Closing out 2018 and ending with Billy

Today we close out the third blasted for the last week or so, and see how they compare. Interested to see how the winds up, so let's recap the point system once more...

Scoring system...
Base card - 1 point (yes, all cards get a point)
Base card need - 2 points
Base variation card - 20 points
Base card Toronto card - 5 points
Base variation Toronto card - 50 points
Insert Card bonus - points based on odds - if 1 in 4 - worth 4 points, double if a Toronto card

So here are the last couple packs of 2018 Topps Opening Day baseball from the blaster.

Pack 10:


As an individual player, Melky hasn't quite had the success he did in Toronto since leaving (offensively at least)



I love the bright blue and yellow old school colours being kept with the outfit, the way a Brewer should be!



Only two Buster's come to mind when I hear the name - this one and the animated one from Arthur....yeah....oh wait....and Buster Douglas....so three.



16 points - happily a pack of all needed cards.

Pack 11:


Yay - another Jays pick up, though still missing a couple base ones (and a short print)



Always an interesting sight seeing a couple boats/kayaks chasing down a baseball hit into the water. Definitely a unique experience for a baseball game.



We end the box on a positive note with another pack of all needed cards, and 16 points for a total of 77 cards and 185 points for an average of 2.4025.

The Comparison
So we had three blasters (I know, really two and a pack, but let's go with it anyway) and we ended up with...

3) 2018 Topps Opening Day Blaster 2 - 2.4025
2) 2018 Topps Big League - 4.8181
1) 2018 Topps Opening Day Blaster 1 - 6.5844

Honestly, I think that is pretty bang on for how I feel about them. This last blaster just feel flat, but at least provided another Jays cards and some more new inserts. The Big League pack had a nice SN to 100 card, so was alright, and the first Opening Day blaster did best overall.

Me thinks I will be keeping this comparison and maybe run it through 2019 for whatever blasters/boxes I get to see what ended up as being my best and worst of the year.

Before ending the year, and this post, I want to share a last treat which came in a few days ago. I am sure many of you know Billy from the Cardboard History blog - if you don't, do check him out, it's one of the best card blogs out there. Billy was nice enough to send over a Christmas card with a few goodies, and I want to end the year with a big thanks to Billy, and sharing those goodies below.



A great smattering of Leafs, and a really nice Dickey which is my first card from this Topps Tribute. The Dickey card scans almost better than it looks in hand, the background picked up nicely with the shine.

As I mentioned to Billy as soon as this arrived, I have an envelope I was going to be sending his way. Given how long his card took coming to me (he mailed on the 6th, arrived on the 24th), might be late January before he gets it....

Thank you to all of you for coming by however often you do, and see you next year - have a great (and safe) evening tonight!

In come the dupes

Today we have packs 7-9, as we work through the 2018 Opening Day blaster box

Scoring system...
Base card - 1 point (yes, all cards get a point)
Base card need - 2 points
Base variation card - 20 points
Base card Toronto card - 5 points
Base variation Toronto card - 50 points
Insert Card bonus - points based on odds - if 1 in 4 - worth 4 points, double if a Toronto card

Pack 7:


Here is a tradition, I honestly didn't know about at all. I didn't realize that 8 Clydesdales took a trip around the warning track in St. Louis for their festivities.



And with these two, we finally start to see some base card duplicates. It was bound to happen, but happy it took as long as it has.



Jake Lamb's red bat stands out nicely with the team colour (stands out compared to other bats, while working to make sense for the team colour and overall picture). Lowest score yet with only 13 points since there were some duplicated in the pack.

Pack 8:


A duplicate insert, but a decent one for the more common inserts.



Still getting use to the sight of Edwin not in a Jays uniform. The biggest issue I have, is why hasn't he just started carrying a parrot around and just attach it to his arm for the home run go around the bases? The arm thing still bugs me.




15 points for this pack, bringing the points down overall...

Pack 9:


Yay - Josh can join Tulo for my two Jays pulled so far for this base set.



I really like this pic for a catcher, natural pose, nice and close, just comes off really well. I want more like this!



A rough batting year for Vazquez seeing his lowest average for a season, just over .200, and he needs to try and improve his walk versus strike out ratio as he doesn't get many walks.



18 points for the pack, helped greatly by Donaldson.

So through 9 of 11 packs, we have 63 cards and a total of 153 points.

We finish up, and compare these practice blasters tomorrow...the last day of 2018 - can't believe it's already over and 2019 is almost here!

Speaking of dupes - I did want to share a few more cards from the DantheMan box today that fit the dupes theme. There were a handful of 2011 and 2012 Topps WWE cards. I guess in looking at the sets, he may have read them in reverse - by wants as haves and haves as wants, because I ended up only needing one of these, because the one I have of Randy Orton is an autographed card, so I want a clean version as well.



Oh well, it happens, and at least I have a few wrestling card dupes which may be easier to trade for wrestling cards!

Cubtacular

Yesterday were packs 1-3, today we have 2018 Opening Day Baseball packs 4-6....

Scoring system...
Base card - 1 point (yes, all cards get a point)
Base card need - 2 points
Base variation card - 20 points
Base card Toronto card - 5 points
Base variation Toronto card - 50 points
Insert Card bonus - points based on odds - if 1 in 4 - worth 4 points, double if a Toronto card

Pack 4:


Here is another one of the Blue Foil, opening day dated parallels which fall one per nine packs. Just the start of a Cub heavy three packs...



If you were the guy racing The Freeze, are you excited that you are on a baseball card....or not so much because the pose isn't exactly endearing?



Whoopie - it's Dee! Best part is he rounds out another all new for me cards so this pack is worth....23 points.

Pack 5:


Another nice Mascot insert. I may have to chase this insert set down and take a look maybe at some other mascot cards - these are pretty darn nice.



A diving catch for Happ and a second Cub so far...more to come...16 points for this pack.

Pack 6:


A third Cub....and...



a fourth...they just keep coming



Though this Trout is the catch of the day....yeah, bad pun, but I still went there.



We end with some Wood, and yet another all new adds pack, this one for 17 points which brings us to....
6 packs, 42 cards, 107 points

Going to need a couple big days to get anywhere near the other blaster box....but first one other quick hit to show here...

First time I recall ever seeing anything from this wrestling set, and it ends up being a pack....



I believe the glue dried up as it was an open pack (though I will cheat on this one and keep it as a pack for my collection purposes. This on Listia was a nice find. This is a 1986 set put out by Monty Gum. There is good argument for this being the worst wrestling card set of all time - in the same vein as 1990-91 Pro Set being the worst to hockey, due to the number of errors and issues with the cards.

Oh, and the backs are just blank cardboard...blank backs before blank backs were cool.

I'd summarize some of the issues with the set, but when I found someone who had already done a bang up job - thought it would be best to just direct you here instead, if you are interested.

Still, a nice little pick up again from Listia.