2017 Topps Holiday Hobby Shop Set (Bowman) at the LCS! and BOOM!

FYI

I finally updated my Trade Bait page. Its looking a little weak due to my heavy trade activity in the past month. I'll try to build it up by next month.

Topps Update Jumbo Pack

So I won't make it a mystery; my LCS is Grand Slam Sports Shop in Sterling Heights, MI. Its about 3 miles from my house and I don't visit it even a fraction of as much as I should. I always pull hot cards there. I went in to get the free pack of 2017 Topps Holiday cards you could only get at hobby shops after spending $10 on Topps products. I dropped $15 on a jumbo pack of Update to spend my minimum $10 to get my 3 Holiday card pack. I had my son with me and he was not in the mood to be at a card shop at 9:45am so I just grabbed the first pack that was at least $10. I have done well with cheap retail Update packs but don't really enjoy the product due to lack of Tigers and it only being made to overpopulate the world with Judge and Bellinger cards. Anyway, I didn't get crap in the pack that cost 3X the retail ones. Not even a gold numbered card. No Judge, no Bellinger, no real hits.

SP, whoopdeedoo. This year Topps has killed the SP Photo Variation Market

Not a real "hit" in my book. Of course I just finished a trade with a certain D'backs collector. I'll have to hang on to it for him.

Foil. I keep pulling the Keuchel cards and I keep becoming more annoyed with him.

Who the hell is this guy, and why do I now have 8 of this card? Is there a pack of Update that this card isn't in?!

Bittersweet JV and another World Series participant and my 6th DeJong update card.

Finally a new name.

HOLIDAY PACK

The Holiday pack made up for it though. I pulled 3 good names and one was numbered. Can't complain there.

My streak of rarer Cody's continues.

I think I have every one of Yuli's RCs without trying.

#'ed /99!

That's One Way to Spend a Couple Bucks

Lastly, I had a few bucks in change and there are standards I live by that state you cannot walk out of a card show with more than 24 cents in your pocket and you can't leave a card shop with more than 99 cents. So I grabbed the top pack of 2017 Heritage Minor League and was done buying. The case boasted one auto per box but it didn't look like anybody had bought any yet. I busted the pack to find only one name I recognized:

#'ed /50!

2017 Allen and Ginter & 2016 Heritage High Number Blaster Breaks

I still haven't even seen a spot where Bowman Platinum was supposed to be and I have looked at 3 Walmarts, 2 Meijers and 2 Targets. I really don't like the set but I would love to take advantage of the Judge freaks out there spending 1000X the price his cards will be two years from now. Anyway, I did find a clearance priced 2016 Heritage high number and a 2017 Allen and Ginter retail blaster box while grocery shopping today. I should have stayed in the frozen vegetable aisle as I did not get a numbered card of any kind in either box. No relics, no autos, but worse yet; no token chrome numbered heritage card. Here are the barely highlights:

Some decent Rookies from the Heritage. The Nat's card is cool too.

I am a big McCullers fan so that card will stay with me. The others will end up in trade piles. As for the Allen and Ginter:

An actual PC guy whoohoo! These two were in the same pack!

Cool throwback guys.

Couple good rooks.

Miggy

Benintendi card

I didn't know the rediscover topps were included in 'Ginter.

ATTENTION: I am collecting these fish cards from this years set so if anybody has any they don't need/want let me know!

Lastly, I have a quote from Oscar at All Trade Bait, All The Time: "Don't worry about how long it takes to put something together. I live too much by clocks in real life, so I try not to apply them in our hobby" This guy is a card guru. That really made a big impression on me. He's right, and it may be that I am a stay at home dad now after years of grinding so I need to have deadlines but Oscar is right. He may not have tried to be inspiring by just dropping a line in an email but damn it if that isn't hobby poetry. I need to relax and take a minute to enjoy collecting and trading.

BOX WARS: Target Repack Box $7.99 vs. Walmart Repack Box $14.99 Break

A quick trip to Target yielded some cards for me today. First, Topps opening day were .75 a pack so I grabbed one of those. Here are the first four cards I pulled out:

Opening day or not, that is a loaded pack. Well worth the 75 cents. The standard Topps packs were on sale as well and I bought one that didn't have anything good in it.

Much like my Walmart box a few posts ago, I picked up a repack box that boasted 4 packs, 50 loose cards and a bonus.
Here are the four (really 3, nobody wants that Babe Ruth junk) unopened packs:

I haven't even opened the Ruth and probably will give it to my nephew to open.

Here is the bonus:

White framed Hosmer was the "Bonus"

This is funny because there were an unnatural number of Tigers cards in the loose 50 so they must pack them based on location. If that is the case they failed giving a Tigers region box a Royal bonus. Anyway, here are some of the highlights from the 4 packs and 50 loose cards:

I know nothing about this card. If anyone out there needs it let me know.

Pulled from a pack in the box. I don't know if this guy will ever live up to his hype from years ago.

Good card.

One of my all time fav's.

Another all time favorite player card I didn't have before.

Maybe every repack box holds a Fernandez.

For the money I think I made out better on the cheaper Target box. I have much more to post from my card world but don't have the energy tonight. Sunday I am hitting a card show. Any requests out there?