Buster Posey - a future star waiting in the wings

2010 Topps Buster Posey rookie card #2

San Francisco Giants Buster Posey is one of the top prospects in baseball and his status as a future star is more important - considering he is a catcher, probably the most demanding position on the field. 

Just for his catching skills alone, a guy can last 15 seasons in the Major Leagues - Posey is expected to be the next catcher who is a good athlete, but also can hit a ton. 

Posey ranks near the top of the best prospects in all of baseball - but despite the hype surrounding Posey, the Giants resigned Bengie Molina for one more year. Resigning Molina likely buys one more year in the minors for Posey, but also annoys San Francisco Giants fans.

Right now, Posey is looking to find some playing time on the field at first base as he lies in wait - to take a stranglehold on the catcher's position in San Francisco for years to come.

Gold parallel version

Featured custom card: 2010 Upper Deck 'Tribute to 90' Buster Posey #1

I've been dabbling with the idea of creating my own custom [or tribute] cards and while I'm a total newb, I hope to learn and gain some expertise - just to come up with unique images of trading cards, I'd never pull out of packs or find as singles anywhere, because they exist only in fantasy.

I didn't know how to really make these fantasy cards, though reading a tutorial on making your own baseball cards - inspired me to mess around on Photoshop and see what I can whip up on the fly.

I wanted create a Buster Posey card since he is probably going to be one of the top rookies in 2010, but he came up too late to have a 2009 MLBPA Rookie logo card produced - it is still a mystery, how any of the 2010 UD cards are going to look, especially if it is only licensed by the Players Association and not Major League Baseball.

For me, the most interesting aspect of custom/tribute cards is the ability to manipulate an original trading card design - it blew my mind to think custom/tribute cards using certain trading card designs were created by scratch.

With the most basic custom/tribute cards, all I really had to do was find an image/scan of a trading card - and change certain qualities on the original card, through an image editing program like Photoshop.

I can remove an original image on a trading card, but still retain the basic graphics as a template to layer onto a suitable image - before I do anything else, I have to make sure the image is proportional and not stretched.

It is kind of fun trying to cobble up something together - I'm not going to get every single thing right, but creating custom/tribute cards seems more fun than maybe simply consuming, purchasing, buying, picking up new cards.

The Posey 'card' is designed with the idea UD creates an insert set of 2010 rookies with the 1990 design and old school Star Rookie logo as a tribute [maybe as a potential 'Fat Pack' insert] - Posey's potential would definitely land him the No. 1 spot for 2010, if UD still had its Star Rookie subset after all these years.

Places of note -

Goose Joak

Custom Card Blog

Creating a Custom Retro Card

Featured autograph - Buster Posey

In another 'mess up,' I might have lost another binder of cards, including this signed card of San Francisco Giants star Buster Posey when the Chicago White Sox played the Angels - fortunately I was able to recover my 'book' the next day at the ballpark when I checked with guest relations and the woman I spoke with checked a lost and found log.

I must have gotten the card signed in spring training in 2009 - besides a 2008 Bowman Chrome certified autograph I paid way too much for, I've never gotten the other guy on the Posey signed card.

I probably should leave the card 'as is,' as I got the guy who turned out to have a more prominent MLB career as opposed to the up-and-down disappointment - but I'd like to finish it off somehow.

Spring training trip preview: San Francisco Giants

I found the Buster Posey/Gordon Beckham dual insert card - probably two of the young players in spring training I want to see up close. Spring training is a time to get autographs of various young players and every camp there are at least one or two 'phenoms' who are either destined to Major League stars or Major League busts.

One person/player's autograph to get [a priority] - Tim Lincecum
One person/player's autograph I'd like to get [a name to look for] - Will Clark
Player featured [I'd like to get his autograph too] - Buster Posey

2013 Topps Heritage blaster recap #3

After having tried two Walmart blasters, I decided to impulsively get a Target one - just to see what a red bordered parallel would look like [as if there is a difference when these Heritage parallels are basically the same cards].

Pack one
#7 Buster Posey / Andrew McCutchen / Ryan Braun / Yadier Molina - 2012 Topps NL Batting Leaders
#190 Derek Jeter
#157 Charlie Manuel
#200 Clayton Kershaw
#76 Ron Washington
#181 Jose Valverde

#499 Jesus Montero - SP
#221 J.J. Hardy
#264 Vernon Wells

Pack two
#284 Yasmani Grandal
#215 Francisco Liriano
#289 Lonnie Chisenhall
#270 Trevor Plouffe
#278 Shaun Marcum
#271 Matt Dominguez
#350 Matt Cain - Target red border variation
#59 Adam Wainwright
#369 Greg Holland

Pack three
#61 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
#357 Ryan Hanigan
#225 Jason Kubel
#236 Jim Johnson
#67 Davey Johnson
#240 Allen Craig

#HC14 Martin Prado - Chrome parallel serial #'d 970/999
#208 Juan Pierre
#140 Carlos Pena

Pack four
#112 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
#224 Jamey Carroll
#375 Austin Kearns
#342 Homer Bailey
#377 John Axford
#113 Johan Santana
#NF-MLK Martin Luther King Jr. - News Flashback insert
#353 Chris Heisey
#394 Brandon Inge

Pack five
#301 Ernesto Frieri
#217 Alex Gordon
#122 Hisashi Iwakuma
#302 Neil Walker
#48 Peter Bourjos
#304 Paul Goldschmidt

#491 Wei-Yin Chen - SP
#219 Stephen Strasburg / Gio Gonzalez - Young Aces subset
#417 Juan Francisco

Pack six
#143 Clint Hurdle
#189 Freddie Freeman
#283 Wily Peralta
#338 Tommy Hunter
#125 Yu Darvish
#17 Nick Markakis
#NAP-SC Starlin Castro - New Age Performers insert
#196 Chris Carter
#82 Pablo Sandoval

Pack seven
#286 Tom Wilhelmsen
#259 Miguel Montero
#390 Brandon Belt
#328 Patrick Corbin
#104 Jonathan Papelbon
#385 Glen Perkins

#490 Buster Posey - SP
#410 John Lackey
#114 Cody Ross

Pack eight
#54 Ron Gardenhire
#178 Everth Cabrera
#43 Brandon Morrow
#248 Jim Leyland
#169 Elvis Andrus
#50 Curtis Granderson

#BF-FR Frank Robinson - Baseball Flashback insert
#241 Geovany Soto
#354 Sean Marshall

2013 Topps Heritage blaster recap

I picked up a couple of blaster boxes [$19.98 each] and a jumbo rack [$5.97, already recapped] from a Walmart - I don't like the idea of the one-per-box blue border variation card because it's not unique; just another parallel created that doesn't add any value to these boxes...unless of course we fast forward to the future and realize only then that these cards were harder to find than others and some crazy collectors are willing to pay premium prices for singles from this parallel insert set...I don't think that is going to happen...

Pack one
#52 Jayson Werth
#153 David Murphy
#300 Jason Heyward
#392 Mike Baxter
#298 Buck Showalter
#71 Carlos Gomez

#428 Ryan Howard - SP
#216 Jason Kipnis
#202 Luke Hochevar

Pack two
#191 Anthony Rizzo
#119 Dan Uggla
#418 Bryan Morris / Justin Wilson - 2013 Rookie Stars
#127 Edwin Jackson
#244 Jon Jay
#100 Robinson Cano
#BF-BG Bob Gibson - Baseball Flashback insert
#95 B.J. Upton
#258 Michael Young

Pack three
#253 Sergio Romo
#348 Miguel Gonzalez
#63 Jason Grilli
#163 Gaby Sanchez
#201 Manny Machado / Dylan Bundy - 2013 Rookie Stars
#330 Johnny Cueto

#451 Jake Peavy - SP
#183 Fernando Rodney
#73 Steve Lombardozzi

Pack four
#280 Ryan Vogelsong
#399 Dale Sveum
#281 Adam Warren / Melky Mesa - 2013 Rookie Stars
#15 Drew Storen
#3 Gio Gonzalez / R.A. Dickey / Johnny Cueto / Lance Lynn - 2012 National League Pitching Leaders
#273 Matt Moore
#NAP-CG Curtis Granderson - New Age Performer insert
#226 Steven Lerud / Luis Antonio Jimenez - 2013 Rookie Stars
#7 Buster Posey / Andrew McCutchen / Ryan Braun / Yadier Molina - 2012 National League Batting Leaders

Pack five
#139 Sergio Romo / Buster Posey - Break Out of the Broom / 2012 World Series Game #4
#310 Mark Ellis
#251 Juan Nicasio
#42 Tommy Milone
#343 Daniel Nava
#214 Jean Segura
#TN-MD Eddie Mathews / Adam Dunn - Then and Now insert
#284 Yasmani Grandal
#142 Daniel Murphy

Pack six
#307 Dan Straily
#99 Tim Lincecum
#119 Corey Hart
#334 Kurt Suzuki
#93 Christian Friedrich
#206 Huston Street

#MM-DJ Derek Jeter - Memorable Moments insert
#61 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
#357 Ryan Hanigan

Pack seven
#349 Ian Stewart
#230 Mark Reynolds
#179 Justin Maxwell
#326 Geraldo Parra
#272 Matt Joyce
#160 David Freese
#458 David Price
#225 Jason Kubel
#49 Brett Jackson

Pack eight
#131 Dan Haren
#260 Drew Stubbs
#90 Joe Mauer
#87 Bruce Bochy
#176 Ervin Santana
#254 Nathan Eovaldi
#447 Felix Hernandez - Walmart blue border variation
#112 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
#224 Jamey Carroll

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

Fairfield assorted 20 pack repack mix #2

This box didn't end up having as much juice as the first repack box - though the cards may not be worth much individually, the nicer cards came out of the five 2013 Topps Archives packs.

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum
#69 Nick Swisher
#84 Felix Hernandez
#85 Ichiro
#DJ 91 Derek Jeter - Retrospectrum insert

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum
#82 Tim Lincecum
#98 Vernon Wells
#95 Ian Kinsler
#SS-TH Tim Hudson - Spectrum Swatches insert / jersey card
#65 Derek Jeter
#33 Troy Tulowitzki

2012 Topps 
#10 Jon Lester
#154 Ty Wigginton
#TM-35 Zack Greinke - 1987 Topps minis insert
#TT-17 Joe Morgan / Brandon Phillips - Timeless Talents insert
#42 Drew Pomeranz
#283 Brandon Allen
#285 Drew Storen
#131 Ian Desmond
#27 John Buck
#194 Danny Duffy

2013 Bowman Platinum
#BPP 91 Michael Wacha
#54 Josh Hamilton - Gold parallel
#68 Johnny Cueto
#BPP 90 Marcel Ozuna

2013 Bowman Platinum
#44 Jarrod Parker
#BPCP 94 Ty Hensley - refractor
#60 Will Middlebrooks
#BPP 67 Joey Gallo

2013 Topps Series I
#54 Jaime Garcia
#236 Joe Nathan
#308 Desmond Jennings
#43 R.A. Dickey
#277 Brendan Ryan
#4 Yadier Molina
#268 David Lough
#247 Luis Perez
#TM-42 Willie Mays - 1972 Topps minis insert
#146 Kyle McClellan
#102 Denard Span
#237 Brandon Lyon

2013 Topps Series I
#44 Anthony Rizzo
#275 Johnny Cueto
#135 Eric Hosmer
#255 Josh Johnson
#23 Jemile Weeks
#100 Mike Moustakas
#231 Melky Mesa
#TM-18 Carlos Santana - 1972 Topps minis insert
#32 Craig Breslow
#180 Casey Kotchman
#258 Doug Fister
#159 Felipe Paulino

2013 Topps Series I
#329 Rafael Soriano
#38 Brian Wilson
#133 James Shields
#120 Ian Desmond
#207 Matt Holliday
#330 Ryan Raburn
#266 Albert Pujols
#CD-18 Chris Sale - Chasing the Dream insert
#221 Heath Bell
#312 Scott Hairston
#71 Kyle Kendrick
#208 Kurt Suzuki

2013 Topps Series I
#16 Andre Ethier
#52 C.C. Sabathia
#137 Edinson Volquez
#34 Felix Hernandez
#179 Detroit Tigers - 2012 ALCS Game 4
#35 Justin Verlander
#288 Starling Marte
#183 Drew Hutchison
#241 Jacoby Ellsbury - Emerald parallel
#164 Lucas Harrell
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jon Niese

2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#141 Carlos Santana
#22 Clayton Kershaw
#213 Alex Rodriguez
#263 Ted Lilly
#85 Sean Doolittle
#187 Nick Maronde
#111 Casey Kelly
#CD-25 Mike Moustakas - Chasing the Dream insert
#215 Gordon Beckham
#279 Vicente Padilla
#168 Kyle Farnsworth
#211 Jarrod Parker

2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#28 Prince Fielder
#155 Mat Latos
#113 Starlin Castro
#115 Tim Hudson
#17 Shin-Soo Choo
#149 Yovani Gallardo
#254 Sean Burnett
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jonathon Niese
#152 Jose Contreras
#177 Elliot Johnson

2013 Topps Archives
#27 Manny Machado
#88 Derek Holland
#102 Matt Moore
#169 Pedro Alvarez

#83-BH Bryce Harper - 1983 All-Stars insert
#178 Giancarlo Stanton
#1 Babe Ruth
#69 Eddie Mathews

2013 Topps Archives
#182 Andre Ethier
#35 Adam Dunn
#74 Miguel Montero

#MT-DJ Derek Jeter - Tall Boy insert
#66 Tim Hudson
#125 Kyle Lohse
#199 Eric Hosmer
#33 Corey Hart

2013 Topps Archives
#77 Tony Cingrani
#144 Paul Molitor
#184 Kyle Seager

#MT-BP Buster Posey - Tall Boy insert

#GH-JR Jackie Robinson - Gallery of Heroes insert
#154 Yovani Gallardo
#4 Marco Scutaro
#78 Johan Santana

2013 Topps Archives
#163 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#15 Mike Morse
#58 Cole Hamels

#MT-DM Denny McLain - Tall Boy insert
#142 Willie Stargell
#175 Yogi Berra
#18 Jon Lester
#62 Jacoby Ellsbury

2013 Topps Archives
#182 Andre Ethier
#35 Adam Dunn
#74 Miguel Montero
#117 Carlos Santana

#83-BP Buster Posey - 1983 All-Stars insert
#70 Ozzie Smith
#147 Hiroki Kuroda
#155 Wilin Rosario

2013 Topps Chrome
#67 Ryan Vogelsong
#132 Ricky Nolasco
#155 Adam Eaton - refractor
#49 Andrew McCutchen 

2013 Topps Chrome
#189 Alfredo Marte
#CC-MH Matt Harvey - Chrome Connections insert
#55 Mike Olt
#122 Adrian Beltre

2013 Topps Chrome
#160 Ian Kinsler
#177 Mike Moustakas
#213 Gio Gonzalez - refractor
#166 Jackie Bradley Jr.

2013 Topps Opening Day
#172 Manny Machado
#93 Justin Upton
#SC-8 Ryan Zimmerman - Superstar Celebrations insert
#35 Justin Verlander - blue parallel serial #'d 1666/2013
#24 Tommy Milone
#160 Johan Santana
#43 Pedro Alvarez

The one hit included with the 20 packs was a 2003 Flair J.D. Drew Diamond Cuts jersey card #DC-JD - Drew was a fine ballplayer when healthy but was more than a little detached, so he wasn't a traditional fan favorite.

Ranking the 30 MLB teams on my watch - San Francisco Giants #11 of 30

Buster Posey's numbers at the plate fell off a bit after having an MVP season in 2012 - maybe he was a bit hurt or banged up, but a healthy Posey obviously goes a long way in dictating how the Giants do in the next few years.

Even when the Giants crashed in 2013, their front office has proven they can make some savvy moves with the money to make up for any mistakes in signing particular free agents that go bust - so they'll probably retool the pitching staff and try to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.

Starting pitcher Tim Lincecum was re-signed and has extended his stay in San Francisco - but may never get back into the superstar form that made him 'The Freak' and his numbers as he turns 30 maybe 'as is.'

Lincecum overpowered hitters in his prime - now it's about battling himself, battling his control and trying to keep things in check on a start by start basis.

The seemingly metronomic Matt Cain had an off year - though his numbers besides his wins/losses and overall ERA seem to indicate he didn't have such a terrible season, especially in the second half.

Out of some of the pitching woes the Giants suffered, soft spoken Madison Bumgarner emerged as their ace this past season - putting together a fine year with just over 200 innings pitched, with just about the same number of batters struck out while allowing only 146 hits.

My all-time Top 100 cheap azz keepers collection - 36-28

As far as my Top 100 collection goes, I wanted cards that are generally recognizable that teases some notoriety or nostaglia - that's probably not a case for every single card, but I want to see where it makes sense to have certain cards in my Top 100 collection, even for more esoteric reasons.

36. 1989 Upper Deck Kirk Gibson #666 - a card I wanted to get into my Top 100 since it captures part of an iconic moment in World Series history.

35. 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas #300 - I had to add his most popular mainstream rookie card, where it would have a centerpiece to my Big Hurt collection during the junk wax era, if I'd veen lucky enough to get a copy.

34. 1990 Score Bo Jackson #697 - Bo was the biggest phenomenon during the junk wax era, until he got hurt in an NFL game.

He gradually started to lose relevance as he came back and tried to play only baseball through the mid 1990s - but his legacy as a two sport star has been revived at various points as part of Gen X nostalgia, foisted upon a new generation.

33. 1991 Score Jose Canseco #441 - the year this card came out, I might have wanted it so badly and resorted to ripping loose packs from the supermarket to pull a copy of this card.

32. 1999 Bowman Chrome Josh Hamilton #431 - in my Top 100, I was playing around to match a spot in my Top 100 according to a subject's uniform number.

I don't have good memories about the former big leaguer's ending with the Angels and some of the off-field stuff that has come out in the past 10 years - but when he was on that straight and narrow path at intermittent points of his big league career, he was an undeniable force.

31. 1988 Classic Update Blue Travel Edition Eric Davis #213 - whenever I come across a notable gum card like this one, I just shake my head.

When 'easy,' maybe I've resorted to buying another copy of a card I've had, just to add to my Top 100 outright - maybe I don't particularly like the idea of having to dig a card up from another collection to put in another.

30. 1997 Score Ken Griffey Jr. #14 - this one is from the Randy Johnson inspired inserts where he took the pictures for the cards.

FWIW, in 2023, Topps revived the idea of The Big Unit taking photos for cards with a 1992 Bowman inspired insert - mostly with younger MLB players posed in civilIan clothing.

29. 1999 Fleer Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Joe Rudi #52 - the image was taken from the 1972 World Series, where Rudi makes an awesome outfield action catch against the wall in Cincinnati.

28. 2013 Topps Opening Day Buster Posey #ODS-4 - I was doing the numbers thing where Posey was No. 28 and wanted to give the longtime San Francisco Giants star a micro-mini tribute.

This card ends up being a random addition where I see if it works within a Top 100 collection - the lenticular 3D nature of the card makes it stand out just a bit more than just another insert.

2015 Topps Heritage blaster recap

2015 Topps Heritage blaster box [$19.99 each at the Target] - I used my $5 off coupon from my Topps coupon book available in Topps Series I blasters from Target.

Pack one
#246 Kyle Gibson
#213 Joakim Soria
#77 Casey Janssen

#224 Corey Kluber / Max Scherzer / Jered Weaver - 2014 American League Pitching Leaders; wins
#458 Jon Lester
#326 Braves 2nd Place NL East Division - checklist
#82 Scott Kazmir
#39 Marcus Stroman
#132 Travis Ishikawa

Pack two
#45 Mookie Betts
#109 Didi Gregorious
#295 Jayson Werth
#207 Chase Headley
#87 Torii Hunter

#Topps THC-470 Nelson Cruz - Chrome parallel serial #'d 128/999
#9 Jenrry Mejia
#268 Nick Castellanos
#194 Nationals 1st Place NL East Division - checklist

Pack three
#114 Josh Reddick
#1 Buster posey
#126 Chris Tillman
#120 Brian Dozier
#500 Mike Trout - SP
#375 Josh Harrison
#170 Chase Utley
#272 Wei-Yin Chen

#83 Matt Shoemaker

Pack four
#336 Fernando Rodney
#24 Wil Myers
#342 Tyler Matzek
#14 Kyle Lohse
#Topps TN-4 Lou Brock / Dee Gordon - Then and Now insert
#228 Yonder Alonso
#145 Ben Zobrist
#210 Neil Walker
#68 George Springer

Pack five
#215 Justin Morneau / Josh Harrison / Andrew McCutchen - 2014 National League Batting Leaders; average
#401 Hector Neris / Chris Heston
#57 Carlos Ruiz
#108 James Loney
#36 Sean Doolittle
#NAP-12 Felix Hernandez - New Age Performers insert
#103 Drew Storen
#242 Kendrys Morales
#71 Mark Buehrle

Pack six
#279 John Gibbons
#388 Dellin Betances
#139 Javier Baez / Jorge Soler 

#249 Mike Scioscia
#273 Adam Wainwright / Clayton Kershaw - NL Aces
#491 Victor Martinez - SP
#209 Kyle Lobstein / Buck Farmer
#238 Dodgers 1st Place NL West Division
#146 Guilder Rodriguez / Lisaverto Bonilla

Pack seven
#95 Scooter Gennett
#161 Adeiny Hechavarria
#163 Dexter Fowler
#282 Tanner Roark

#NF-9 Marvin Miller - News Flashbacks insert
#386 Matt Williams
#329 Michael Saunders
#420 Matt Cain
#248 Wade Miley

Pack eight
#350 Masahiro Tanaka
#167 Bud Norris
#122 John Danks

#340 Garrett Richards
#345 Scott Van Slyke
#72 Nolan Arenado
#214 Allen Craig
#162 Brad Miller
#181 Gio Gonzalez

2010 Topps I blaster recap

2010 Topps I blaster box [$19.99 each at Target] - I don't usually pay attention to Topps blaster boxes once they've been out on the retail shelves and see them as decaying stock.

However, I picked up a blaster box when I spotted one or two last weekend among the two Targets I usually go to - I've read in a forum thread that these blasters with the two Target exclusive Topps retro variation packs might not really be easy to find since they've been out on shelves since February of 2010. Whoever is going snatch all these up has already done so, long ago.

I was really hoping to pull a Topps retro variation Buster Posey RC - though it seems like pulling any particular card out of only two Topps retro packs is really a tough deal.

Topps also made it a little more frustrating when two out of the eight cards in each pack - are the typical inserts you'd pull out of the regular packs .

Historical Commemorative Patch Card
#MCP-23 Frank Robinson - I still don't like the plain, cardboard background and the small unreadable writing on the patches of many of these cards; sadly this probably my best pull.

Pack one
#149 Jose Guillen
#270 Michael Brantley
#300 Chase Utley
#302 Beantown Backhand
#HOTG 9 Lou Gehrig - History of the Game
#TMC-10 Topps Million - I dreaded picking up a 2010 Topps blaster knowing The Million Card Giveaway was already over and now I'm just waiting for the cards I claimed to be shipped to me.
#TTT 23 C.C. Sabathia - ToppsTown
#11 Ty Wigginton

Pack nine - Throwback pack #1
#35 Rick Porcello
#128 Garrett Mock
#277 Jarrod Washburn
#237 Brew Crew Knockout
#306 Milton Bradley
#LL-4 Lou Gehrig / Mark Teixeira - Legendary Lineage
#TTT-12 Miguel Tejada - ToppsTown
#218 Fernando Martinez

Pack 10 - Throwback pack #2
#81 Ryan Theriot
#176 Yovani Gallardo
#267 Cito Gaston
#196 Ian Desmond
#268 Juan Pierre
#TR-14 Kevin Youkilis - Turkey Red
#TTT5 Evan Longoria - ToppsTown
#165 Brandon Phillips

2011 Topps Heritage blaster recap

2011 Topps Heritage blaster box [$19.99 at a Target] - my biggest complaint against Heritage is despite the massive appeal, most of the cards I'll pull, are base cards I'll be able to find out of someone's common boxes later.

This is probably the case for most average pack or blaster breaks, but maybe I assume busting Heritage is a little more special than busting the latest baseball card offering from Topps - at times the cheesy inserts I may or may not pull in Topps Heritage are often times boring and I'm not sure what to make of the Heritage line.

Pack one
#48 C.C. Sabathia
#324 Tommy Hunter
#276 Darwin Barney
#21 Carl Pavano
#264 Jeff Niemann
#BF-9 Frank Robinson - Baseball Flashbacks insert
#3 David Ortiz
#8 John Danks

Pack two
#71 Jonathan Sanchez
#344 Fernando Salas
#245 Jason Bartlett
#207 C.J. Wilson
#C44 Casey Coleman - Chrome parallel serial #'d 0670/1962

#194 Jordan Walden
#300 Carl Crawford
#230 Francisco Liriano
#143 Babe's Pitching Record
Checklist 3 of 6

Pack three
#288 Mike Stanton
#146 Placido Polanco
#105 Max Scherzer
#86 Alex Presley
#460 Justin Verlander

- SP
#108 Matt Kemp
#365 Howie Kendrick
#99 Brandon Snyder
#404 Mark Trumbo - between my blister pack break and this blaster box break, I'm happy I pulled the four base cards of the Angels rookies [Hank Conger, Walden, Andrew Romine and Trumbo] out of the 2011 Topps Heritage set.

Pack four
#11 Joe Nathan
#10 Andrew McCutchen
#396 Carlos Gonzalez
#79 Jordan Zimmerman
#334 Tampa Bay Rays
#C73 Sabathia Tosses a Curve - Black refractor parallel serial #'d 17/62
#145 Dallas Braden
#403 Jonathan Papelbon
#67 Zach Duke

Pack five
#291 Bobby Cramer - it must be nice for the former independent league pitcher to get a Major League rookie card after making his Major League debut in 2010.
#51 2010 American League Batting Leaders
#303 Daric Barton
#332 Alcides Escobar

#NAP-4 Roy Halladay - New Age Performer insert
#243 A.J. Burnett
#268 Ervin Santana
#371 Victor Martinez
#28 Vernon Wells

Pack six
#101 Jacoby Ellsbury
#354 Hunter Pence
#24 Detroit Tigers
#246 Andrew Bailey
#488 Koji Uehara
#187 Jon Lester
#167 Wilson Ramos - here is a story about Ramos' ascent to the Major Leagues.
#414 Jarrod Dyson
#304 Brett Myers

Pack seven
#227 Cliff Lee
#256 Ruben Tejada
#139 Babe Hits 60
#103 Brandon Phillips
#TN-5 Mickey Mantle / Prince Fielder - Then and Now insert
#75 Chris Tillman
#338 Brett Gardner
#134 Brett Cecil
#423 Fear the Beard - Brian Wilson and Buster Posey

Pack eight
#184 Kurt Suzuki
#386 Michael Cuddyer
#210 Evan Meek
#129 Carlos Quentin
#NF-5 U.S. Navy Seals Are Activated - News Flashbacks insert
#137 Babe and Mgr. Huggins
#383 Daniel Hudson
#13 Cliff Pennington
#265 Derrek Lee

2014 Topps Heritage hobby pack recaps

I picked up eight random packs [five of the eight shown above] for $3.25 each at my LCS - not the most inspiring breaks, though I did pull a Mike Trout insert I can squirrel away.

Pack one
#141 Torii Hunter
#76 Chris Capuano
#160 Andrew McCutchen
#292 Jim Henderson

#312 Munenori Kawasaki
#49 Xander Bogaerts / Jonathan Schoop - 2014 Rookie Stars
#142 Michael Saunders
#35 Ryan Vogelsong
#396 Everth Cabrera

Pack two
#410 J.J. Hardy
#10 Adam Wainwright / Jordan Zimmermann / Clayton Kershaw - 2013 NL Pitching Leaders
#178 Jose Quintana

#427 Jurickson Profar - SP

#NF-MA Muhammad Ali - News Flashbacks insert
#80 Brett Oberholtzer
#294 David Robertson
#137 Anthony Gose
#246 Jeremy Guthrie

Pack three
#96 Andres Torres
#402 Jayson Werth
#311 Brandon Morrow
#296 Randall Delgado
#393 Lorenzo Cain

#441 David Ortiz - SP
#120 Shin-Soo Choo
#202 Wade Miley
#206 John Lackey

Pack four
#303 Prince Fielder
#364 Darwin Barney
#15 Asdrubal Cabrera
#198 Eric Hosmer
#18 Felix Doubront

#BF-AK Al Kaline - Baseball Flashbacks insert
#424 Zach Wheeler
#70 Paul Konerko
#264 Fernando Rodney

Pack five
#139 Melky Cabrera
#149 Buster Posey
#98 Mark Buehrle
#391 Bob Melvin

#92 C.J. Wilson
#337 Jimmy Rollins
#236 Jorge De La Rosa
#308 Travis D' Arnaud / Wilmer Flores - 2014 Rookie Stars 
#359 Huston Street

Pack six
#191 Tommy Milone
#85 Alex Rios
#78 Adam Jones
#54 Andrew Cashner

#456 Brandon Phillips - SP
#31 Salvador Perez
#14 Brian Roberts
#268 Christian Yelich
#320 Shelby Miller

Pack seven
#328 Jeremy Hellickson
#387 Jedd Gyrko
#2 Michael Cuddyer / Chris Johson / Freddie Freeman - 2013 NL Batting Leaders
#50 Matt Cain

#NAP-MT Mike Trout - New Age Performers
#48 Marlon Byrd

#135 World Series - Gomes Knots It Up
#421 Kevin Pillar / Ryan Goins - 2014 Rookie Stars
#238 Josh Beckett

Pack eight
#397 Peter Bourjos
#29 Derek Norris

#137 World Series - Champs For Third Time in Decade
#322 Brandon Crawford
#339 Zack Cozart
#161 Brett Gardner
#39 Chris Carter
#357 Lonnie Chisenhall
#124 Aramis Ramirez