Bowman Heritage has the weirdest collation ever in the history of anything

I had always planned to buy some more Bowman Heritage eventually to help fill out the set and get some doubles for trading. The only question was to get some blasters now or wait till I could pick up a Hobby box later. After reading the comments stating how the blasters are apparently stuffed with relics and autos (one guy got 5 in five boxes!) I couldn't hold out any longer so I picked one up. No big hit in the box, but it did have a couple of really interesting things going on nonetheless so I thought I'd share.

I got quite a few stars including Vladdy, Pujols, A-Rod, Tim Hudson, Alex Gordon and I think my fourth or fifth Josh "just got caught masturbating" Hamilton rookie card. There were also three no sig SP's, John Danks, Jesus Flores and Delmon Young. Here's where the fun starts: Below is the list of Prospect cards I got, see if you can notice what they have in common:

BHP1 Thomas Fairchild
BHP3 Brett Campbell
BHP11 Tommy Hanson
BHP15 Greg Reynolds
BHP21 Reggie Corona
BHP31 Joshua Rodriguez
BHP33 Scott Lewis
BHP35 Michael Saunders
BHP41 Joe Ness
BHP45 Eric Young
BHP55 Mike Carp
BHP57 Emerson Frostad
BHP61 Raul Barron
BHP87 Devin Ivany
BHP89 Michael MacDonald
BHP95 Juan Miranda

Hmmm, there is something odd about this group of cards, what can it be... Oh wait, they are all odd numbers! This actually works for me, two thirds of the prospects I got in my hobby box were even numbered so it, um, evens out. It's still some goofy assed collation. Another strange thing concerning this set is that when I pulled my first card of Joe Ness, I was watching the movie You Me and Dupree. Someone out there will get it. All odd cards is kind of weird, but this next thing is just scary. Look closely at this scan of the rainbow foil cards I pulled and see if you can figure out what I found so crazy about this box.

Anyone see it? Beuller? Beuller? Here, take a closer look.

See any sigs? I don't. I got eight foils, and all of them were no signature variations. What the hell are the odds of that? I don't think they are short printed among the foil cards but still, that's not normal. I wish I could pull a box with all the Mantle Variations, I haven't gotten a single one of those yet. Has anyone else found anything weird in their box of Bowman Heritage? Post a comment!

The Slowest Box Break Ever, Final Wrap-up

You know, if I had any style, I'd just postpone this post for another couple of hours and make it an even month from the first to the last post for this box break. It's time to let it go though. The box break is finally over.

First though, there were some questions on whether some of the prospect cards or even base cards were short printed as they were showing up erratically in box breaks. After looking around a bit online, I think this may just be due to a collation quirk in some box breaks. I personally got more even numbered prospects by 2:1 over odd numbers, but I've also gotten a few random retail packs in a row were both prospects cards were odd numbered. If you bust enough of this stuff, things will probably even out eventually. If there were really short prints, the dealers would have picked up on it by now after they built up a bunch of hand collated sets. I don't blame anyone for being paranoid about it though after Topps' rather random use of skip numbered short prints and unannounced and indecipherable parallels recently.

Now, on with the totals:

Hobby Box:

Base Set:
Base Cards: 110/250 44%

No Sig Short Prints (1:3): 7/45 16%
184 Tom Gorzellany no sig SP
188 Roy Halladay no sig SP
196 Nick Markakis no sig SP
199 Felix Hernandez no sig SP
235 Alex Gordon no sig RC SP
238 Glen Perkins no sig RC SP
243 Hideki Okajima no sig RC SP

Mantle Short prints : 0/5 0%

Bowman Prospects (2:1): 48/100 48%

Checklists: 2 complete sets of 3

Parallels:
Rainbow Parallel: 21/251 8%

Black Parallel #/52: (1)
194 black parallel Jeremy Sowers #32/52

Red Parallel #/1: none

Inserts:
Pieces of Greatness: (3)
PG-JE Juan Elpido Encarnacion bat card
PG-LG Luis Emilio Gonzalez bat card
PG-NS Nick Thompson Swisher bat card

Signs of Greatness: (2)
SG-AF Andrew Fie
SG-CC Carl Crawford

Press Plates: none

'55 Red Man Box topper: (1)
21 Alex Gordon

A-Rod Waste of Space cards:
two unknown still in wrapper most likely never to be opened

But wait, there's more: I also busted a Blaster of this stuff, 8 packs for 20 bucks. Here's what I got out of that:

Retail Box:

Base Set:
Base Cards: 37/250 15%

No Sig Short Prints (1:3): 3/45 7%
198 BJ Upton no sig SP
200 Barry Bonds no sig SP
232 Dallas Braden no sig RC SP

Mantle Short prints : 0/5 0%

Bowman Prospects (2:1): 16/100 16%

Checklists: #2 and #3

Parallels:
Rainbow Parallel: 7/251 3%

Black Parallel #/52: none

Red Parallel #/1: none

Inserts:
Pieces of Greatness: (1)
PG-AD Adam Dunn jersey card

Signs of Greatness: (0)

All in all, a couple of great box breaks for a nice product. Two extra hits in a Hobby box is always nice and anytime you pull a jersey from a retail blaster you're doing pretty good for yourself. The Dunn relic was a jersey too, which was nice since all three of the hobby relics were bats. Out of the two boxes, I have over half the set and a tenth of the short prints. There were no dupes in either box. The only thing I'm disappointed in is not pulling a Mantle card. I love the fact that the set can be completed without having to dig for short prints, but it would have been nice to have at least one of the Mantle cards be a common. I'll probably dig around eBay or Sportlots for them instead of waiting to pull them from wax. Last year's Mantle card wasn't short-printed and I still didn't pull it out of a pack till last August or September when I found a Quik Trip with a dusty half-box of Bowman Heritage left in the back of the card rack.

Since this is sadly probably the last Bowman Heritage set, over the next week or so I'm going to be ranking all seven sets from 2001 to 2007. I'll grade each one based on things such as the checklist, inserts and how well they pulled off the design and we'll see which one ends up as the best Bowman Heritage set. I've got an idea of which one is best but we'll see what happens once the grades are totaled. This set may end up ranking pretty high, it's really the only Topps baseball product since Allen and Ginter that I've liked. Oh well. 2008 Topps isn't that far away...

Weird Bowman Heritage Collation Issue

Two comments from my final Bowman Heritage box break post has raised an interesting question. Apparently even numbered cards are hard to find and odd numbered prospects cards are harder. I quickly went through my prospects cards and I have twice as many even numbers as odds. Is anyone else out there seeing anything like this or is it just three guys getting some weird collation?

I'll have my Bowman Heritage wrap up post up by tomorrow and I'll address the issue again there.

Bowman Heritage Background Fun - Part 2

Here's part two of the Bowman Heritage backgound gallery. These are all of the cards where Topps added a special background or slight tweak to the image for fun. Thanks again to Roger Nisly for assisting with scans of the cards I don't have.

23 Carlos Delgado - Ebbets Field background 36 Paul Lo Duca - Ebbets Field background 40 Adam Dunn - Cornfield in background 51 Tom Glavine - New Citi Field Construction in background 68 Andy Pettitte - Old Yankee Stadium background 70 Roger Clemens - Yankee Stadium Monument Park background 83 Greg Maddux – “4 CY” on glove 91 Ryan Garko – “Topps TV” on Microphone 120 Jorge Posada - Old Yankee Stadium background 140 Carlos Beltran - Polo Grounds background 155 Jimmy Rollins - Liberty Bell background 176 Johnny Damon - Old Yankee Stadium background 210 Joe Smith - Coney Island Ferris Wheel background 251 Joba Chamberlain – “Joba Rules” written on baseball

Ok, I've put off the 792 scanning long enough. More 80's cards for you this weekend...

Bowman Heritage Background Fun - Part 1

Since Upper Deck is swiping Topps' gimmicks right and left, it's only fair for Topps to do the same to them. UD mimics the Topps mirror set concept with their psychotically large 2008 Yankees insert set as well as the short printed 'error' card trick with the just released Ex-Rod variation. Topps can play that game too, and copies Goudey's motif of taking classic backgrounds from vintage Diamond Stars, Play Ball and Heads Up sets and using them on contemporary cards. 2007 Bowman Heritage features ten cards with backgrounds that are familiar to fans of the original 1952 set it is patterned after. Problem is, '52 Mantles aren't exactly a dime a dozen, and a lot of people who are buying cards nowadays have never seen one. Luckily reader Roger Nisly has stepped up to the plate and offered some scans so us collectors without a '52 set can compare the cards. Roger has apparently been helping out with some other galleries as well, so kudos to Roger!

Topps made some pretty solid choices for the pairing of their cards. Musial & Pujols, Mays & Bonds and Scooter & Jeter are obvious pairs. Big Papi shares a background with Red Sox favorite Johnny Pesky. Ryan Howard takes a mighty cut in front of the same ominous building on Phillies great Richie Ashburn's card. Players from teams that weren't around in 1952 get matched with Brooklyn Dodgers. A-Rod and Mantle? Well, we'll see how contract talks go before passing judgment on that match. Dice-K's card partner is a cool choice. Mickey McDermott had some crazy times in the majors and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. Roger notes in his e-mail that the Pujols and Reyes backgrounds are reversed. So is Barry's background, but it's really hard to catch without seeing the cards side by side. Enjoy the scans, I'll have a gallery of the other special background cards up later in the week.

#50 Albert Pujols and #196 Stan Musial #75 David Ortiz and #45 Johnny Pesky #90 David Wright and #80 Gil Hodges
#100 Ryan Howard and #53 Richie Ashburn #110 Jose Reyes and #8 Pee Wee Reese
#150 Derek Jeter and #52 Phil Rizzuto #181 Ichiro and #116 Duke Snider #190 Alex Rodriguez and #101 Mickey Mantle #200 Barry Bonds and #218 Willie Mays #250 Daisuke Matsuzaka #25 Maurice McDermott

The Slowest Box Break Ever, Hot Box Edition: Part 6, Packs 17-20

Ok, I left you guys with a teaser last time which was especially cruel since I was about to take a break for Thanksgiving. Well, that's just how the cards fell so to speak, I wouldn't have teased if all I got was a rainbow foil of Conor Jackson. So to recap, I'm a third of the way through the box and I've gotten two out of the three hits. Let's rip.

Pack 17:
146 Mark Teahen
SG-CC Carl Crawford
99 Robinson Cano
BHP10 Chris Carter
BHP4 Cesar Nicolas
235 Alex Gordon RC
163 Kevin Millwood
39 Craig Biggio

So... three out of three hits? This isn't right, There's only supposed to be one auto a box. Looks like Topps goofed up in a good way this time. If anyone out there got screwed out of an auto in their box, here it is. Crawford is part of Auto Group C, which means it is either 1:58 or 1:389 packs depending on whether they bungled the odds on the wrapper or not. Who cares, I got two autos in a box, even if it is the infamous ClCf scribble. I also bagged a future Hall of Famer, a nice Cano card and the Alex Gordon rookie. Not bad at all.

Pack 18:
30 Manny Ramirez
94 Kenny Rogers
PG-JE Juan Elpido Encarnacion
BHP51 Will Venable
BHP39 Mike Devaney
222 Andy Sonnanstine RC
199 Felix Hernandez
147 Juan Pierre

Ok, four out of three hits. Box is dead now, right? The second relic is one of Juan Encarnacion's bats. He doesn't use his all that much so I guess he can spare one. I'm not liking the design of these cards too much the more I look at them. The full name on the front is weird, and the logo that takes up 2/3rds of the card is just distracting. The more I look at it the more the silhouette of the guy batting in the logo looks like someone flipping off Juan. Still, I can't complain about getting a bonus insert and this is a really good pack. Manny, Max's kid and the non-SP of King Felix round out the pack.

Pack19:
97 Brian Giles
53 Bobby Abreu
PG-NS Nick Thompson Swisher
BHP6 Zach McAllister
BHP70 Vasili Spanos
223 Chase Wright RC
171 Jhonny Peralta
15 Brandon Webb

The box that was dead has come back to life! ZOMBIE HERITAGE! Another bat card of Nick Swisher gives me the fifth hit of the box. It's a good thing I didn't open this side of the box first and then dump the rest of the packs on eBay thinking the box was dead. I would have missed out on a Luis Gonzalez bat and Andrew Fie auto... um, maybe I should have dumped the packs. Nick's a good pull, he helped get my fantasy team into the playoffs last year when I traded him for Chad Cordero. Then the fool who I traded with dropped Swisher and I claimed him on waivers so I basically got a free closer. I blew the championship when I benched Brad Hawpe in favor of injured Jason Bay like an idiot. You don't give a crap about that though so I'll continue with the box break that's getting slower by the minute. The rest of the pack is all right, featuring Cy Webb and the 87th rookie Yankee pitcher I've pulled so far. The Swisher card broke up the perfect 'every three packs' run I had on no sig cards, but who cares.

Pack 20:
137 Austin Kearns
101 Andruw Jones
79 rainbow Richie Sexson
BHP98 Sam Fuld
BHP26 Mark Wagner
Checklist 2 of 3
219 Michael Bourn RC
63 Frank Thomas
139 Pat Burrell

Ok back to reality. Andruw Jones is nice, but I have a feeling Boras is going to make sure he's so overpriced he won't sign for months. The Braves will be screwed out of a draft pick since they'll be too scared to offer him arbitration for fear he'll accept. Then he'll sign with the Mets so I can hate him like death. Why not? I can't hate Tom Glavine anymore, sadly. I gotta have someone to hate and there aren't any obvious candidates right now. I'm hateless. Austin Kearns and Richie Sexson go into the "What the hell happened to you?" file. Frank Thomas looks weird in a Blue Jay uni. And Pat Burrell is just good 'ol Pat Burrell no matter how much the Phillie fans wish he was someone else.

Ok, just 4 packs to go and I'm gonna drag it out till forever most likely. You may scoff, but I've made this box last three weeks so far and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Till next time, I leave you with the first pair of sig/no sig variations I've pulled so far: King Felix. Don't strain your eyes looking for the difference.

The Slowest Box Break Ever: Part 5 Packs 13-16

Ok, time to open some packs. To recap: so far I've pulled one relic (Luis Gonzalez), the auto (Andrew Fie) and Joba, which I assume is the big rookie in this set. Let's see what pops up in the second half of the box.

Pack 13:
186 Scott Kazmir
122 Sammy Sosa
199 Felix Hernandez no sig SP
167 rainbow Chipper Jones
BHP86 Matt Miller
BHP30 Gorkys Hernandez
119 Jamie Moyer
55 Garrett Atkins

All right, off to a good start on the second half of the box. I got a rainbow foil of Chipper Jones who looks like his mommy told him to stand still so she could take a picture to send to Aunt Alice in Poughkeepsie so she can see how big he's grown. There's also a prospect card of Gorkys Hernandez, who the Braves just got in the Renteria trade. He's the centerfielder of the future assuming Josh Anderson, Brent Lillibridge and Jordan Schaefer all flop. There's another no signature short print, this time of King Felix. As soon as I get a short print and a non short print of the same card I'll post it so you all can see. Scott Kazmir is going to win 25 games one year and everyone who isn't paying attention to how good he is will wonder what happened. Sammy Sosa is in the classic "Swing the bat at the photographer's head" pose which is always fun.

Pack14:
26 Russell Martin
70 Roger Clemens
115 Justin Morneau
BHP82 Nick Van Stratten
BHP62 Aaron Cunningham
227 John Danks RC
83 Greg Maddux
175 Vernon Wells

Pulling the two best pitchers of the past 30 years in the same pack is pretty damn nice. Roger Clemens' card has monument park in the background, which looks great. Morneau and Wells aren't too shabby either. Once again I'm bewildered by the prospects. They remind me of sit-com characters, not ballplayers.

34 Noah Lowry
14 Mike Lowell
147 rainbow Juan Pierre
BHP2 Peter Borjos
BHP14 Derin McMains
240 Philip Hughes RC
179 Garrett Anderson
183 Ian Kinsler

A short break from superstars here. Phil Hughes is nice I guess. Mike Lowell's card looks pretty good. Anderson and Pierre look like they might have gimmick backgrounds from 1952 cards, but I'm too lazy to check.

22 Michael Young
58 Michael Cuddyer
188 Roy Halladay no sig SP
187 rainbow Matt Holliday
BHP42 Michael Martinez
BHP36 Brendan Katin
Checklist 1 of 3
228 Elijah Dukes RC
103 Hideki Matsui

I've given up trying to recognize the prospects. I just want to complete the set and put it away for a few years until some of these guys start making the majors. Another short print in here, every three packs like clockwork. Matt Holliday's card looks good. He has a gripe about the MVP voting, but I have a feeling he might have a shot at another one before it's over.

The next four packs will be up after the holiday. I've already opened a couple and, well, let's just say I got a nice surprise in this box. Till next time...

Liberty Bell

Here's Jimmy Rollins' card from 2007 with the Liberty Bell in the background. This is the first card I pulled in this year's Heritage set where I knew something was up. This is much better than the stupid Joba Billy Ripken ripoff card. This was out of the first pack I opened and is a great excuse to post one of the finest works of American music ever written.



God bless John Philip Sousa, greatest American composer not of Italian Greek-Lebanese descent.

The Slowest Box Break Ever: Part 3, Packs 5-8

I've done a lot of scanning this weekend, so I get to open packs. Here's four more from my slowest box break ever.

PACK 5
85 Carlos Zambrano
141 Carlos Quentin
183 rainbow Ian Kinsler
BHP24 Leo Daigle
BHP84 Jarrett Hoffpauir
207 Yunel Escobar RC
31 Rich Hill
135 Rocco Baldelli

Ok pack, not much special in here except for the Yunel Escobar RC. Cubs pitchers will be special when they can actually win a meaningful game. Rocco Baldelli is on the trade block yet again. The MLB Trade Rumors archives show that the Rays might have had Yunel, Jarrod Saltalamaccia and maybe Kyle Davies for Rocco last year, but they wanted more and wouldn't trade. Holy Bleeping Bleep.

Pack 6:
161 Jeff Suppan
33 Jeff Kent
28 rainbow Bobby Crosby
BHP56 Henry Sosa
BHP12 Dellin Betances
229 Kei Igawa RC
91 Ryan Garko
191 Kenji Johjima

Jeff Kent is my first double, Although I pulled the other one in a pack from a different box. Neither of prospects in this pack have middle names. You notice these things whien you don't know who any of these people are. Ryan Garko is the first gimmicky background card I've pulled knowing it's been altered. Can you find the photoshop? I don't mind the shenanigans in this set, they don't appear to be short printed and they are actually kind of fun. I'm praying I pull an Adam Dunn card just for the Bily Mumy reference.

Pack 7:
177 Jim Edmonds
73 Jeremy Hermida
PG-LG Luis Emilio Gonzalez bat card
BHP32 Brad Knox
BHP94 Evan Englebrook
224 Mark Reynolds RC
123 Jason Schmidt
151 Orlando Hernandez

I live blogged this pack over on A Pack A Day, so you can read about it there. The commenters were far more excited about my Descendents reference than the relic I pulled so here's some blatant pandering:



Pack 8:
69 Brian McCann
238 no sig Glen Perkins RC SP
195 rainbow John Lackey
BHP50 Luke Hochevar
BHP44 Christopher Coghlan
205 Hector Jimenez
127 John Maine
67 Aaron Rowand

Jeff Francouer is the golden child, I have a man crush on Mark Teixeira, but Brian McCann is the one locked up in a long term contract. McCann's the one who is still going to be on the team in three years. I love you, Brian McCann, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I will not hide my love! I love Brian McCann!!! Ahem. Back to the cards, here's another no sig SP. Thank goodness the variations are discernible this year. Luke Hochevar is the first prospect pulled that I know who he is on first glance. Unless Rowand signs with the Braves (and he won't) the rest of the cards are just marks on a checklist.

2007 Bowman Heritage Short Prints

Swiped from the Bench, here's the list of short prints from 2007 Bowman Heritage. Apparently the only shorts are variation cards, so you can build a set without having to dig for short prints! That's pretty cool. I'll provide a link and make necessary corrections when the official press release comes out.

Variation cards for the set include:
45 cards with no facsimile signature
5 Mickey Mantle variations

No signature variation:
2007 Bowman Heritage 181b Ichiro Suzuki SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 182b Jake Peavy SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 183b Ian Kinsler SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 184b Tom Gorzelanny SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 185b Miguel Cabrera SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 186b Scott Kazmir SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 187b Matt Holliday SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 188b Roy Halladay SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 189b Ryan Zimmerman SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 190b Alex Rodriguez SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 191b Kenji Johjima SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 192b Gil Meche SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 193b Chase Utley SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 194b Jeremy Sowers SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 195b John Lackey SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 196b Nick Markakis SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 197b Tim Hudson SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 198b B.J. Upton SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 199b Felix Hernandez SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 200b Barry Bonds SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 226b Hunter Pence SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 227b John Danks SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 228b Elijah Dukes SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 229b Kei Igawa SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 230b Felix Pie SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 231b Jesus Flores SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 232b Dallas Braden SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 233b Akinori Iwamura SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 234b Ryan Braun SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 235b Alex Gordon SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 236b Micah Owings SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 237b Kevin Kouzmanoff SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 238b Glen Perkins SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 239b Danny Putnam SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 240b Philip Hughes SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 241b Ryan Sweeney SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 242b Josh Hamilton SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 243b Hideki Okajima SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 244b Adam Lind SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 245b Travis Buck SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 246b Miguel Montero SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 247b Brandon Morrow SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 248b Troy Tulowitzki SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 249b Delmon Young SP
2007 Bowman Heritage 250b Daisuke Matsuzaka SP

Mantle variation:
Card #1 = Simply has the #7 on the back
Card #2 = Will say 2 of 5 on the back
Card #3 = Will say 3 of 5 on the back
Card #4 = Will say 4 of 5 on the back
Card #5 = Will say 5 of 5 on the back

There are also 24 cards where Topps stuck in some interesting backgrounds. These aren't short prints, I've already pulled the Rollins, Glavine and Smith cards and I haven't opened that many packs. Topps just decided to have some fun with these cards.

Background variation:
# 23 Carlos Delgado - Ebbets Field background
# 36 Paul Lo Duca - Ebbets Field background
# 40 Adam Dunn - Cornfield in background
# 50 Albert Pujols - Background from 1952 Bowman Stan Musial
# 51 Tom Glavine - New Citi Field Construction in background
# 68 Andy Pettitte - Old Yankee Stadium background
# 70 Roger Clemens - Yankee Stadium Monument Park background
# 75 David Ortiz - Background from 1952 Bowman Johnny Pesky
# 83 Greg Maddux – “4 CY” on glove
# 90 David Wright - Background from 1952 Bowman Gil Hodges
# 91 Ryan Garko – “Topps TV” on Microphone
# 100 Ryan Howard - Background from 1952 Bowman Richie Ashburn
# 110 Jose Reyes - Background from 1952 Bowman Pee Wee Reese
# 120 Jorge Posada - Old Yankee Stadium background
# 140 Carlos Beltran - Polo Grounds background
# 150 Derek Jeter - Background from 1952 Bowman Phil Rizzuto
# 155 Jimmy Rollins - Liberty Bell background
# 176 Johnny Damon - Old Yankee Stadium background
# 181 Ichiro - Background from 1952 Bowman Duke Snider
# 190 Alex Rodriguez - Background from 1952 Mickey Mantle Card
# 200 Barry Bonds - Background from 1952 Bowman Willie Mays Card
# 210 Joe Smith - Coney Island Ferris Wheel background
# 250 Daisuke Matsuzaka – Background from 1952 Bowman Maurice McDermott
# 251 Joba Chamberlain – “Joba Rules” written on baseball

The Slowest Box Break Ever: Part 2, Packs 1-4

Ok, I've cleaned out enough drafts to open a few packs. Here's the first 4 out of the box.

PACK 1
149 Freddy Sanchez
65 Dontrelle Willis
184 Tom Gorzellany no sig
27 rainbow Lance Berkman
BHP20 Young-Il Jung
BHP22 Carlos Corporan
95 Joe Mauer
159 Matt Cain

First pack=bunch of stars. Freddy Sanchez leads off the box. Dontrelle Willis and Matt Cain are two pitchers I'd much rather give 10 million bucks to instead of Tommy Turncoat. Make a trade, Frank! I can't emphasize enough how much better the rainbow foil looks than the crappy ding magnets from last year's set.It's a good thing Jung uses his middle name like Charles Nelson Reilly or it would get confusing for the Angel announcers to talk about the young Young Jung. The Gorzelanny card has no signature on it which is some sort of variation this year. Best card in the pack: Joe Mauer.

PACK 2
109 Curt Schilling
89 Conor Jackson
139 rainbow Pat Burrell
BHP28 Bryan Byrne
BHP48 Woods Fines
249 Delmon Young RC
195 John Lackey
43 Jeff Francis

So does Curt go into the Hall with a Sox cap now? Two rings in four years... Another Delmon Young Non-RC. Yawn. One thing I like best about Bowman is all the great names you find among these prospects. Bryan Byrne is one letter away from being an anagram. Woods Fines is just ridiculous. Woods is actually his middle mane, he had to insist on being called that. Is Donald really that bad a name? In the fifties he'd be Donny or Woody or Skeeter or Traffic and would install aluminum siding in the offseason.

PACK 3
169 Cole Hamels
57 Cliff Lee
131 rainbow Prince Fielder
BHP100 Fernando Martinez
BPH8 Anthony Hatch
210 Joe Smith RC
51 Tom Glavine
167 Chipper Jones

The rainbow Fielder card is nice. The backgrounds on these cards are interesting this year. Hamels and Lee are in their Spring Training digs. Joe Smith is in front of the Wonder Wheel ferris wheel. Is that Coney Island maybe? Tom Glavine is standing underneath a Delta Airlines ad. Getting ready to board a plane to the ATL I guess... Chipper is in the Disney World spring training stands that have become ubiquitous on Topps Braves cards. Chipper will be very happy if Glavine signs. He, Smoltzie and Huddy will have a fourth for golf.

PACK 4
13 Chien-Ming Wang
193 Chase Utley
196 Nick Markakis no sig
103 rainbow Hideki Matsui
BHP18 Cody Strait
BHP16 Jonathan Van Every
Checklist 1 of 3
211 Tony Abreu RC
99 Robinson Cano

Another no sig card in this pack, this time of Nick Markakis. I'm going to boldly state for the record that if there is a third card before the rainbow, that's probably a short print. I haven't gotten a card numbered higher than 250 yet either, 251-300 must also be shorts. This is a Yankee pack with Wang, Cano and a hideous Hideki. Someone in the Topps art department is not a fan of Godzilla because Pizza Face does not even begin to cover it. Pretty strange considering the amount of touch up work done on everyone else to get the original '52 feel. Cody Strait is the 4th or 5th prospect using his middle name, what's up with that? The first checklist card pops up in this pack. It is way thinner than the rest of the cards. Available Jones is on the back, but they took away the B from his cap for some reason.

Scans will be up soon, packs 5-8 will be opened after I knock out a few more posts.