Virtual Hobby Pack

R.I.P. Atlanta Sports Cards.

No, not the online seller, they are still around. Their brick & mortar store up in Alpharetta is gone. My 'work' local card shop has sold out and is no more. I will never again scrounge for Allen & Ginter box toppers in their 50 cent junk box. So it goes.

All is not lost, however...

LONG LIVE FCB SPORTS CARDS

Chris, the guy behind this little corner of the interwebs has moved in and started his own retail store. They got their own sign and everything. Ya know what else they gots?

DIME BOXES

They didn't have any Gypsy Queen packs though. No worries, I was able to scrounge through the dime (and quarter(and fifty cent)) boxes and put together my own little virtual hobby pack. It was a bit overstuffed, actually.  Remember kids, always buy the thick pack even if it is a virtual one. Here's the results:

Base cards

Only three base cards in the virtual pack. Well, four actually. I got doubles of Jason Heyward. Doesn't it just suck when you get doubles in the same pack? I might need to drink me a nice cool refreshing Budweiser to get over my disappointment. Mmmmmmmm.... Budweiser. I wonder why I'm craving Budweiser all of a sudden? Probably because I also got a card of Andre Dawson, who played for the Cubs, who had Harry Caray for an announcer, who drank his weight in Budweiser every 6 and a half innings. I can't see any other reason for it. Oh yeah, random Chipper.

Short prints

Short prints are inserted one in every four hobby packs. I slightly beat the odds in pulling ten in mine. There ain't but ten cards in every pack! The virtual card collator must have been on the fritz that day. I got another double too - this time of B. Anderson. You may wonder why I didn't write out Brett Anderson's full name, but the truth is I almost called him Brian Anderson. I went and double checked the back of the card and discovered my mistake, which is why I typed out "B." instead to cover myself. Then again, if I have just replaced the "B." with Brett in the first place I wouldn't have had to type out three unnecessary sentences and I'd be lying in bed with a cold beer watching the A-Team on the retro channel by now. Man, that was kinda dumb. Wait, the A-Team doesn't come on until 11. Never mind, B. Anderson works. Oh yeah, also got short prints of Soriano, Hanson, Garland, Elvis, Dexter, Sinkbeil, Castro and Shin Soo-Choo. Man that'a a lotta short prints. But wait! There's inserts!

The Great Ones

Is it just me or are these things hard to come by? They are supposedly 1:4 packs like all the other inserts but I'm finding far less of them out and about than all the other inserts. Maybe that's because unlike all the other insert sets there isn't really any bad cards in the set. No really, the worst card in the set is probably Rollie Fingers or Thurman Munson. Those are the klunkers, people. Compare that to the 14 Jason Bartlett Sticky Fingers cards I have. Blecch.

Home Run Heroes

Mendoza, Cheech, Cripple and Hawk. I find it odd that Andruw Jones is a Brave in this set while Troy Glaus is an Angel. It makes sense since each card is commemorating a great season for each player, but I still find it odd considering that Troy was a Brave last year and Andrew was not.

Future Stars

Jeez, how many Heyward cards can I pull from one pack?? Dang you, virtual hobby pack collator! Oh wait, I just danged myself. Dang a lang lang a ding a dang ding... Did I mention how much I like the blue design on these cards? It's like if 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations were made in 1892. Or something  like that. They shore are purdy is what I'm trying to say.

Retail Inserts... in My Hobby Pack?

HEY HOW DID CRUMMY RETAIL INSETS GET IN MY HOBBY PACK?? Rajai Davis? Now come on.

Here's some sticky ickys that I uploaded incorrectly but I didn't bother to fix because Teixeira's a jerk. Rangers and Angels fans, amirite? Shush you Yankee lovers. Let us enjoy our hate.

Parallellochips

Woooo! the big hit in the pack! A numbered Bronze Framed Parallel Chipper insert! And... a Green Framed Retail Parallel too... somehow. How the heck did 27 cards manage to fit inside one virtual hobby wrapper... Wait a sec, what the deuce?

Hey! I got stiffed on the mini card in the pack!

No mini cards in my virtual pack. I guess they couldn't squeeze it in there with all the other cards. I did walk out of the store with a mini J-Hey from 2010 Topps206, but that's another post. So how much did my virtual pack set me back?

6 cards @ 50 cents each = $3.00
11 cards @ 25 cents each = $2.75
10 cards @ 10 cents each = $1.00

Grand total = $6.75.

If anyone can tell me where to find an actual Hobby pack of Gypsy Queen for $6.75, let me know. And just like your hobby pack, I didn't pull a relic or auto!