of Phils Cards

My Biggest complaint is I had to get all the way down to pack #5 before getting a Phillies card. 2010 Topps Joe Blanton

Generally I think it is a plus to get the ball in an action shot, but I think there is to much wasted space in this shot. Regardless it is good to get the first Phil of the year. It appears Blanton will be the Phils 3rd/4th starter for the next few years and he seems like a good player for the role.


It's a Hit = Photography
2010 Topps Chris Iannetta
2010 Topps Zack Greinke Cy Young Award

Despite my above complaint on the Blanton Photo, I think overall the quality of the Topps photos is good and there are many interesting shots, including this pair. The Greinke shot is worthy of a Cy Young award winner.

It's a Hit = Landscape Cards
2010 Topps Jose Valverde
2010 Topps Daniel Hudson

I usually prefer the portrait cards - but for this years edition the Topps design works well for the landscape variety. I am not a fan of Jose Valverde - he is a bit to demonstrative on the mound for my taste or else I would consider this the best photo of the lot.

The swoosh on the side of the Hudson card flows right into his pitching motion and makes for a cool looking shot.

Foul = New Rookie Card Logo

2010 Topps Netali Feliz
2010 Topps Buster Posey

I am not a big fan of the new rookie logo. I think the Red/White/Blue color scheme clashes with that of many of the teams. I am not sure why Buster Posey qualifies for the logo, while Neftali Perez does not - and the Perez card would actually handle the RC logo pretty well. Placing the Rookie logo at the same spot on every card is also a mistake.

Going forward I think the Rookie Card Logo is going to clash with a lot of designs. I am definitely thinking it will not look good on Heritage.

One last note, I ended up with five or six Rangers between the 5 packs.

Rain Outs = Cincinnati Reds Cards and Mis-Stamped Foil

2010 Topps Brandon Phillips
2010 Topps Joey Votto

I think both of these Reds cards were photographed on the same dreary day in what appears to be Wrigley Field. I would like to hear an opinion from Nahcos Grande, but if all of the teams shots appear like this, I think I would be a little disappointed. Everything is just to dark. The Brandon Phillips card has the added problem of the mis-stamped foiling.

Between the five packs I picked up 11 base cards had the problem with the foil. I expect to have a future post detailing that further.

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.

Better than the Swimsuit Issue - Swag from Autographed Cards featuring Zack Greinke!!!

I have lots of autographed cards but I didn't have any Autographed SI covers, but I do now!!!

2009 05 05 Sports Illustrated Zack Greinke Autograph

Zman40 over at Autographed Cards ran a recent contest featuring this terrific prize of an SI issue autographed by the Royal young superstar pitcher Zack Greinke. It was my kind of contest, and involved calculating what Greinke's ERA would be after a pair of starts. Math and Baseball - thats for me, and I am really proud of having come up with the second closest guess. The actual answer was 1.72. I guessed 1.60, To be honest, I forget how I arrived at 1.60 and I know it is a higher guess than I wanted, but most of the lower numbers were taken.

Autographed Cards as one can conjecture from the name has tons of autographs plus some good tips and ideas on collecting autographs.

I was particuarly happy to see this post regarding the College World Series. This is an event I have always wanted to attend but it just hasn't gotten high enough on the priority list yet.

Thanks to Zman40 for running the contest and awarding team Phungo this great prize. This is certainly going to be one of the centerpieces of my collection.