Only it's not here, it's over at A Pack to Be Named Later.

I was surprised to see that nobody had written about 2011 Topps over at that site, so I opened one of my bonus hobby packs and did a write-up over there. Did I get anything good? Click on the link to find out.

Don't worry, I also opened up a jumbo pack, and the results will appear later on today. Which is tomorrow morning for folks in the USA. Thanks for reading!

A package arrived today from Orange County. Orange County Sports Cards, in fact. It's my jumbo box of 2011 Topps. Hopefully, I will get enough to have a complete set and still get plenty of dupes for trading purposes.

I'm going to savor this one. One jumbo pack per day, starting tonight. First report comes tomorrow.

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.

Another day, another trade. This time, it’s with Mike from BA Benny’s Baseball Card Buffet and The Pack Rip Cafe. Mike served up a heaping helping of cards, with a envelope stuffed full of cards off my want list, for my PCs, and even a few relics. Like all good buffets, there was plenty on my plate and I didn’t go hungry.

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:

Yesterday, I mentioned one of the cards that Joe from The Sandlot sent over in his trade package was a 1995 Pacific Mariners Memories card, and how I was interested in the rest. Afterward, I looked the set up on Google but couldn't find much, apart from one guy who wrote that he had bought one but they were "pretty rare, so I don't know where you would find them." He helpfully failed to mention where he had purchased his, but he was kind enough to opine that they would probably be expensive.

Well, I guess this guy has never heard of a little website called eBay, because when I went on there today I found about ten of them for sale, including a sealed one for $4.50 delivered. Of course, it'll be delivered to my parents' place, but I'm used to that. Normally I make it a habit not to talk about eBay purchases until I have the goods in hand, but I thought I'd make an exception this time in order to talk about my instant success. I'll be sure to post a full review once the cards are in hand.

A special surprise when I got to the post office today. Not one, not two, but three packages. When looking at the postmarks, I see that one was mailed on January 31, one on January 27, and one on January 26. So that means that at least one of these packages was mailed the day after Julie at Things are Funner Here mailed her package, but I got it a week later. I have officially stopped trying to figure out Australia Post.


I firmly believe that each trade deserves its own post, because the time and effort people put into making trade packages should be recognised and celebrated. So the package I’m highlighting today is the first one mailed (the January 26 one) from Joe at The Sandlot.

I sent Joe a package including a Heritage Box Topper with three Mets, some David Wright specials, and a Henry Blanco 2010 Topps Update card. Why Henry Blanco? Because that was the card Joe needed to finish off his Mets team set. I love being able to send someone the last card they need to complete a set. It’s a great feeling.

In return, Joe sent me a bunch of Griffeys, Ichiros, and cards to knock off my wantlists, too:

Here are the Ichiro cards, and they’re both shiny. And that leads into an announcement I would like to make. From this point forward, shiny cards of Ichiro Suzuki will be known as Ichichromes. Tell your friends.

And I am happy to accept any and all Ichichromes.


Joe sent some shiny Griffeys, too. The two 2010 Topps Chrome cards are the first ones I’ve gotten from that set – I was going to buy some until everyone starting talking about how warped they are. And guess what – everybody’s right! The Griffey card, in particular, is quite bendy – it seems to be bending in four directions at once. Just part of the “charm” of 2010 Topps Chrome.


There were three horizontal Griffeys in the package, including a die-cut Fleer Ultra. I love the card in the middle, and I think I’m going to have to try and find out more about this “1995 Mariners Memories” set – is it an insert, a locally-produced situation, or what? The back of the card features a mock-up of the front page of the Seattle Times, which makes me think it was produced in conjunction with the newspaper.


Some Griffey firsts – his first Diamond Kings card, his first Reds card (Topps 2000) and his first Turkey Red card.

Joe included eleven Reds cards from 2006 Fleer, which was of course made by Upper Deck by this point. This is the first I’ve seen of ’06 Fleer in person, and I quite like the look of it. I’m not sure if I’ll try to collect the whole set, but I definitely want to finish off this Reds set and look to get the Mariners, Orioles, White Sox and Athletics, too.


Finally, a card that has absolutely nothing to do with Ken Griffey or the Reds, but one that I was glad to see. The Hank Greenberg/Ike Davis Legendary Lineage card teams the greatest Jewish hitter of all time and the latest Great Jewish Hope. I’ve already got the Greenberg/Ryan Braun card from Series 2 in my Legendary Lineage binder. But I’m not holding my breath that Topps is going to release a Sandy Koufax/Scott Schoenweis Diamond Duos card this year.

Joe, thanks a bunch for the cards. Any day that I can get a padded envelope full of cards in the mail is a great day. To get three, well, it was worth the wait. To find out what else arrived in the mail, check back later...