August 29, 2009 - 2009 UDX and 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

Two more packs today. Not as good of luck as yesterday's Tristar pack. ;)

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

8 Gordon Beckham
143 Cubs Top Pick Pitchers - Chris Carpenter, Andrew Cashner, Aaron Shafer
93 Logan Watkins
30 Tim Melville
112 Michel Inoa
130 Yankees Future Infielders - Corban Joseph and David Adams - die cut parallel #17/25


2009 UDX

61 Joba Chamberlain
18 Carlos Zambrano
56 Francisco Rodriguez die-cut parallel
2 Chris Young
83 Rick Ankiel
X5-JP Xponential Level 5 - Jake Peavy

My first X5 level Xpontetial card and it's great looking! I'm having a tough time deciding if this is my favorite Xponential I've pulled or if the Russell Martin lower level one is. I'll have to try to remember to scan both when I make my scan at the completion of this box.

August 28, 2009 - 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus and 2009 UDX

What a crazy pack day for 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus. I think this is the craziest pack of cards I've ever busted.

78 Aaron Shafer
29 Tyler Wilson
55 Bryan Price
128 College Teammates: Brent Morel and Logan Schafer
102 Hunter Cervenka

and the crazy stuff:

123 Alonso, Weeks Yellow Printing Plate
FH-TR Tyson Ross Black Printing Plate - Autographed

I've never pulled two printing plates out of a single pack of trading cards. I think there probably was an error in packout because I received 5 base cards and these 2 plates instead of probably just one printing plate to make the six card pack.

2009 UDX

40 Jose Guillen
69 Ryan Howard
37 Miguel Tejada
24 Edinson Volquez
83 Chien-Ming Wang die-cut parallel
X4-RB - Ryan Braun Xpotential

August 26, 2009 - 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus and 2009 UDX

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

139 Red Sox Top Pick Catchers - Tim Federowicz and Christian Vazquez
114 Jordan Danks
9 Jason Castro
18 Casey Kelly
70 Shane Peterson
89 Charlie Blackmon


2009 UDX

46 Matt Kemp
88 BJ Upton
20 Paul Konerko
84 Albert Pujols
8 Nick Markakis die cut parallel
X2-JS Xpotential - Johan Santana

Out of the three levels of Xpotential I have pulled so far, I have to say the X2 level is my favorite design and appearance out of the three levels.

Also good to know I pulled the Pujols so I won't be ripped off if I had to acquire that card towards completing the set. Pujols base singles seem so overpriced in a lot of places.

August 25, 2009 - 2009 UDX and 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

2009 UDX

80 Ichiro
18 Alfonso Siriano
X2-MC Miguel Cabrera Xponential
63 Chien-Ming Wang
67 Jason Giambi
67 Jason Giambo die cut parallel

wow, die cut parallels and the base card in the same pack in the last two packs 've opened. I hope it's not a trend because I'd rather have a parellel that is different from any card in the pack

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

141 Lowell Spinners Teammates - Lance McClain and Kyle Weiland
94 Juan Carlos Sulbaran
91 Matt Cerda
33 Corban Joseph
16 David Cooper
103 David Adams

August 24, 2009 - 2009 UDX and 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

One more pack of each brand as I continue working my way through the box.

2009 UDX

4 Chipper Jones
52 Justin Morneau
97 Colby Rasmus
97 Colby Rasmus die cut parallel - wierd they were back to back in the same pack!
70 Jimmy Rollins
X-RM Xpontential Russell Martin - beauty! I like the look of this one - I'll have to remember to scan it when I scan the hits from this box

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

136 Staten Island Yankees teammates - Ray Kruml and Addision Maruszak
104 Ryan Lavarnway
28 Carlos Gutierrez
52 Jaff Decker
P-EF Evan Frederickson game-used jersey - West Virgina Power gray road uniform?

Another pack where I haven't heard of anyone... yet. I"m surprised to pull a game used
jersey - with die cut "2008" window for the jersey swatch to appear behind. I thought this product was just autos and some die-cut shorter run cards... I didn't realize there would be
jerseys as well.

August 22, 2009 - 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus and 2009 UDX

Continuing on opening my boxes:

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

149 Cubs future pitching stars - Justin Bristow, James Leverton, Toby Matchulat
137 Red Sox Top Pick Pitchers - Bryan Price, Stephen Fife, Kyle Weiland
12 Brett Wallace
11 Jemile Weeks
59 Tyson Ross
92 Kyle Higashioka

This was probably the best pack for me as far as player recognition. I've heard of Wallace and Weeks before.


2009 Upper Deck X

91 Vernon Wells
30 Cliff Lee
43 Torii Hunter
96 Rick Porcello
X3-AS Xponential Level 3 - Alfonso Soriano
70 Jimmy Rollins - Die-cut parallel

Out of the X1 and X3 cards I've opened so far, I like X1 much better than the X3 design.

August 21, 2009

I've decided on what box to start busting. I've chosen 2009 Upper Deck X. It's a cheap bust (I got two boxes at $23 each delivered) and I'm a sucker for rainbow foil/mylar stuff (and holograms for that matter, but that isn't found in this product).

pack 1 of the new box of UDX:

14 Daisuke Matsuzaka
42 Vladimir Guerrero
3 Brandon Webb die-cut card (have to check to see if this is supposed to be a parallel or
what the deal is with die-cutting. I don't see any number on
the card so it doesn't seem to be tied to #'ed x/x thing).
99 Koji Uehara
19 Aramis Ramirez
X-TL Tim Lincecum Xponential. Who is the lady on that card? ;) I hate his long locks!


2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

138 Red Sox Top Outfielders - Pete Hissey, Bryan Peterson, Ryan Westmoreland
116 Madison Bumgarner
21 Andrew Cashner
13 Aaron Hicks
25 Anthony Hewitt
19 Ike Davis

August 20, 2009

Just one pack again today, 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus.

133 Yankees Hurlers of the Future Brandon Braboy, Mikey O'Brien, Pat Venditte
140 Lowell Spinners Teammates Mitch Herold, Mike Lee
98 Logan Schaffer
80 Cody Satterwhite
99 Kenny Wilson
FH-JK Jason Knapp auto #'ed 1/5

The Knapp is probably the lowest numbered auto in my collection and it might have been a last second addition to the release because it is signed on a sticker that doesn't seem to be normal for Tristar autos. It's not signed on a sticker that shows "Tristar" when light is reflected off of it at an angle.

August 19, 2009

Looks like you get spared a 2009 O-Pee-Chee break because I went to grab a pack and found out there were none, so the first box of my 2009 O-Pee-Chee is finished.

I opened up a 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus pack while I pondered what box to start next.

145 Boise Hawk teammates - Josh Harrison, Ryan Keedy, Jake Opitz
121 Kyle Russell
57 Johnny Giavotella
32 Lonnie Chisenhall
24 Reese Havens
FM-BH3 Brett Hunter auto numbered 20/25

I haven't heard of anyone in this pack, once again.

August 18, 2009

Two more packs for Tuesday:

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

18 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
125 College Teammates Jeremy Bleich, Jason Castro, Cord Phelps
92 Die-cut Kyle Higashioka #'ed 24/25
81 Zeke Spauill
95 Stephen Fife
58 Dan Brewer

Out of this pack, I've heard of Fife before. The die-cut card is pretty cool, also.

2009 O-Pee-Chee

201 Brett Myers
355 Ervin Santana
565 Josh Geer
48 Jason Bartlett black parallel
NY-3 Derek Jeter New York, New York insert

August 17, 2009

Two more packs for Monday:

2009 O-Pee-Chee

34 Takashi Saito
585 Mike Hinckley
155 Jair Jurrjens
359 Corey Hart
1305 UD 20th Anniv. Retrospect Tony Gwynn 3000th hit
355 Ervin Santana Black parallel


2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

111 Jeremy Beckham
135 Yankees Future Infielders Corben Joseph and Ryan Wilkes
90 Juan Duran
53 Wade Miley
41 Pete Hissey
36 Jake Odorizzi

Another pack where none of these players are familar to me, but I think 2-3 of these cards are duplicates. Considering how few packs I've already opened, that would not be good if there were a lot of duplicates in this first box I'm opening.

August 16, 2009 Packs Break

2009 O-Pee-Chee

494 Tom Glavine - nice portrait-like headshot - not the young Tommy we all remember from cards of the 1990's
172 Nick Hundley
531 A.L. Batting Average Leaders
70 Ryan Braun
405 Chris Dickerson
492 Ian Snell Black parallel

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

115 Jarrod Parker
146 Yankees Future Stars Cory Arbiso, Mitch Delaney, Mike Lyon
59 Brad Hand
35 Shooter Hunt
65 Bryce Stowell
48 Ryan Flaherty


In this pack, Flaherty is the only one I've heard of before.

August 13, 2009 Pack Break

2009 O-Pee-Chee pack:

22 Ben Francisco
270 Mark Teixeira
49 Jeremy Guthrie
503 White Sox Checklist
274 Scott Feldman Black parallel
1285 UD 20th anniversary retrospective - chipper jones


2008 Tristar Prospects Plus pack:

117 Jake Arrieta
147 Red Sox future pitching stars - Seth Garrison, Alex Hale, Pete Ruiz, Tyler Wilson
34 Brett Hunter
20 Robbie Ross
4 Brian Matusz
FH-JA Jay Austin auto - green foil #'ed 4/50

I've heard of two of these players before (Arrieta and Matusz).

The Austin auto is pretty jacked up, almost like Austin didn't know the bounds of the stickers so he signed his auto bigger than the sticker so a lot of the auto falls outside the sticker and you can also see the excess part of an auto from a nearby sticker. I think it's safe to say a Tristar rep wasn't present when he signed or the rep would have shown Austin how to sign the stickers properly. Scan will be posted when I get a few more hits to scan and post in one entry. Looking on the bay, it appears a lot of Austin auto's are like mine and it's hard to find a clean, complete auto of his from this product.

Continuing with 2009 O-Pee-Chee and 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

2009 O-Pee-Chee:

308 Josh "The Hammer" Willingham - how I miss him from the Isotope days
579 David Freese Rookie
445 Felix Hernandez
210 Alfonso Soriano - looks like he went deep against the Dodgers at Wrigley in the photo
on the front of the card
547 Johan Santana Moments black parallel
382 Adam Everett black mini parallel


2008 Tristar Prospects Plus:

110 Jay Jackson
132 Yankees Top Pick Pitchers David Phelps and Matt Richardson
56 Logan Forsythe
72 Dusty Coleman
83 Pete Ruiz
138 Boston's Top Pick Outfielders Pete Hissey, Bryan Peterson, Ryan Westmoreland - Green foil parallel #49/50

I don't recognize any of the ones in this pack, fyi.

I'm continuing with a box of 2009 O-Pee-Chee that I started a few weeks ago and am almost done with and I'll start a box of 2008 Tristar Prospects Plus.

In the 2009 O-Pee-Chee pack:

132 Michael Bourn
534 NL Homer Leaders - Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Carlos Delgado depicted
337 Kevin Slowey Black border parallel
204 Wandy Rodriguez
488 Armando Galarraga
390 C.C. Sabathia in a Yankees uniform

A good pack because there were no inserts other than the black border paralle. I'm trying to build the set and I feel as I come down the homestretch of box #1 that I might not have that much of the base set becuse it seems like I've gotten a lot of non-black border insert cards in this box.

2008 Tristar Prospects Plus

106 Chase D'Arnaud
80 Yankees Future Infielders - Corban Joseph and David Adams
3 Eric Hosmer
14 Ethan Martin
26 Christian Friedrich
10 Justin Smoak

I've heard of Smoak and Hosmer before. These kinds of packs are fun because you get to see if you recognize any of the players yet. I'm sure in a few years, just like for Bowman and Bowman Chrome, I'll know or have heard of a lot of players that I don't know now.

I see Ethan Martin is a Dodgers farmhand. He'll probably be coming through Albuquerque at some point and I'll get to see him play then.

I got to see Justin Smoak play recently when his Oklahoma City Redhawks came to Albuquerque to play the Isotopes. I was very impressed with him and it seemed he was smoking the ball all over the park during the series.

Introduction

After a while of reading other trading card blogs (Wax Heaven, A Cardboard Problem, Night Owl Cards), I thought I'd give it a try by posting my pack breaks to a blog.

I"m normally a one pack a day breaker, but sometimes when I'm feeling good I'll open two in a day. Many wonder how I can be so patient, I just tell them it allows me to enjoy the cards more because I only have to see a few a day. I'm one who wonders how those "rabid rippers" do things - they'll buy a box, rip it in an hour or two, and then have a mess of wrappers to throw away, cards to sort, and hits to put in toploaders. Do they really enjoy their cards when they are faced with a stack of tens or hundreds of cards that they opened in a short timeframe?

Because of the fact it's a pain for me to fire up the scanner (boot up an old Win95 machine with my flatbed scanner attached), I'll post scans of the hits and of any base cards that I think are extraordinary or neat. Most cards will just be listed.

If I'm busy working, there may be just one pack or no packs busted. I plan on trying to open two packs a day often and not do one or no packs most days. Whatever packs I do open, the contents will be listed on this blog.

I just started this blog a few minutes ago so I also have to learn how to configure my blog and set up pictures and so on.

Enjoy as I rip open packs, mostly towards the goal of base-set building.