A couple of retail value packs of 2024 Donruss

I have not busted anything unopened for the longest time where I just don't do it anymore - especially at the retail, big box store level with $30 blasters and $50 mega boxes.

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

A retail value pack of 2023 Donruss

Without any licensing from either MLB or the MLBPA, Panini went ahead and made a 2023 Donruss set featuring only retired players and prospects - it's basically a flood of legends' cards that has served as boring evergreen content over the years and redundant prospect cards that are not ever going to be first year cards or true rookie cards.

The design is pretty basic, but kind of upbeat and colorful - the shiny parallels and inserts within a random pack makes these cards fun, where I guess I don't mind seeing the same old guys on newish cards.

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.

2019 Topps Chrome Update value pack recap

Exclusive pink refractor pack
#2 Josh Donaldson
#60 Corbin Martin

Pack one
#53 Eloy Jimenez
#84 Lucas Giolito
#150C-8 Steve Carlton - 150 Years of Professional Baseball refractor
#FBC-16 Tony Gwynn - The Family Business refractor

Pack two
#67 Willson Contreras
#61 Austin Riley
#CUA-GU Gio Urshula - autograph
#FBC-22 Pedro Martinez - The Family Business refractor

Pack three
#48 Mitch Keller
#91 Clayton Kershaw
#82 Francisco Lindor
#150C-3 Ichiro Suzuki - 150 Years of Professional Baseball refractor

2019 Donruss football value pack recap

I do not remember the last time I bought unopened football cards - it may have literally been 10 years ago.

While the big box store football cards are pretty much entry level product - it gives me cards to go through featuring a professional sport in season; maybe find some NFL cards with unique images, find some ‘hot’ NFL rookies [even at the most cheapest, low-end level] or find cards of NFL players for my mini-collections [even though I’ve always been a baseball first and only kind of guy].

Go figure, I tend to think football cards lends itself to more unique images - but I guess basic Donruss is the wrong place to look for such NFL cards.

The cards look fine but there were just about no ‘awesome action’ cards, which left me a little underwhelmed - I thought this was going to be a party in a pack, but every card I pulled showed players in seemingly stationary, frozen positions, whether it’s running with the football, guys set in their positions or quarterbacks about to throw the ball.

#330 Tyler Lockett
#100 Aaron Jones
#211 Le’Veon Bell 
#104 Jaire Alexander
#42 Christian McCaffrey

#161 Randy Moss

#8 Tony Gonzalez
#207 Michael Bennett

#48 Wesley Walls - pulling cards of Moss, Gonzalez and Moss, I wonder if I’m busting a pack from this year or from 1999?
#108 Jadeveon Clowney
#38 Jordan Poyer
#99 Clay Matthews
#26 Gus Edwards
#9 Josh Rosen
#60 Tyler Boyd

#114 Andrew Luck - another card picturing a retired star, though I suppose Luck didn't count as part of the old-timers part of the checklist.

#137 LaDainian Tomlinson - another card picturing a retired star, I wonder if Dick Butkus or Bob Griese is on the checklist.
#124 Myles Jack
#20 Tevin Coleman
#94 Kenny Golladay

#25 Lamar Jackson

#184 John Riggins - my NFL fanhood probably only goes back from the mid 1990s onward, but I may have heard of this legend, through some old-timey hobby magazine where his rookie card is mentioned. 
#147 Kenyan Drake - Blue parallel
#62 Shawn Williams - Blue parallel

#292 Gardner Minshew II - Blue parallel
#41V Cam Newton - Blue parallel / variation; apparently variations featuring the more unique images for the guys on the checklist.

#ES-18 Jared Goff - Elite Series parallel
#262 Jerry Tillery
#282 Chandler Cox
#257 Dexter Lawrence

2019 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack

I don't know if this is really the case but I think I've been pretty 'once in a while' about random pack / blaster / box breaks over the past year or so - this just means cutting off most Target or Walmart trips made solely for cards and walking away when I've had a chance to buy a pack or blaster of something.

On the other hand, I still get impulsive and maybe I was looking for some whoopee out of a random break - there are probably smarter ways to get newer cards in my collection, but things feel stale sometimes and I have to make a choice to grab something off the trading card hanger display at my big box store.

Green parallel pack 
#170 Lou Trivino - Mr. Mem [of Cardbarrel fame] mentioned on Twitter the card numbers printed on the back are tiny and my eyes agree.
#21 Matt Davidson - I saw the base version from browsing on eBay perhaps and because of the image selected off Getty, I was happy to get a parallel of the original card.
#175 Jack Flaherty

Pack one
#196 Yoan Moncada
#271 Trea Turner
#185 Jose Leclerc

#130 Michael Kopech
#29 Dawel Lugo
#229 Zack Cozart

Pack two
#22 Ryan Borucki
#273 Jose Urena
#182 Yu Darvish
#187 Justus Sheffield
#14 Josh Reddick

#257 Jeff McNeil

Pack three
#227 Jose Ramirez
#146 Kyle Freeland
#101 Blake Snell
#81 Trevor Bauer

#23 Xander Bogaerts
#124 Joey Gallo

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack

I like how Topps has used different color schemes to make the Gypsy Queen name plate on the front pop a little bit more - at first glance, I thought the fronts were a little too cluttered but these cards look so much better than last year’s version.

Exclusive green parallel pack
#116 Robbie Ray
#218 Ken Giles
#76 Scott Kazmir

Pack one
#9 Matt Harvey
#289 Max Scherzer
#146 Ricky Nolasco
#GQAR-BH2 Bryce Harper - Portrait Art Reproduction insert
#23 Blake Snell

#130 Chris Tillman

There is also a Gypsy Queen nameplate on the back which seems a little redundant - but sort of makes the card backs kind of fancy looking besides something merely being run of the mill drab.

Pack two
#250 Yoan Moncada
#219 Lorenzo Cain
#70 Leonys Martin

#217 Josh Harrison - Green retail exclusive value pack parallel
#279 Ryan Braun
#213 Elvis Andrus

Pack three
#265 Eugenio Suarez
#64 Khris Davis
#109 Dan Strailly

#FT-YM Yoan Moncada - Fortune Tellers minis
#107 Tim Anderson
#33 Tom Murphy
Security card

2016 Topps Chrome value pack recap

I used one of those lousy $0.50 off inserts to pick this up, so I could go through some new cards - as much as I like new cards, maybe I've set myself up in an awkward spot where I'm not really enthused about making impulse buys of loose packs or blasters at big box stores or even card shops.

I'd rather take the time to put together quarter box stash of loose cards or pick up a cheap single card or two - though at times the urge to bust something new is too hard to resist.

Pink refractor pack 
#22 Brian McCann - meh
#71 Carlos Ruiz - meh
#142 Cole Hamels - meh

Pack one
#58 Joc Pederson - meh
#4 J.D. Martinez - Prism refractor
#166 Kyle Schwarber - meh
#71 Carlos Ruiz - meh

Pack two
#172 Kyle Seager - meh
#PC-18 Corey Seager - Perspectives insert; the first time I’ve pulled a pair of brothers back-to-back in a pack.
#200 Bryce Harper - refractor variation parallel; I guess this is a card to put in a penny sleeve and place in a dingy box, to add to my mini-collection of players signing autographs.
#147 Johnny Cueto - meh

Pack three
#192 Felix Hernandez - meh
#73 Noah Syndergaard - refractor
#76 Nick Markakis - meh
#111 Marcus Stroman - meh

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack II

Maybe it's the Gypsy Queen banner in red kind of clashing with the grayish borders but these cards put me to sleep - the base cards don't really pop and seem kind of ugly.

I got a value pack from Walmart because the framed parallel pack contained five cards as opposed to only three in the Target value pack configurations - the framed parallels are pointless, but I want a reason to lure myself into an impulse baseball card purchase as opposed to avoiding things all together.

Bonus framed parallel pack
#20 Todd Frazier
#16 Miguel Sano
#52 Jeff Samardzija
#25 Chris Sale
#3 A.J. Pollock

Pack one
#11 Jason Heyward
#17 Nolan Arenado
#154 Joey Votto
#220 Trayce Thompson
#MVPM-CJ Chipper Jones - MVP Minis insert
#274 Homer Bailey

Pack two
#62 Sonny Gray
#75 Jeurys Familia
#190 Devon Travis
#7 Corey Seager - mini
#138 Adrian Gonzalez
#177 Ian Kinsler

Pack three
#17 Nolan Arenado
#62 Sonny Gray
#154 Joey Votto
#174 Matt Holliday - mini

#329 Craig Biggio - short print
#175 Jose Peraza

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack

Bonus framed parallel pack - the top card was peeking out, so I grabbed this pack.
#90 Carlos Correa
#68 Anthony Rendon
#37 John Lackey

Pack one
#84 Starlin Castro
#170 Joey Gallo
#171 Taijuan Walker
#MVPM-BE Johnny Bench - MVP Minis insert
#185 Ian Kennedy
#235 Joe Panik

Pack two
#97 Carlos Carrasco
#8 Freddie Freeman
#192 Justin Turner
#336 Babe Ruth - Green mini parallel serial #’d 43/99
#230 Carlos Beltran
#293 Jean Segura

Pack three
#89 Anthony Rizzo
#95 Aaron Nola
#123 George Springer
#223 Yordano Ventura - mini
#319 Sparky Anderson - short print
#176 Billy Hamilton

2015 Bowman value pack recap

Though the cards just don't pop, this year's Bowman cards do look a little different with the way the borders are used - the images sort of bleed out of the cards, as opposed to the images being framed by a solid black or white border.

Yellow parallel pack
#BP 56 Hunter Dozier
#BP 122 Hunter Renfroe
#BP 53 Corey Littrell

Pack one
#119 Andrelton Simmons
#107 David Price
#BCP 28 Austin Voth - Chrome
#BCP 1 Tyler Kolek - Chrome
#BP 69 Drew Ward
#BP 40 Ryan Merritt

#RRI-MA Moises Alou - Rookie Recollections insert
#BP 84 Nick Petree
#64 Edwin Encarnacion
#11 Ian Desmond

Pack two
#123 Rymer Liriano
#22 Christian Yelich
#BCP 5 Dixon Machado - Chrome
#BP 34 Rafael Devers
#BP 132 Jake Bauers

#BCP 150 Carlos Rodon - Chrome green refractor serial #'d 16/99
#BP 86 Frank Schwindel
#BCP 42 Rafael Bautista - Chrome
#68 Andre Ethier
#85 Kurt Suzuki

Pack three
#140 Trevor May
#74 Corey Dickerson
#BCP 40 Ryan Merritt - Chrome
#BP 10 Logan Moon
#BP 39 Jorge Lopez
#BP 98 Jhoan Urena - Silver Ice parallel
#BP 115 Taylor Williams
#BCP 128 Victor Alcantara - Chrome
#46 Ben Revere
#72 Kole Calhoun

2015 Topps Heritage value pack recap

It's only one pack, but this was such boring break - I pulled one lousy insert, no short prints or anything else but base.

#374 Jimmy Rollins
#366 Alex Cobb
#26 Ryan Zimmerman
#306 Rafael Ynoa / Jackson Williams - these are a pair of Rockies rookies from 2014, though Topps managed to make Williams into an Angel after he was claimed off waivers by the Halos during the off-season.
#411 Ryne Sandberg
#129 Alex Avila
#307 Alfredo Simon
#32 Andrelton Simmons
#330 Carl Crawford
#91 Nick Markakis
#NAP-12 Felix Hernandez - New Age Performers insert
#70 Yoenis Cespedes
#353 C.C. Sabathia
#288 Yimi Garcia / Melvin Mercedes - it may not mimic the original 1966 Topps set [or any vintage Topps set that had dual rookie stars], though I prefer as many players i.e. the rookies to actually have their own cards as opposed to two guys being put on one card.
#221 Clayton Kershaw / Johnny Cueto / Adam Wainwright - 2014 National League Pitching Leaders; ERA
#220 Mike Trout / Miguel Cabrera / Nelson Cruz - 2014 American League RBI Leaders
#119 Trevor Rosenthal
#5 Ryan Vogelsong
#13 Stephen Vogt
#107 James McCann / Kyle Ryan

2015 Topps Series I Value Pack

I had to get to a Target somewhere to get my initial 2015 Topps fix - I picked up a Value Pack, a 72-card hanger box and a blaster box.

I like how the cards look, though the cards maybe condition sensitive - with the colored borders and thin stock.

#23 Michael Bourn

#305 Sonny Gray

#184 B.J. Upton

#15 Joey Votto

#153 Josh Reddick

#57 Lyle Overbay

#276 Conor Gillaspie

#278 David Phelps

#251 Anthony Rendon

#269 Jordy Mercer

#10 Cole Hamels

#136 Manny Machado

#126 Detrot Tigers team card

#283 Chris Johnson

#243 Al Alburquerque

#106 Pedro Alvarez

#298 Rymer Liriano

#215 Alejandro De Aza

#H-3 Babe Ruth - Highlight of the Year insert

#FHR-17 Adam Dunn - First Home Run insert

#R-4 Carlos Gomez - Robbed in Center insert

#Babe Ruth's Call Your Shot game card

#FP-04 Eddie Vedder - First Pitch insert

#348 Carlos Santana

#155 Jesse Chavez

#228 Jake Peavy

#75 Dustin Pedroia

#291 Mark Reynolds

#336 Matt Carpenter

#248 Addison Reed

#150 Giancarlo Stanton

#80 Adam Wainwright

#275 Buster Posey

#272 Matt Kemp

#138 Tim Lincecum

#318 George Springer

2014 Topps Update Value Pack recap

I wanted to get my initial fix out of the way, so I impulsively grabbed a blaster box and a value pack about a week ago - not that it matters, but this pack configuration was 36 cards in single hanger pack as opposed to a two section rack pack.

#US-244 Daisuke Matsuzaka
#US-73 Francisco Cervelli
#US-83 Brandon Hicks
#US-84 Daniel Descalso
#US-296 Tyler Moore
#US-116 Brett Anderson
#US-112 Aflredo Simon
#US-111 Emilio Bonifacio
#US-287 Mike Bolsinger
#US-19 Bronson Arroyo
#US-38 Jason Giambi
#US-107 Josh Collmenter
#US-93 Troy Patton
#US-86 Cesar Ramos
#US-164 Joe Kelly
#US-46 Jake Marisnick
#US-2 Derek Jeter - Gold parallel serial #'d 0005/2014
#US-280 Cole Gillespie - Red Hot Foil parallel
#FN-NC 2 Nick Castellanos - The Future is Now insert
#WSH-BSA Bret Saberhagen - World Series Heroes insert
#US-7 David Price
#US-325 Jose Abreu
#US-13 Andrew Heaney
#US-14 Justin Grimm
#US-293 Tom Koehler
#US-174 Jace Peterson
#US-267 Jonathan Diaz
#US-237 Jorge Polanco
#US-17 Yangervis Solarte
#US-330 Daniel Webb
#US-52 Chase Anderson
#US-154 Yu Darvish
#US-18 Aramis Ramirez
#US-258 Matt Carpenter
#US-30 Elian Herrera
#US-224 Jared Burton
Security card

2014 Topps Chrome value pack recap

Orange Refractor pack
#190 Carlos Gonzalez
#114 Sonny Gray
#203 Jimmy Nelson

Pack one
#24 Yosmil Pinto
#149 Jose Reyes
#207 Anibal Sanchez - refractor
#204 Dustin Pedroia

Pack two
#22 Taijuan Walker
#97 Ian Desmond
#102 Matt Moore
#58 Anthony Rizzo

Pack three
#16 Yadier Molina
#CC-MT Mike Trout - Chrome Connection die-cut
#214 Jason Heyward
#204 Asdrubal Cabrera

2014 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap

I picked up another pack of this to supplement another repack purchase at a Target - another repack bust will be posted, but I was also looking to mix something 'new' to what presumably will be an act of leafing through an assortment of older, discarded cardboard.

Three card retail purple refractor bonus pack
#BPCP 77 Marco Gonzales
#BPCP 93 Hak-Ju Lee
#BPCP 99 Nick Travieso

Pack one
#BPP 93 Hak-Ju Lee
#BCCP 48 Lucas Sims - X-Fractor parallel
#11 Manny Machado
#CES-YD Yu Darvish - Cutting Edge Stars insert
Arizona Fall League contest card

Pack two
#BPP 51 Rougned Odor
#BPP 47 Marcus Stroman
#41 Madison Bumgarner
#43 Jon Lester - Gold parallel?

Pack three
#BPP 73 Luis Heredia
#BPP 77 Marco Gonzalez
#34 C.C. Sabathia
#45 Hanley Ramirez
Arizona Fall League contest card

2014 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap

I got $1 off from my Topps / Target coupon book, so that sort of knocks off the sales tax from my purchase - I'm looking for 'new' prospect cards and this break was kind of redundant since all of the prospects I pulled have appeared in various Topps / Bowman products over the last several years.

Three card retail purple refractor bonus pack
#BPCP 6 Gary Sanchez
#BPCP 35 Mike Foltynewicz
#BPCP 63 Chris Taylor

Pack one
#BPP 97 Courtney Hawkins
#BPCP 32 Justin Nicolino - refractor?
#94 Christian Bethancourt
#TP-LM Lance McCullers - Top Prospects die-cut insert

Pack two
#BPP 53 Rosell Herrera
#BPP 1 Francisco Lindor
#58 Francisco Liriano
#69 Prince Fielder - maybe a Gold parallel, hard to say though it looks just a little different than a base card.
Arizona Fall League contest card

Pack three
#BPP 50 Javier Baez
#BPP 64 Joey Gallo
#78 Billy Hamilton
#65 Edwin Encarnacion

2014 Topps Allen and Ginter Value Pack recap

I wanted to tease myself with a blaster box - however the shelves at my Target apparently were not stocked with any blasters so I settled for one $9.49 Value Pack.

Three card mini bonus pack
Adrian Gonzalez
Mike Olt
Carlos Gomez

Pack one
#296 Joey Votto
#57 Carlos Beltran
#333 Stephen Strasburg - SP
#NW-08 Ha Long Bay - Natural Wonder insert
#269 Jose Abreu - mini
#45 Nomar Garciaparra

Pack two
#141 Starlin Castro
#289 Kyle Seager
#PP-YD Yu Darvish - Pastime's Pastimes insert

#243 Helen Keller - mini
#152 Vince Gilligan

#95 Austin Wierschke

Pack three
#115 Dustin Pedroia
#84 Francisco Liriano
#324 Adam Wainwright - SP
#NW-20 Punalu'u Beach - Natural Wonder insert
#125 Glen Waggoner - mini

#164 Jenny Dell 

2014 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack recap

New baseball card product gives me an excuse to go out and check out either a hobby shop or stop at a big box store - I was looking for a blaster but all I could immediately see where these, so I broke down and picked up a pack.

Framed parallel pack
#232 Pablo Sandoval
#59 Wilmer Flores
#3 Robin Yount

Pack one
#225 Nolan Ryan
#163 Carlos Gomez
#295 Eddie Murray
#N174-MC Miguel Cabrera - N174 insert
#261 Joe Morgan - mini parallel
#182 Peter Bourjos

Pack two
#43 Juan Marichal
#61 Tony Cingrani
#29 Ralph Kiner
#146 Kendrys Morales

#328 Willie Mays - mini red border parallel serial #'d 25/99; has some white on the bottom left, doh.
#279 Chris Tillman

Pack three
#178 Jose Altuve
#227 Chris Davis
#123 Felix Hernandez
#DA-GM Greg Maddux - Dealing Aces insert
#127 Kyle Gibson - mini parallel
#94 Matt Cain

2013 Bowman Platinum Value Pack recap

I guess I'll buy my share of unopened packs / blasters but I hate paying retail to the tune of $10-$20 for so little cards - ideally I'd prefer hand collated sets or even lots I can find on eBay perhaps.

Purple Refractor pack
#BPCP 74 Lucas Giolito
#BPCP 85 Trevor Story
#BPCP 11 Mike Zunino

Pack one

#BPP 48 Kaleb Cowart
#64 Joey Votto
#DIR-BV Breyvic Valera - Diamonds in the Rough insert
#BPP 76 Austin Hedges

Pack two
#BPP 77 Matt Davidson
#CES-FH Felix Hernandez - Cutting Edge Stars insert
#91 Darin Ruf
#BPP 68 Hak-Ju Lee

Pack three
#BPP 28 Jorge Soler
#BPCP 75 Daniel Vogelbach - Green parallel serial #'d 222/399

#TP-GP Gregory Polanco - Top Prospects insert
#54 Josh Hamilton