2013 Bowman Platinum blaster recap

I was looking to see if I'd pull an autograph or something even though I still say I'm paying way too much [about $20 plus tax from a Target] - to pick up 32 random cards per box.

An idea for Topps is to perhaps label the backs of the cards to identify which parallel sets they are from - the base cards are shiny and maybe confused for parallels but besides that, I have to guess and look up cards I pulled if I suspect if they are more than just base cards.

Pack one
#BPP 99 Luis Sardinas
#41 Gio Gonzalez

#36 Stan Musial - Blue Sapphire insert
#53 Freddie Freeman

Pack two
#BPP 91 Michael Wacha

#4 Norichika Aoki - Ruby parallel
#84 Jackie Bradley Jr.
#BPP 25 Anthony Rendon

Pack three
#BPP 93 Richie Shaffer
#BPP 55 Adrian Beltre
#CES-JM Joe Mauer - Cutting Edge Stars insert
#BPP 42 Kyle Zimmer

Pack four
#66 Salvador Perez

#BPCP 13 Taijuan Walker - Chrome parallel
#97 Chris Sale
#BPP 23 Carlos Correa

Pack five
#BPP 43 Tyler Austin

#63 Jason Heyward - Gold parallel
#8 David Freese
#BPP 31 Albert Almora

Pack six
#BPP 5 Zack Wheeler
#BPP 72 Billy Butler
#TP-TW Taijuan Walker - Top Prospects insert
#BPP 9 Billy Hamilton

Pack seven
#BPP 62 Kyle Gibson
#2 Mike Trout - Blue Sapphire parallel
#15 Carl Crawford
#BPP 17 Danny Hultzen

Pack eight
#81 Derek Jeter

#BPCP 5 Zack Wheeler - Chrome parallel
#29 Mariano Rivera
#BPP 92 Gavin Cecchini

R.I.P. Stan Musial and Earl Weaver

Two notable passings this weekend were Hall of Famers Musial and Weaver - I was vaguely aware of Stan the Man's heroics as a player and his status as a Hall of Fame legend.

While not having the opportunity to see him play first-hand, the two things I heard about him - was that he was always a classy player and someone who was actually sort of underrated for the prolific numbers he put up during his playing career.

I picked up a 2007 Topps Triple Threads card of Musial back in 2007 for a little more than $30 - thinking it was a nice card from a premium trading card product.

I'd also purchased an Upper Deck Authenticated signed baseball and was able to send him a couple of cards in the early 2000's - which he signed through the mail for a few dollars each instead of getting back my cards unsigned with a card [presumably pre-signed] he sent back to respond to 'TTM requests.'

As far as Weaver was concerned, an actual memory I remember when he was signing autographs at the 2010 All-Star Fan Fest in Anaheim - I saw him being driven around in a golf cart and for whatever reason I wasn't intent on getting his autograph at all; I think for a time he still signed through the mail for a $20 donation to a charity and if I didn't get him then, so be it since he didn't seem too hard to get.