2014 Archives box epilogue and trade bait

Thanks to everybody who checked out the 2014 Archives hobby box break saga I posted here over the weekend. Lots of nice comments.. Glad you guys enjoyed it! I realize you probably need to be in your 30s to fully appreciate the nostalgia of 80s toys, but hopefully you older and younger guys still got a kick out of it.

It was a lot of fun. I can see me doing this again sometime.. perhaps when 2015 Archives comes out. I've got a big cooler full of old toys, over half of which are remnants from my childhood, held onto all these years, with the rest being additions over the years as a "collector". Sure has been a long time since I played with my toys, so that break was a great excuse to be a kid again. And thanks again to Zippy Zappy for the inspiration of crossing toys with cards for entertaining results.

If you missed  the 4-part series, start at the first part, then click "Newer Post" on the bottom of each post to go to the next one.

While it was a fun break, overall the box was a disappointment. $90 for what amounted to about $20 worth of cards were I to sell them. So while it was fun, it probably wasn't 70 bucks' worth of fun. Thems the breaks. The 2 guaranteed autos were both "commons" worth $5 each if you're lucky. No rare parallels or printing plates or things of that nature. Everybody calls me "the Hitless Wonder" behind my back for a reason (well, they should if they don't). Every time I buy new product it ends up feeling like I went to Vegas and lost big. But I never learn, because it's a fun rush. Who knows.. maybe someday I'll pull a good hit. Of course I'm not in this to get rich, but it's nice to get value from packs that at least approaches what you paid.

So that's probably why the last episode of the break took a relatively dark turn. Had I pulled a Clemente printing plate or something, it all probably would have ended with a galactic celebration.
But enough of my whining.

Random observations from the set:

• Topps seems to have "forgiven" McGwire and Sosa, giving them base cards. Plus Canseco has an SP and auto in the set. I think 2014 is the first time in several years that Topps has put out a new card of these 3 big PED-tainted guys. Juan Gonzales is in there, too. Could Bonds and Palmeiro be around the corner? (Edit: Palmeiro has popped up in a few sets this year unbeknownst to me, leaving Bonds as the only blacklisted big-name at the moment.) Clemens isn't in 2014 Archives, but was in 2014 Museum Collection. Hmm. Another eyebrow-raising inclusion is Lenny Dykstra, who while an exciting player in his day, has built up a long list of run-ins with the law, and is currently in prison, I believe. No Pete Rose, though. Wouldn't it be fun if they snuck him in as a SSP?
• Speaking of notable absences, I know Topps milked Mickey Mantle for all he was worth in recent years, but it sucks they went cold turkey this past year or two. I hope they're able to "re-sign" him before too long. I don't need him in every Topps product, but something like Archives really misses him.
• I hate that the SPs now use the same designs as base cards. It was much cooler before, when the SPs were relatively-fresh designs to spice up a pack.
• Topps also got lazy and cut off the career stats of old-timers who played a lot of years (rather than shrink the font size down to fit them all). I hate that. I like full career stats! If I were to rename my blog, I'd probably call it Full Stats On Back or maybe The Hitless Wonder or Thems The Breaks.
• It's a bummer for me that my guy Bip Roberts doesn't have a non-auto card in the set. I would have probably gone rainbow chasing if he did. Oh well, I'm still just happy he has an auto in the set. I'll probably go after all Bip's different auto parallels [*groan*] if the prices are ok. They are very similar, just with a subtle background tint as the difference.
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Gold Parallel #'d to 50
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Silver Parallel #'d to 25
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Purple Parallel #'d to 10
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Sapphire Parallel #'d to 5
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Ruby Red Parallel #'d 1/1
• - Fan Favorites Autographs Printing Plates #'d 1/1 x 4

On that point, I'm trying to work out a deal with ARPSmith for the magenta Bip printing plate he pulled. Assuming he doesn't decide to just put it on eBay, I will likely end up trading all my SPs and inserts to him for it (plus a few more cards for him). Leaving me with the few refractors I pulled, plus base cards, and the 2 autos. (It's probably taboo to post about a pending, yet-agreed-upon trade, isn't it? Anybody got any Giants hits they can donate to the cause? 3-way trade?)

I don't plan to collect/finish the set (I'll likely buy a hanger at Target to use my $1-off coupon, but that'll be it for me.) I debated if I wanted to hang onto the 1973 Topps design cards since that's a favorite of mine and I'm already working on the real 1973 set.. maybe I should work on a "super-master set" or whatever you call it when you collect a set and all reprints and retro cards with that design. But eh, that'd probably be overwhelming so I think I'll just be content with the vintage set and leave it at that.

So anyways, I'll pick out a few guys-I-collect to hang onto from my Archives haul, plus the autos probably (always kinda liked Pendleton and Eckstein), and the availability of the SPs and inserts depends if trade negotiations for the Bip plate fall through or not, but the vast majority of the base cards and parallels are available for trade. So if you saw anything in the break that caught your eye, just let me know if you want to work out a deal. Thanks.

some available highlights