Box Break: 2003 Flair Hobby (5 Hits)

This is the first of two boxes that I bought with some of the greenbacks I scored from selling my Jason Heyward auto on eBay. 2003 Flair is a fun box to bust for around $30-40, especially considering that you get 5 hits, 1 numbered rookie and 1 serial numbered parallel for less than the price of 2 blasters. This is the second box of 2003 Flair I've busted and this particular one far outshines the one I opened in January. Here's the goods:

Lance Berkman/Jeff Bagwell Dual Power Tools Bat #23/200: Yes I cracked some jokes about the name "power tools", although from what I know both Berkman and Bagwell seem to be standup guys. It's nice pulling bat chips rather than the garden variety jersey swatches--the fact that it's a double is just icing on the cake.

Troy Glaus Diamond Cuts Jersey Gold #49/100: I really need to find an Angels collector to trade with. As a Mariners' fan I despise the team, yet that doesn't stop me from pulling Angels left and right. Am I the only person who enjoys meaningless parallels like this "gold" version? I love serial numbers.

Chipper Jones Diamond Cuts Jersey: I've always liked Chipper Jones. Perhaps it's because his real name is Larry but he goes by Chipper and my real name is Matthew but I go by Bud. The similarities don't end there: He was a first round draft choice, I got picked first one time in softball; he's a switch-hitter, I've been known to crush longballs from both sides of the plate in whiffleball, etc. It's like we're living the same life. He looks really tired in this picture. Chipper always looks tired. Is he the next player to become embroiled in a "Napgate" after Griffey Jr.?

Greg Maddux Diamond Cuts Jersey: This was a real Braves hot box, perhaps a bit ironic because I ordered these from Atlanta Sports Cards (very underrated site). Even more ironic is the fact that my brother pulled both Chipper and the Mad Dog from his box of 2003 Flair that he opened a few months back. I don't think that's actually ironic, but since no one actually uses the word correctly (I'm looking at you Alannis), I'll let it stand.

Pedro Martinez Sweet Swatch Oversized Jersey #155/1480: If you follow my life as closely as I do (I hope not) you'd realize that I pulled this exact oversized jersey card the last time I opened this box. I guess it's good because I was able to save my scanner some trouble, but otherwise I don't have much use for a giant Pedro swatch. In fact, I care about this card so little that I'm not even sure where the first one of these is. Maybe next box I'll walk away with a jumbo patch--or maybe just another Pedro.

Overall Thoughts: Though the base set is dull and there aren't any noteworthy rookies in the set, it's hard to complain about 5 jerseys/bat cards for $30-40. The game-used checklist is pretty strong and I was happy to walk away with three future Hall-of-Famers and six game-used pieces total. I'm sure I'll bust another box of this if I get the chance, and I highly recommend you do the same. Thanks for looking!

Box Break: 2002 Topps Gallery (Hobby)

Instead of waiting for the increasingly hideous looking National Chicle Baseball to be released, I thought I would get a box of cards from when men were men and more importantly, when Babe Ruth was not wearing a Braves uniform. 2002 Topps Gallery (6 cards per pack, 24 packs per box) was advertised as the "Museum Edition" and indeed the cards are quite worthy of their own little frames. The box was only $30 with shipping on eBay (there are still some available if anyone likes what they see in this break) and while I didn't pull any "hits" (they fall one in every other box--and by that I mean every other box that I don't buy--ba da chi!) I still enjoyed the box. Here's what was inside:

Base Set Completion: 129 of 200 (64.5%)

Duplicates: 8 (Eight dupes in one box is disappointing, especially since two packs only contained five cards instead of the advertised six, but it is Topps after all.)

Rookie/Young Stars Subset (1 per pack): 18 (This set is utterly devoid of rookies other than Joe Mauer. I did not pull a Joe Mauer. The "rookie cards" feature a red streak across the name whereas the young stars look just like the regular base cards.)

Retired Star Subset: 6 (There are just 10 retired stars in the set, numbered 191-200, I pulled Harmon Killebrew, Frank Robinson, Kirby Puckett, George Brett, Ryne Sandberg and Nolan Ryan).

Veteran Variations (1:24 packs): 1 (Derek Jeter Solid Blue--can't complain about this one, most valuable card in the set.)

Topps Gallery Heritage (1:12 packs): 3 (Mark McGwire 1985, Alex Rodriguez 1998 and Tsuyoshi Shinjo 2001--a painting of a year old card of Shinjo? It's a good thing I beat the odds and pulled an extra one of these.)

Overall Impressions: I always liked Topps Gallery but before this box had only opened a few packs here and there. The base cards are phenomenal except for a small number where the painting doesn't resemble the player at all and the Topps Gallery Heritage cards look great. Personally I would have enjoyed it more if there had been another insert set but from a base set collecting standpoint I guess it's good there wasn't. I'm not sure whether I will collect the entire base set because the rookie crop is so weak (the second best rookie besides Mauer is Kaz Ishii) so maybe I will just go after the 150 veterans and 10 retired players in the set. If someone else is trying to build this set I would be happy to help, or if someone else buys a box I would be interested in trading for your base cards. The inserts are all up for trade. Thanks for looking!