Peer Pressure Is A Wonderful Thing

As some of you are already aware, and for those of you that don't, I am not a baseball collector. The only reason I even have a substantial pile of baseball is because of my brother finding my childhood collection. When 2008 Topps came out, I tried to get back into baseball collecting but after opening a couple blaster boxes and realizing I only recognized about 20% of the players, I quickly put an end to that experiment.

But here I am, a hockey collector/blogger, in a seemingly endless baseball collector's world. The countless blog entries of trading triumphs, wax crackin victories, and generally interesting collecting stories are thrown in my face on a daily basis. The latest adventure that seems to be all the buzz is the release and availability of 2010 Topps Baseball Series I.

I told myself I wasn't going to. I pleaded with that inner voice in my head to stop egging me on. "But they are so cool", it says. "But you can trade them away for stuff you need", it says. "But you have an imbalanced, unnatural, bordering sadistic need for opening packs", it says. After reading a half dozen or so blogs yesterday regarding this product, I finally surrendered to the peer pressure (I know it isn't real peer pressure, but work with me here. It's for effect.).

I stopped on the way home and picked up 10 packs of 2010 Topps. As I walked around the store with the packs in hand, I second guessed myself about 300 times until I finally walked back to the counter to put them back in their home and walk away. Within seconds, I returned, chose 10 new packs and began thumbing through the random loose pack box for anything that could justify this madness. For some reason, they had old 2002-03 In The Game First Edition Hockey packs. I grabbed all those, some pages, and my 10 forbidden packs and checked out. I felt so dirty.

So now I am the proud (ashamed) owner of 120 cards from the 2010 Topps set. Since I have no idea what is good/bad/or otherwise in here, I will leave it up to everyone else to decide. Here are the first 4 packs.



Pack 1

#178 Kerry Wood
#83 Mark Teahen
#223 Ryan Church
#TTT7 Josh Hamilton - Topps Town
#1 Mickey Mantle - 1951 Topps Red Back (I've heard of this guy)
#139 Frank Francisco
#189 Adrian Beltre
#249 Jon Niese
#100 Albert Pujols
#20 Tommy Hanson
#145 Justin Upton
#PP44 Roy Holladay - Peak Performance

I suppose getting a Mickey Mantle in the first pack is a good thing. I am not sure if anything else in here amounts to much. I will admit that I kind of like the design though. It reminds me of the mid 90s stuff when I stopped collecting.

Pack 2

#136 Adam Wainwright
#64 Drew Stubbs
#14 Ted Lilly
#159 Vernon Wells
#187 Will Venable
##CMT8 Bob Gibson - Cards Your Mom Threw Out (Interesting name for an insert set)
#TMC10 Million Card Giveaway Redemption
#TTT19 Justin Upton - Topps Town
#132 Cliff Lee
#258 Edwin Encarnacion
#180 Jayson Nix
#215 John Lannan

I really like the Cards Your Mom Threw Out idea. Its like getting the original card, only on heavier card stock, and glossy, and airbrushed, with a different back, and in mint condition. Actually it's nothing like the original card...but still cool. I'm still trying to figure out the Million Card Giveaway card. More on that later.

Pack 3

#115 Grodon Beckham
#182 Coco Crisp (Older brother of Rice and Apple)
#181 Nick Johnson
#155 Zack Greinke
#42 Fielder, Howard, & Pujols (NL RBI Leaders)
#316 Chris Young - Gold #1392/2010
#TR48 Willie McCovey - Turkey Red
#LL29 Carl Yastrzemski/Kevin Youkilis - Legendary Lineage
#TTT16 Kevin Youkilis - Topps Town
#103 Daniel Murphy
#150 Joe Mauer
#44 Howie Kendrick

I Gold parallel serial numbered card is cool although they have been doing this since 2004 or 2005 I think. The Turkey Red card is kind of cool.

Pack 4

#276 Matt Lindstrom
#31 Jason Grilli
#76 Joe Saunders
#316 Chris Young
#307 Henry Rodriguez
#260 New York Yankees Franchise History
#197 Cleveland Indians Team Card
#CMT41 Manny Ramirez - Cards Your Mom Threw Out (I think my mom did throw this out)
#TOG16 Bo Jackson - Tales Of The Game
#FTTT7 Josh Hamilton - Topps Town
An advertisement for Topps Attax (wow, they even have commercials in baseball cards)
#61 Skip Schumaker
#96 Jon Garland

A second Josh Hamilton Topps Town. But, wait. This one has an F in front of the number and the picture on the front is different. I don't know what to think of that. Anyone know what the difference is? Another one of those Cards Your Mom Threw Out and a "Bo Know" card. I wonder if I still have my all time top 10 favorite Bo with the shoulder pads and bat?

I will post more later and maybe some scans.