Retro Box Break: 1999 Collector's Edge Triumph Football

This box was the last unopened package from the basketball (storage) hoard.  Everything else was already opened when I got it all, except for that hideous box of 1999 UD hoops.  I figured there wasn't much of anything that could come out of it to make it worth selling, so I opened it and started the set myself.

They did that dumb thing that Topps likes to do - offer BONUS packs that are no different than the rest of the box.  Just say 11 packs please.  And it gets even dumber....

So when you actually open the box, there are eight packs stacked in pairs.  Not ten ~ eight.

So when you pull them out, there is a cardboard cover that says your bonus pack is underneath.

Well, which one is the bonus pack?  There are three of them.  It does make 10+1=11.  Dumb.

First card ripped - Robert Smith of the Vikings.

And the rest of the first pack.  Deion, Shannon Sharpe, and the ever-present Tim Couch in this year's stuff.  First insert - Heir Supply Kevin Faulk.

One of the later ones was a Vikings Hot Pack.  Three in one shot.  Randle was a total nut.  Love that guy.

After all is said and done, I got two of the Heir Supply inserts.  (I had a couple more of most of these in my extras, so got a little farther along on a lot of them.).

Some nice names on the Future Fantasy Teams.  All these inserts are very shiny in real life, but the rainbow effect is enhanced by the photos.

Only one regular Fantasy Team.  Mr. Smith.

These Pack Warriors are cool, and it's always nice to get Rice.

And don't you know, I got lucky enough to pull and autograph from the last pack or so.  I'm pretty sure ol' Brock is doing better at announcing than he did as a starter.  But very decent signature, and just cool to pull something of a hit at all.

Collation was pretty decent.  I think the handful of dupes I ended up with were all from my previous stock.   Had two extra Deions, but nothing else excessive.  Even had a double of at least one insert.  Let me know if you have any for trade.

I have yet to put this list on my wants page, but they are in the TCDB (under LoQtus).  Thanks for tuning in!  (Update: Needs are on my site now too)

Two Boxes of 2025 Allen & Ginter: Diminishing Returns

I almost didn't do it.  As you probably already know, Allen & Ginter is the only new product I buy almost every year - including flagship Topps.  This year, I heard ahead of time that there would only be two "hits" per box.  (Not that "hits" are why I buy ANY product in the first place.)  And that the price would be higher, but you wouldn't get as much out of a box as before.  

So I considered just looking for a base/SP/main inserts set on eBay for less than I'd probably invest in boxes and singles to complete that much.  Hopefully I'd find second copies of my PC guys in base and inserts and maybe luck out and get a "hit" from one of them as well.  Boxes were going for $169 on most major dealer sites. 

But I didn't....

I found boxes at Bergen County Cards in New Jersey for $139 each.  That was only $10 more than last year, so I got two.  Unfortunately, they're sold out right now.

 
Let's tear in!

Have to go straight to the first pack, since there are no box toppers, N43s, or buybacks any more.  Take off points for that at the jump... 

 

First card was a musician dude (no idea).  First card I actually saw was the back of Eddie Murray's Sweet Victory insert.  Nice to start with the Orioles at least.  Forgive the warm incandescent lighting in my new card room.  Nothing is going to look white even though most of this stuff is.

So I tore through the packs and sifted out the base, minis, inserts, and shiny parallels.  (Shiny is getting to be a much bigger thing with Ginter.  Can't say I'm overjoyed about it.)  I won't go through every pack, but will just hit the highlights.  Above are all the base minis, A&G backs, black borders, (most of which will be trade bait) then a new N222, a Light the Night insert, and a chrome Matty mini. (Spoken for.) 

The other insert minis from the first box.  Birds and fish have been done before.  Trust me, I researched it a while ago.  Several states elected Cardinals, so these aren't dupes.

A closer look at the N222 and Chrome Matty.  I wish the 222's had retired players too.

Only pulled one Filigree this time.  Don't know this guy either.

And the Chromes and Silvers are at least one per pack now.  I'm already working on two sets of the Silvers from previous years, so I'm not keeping these.  Just need Bo, Torre, Campaneris, Fisk, Sutter, and Mussina in all forms.  Above are all the Chrome Chromes I pulled.

First hit came about halfway through.  Pretty decent player and non-white swatch.  

Second one was a really nice framed mini auto /25.  But I'm not a Survivor fan, or MTV watcher, so Ms. Fitgerald is not familiar to me.

On to Box #2.
Here are the minis for this box.   Beaches are another well-worn subject.  The Ginter Creative Team is phoning this one in for the most part so far.

 Got three filigrees this time, and two HOF'ers.  That's better.

First hit was a Bellinger bat piece.  This one will go to my Pirate/Yankee friend most likely.

The other hit was the prize of the break...

 

 
BOOM!  Double Rip Card!  And with one of my PC guys on the back!

 And it's #1!

Well, if you've seen my posts on how to deal with Rip Cards, you will know that the above images are AFTER I extracted the minis inside.  Don't use the tabs, slice them along the edges.

These are what I got.  A stained glass Oriole (who I don't know either), and an extended series Yordan #372.

And that's about it.  Pretty standard A&G fare, but missing a few things from years past.  I like the base design just fine, but the reduction in extra stuff just leaves the whole thing a bit lacking.  I'll finish the base, SP's and two regular inserts, but that's about all.

2024 A&G Box 3 of 3 - Measure Twice, Cut Once

Now for the third and final installment of my A&G breaks.  Hoping for at least a hit of someone I actually really like...

Box topper is an N43 this time.  I generally like these, but they're hard to complete - or at least expensive - so I've only done it once, in 2009.  Finally, an older player!

Feels like these are a slightly different size this time, but maybe it's me.  I put a regular silver card behind it for comparison.

First hit (about halfway through like the others) is Acuña.  (ñ = ALT-164).  Haven't pulled a bat relic in a while.  Nice that it says "game-used".  Again, I like this relic style better than the other full-size one.

Mini inserts include a World's Tallest Mountain.  It was the only one I got, so I assumed they were scarce, though mountains isn't a subject you would think would be so chase-able.  Not likely doing those either.

Some decent names in the player minis.  Is Skenes the guy I should put on top?  Had to check to see if the shiny Pereira was the same Yankee as the jersey I got in Box #1, but that was Peraza.  There's a repeated name here that I'll come back to as well.

Second hit is an auto from a player who appears in a different team than I expected.  (Are you getting annoyed with how clueless I am about current players yet?)  I would say this is the best hit of the break as far as regular hits go.  The third one may make you think differently, though.

I'd say a Bloodhound would more fittingly be named Trombone  than Trumpet, but OK.  X-Ray'd's are still really fascinating.  Top right is not an insect, it's an Armadillo.  Feels like one more box, and I'd have had all the regular inserts.  A&G collation (and my dealer's box selection) is always excellent.

What can beat a shiny Mickey Mantle?  (Well, a refractor, I guess, but I'm not complaining.  Not that I'll probably keep it for long.)  Might have to flip a coin to see if Night Owl or Fuji gets the Filigree Yamamoto...

Final hit ~ not a Double Rip Card, but I got double Rips in the break!  

And remember the same name minis?  Call it a Slade Cecconi hot box!  Or even a Diamondback hot box.  Wouldn't be my first choice.  (No offense, D-Back fans).

Before I reveal the contents, I'm happy to say I got at least one Jayden Daniels.  He's not a short print in the set, but only getting one makes it feel like he's one of those Scarce Pulls but not SP's - like Jeter used to be.  This base card is about the only one beside the Trick-Or-Treat Score that's not $5-$100 right now.  I'm not going to have an easy time collecting this guy.  I didn't actually get a Palmer base card at all, which was also surprising.

But anyway, back to the Rip card.  I cut this one correctly this time.  You can see here the relative depth of the chamber and the pull tab on the back.  What was in here?

Extended number Ohtani!

Woo Hoo!  Paid for the boxes, right?  Not quite.  EBay auctions are around $20-30.  Which is still nice.  Will definitely trade for an upper level mini or something of my player collections.  Daniels, Palmer, Bo Jackson, etc.

I have since received all but the Palmer (x2) and a second Daniels for the base set, the remaining SPs and full size inserts except for three X-Ray'd's (15, 17 & 19).  I also want three of the Cycle Successions (are these retail inserts?) Torre, Fisk, and Keith Hernandez, as well as the Uniform Countdown of Dusty Baker.  I hope to finish the Got the Itch minis before they're all sold out too, but will probably have to count on trades.  Hope they're not too scarce.

Still have a lot of my player minis to trade, except the A&G backs.  And all the mojo hits are available as well.  Got a few insert dupes, and about 40 base extras and most of the Chromes.  Let me know what you need!

2024 A&G Box 2 of 3 - Welcome Back, Carter

So on to Box 2 of my 2024 Ginter break.  Now I'll at least get a start on the regular base set.

Box Topper is Vlad Jr.  I tend to pull something of his out of every few boxes of new stuff I open - which means Ginter at this point.  As well as Blue Jays.  My toppers are spoken for already, though.

First pack and there's that Carter guy again, as well as the #1 drafted quarterback last year.  I'm looking for the guy that was called next.  Shiny Adley is cool - I got a couple different ones of his in this break.  I'm tempted to go for the rainbow.  Has his superstardom hype settled down yet?  I tend to pull the big names just after they are hot sellers, as you'll see in a bit.

First hit was former National (and relevant star?) Anthony Rendon.  This one is very flowery.  I don't dislike it, but the other relic style looks cooler this year.  Sample is pending....

Player/people minis....got both the regular and A&G back of the top guys in the middle.  Also take note of the second dude named Carter in the blacks.  Shiny Austin Riley might be what I mentioned earlier - was he a hot commodity last year?  I don't pay attention any more....

Here's why I brought up Evan Carter.  Nice looking mini auto, but I don't know him from Gary, Joe, Jimmy the former president, or Sergeant Carter on Gomer Pyle.  

Mini inserts include another sniffy one - this time it's peppermint!  I think they made up the Swamp Creatures lineup - never heard of this bird, but he's more likely to live in a swamp than the previously pulled one - a shark?  Anyone else who doesn't live near there default to the quote from Hunt For Red October when Sam Neill gets shot and says "I would have liked to have seen Montana..."?  Couldn't find the clip online.

More X-Ray'd's.  A couple new ones and a couple dupes.

Dogs and bees and sister cities.  Gotta love the service dog inclusion.

Last hit.  Like I said, I think these look the best, though they appear to be player portraits against a cork board, while the whole thing sits on a pile of unwound cassette tape (or poodle clippings for those of you too young for cassettes).  Sorry if I've now made you unable to unsee those things.

And finally, the shiny.  Carroll refractor would have been good last year, right?  

Glad to get regular base cards this time.  I have found another lot of the silver hot box ones, so I'll probably go ahead and try to make that set.  I'll have to be quick though, I'm sure they will fade from existence by the end of the year or so.  Don't have a lot of trade bait from these at this point.  Two people are sending me the remainder of my base, SP, and full size insert needs already.  One of them wants my minis.  Doubling up wasn't my plan, but it's what's happening.

Stay tuned for the third rip.  That's a hint....