Fairfield assorted 20 pack repack mix #1

I'd read blog posts talking about the hits pulled from the 20 pack boxes at Target and was feeling impulsive, so I grabbed two $19.99 boxes for myself - in the window of a couple of boxes I saw, there were multiple Topps Allen and Ginter's packs, multiple Topps Chrome packs and multiple Archives packs.

I thought these boxes might be worth a gamble, even though the packs inside are probably still retail discards and I don't think I was going to pull anything good - while there were no loose 1988 Donruss or 1989 Topps sticking out, that told me nothing.

The one hit included with the 20 packs was a 2011 Bowman Sterling Nolan Fontana Team USA jersey card #USAR-NF - very random, but it's a hit.

I pulled a 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Jake Peavy mini serial #'d to 50 which I thought was my best hit - so this break was probably par for the course until I looked closer at a couple of other cards.

2007 Upper Deck
#46 Juan Salas
#308 Matt Holliday
#391 Jeff Conine
#8 Josh Fields
#328 Jose Garcia
#395 Cole Hamels
#126 Shane Costa
#129 Mike Sweeney
Scoreboard Challenge info card

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum
#23 Carlos Quentin
#39 Dan Uggla
#85 Ichiro
#17 Alfonso Soriano
#1 Brandon Webb
2013 Topps Series II
#633 Victor Martinez
#530 Wade Miley
#459 Jesus Montero
#407 Juan Pierre
#408 Coco Crisp
#549 Huston Street
#TM-62 Paul O'Neill - 1972 Topps Minis insert
#384 Jake McGee
#540 Michael Bourn
#642 Austin Jackson
#492 Jose Molina
#613 Jhoulys Chacin

2013 Topps Series II
#560 Yunel Escobar
#575 Justin Morneau
#471 Trevor Cahill
#486 Jason Kubel
#517 Pedro Alvarez
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#CD-15 Giancarlo Stanton - Chase it Down insert
#338 Mike Trout
#483 Yordany Valdespin
#378 Joe Kelly
#554 R.A. Dickey
#577 Matt Harvey

2013 Topps Series II
#416 Jordan Lyles
#452 Raul Ibanez
#417 Blake Forsythe
#544 Tyler Chatwood
#597 Marco Scutaro
#456 Pablo Sandoval
#492 Jose Molina - Emerald parallel
#422 Alfredo Marte
#609 Scott Baker
#409 Logan Morrison
#539 Phil Coke
#356 Greg Dobbs

2013 Topps Series II
#333 Santiago Casilla
#342 Matt Dominguez
#499 Billy Butler
#383 Matt Harrison
#518 Nolan Reimold
#364 Carlos Pena - red border parallel
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#590 Liam Hendriks
#354 Casey Janssen
#538 Brett Wallace
#572 Lorenzo Cain
#431 Blake Beavan

2013 Topps Series II
#506 Andy Pettitte
#563 Nate Eovaldi
#389 Phil Hughes
#548 John Lackey
#637 Ben Revere
#388 Justin Turner
#MM-6 Ike Davis - Making Their Mark insert

#331 Jose Reyes - short print / variation
2nd Chance Vintage Card Giveaway contest card
#421 Jordy Mercer
#490 Cody Ross
#528 Darin Mastrianni
#398 Mike Fiers

2013 Topps Series II
#644 Ryan Lavarnway
#397 Mike Aviles
#525 J.P. Arencibia
#633 Victor Martinez
#570 Devin Mesoraco
#TM-62 Paul O'Neill - 1972 Topps Minis insert
#521 Evan Scribner
#384 Jake McGee
#368 Chris Young
#643 Matt Garza
#607 Chris Carter
#339 Nick Swisher

2013 Topps Series 2 hobby
#377 J.D. Martinez
#404 Ryan Madson
#559 Travis Snider
#532 Todd Helton
#WBC-11 Pablo Sandoval - World Baseball Classic insert
#393 Andres Torres
#418 Evan Gattis
#463 Jason Hammel
#566 C.J. Wilson
#378 Joe Kelly

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's
#142 Garrett Jones
#241 Matt Cain
#275 Josh Beckett
#10 Sandy Koufax
#221 Salvador Perez - mini
#ATY-JR Jim Rice - Across the Years insert

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's
#200 Dustin Pedroia
#157 Adam Jones
#295 Dan Uggla
#CAP-IN Inca - Civilizations of Ages Past insert
#81 Al Kaline - mini
#303 Wade Miley - short print

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's
#154 Mike Morse
#179 Bonnie Bernstein
#300 Bud Selig
#185 Guillaume Robert-Demolaize
#HHH-AUG Augustus - mini
#ATY-JV Joey Votto - Across the Years insert

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's
#273 Alcides Escobar
#261 Dwight Gooden
#134 Roy Halladay
#PS-PP Peterhof Palace - Palaces and Strongholds insert
#4 Ty Cobb - mini
#310 Brandon Phillips - short print

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter's
#188 Bill Buckner
#288 Chris Davis
#239 Craig Kimbrel
#MM-AP Apache - Martial Mystery insert
#147 Ian Desmond - mini
#349 Jason Dufner - short print

2013 Topps Archives
#81 Will Middlebrooks
#119 Ian Kinsler
#194 Yadier Molina
#45 Chase Headley
#83-TG Tony Gwynn - 1983 All-Stars insert
#46 Justin Morneau
#91 Brandon Beachy
#128 Mark Trumbo

2013 Topps Archives
#193 Jim Palmer
#3 Carlos Beltran
#97 David Wright
#69S-WRYC Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Miguel Cabrera - 4-in-1 Sticker insert
#RC-BH Bryce Harper - 1989 All-Stars insert
#18 Jon Lester
#62 Jacoby Ellsbury
#133 Jurickson Profar

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen
#44 Evan Longoria
#307 Shelby Miller
#NH-PH Philip Humber - No-Hitters insert
#219 Jake Peavy - mini sepia serial #'d 20/50
#285 Matt Garza
#96 Mike Fiers

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen
#194 Brandon Phillips
#291 Howie Kendrick
#CP-SP Salvador Perez - Collisions at the Plate insert
#37 David Wright - mini
#327 A.J. Pierzynski
#251 Doug Fister

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen
#139 Shaun Marcum
#162 Bruce Sutter
#SS-AJO Adam Jones - Sliding Stars insert
#74 Josh Rutledge - mini
#141 Alex Gordon
#176 Tony Perez

2013 Topps Opening Day
#168 Miguel Montero
#32 Jered Weaver
#SC-6 Adam Jones
#79 Tyler Colvin - blue parallel serial #'d 0355/2013
#154 Nelson Cruz
#107 Lance Berkman
#200 Evan Longoria

2013 Topps Update Jumbo Pack MO-JO

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