Blaster Madness #10: 2019 Bowman Mega Box (Target Exclusive)

Twitter sometimes fools me. I see so many great cards being pulled from certain products with such frequency, I tend to start believing that every box must have a huge hit inside. Then I start drooling and making plans to get my hands on the product.

Such was the case with 2019 Bowman Mega Boxes. Each box had two packs of exclusive mojo refractors, and it seemed like everyone on Twitter pulled a Wander Franco auto in it. So when I saw a shelf full of Mega Boxes in a recent trip to Target, I decided to grab four. I told myself this was simply like buying four blasters since they were the same price. In a cruel twist of fate, I received a call from my boss as I walked out of the store to let me know that the project I was working on was being squashed and I was being laid off.

These boxes better pay off. Things aren't starting so well.

The fist box offered up an auto! Could it be Wander???

Of course not. I don't have that kind of luck. Instead, I pull an auto of Blaze Alexander. Interesting name, terrible signature.

The second box had no autos, but did offer up a bit of color:

A purple refractor of Lyon Richardson. I don't know anything about the guy, but color is better than base.

The third box was similar: no auto, but color:

A gold refractor of Ryan McKenna.

The fourth box had nothing in it, other than a base Wander. I guess I should count that as a win.

So I went home, head hanging low, accepting the defeat thrown to me by the cardboard gods.

Once I got home, I decided to sort the cards and enter the keepers into the Trading Card Database. On second look, that Wander looked a bit different...

Holy goodness, it's a super-short print! As I mentioned, I just lost my job, so let's see how much this guy is going for (after all, I have a tuition payment due soon)...I look it up and nearly pee myself in excitement. This card is selling well. I put mine on eBay and it sells within minutes!

What about you? Did you have any luck with the Mega Boxes?

Blaster Madness #9: 2019 Stadium Club, Part II

As I mentioned in my last post, I went back to Walmart and grabbed another blaster of 2019 Stadium Club. I also decided to grab a fat pack, just to see how those are packed out.

In retrospect, I should have stuck with the fat pack. The blaster was absolute garbage, with nearly every card being a duplicate from one of my first two blasters. So this post is just looking at the fat pack.

With that being said, there were only three cards to really talk about in the fat pack. First up:

These sepia parallels feel cheaper in this year's set. Maybe it's because they have a much larger print run, or maybe it's because there is far too much red in the toning...or maybe it's both...but I'm not a big fan. Still, this was in the pack. It isn't nearly as impressive as the next card.

The photography for this set. This is card #1, and it is so very deserving. This one happens to be the black foil parallel. It's a keeper.

Lastly, the odds of an autograph were stacked against me...

...especially an autograph numbered to 25. This is the black foil parallel of the Chance Adams rookie auto. Still, that signature has to be entered into the "Worst Signature of the Year" race. But, it's a low-numbered auto. I'll take it.

So there you have it, the best three cards from my fatpack. Anybody else have any retail mojo lately?

Blaster Madness #8: 2019 Topps Stadium Club

When this yer's version of Stadium Club debuted, y Twitter timeline was flooded with images from the set. As usual, Stadium Club offers the best overall photography of any set Topps offers, and this year did not disappoint. I made my way to Walmart to grab a couple of blasters a couple of days ago. Let's see how I did.

As I mentioned, the photography is second-to-none.

When sorting through my cards, I initially thought this was Babe Ruth. The photo definitely makes on think of the Great Bambino. Such a beautiful card.

However, this is the card that I fell in love with. This might be my favorite card of all time, and I have zero ties to Bench. Everything about this card is perfect. I dare anyone to find a better photo used in this year's set.

The only Ranger I pulled in my two blasters was this red foil parallel of Adrian Beltre. I'm not complaining. I pulled a few other parallels, as well (black foil, sepia).

This chrome parallel of Rickey Henderson was in my first blaster. I think this is the second year of Stadium Club featuring chrome parallels, but I could be wrong.

I pulled plenty of inserts, also, with this red foil Ronald Acuna Beam Team being the best one. According to the odds on the box, these fall one in every 193 packs. Not too shabby.

However, the best card of the two blasters was this beauty:

This is the Ken Griffey Jr. photo variation short print! Outside of a photo of the Kid's backswingm is there a more iconic photo of Griffey than one with his hat backwards?!

So, there are my first two blasters of 2019 Stadium Club. Full disclosure: I went back to the store the next day and bought another blaster and a fat pack. I'll share the results of those tomorrow.

Have you bought any Stadium Club this year? If so, what did you find?

Box Break: 2018 Elite Extra Edition - The Hits

Last week, I shared the various parallels I found in my two boxes of Triple E. Today, let's take a look at the hits.

Justus Sheffield Triple Materials

Jon Duplantier Quad Materials

Corey Ray Purple USA Materials

Travis Swaggerty Red USA Materials

Nick Margevicius Future Threads Auto Relic

Kevin Sanchez Gold Future Threads Auto Relic

Charlie Saum Emerald 15U USA National Team Signatures

Brady House 15U USA National Team Signatures

Durbin Feltman Base Auto

Lency Delgado Base Auto

Josiah Gray Base Auto

Nick Schnell Base Auto

Jackson Goddard Emerald Stats Die-Cut Auto

Jose Cosma Blue Aspirations Auto

Jose Garcia Blue Aspirations Auto

Cadyn Grenier Red Status Die-Cut Auto

Luis de la Cruz Purple Aspirations Auto

Steven Jennings Emerald Auto

Tristan Pompey Emerald Auto

John Rooney Tie-Dye Aspirations Auto

That's a lot of ink. If I am being honest, I have never heard of many of these prospects, though a few ring a bell. Regardless, it was still a fun break and the cards are beautiful and colorful. I am happy to have all of these in my collection!

A brief post, but sometimes those are the best kind.

Box Break: 2018 Elite Extra Edition - The Parallels

A couple of months ago, I bought a couple boxes of 2018 Elite Extra Edition. I was (and still am) on the hunt for a specific player that was featured in the product, but more on that later. 

When I got back into collecting, I stayed pretty far away from Panini. I'm not a fan of the logoless cards. However, some products feature players in either their college threads or Team USA uniforms. I can get down with that. I opened a box of 2016 Elite Extra Edition a couple years ago and enjoyed it. Let's see if this year is similar.

PS - There are a ton of parallels, so I'm not necessarily going to have commentary on all (or any) cards.

Greyson Jenista, Tie Dye Die-Cut #'d 8/10

Luis Encarnacion, Blue Aspirations #'d /99

Diego Cartaya, Blue Aspirations #'d /99

Jose Cosma, Red Status Die-Cut #'d /99

Cal Raleigh, Red Status Die-Cut #'d /99

Keiderson Pavon, Orange Aspirations #'d/100

Tristian Pompey, Orange Aspirations #'d/100 

Carlos Cortes, Red Aspirations #'d/150

Keibert Ruiz, Red Aspirations #'d/150

Brewer Hicklen, Red Aspirations #'d/150

Not too shabby. Lot's of color. I'm a big fan of the sparkly die-cut cards. Also, a couple of the kids featured on the international block look like they can't be more than 12 or 13 years old.

I'll be back early next week with the hits portion of the break.

How do you feel about EEE?

Blaster Madness #7: 2019 Bowman (Part II)

My last post discussed my desire to try and get more value from seven blasters of 2019 Bowman than I would a single hobby box (seven blasters run about the same as a hobby box, in terms of price). If you read that post, then you know I feel like I did pretty well and got enough value from those four blasters to cover the hobby box.

Let's take a look to see if my final three blasters paid off. 

Right off the bat, I saw green.

This Ke'Bryan Hayes green refractor was in the first blaster. I like the green refractor look, but I was hoping for the green shimmer, as I like them just a bit more.

Well, I guess that counts as a win! Not a Ranger, but a green shimmer refractor of the Royals' MJ Melendez was in the second blaster. Both of these are numbered to 99. 

The first blaster also provided ink. This base paper (sticker) auto of Eduardo Jimenez was in the next to last pack. I know everyone seems to be big on the Chrome autos, but I really appreciate and like the retail paper autos more. I don't really know why, I just do. I just wish they were on-card.

But that isn't it...

The second blaster also gave me ink, in the form of this Shed Long base auto. First, heck of a name. Second, two refractors and two autos in two blasters?! Definitely a win!

If you are keeping track at home, you are probably asking, "What was in the third blaster?!"

Well.....

...

...

...nothing.

That's right, nothing of significance was in the third blaster. All base, no color, no extraordinary inserts. But hey, after two blasters like these above, you don't complain about a barren blaster.

So, after seven blasters, the final count stands as follows: three autos (one green refractor numbered to 99, two base paper), two refractors (green and green shimmer, both numbered to 99), one colored paper (blue paper, numbered to 150), and two insert parallels (gold refractor to 50, atomic refractor to 150). Not included in any of this discussion are the coveted "1st Bowman" base and Chrome cards.

So, my judgement:

Waaaay more value in the blasters than in a single hobby box. If a single hobby box had all of this in it, it would be consider loaded.

But wait, there's more.

I went back to the store a couple of days later and decided to get the two remaining blasters. So, as an added bonus, let's see how I did with those.

I'm really not sure what to call these. A speckled refractor? A disco refractor? Either way, this one features Angels' first-round pick Jordyn Adams.

How about another auto? Can I get another auto?

A gold paper auto of Sterling Sharp, numbered to 50! Nice! These blasters are killing it! Massive win!

So there you have it. If you ask me, the way to go with 2019 Bowman is definitely the retail blaster route. I hope you enjoyed reading along!

Blaster Madness #6: 2019 Bowman

I went to the Dallas Card Show this weekend on the hunt for a box of 2019 Bowman. There wasn't much to find, and the prices reflected that scarcity. A regular hobby box was running around $140. I decided against that, believing the better deal would be to grab seven blasters.

On my way home, I stopped by the local Walmart and snagged four blasters. Let's take a look and see how I did.

This was the only paper parallel I managed to pull, featuring Roberto Ramos of the Rockies. The blue parallels are numbered to 150.

I also was able to pull this Rookie of the Year Favorites atomic refractor of the Blue Jays' Danny Jansen. It is also numbered to 150. I really like atomic refractors, but I really hate the Blue Jays. Though that may not be as true now that Bautista has fallen off the face of the earth.

Speaking of parallel inserts, I also managed to pull this Top 100 gold refractor of the Royals' Khalil Lee. I know nothing about this guy, but that can be said of everyone featured so far. Also, why isn't this set called "Topps" 100 or "Topp" 100? Seems like the kind of cheesy move that Topps would pull...and I wouldn't hate it.

And we finish with an autograph:

A green refactor auto of Matt Vierling. I don't believe green refractor autos are exclusive to blasters, but I do know that the autographs that are normally found in retail are sticker autos on paper cards (rather than chrome). Regardless, I was stoked to pull this.

So after four blasters, I'm willing to say that my value is already better than what I would have pulled from a single hobby box. I've watched a few breaks online and it seems that color is a hard thing to come by. 

This would indicate that production has been ramped up even more this year. That fuels my fear that the industry is starting to edge back in the overproduction of the 80s and 90s. I really hope I'm wrong.

Have you had any luck with this year's Bowman? Are you concerned that we are approaching a second overproduction era?