Went To The Club, But Didn't Know Many People There

Made a rather spontaneous purchase this past week.  As you know if you've read me more than twice, I gave up most new products a couple years ago.  On top of that, my baseball game viewing dropped to practically zero as well.  I couldn't justify the rising costs of building sets of players that I no longer recognize.  Especially when the price of a box calculates to more than a dollar a card when divided evenly.

Well, I threw a lot of that out the window when I came across the listing for 2023 Stadium Club on my favorite dealer's website.  There were Hobby boxes for $149 with two autos and the usual number of parallels and tough-to-complete inserts.  

Now to me, I figure I'm pulling two rookie autos that I've never heard of.  So, a basic auto is worth $5 in my mind.  Take double that off the price of the box and you're left with $129.  There are 128 total cards in the box (16 x 8), so it's about a buck a shot.  Granted, it's possible to get lucky and pull a great auto, but I'm never that optimistic.  

The other choice was the "Compact" box which is basically half a Hobby box.  One auto and most of the parallels & inserts that I don't care that much about.  Price was $69 at this dealer, which was about ten bucks less than the big name sites.  Two of these was less than a single hobby box.  Still right around a buck a base card, but they're nice looking this year....

SOLD!

I kept thinking that was Bryce Harper on the 'cover', but it's Acuña...

When I got them in hand, I learned why they called them compact.  They're practically blaster boxes, since they're 8 packs of 8 cards, but of course, they aren't charging $20 for them.

Cut the cellophane and pull the lid back, and you might think they're empty...

But the inner flap reveals the packs in the bottom.

There really are eight, even though my photo looks like seven.  Let's dive in!

First card - Nolan Jones from Colorado.  If he didn't have a glove, I'd have said he was a cyclist or something.

First pack mojo!  Pulled a Jeter Chrome and a red Canseco.  It's always a win whenever I pull Jeets from a pack.  And in the last year or so, it's actually happening.  Used to be he was the last card I needed for base sets and inserts every time. 

The rest of the pack just for fun.  Nice pack - Johnny Bench is great, and Mullins is my favorite Oriole when I'm paying attention.  I've heard people say that Gorman is a decent rookie too.

Later packs revealed some other interesting ones, like this black & white Joe Ryan.  Not knocking Joe, but would have been even better if it was that other Ryan guy who pitched for Texas....

This was a nice one too.  If you don't know, these Triumvirates are sets of three interlocking inserts.  Usually team-themed, but not always.  I saw a YouTube break where they pulled this one.

And the "hit(?)" of the box, Cal Stevenson auto.  Maybe Fuji knows who this guy is.... Like I said, I wasn't expecting much out of the autos.  All my autos were in the last pack, except in the last box.  Stay tuned for more on that.

Here's Box #1's featured contents.  Black Mauer, VV Riley and Cole CFP round it out.

This post is gonna be long, so I'll split it for Box #3 and 4....On to #2!

Hey! that sorta looks familiar!  Wait a second....

Ha HA!  Nice!  Ok, who's the third Mariner?  Julio Rodriguez....Hmm, not who I would have thought.   Oh well.

But wait, there's more!  Bright orange Willie Mays.  Flip it over...

Usually I would say parallel inserts are a pain.  But a Willie Mays isn't a bad thing.  

Once again in the last pack, Mr. Woods-Richardson.  (shrug).

And the rest of Box #2.  Red Wright, Gorman and Mullins (my parallels seemed to repeat player a lot throughout these boxes.)  Black Mitchell, Chromey Ripken is a keeper, and the Liberatore is a Refractor flavor.  Alvarez CFP and Tatis VV are the inserts.

Let's take a break right here and jump into Box #3 next time....