When I got to Target I was presented with two options. T206 retail at $2.99 a pack, or a Blaster at $19.99. Firstly, I think that $2.99 is crazy-steep for a retail pack, but since these were all nicely organized and don't look like they had been ruffled through by pack searchers, I decided the right course of action here was to grab a Blaster and five packs of retail. Mathematically I guess I could have grabbed one more retail, but my grubby little paws only snagged five. Either way I thought it would be cool to compare the two products and see if either has the advantage over the other.
Today, lets take a look at the offering from the five retail packs
Pack #1
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6X6Dy6wwVZmiESSf9uYD3p1cGUgbsytOe5OBEl-xilO2r_X9a3Ye-QkqAKaemP2IEGn7zfcoXZcguLwXoa2FTL4R1DO_vmfR4ppf-AMtE4su60WfcgsNpBuKUFaN93oPCmO-Lt9Wnodz/s400/scan0054.jpg)
Bryan Anderson
Jacoby Ellsbury*NNO back
Brian Roberts Piedmont Mini
Cristian Guzman Bronze
Glen Perkins
Victor Martinez
Pack #2
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKUFP1UmshSEBDC76eq563y_9NQfiHhmyjPVkSWXdZygvAk-fbgdcvHQ3wPqvkgDdbc5bX4J4Ti9peeqTDXpBwygW7fiLN760eXoJDNm7h0QJ1j4dYVKW2NdlmqxoedNX8Qo22ynSNW0Z/s400/scan0055.jpg)
Ben Zobrist
Gil Meche
Stephen Strasburg Mini Caramel
James Shields
Koji Uehara Bronze
Daniel McCutchen
Pack#3
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghshjZ0nZA1UBpXl8DN1PnzIS3UkIBo94bga_l9jPd65O7gh7C8h33BFpvhFiHB341hr5wSmFtYd1GGMfTC20ceyrihL1_sddS7BC36xJrq3OcXJSMX1tf1XvlKZ713PLTvSPBAsLPaiFb/s400/scan0056.jpg)
BJ Upton
First pro (minor league) game played under lights mini
First pro (minor league) game played under lights mini
Ricky Nolasco Bronze
Miguel Montero
Tom Seaver
Pack#4
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW9DXtuC-YsVE656L0Kc7XkeUCZar8K5_1k2R5ixn83Rcp_28BhaLD1hhb0IZudy2DA-PeMJ56w0EQlyyjtpI6FMdZd-MXopKGMA4zKjYaTBWQ4QK5Wf5MiH6tvQ8flxZ4XbDKqSpkStw1/s400/scan0057.jpg)
Johnny Bench
Worlds first female cop mini
Jackie Robinson Bronze
Travis Snider
Chad Billingsley
Hideki Matsui
Pack #5
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6AL7i06FgRHTijMxufMN3Kuu7DpYyjdohXCpGulM1rd-BMpzJZmrvKPcbJYMqoHTtBCgnZEy5K_cwJfBtJfQhmuBW_PEz4k4s7kFrpweA5WszMH7j9lFahfN1pCWGzQXXsyiCuwYOr_Kw/s400/scan0058.jpg)
Ryan Zimmerman
Ryan Howard
Ryan Dempster
Jon Danks Polar Bear mini
Todd Helton Bronze
Edinson Volquez
And here are the new minis for my collection.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtchmtrPm_KNU29idNmE6_nDF6_EihXKJn2QIhVJPKqA3kMo2U9BB0uOCVdnYEf0lAcotqOt-ARkHCLZ7hPmQB7lJPYHIxmxH_x6QI6UZNof4Et8t4xPZBFCVNF1hr2nWiveEInqZT6sY/s400/scan0059.jpg)
So that was the retail break. I now understand people's comments on the "hat's off" cards. It is literally ALL the cards. Whether this is accurately representative of the 1910 counterpart I do not know, maybe I should jump in my son's matchbox DeLorean time machine and find out. When you look at the cards as a whole, it kind of reminds you of a bad high school yearbook.
I do like the looks of a few star players cards and a few of the legends cards, but overall nothing really jumps out at me about this set. It was cool to pull a SP Ellsbury out of the first pack and although the Strasberg hype has died down, I am happy to add his RC mini to the collection.
No hits out of the retail...not a huge surprise but I am sure they are out there to be had. White frames though?
Next post I will give the results of the Topps T206 BLASTER. Does it hold enough punch to challenge the retail Stras/Ellsbury pulls?
Also, I plan on only keeping the minis and the Ellsbury from this break, so feel free to stake claim on anything else you may like.