#SuperTraders: What Are You THINKING Tony?

I complain as much (or more) than the next person about the logoless nightmares that we sometimes get with Panini. Yet, I still collect those cards. They are Brewers, after all, and all Brewers deserve a good home.

I mentioned yesterday that I hope everyone is okay with my decision on what to open for the #SuperTraders -- at least this round, where I'll open something. Coming up in the future, I plan to send out envelopes filled up with cards to folks.

This time, though, and in the interest of starting with ripping wax -- something I have not done much of in the past year or so -- I thought I'd pick up some reasonably priced boxes and rip a few different boxes to contribute to everyone. Hopefully y'all like these. If not...well...

R.E.M. will always hold a special place in my heart as a band thanks to me spending three-plus years in the greatest college town in America -- Athens, Georgia. I don't need anyone else's rankings to argue with me on that -- I know there are rankings that say that is not true. Athens is inexpensive, has great food (after all, Top Chef regular Hugh Acheson calls it home), and has great music too...such as R.E.M.

But I digress, though I have my apologies in now, at least.

So, without further fanfare, here's what I am going to break up and send out over the #SuperTrader world.

Let's start with the basic stuff:

1.  Blaster of 2012 Panini Cooperstown 

Why: Because I ordered from Dave & Adam's Cards, and they threw it in for free.

Logistics: As with any older sets/cards, the predecessor teams will go to the current version (St. Louis Browns to the Orioles collector, Yankees to hell, er, sorry, wait -- New York Giants to the San Francisco Giants, Montreal to the Nationals, etc.).

Players who played for multiple teams in their career will go to the team whose logo appears on their plaque in Cooperstown. If no logo appears (ahem, Greg Maddux, I'm looking at you) or a team isn't named, then I will random the card off to the team or teams for whom the player played. Note: I'm into fairness, so this will be a weighted average, meaning one entry for each year the player played. The Dodgers get two shots at Maddux, while the Braves get 11.

Disclaimer: I am going to keep any negro leaguers or any league presidents that may appear unless there is some huge cry from someone for that Ban Johnson or Kenesaw Landis card.

2.  2014 Donruss Baseball Factory Set

Why: It was on sale very cheap -- barely over $20 -- when I ordered from D&A.

Logistics: I don't recall if there are any multi-player cards. If there are, they will be randomly assigned to one of the teams (assuming that the players on the card are on teams that are claimed).  

Disclaimer: If there are multiplayer cards with Brewers players on them, I'm keeping them, unless I have the card already in which case, I'll mail it out.

3. Panini Contenders Baseball 2015

Why:  Another reasonably priced box from D&A -- one of their "specials", in fact. Plus, come on -- two Vanderbilt Commodores on the box? Plus, it's an issue that I have seen some buzz about on the blogs as being one in which people had some interest.

Logistics: The players are shown on their college teams. I'm assigning players to the team that drafted them, if the cards themselves do not indicate a particular major league team.

That said, with players who have been traded already -- as I look directly at Dansby Swanson -- I am open to sending that player's cards (if any) to the team who employs them now. Frankly, it depends on whether the card says, "Arizona Baseball Team" on it or not when I open it. 

EDIT:

So, in opening these, there are a ton of retired players in college uniforms. I'll handle these like the Cooperstown cards like a Maddux -- a weighted randomization.

Disclaimer: Same rules for multi-player cards applies. However, I reserve the right to keep any cards that show multiple Vanderbilt players on the same card. In other words, I'm keeping the box. I hope in the future that the Brewers someday draft a Vanderbilt player. Even if that guy sucks, he'll be an automatic PC.

I'll add that this set is the one about which I have the most trepidation -- but with 6 autographs, I'm hopeful for a good return.

4. 2012 Topps Mini

Why: To be honest, because I need a lot of them for my own collection. I have some, but not many. I also tend to think that not many people buy the minis because, well, Topps has a history of screwing over people who buy them at full price by dumping them on Black Friday...by which point people have forgotten about the minis and moved on to whatever they move on to.

Logistics: Same rules on the multiplayer cards as Donruss. I need a lot of multiplayer cards -- 4 of them, actually -- so I'm grabbing those and being greedy. Otherwise, they will be randomed off.

Disclaimer: Sometimes, Minis are boring. I hope this box isn't. That said, if someone would like the physical box, let me know. Otherwise, I may random it off too.

5.  2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee

Why: I don't have many of these in my collection. I love the look of these cards. The box has cards on it, too! I'll cut up the panel unless the four teams involved -- the Mariners (Ichiro), Cardinals (Pujols), Rangers (Hamilton) and Rays (Longoria) -- want to play RoChamBeau for it or if they would rather I keep it intact and send it to the random winner of the four of them.

Logistics: Same as before. I'll keep multi-team cards with Brewers, y'all get the rest randomed off.

Disclaimer: Dude, isn't that MLB hologram on the box totally sweet? It makes me into a stoner staring at it.

Of course, that song does not describe me at any point in my life. Never been much of a pothead, to be fair. Not that I have any problems with it.

Anyway, I hope you guys and gal in the #SuperTraders enjoy these cards. I'll scan in the parallels/autographs/best cards for each box as I go through them.

Thanks, y'all. 

Repacks 'R' Us Part I: Trying a New Packager

Everyone is familiar with the Fairfield Company repacks that Target sells.  Either you get 100 loose cards and an unopened pack of Topps, just 100 loose cards, a box with an autograph and 5 unopened packs, or 20 unopened packs.  It all depends on what you want to spend, but that's what you're getting.

As I've mentioned before, I decided to take a gander last week at what Toys 'R' Us had to offer in terms of its baseball card selection.  I liked the way they do the Purple Passion cards -- stick the cards with a full, unopened white border package into a blister pack so you get 3 additional cards to the normal pack rather than giving up several base set cards for your Target/Wal-Mart inserts.

They also do repacks differently.  They have a couple of variations, though I only got one of them.  Both cost around $25, so they are a little pricier than the Fairfields.  The first variation -- which I did not buy -- includes one graded card and five unopened other packs of cards.  The second variation that I got is put together by MJ Holding Company.  Interestingly, unlike the Fairfields, this entire box contained nothing older than 2010 -- usually Fairfield has some junk wax in it.

Because I was curious as to how they broke out, I decided to take a page out of the Nachos Grande Box Break handbook and do a complete list of what I got.  There were a lot, so there will be a few posts here about this box.

Pack #1: 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions
This is a set that I really have never come across before.  In looking at the set information on Cardboard Connection, my immediate thought is "Upper Deck rips off Allen & Ginter."  Well, let's see if I will like these cards after that less-than-favorable initial thought.

76 Christian Laettner

Yep, this pack is going to suck.  If you want me to hate your product immediately, make sure that I open a pack and see a Duke Basketball player -- especially Laettner.  I have no love for Kentucky basketball, so that whole buzzer-beater play isn't what I dislike about him.  My dislike is much less rational and started with Danny Ferry in 1986.  Nonetheless, this is not an auspicious beginning.

40 Bill Walton

Looking like he’s a Jim Morrison impersonator, with long blond locks hitting his shoulders in his blue flannel shirt.  Wow.  Just wow.  

151 Kasey Keller

Hey! A short print!  I like English Football, so this is at least somewhat redeeming for this pack.  That said, I knew a guy in college and later who really liked Keller -- to the point of following Millwall's games on the internet in the mid-1990s because he grew up near Keller and idolized him.  That guy isn't a bad guy, but he just seemed to get under everyone's skin nearly immediately after meeting him. So, when I see Keller, I think of that guy...and that's not a good thing.  

Especially when Keller is posing with a Bichon Frise. Huh?

47 Karl Malone

Is Karl wearing a WCW golf shirt?  

Glad that pack lasted only four cards and was the only one in the whole repack.

Let's knock out two more of these packs a bit more quickly.  

Pack #2: 2012 Panini Cooperstown

This comes with five cards and one would hope that you would be guaranteed to get baseball cards in a pack with this name.  Otherwise, this is going to be a long, long day.

11 Buck Ewing

First card I get is the first catcher in the Hall.  He received 0.7% of the vote from the BBWAA in 1939, but the Veteran's Committee in the same year voted him in to the Hall.  I’m not sure if I've ever even seen a photo of Buck Ewing before.

34 Johnny Evers

109 Bert Blyleven

Obviously he is on the Minnesota Twins on this card, even if Panini can't show that logo.  

129 Sam Thompson

From baseball’s primordial days.  A vet’s committee selection in the mid-1970s.  he is renown for being baseball's first slugger -- he hit 20 home runs in 1889 in 128 games.  For those days, that is definitely a slugger.  

59 Richie Ashburn

Not a bad pack.  I don't particularly like the design of these cards -- the "Cooperstown" scrawled across the bottom is particularly ugly and takes away from the photos.  I suppose that any time you get the opportunity to get cards from Hall of Famers it should be considered a good thing.  At the same time, though, some opportunities are better than others.  This is closer to the bottom than the top.

Okay, one more pack for today's post.

2012 Panini Prizm

Man these cards are shiny.  I mean, they are "reflect the sun into your eyes and make you squint" shiny.  It's too bad there are only four cards in each pack, and in going to the Cardboard Connection set wrap up before opening, all I notice are the dizzying array of randomly named inserts.  Well, let's see what I get in my one pack:

2012 Panini Prizm

175 Adron Chambers

I knew I knew this name and not as a baseball player.  From the back of the card:  “A high school quarterback who went to Mississippi State on a football scholarship…” Yup, that’s it.  And, that's not a good thing either, considering that he went to play baseball after being arrested for assault and being suspended from school.

63 Carlos Gonzalez

Shiny, happy Rockies...

65 Ryan Howard

If this were the 2014 Topps Base Set, we'd be looking for a sparkle coming out of his butt.

150 Ryne Sandberg

A Ryno to close the pack and the post.  

So far, this repack hasn't been awful, but it has a long way to go to make up for Christian Laettner being the first card out of the first pack.  That is something that will be difficult to overcome.