Trade with ARPSmith and a Bowman Chrome Update

At today's show, I was able to valiantly resist purchasing an entire box of Bowman Chrome at the show today.  Seventy two cards in a box is not sufficient for my opening needs, even at reduced show prices.  I did break down and purchase one pack.  My one thought on the base cards in the pack were "Wasn't this the same design as last year and the year before?"  I'm sure there is a difference, but I would be hard pressed to know what it is.  I also ended up pulling the following Nolan Arenado insert, which is super-shiny, but otherwise a card destined to sit in my boxes until it ends up somewhere else.



A few weeks ago, I worked a primarily "vintage" for new, glossy cards deal with Adam over at ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession.  As I was leaving for a short vacation last week, a hefty box arrived filled with cards from Adam.  The cards put a significant dent in my want lists towards completing sets, while the 1973 Topps cards heading west are unlikely to be missed.



There was a strong showing for all three 2012 Topps sets, though Series 1 and 2 dominated, as I purchased a box of neither this year.  The Willis and Ramirez cards showcase the players with teams you will never remember ten years from now.  In fact, I had already forgotten Dontrelle spent time with the Cincinnati Reds and this doesn't even cover the Diamondback, Phillie or Oriole portions of his career.



There was also a fairly large amount of 2012 Topps Archives in the box as well, somewhere in the neighborhood of half a set.  As you can might have guessed, my favorite design is the 1984 Topps, which I grew up with.  Yogi barely edged out the Babe for scanning.  I also have come very close to finishing the 2011 Topps Lineage set as well.  The Wagner is a nice addition to any set, since I am such a sucker for pre-war players on post-war cards.



Finally, we have the above.  My almost certainly misguided attempt to complete the 2010 Topps T206 Mini set was greatly aided by the box, knocking 30 or so cards off my list.  Kendrick's card has one of my favorite backgrounds from the original set, which is found on Hall of Famer George Davis's card.  The Diamond Stars Foxx is from CMG reprints set.  Given my new focus on the set, we may see Mr. Foxx appear again quite soon.  Finally, there is Tris Speaker on a 2000 Topps card.  Having went 15 years without thinking about baseball cards, I was almost surprised that there was no original 2000 Topps Tris Speaker card as some kind of shortprint.

Well, I hope Adam is as happy with his haul, as I am with mine.

2012 Bowman Chrome at KMart

No purty pictures of cards today.  Just a story of what could have been. 

I was out earlier today and for the first time saw 2012 Bowman Chrome for sale.  I'm always a sucker for a new product, even if it is full of prospects that for the most part I don't care about.  So, with nothing else in the store calling to me, I pick up a blaster of 2012 Bowman Chrome and wait at the register.

I was well aware each pack contained three cards for a box with a grand total of 24 cards inside.  Even so, I thought, what the heck, let's get the blaster.  I turned the blaster over and see it has a tiny, white price tag.  The price tag read $21.99.  So, with tax, each card in the box would cost $1.  $1 for each chrome card in the box.  I thought, that is ridiculous. 

So, I hit the wall on purchase price and said, I can do better.  I couldn't bring myself to buy 8 packs of cards with three cards in a pack for a dollar a card.  I didn't see the value or the joy in the product.  So, I left and drove home empty-handed.  Normally, I would be saddened by not getting anything, but I came home and inadvertently found something far better, for slightly less than the cost of a blaster.  In fact, it is a real piece of history for my favorite team of all-time.  Once it arrives, the item will be properly lionized with flowery prose and accompanying pictures.  In the interim, I will wait for my piece of history to arrive and not look at a bunch of shiny cards, which would like end up in a dark box, seldom to be seen again.

Of course, I'm going to a show tomorrow morning and silly me will probably end up with a hobby box.  If so, I'll just delete this little old post and we'll pretend it didn't happen.