If The Baseball Card Blog's only meaningful contribution to the baseball card community is live-blogging a pack, that's good enough for me. That's why it brings me great joy to present one of your fellow readers and his card-by-card descriptions (with italicized editor's notes) of his first pack of 2007 Topps. Sadly, no pictures. You'll just have to use your imagination.
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I haven't collected cards seriously in about 12 years. I've bought a
pack here or there every year, just to see what the cards looked like
and maybe get lucky with one of those cool ones with the swatch of a
game used jersey. To no avail.
I hate Derek Jeter. I hate the Yankees. But ever since I saw that
card, I had to have it. I wanted it.
I went out to Target today and bought 9 packs. I've opened one, but
something about this years Topps set has turned me back on to
collecting. Even if I don't get a Jeter in these packs, I'll buy more.
Why? I'm not sure.
Anyway, I love it when you open old packs and break 'em down. Here's
mine with the first pack I opened:
Bobby Cox: Nothing like pulling a manager card right off the bat.
It's a hilarious picture, he looks like a Mafia boss about to chew
out the camera man. No fake autograph on it either. Wonder why.
Here's the thing about Cox: he's been a manager forever. It's like he just showed up one day in Atlanta in the late Seventies and nobody noticed until they started winning. Now, after roughly six hundred years in the Braves organization, he sleeps in the dugout, he feeds on stray squirrels in the outfield; he's like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. That's probably why Leo Mazzone finally got out of there--Cox was talking to him like Hanks talked to that volleyball.
Elizardo Ramirez: Who?
Greg Maddux: Ah, wearing a Padres uniform? Is that a spring
training background? AIRBRUSHED!
Seattle Mariners: Big deal.
Vinny Rottino: A rookie Vinny Rottino. I have no idea who he is,
but I like him. His name is Vinny.
I like this even more because his last name has the word 'Rotten' built into it (albeit different spelling). He's not quite up there with Toe Nash and Shooty Babbitt, but it's not bad.
David Wright: Sweet. How can you not like David Wright? It's a
simple picture, but it conveys his intensity. Also love how Topps is
putting minor league stats on the cards again.
I agree that this is a good thing. The real fun thing is looking through old cards from the Fifties and Sixties where they identify the leagues the minor league teams were affiliated with, like the IL and the PCL, so you can track the timeline of major league franchises moving west.
Scott Rolen: Something funny about his card. Looks like it could
have been taken at a night game or touched up somehow. I love night
game cards.
Nick Punto: *giggles* Punto. *snickers*
Mantle Homer #264: My gripe: What was the final score of the game?
It was a solo shot in the 10th inning at Yankee stadium, I'm assuming
it was a game winner. It tells me the pitcher, the opposing team
(Chi Sox) and the date. But why not a blurb? Did it tie the game?
I'm not expecting a blurb for all the homers, but ones like this
deserve an explanation
Ted Williams 1941 .406: On April 24-29 he went 2-4, and his average
was at .462. His two hits were a double and a homer.
Gregg Zaun: Three cheers for Rick Dempsey's nephew.
Ian Kinsler: A good young second baseman. Honestly don't know much
about him.
A pretty good pack. An up an coming player, two rookies, two
inserts, two bona fide stars, a team card and a pissed off Mafia
manager card.
Not a bad pack. Out of 12 cards he got a Mantle insert, a Williams subset (insert?), Wright, Maddux, Punto, Rolen, Kinsler, a Team card, a manager and a couple others. Success rate: at least 50% (I can't remember if Punto is good).
Thanks for sharing your pack!
Do you want to live-blog a pack and share it with the rest of us? Send me an email and I might post it on the blog!
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