T206 - Keep Spinning the Hits

Sorry I am a day late getting to the rest of the good stuff of my T206 break. I am trying to get ready to get out of town, but I will make it up to you with some pretty cool stuff, and this will probably be my last post for about a week unless I end up figuring out a none-clunky way to do a blog on my iTouch.




This is about the easiest way to show all of my minis. I have never been super high on minis, but I will be hanging on to the Red Sox (even though it sounds like Mikey is headed out of town), everybody else is up for grabs. FYI, these are are Piedmont backs except for the Cliff Lee (Polar Bear), Aramis Ramirez (Old Mill), Juan Pierre (Old Mill) and Scott Rolen (Cycle #94/99). This was my first hit of the pack, and also one of the more prominent players that I have pulled a relic for. I was very happy to see the dark colored Old Mill base and slowly slid the card out to find Tickle Me Ichiro. Not so shabby. I think that the framing is way beyond the Ginter Frames. It is very stylish.

A few packs later my second hit reared its ugly Yankee head. Here is Robinson Cano looking rather smug indeed. Still I have to give Topps credit, the colors on this relic blend beautifully and overall it really works.

oh...I almost forgot about the hit that I snagged from my random packs last weekend. Here you go...
This was my first overall hit of this product and I was pretty excited about the bat relic. The colors don't work quite as well on this one, but its a nice pull nevertheless...


But I did save the best for last. Now keep in mind that this may be a completely common card. I really have no idea what is UNCOMMON in this set. All I know is that I have not seen the mini version anywhere on Ebay, so I have no idea if these are unique and rare....I am just going to pretend it is because it is a pretty kick-ass mini...

Cy Young T206 Mini.


So there are the main hits of the box (minus the Michael Young that came prior to the box) and the Evan Longoria that snuck into the box. I definitely enjoyed this rip and look forward to showing off some of the nicer base as well as the old-timers that I have become smitten with. Definitely more to come in future posts, but I am interested to see if any of you have any information of Mr Cy young up there.

Holy Moses! A T206 Hot Pack

Well, I decided to rip open the remainder of my T206 box. I just could not show any restraint. I have this unspoken rule that as soon as I pull a hit, I call it a night, but the hits were buried pretty deep, so I figured "what the heck, lets rip em up and start posting results for my five readers"! This set was actually quite a bit of fun to open up, so I should have all sorts of retro to display over the next couple of days.

Back to the blog title. So I was down to pack #24, I had already pulled my two "on average" hits (one of which I am pretty proud of...but I will keep you waiting on that one) and the other...meh, not so much, but if you are into "evil" then its right up your alley. So I went into the last pack just pretty much going through the motions...
card #1...Dan Uggla....I have seen this image time and time again, and in fact I remember it most from the Ginter Code cards that are forever engrained in my head. It's a nice card, but the image is starting to wear thin... Jackie Robinson. Now we are talkin. I LOVE the old schoolers in this set a whole lot and need to do an inventory soon to see if there is anybody missing. Jackie Robinsons SP pull in Topps flagship still remains one of my favorite cards since I started collecting.

Card #3 is Alex Rios in White Sox gear. Meh at best...

#4...Roy Campanella. Another old timer haulin lumber.


#5....heatin up...the standard pack parallel goes to none other than CEO namesake Jacoby Ellsbury. Love this card.

#6 Rick Porcello RC. I am warming up to Mr Porcello and apparently so are a lot of collectors. His cards are smoking hot right now. Just a standard back on this one, but still a classic.

#7 mini time! This is my one and only Cycle back serial-numbered mini!

#8 goes to the "Fons"

But card #9 (was actually in the middle right after Jacoby, but gotta save the drama for the end) threw me for an absolute loop. Just like in Heritage High Numbers on my extra hit, this was about the last thing that I expected to see, but I am was absolutely thrilled when I looked underneith the Ellsbury card to see this...

I could not find a top-loader fast enough. I am absolutely thrilled to have my very first Evan Longoria auto card. I would actually go as far as to say this is the biggest Star player auto that I have pulled yet next to my Tommy Hanson Chrome auto.

Well, enough for tonight. I have PLENTY of cards to show you all, lots of mini's, i'll get to the relics, and no numbers (another star player NNO?) and a classic mini SP. More to come.

My T206 Plans (I Think)

Yesterday I mentioned that I snagged a box of T206. I did so without any particular idea of what I want to do with the cards. I definitely am not looking to complete the set, as it sounds way too tedious and annoying to even attempt it. I just picked up the box because the contents look kind of fun.

I am starting to think that after opening about six packs (no hit yet), that I am leaning towards the retired players cards. I think they are pretty jazzy looking and I think that I would like to collect at least each of those as well as the usual suspects that I already collect. Most likely everything else will be up for grabs. I am really looking to convert T206 cards into either:

1: Turkey Reds from Updates and Highlights
2: Topps High Numbers base and short-prints
3: Goodwin Champion Base and short prints (I forgot that I am shooting for that set).

Either way, I will start posting up some stuff tonight starting with some minis and my hit from the random packs I bought the other day.

A hint? Think Chuck Norris.

Famous Masters

Master Chief

Master Shredder

Master Yoda

Master Larry Hagman

Mix Master Mike with the Beasties

Master Palpatine

Master and Commander

......Jon Arbuckle

Master Mike and CEO Jacoby!


Good to say that I am officially calling my school career done. My professor asked me today if I intended on going for my Doctorate...I laughed.

It is going to be nice to get back to doing some legitimate blogging again. I apologize for the lacking quality over the last few months, I just did not have the energy to properly put into it, but I am ready to get going. As a gift to myself, I went out and purchased a full hobby box of Topps T206, so I will definitely be sharing some pack breaks with you. I also need to finish sorting my Topps Heritage High Numbers, so I will be posting a needs list soon. If you can help me out with some Heritage High Numbers, I will be happy to help you out with some T206!

Much more to come!

A future Beardy?

Uncanny!

Topps T206 Pack Break!

I am happy to report that there is a new alternative for hobby shops in my area. I have been forced to deal with Cranky's mysterious pack pulls and surly attitude for quite some time. Basically the dude is a pissed of Republican who always has Fox News going every time I am in the store, and yells at the screen while I peruse my options. I am also not a big fan of how hot and heavy he is on ebay trading..which means that he is doing a lot of rippin in the back room, which makes me question what is out on the shelf.

ANYWAYS, a new shop opened up a few weeks ago that offers a lot of options, including sealed boxes and lots of singles and autos in the glass cases. The beauty of the new place is that, if I see a product that I would like to buy a few packs, they are willing to open the box, price it out and sell me some single packs.

That is how I came upon Topps 206, or T206 or whatever this retro set goes by. I have been curious to take a peek at a set that I have heard so much build up about. I have no interest in completing this set, and from what I hear, it is virtually impossible to do so anyways with all of the hidden variations. I am just happy to find a product that I can get a few packs of occasionally to rip some wax.

And this set is ODD. Not necessarily in a bad way. It is crazy fun to open each pack because you really have no idea what you will find inside. I will scatter my packs over the next few posts because there is a lot of ground to cover. So lets start out with a variation that falls one per pack, some gold bordered, thicker cardboard parallels...

Here is a classic Mickey Mantle and Thurman Munson..aka "the rubber-man"

Always nice to pull a tickle-me Ichiro card. The mariners were a nice feel-good story this season.

A couple O's (Nice to get my hands on a Reimold...I hear he is the bees-knees back east). Finished up the gold parallels with a Cristian Guzman.

These next cards threw me for a bit of a loop. Here we have super rookie Andrew McCutchen and Super-human Albert Pujols....the dude in the middle is named Perry...I don't really know who he is and the back of the card does not help either because...

AHA! Some snazzy little variation card. I feel pretty good about the Pujols and McCutchen, but still have no idea who this Perry fellow is.

I'll finish up tonight with a nice bubble-gum variation Tommy Hanson Rookie...

Stay tuned tomorrow. I will be highlighting the mini's as well as fortuitous box hit.