Hmmm....the best of 2012?

My wife and I decided to do all of our errand running on New Years Day, part of which included trips to Target and Wal-Mart for various items.  Visits to both stores included trips down the card aisle, and after buying a couple of loose UD hockey packs at Target, the following box caught my eye at Wal-Mart.

We've all seen the repack boxes, usually with a couple of decent packs and then a lot of stuff from years past that just couldn't be sold.  What's funny is I saw the "Best of 2012" seal in the lower right, and both of the see through windows on the box had a pack of Bowman Platinum visible, so I figured what the hell why not.  I figured at worst, it would be worth at least one post.

I expected to see maybe 4-5 packs of what was promised on the front, and then probably the rest would be Series 1 or Series 2 to fill out the box.   

Wrong.  The box contained 3 Bowman Platinum, 2 Topps Chrome, and 6 Allen & Ginter packs.  No flagship.  Nothing from past years.  I actually let out an audible "wow", and proceeded to open the packs.

Pack 1:  Topps Chrome

Not much to write home about in this pack...couple of Yankees, no Blue Jays

Pack 2:  Topps Chrome

A little better here.  Pulled a X-fractor of Adam Dunn, which is earmarked for Jeff at 2x3 heroes...

Pack 3:  Bowman Platinum

I hadn't opened 1 pack of these at all.  Had no interest.  $3 for 4 cards is a little steep...

The cards are nice enough for sure, but the price point is just too rich for my blood.  I believe that the Hamilton is a refractor. 

Pack 4:  Bowman Platinum

Nothing overly exciting in this pack, at least for me anyhow.  Somebody out there might think differently however.

Pack 5:  Bowman Platinum

The Robbie Erlin in the upper right is a blue parallel, numbered 140/199.  That spot has already been taken in the SNI set, so maybe Marcus  who is a Padre fan might be interested in it.  I am actually looking forward to seeing how Rivera rebounds from his knee injury.  Miguel Sano in the center?  Well, he can hit the ball quite well, but if you're a fan sitting on the first base line when he's in the infield, you better bring some protection.  Miguel committed a whopping 42 errors at 3B last season, but hopefully his youth is a big part of that (he's only 19).

Nothing overly exciting in these 5 packs, so we'll wait until tomorrow to show you the 6 Ginter packs.

I did a little better with those....

thanks for reading, Robert

Packs Across America: Mobile, AL

This is going to be a quickie post, but I received a pack of Bowman Platinum from Sam at the Daily Dimwit blog as a bonus for participating in his 06 Artifacts group break.  So here we go...


     City/State : Mobile, AL
     Location: LCS (?)
     Packs:  1 pack of Bowman Platinum

4 cards in a pack, pretty straight forward...

Trade anyone?

60.  CC Sabathia
BPP 92.  Trey McNutt
85. Jacoby Ellsbury
6. Miguel Cabrera

Kind of cool that I got a red parallel of a Red Sox player, so that in itself is a bonus over packs I get here in town.  Picked up two stars as well in Sabathia and Cabrera, along with what might be the best prospect name in quite a while, Trey McNutt.


Definitely worth an A grade for a single bonus pack.  Thanks again to Sam for the extra bonus.

Bowman Platinum...meh

Made a trip to Wal Mart today...stopped in the card aisle and decided to pick up a couple of rack packs of Bowman Platinum.  I fail to see the excitement with these cards.  I just cannot fathom spending $3 a pack for 4 cards, so I will not continue to purchase any of these.  The biggest laugh I got out of these packs was reading card BPP97, Carlos Perez.  The card front says he's in the Blue Jays system, so naturally he's one to add to the LTP list, and it shows someone (I'm not sure who it is) in their catchers gear.  I flip to the back, and it reads "Perez needed only six starts at Danville in 2010 to prove he was primed for a new challenge, going 2-0 with a 1.12 ERA before being promoted to Rome."  Also, the back says that he touches 94 mph, and he compares to Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia.  Love it, a total screw up of a card, pretty cool that Bowman is now measuring catchers ERA!!

Oh, and another reason that I'm meh about this set...check out my luck with the purple parallels you get...

2 cards with doubles...gotta love it...

even the parallels for me aren't exciting

LOL maybe I'm in a bit of a mood this evening, but these cards just don't do it for me.  They're all up for trade if anyone wants them.  Just comment or send me an email

Thanks for reading, Robert...