My 'under the radar' blog featuring my baseball card collecting endeavors and hopefully some of my autographs collected in-person / through-the-mail.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
2025 Topps value box recap
Friday, February 21, 2025
2025 Topps Series 1 blaster box breaks
Monday, October 28, 2024
2024 Topps Update blaster recap
Pack one
#US35 Jonatan Clase RC
#US40 Nate Pearson
#US104 David Peterson
#US144 Tyler Black RC
#US200 Luis Arraez
#US195 Carson Kelly
#US86 Heston Kjerstad - Rookie Debut subset #US123 Shohei Ohtani - Season Highlights subset
#US152 Alex Verdugo
#US4 Jorge Alcala
#SMLB-69 Royce Lewis - Stars of MLB insert
Pack two
#US328 Ramón Urías - Holiday parallel
#US72 Colton Cowser - Rookie Debut subset
#US215 Adam Frazier
#US7 Alan Trejo
#US3 Tyler Nevin
#US256 Alec Burleson
#US15 Reynaldo López
#US84 Graham Pauley RC
#US179 Mason Black
#US224 Carlos Santana
#US268 Naoyuki Uwasawa RC - Royal Blue parallel
#ASG-19 Corbin Burnes - 2024 All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-63 Cody Bellinger - Stars of MLB insert
Pack three
#US257 Joey Ortiz
#US350 Elly De La Cruz - Rookie Debut subset
#US65 Joey Loperfido RC
#US118 Carlos Carrasco
#US228 Jose Trevino
#US106 Porter Hodge RC / Jake Wong RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US108 Andy Pages - Rookie Debut subset
#US199 Brett Harris RC #US16 Joey Votto
#89US-46 Paul Skenes - 1989 Topps Baseball insert; go figure, a little speck on the back.
#SMLB-71 Davis Schneider - Stars of MLB insert
Pack four
#US223 Junior Caminero - Rookie Debut subset; Holiday parallel
#US31 Brandon Crawford
#US221 Andy Pages RC
#US37 Kyle McCann RC
#US214 Kevin Pillar
#US182 Matt Moore
#US196 Blake Treinen
#US299 Tobias Myers RC
#US188 Eduardo Rodriguez
#US133 Matt Carpenter #MYS-30 Freddie Freeman - Mystical insert #SMLB-81 Shota Imanaga - Stars of MLB insert
Pack five
#US274 Matt Thaiss
#US172 Colin Holderman
#US100 Paul Skenes RC - go figure, maybe the best 'base' card and there is a blemish on the top.
#US288 Paul Skenes - Rookie Debut subset
#US331 Cody Bradford
#US210 Jackson Merrill RC
#US150 Tyler Black - Rookie Debut subset
#US169 Jackson Merrill - Rookie Debut subset
#US5 Mitchell Parker RC
#US125 Jordan Westburg - Rookie Debut subset; Rainbow Foil parallel
#ASG-21 Garrett Crochet - All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-61 Juan Soto - Stars of MLB insert
Pack six
#US308 Fernando Cruz - Holiday parallel
#US260 Luke Raley
#US53 Randy Rodríguez RC
#US323 Jon Singleton
#US247 Eugenio Suárez
#US121 Ryne Stanek
#US50 Jackson Holliday RC
#US117 Eddie Rosario
#US315 David Bañuelos RC / Matt Krook RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US90 Adam Duvall
#US227 Chandler Seagle RC / Mason McCoy RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US156 Jack Leiter RC
#SMLB-78 Anthony Rizzo - Stars of MLB insert
Pack seven
#US92 Tyler Rogers
#US336 Addison Barger RC
#US340 Gavin Stone
#US176 Lucas Giolito
#US226 Michael Lorenzen
#US192 Colt Keith - Rookie Debut subset
#US327 Dinelson Lamet
#US334 Mookie Betts - Season Highlights
#US310 Oliver Dunn RC
#US28 Mitch Spence RC
#89US-7 Darryl Strawberry - 1989 Topps Baseball insert
#SMLB-72 Curtis Mead - Stars of MLB insert
Sunday, October 06, 2024
A couple of retail value packs of 2024 Donruss
I would normally stay away from breaking Donruss baseball in any form - where the 2024 Donruss base cards in particular look to be bland and boring at first glance, where it's not particularly appealing.
The product feels so off-brand, but the assorted shiny parallels end up teasing some fool's gold finds - where I relented to pick up a couple of value packs where my curiosity got the best of me.
I figured out at least a couple of things that may end up more as footnotes - where "that's kind of interesting."
1.) There was a distinct pattern of collation where a run of cards pulled were in numerical order - so within a smaller set, maybe the chances were pretty good I end up pulling a duplicate run of cards out of two ‘random’ packs.
2.) There are active MLB players sprinkled in - where presumably Panini did individual card deals with certain MLB players' marketing agents, but obviously nothing with the MLBPA that covers all their players.
3.) I pulled the same types of inserts in my two packs - a serial #'d Optic Green Velocity parallel, a Green Laser parallel and a Red and Blue parallel.
Pack one#98 Edgar Martinez
#97 Buster Posey
#96 Nolan Schanuel
#95 Willie Mays
#94 Jordan Lawler
#93 Masyn Winn
#92 Mike Piazza
#91 Everson Pereira
#90 Jose Canseco
#89 Ronny Mauricio
#88 Emmet Sheehan
#87 Don Mattingly
#86 Ryan Braun
#85 Pete Crow-Armstrong
#84 Johan Santana
#83 Zack Gelof
#82 Seiya Suzuki
#81 Mariano Rivera
#80 Masataka Yoshida
#79 Bill Madlock
#78 Quinn Priester
#77 Luis Matos
#111 Ty Floyd - Rated Prospect
#109 Alex Ramirez - Rated Prospect
#108 Ralphy Velazquez - Rated Prospect
#107 Tommy Troy - Rated Prospect
#87 Don Mattingly - Optic
#47 David Ortiz - Optic Green Velocity parallel; Serial #’d 030/149
#65 Pedro Martinez - Green Laser parallel
#178 Dillon Head - Rated Prospect; Red and Blue parallel
Pack two
#6 Alex Rodriguez
#5 Willie McCovey
#4 Cool Papa Bell
#3 George Brett
#2 Henry Davis
#1 Bobby Witt Jr.
#100 Bobby Valentine
#99 Joe Torre
#98 Edgar Martinez
#97 Buster Posey
#96 Nolan Schanuel
#95 Willie Mays
#94 Jordan Lawler
#93 Masyn Winn
#92 Mike Piazza
#91 Everson Pereira
#90 Jose Canseco
#89 Ronny Mauricio
#88 Emmet Sheehan
#87 Don Mattingly
#86 Ryan Braun
#85 Pete Crow-Armstrong
#153 Colt Keith - Rated Prospects
#152 Luke Keaschall - Rated Prospects
#151 Brock Porter - Rated Prospects
#150 Enrique Bradfield Jr. - Rated Prospects
#95 Willie Mays - Optic
#23 Tim Wakefield - Optic Green Velocity parallel; Serial #’d 57/149
#83 Zack Gelof - Green Laser parallel
#102 Jackson Merrill - Rated Prospect; Red and Blue parallel
Saturday, July 22, 2023
A retail value pack of 2023 Donruss
Seeing retired player cards of guys like Ryan Zimmerman and Dustin Pedroia makes me feel older than ever - but it's not like I've kept up with them in years and that is how the passage of time goes I guess.
I haven't bothered to keep up with prospects where I don't know what to do with these cards - it might still be dime box fodder, but there is a Jordan Walker '90 Retro subset card and the St. Louis [Cardinals] outfielder is having a solid big league rookie season.Friday, April 21, 2023
2023 Series 1 Topps Super Box recap
I checked the little ziplock baggie that had the enamel trading card pin insert - thankfully, it was Ohtani for the win.
I found the normal types of base cards and inserts out of the 16-card packs - I pulled a Home Run Challenge code card of Austin Riley, which I scratched off and entered; go figure it was a winning card for me as Riley hit a home run on 4/17 against the San Diego Padres.Saturday, November 12, 2022
2022 Topps Update blaster recaps
Pack one
#US196 Hanser Alberto
#US268 Joe Kelly
#US57 Jake Lamb
#US158 Robinson Cano
#US228 J.P. Feyereisen
#US282 Alek Thomas - Rookie Debut
#US82 Taylor Hearn
#US234 Joe Perez RC
#US301 Kris Bryant
#US278 Yusei Kikuchi
#US127 Zack Greinke
#US309 Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers All-Time Strikeouts Leader checklist
#ASG-49 William Contreras - 2022 MLB All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-64 Ryan Mountcastle - Stars of MLB insert
Pack two
#US227 Anthony Bass
#US59 Andre Pallante RC
#US16 Sonny Gray
#US314 Cooper Hummel RC
#US185 Seth Lugo
#US197 Jesus Sanchez
#US224 Bryson Stott RC
#US12 Jace Peterson
#US257 Jorge Soler
#US100 Bobby Witt Jr. RC
#US324 Avisail Garcia
#US198 Garrett Richards - Vintage Stock parallel, serial #'d 24/99
#BG-20 Oneil Cruz - Topps Black Gold insert
#SMLB-84 Royce Lewis - Stars of MLB insert
Pack three
#US150 Brendan Donovan RC
#US323 Adam Engel
#US137 Eugenio Suarez
#US255 Bryson Stott - Rookie Debut
#US22 Trevor Story
#US229 Jake Odorizzi
#US201 Jorge Alcala
#US284 Michael Pineda
#US269 Ehire Adrianza
#US277 Jhoan Duran RC
#US251 Andrew McCutchen
#US317 Bryan Lavastida RC
#US39 Carlos Correa
#SMLB-73 Alek Thomas - Stars of MLB insert
Pack four
#US263 Matt Beaty
#US35 Brandon Marsh - Rookie Debut
#US219 Ramon Urias
#US133 Austin Nola
#US188 Connor Joe
#US198 Garrett Richards
#US288 Max Scherzer / Jacob deGrom - Aces Up / Veteran Combos
#US60 Adam Frazier
#US248 Gabriel Arias RC
#US203 Yu Chang
#US91 Brad Miller
#BH-JB Javier Baez - Commemorative batting helmet relic
#87TBU-6 Matt Olson - 1987 Topps
#ASB-1 Mike Trout - 2022 MLB All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-72 Julio Urias - Stars of MLB insert
Pack five
#US225 Felix Bautista RC
#US2 Matt Olson
#US315 Garrett Stubbs
#US261 Steven Kwan RC
#US232 Tyler Wade
#US76 Tommy Romero RC
#US99 Tyrone Taylor
#US41 Gosuke Katoh
#US125 Travis Jankowski
#US238 Javier Baez / Robbie Grossman - Dancing in Detroit / Veteran Combos
#US49 Aaron Civale
#US67 Harold Ramirez
#US290 George Kirby - Rookie Debut
#SMLB-62 Brandon Marsh - Stars of MLB insert
Pack six
#US328 Cristian Pache
#US217 Kevin Smith RC
#US245 Yan Gomes
#US30 Camilo Doval
#US236 Jack Suwinski RC
#US84 Michael Lorenzen
#US121 Eric Thames
#US138 Drew Smyly
#US281 Steven Duggar
#US222 Joe Ryan - Rookie Debut
#US174 Alex Dickerson
#US112 Rhys Hoskins / Bryce Harper - Philly Phenoms / Veteran Combos; Royal Blue parallel
#PP-22 Stephen Strasburg - Paragons of the Postseason insert
#SMLB-88 Seiya Suzuki - Stars of MLB insert
Pack seven
#US79 Spencer Torkelson - Rookie Debut
#US123 Isaac Paredes
#US179 Maikel Franco
#US190 Tyler Anderson
#US212 Alek Thomas RC
#US47 Will Smith
#US266 Nick Castellanos
#US250 Seiya Suzuki RC
#US243 Roberto Perez
#US153 Rene Pinto RC
#US316 Geraldo Perdomo
#US88 Kyle Schwarber
#ASG-22 Jose Ramirez - 2022 MLB All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-90 MacKenzie Gore - Stars of MLB insert
Box two
Pack one
#US219 Ramon Urias
#US133 Austin Nola
#US225 Felix Baustista RC
#US2 Matt Olson
#US215 Garrett Stubbs
#US63 Jake McGee
#US97 Julio Rodriguez - Rookie Debut
#US129 Rob Refsnyder
#UU69 Jurickson Profar
#US319 Francisco Morales
#US204 A.J. Pollock
#US3 Jesse Winker
#US267 Hunter Greene - Rookie Debut
#SMLB-87 Julio Rodriguez - Stars of MLB insert
Pack two
#US261 Steven Kwan RC
#US232 Tyler Wade
#US328 Cristian Pache
#US217 Kevin Smith
#US245 Yan Gomes
#US42 Wander Franco - Rookie Debut
#US180 Josh Rojas
#US80 Tyler Naquin
#US329 Andrew Knizner
#US294 MacKenzie Gore - Rookie Debut
#US306 Jake Walsh - Rainbow Foil parallel
#US266 Nick Castellanos - Orange Foilboard, serial #'d 294/299
#DGDC-22 Eddie Mathews - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts insert
#SMLB-69 Javier Baez - Stars of MLB insert
Pack three
#US30 Camilo Doval
#US79 Spencer Torkelson - Rookie Debut
#US123 Isaac Paredes
#US179 Maikel Franco
#US292 Cole Irvin
#US104 Luke Williams
#US200 Corey Seager
#US145 Miguel Castro
#US301 Kris Bryant
#US278 Yusei Kikuchi
#US309 Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers All-Time Strikeouts Leader checklist
#US127 Zack Greinke
#ASG-43 Tony Gonsolin - 2022 MLB All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-64 Ryan Mountcastle - Stars of MLB insert
Pack four
#US190 Tyler Anderson
#US29 Alex De Goti RC
#US163 Jon Gray
#US52 Bryce Elder RC
#US181 Adam Ottavino
#US110 Elehuris Montero RC
#US326 Luke Maile
#US228 J.P. Feyereisen
#US282 Alek Thomas - Rookie Debut
#US12 Jace Peterson
#US257 Jorge Soler
#US100 Bobby Witt Jr. RC
#BH-OA Ozzie Albies - Commemorative batting helmet relic
#87TBU-41 Heliot Ramos - 1987 Topps
#SMLB-84 Royce Lewis - Stars of MLB insert
Pack five
#US308 Richie Palacios RC
#US75 Chris Paddack
#US117 Nick Allen RC
#US279 Sergio Alcantara
#US205 Drew Steckenrider
#US82 Taylor Hearn
#US234 Joe Perez RC
#US197 Jesus Sanchez
#US224 Bryson Stott RC
#US324 Avisail Garcia
#US277 Jhoan Duran RC
#US251 Andrew McCutchen
#US317 Bryan Lavastida RC
#SMLB-73 Alek Thomas - Stars of MLB insert
Pack six
#US64 Alex Faedo RC
#US169 Orlando Arcia
#US193 James Norwood
#US85 Diego Castillo RC
#US229 Jake Odorizzi
#US201 Jorge Alcala
#US284 Michael Pineda
#US39 Carlos Correa
#US249 Gabriel Arias RC
#US203 Yu Chang
#US91 Brad Miller
#BG-19 Bryce Harper - Topps Black Gold insert
#ASG-9 Jose Altuve - 2022 MLB All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-72 Julio Urias - Stars of MLB insert
Pack seven
#US199 Austin Meadows
#US194 Nelson Cruz
#US102 Craig Kimbrel
#US285 Nick Tropeano
#US214 Starling Marte
#US269 Ehire Adrianza
#US188 Connor Joe
#US198 Garrett Richards
#US288 Max Scherzer / Jacob deGrom - Aces Up / Veteran Combos
#US238 Javier Baez / Robbie Grossman - Dancing in Detroit / Veteran Combos
#US49 Aaron Civale
#US67 Harold Ramirez
#US290 George Kirby - Rookie Debut
#SMLB-62 Brandon Marsh - Stars of MLB insert