I bought a 2010 Series 2 cereal box at Wal-Mart yesterday and got this:

As one of the 50 authors on A Pack to Be Named Later, I should let you know about a contest that's going on over there. But first, you should click on the link and look at the banner. Go ahead, I'll wait...


Have you done it yet?


Good.


So what did you think? That's a lot of junk wax, right? Well guess what - it can all be yours. All you need to do is enter The Great Junk Wax Giveaway. There's 95 packs on that table, but the question is - how many cards and stickers are in those packs? The person who guesses the closest wins all the packs.

Full details are available at the giveaway link in the previous paragraph, but you have until 7:00 pm Central time (8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific) on Tuesday the 13th to enter. In other words, if you're watching the All-Star game, and you haven't entered yet, you're too late.

But what are you waiting for? Enter today!

Before I flew out to the States, we went up to Perth for the weekend to rest up before the flight and see the dog, who went up the weekend before so he wasn't underfoot when we were moving house. After what could rightly be referred to as "the week from hell," I earned a trip to Al's Card Shop, I thought.

I didn't get much, just a handful of singles for various PCs and team collections. But I spent an hour talking to Len the owner, who is, despite being a native Australian, a pretty big baseball fan. I always love finding Australian baseball fans - I think they just love having someone to talk ball with.

Anyway, here's what I got. Six Griffeys for the PC, including a Skybox with more delightfully ludricrous gangsta text. The late '90s Skybox cards are definitely a guilty pleasure. While the ridiculous set name (Hip-No-Tized) originally caught my eye, just one look at the back and I knew I had to take it home with me:

Here are three parallels from the 2000 Topps subset called "Magic Moments." All three cards are numbered 475, but as you can see, they are all different moments in Griffey's career:


And then two cards of Griffey in Reds gear (there weren't any White Sox cards, or I would have for sure snapped them up). One is an Upper Deck "E-Card" from 2001 (is that before or after e-Topps debuted?) which I picked up because it's all fractal and I wasn't sure when I'd see it again. The other is an '06 UD "Amazing Greats" subset serial numbered to 699. I know many people are through with serial numbers, but I still kinda like them.


It wasn't all Griffeys. I also got a couple of Ichiros, including his 2009 Spectrum base. I like the design of the Spectrum that year and have decided to go rainbow chasing. I've got Ichiro and Griffey base (which is also a Griffey White Sox card, so I was going to collect them anyway) and King Felix's red parallel. No Lincecum cards yet, but I hope to change that soon. Did I mention that as you are reading this post, I'll be travelling around Raleigh going to card shops? Because I am.


The other Ichiro card is a 2007 SP Authentic card that commemorates his 45 steals that year. Basically, if Ichiro is on a card, I want it and I'll probably buy it or trade for it.

Finally, we have some Robinsons of both the Frank and Brooks variety. I'm a bit annoyed because I forgot to scan one of the Frank Robinson cards, and now it's back in Australia and I can't get ahold of it. First up are Frank, Brooksie and Joe Morgan all appearing in a Topps Stars "Spotlight" set. I bought all the Orioles and Reds that were available. Rest assured, had Bench or Palmer been in the binder, I would have grabbed them, too:

My final four packs from the 2009 Topps series 1 box coincides with my first post on American soil:

Pack 33

103 - Kyle Kendrick
113 - Chris Young
209 - Alfredo Amezaga

44 - Geoff Jenkins gold parallel (878/2009)
191 - Postseason Highlights (Shane Victorino NLDS)
224 - Max Scherzer
156 - Carlos Pena


237 - Aaron Cunningham (RC)
236 - Kelly Johnson

Pack 34

316 - Brian Stokes
68 - Kyle Lohse


124 - Reed Johnson (Full extension!)
186 - Ryan Madson


RH23 - Mariano Rivera Ring of Honor
315 - Hiroki Kuroda
14 - Jon Rauch
245 - Pat Burrell (Oh, how the mighty have fallen)
274 - Alex Hinshaw

Pack 35

228 - Scott Rolen
47 - Jose Valverde
89 - Postseason Highlights (Lester & Bay ALDS)
307 - AL Strikeout Leaders


TR32 - Shane Victorino (final Turkey Red card of the box, and I don't have it. Only two dupes and they were both upgrades in terms of condition. Woot!)
121 - Greg Golson (RC) (This one's for you, Thorzul! Well, I'm not going to send it to you, because I need it, but I thought of you and that Piece of History group break)


32 - Daric Barton
219 - Shin-Soo Choo
181 - Jerry Manuel

Pack 36 (The Last One!)

31 - Ian Stewart
126 - Orlando Hudson
157 - Checklist - Webb & Haren
176 - AL RBI Leaders


RH17 - Gary Sheffield Ring of Honor
86 - Kila Ka'aihue
200 - Chase Utley
148 - Ty Wiggington
9 - Dallas McPherson

Not much in terms of big name base cards (or even inserts) but at least every base was a card I didn't have, so I've got nearly 90% of the set complete. I hope to knock off a good chunk of that this week when I head to some card shops and flea markets. I actually have two more cards from the set, but that's a topic for another post.

Well not quite, but I am sitting in the departure lounge at the Sydney airport waiting to board my flight to America. And since I have some time, and the pictures are all loaded up, how about another post about my 2009 Topps break? Ain't technology wonderful?

No hits in these four packs, but have a look anyway. Next time I talk to you all, I'll be back in the States!

Pack 29

252 - Brandon Wood
95 - Andrew Miller

149 - Juan Uribe
310 - Johan Santana
264 - Dave Bush


18 - George Sherrill
267 - Michael Bowden (RC)
33 - Jose Guillen
142 Brad Penny

Pack 30

190 - Chien-Ming Wang
52 - Marco Scutaro
178 - Frank Catalanotto
1 - Alex Rodriguez (Ironically found in a Ryan Howard pack)


TR26 - Cristian Guzman


273 - Brian Roberts
271 - Cliff Lee AL Cy Young
90 - Justin Morneau
304 - Jason Kubel

Pack 31

53 - Jonathan Sanchez
130 - Vladimir Guerrero
311 - Kelly Shoppach


290 - Albert Pujols
258 - Casey Kotchman
108 - Alcides Escobar (RC)
44 - Geoff Jenkins
175 - Jeff Samardzija
232 - Gabe Kapler

Pack 32

100 - David Wright (My first "00" card of the set)
323 - Vicente Padilla
330 - Daisuke Matsuzaka
139 - Postseason Highlights Matt Stairs NLDS
147 - NL RBI Leaders


LG20 - Mickey Mantle Legends of the Game (Why isn't this LG7?)


6 - Raul Ibanez
91 - Cody Ross


7 - Mickey Mantle (A double Mick pack! I like how it's a card of him as a shortstop)

Just four more packs left until this box is put to bed and my want lists are updated. As I write this, my anger over the US 2-2 draw with Slovenia is slowly lessening. (ed. note - you can tell how long ago I opened this pack) It was still a match we totally should have won, both on paper and in actual fact. As Bill Simmons said, is there a sport that referees don't completely eff up?

This has been a pretty good box so far. Two hits and that's before the autograph or relic that's promised on the front of the box. As you noticed from the title of the post, that hit as been found, but the way things are going with this particular box, it might not be the last one...

Pack 25

180 - Cliff Lee
174 - James Shields
39 - Stephen Drew

CBR-RG - Ryan Garko Career Best Legends jersey relic


194 - Jeremy Guthrie


306 - Javier Vazquez


29 - Jerry Hairston, Jr.

Pack 26

313 - Jamey Carroll


167 - Aaron Harang
58 - Travis Snider (RC)
226 - Neal Cotts


132 - Juan Pierre (Look at him following that ball into his glove with his eyes!)


311 - Kelly Shoppach Gold Parallel (839/2009)
276 - Geovany Soto NL ROY
318 - Manny Acta
272 - Chan Ho Park

Pack 27

107 - Pedro Feliz (Happy Pete!)
77 - Jed Lowrie
8 - Terry Francona
61 - Checklist (Berkman & Lee)


LG10 - Jimmie Foxx Legends of the Game
97 - Willie Harris


30 - Ken Griffey Jr. (Finally!)
183 - Jason Michaels
141 - Mark Teahen

Pack 28

59 - Eric Gagne
289 - Josh Banks
41 - Mike Mussina
127 - AL Home Run Leaders


188 - Josh Bard Gold Parallel (934/2009)
93 - James Parr (RC)
269 - Hunter Pence
168 - Mark DeRosa
251 - Greg Smith

I told you that things would be slowing down for the rest of June, although I didn't really think I wouldn't be able to post for two weeks. But, this is a recap of my past week:

• I moved in to my new house
• I had to write report cards for the class
• I had to pack for the trip to America

The result? Too much stuff in too little time, and I was physically wiped out. The blog, and indeed baseball cards in general, had to go on the back burner. But I have three weeks off, and a bunch of scans, so I will be blogging quite a bit during my holidays.

Expect to see the rest of my 2009 Topps Series 1 break, the results of my trip up to Perth tomorrow, and whatever I find when I go to the States. It's good to be "back."