Gint-A-Cuffs V: Pack 9

There isn't much to say about this pack. A couple of 3-point inserts and a SP Red. Those horizontal shots almost disappear when they are shrunk down onto the minis. They're bad enough on the full-size cards.

Scoring Cards:

Niccolo Machiavelli Inquiring Minds: +3

Assyrians Civilizations of Ages Past: +3

Mat Latos SP: +2

Pack 9: 8 points

Running Total: 68 points

Per Pack Average: 7.56 points

Pack of the Day 13: 2013 Bowman Baseball Retail Box Pack 3

It looks like I'm back to the 9-card pack with no insert to cover for the missing card. Maybe when Topps packs the retail packs vs. the hobby packs, they allocate the base cards in the same way for each but pull out the inserts from the retail packs to match seeding ratios. So if this were a hobby pack I would actually be getting an autographed Superfractor or something, but since it's retail I just get one less card in the pack. That kind of sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it kind of makes sense to me.

Profar seems to be struggling to hit the ball in the big leagues this year, so I'm assuming the happiness shown in this photo is because he actually hit the ball. But of course the former #1 prospect in all of baseball is very old news now, because...

...Byron Buxton is on the scene. Well, he is in the minors still but judging by the prices his cards pull compared to everyone else's in Bowman this year, he is probably the next Michael Jordan. Six-time NBA Champion Michael Jordan, not White Sox Minor-Leaguer Michael Jordan.

The gold parallel card features a guy who has had a rough year and is out for the season with a foot injury. It is interesting that last year was considered kind of a down year for him, as he only hit 30 home runs and had 105 RBI while batting .285. I bet everyone wishes they could have a down year like that.



And to round out the pack we have a couple of regular prospects. So far the box has been pretty slow, but it should pick up soon, right?

Gint-A-Cuffs V: Pack 8

The Cliff Lee memorabilia card saves this pack, which would otherwise be a 1-point pack. 

Scoring Cards:

Cliff Lee Relic: +10

Ryan Braun Across the Years: +2

Chris Mortensen: -1

Pack 8: 11 points

Running Total: 60 points

Per Pack Average: 7.50 points

What eBay Hath Wrought 7: 2013 Topps Archives Gold Parallels



When I started out on these parallel set projects for 2013 Topps Archives Gold and 2013 Topps Opening Day Blue Sparkle, I didn't realize fully what I was getting myself into. This particular set is made up of 200 cards numbered out of #/199. Even some of the Opening Day cards that are numbered out of #/2013 are somewhat difficult to find for what I consider a reasonable price.

However, these gold Archives cards are pretty attractive in my eyes. Something about the colors mixed with the refractor finish and the old designs works well. But they are hard to find for less than $2-3 each per common, and even more for stars or popular rookies.

I picked up this lot on eBay for right around $1 apiece, which is pretty good considering they were seeded right around 2 per box. I'm not sure what Wade Miley is looking at, but he seems a bit worried about it. Next we have Adam Dunn sporting a nice beard, Jason Heyward on one of my favorite set designs, and Matt Damon Justin Morneau.



Up next we have Sergio Romo with another decent relief pitcher beard, Andrew McCutchen with a helmet that seems to be in danger of falling off, Alfonso Soriano, and Adam Wainwright. Soriano has been on fire lately, unfortunately while wearing a Yankees uniform. When he goes on a hot streak, he can be as good as anyone. Speaking of guys who can do a lot of damage on hot streaks and have recently found themselves joining the Yankees roster, New York picked up Mark Reynolds after the Indians got rid of him. It is unfortunate, as I liked Reynolds a lot as a Diamondback and an Oriole. As a Yankee I will probably still root for him, but maybe not as much. It's hard to lead the league in strikeouts for four years in a row and still keep your job, but Reynolds has been able to do just that up to this point.

And finally I got Rickie Weeks and Josh Reddick. Reddick has been growing on me as a collector, although I don't know if I would go out of my way to pick up his cards just yet. But it's great if they fall to me. Overall this was a decent addition to the collection. There is still a long long way to go before this set is finished.

Gint-A-Cuffs V: Pack 7

I checked this pack a couple of times, but it still is just a 2-point pack. That being said, there is still some stuff to love here, like a card of Billy "Country Breakfast" Butler and a couple nice Pirates in batting helmets.

Scoring Cards:

Jay Bruce Across the Years: +2

Pack 7: 2 points

Running Total: 49 points

Per Pack Average: 7 points

Pack of the Day 12: 2013 Bowman Baseball Retail Box Pack 2

This pack actually has the promised 10 cards in it, so I've got that going for me. Austin Jackson and David Murphy are having a pretend light saber duel, Josh Beckett may be in the middle of passing out, and Mike Olt has just seen something confusing. Also, Beckett's goatee/soul patch thing just looks odd in this photo. Maybe it's the apparent asymmetry from this angle that bothers me. I have bare patches in my beard on both sides underneath my mouth, and it bothers me. Anyhow, with facial hair like that he will never be an elite reliever.

My real complaint with these cards is that the player names don't scan very well, so I have to blow the pictures way up if I forget someone's name.

I don't know that I've ever heard of these two dudes outside of pulling them from other packs of Bowman. Most of the cards in this pack were needed for my binder, but not these two.

And here are a couple more Bowman Chrome cards that I needed for my set. All of the prospects in the set have their team names below the player names, but for some reason Michael Snyder's card doesn't feature the full team name. I will have to look at the other cards in the set to see if that is the case for all Angels players.

It is nice to get the promised number of cards in a pack, but there was nothing too exciting here. The box is starting off pretty slowly, but it is a Retail box, and the pull ratios are much tougher. I just couldn't justify the extra $20-25 for a Hobby box when all I really want to do is build the base set.



Gint-A-Cuffs V: Pack 6

Here we have the ever-popular Puig, who is not worth any points to me. I believe the Cardinals are the 2nd-most numerous team in this box, although I have not actually verified that. It could be the Twins for all I know. For my One Little Corner card I was trying to come up with a baseball joke about moonshots, but I never came up with one that worked well.

Scoring Cards:

Moon One Little Corner: +3

King Henry V Heavy Hangs the Head: +3

Freddie Freeman SP: +2

Pack 6: 8 points

Running Total: 47 points

Per Pack Average: 7.83 points