Here's the cards and inserts that I got from my jumbo box of Topps Update. Most of these are available for trade. If you see something you want, please let me know, but quickly. Because of the house move, I'd like to get these trade packages in the mail by Friday, which means Thursday night in America. The post offices in Australia aren't open on Saturdays.

Here are the chrome rookie cards. The Tabata came in my jumbo box, while the Demel was a card I was given when I went to my local card shop and they opened a fresh jumbo box for me. Both are available for trade, ideally for a chrome rookie card I actually care about (i.e. one of the Reds or Oriole cards)


The gold parallels in the box (#ed to 2010) were heavy on the Athletics for some reason. That being said, I'm perfectly willing to trade any of them. The only card that's hands-off is the Joey Votto card.

Cards available: 13 Max Scherzer, 42 Conor Jackson, 73 Torii Hunter All-Star, 95 Jamie Moyer, 102 Chris Carter, 115 Brad Lincoln, 167 Ramon Santiago, 239 Gabe Gross, 268 Logan Morrison

Now for the hits. The box promises two relics and an autograph, and that's exactly what I got. Except both the relics are manufactured and the autograph is a sticker.




Jonathan hasn't decided yet what to do with these. Make Jonathan an offer for the Capps auto and/or the Munson patch. Jonathan thinks Jonathan is going to hold on to Rickey, though.






Peak Performance inserts. I'm keeping the Mike Leake, of course, but the other three are available. Dallas Braden, reluctantly so.

Cards available: PP-105 (John Lackey), PP-111 (Ryan Zimmerman), PP-122 (Dallas Braden)


More Tales of the Game and Vintage Legend inserts. I don't collect them, do you? Let's make a trade for inserts I do collect!

More Tales of the Game: MTOG-1 (Joel Youngblood), MTOG-3 (Seven Touchdowns), MTOG-4 (Eddie Mathews), MTOG-5 (Babe Ruth), MTOG-6 (Intracity Sweep), MTOG-7 (Mike Schmidt), MTOG-9 (Andre Dawson/A-Rod), MTOG-10 (Walter Johnson), MTOG-13 (Harry Truman), MTOG-14 (Stephen Strasburg)
Vintage Legends: VLC-31 (Babe Ruth), VLC-32 (Reggie Jackson), VLC-34 (Mike Schmidt), VLC-38 (Lou Gehrig), VLC-39 (Roy Campanella), VLC-45 (Thurman Munson), VLC-46 (Rogers Hornsby), VLC-47 (Jimmie Foxx), VLC-49 (Tris Speaker)

I also pulled a George Sisler but I'm keeping that one.



I do collect Legendary Lineage, but this card (LL-63) is a duplicate. I'd like to  trade it for a Legendary Lineage card I don't have. Check out my want list for the details.

Finally, the base cards. I was able to complete the set, and still have some base cards left over. The Reds, Orioles, White Sox, Mariners and Athletics are staying with me. The Phillies have all found a new home with one of my students, who is improbably a Phillies fan. The rest are up for grabs. No pictures (although the cards are all fresh and well taken care of) and I've listed the dupes by team for your convenience.

Multiple teams
187 - Phil Hughes and David Price (checklist)

Angels
272 - Brian Stokes
306 - Dan Haren (x2)

Blue Jays
118 - Jose Bautista (AS)
181 - J.P. Arencibia (RC)
194 - Vernon Wells (AS)
218 - Kevin Gregg

Rangers
126 - Elvis Andrus (AS)
325 - Ian Kinsler (AS)

Rays
292 - Kelly Shoppach

Red Sox
122 - Darnell McDonald
142 - Mike Cameron
163 - Marco Scutaro
192 - Daniel Nava (RC)

Royals
111 - Willie Bloomquist
129 - Gregor Blanco
313 - Mitch Maier

Tigers
9 - Danny Worth (RC)
120 - Brennan Boesch (RC)
199 - Jhonny Peralta
281 - Jose Valverde (AS)

Twins
86 - Matt Guerrier
233 - Brendan Harris (x2)
252 - Jim Thome

Yankees
110 - Curtis Granderson
149 - Kevin Russo (RC)
151 - Kerry Wood
247 - Nick Swisher (Home Run Derby)
280 - Alex Rodriguez (All-Star)

Astros
48 - Geoff Blum
121 - J.A. Happ

Braves
75 - Jason Heyward (AS)
134 - Rick Ankiel
165 - Omar Infante
213 - Alex Gonzalez
253 - Mike Minor (RC)
288 - Jonny Venters (RC)

Brewers
35 - Ryan Braun (AS)
246 - LaTroy Hawkins

Cardinals
56 - Matt Holliday (AS)
200 - Albert Pujols (AS)
285 - Jaime Garcia

Cubs
17 - Marlon Byrd (AS)
204 - Carlos Silva
299 - Xavier Nady

Diamondbacks
3 - Sam Demel (RC)

Dodgers
70 - Jonathan Broxton (AS)
78 - Jon Link
128 - Reed Johnson
260 - Andre Ethier (AS)

Giants
82 - Emmanuel Burriss
196 - Aubrey Huff
267 - Eugenio Velez (x2)
293 - Pat Burrell

Marlins
150 - Hanley Ramirez (AS)
160 - Josh Johnson (AS)

Mets
4 - Alex Cora
20 - Jason Bay

Nationals
33 - Matt Capps (AS)
183 - Luis Atilano (RC)

Padres
60 - Miguel Tejada
221 - Heath Bell (AS)

Pirates
115 - Brad Lincoln (RC)
235 - Jose Tabata (RC)

Rockies
71 - Jason Giambi
210 - Ubaldo Jimenez (AS)

Any time I get a Frank Robinson card, it's a time for excitement. Particularly if it's a card that shows Frank Robinson as a Cincinnati Red. Look, I love the Orioles, and I always will, but I am a Reds fan, first and foremost. And Frank Robinson's time in Cincinnati often gets overlooked. The guy was an MVP with the Reds. He is a member of the team's Hall of Fame. Heck, the number 20 is retired by the Reds as well as the Orioles. Robby spent ten seasons in the Queen City and served the team with distinction. When he was traded, the move was so unpopular in Cincinnati that Bill DeWitt had to come up with that line about Robby being "an old 30" just to save face and attempt to justify an unjustifiable transaction. Of course, Frank saw that as all the motivation he needed, and went out and won an MVP award and a World Series in his first season in Baltimore. You don't piss off Frank Robinson.

Here's the inserts that I pulled from my jumbo box of 2010 Topps. With ten Turkey Red cards and ten Cards My Mother (didn't) Throw Out, it put a small dent in two of the large insert sets I'm chasing. I've updated my want list to show what a still need. Please do me a favor and check it out, won't you?

Tomorrow, I'll post my trade bait from the set. I have a fair number of duplicates that I don't need, as well as some insert sets I don't collect (but you might) and some shiny cards, too.


2010 Turkey Red


TR107 - Aramis Ramirez
TR112 - Miguel Cabrera
TR116 - Jonathan Broxton
TR119 - Jason Bay
TR123 - Roy Halladay
TR124 - Ryan Doumit
TR125 - Kyle Blanks
TR132 - Ryan Zimmerman
TR136 - Rogers Hornsby
TR147 - Frank Robinson

Of these cards, the Robby is my favorite, of course, but I really also like the way the Ryan Doumit looks. When I pulled that card out of the pack, my first reaction was "wow!" Perhaps it's all the catcher's gear he's wearing, but the card seems so much more intricate and detailed than the other, standard cards that feature hitters swinging bats or pitchers just standing there.


Cards Your Mom Threw Out


CMT123 - Roger Maris
CMT132 - Brooks Robinson
CMT149 - Darryl StrawberryCMT152 - Barry Larkin
CMT157 - Don Mattingly
CMT161 - Chipper Jones
CMT163 - Mike Piazza/Ken Griffey Jr.
CMT167 - Jason Bay
CMT140 - Yogi Berra/Roy Campanella
CMT172 - Ubaldo Jimenez

You can't help but think that Ubaldo wouldn't have made this set if he hadn't pitched that no-hitter earlier this season. And it seems to me that the CYMTOs in the update series are a lot more gimmicky. The Berra/Campanella (which is a reprint of a reprint) and Griffey/Piazza are just two examples - the checklist also shows a Berra/Mantle and Lou Brock/Carl Yastrzemski pairing. This is an extension of the bad trend that started in Series two with the Babe Ruth 100th birthday and the Ichiro/Pujols cards being included in the set. Once again, Topps takes a good thing and ruins it. 174 cards is too damn much - as much as I enjoy the idea, I'll be the first to tell you that this insert set should not have gone past the Series 2 cards.

That being said, I did pull one original back card:



Legendary Lineage


LL62 - Walter Johnson/Stephen Strasburg
LL63 - Victor Martinez/Carlos Santana
LL64 - Rod Carew/Robinson Cano
LL68 - Mark Teixeira/Logan Morrison
LL69 - Tom Seaver/Mike Leake
LL70 - Ernie Banks/Starlin Castro

Another set that was really good at the beginning, but just got more ridiculous as time went on. Now, in an attempt to make the set tie in with all the rookies, some really stupid connections have been made. Of course, the hyperbole is at its best with the Baseball Jesus, as he is being compared to none other that Walter Johnson. But as I think of it, the Ernie Banks/Starlin Castro comparison is even more offensive.

Combine that with the fact that they didn't even use the same color combination as they did for the first two sets, and Topps really screwed the pooch with Legendary Lineage Mark III. Thanks for nothing, Topps. Again.

Well, not completely, but I don't have any more comments to write, just edit the corrections that my principal makes. I can now devote my writing time to this blog.

Expect some e-mails from me regarding trade proposals. I also found out my new address so things are proceeding nicely. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have three remaining packs of Masterpieces to open...

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...Boy was that fun! A little something for everyone in that pack, including one of the two hits which, while I'm nonplussed about, I know some people who read this blog will definitely be interested in. Don't worry, though, there's plenty of stuff for me to show off. Tomorrow I'll post the hits, the parallels, the short prints and the duplicates that are available for trade.

But until then, here's two cards from the same pack. In fact, not only were they in the same pack, they were back-to-back:

It's a Double Ryno!

I also opened one of my jumbo packs of Topps Update. With approximately 3,274 Stephen Strasburg cards in the 330-card set, I figured my odds were pretty good of getting my first card of the Baseball Jesus. Let's see...

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...DENIED! However, I did pull this card:


Luke Hughes, if you didn't know, is from Perth. So I'm sitting here in Western Australia and I pulled the baseball card of a WA boy. He was supposed to play winter ball (even though it's summer) here in Perth but the Twins screwed over the Perth Heat and sent him to Venezuela instead.

His biggest claim to fame so far (besides being from Perth) is that he hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.

I planned to start this post by congratulating King Felix on his well-deserved Cy Young award, then showing off the cards of his that I bought on my trip to Al's Card Shop today. Small problem - they didn't have any Felix cards. Well, that's not strictly true; there was one, but I already owned it.

So what to write about? I was stumped. I bought some cards, to be sure. A few Griffeys, Ichiros, Lincecums and even a Matt Wieters. A couple of team bags full of commons from the 2009 American Heritage set that I haven't decided will be a new Good Little Set for me to collect or not (it probably will, because I've reached The Tipping Point - expect a post on that soon). And some other stuff.

The big news is that Len finally got some new baseball stock, including 2010 Topps Update. Of course, I had just ordered a box of that earlier this week. But hey, this is a rare opportunity to pick up a couple of packs of the most current release, just like everyone else in the blogosphere does. So I got two packs from a freshly opened hobby box. Len even gave me the rookie chrome refractor, which was nice. Turned out to be Sam Demel, which wasn't great, but I took it as a sign that I had arrived as a Valued Customer.

As far as the two backs, I can't complain. No ZOMGSTEPHENSTRASBURG!!! cards, but from what others have written, I'm not too worried, my turn will come, probably in the jumbo box that's currently sitting in Singapore. I did get a Legendary Lineage, a Card Your Mom Threw Out and a Turkey Red card - which happens to be the only insert sets I care about. And I got an MCG redemption card.

Because I'm up in Perth, I decided to redeem the code straight away because I don't trust myself not to lose it. Looking at the "recently unlocked cards" I wasn't holding up much hope - there was even a 2010 Strasburg amongst the last ten. I typed in RwsxKDF4L (what do I care - it's already redeemed), hit click, and up popped:

Sure it's a Cub, I've never heard of the guy, and it looks beat up all to hell, but it's a 1956 card. And it's the oldest one in my collection (although only by 3 years). A nice way to wrap up my first '10 Update purchase.

Sometimes I'm reminded of how little I actually know about collecting baseball cards.

About a month or so ago, I busted a box of 2010 Series 2. As many of you are aware, I'm collecting the "Cards Your Mom Threw Out" subset, with a particular quixotic pursuit of all the original back cards. It's been slow going, needless to say.

One of the cards in my box looked like this:

Unusual - I thought it was just another crappy Yankee insert. I didn't stop to think how Babe Ruth couldn't possibly have been born in 1910, or that the card actually has his birthdate - in 1895! It seems unusual, possibly valuable - maybe a short print. At least nobody smacked a pie in the Babe's face. I put it in a penny sleeve and continued on my merry way.

Occasionally I would come across that card on my desk, and wonder what its story was, but it was never really more than idle curiosity. Once the box break was done, the card joined the rest in a pile of odds and ends on the bookshelf.

You see where this is going, don't you?

Fast forward to today. I'm doing a inventory (think of it as a "stocktake" for my cards) and I'm logging in my Yo Momma cards. Not really paying much attention to the names, just the numbers, I happen to notice on a website that the 1995 Yo Mamma card for Series 2 belongs to...

...Babe Ruth

Thanks to eBay, I confirmed that this card pictured above was indeed the card. I had CMT-102 in my collection all along, and didn't even know it. Now, the trick was to find the damn thing.

First place I looked - the pile of insert cards from the box break. Logical place, right? Not there.

Second place: with the duplicate base cards...nope.

Third place: underneath the box hits from my Obak box...nada.

Now I'm getting annoyed - where could it be? Oh, how I hope I didn't leave it on the desk for my dog to eat or my wife to throw away!

I notice that I also can't find a stack of cards that I've set aside for trades. These cards were in the same general area of the desk as the Ruth card. Shit - she couldn't have thrown them all away, could she?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but probably wasn't even five minutes, I found the stack of trade cards on the top shelf. Sure enough, the Ruth card was there, too, along with a stack of unredeemed Million Card Giveaway cards. Still in the penny sleeve, I scanned the Babe and put him in his proper place - with the rest of my Cards Your Mom (not my mom, she would never do such a thing!) Threw Out. A happy ending.










Oh, wait, I didn't tell you the best part. Here's the back of that card:


It's an original back card! After a month of being annoyed because I got screwed since the only CYMTO original back card I got in the box was a 2008 Ryan Zimmerman, it turns out I had a second one all along.

I just didn't know it.


(For the record, I did notice that "reprint" in the bottom left-hand corner of the card. I just thought it meant that it was a reprint of a 1995 Topps insert set. You see, that big red "3" confused me, and I thought it was the 3 of a set, and Topps had reprinted all of them. I have no idea why I thought Topps would have done such a thing on this, the 115th anniversary of the Babe, but there you go. I can be shockingly dumb sometimes.)

In particular, I'd like to draw your attention to the top left corner, cards #1 and #2 in the set. They are, of course, Prince Fielder and Buster Posey, and they were the two cards I needed to complete the page. They came courtesy of Night Owl along with a bunch of other cards, which I will devote a full post to as soon as I can find the time.

However, Prince and Buster didn't just finish the page. In fact, along with eight other cards Owlie sent, they completed my 2010 Topps series 1 set. This makes the first set that I have ever completed entirely through collecting. A personal milestone that I am quite happy about.

As I said, there were a bunch of other cards in the bubble envelope. I have scanned them, and even have some ancedotes, snarky comments and a story that makes me look like a complete buffoon all ready to go. I only need the time to type it all out. Such is life.

Before I go, here's the backs of those cards:

I bought another 2010 cereal box (this time at K-Mart, but with the Wal-Mart cards) and got this:

The funny thing was, this was a cereal box I picked up on my first trip to the K-Mart but didn't buy. Instead, I hid it in the back of the shelf behind the blasters. I wanted to see what those jumbo packs had and didn't want to buy too much. Thankfully, the cereal box was right where I left it, a week later. K-Mart FTW!

Photo courtesy of eBay, once again

Ed. note: My parents don't have a flat-bed scanner, as it turns out. So instead of putting the blog on hiatus for another two weeks, I'll be borrowing images (with credit) from around the web. Every picture I post will be a card I've obtained, just not the card.

Why's that? Because I just went to K-Mart and bought some baseball cards.

It took me a while to even find the damn things. For some reason, I had the idea that they might be in the toy section. Well, that was wrong. Then I thought maybe the electronics, since it's always monitored and it'd be really easy to slip a pack in your pocket when nobody's looking. Precious commodity and all that. But no joy there, either.

I was at my wit's end when I hit on the idea of checking the sporting goods section, and there they were at the end of the aisle. Not a great selection, but they did have 2010 Topps Series 2 (which was what I was thinking of getting). Blasters, cereal boxes and jumbo rack packs.

I remembered somebody's post (although I don't remember who) talking about how easy it was to see through the wrapping of the jumbos. Now, I'm not a pack searcher, but I did have a squiz at the cards on the front and back. All base cards (a lot of Mets, weirdly), save two packs, where you couldn't see what was the bottom card on the bottom pack, but there was one of those anti-shoplifting thingies like you see on CDs and DVDs.

Curiousity got the better of me, I must admit, and I bought both of the jumbos that had that anti-theft device. What does it all mean? I have no idea, but I'm about to find out.

Jumbo Pack 1
Top half

463 - Carlos Marmol

599 - Jay Bruce
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!


421 - Doug Fister
364 - Trevor Hoffman
659 - Nick Blackburn
571 - Brandon Lyon
654 - Collin Balester


632 - Daric Barton
424 - David Herndon (RC) - who?
355 - James Russell (RC)
Another Cincinnati native makes the bigs


455 - Cardinals Team History
Nice picture, even if they are the mortal enemy right now

510 - Checklist (Upton & Reynolds)
640 - Matt Diaz
TMC17 - Roger Maris MCG redemption card
Kung Fu Panda ToppsTown
373 - Clint Barmes
639 - Los Angeles Dodgers
542 - Heath Bell


401 - Chad Billingsley
The Buzzsaw!

Bottom Half
This is the pack with the security bit in it - we'll find out soon enough if that means anything

356 - Angels Franchise History
435 - Nelson Cruz


501 - Jake Peavy
I pulled this card the day before Peavy detached his back muscle, ruling him out for 12 months. Ouch, and sigh.

591 - Fernando Rodney
418 - Aaron Laffey
476 - Yadier Molina
520 - Randy Wells
429 - Seth Smith


CMT99 - 1992 Cal Ripken (non-original back)
HWS8 - Enos Slaughter's Mad Dash
PP88 - Phil Rizzuto Peak Performance


TR91 - Buster Posey
578 - Aaron Rowand
630 - Ben Francisco
568 - Jarrod Saltalamacchia
488 - Delwyn Young


417 - Dallas Braden

No relic but a few inserts, including my first Turkey Red and a Yo Mamma redemption, so not a bad pack. A good start to my Series 2 collection. I find it interesting that the top had 19 cards and the bottom had 17, but maybe that's par for the course, I don't know.

Jumbo Pack 2
Top half



556 - Chicago White Sox
Victory! But how come Ozzie's picture isn't on the back? Did he pull a Barry Bonds and opt out of the licencing agreement? (Turns out none of the team cards in Series 2 have the manager's pictures on the back - ed.)

366 - Hideki Kuroda
393 - Jason Frasor
522 - Jordan Schafer - Not the Braves outfielder I was looking for


353 - Jason Heyward
That was the Braves outfielder I was looking for!

457 - Kanekoa Texeira


563 - Bronson Arroyo


339 - Jose Reyes - Safe!
381 - Miguel Montero
555 - B.J. Upton


1977 Tom Seaver CYMTO Original Back
TMC12 - Gary Carter MCG Redemption Card
B.J. Upton ToppsTown
420 - Shin-Soo Choo
448 - Joakim Soria
529 - Carlos Lee
614 - Kelly Johnson
660 - Brandon McCarthy
585 - Dioner Navarro

Bottom Half
403 - Jimmy Rollins
569 - Jacoby Ellsbury
495 - Carlos Pena
437 - Luke Hochevar
363 - Joba Chamberlain


638 - Paul Konerko
497 - Edgar Renteria


331 - Ryan Braun
Slide Ryan, Slide!

602 - Royals Franchise History


CMY83 - Dennis Eckersley CYTMO non-original back
HWS7 - Mel Ott History of the World Series
PP69 - Ryan Zimmerman


TR65 - Prince Fielder Turkey Red
386 - Dan Haren
608 - Pittsburgh Pirates
594 - Andy LaRoche
346 - Taylor Teagarden

So there we go. My first pack of baseball cards purchased in America in nearly twenty years. Loved getting Jay Bruce, and the Ripken Yo Mamma card. Things will get better, as I've bought a bunch of cards since then.

I've visited two card stores so far and plan on going to a third soon. Each store will get its own "review" in a post soon, as well as the results of my Allen & Ginter vs. Topps 206 comparison. The results may surprise you!

Image Credits:
Jay Bruce, Chad Billingsley, Dallas Braden, Jason Heyward, Bronson Arroyo and Jose Reyes courtesy of Amazon.com
Doug Fister, Daric Barton, Cardinals Franchise History, Jake Peavy, Buster Posey, Chicago White Sox, Paul Konerko and Ryan Braun courtesy of eBay
Cal Ripken and Prince Fielder courtesy of CheckOutMyCards.com
Dennis Eckersley courtesy of BidStart.com
Tom Seaver courtesy of SportsBuy.com