Back in March, I won a contest over at Play at the Plate, and the prize was a hanger pack of Topps Series 1. After busting my jumbo box, then only getting one card I needed to complete the set from the blaster I purchased from Amazon, I didn't really hold out hope of putting too big of a dent in my want list with this pack.

Boy was I wrong. Of the 72 cards in the pack, 11 of them were cards that I needed, including eight base cards. It was quite a good score, I must say. Here's the results.

First, the base cards. This might be the only time you ever see Arthur Rhodes get pride of place over Roy Halladay and the recently retired Manny Ramirez (why couldn't I have gotten that card a month ago?). But let's face it - Arthur Rhodes was awesome for the Reds last season, while Manny dropped a big steaming turd for the White Sox and Halladay broke the Reds' hearts in the playoffs. I really shouldn't be showing those two cards at all, come to think of it.

I needed the Rhodes for my Reds team set. The next three cards, plus the two horizontal cards are all ones I didn't have in my collection (out of 20 - an excellent pickup) while the two (Duensing and Greinke) are cards that I did have, but had foil problems. Now I have pristine cards for those players in my binder.




It was a real mixed bag on the inserts. The Bobby Abreu card is one I needed for the 60 Years of Topps, and the presence of Barry Larkin saves the Diamond Duos card (plus, I didn't have it), but it would figure that I already had that Big Hurt Topps 60 card (*sigh*). I don't care about the Kimball Champions and CMG reprint sets, so those cards are available. But hey, Arthur Rhodes is back and he's bedazzled this time!


The hook for this particular product line is the presence of "Blue Sapphire" cards, available only through Wal-Mart. There's 15 cards on the checklist, but only one player on it, Ichiro, that I really cared to collect. So I knew the odds were slim. And I was right.

Cards from the pack that are available for trade:
Base: 2, 3, 15, 20, 32, 33, 46, 50, 54, 60, 61, 63, 69, 73, 76, 93, 98, 105, 109, 110, 136, 149, 154, 156, 161, 168, 178, 182, 184, 185, 187, 188, 191, 194, 216, 217, 221, 222, 224, 242, 247, 256, 265, 274, 293, 295, 299, 303, 307, 310, 311, 321, 323, 327
Vintage Legends: CMGR-17 (Jimmie Foxx)
Topps 60: T60-35 (Frank Thomas)
Kimball Champions: KC-5 (Carlos Gonzalez)

Topps Town: TT-34 (Felix Hernandez)
Wal-Mart Sapphire: WHP15 (Miguel Cabrera)

Ideally, I want a card from my Topps 60 want list for the Frank Thomas, from the Kimball Champions want list for the CarGo, and the Ichiro Sapphire Blue card (WHP13) for the Miggy, since that is the only player on the Sapphire checklist I care about having. I'd also be happy with an Ichiro Red Diamond from Target, an Aroldis Chapman Blue Diamond from Wal-Mart or Ruby Red from Target, or a Tim Lincecum Purple Diamond from Toys R Us.

Thanks for the prize, Brian. I looked forward to the end-of-year contest, now that I'm qualified for it!

Things are starting to come thick and fast here at RGB North headquarters. The day after my triple mail day, I received another envelope in the mail. This time, it was from Sam at The Daily Dimwit. He and I are currently working on a trade, but this wasn’t part of it – rather, it was more contest winnings from a prize he was giving away late last year. I didn’t win the grand prize, but I guess Sam was in the Christmas spirit because he sent me some cards anyway:

* Two Bowman Heritage cards: Cody Strait (who I can’t remember) and Homer Bailey (who sometimes I wish I could forget)

* Two Jay Bruce SP Authentic cards, one for the set binder and one for the team binder

*Another Griffey card. I should really count my Griffey cards – I’m probably very close to triple digits now.

* A Bob Feller All-Time Legends card. Now Feller played his entire career with Cleveland, but when he played, the Indians and the Reds (and also the Chicago Cubs) used the wishbone C for their logos. No matter – Bob Feller cards are always welcome. My mom and her family are from Cleveland and are big Indians fans. She grew up going to Tribe games with her dad, and one time my grandmother saw Bob Feller waiting in line at the bank. She got him to autograph the back of a deposit slip.

Thanks for the cards, Sam. I’m in the process of compiling your package with Upper Deck 20th Anniversary cards and Astros cards.

Also, I should say that this package was mailed on February 8 and I received it nine days later. That’s more like the transit time I’m used to expecting, so maybe things are looking up, mail-wise.

Next up in the mail isn’t a trade, but a contest. Jon over at Community Gum busted a box of Topps Moments and Milestones, and, somehow, I won some cards. I’m not quite sure how I did it, and lots of people won far more cards than me, but I did get some cards numbered to 10, 25 and 125. Here they are: