I was looking to bust three or four loose packs of 2013 Topps Chrome [maybe $3 each] at the card shop - on a whim, decided to go with a 50-card hobby jumbo pack of Topps Update for $11.50.
As I'm thumbing through the cards, it looks like all I pulled were base cards and cheap inserts - it doesn't look like there was either a relic card or an auto [not that any one I pull would be particularly valuable, but at least I can say I pulled one.]
I'd like to think I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to busting a hobby pack or box - I always believe there will be a card or two that will make a bust worthwhile, but sometimes I need to reign myself in because I really am just throwing money away.
I could have used the $11.50 towards picking up a hand collated set online or maybe a 72-card retail hanger pack, since those have 22 more cards in a package - maybe a better chance to pull rookies and others who maybe appearing on a Topps card for the first time.
Pack one
#US 287 Brandon Morrow
#US 97 Alexi Amarista
#US 69 Martin Perez
#US 29 Scott Van Slyke
#US 246 Don Kelly
#US 29 Shin-Soo Choo
#US 84 Stephen Drew
#US 195 Chris Johnson - it was just going to be one of those packs, when the first eight cards in this pack were ones I pulled last week.
#US 124 Jason Kipnis
#US 307 Mike Carp
#US 9 Cody Allen
#US 72 Adam Jones
#US 71 Cody Asche
#US 258 Jose Bautista
#US 129 David Wright
#US 56 Kyuji Fujikawa
#US 255 Alex Wood
#US 16 Alex Gordon
#US 316 David Wright
#US 157 Marco Scutaro
#US 104 Matt Carpenter
#US 202 Yoenis Cespedes
#US 174 Jose Mijares - Gold parallel serial #'d 1041/2013
#CH-108 Shelby Miller - Chasing History insert
#US 115 Drew Stubbs - Emerald parallel
#MM-49 Kyle Gibson - Making their Mark insert
#US 313 Mariano Rivera - odd, this one doesn't have the same picture as the 2013 Topps Chrome Update card I pulled last week, so I went to eBay to see if this was some sort of SP variation.
Who knows what the card maybe worth next year or in a few years, but my pull was actually the SSP version - I couldn't believe there was actually one card that saved this apparent bust of a break and it wasn't just some run-of-the-mill pull I was hoping for, but a card featuring a baseball icon.
Oddly enough, before my card shop trip, I was at a Target briefly looking through a $8 tribute magazine of Rivera - while my enthusiasm for what he has done as a player and as a role model is sort of muted, I realize his contributions mean something to Major League Baseball fans.
#TM-43 Frank Thomas - 1971 Topps Mini insert - ugh, I pulled this one last week.
#FF 8 Nolan Ryan / Yu Darvish - Franchise Forerunners insert - ugh, I pulled this one last week.
#US 81 Casey Kotchman
#US 165 A.J. Pierzynski
#US 147 Charlie Morton
#US 225 Chris Getz
#US 310 Boone Logan
#US 182 Luis Valbuena
#US 141 Chris Carter
#US 42 Rafael Betancourt
#US 125 J.J. Hardy
#US 226 Michael Cuddyer
#US 223 Jose Valverde
#US 105 Corey Kluber
#US 252 Preston Claiborne
#US 214 Jean Segura
#US 3 Chad Qualls
#US 211 Jarred Cosart
#US 192 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#US 286 Aroldis Chapman
#US 91 Prince Fielder
#US 35 Andrew McCutchen
#US 221 Allen Craig
