In the crosshairs: 1984 + 1985 Donruss

I've never completed a Donruss set, but now that I've gotten into the groove of being a part-time set collector, I figured I'd go after my favorite offerings from them. I think 1984 has a real nice, simple design (with today's collectors being reminded of it thanks to its inclusion in 2018 Donruss). Though there are probably too many boring headshots, there are also some neat photos in there as well. Plus apparently the print run that year was a bit lower than other major sets of the era, which-- can't lie-- appeals to me.

ARPSmith kicked off my setbuild a few months ago with a little starter lot. Then recently, Larry in Alabama sent me a nice big chunk of the set. Turrdog then came in with a bit of a brick to fill some holes and bring me to a manageable wantlist to officially post.

The Mattingly RC is probably the key card in the set. Big thanks to Larry for taking care of that one for me.

Larry also gave me the Sandberg, with Turrdog completing the trio of sophomore stars with the Gwynn and Boggs.

Thanks again for the trades, Larry and Turrdog!
I'm down to less that 100 cards to go. (Note that I'm not bothering to go after any of the many errors/variations; I'll be happy with one copy of each card number, regardless if it's an error or correction.) My 1984 Donruss needs are now on my main wantlist, so if you think you might be able to help and want to trade, please take a look at get in touch!


And now for 1985 Donruss which I'm working on concurrently. I always thought it was a cool "bad boy" set with its "Knight Rider" design, though I never owned many cards from it. But now thanks to the trading tandem of ARPSmith, Larry, and Turrdog, I'm in spitting distance of finishing it.

Again, Adam got me off the ground with a starter lot, then Larry did some heavy lifting with a few hundred cards, and then the Turrdog topped it off with important needs, including the two biggest rookies in the set, Clemens and Kirby.

It's a nice looking set!

Just 15 cards to go with 85D! (again, unconcerned with variations.) Check my wantlist for the up-to-date needs if you think you might be able to help me out.

Thanks yet again for the trades, Adam, Larry, and Turrdog! I should be able to knock out the rest of these two sets before long.

A box now and many more boxes to look forward to

I was active on Black Friday on the card front. In addition to linking my folks and in-laws some high-end boxes for xmas/bday gift ideas for me (excited about these! Heck, the month of anticipation is the best part), I grabbed a few deals for myself.

Here's what I ended up with:

2012 Topps Baseball Factory Set - Fenway Dirt Relic Edition
2013 Panini Beach Boys Box
2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball Hobby Box
2015 Panini Stars and Stripes Baseball Hobby Box
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic Baseball Hobby Box
2012 Benchwarmer Vault Trading Cards Box
2011 Topps Baseball Value Box
2011 Benchwarmer Bubble Gum Trading Cards Retail Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

Yeah, I went heavy on the 2014 Prizm Draft, but it was a great deal (it was the quickest baseball product to sell out during Dave & Adam's black friday sale). A few bucks less than a blaster each, you get 3 on-card autos with a chance to pull the likes of Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner (with a tiny chance of Kris Bryant ink, too). Plus there are still a few Gavin LaValley parallels I need. Grabbed enough boxes to qualify for free shipping. Unfortunately, Dave & Adam's hasn't had much else to get too excited over this holiday weekend. I seem to remember last year's sale was more impressive.

The other stuff was from Blowout Cards. Again, I grabbed just enough stuff to qualify for free shipping (which is currently set at twice as much as Dave & Adam's). Nice mix of baseball products, plus a Beach Boys box and I caved to pretty girls and bought my first-ever couple boxes of Benchwarmers. On the topic of non-sports, I was sad to see that boxes of Cryptozoic Ghostbusters are apparently sold out.. was hoping to score one of those if the price was right.

Rather than just have a box-bustin' orgy over the next week or two, I've decided to ration the boxes out over the next year. It'll be a test of my self-control, but I think it'll be nice to have things to look forward to. And I want to cut down on busting boxes (well, paying a lot of money to do so, that is), so grabbing a bunch when they're cheap and spreading them out seemed like a good idea to hopefully keep my ripping urges satisfied. There are really only a couple upcoming 2017 products I plan to buy a box or two of (Archives and Star Wars 40), so hopefully my Black Friday haul carries me through the year with minimal additional blaster and hobby box purchases.

Here's the tentative schedule I've drafted up:

DEC 2016
2011 Topps Baseball Value Box (this was the worst deal; let's get it over with)

JAN 2017
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

FEB 2017
2012 Benchwarmer Vault Trading Cards Box (just in time for valentines)

MAR 2017
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

APR 2017
2012 Topps Baseball Factory Set - Fenway Dirt Relic Edition (ring in the new season with dirt)

MAY 2017
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

JUN 2017
2013 Panini Beach Boys Box (summertime is the right time for Beach Boys)
2011 Benchwarmer Bubble Gum Trading Cards Retail Box (some girls to join the Boys)

JUL 2017
2015 Panini Stars and Stripes Baseball Hobby Box (good way to celebrate the 4th)

AUG 2017
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

SEP 2017
2008 Bowman Chrome Baseball Hobby Box

OCT 2017
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic Baseball Hobby Box (Update: there was an inventory error and Blowout was out of this box. I also made an inventory error myself and only counted 5 of my 6 2014 Prizm Draft boxes on this schedule, so I'll pencil in another one here.)

NOV 2017
2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Baseball Hobby Box

So that's the plan.. but we'll see if I follow through with it or not. Hopefully the fact that I've posted it here will make me feel too guilty to give in and rip anything sooner. I'm also gonna label them and store them out of the way to help avoid temptation.

Some good stuff to look forward to. But for now, hey, I just got a blaster of 2016 Donruss Optic for a few bucks less than SRP off eBay. I won it on Thanksgiving Day, and the seller was just a few zipcodes over, so it arrived very quickly. There are a couple blasters of this on the shelf at my local grocery store that I've been tempted to grab, but I had some patience and saved a little money by shopping online.

Let's see what I got...

Pack 1 is heavy on Rated Rookies. I collect Jankowski and Donaldson, so this is a fine pack. The Lopez is a refractor, though you can't tell in the photo.

Pretty sure I already have that Sale DK (wait, actually no, I had the refractor, not the base). Strasburg is a PC guy. The Sonny Gray is a refractor.

A pink Strasburg (I call them Bubblegum Refractors, personally) and a Harper DK I needed. Nice.
David Wright is a refractor.

Bubblegum Dee Gordon. I might need that refractor Cutch DK, but it looks familiar.

Oh hey, there's a bubblegum version of the Cutch, as well.. cool. Also a Machado DK that I might've needed and a Donaldson insert that doesn't look too bad.

Final pack is a Tyler White hot pack, though I'm more happy about the Junior insert and the Trout base.

So that was an ok box for me. No hits or even any numbered cards, but picked up several PC additions. The rest are available for trade, so just give me a shout if you're interested in anything.

Thanks for stopping by.

finally a box of Donruss Optic in my sights

I've had mixed results during my weekend alone. On the plus side, I was able to fix the water pressure in the bathroom sink thanks to a helpful YouTube video. However my attempt to fix the springs to help our windows open and close easier was a disaster, resulting is shouting and smashing. Good thing my wife and dog don't leave me alone too often, as I seem to liable to lose my temper when there's no one around to judge me for being a hotheaded asshole.

But mainly I've just been hanging out and watching baseball.

I also hit the grocery store for some essentials this morning, and lo and behold I finally found a blaster of 2016 Donruss Optic there.

A couple inserts to start off with. These probably won't stay in my collection long. I just mailed off some Giants to ARPSmith, but the Cueto will likely be in the next mailing to him. As for the Schwarber, Cubs are in demand in my tradebox, so always nice to pull decent cards of them.

Here are a couple base refractors. I'm starting to get a nice little Carlos Correa PC going.

These bubblegumfractors as I call them seem to be one per pack. The Machado is a keeper for me, with the rest up for trade.

Some Diamond Kings. The Cargo is a refractor. These are reserved for Twitch if he needs them, seeing as he called dibs a while back. I should hang onto the Kemp but I don't really want to.

Some Rated Rookies, with Jorge Lopez being a refractor.

Base cards of guys I collect.

And the rest. These are up for trade.

This was definitely one of the more underwhelming boxes of the stuff I've seen. No hits or even a single gosh darn serial numbered card. A bit of a disappointment, but I guess they can't all be winners. I probably won't pick up any more of this-- at least not at full retail price, that's for sure.

But yeah, a few cards for my collection and a decent amount of trade bait. Let me know if any of the available cards caught your eye and you'd like to trade. Thanks!

Deja Vu.. another 2016 Donruss blaster flies into my cart

Just like last Saturday, I bought another blaster of 2016 Donruss at the grocery store today. It was the last one they had out. Would that be good luck for me?

Ever the groundbreaker, I took a photo of the blaster in mid-air. Because why not.. you know what the box looks like.

Panini should do a separate set with just these.. like "Donruss Heritage". Photo-wise, these tend to be the most interesting cards. Rickey walking around carrying stolen bases is pretty cool. The rest are available for trade.

Nothing too notable in the inserts, but these are fine.

Base cards of some guys I collect.

Base cards of guys I don't collect (available for trade). Nice to see the Expos make it into the set via Andres Galarraga.

Gawl dang it, my two "best cards of the box" are both Giants. Boo. They were back to back in the same pack, too. At least the relic is a nice big piece of orange jersey (better than a plain white swatch, right?), though the name Tyler Beede means nothing to me. It's unnumbered. The Matt Duffy press proof is #'d 84/99. The only Giants fan I ever trade with, ARPSmith, has been MIA for a while, I think changing jobs or someshit, so these will likely collect cobwebs in my tradebox unless any of you guys want to trade. Just drop me an email. I know I've got a few pending interested parties from my last few trade bait posts, but I'm hoping to get a batch of packages out here shortly. If you were interested in something from me in the past and I've left you hanging, please don't be shy to drop me an email to rekindle a deal.

Anyways, this box probably wasn't as good as the last one with the A-rod bat chip, but could have been worse. I doubt I'll buy any more of this stuff, though. I was on the fence about this one as it was, and I think I'm good with two.

Thanks for swinging by!

a buzzed blaster of 2016 Donruss

At the grocery store this afternoon, I was looking for some celebratory cards (got the taxes mailed out earlier in the day.. hurray! finally!). Probably would've gone for 2016 Gypsy Queen, tbh, but they didn't have any, so I settled for Matthew Scott's favorite, 2016 Donruss.

Seems David Ortiz and Tony Gwynn take turns being the Donruss coverboy.

My first hit of the box. A checklist. SSP? Prolly. I'm entertaining offers on this card. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY. And no, there's no highlight photo on the reverse, just more names and checkboxes. Didn't think they made these things anymore. But there you go. Ultra rare.

I like these guys. The retro cards are just "off" enough to bother me, with the upper right sitch being too big/busy, and the team name (er, city) too tiny. But I'm happy with these dudes nonetheless.

Here are some guys I enthusiastically collect.

Here are some guys I indifferently collect.

I will say the base design of 2016 Donruss is a big improvement to my eyes over the past couple years, though the photos are still very boring and generic. At least Mattingly is fielding.. that's something.

Chris Sale is sailing along pretty well so far this season.. nice to land his DK. And always cool to pick up a new Brett insert, I suppose.

A pair of Pucketts. The HOF one of the right is apparently an SP. Pretty dumb variation, with just the bottom text different, plus the back is upside down. Whatever. I'm probably due for another trade with Brian one of these days.

Here we have Cal Ripken reenacting the JFK assassination. Too soon, Cal. Too soon. :/

Trade bait!!!!
They clearly save their interesting photos for the '82 inserts. The pink parallel is cool.. but really, any color besides white would be an improvement. You think Panini is kicking themselves for choosing nobody Richie Shaffer as a Rated Rookie while had they given Trevor Story a card, they would've sold twice as many boxes of this stuff?

Base trade bait!!!

And my promised hit... (drum roll)

Well, it's a guy I (indifferently) collect, at least, so I'm not complaining. A-rod cards are worthless these days unless an auto, but still, I'm reasonably happy with this unnumbered bat chip. Pretty blue. The photo makes it looks like Alex ate some bad fish that's catching up to him.

According to baseball-reference his name is "Álex Rodríguez". Really? Seems like too many accents. He's off to a slow start so far this year, so Barry Bonds is getting cocky about his tainted home run record being safe, and he's probably right. Maybe if Bryce or Trout stays healthy and plays into their 40s, but otherwise safe.. and Barry would long be dead from a steroid-related heart-attack by then anyways, so it's fine.

That's it. A fine li'l box. Not the best $20 I ever spent, but not too bad, and again, I was celebrating the end of a stressful week.
Hope you're all having a nice weekend. Get your taxes in!

Pack Skirmish - 2015 Archives vs. junk wax (with a hit)

It's time for a good old fashioned pack skirmish! In fact, let's play two.

First up is a pack of 2015 Topps Archives vs. a pack of 1990 Fleer.

Archives comes out swinging with a star catcher, but Fleer sees your catcher and raises you a matching sticker.
Fleer 1, Archives 0

Wheeler is a dealer, but he's no match for the classic Astros uniform with the rainbow shoulders prominently displayed.
Fleer 2, Archives 0

Hey, two foreign-born pitchers! Tom McCarthy was born in Germany. He didn't have much of a major league career, though, so a winner is Yu.
Fleer 2, Archives 1

Oh snap! Me pulling a non-promised auto? That's only happened once before. That puts a smile on my face, even if Jeff Conine surely isn't anywhere near the top tier of names you could pull an auto of from this product. But I like him well enough and welcome this card into my collection. Fleer answers strong with a card of my hometown team, but this one is a no-brainer. Archives evens the score.
Archives 2, Fleer 2

Archives forfeits their turn thanks to nearly unreadable yellow text on a white background. I hope a Topps employee lost their job over this one, became homeless, and eventually died under a bridge a few months later. Hmm, maybe that was a bit harsh. I hope that employee kept his or her job, but learned a valuable lesson about intelligent graphic design. Plus, who's really at fault here, the designer who chose that shade of yellow (looks even worse in person than in the photo), or the manager who okayed the proof? Dave Righetti walks away with the win here.
Fleer 3, Archives 2

The Herrera RC is kinda cool, but sexy-and-he-knows-it Willie McGee shakin' his booty is unstoppable.
Fleer 4, Archives 2

Meh.. Let's give this one to the Finnegan RC.
Fleer 4, Archives 3

Whoa doggy! Two Hall of Famers facing off.. what are the odds? Eck vs. Kirby.. that's a tough one for me to call. Let's go to the stats. [...] In 24 lifetime plate appearances, Kirby hit only .130 against Eck. Archives gets the point to tie it up.
Archives 4, Fleer 4

Juan Marichal vs. Arsenio Hall. It's close, but I'll give it to Fleer thanks to Arsenio's charming smile. *waves fist up and around* Woof woof woof!
Fleer 5, Archives 4

Scrappin' shortstops! I like David Eckstein, but gotta go with Barry Larkin here with his Championship Year card.
Fleer 6, Archives 4

Welp, looks like the Archives pack has run out of cards, while Fleer is still raring to go with 5 more cards. Dwight Evans in a PC guy for me, so that's cool.

So while Archives delivered the biggest hit of the match with the Conine auto, Fleer prevailed overall.


Next bout..

2015 Archives seeks redemption against a weaker foe, pathetic ol' 1988 Donruss.

Mookie! The only way Donruss could compete with that would be with Mookie Wilson, thereby forcing a Mookie-off. (Could you IMAGINE?!) Alas, it's just Greg Gagne. And the piece of Stan Musial puzzle is no help. Archives jumps out to an early lead.
Archives 1, Donruss 0

Pack-fresh Caminiti rookie, bitches! I should send that bad-boy in for grading! LOL
Though really, Ryan Braun would lose regardless who '88 Donruss brought to the plate.
Archives 1, Donruss 1

Ron Guidry was 25-3 in 1978, always a fun stat to drop. Nelson Cruz is pretty good, but had some PED trouble. Gonna have to award the point to Guidry.
Donruss 2, Archives 1

Ooh, a "silver" grey parallel! That's #'d 168/199. Honestly, even if it was a base card, Cueto would easily beat that Braves mop-up guy I've never heard of. (Cue comments about how this guy was brutally murdered by his mom or someshit probably, like yesterday's post.)
Archives 2, Donruss 2

Sorry, Dwayne, there's not a card in 1988 Donruss that can beat Mike Trout. Archives takes the lead.
Archives 3, Donruss 2

Ha, there's a bush in the background of the Archives card, and a Bush in the foreground of the Donruss card. This one might be too close to call. Wait, I'm being told a recount in Florida narrowly gave the victory to Bush. *shudder*
Archives 3, Donruss 3

The clouds behind Aramis are cool, but [I can't think of a clever Michael Jackson reference to make]. Donruss moonwalks back into the lead.
Donruss 4, Archives 3

How eerie, another HOF matchup! I swear I'm taking these cards in natural order, not tinkering. I love Ralph Kiner, but after my epic TTM return from the Chicken Man, I could never vote against Wade Boggs.
Donruss 5, Archives 3

I'm guessing that's Maz based on the chaw, but who knows thanks to the invisible ink Archives used. That's gonna cost them. Donruss answers with a happy infielder I've never heard of. You don't see many cards that look like that anymore.
Donruss 6, Archives 3

The crowd is booing! Oh wait, they're not booing, they're saying "Boo shell!"
Archives summons its last bit of strength with a Fisk that begs the question, "Is that the best photo Topps could come up with?" Still, Pudge easily bests Buechele.
Donruss 6, Archives 4

Archives is spent, but Donruss is still dealing. It's all over! 1988 Donruss wins!

There you have it. According to the final line score, I should have saved 98% of my money by buying junk wax instead of the discounted Archives blaster I grabbed at the grocery store last weekend. I had already opened the rest of the packs, and the blaster was a dud prior to these last two. I forgot what a one-trick-pony 2015 Archives was, with really the only draw being the Will Ferrell cards, which were seeded 1 per blaster, 2 per hobby box, and 1 autograph per bazillion cases. FYI, I pulled the Dodgers Ferrell card from this blaster, available for trade if anyone needs it. The SPs and any decent inserts are ridiculously tough pulls in this stupid product. I really hope the 2016 version is better when it comes to this stuff, because the Bull Durham cards aren't gonna be enough to carry it. But yeah, I pulled no SPs, of course, and my only other insert was a dumb Abraham Lincoln card that has no business being in Archives. The Conine auto and #'d Cueto parallel helped salvage the box from being a stinker.

The best of the rest.

Thanks for reading! What did you think of the new Pack Skirmish segment? ("skirmish" sounds funner than "war".) I might do a couple more of these. You may have noticed I was lazy and didn't bother cropping the photos at all, so apologies to those of you with slow internet connections.