27 April 2018

No Bowman, and Spring Cleaning

Today was my scheduled off day from work, so I took some time to look for 2018 Bowman cards at the local retail stores. I hit three different stores, and wasn't able to find any of the product. There weren't display boxes out or anything, so it probably hasn't been stocked locally yet. I finally decided on a hanger box of 2018 Heritage and a bag of Skittles, and I headed for home, picking up an order of Super Nachos from the local taqueria. They taste so good, but the serving size is huge and I am paying the price now for eating them all. I don't have the iron stomach I did fifteen years ago. After I got home, I decided to clear out the center console of my car. That's where a lot of my retail breaks end up if I don't pull anything particularly noteworthy.


There was a variety of stuff in there from three different sports. I decided that I wouldn't let these pack breaks go to waste, so let's take a look and see if I pulled anything of note.


Here are the most interesting (to me) cards from the Heritage stuff. Marwin Gonzalez was the only short print. It's surprising that I am showing off two Brewers, but I like Eric Sogard and Josh Hader is on three of my fantasy baseball teams this year. He's got 31 strikeouts in 15.1 innings so far this year, and 3 saves to boot! The Stanton and Lindor inserts are pretty cool, too. Gerrit Cole is an Astro now.


You know the Donruss Optic break was bad if the only card I have to show is a base card from one of my team's Divisional rivals. The Broncos were a train wreck last year. I hope they can find a few more wins in the coming season.


The WWE Women's Division packs are always fun, although I probably have about ten base sets by now. I've busted a lot of this product.


What I don't have a full set of is these rivalry inserts, which are exclusive to the rack packs. I picked a couple of the better ones I pulled to show off.


Road to WrestleMania isn't one of my favorite products, although I should like it more. The WWE is all about the story, and Road to WrestleMania tells the story of the promotion for each year. Maybe I should give the set another try. That Macho Man card is pretty sweet, with cameos by Jake 'The Snake' Roberts and Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat. 


Most of my favorite cards from the Rookies & Stars pack were inserts featuring retired players. In this case, it was Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson. I pulled a punter card, so I had to show that off, too. Kickers and punters don't get enough cardboard love.


I didn't find any new Bowman today, so I'll have to show off some old Bowman. Alex Bregman is manning 3rd base for the Astros, and Daz Cameron went to the Tigers in the Justin Verlander trade. Max Kepler is playing every day for the Twins. Half of his 20 hits on the year have gone for extra bases. Fernando Tatis Jr. is one of the value pack-exclusive parallels. He's only 19 years old right now, and is featured on most Top 10 Prospect lists.


There was also a value pack of Topps Chrome among the packs in my car. The Youth Impact insert of Blake Snell was the most colorful thing in the break. Carlos Gomez isn't my favorite player, but he was the only Astro among the cards. The other Pink value pack parallel of note was Wade Davis.


There were basketball cards in there, too. I tried a rack pack of 2017-18 Panini Status. It's a shiny and colorful product that picks up fingerprints easily. This pack should have gone to Cards on Cards, as both the inserts I pulled feature Trail Blazers. I guess I'll have to set them aside for the next package that goes his way.

That does it for the packs in my car's center console. There wasn't anything world-shattering in them, but I guess they weren't too awful. Hopefully I'll be able to find some 2018 Bowman in the next couple of weeks.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, your console must be decent sized...you definitely have almost all the sports represented. It takes months for any product to hit overseas. Still no 2018 Heritage yet, but the card endcap at the PX is stuffed with older stuff back to 2015 still. Takes a while for it to all clear.

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    1. It'll fit a decent number of packs in it, along with a pair of sunglasses that I never wear. It's hard to be overseas and miss out on much of the new stuff for various hobbies.

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  2. I love the console idea... it's kind of like you get to open the packs twice!

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    1. It really is, especially if you wait a few months!

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  3. I can't remember the last time I had cards sitting in my center console. Maybe early 2000's? Ahhh... those were the days.

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    1. Not all packs go in the center console, but usually the disappointing impulse buys wind up there.

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  4. Man, that yellow Tatis perked me up. I would ask if you could set it aside for me, but we don't seem to trade very often.

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    1. I don't do trades, but I've been sending out a few care packages lately. I'll try to separate that one out of the herd for you.

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