Robotronix and the Fantastical Machine: An Archives Adventure: Chapter 1

Sometimes ripping Topps Archives gets me nostalgic for my younger days and I break out the toys and play with my cards like a little kid. I got 2 boxes of Archives this year, the first of which was excellent and I talked about it here. The second box will be busted over this little series of posts in storytime form. Enjoy!

One days Robotronix the robot and his buddy Vroom-Vroom the little yellow car are cruising on their way to pick raspberries for the pie Auntie Helga's planned to enter in the state pie competition when they come across Professor Huffnagle, a work-friend who is visible shaken.

"Robo, you must help me with this!," insists Professor Huffnagle.

"I've invented this machine that expels small packages from within it. Said packages contain images men who play the game of baseball. It's kind of a big deal! Evil forces are plotting to steal it even now. I'm just a fat, old British dude who couldn't punch my way out of a wet paper bag, so I need a baddd-ass robot like yourself to keep it safe."

Robotronix's circuits were abuzz with simulations of excitement and wonderment. "I accept this task you have assigned me," he states robotically.

"Wholly fuck, bro!," exclaimed Vroom-Vroom, his foul-mouthed automobile friend. "That's some heavy shit right there."

A gracious Professor Huffnagle nervously released a farewell fart and was on his way.

"Let's tuck into that crazy moonbeam box, Daddy-o," said Vroom-Vroom for some dumb reason.

"My programing confirms such a sample size could have beneficial implications. Beep-borp," replied Robotronix.

They each produce a package from the machine and unwrap its meaty innards.

"Sheeeet." said Vroom-Vroom. "That Bobby muthafuckka needs to get the fuck outta herr. Bitch-ass best close his shirt."

"My sensors are indicating displeasure levels greatly elevated," agreed Robotronix, before violently erupting in a series of beeps and boops which is how he vomits.

Time passes. The two go on their way.

Nearly 45 minutes later, they're accosted by a youth immersed in goth culture.
"Sup, bitches?," inquires the youth.

Snagging a pack from the fantastical machine, Stan challenges a dual.

Robotronix answers with a pack himself, and Stan is kept at bay.

"Why's you gotsa be such a bitch?!," asks Vroom Vroom to Goth Stan.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, guys. It's like there's been an evil force around here lately. It's turning everything that's good into shit."

"Does not compute," says Robotronix.

"Yeah, man. It sure doesn't." And with that Goth Stan slinks away.


Moments later, a maniacal Wally Joyner jumps out from behind a rock.

"Oh great, an evil robot come to run amok in my home. Not if I can help it!," Wally exclaims.

Robo replies, "Error. Error." But it's too late, as Wally has challenged with a pack.

"Boo-yacka-shaw!!," shouts Wally.

"Shove that up your ass!," shouts Vroom-Vroom, quite offensively.

Relenting, Wally backs down. "Ok, you guys know you're stuff."

"We mean no harm to anyone," says Robo.

"Yeah, I can tell you're a solid robot. Respect. What are you guys doing out here, anyway?"

"Sheeeet," answers Vroom, "We'z tryin to protect this machine from bad guys."

"Bad guys, eh?," says Wally. "I think you guys should go see the Gloracle. The Gloracle would be able to point you in the right direction."

Wally tells them where to find the Gloracle. They shake hands and head their separate ways.


By dusk, they've entered the lair of the Gloracle. Ominous sounds bounce all around and reverberate off the pair's metallic casings.

"Who goes there?" a ghostly voice calls.

"It's a robot and a talking car looking for the Gloracle." says Vroom.

"You've found that which you seek," says the Gloracle, revealing himself.

"Sch-weeet!" says Vroom. "Now you can help us on our quest."

"First, you must prove you are pure of heart by besting me in a competition," says the Gloracle.

They grab competing packs from the machine. Vroom is victorious thanks in large part to Mike Trout.

"Very well," answers the Gloracle, "I shall help you with that in which you may thine seek."

"Know this, though: Your journey is just beginning!"

[end of chapter 1]

Gavin Lux is the Dodgers #1 draft pick!

If you've been following the 2016 MLB draft, you're likely aware that Gavin Lux was taken by the Dodgers as the 20th overall pick. Pretty cool! As the cardsphere's premiere Gavin Collector, it's obviously of interest to me. As a Padres fan, I'm conditioned to not like Los Angeles, but honestly I don't really hate the Dodgers that much. I'm totally fine with my Gavin brethren representing Dodger Blue. Sure, in a perfect world, he'd go to the Padres. Definitely prefer LA over him languishing in some third-world baseball organization like the Marlins or Dbacks. Gavin was committed to Arizona State and I figured he'd grind out a couple years there before going pro, but looks like he had a really strong HS senior season, and if you get drafted in the first couple rounds, that's a nice payday, so yeah, go for it. Apparently the other kid who was the top shortstop prospect allegedly failed a pre-draft drug test, leaving Gavin Lux as the #1 SS available. The Dodgers liked what they saw and grabbed him up early (he had been ranked the #40 talent available).

Anyways, best of luck to Gavin with his professional career. Hope to see him manning short in Chavez Ravine soon and for a long time into the future!

This has got to be the first time in my collecting history that I've already had a card (much less a budding PC) of a guy as he was taken as a 1st round draft pick. Mr. Lux isn't the first 1st round Gavin, though, as he joins Gavin Floyd (4th overall to the Phillies in 2001) and Gavin Cecchini (12th overall to the Mets in 2012) as highly drafted Gavins.

Let's take a look at my Gavin Lux collection as it stood on the day he was drafted.

Here's some sick mojo, #'d /5 and /4, respectively. The fact that he went to a big market team most likely helped boost the value of his cards. Which is nice for the cards I already had, but might suck as I try to add to my PC going forward. For example, when he eventually gets a Bowman Chrome card, will I even want to try to rainbow it? Probably not, as I'd have a lot of LA fans to compete with. Oh well, at least I grabbed these couple sweet cards cheaply while I could!

Two of the same card /25. One of them is a Christmas Card(!!!). The other is a dupe but I guess I'll hang onto it for now.

And a couple non-numbered autos round out my auto-heavy little Gavin Lux PC.

So yeah, a decent PC to start out with. You traders out there, while you may be compelled to send all your future Gavin Lux cards to Dodgers collectors (not naming names --NIGHT OWL), don't forget about your pal Gavin who was collecting him back when he was in high school!
Again, best of luck, Gavin!

-   -  -- ---o

Speaking of good stuff happening to guys named Gavin, things have been great with me lately. I'm digging my new job and really like the people in my team. Also my wife's graduation ceremony was today.. officially done with school now, getting her MBA with honors.. very proud of her! And a couple days ago she finally got that promotion she interviewed for like a month ago (at the same company I work for). So she's stoked on that. Oh, and for a graduation present from her folks, she got a new smartphone. You know what that means! I get handed down her old phone, and while I won't have service on it, at least I'll again have nice, pocket-sized camera. I'm excited for that!

So yeah, celebrating good times here over at Baseball Card Breakdown HQ!

That's it for today. Keep on rocking, everybody.

Bought a hat and got some cards

I didn't get around to buying any Walmart pizza to snag those exclusive Topps cards, but I had been thinking of buying a new ballcap, so when I heard about the Lids/New Era exclusive Topps cards, I figured I'd take a look.

I wasn't planning on going to the mall yesterday, but some rail service interruptions on my commute home essentially left me stranded at the mall while things got back to normal. So I went ahead and did some shopping. Got a couple pairs of shorts and a pair of shoes from Ross then found the Lids store. I had been looking for a current Padres hat, but their SD selection was pretty limited, so I ended up with a throwback. (Update: as Marcus points out, it's not actually a throwback, but rather the new cap for the Padres Friday home games this year.)

I erred on the side of too-big with my cap, as I have a big mellon and hate a tight hat giving me a headache. But hopefully it shrinks a bit as it's supposed to, because currently I have the dilemma of whether to tuck in my ears, or let the hat push them down and dumbo them out. Neither are ideal. So let's hope it shrinks some or else this hat will likely be worn exclusively during times I'm in need of a haircut.
But yeah, I got my pack of cards and was on my way.

It's a wise partnership by Topps and hopefully this will successfully get some people into/back-into the hobby. Would love to see oddballs like this make a return to prominence like in the days when it was common to get cards with food products and the like.

From the astronomical odds of pulling a non-base card listed on the wrapper (1:423 are your best odds at anything), they sure must have made a lot of these. But you figure a large percentage of them will be given to guys who don't care about cards and will get thrown away.

Anyways, let's see who I pulled.

A couple promising young pitchers, Marcus Stroman and Jacob deGrom. The cards mimic Topps 2016 flagship design, though feature different photos.

Buster Posey is a pretty good name to pull, I suppose.

Here we go! A guy I collect: Andrew McCutchen. Glad I pulled at least one keeper for my collection.

Here's the back. Pretty similar to flagship, but with the "New Era" numbering.

The hat was pretty pricey, so I've thrown the Stroman, deGrom, and Posey on eBay, hoping to recoup a few bucks and make me feel slightly better about the purchase. Check out my listings here if you want. (I always throw in customs as bonus cards, btw.) If they don't sell, they'll be available for trade. (UPDATE: I was able to sell the Posey, but looks like the other 2 are available.)

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, everybody.

Trade roundup for one

Seems like a few weeks since I last did a trade roundup. And it's not because I've been slacking, but because I just haven't gotten a trade package in that time. But P-town Tom heroically broke my cold streak with a sweet mailer of cards.

Kicking off with a couple autos. While I've already got the four needed letter A cards in my project of spelling BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN, there's a good chance this Mike Leake card will bump one of them out, what with him being an established major leaguer and hey, San Diego born, to boot. Not sure who my other A cards are off the top of my head, but chances are at least one of them is a failed prospect.
As for the other card here, I don't really know anything about Chris Betts, but when I saw Tom pulled a Christmas Card out of a box of Leaf Draft, I let it be known I was interested if it was available. (Really guys, if you get a card numbered 12/25, just assume I'm interested in trading for it!) Cool looking card. Best of luck to Chris Betts with his career.

As a Cubs/Team USA fan, looks like Tom had some Kris Bryant dupes to share. Nice!

The Giles Brothers and the Vogelmoster! That sounds like the title of a cheesy book for young adults.

Some appreciated cards of dudes I collect. Of special note is the yellow bordered box-bottom Brett, and the Yaz that I remember recently seeing on Completely Arbitrary and thinking to myself that was a cool card and I hoped to get a copy someday. So that worked out nicely!

We wrap up with a great lot for my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset. Oh how they sparkle!

Big thanks for the trade, Tom!

2016 Archives.. my best box ever!

I like Topps Archives a lot. In 2012, I had been out of the hobby for nearly two decades. I took a curious look on eBay to see what has happening in the world of baseball cards. I was immediately drawn to Archives with the familiar old designs featuring stars of yesteryear and today. I ended up buying 2 or 3 blasters over the next few months. Didn't pull anything too exciting besides a Pettitte relic and a Clemente reprint RC. I discovered the seminal 1988 Topps blog, and from there Night Owl Cards.

By 2013, I was fully back into the hobby, picking up where I left off building my collection in the early 90s and starting up his here blog. Again, I bought 2 or 3 Archives blasters that year, with the only hit I recall pulling being a boring Hanley Ramirez relic.

When 2014 rolled around, I was entrenched in the hobby and had made a name for myself in our little corner of the internet. I got serious about Archives that year and ponied up for a hobby box. My 2 promised autos were David Eckstein and Terry Pendleton.. fine players, but both definitely on the common/cheap side of the product's autograph checklist.

In 2015, I doubled down and pre-ordered two hobby boxes of Archives. I figured that would ensure I'd finally score a sweet hit from the product. Right? Nope. I mean, I did alright, pulling a Brett Gardner printing plate and a /199 auto of Jason Kendall, plus base autos of Brady Anderson, Dontrelle Willis, and somebody else who isn't coming to mind. (Had to look it up in my blog's archives: Dalton Pompey).

So it had become an annual money dump for me, but was still fun enough for me to keep it going. I would enviously watch guys like the Snorting Bull blog have excellent boxes every year and think when am I going to get a sweet box like that? This year, I again went the dual-box route... hoping maybe this time I'd finally reach that pot o' gold.

I think I'll be using one of the boxes for an 80s toy "narrative" post like I did a couple years ago, so stay tuned for that one (still haven't finished busting that box). But the other box I tore through Friday evening. It was very, very good to me.

Here's a representative selection of some highlights that caught my eye in the base card department.

I never bother trying to complete the set, just go after guys I collect, any key rookies, and hope for a decent hit or two. I was happy to come up with a nice fat stack of keepers for my collection. The old-timers are pretty much all pictured with the respective teams you'd expect, with Boggs as a Yankee being the only minor "surprise" I came across. Personally I'd love to see a few more interesting choices such as Lou Brock as a Cub and the like, but oh well. I really like how the 1991 and 1979 designs look. Gotta say 1953 is easily my least favorite of the three, featuring boring, often low quality headshots with none of the charm of the original cards' painted portraits.

When I rip a pack and see the back of a 1991 Topps card, the first thing I think is, "Hey, where's the gum?" Haha. I was very pleased that Topps brought back complete career stats on the back this year (not applicable to 1953) after tragically truncating them in the previous couple years of Archives. I love the tiny text on cards of guys like Mays and Ryan who played forever!

Ok, now we're getting into the inserts. I really like these two 1985 insert sets, with Harper clearly being my best pull here.

These inserts almost feel "wrong" being in a modern set, what with the rounded corners. While a tribute to the oversized 1969 Topps Super set, these things are probably closer to overproduction-era Mother's cards in reality. They are pretty cool, though, and I was very happy to pull the Goldy.

I gotta admit the Bull Durham cards don't do anything for me. I watched the movie once or twice long ago. It was fine and all but I wouldn't list it among my favorite baseball flicks or anything. I'll need to Netflix it one of these days to reacquaint myself with it and remember who "Tony" and "Jimmy" are.

A pair of Koufax cards. The 1953 one is an SP, I believe the only one I got in this box. Archives SPs are dumb this year, as they usually are. At least there are only 10 of them. Same ol' designs as the base (I miss when the SPs were in different designs), and why repeat players? I think SPs should be reserved for lesser-known oldies who aren't in the base set (if there's gotta be SPs at all). If you really gotta repeat players, at least switch up which team they're pictured with.

Some parallels. Red (/50) for the Cardinals and blue (/199) for the Cubs.. nice and color coded. Damn Oakland ruining that coordination! Too bad there aren't green parallels. I'm just glad they got rid of the "silver" (gray) and "gold" (rust) parallels from last year.. those were ugly. But I miss the shiny parallels from earlier years of Archives.

And now for the grand finale of the box.. the autos! As a Padres fan, I was happy to pull a Randy Jones autograph. Not a "sick mojo" hit, but he's a PC guy for me, so it's a nice hit for my collection. But that was just the tip of the iceberg for my luck with this box. I already made a quick post about the Griffey redemption the other day after I pulled it.

My thought process was like..
"Aw dang, a redemption" :/
"WAIT WUT? Ken Griffey Jr? NICE!" :)
"Hang on.. Black Border Parallel.. aren't those 1/1?!" =D
Then I proceeded to "Woooooooo!!!" aloud to myself for a few minutes with a huge smile.

And yeah, according to eBay, the black parallels all seem to be 1/1. There don't seem to be many Griffey autos available from 2016 Archives, with only like 4 redemptions popping up on eBay by the time I'm writing this post. And none of those are the Father/Son card. The #1 Draft Pick design seems to be more common. The prices are pretty crazy. I'm sure I could get some ridiculous $$$$ if I sold mine. It's tempting to cash in and put it on eBay right now, but I think I gotta hang onto it. It's just too good of a story.. Archives is the product that brought me back into the hobby. Then I struggled with it for a few years with lackluster boxes (and honestly I generally have bad luck with all unopened product I rip). Until BAM! Finally got my sick mega mojo hit of a lifetime. There's no way I could ever top that. Hell, I even pulled it on the same day the great Muhammad Ali died, to throw a little extra weight into the situation. While it might be nice to sell it and use the funds to land an unattainable dream card for me like a high-grade Clemente rookie or something, I still think I gotta hang onto the Griffey. Like most collectors my age, I'm a big Griffey fan and he's always been a guy I collected.

Here are some images via eBay so you can use your imagination to extrapolate what the card I pulled a redemption for will look like, though with a black border.

not my card

The base version of the Griffey Father/Son card. (Why did they go with the 1980 Topps card for Sr? That's like his worst looking card!)

not my card 

An example of what the Father/Son autos look like. (It'd be cool if they also got the dads to sign, making them dual autos, but hey, minor complaint.) Hmm.. apparently the "base auto" versions of these are /10. So yeah, definitely scare, and even if I didn't pull the black parallel, it'd still easily be my best hit ever.

So now I have to go through the redemption process. Fingers crossed for a prompt redemption with no snags! Redemption horror stories prod at my brain and make me think I should just sell the redemption and let someone else worry about it.. though that thinking already came back to haunt me once when I let a nice Michael Conforto auto slip away. So might as well live a little and risk it.

It's a little stressful, what with it being such a high-dollar card. This is one delivery where I don't mind a signature being required! When it arrives, I'll take a bunch of pictures of it and then get it into a family safe deposit box or something. I might even keep it at work; Sounds funny to say but I work in a very secure room with 24/7 cameras and not even the cleaning crew has access. At least there I could admire it every workday and bask in the glory that is the pull of my lifetime. But yeah, first things first; need to get it in-hand.

Anyways.. I'll keep ya'll updated. Thanks for reading!

WOOOOOO!!!

Got my annual Topps Archives box(es) today, and while history has taught me to keep my expectations low, I just pulled my best hit ever...

It's a dang redemption, but still! Not only is it a KEN FRICKIN GRIFFEY JR auto, but I believe the black border parallels are 1/1. A Griffey auto would be sweet enough as is.. but make it a one-of-one and baby, I'm floating over here. Great day! Before you Griffey collectors ask, I'm planning on hanging onto this one, sorry. Can't wait to get it in-hand!

An ill-timed COMC order

I had just placed a COMC order back in late April, and I couldn't resist making another one in late May. I know a lot of you guys just add stuff to your inventory throughout the year then wait until a free shipping special to get the cards mailed out to you. But I just don't have the patience for that!

However, I should have waited a little while longer this time, as it's a Spring Cleaning Sale weekend at COMC coming up (6/3-6/5) with free shipping. Oh well, just 3 bucks wasted.

Sorry to say it, guys, (as I don't have much/any regular readers these days who are Padres fans), but this was a San Diego-centric order (though not actually Padres cards). While the team is pretty bad this year, I'm still a Friar fan for better or worse. While I only consider myself to have a PC going for 3 current Padres (Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Andrew Cashner), I figured I'd pick up a good card of some of the other notable players on this year's team. And so that's the meat of this recent order.

Kicking off with some shiny catchers, at $2.74 the Derek Norris was easily the most expensive of these future Friar autos, with the others averaging around a buck-fiddy. He's been pretty cold at the plate this year, but still an exciting guy to watch. Christian Bethancourt has been playing decently, with manager Andy Green trying to wedge him into games with some time in the outfield. He even pitched in a blowout the other day and raised some eyebrows with his arsenal of pitches.

Alexi Amarista? Well, he's an easy little guy to root for. Melvin Upton has bounced back from rock bottom liability to be a serviceable (if overpaid) everyday outfielder once again. He seems to still have his speed, as his 11 stolen bases and 2 triples lead the team.

legends pic.twitter.com/FzgU2Z0W4Q

— brady phelps (@LobShots) June 2, 2016

Drew Pomeranz and Christian Friedrich have been pleasant surprises in San Diego's rotation, with ERAs around 2.50 and ERA+ around 155.

Jon Jay has been doing pretty well, with his .286 average leading the club among qualified hitters (UPDATE: up to .301 after his 5-6 performance in a crazy game last night). He's also endeared himself to Padre fans by always wearing fabulous Tony Gwynn socks. I commemorated this wardrobe choice on a custom overlay.

Here it is undressed. Days after picking this one up for a little over a dollar on COMC, I then found another of the same card for a little under a dollar at the card show. I picked up that one also and sent it to Marcus from All The Way to the Backstop with an overlay (and it should have arrived by now so I'm not spoiling anything). Marcus' overlay actually came out better, while the window on mine got a little wonky to accommodate the auto.

From current Padres now to former. I'm just about ready to consider my Ken Caminiti collection "finished" by my standards, but one last card I felt I needed to round it out was this one. I don't think I previously owned any Cammy relics or cards depicting his swan song half-season in Atlanta. This card hits both birds.

More letter cards toward my quest of spelling out BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN. I'm down to only needing another B and a K in addition to a couple that jaybarkerfan has set aside for me. If anybody has a B and/or K of anybody available for trade, please let me know! I might also want another L, because I'm pretty sure my other L is also Jarett Dillard which I didn't realize at the time, and I'd rather not have dupes in this project.

I had a little store credit remaining (over the $3 for shipping), so I looked for a cheap 65 need to tap me out, and Floyd Robinson is who I came up with. This card takes me to 59% complete with the set.

That's it for this order. I might throw together another one this weekend to take advantage of the free shipping offer. Already got a couple Yangervis Solarte autos in my inventory.