Contested Shots 31: A Twitter Prize from Topps

At the beginning of January I won a contest that Topps was running on Twitter. The prize was a box of 2017 Topps Inception Baseball cards. I sent Topps my mailing info, and nothing happened. Last week I sent them a message, asking about the status of the prize. They told me that it was sent out a while ago, but that they would check on it. Then they told me that they don't know what happened, but they will send another one out. Translating that from customer service-speak: "Oh shit, we forgot all about that contest!" A little bit later I got a shipping notification from FedEx and today I got the package.

Here's the front of the box. It promises 7 cards inside. The side of the box tells me that there is one autograph included among the 7 cards, and that some autographs may be redemption cards.

Here are the odds from the back of the box. There are plenty of parallels and autograph subsets available.

A single thick foil pack was nestled inside the box.

Here are the base cards and parallels. The Kyle Seager and A.J. Reed cards are Green parallels, which seem to be the most basic parallel. They are not numbered. The base cards look nice enough, and they are plenty thick.

The autograph is an Orange parallel of Matt Strahm, a former Royal who was traded to the Padres. It is numbered # 08 / 50. He's had a couple of major injuries in his career, and doesn't seem to be on the radar as a big up-and-comer.

I hate to be too critical of a free box of cards, but I am so glad I didn't spend the current $95 - $100 asking price on this box. It was fun to win a prize, but in this case the anticipation was much more exciting than the actual break. Thanks to Topps for holding the contest and providing the prize!

Seeking Redemption 19: A Framed Mini with No Frame

Way back in early November of 2013 I won a box of 2013 Topps Archives Baseball cards at my local card shop's anniversary party. In that box I pulled a redemption card for a 2013 Topps Archives Framed 1973 Mini Auto of Frank Robinson. Yesterday it was finally delivered to my house, after nearly three years of waiting.

In the envelope was that letter, letting me know that Topps would not be putting frames on the Frank Robinson Framed Mini Auto, so I shouldn't be expecting that. They also let me know that they were including a bonus card because I had waited so long on this redemption.

Here's what the card looks like. It's pretty cool, I guess, although Robinson kind of ran out of room there at the end of his signature. The card is hand-numbered # 24 / 25. It's a weird size, too. It's smaller than a regular mini card, but bigger than a tobacco-size mini. I think this card would look a lot nicer in a frame. I feel like I should devote more words to this card since I waited so long for it, but I don't really have much else to say. I do like the 1973 Topps card design. At one point I started a 1973 Topps set build, but didn't get much further than buying one card lot before I moved on to other things.

Here is the bonus card that Topps included in the envelope. It's a relic card of Carlos Gonzalez from 2014 Topps Mini Baseball. It's an okay card, and the relic swatch at least has a pinstripe in it to keep it from being another plain white piece of cloth.

So that's the end of that redemption journey. I've currently only got one redemption outstanding now, a Kawhi Leonard autograph from Panini that I've had in the system for nearly three years now. The card was actually made a couple of months ago, but I guess they only sent some of them out. I wasn't one of the lucky few who received their copy of the card.