27 November 2013

Pack of the Day 44: 2013 Topps Mini Baseball Boxes #4, #5, and #6

 
Box 4
 
Base Cards - 226 / 660 - 34.24%
 
Doubles - 0
 
I didn't even bother scanning any base cards. It was late at night and I just wanted to be done.
 
Chasing History - 6 - Roberto Clemente, Mariano Rivera, Dylan Bundy, Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Justin Verlander
 
These are all doubles of cards I pulled in the previous three boxes. They seem to go in runs, so if you pull one guy you can almost guess who the others in the box will be. It irritates me. Anyway, by the time I am done I will have three or four copies of many of these cards and not be very close to completing the set.


Gold Parallels # / 62 - 3 - Rickie Weeks, Darwin Barney, Scott Sizemore

I don't find any of these particularly exciting, although the Weeks and the Barney have decent photos.


Pink Parallels # / 25 - 1 - Clayton Kershaw
 
This is the big hit in this box, for sure. A couple of them have sold on eBay for around $20 each.
 
"But wait!" I hear you cry, "That can't be the big hit of the box! Isn't there a relic or autograph in each box?"
 
Yes, there is.
 
 
Relic - 1 - Hank Conger
 
I don't even know who this guy is.


 
Cyan Printing Plate - 1 - Jose Quintana
 
I did also pull a printing plate from Box 4, but it's not a big name and I don't think it quite beats out Kershaw for "Hit of the Box" honors.


 
Box 5
 
Base Cards - 217 / 660 - 32.88%
 
Doubles - 4
 
This box seems to have been shorted a few cards. I am not entirely sure what's going on with it. There should only be a one or two card variance between boxes. This was the only box out of six that contained an autograph, and it was also the only one that had doubles in it. I don't know if the missing cards, the autograph, and the doubles are related to each other or if it's just a weird box.
 
Chasing History - 6 - Cal Ripken Jr., Yogi Berra, Ty Cobb, Johan Santana, A-Roid, Yu Darvish
 
Johan Santana is the only one of these that is new to me. The other five cards exactly match those pulled from Box 3, just swapping out Santana for Strasburg. This is getting irritating.


Gold Parallels # / 62 - 3 - Derek Holland, Chase Utley, Corey Hart
 
Derek Holland is a decent pull for a little player collection I am putting together of his cards. Chase Utley is a pretty good pull. I don't have much to say about Corey Hart one way or the other.
 
 
Pink Parallels # / 25 - Starling Marte, Drew Hutchison
 
The Marte is a pretty good pull for another player collection. Although Hutchison plays for another favorite team of mine, he doesn't really move the needle for me. I do like the combination of blue uniforms and pink borders.


Black Parallel # / 5 - 1 - Hiroki Kuroda

It's always nice to hit something numbered out of five. Kuroda isn't a player I chase, necessarily, but he's a decent player on a high-profile team.

 
Autograph - 1 - Colby Rasmus
 
This is a decent pull from the Blue Jays. Rasmus isn't the biggest name on the team, but he's a decent player and his last name is the series of letters that begins my last name. It certainly beats the Hank Conger or Jordan Lyles relics of boxes past.

 
Box 6
 
Chasing History - 6 - Cal Ripken Jr., Ty Cobb, A-Roid, Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Justin Verlander
 
Here we go again. This bunch of cards also exactly replicates those found in Box 3, only this time replacing Yogi Berra with Justin Verlander, who I had pulled previously from Boxes 1 and 4. This also marks the fourth box in a row that I've pulled Darvish's card. I like the guy, but I don't need four copies of this card.

 
 
Gold Parallels # / 62 - 4 - Jemile Weeks, Stephen Strasburg, Welington Castillo, Matt Cain
 
This completes my collection of the Weeks brothers, since I got Rickie's Gold card out of Box 4. Cespedes makes a cameo here. A couple of years ago Strasburg was the Puig of his day, with his cards selling like they were made of pure unicorn pee. I don't really know how the card community feels about him anymore. Cain is a pretty good pull, too. Castillo is a guy whose name I've seen, but I don't know anything about him.
 
 

Pink Parallels # / 25 - 2 - Daniel Descalso, Nate McLouth

These are a couple of decent action shots, but I don't have much else to say about them. That McLouth picture is pretty good, though. Someone needs to remind him to breathe, though. He wouldn't want to pass out while running the bases.


 
Relic - Hank Conger
 
Again with the guy I've never heard of taking up valuable BIG HIT SPACE in my box of trading cards.
 


With all of that complete, here is how these boxes contributed to my attempt at building a set.

At the end of Box 3 I had 507 / 660 (76.82%) base cards and 170 doubles, with no triples to that point.

Box 4

556 / 660 - 84.24% - (+7.42%)

Doubles - 311
Triples - 36

Box 5

593 / 660 - 89.85% - (+5.61%)

Doubles - 438
Triples - 93

Box 6

631 / 660 - 95.61% (+5.76)

Doubles - 528
Triples - 163
Quadruples - 27

After six boxes I have 95% of one set and 80% of another set, so I just decided to buy the 29 remaining cards I needed to build a complete set off of Just Commons. I like busting packs just as much as anyone else, but what are the odds that another box of this stuff will contain those 30 cards? I'm sure there is math for that, but I don't know that math. It would be nice to complete that second set, but I don't really know what I would do with a second set. It would probably not sell for enough to make it worth chasing. It would be nice if I could get a little closer to finishing the Chasing History insert set, but given how the last three boxes went I don't think I can trust this product to give me the cards I need from packs.

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