Most Recent Million Card Giveaway Redemptions

If you like the Million Card Giveaway, you should hurry over to Walmart and buy a "Topps Value Box". The box includes one code, one refractor (Strasburg, Ruth or Ripken), one Allen & Ginter hobby pack and six 2010 Topps Series II packs for $14.99. It's a great bang for the buck and a easy way to pull a few codes (I got three total out of my box). Here's what I redeemed:

1972 Topps Milt Pappas: Hailing from the "pyschedelic tombstone" set, this Milt Pappas card has brought lots of trade requests my way since it was redeemed. Besides looking like my J.V. basketball coach, Pappas also won 209 career games and was selected to the All-Star game twice. Nice.

1980 Topps Jim Sundberg: Meh...

1964 Topps Bob Buhl: Someone offered me this card for a '72 in my portfolio and it wasn't a difficult proposition to say yes to. Bob Buhl won 166 career games with the Brewers, Cubs and Phillies while posting a 3.55 ERA.

1957 Topps Lee Walls: Bingo! I just redeemed this card today and it instantly became the oldest card I had received in the promotion. The '57 design isn't particularly riveting, but it is old, and that has to count for something. Walls played 10 seasons in the bigs, with a .262 average and one All-Star appearance. This is one I definitely will pay the shipping for.

A Few Million Card Giveaway Series II Cards

Topps Series II retail finally showed up in the Northwest--a nice reprieve from the Bowman binge I've been on recently. I grabbed three packs from Walmart and was lucky enough to pull two Million Card Giveaway Redemptions (in one pack strangely enough) and another card that I'll show later. I'm not patient enough for a run of old cards to show up so I redeemed them right away. Here's what I got:

2002 Topps Derek Bell: The one thing I remember about Derek Bell is that he was one funny looking dude. He did hit 134 career home runs, but that doesn't do much to distract from Bell's prize winning mustache or that honey dijon border. It's certainly up for trade--please take it.

1970 Topps George Mitterwald: That's more like it! Minnesota's original Joe Mauer is featured on a 1970 Topps card, my first from the iconic (?) set. Mitterwald was a defensive specialist who led the National League in caught stealing percentage at 50% in 1975. This card is probably headed over to Play at the Plate when I finally send away for it (some time I promise).

Thoughts: I can't complain about receiving two redemption cards in one pack, especially when one leads to a vintage card. I'm sure these won't be the last cards I redeem, especially with the chance at a Strasburg short print rookie. Stay tuned for more!

Topps Million Card Giveaway Card of the Day

I was lucky enough to pull a code and redeem it over the weekend when Topps was handing out vintage cards like (enter clever anecdote here). I wish I had some more because it still looks like nothing but 1970's...which raises some real questions about how the redemption process works (does the code correspond to a specific card?) I've been happy with the cards I've received, but I think I'm going to hold off on buying more Topps until Series II. Here's the last card I got:

1969 Topps Moe Drabowsky

According to the web's most reliable source, Wikipedia, Drabowsky was known as a prankster who once had a teammate wheel him to first base after being hit on the foot by a pitch. Sounds like my kind of guy. He had a pretty successful career that included two World Series titles and a record of 88-105 with 55 saves and a 3.71 ERA. Ideally this will be the last code I redeem until Series II, but if the unthinkable happens and I buy some more Topps, I'll keep you up to date on what I get. Good luck to everyone who is redeeming codes!!

My Topps Million Card Giveaway Cards

I have a feeling that the blogosphere will be running rampant with these posts today, but I don't mind being trendy every now and then, so here's a look at the cards I got with my five redemptions. It started off well enough but quickly went downhill and into the junk wax era (at least I didn't get any 1987's). I was happy to get a couple of "vintage" cards and the time spent waiting for the card to be revealed was quite exciting (yeah, you got me hooked Topps). Here's hoping someone I know lands a big one like the 1961 Mickey Mantle; can't wait to see what everyone else got!

1965 Topps Roy McMillan: I don't own many vintage cards so I was excited to pick this one up.

1985 Topps Jerry Reuss: I stole your card and then I stole the picture from your blog! Sorry Night Owl, I'll send you some Dodgers soon to make up for this egregious offense.

1972 Topps Luis Alvarado: Psychedelic tombstones!!

1993 Topps Jeff Tabaka: I feel like his last name is how I would say "tobacco" if I were an Atlanta Braves fan.

1995 Topps Jeff Branson: Back-to-back Jeffs is rarely a good thing.

This might have been on of the most fun things I've done in a long time. I was skeptical about Topps' endeavor, but it sure looks like a success after day one. There have been some great vintage cards showing up, as well as a few surprise autographs. I gotta get more Topps!!!