2010 Topps Best of Chrome box break

Everyone's sent their cash* and all packages have been mailed so I can post the smallest group break ever video now. No scans of the Cubs cards because I sent 'em off already.



Not sure I'd rip another one of these boxes, but I'm glad I got the J-Hey.

*actually Night Owl sent a check and I can't figure out what I did with it, but that's my problem.

Group Break results - BA Benny

BA Benny got hosed. There is no denying this. Let us not dwell on this misfortune. Actually, we better dwell or else there's no post.

Benny chose the code cards and the Mets. Here are the codes:

'52 Mickey...

and '76 Munson.

Here are all the Mets in the box:






NOTHING. Poor BA didn't even have a special refractor to assure him of one lousy Met. The group break giveth and the group break taketh away. Here's what he did get:

Brian Matusz Chrome RC

Chris "Pie-eyed" Coughlan Chrome Rookie Cup

A couple of Tigers.

I added a couple of Mets to the package out of mercy, but unfortunately I'm running low on Mets. I may need to start joining group breaks just for the Meta at this point to replenish my stock. Ugh - what am I saying??

Last one is the Cubs, but I still haven't received payment. No hurry, you did slightly better than BA here though. 

Group Break results - Things are Funner Here

Ok, back to posting scans of my group break because the computer with the video is still acting wonky and I don't have time to fix it. The proprietor of Things are Funner Here claimed the Strasburg chrome and Phillies. If anyone got a "JACKPOT!" out of this break she did. I'll just list 'em all out for youse.

Stroosbarg Rifraektor

I'm certain that some card shop has this card in the case with a $40 price tag on it. I don't care. You get it for $6 in this break. With the Stephen, you get Nationals:

Bowman Platinum Ryan Zimmerman

Ms. J ( I can't remember her name to save my life and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and look at the payment envelope so she's Ms. J for the rest of the post) specifically collects Invader Zim. Like I said, Jackpot. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

Topps Chrome Ryan Zimmerman

Two Zims for the price of one, folks!

BoChro John Simms USA Baseball

I forgot about the USA cards in the set. Thankfully, Simms was picked by the Natsies so I didn't have to random this one off.

Ms. J also got the Phillies, Padres, DBacks and Angels in the break. The Padres she got fit in between these parentheses: ()

Here's the Angels:

Pitcha and a prospect. Next! DBacks up:

Rookie and some trade bait. No one bit, DBacks, better luck next time. Ms. J is actually a Phillies phan so I saved them for last.

Topps Chrome Placido Polanco Refractor

POLANCO-JO! 

 BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

Topps Chrome Cole Hamels Refractor

DOUBLE-PHILLIES-JO!

It figures that a Braves fan would pick up the Phillies Hot Box. Sadly, the next contestant on the price is right did not do as well. They did BAD. Real bad. And they've paid already so there's no going back. I'll have that one posted after Christmas, I don't want to spoil their holiday.

Group Break results - Jeremy

Jeremy runs the blog No One's Going To Read This Blog, but no one reads it, so you wouldn't know who that was if I posted 'Group Break Results - No One's Going To Read This Blog', so I'll just call him Jeremy. If you lazy sods would read his blog I wouldn't have to go through all of this!

Jeremy was the first person to buy into the group break and the first to pay. I've got payments from three-fifths of the people in the break. As he stated in the comments, Slack Owl is not one of them. Eh, he's good for it. Besides, he's probably holding back for my recent Russell Martin taunting anyway. Jeremy grabbed the coveted Mickey Mantle card because a Mantle in a Topps product is probably the scarcest commodity on the planet. Here's the harbinger of doom:

Actually, the Yankees/Mantle combo was one of the more successful ones in the break. Here's the rest of the Yankees:

Chrome Mark Tei$eira

BoChro Capn' Cheezburger

Platinum Derek The Underpaid

Jeremy also gets the Pirates, Cardinals, Reds and  Rockies from the break. The Pirates and Rockies got....

BUPKIS

If you're following at home, The Dodgers, Pirates and Rockies got shut out so far. The Reds made out a little better.

Drew Stubbs BoChro rookie and a prospect card of Dan Buttle. Cardinals weren't too shabby either:

John Jay Chrome rookie and a BoChro refractor of Matt Holliday. Very nice-a. Jeremy sent a bunch of Braves and stuff with his payment so I attacked his wantlists. Cards are in the mail, buddy! Up next: Someone who likes 2/5ths of the NL East.

Group Break results - Night Owl

Payments are starting to come in so it's time to show off the swag. Eventually I will get the video sorted out but I'll just scan them for now. Night Owl is gaga over Dodgers so I suckered him into enticed him to join the group break with the Jackie Robinson refractor:

It looks better in person. Oddly enough, cards that are curved don't scan well. Along with the Dodgers, Night Owl got these teams from the break:

Blue Jays
Rangers
Mariners
Twins

Le'ts look at the Dodgers first, shall we? After all that's the only thing Night Owl collects...


...



....



.....



Hrm. The Dodgers seem to have dodged this box. Whoops. There was some other stuff in there. Here's the Rangers:

Chrome MVP Hambone. Not bad, but not a Dodger.  Let's check out the Mariners:

BoChro Ichiro! Still not a Dodger.  Here's the rest of the mess:

Twins Glen Perkins, and a couple 'a rooks. Well, not even rooks. Pre-rooks. Poor, poor, Owlie.

Group Break Update

The box has been bought, ripped, videoed, sorted, documented, saved and scooped. The only thing I have left to do is upload it to teh YooToobs and post the whole shebang. I don't feel like doing that right now so I'll show off what I got out of the break instead. I ended up doing pretty dang well for myself, I must admit. Too good in fact. Two of the other breakers got no cards at all from their favorite team. I'm going to rectify that situation later on though. I got a connection with piles of unwanted Chrome. Everyone gets some shiny in this break. Here's my swag:

J-Hey Chrome Refractor. The whole reason the break was done in the first place.

Luckily, the reject teams I got were all ones that I should have no trouble trading away should I choose to do so.

This one ain't getting traded. Xfracty Bulldog!

Purple Jurrjens!

Chrome rookie of Brandon Hicks. Brandon probably has a very outside shot of winning a bench spot this year. Maybe if the injury bug lits like it did last year.

I hate when I scan sideways out of laziness and then forget to rotate the image.

No clue who this guy is. Indians get snapped up quick though.

Another Royal.

Mike Minor rookie card! YEEHAWWWait. There's no Rookie card logo. Aw crap this is a 'prospect' card. I guess Topps has to save the Minor rookie for the early 2011 releases so they don't end up with a lousy beginning of the year rookie crop again.

What's the deal with all the Royals? I guess Moustakas is good. As good as Royals get I guess.

Expect the break video up tomorrow night. No fair backing out after you see how terrible your break was!

Mini Group Break Team Randomizing Whatchamacallit

After asking for the teams everyone wanted there were still a few open slots. Here's what everyone asked for:


Night Owl
Dodgers
x
x
x
x

requested Blue Jays, Red Sox, Rangers and Mariners

Jeremy
Yankees
Pirates
Cardinals
x
x

requested Reds

Things are Funner Here
Nationals
x
x
x
x

requested Phillies

BABenny
Mets
Tigers
Rays
Marlins
x

requested Rangers, Astros, O's, Rockies, Angels, A's.

Justin
Cubs
x
x
x
x

requested Red Sox, A's, Brewers, Astros

Dayf
Braves
Whatever's left over

I divvied the teams out so people who claimed their team first and ones who had less teams claimed had priority. This meant Night Owl got the Rangers over BA Benny, Justin got the Red Sox over Night Owl, and Justin got the Astros over BA Benny. This still left a few teams open so I put the rest in Random.org, hit Again! three times and this is what we got:

so the final team assignments are as follows:


Night Owl
Dodgers
Blue Jays
Rangers
Mariners
Twins

Jeremy
Yankees
Pirates
Cardinals
Reds
Rockies

Things are Funner Here
Nationals
Phillies
Padres
DBacks
Angels

BA Benny
Mets
Tigers
Rays
Marlins
O's

Justin
Cubs
Red Sox
A's
Brewers
Astros

Dayf
Braves
Giants
White Sox
Indians
Royals

I checked the local Target and they unfortunately didn't have the box. If it doesn't snow tonight, I'll be able to get it at the Target near work tomorrow or Tuesday. Once it's in my hand, I'll do my best to video the rip right away. If you don't like your random teams, feel free to trade amongst yourselves. Any questions, just e-mail me.

The Smallest Group Break Ever

Note: All full up!

I went to Target today to buy soup. I can buy soup pretty much anywhere but I went to Target. If you're reading this blog you know exactly why I went to Target for soup. Delicious, delicious Target soup. After filling my basket with soup, the weight of all the cans made me list to starboard and I unexpectedly ended up right in front of the card aisle. Shocking, I know! As long as I was there I decided to browse around and see what (if anything) was new.

I finally saw a blaster of retail Bowman Sterling at a Target. I looked for one last week (and would have bought it too) but didn't find one then. There were a few sitting there waiting for me to buy them and bring them home so I could rip them open and tear their little guts out, but by that time my Sterling urge had passed. Not even J-Hey on the box could entice me to buy a mutant Bowman's Best with horrible retail refractor odds at 1:ninety-something packs. Crummy autos land 1:26 though, woo-hooo! No thanks.

I haven't paid attention to Hockey cards at all since the Trashers (h omitted on purpose) traded Braydon Coburn for a first round playoff sweep. I did notice that Score is now doing hockey again. I really liked Score cards back in the day, but Donini's 7 cards for a buck offering doesn't do it for me any more. Besides, apparently they based the design on 1990 Score. I hate to break this to the folks in Arlington, but 1990 score is fugly. Just like 1952 Topps is fugly, 1960 Fleer is fugly, 1981 Donruss is fugly, most first efforts not by Upper Deck are just plain fugly. 1991 Score Hockey, now that's a nice design. About as overproduced as 88 Donruss, but still a nice looking set. Besides, I'm still mourning the death of O-Pee-Chee so no hockey for me.

There is a bunch of new Topps football stuff like Prime and some new crap called Unrivaled but the only  football I'm interested in at all is the Panini Album stickers. Even the Topps base set doesn't interest me at the moment. I must admit I've thought about getting one of the big cardboard blister packs with 10 packs, a couple of Chrome exclusive cards and some Code cards though. The packaging is ridiculous, but if you've opened one of Topps' new no-value blasters with 33% less cards, useless parallel packs and a manu-patch gimmick, seeing a blaster-like object with actual freaking packs in them is a welcome sight. I saw one of those football packages and right next to it was this:

CHROME SUPA VALUE NIGHTMARE BOX

WITH FRIGGIN J-HEY SHINY

MUST HAVE J-HEY SHINY

Thirty bucks? I hate Chrome! I don't want to pay thirty bucks for a box of cards I hate just for the Shiny! I can't be the only other person who feels like this can I?

WHO'S UP FOR A (tiny) GROUP BREAK???

Here's teh deal: I want that J-Hey shiny. I wouldn't mind all the Braves out of the box too. Let's do the smallest group break ever. One box of Topps Chrome-A-Thon or whatever the hell it's called. Here's the deal:

• I get J-Hey Shiny and all the Braves in the box.

• There are 5 possible slots available in the break.

• 6 bucks a slot: Payable in cash through the mail (no effin' PayPal)

• Each slot gets one of the 4 remaining Shinyfractor cards (Mantle, Strasburg, Castro or Robinson) or the two code cards

• Each slot gets all the cards out of the box of the Team associated with the Shinyfractor (Yankees, Cubs, Nationals, Dodgers) while the person who wants the code cards can choose their team from the remaining 25.

• Each slot also gets the cards from 4 additional teams, you can choose 'em or do 'em randomly, I don't care. Claim your slot and we'll figure that out later.

If you want in, leave a comment stating which card you want and then immediately send me an e-mail to confirm. First come, first serve, no whining. Here's a list of all the slots that have been claimed so far:

Dayf: Braves/J-Hey


Night Owl: Dodgers/Jackie Robinson


Jeremy: Yankees/Mickey Mantle


Things are Funner Here: Nationals/Stephen Stasburg


Justin: Cubs/Starlin Castro 


BA Benny: Mets/Two Code Cards

If there is overwhelming demand for this kind of thing, I'll do a second box with 6 more slots. Get it? Got it? Good. Claim your slot.