Box Break: 2009 Bowman Chrome (x4)

Tax season is a great time for those of us who don't make much money (cough Bud cough). The government sent me a decent chunk of change for my year of not making much money and I decided the most American thing to do with my new found wealth would be to buy some baseball cards. After much deliberation I settled on a favorite, 2009 Bowman Chrome. A low price, lots of shine and a few decent autos in the checklist...who could ask for more? Here's what I pulled:

Holliday/J. Johnson/A. Jones/Eichorn/Mauer/Doolittle/D. Bard/Parra/A. McCutchen: The regular refractors fall about six per box (there are plenty not pictured--no offense Scott Olson. Actually offense, I really don't like you) and I was happy to pull two PC players (Josh Johnson and Joe Mauer) as well as a handful of decent "RC" logo cards. The prospect cards are numbered to 500 and fall about one per box. Kevin Eichorn looks like a decent prospect (lots of strikeouts) although Todd Doolittle was born in 1982 so I'm not holding my breath on that particular card.

Dan Hudson RC Refractor #230/500: Besides Starlin Castro (who seems to be a case hit in this product) Dan Hudson is the top prospect in 2009 Bowman Chrome (he utterly dominated the NL after being traded to Arizona) and I was thrilled to pull a refractor of his true rookie card. If he continues pitching like he did at the end of last season this will probably be worth more than all of the autographs from this break.

Hermida/Parnell/Wright/Kulik/Sizemore/Youkilis/Takahashi/Beckett X-Fractors #/250: X-Fractors fall about two per box and I pulled a decent crop of players (the Sizemore is just one serial number away from his jersey number) although I would have liked more prospects in the mix. I love these cards and was awfully disappointed that Topps did away with them in 2010--they add quite a bit of value and fun to each box. Hopefully they'll bring them back soon, although for the initial reports, it doesn't look like they'll show up in 2011.

Jermaine Dye/Hanley Ramirez/Kazuo Matsui/Hunter Pence/Jorge Posada Blue Refractors #/150: Blue refractors fall roughly one per box (although Matsui and Ramirez both came in the same pack) and look just terrific in person. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if I had the time and the money, I would definitely attempt to complete this set. In fact, maybe I'll start now...

Hector Correa Orange Refractor #9/25: I was pretty happy to pull an orange refractor until I realized that Hector Correa (who projects as a solid middle reliever) also had a "1st Bowman Chrome Card" in 2008 Bowman Chrome. That makes very little sense to me. I understand the whole "RC" logo thing, but not back-to-back first year cards. Thanks Topps.

Tim Federowicz/Connor Graham/Brett Anderson/Robbie Grossman Autos: I went into the break hoping for an auto of Freddie Freeman, Carlos Santana, Dayan Viciedo or Tommy Hanson. Unfortunately, I was shut out and left with three scrubs and one solid auto (Brett Anderson). Thankfully, there is much more to these boxes than just the autos (something you can't say about Bowman Draft) including the following card:

Tim Lincecum Gold Refractor #20/50: Wow! I was excited when I opened a pack and saw that I had struck gold and downright ecstatic when I realized I had hit a great card of the terrific Tim Lincecum. This card is a real peach in person and even though Tim isn't a Mariner (although he could have been...ehhhh) I think I will keep this one in the PC for a while.

I love this product and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap, shiny break. Thanks for looking!

New York Sinks To New Depths: Beloved Mascot Mr. Met Dealt to Cleveland in Shocking Deal.

I wrote this for my baseball blog, http://www.vivalavidro.wordpress.com/, over the summer and with the Mets continued miscues and misfortune it's as pertinent as it was four months ago. Enjoy.

In a move that sent shockwaves throughout the world of baseball, the New York Mets sent longtime mascot Mr. Met to the Cleveland Indians in return for a pair of minor league mascots. Mr. Met, a part of the organization since 1963, had a closed-door meeting with GM Omar Minaya over the weekend in which the upset mascot revealed his frustrations with the team's lack of direction, questionable off-season moves, hotdog prices at Citi Field, and David Wright's mysterious lack of extra-base hits. Mr. Met then proceeded to call Minaya "less competent than the captain of the Titantic" and "quite possibly the worst GM since Isaiah Thomas".

After insulting the rest of the Mets organization and destroying Minaya's prized ceramic egg collection, the mascot demanded a trade, stating that he "had a better shot of winning a World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates". Minaya, already on the hotseat for New York's mediocre play, saw no choice but to deal the face of the franchise. The team inquired about Colorado's Dinger and the Mariner Moose before ultimately settling for a package from Cleveland that included the Akron Aeros mascot, Orbit the Cat, and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers dog-like mascot, Scrappy.

At the time of the trade the Mets were 44-49 and mired in a long losing stretch that left them 10 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East. Injuries to key players had decimated the team, the pitching staff was in shambles and the Phillies 10-game winning streak had all but eliminated New York from contention; Mr. Met clearly was not amused. Fans had noticed a change in Mr. Met as the season progressed, the once omnipresent smile had been replaced with frowns, grimaces and looks of utter bewilderment. The mascot ignored requests to hold babies, stopped throwing t-shirts to fans and even refused to celebrate when the Mets captured a rare win.

Queens resident Joseph Dahmer said he had seen a different Mr. Met then in season's past. "Yeah, that big-headed doofus just wasn't the same after Jose Reyes went to the DL," commented Dahmer, "he seemed depressed all the time, but I can't really blame him, the Mets stink". Another long-time Mets' fan, Cindy Goriglia, agreed with Dahmer, saying that "he really looked like a mascot on the edge...he didn't seem to enjoy what he was doing, and I even heard rumors of a suicide attempt." Mr. Met recently failed a random drug test, but denied the rumors of a suicide attempt through his publicist, stating the the copious amounts of narcotics in his system helped to numb the pain of working for a dead-in-the-water franchise.

Reaction to the move throughout the Mets organization was mixed. Star 3B David Wright seemed glad to be rid of Mr. Met, saying "that (bleeping) mascot wore out his welcome in the Big Apple a long time ago...he had been riding me all season long for not hitting homeruns and wouldn't stop making passes at my girlfriend...I hope that (bleep) rots in Cleveland." Starting pitcher Livan Hernandez was seen leaving the stadium in tears upon hearing the news, but between sobs mentioned that "Mr. Met was my best friend on the team. He was the only one who really got me, and he was always there to comfort me after another bad outing."

The Mets' minor league mascots, including the Buffalo Bison and Savannah Sand Gnat, were sad to see their mentor leave, but excited to have a chance to perform at the major league level. It is unclear at the time whether the Mets plan to call up a mascot from their farm system or use one of the newly acquired mascots to fill the void left by the departure of Mr. Met.

When confronted by reporters, Omar Minaya refused to comment about his tumultuous relationship with Mr. Met but did release the following statement about the mascots acquired in the trade:

"We are really excited about what Orbit and Scrappy bring to this organization. They are two of the most talented mascots in all of minor league baseball and we feel that they both have the ability to contribute at the the big league level. Scrappy is full of energy, great with kids and loves being scratched behind the ears. Orbit has tremendous potential, is great with a T-shirt gun and can even do cartwheels! The city of New York has plenty of stray dogs and cats, you've all seen Oliver and Company haven't you, so it makes sense to bring them here to the Big Apple. I can't wait to see Orbit and Scrappy in action, this is an exciting day for the Mets' franchise."

With the trade of their mascot, Mr. Met, a strange season has gotten even stranger for the New York Mets. A team that came into the year with World Series aspirations finds itself unlikely to make the playoffs and forced to move on without one of the city's biggest icons. The organization was clearly in need of some change, but critics of the move wonder if it should have been Minaya or Jerry Manuel who got the boot, not Mr. Met. Many loyal fans are already calling this the darkest day in New York since the blackout of 2003. The difference between the blackout and the trade of their beloved mascot? While the power came back the next day, Mr. Met may never return to the city he called home for over 45 years. The Mets continue to play limbo as a franchise, and after this latest move, many wonder: how low can they go?

Pack Attack: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Hot Packs (3)

Normally I'm not one to join the "hot pack" craze, you know those packs on eBay that are guaranteed to contain a hit--jersey, auto, etc. I frankly have no idea how these sellers can be certain there is something inside, maybe they just have the magic hand, or maybe it's something much more devious. Anyway, I finally fell prey to these hot packs when a lot of three 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter Hobby Packs showed up on the Bay. A & G is hands down my favorite product of the year, and since relics, autos and silk cards are the same size in the frames, I felt I had a decent shot at landing a big hit. Most times when a seller offers a pack with either an auto or relic, you can fairly safely assume that it will be a relic, but not with A & G. At the very least I reasoned, I would pull three jersey cards, some minis and a couple of cards to help complete my set. Did this prove to be a worthwhile gamble? I thought so, if only for the excitement inherent in each pack, but I will let you decide if these 3 hits were worth $30. The results below will just list the "hit" in each pack. Enjoy!

Pack 1: David Wright GU Batting Gloves--Wow! What a way to start! I pulled this out of the pack and was excited right away because it was David Wright, but a closer inspection showed just how special this card was. I noticed that the swatch looked a little different than a regular jersey, it had kind of a cross-hatch pattern and when I flipped the card over I found out it was a piece of Wright's batting gloves. I had no idea that there were batting glove relics in this set, and I am assuming that it is shortprinted because there are only a few on eBay in comparison to the normal Wright jersey cards. This turned out to be the best of the hits, and I certainly won't complain about it. My first game-used batting gloves, of a great player, in my favorite set--not bad at all.

Pack 2: BJ Upton GU Jersey Relic--A bit of a let down after the Wright hit, but this allowed me to complete the set of game used Upton jerseys from 2009, as I had earlier pulled a Justin Upton relic from a pack. BJ "Bartells & James" Upton has recovered nicely after a slow start and is helping to keep the Rays in the thick of the Wild Card hunt.

Pack 3: Jimmy Rollins GU Jersey Relic--A gray swatch of J-Roll's jersey. Not much else to say about it, other than I'm sorry if you drafted the 2007 MVP in the first round of your fantasy baseball draft...football season and redemption are right around the corner!

I sure enjoyed these hot packs and might gamble on them again if I wrangle up some extra frogskins. What do you think of this pack attack?