Saturday, September 20, 2014

2006 Flair Showcase hobby box from the grocery store (trade bait!)

Grocery shopping this weekend, they had 3 random old hobby boxes for $49.99 each (?!). At first I saw logos on a non-Topps product and was very confused, since this is the first time I've seen non-current product at the Fred Meyer (aka Kroger equivalent).

I knew I had to pick up one. #1 because I love "ripping wax" and #2 I want to support my grocery store having a robust card section. There were 3 hobby boxes: 2008 Bowman Chrome, 2006 Upper Deck Ovation, and 2006 Flair Showcase. As the title of this post implies, I chose the latter. I borrowed my wife's phone (I don't have a smart phone) to check eBay prices to make sure it was a decent deal, and it confirmed that the Flair was my best bet.

So here we go 18 packs of 2006 Flair Showcase, a set I was totally unfamiliar with, but the package boasted 2 guarantied hits.

Cover boy Ken Griffey, Jr.

The 1st card I saw was the back of the Hoffman. Which was nice. Guy I collect, n' all. Also, spoiler alert, the only auto in the box: Bronson Arroyo. Hey, could be worse!

Frank Thomas as an A. Serial numbered! Cool.

Prince Fielder "Suite Level" parallel RC. Sweet! (Suite!) I mean, sure, he's sucked the past couple years, but he's still young enough to bounce back as get back on a HOF track. I don't have any good Prince cards, so I'm happy to have this, unless Tony L. really wants it.

Maddux! Like it. Cuban guy I've never heard of.

Pujols WBC insert. Nice.

Big Unit "Suite Level Legacy" serial numbered parallel. Cool. Also Manny, Ivan, and Schilling. Good pack.

Peavy is the card o' the pack here as far as I'm concerned.

That's a nice "Field Box" Smoltz parallel. Plus a Miggy and a Reggie. Great pack.

An Utley. A Gomes parallel.

Decent pack with a Big Hurt and some other good guys.

Nomar! My big Marcus Giles post is coming soon. I know I've teased it a lot for the past year, but for reals this time it's really coming. I already drafted most of it up while I was drunk a few weeks ago.

Lots of star power in this pack! The King Felix insert may be the best, but the Biggio, Beltre, and Thome are sweet too.

Torii Hunter "Field Box" parallel. Also an Ichiro. His last name is Suzuki. For some reason, card companies don't know this.

Meh. Konerko's ok. Beltran.

Piazza as a Padre.. always nice.

Pujols-hot pack! Also the 2nd hit of the box, a Roy Halladay relic.

Ok, I must have been portioning out the packs wrong because this last one is only 3 cards. MY BAD! I guess the card 'o the "pack" is the Papelbon RC. But he's a duche. So is JD Drew. I don't know Mike Jacobs at all, but odds are he's the best human being of the group.
(Whoops, I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the Pedro-hot pack.)

UPDATE: Here are 3 good cards I forgot to take a pic of originally:
A couple Pedros and a Trot Nixon plain white swatch.
So there you go. $50 worth of cards. Whatever, it was fun. A few cards for my PCs and some good trade fodder (lots of Red Sox [Hoyle] and Brewers [Tony L.]), so I'm ok with it. If you saw something that struck your fancy, feel free to get in touch about a quick trade. Thanks!

20 comments:

  1. I'd be interested in the Beltre, Smoltz, and Nomar cards.

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    1. I'm kinda smitten with the Smoltz, tbh, but the Beltre and Nomar are yours.

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    2. Very sweet cards by the way. They remind me of Bowman Platinum.

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  2. Replies
    1. Yeah, I forgot to take a pic of it. I've now updated the post. It's a Trot Nixon jersey.

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  3. Cool find! I'm interested in Miggy and Ivan Rodriguez. I have 2014 Triple Threads base for trade including Ozzie and Rickey Henderson.

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    1. I kinda collect Miggy, but I'm sure we could work something out for the Ivan and maybe some other Tigers if you want.

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  4. I'm sure it was a blast. I would have grabbed the ovation too, (not a bowman chrome or any chrome fan for the matter, just the Braves I need). BTW that Smoltz and any other Braves would be sweet.

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    1. Yeah, if the box of Ovation is still there next week, it might be tempting to pick it up too.

      I've got some Braves I'm about to send out to you and can pick some more outta this lot. But I'm probably hanging onto the Smoltz. It might be my favorite card of the box, honestly!

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  5. Nice box! Lots of inserts and parallels.

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  6. I actually had a dream -- honest to God, a dream -- about going to a grocery store and finding baseball cards. I woke up feeling like I was 12 again.

    I'm always interested in Brewers, of course, and thanks for thinking of me immediately when you got them. Hopefully we can work a trade out!

    You got some pretty awesome cards here!

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  7. I'm kind of glad my grocery store doesn't have cards. I would be poor.

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    1. Yeah, it can be dangerous. But a blaster here and there isn't too bad.

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  8. Nice box break. I'm glad my grocery store doesn't have hobby boxes... otherwise things might bet out of control for me.

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    1. Thanks. Yeah, I'm curious if they'll be getting more random old hobby boxes in the future, or if this was just a fluke.

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  9. Yes. I see a few Sox in there. Got your PWE yesterday. Thanks Gavin.

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