While searching blasters on eBay I found a shop that offered free shipping and a discount based on the number of blasters of you purchased. I selected five and the total came to $86. If I had picked those up at Target it would have been over $100. This may be the way to go... The five blasters I selected include two basketball picks and three baseball picks:
I took our daughter to her dance class yesterday evening and while she was in class I retreated to my car and ripped through these five blasters. Taking the cards along was a brilliant idea; a very productive use on my time. I'll have to keep that in mind for future classes.
1. Chronicles
We will start with Chronicles. I have picked up a fair number of fat packs and hangar boxes over the summer as I enjoy the bulk of the rookie subsets. I did very well with the main base set (1-100). 13 cards and I needed all of them for the set:
I picked up 11 rookies from the various subsets to help build my set:
Nothing too exciting here.
I pulled my first blue parallel, a Michael Porter Jr that carries a SN99:
The box also included seven pink parallels:
Trae Young and MB3; not bad. The chrome Holiday is SN75.
The Chronicles blaster closes with eight extras, all from the various rookie subsets, headed to the For Trade list:
All in all, not bad.
2. Threads
The other basketball blaster is Threads. I have not picked up a lot Threads this season so this should be promising. We start with eleven additions to the base set, including three rookies:
I like the cards that use the jersey as a background; plays into the whole "threads" theme.
We move on to the ten inserts and parallels I will be keeping:
The first AU card I have pulled from a pack or box in quite some time and it's Jerome Williams. This is why I don't buy hobby boxes. You pay an inflated price for a guaranteed auto or two and 99 times out of 100 it's someone like Jerome Williams.
I did manage to pull a nice Giannis for my PC:
Sweet card.
While I mentioned I have not picked up many Threads packs this season, I somehow managed to pull 13 doubles.
The Giannis pull is nice, but the rest of the box leaves me unsatisfied.
3. Optic
We move now to baseball. I'll start with the Optic blaster as I have yet to purchase any Optic packs. The Optic basketball offerings of the past few seasons have been some of Panini's better selections. This blaster begins with six cards I will add to Owen's collection:
I am going to hold onto six rookies:
The remaining 15 cards will find new homes via my For Trade list:
Fairly disappointing box. Nothing really of note.
4. Topps Series 2
Up next, a Topps Series 2 blaster. I pick up Series 2 fat packs occasionally when I make a Target run. I have probably picked up a total of 10 or 12 to date. This is my first blaster though. It would be nice to hit one of the big rookies, or two. We begin with three additions for Owen's collection:
Not surprising to only pickup a few here as my previous fat packs and trades have left few needs here.
I will hold onto a dozen RCs:
That means a big stack of base cards will be added to my For Trade list:
Inserts and parallels headed to my For Trade list include:
One last card to cover before closing the lid on the Series 2 blaster...
I am going to hold onto this Yount patch card for my brother-in-law Jon who happens to be a pretty big Brewers fan going back to the 82 World Series team.
The Series 2 blaster was a huge disappointment. No Alonso, no Vlad, no Tatis, not even a single SP. I have fared far better just picking up fat packs.
5. Allen & Ginter
And finally, my final blaster is an Allen & Ginter. I have a real love-hate relationship with this set. I love the design. It's a great design, however, some of the people and things they choose to include in this set are downright bizarre. Let's get into it with seven additions to Owen's collection:
The deGrom mini is a cool pickup.
We proceed to two RCs I will keep for now:
That leaves me 24 base cards I will place on my For Trade list:
Included among these 24:
Egg. Are yo kidding me? Topps has devoted a card in a baseball set to an egg. Oh, but not just any egg. A famous egg that set some social media record. This is asinine.
Our fifth and final blaster closes with 15 inserts and parallels I will place on my For Trade list:
These oddball inserts seem to be pretty popular with a certain segment of the collecting population.
The A&G blaster was huge disappointment as well.
In the end, "disappointment" seems to be a recurring theme as I opened these five blasters. Thankfully, it stings a little less given I didn't pay retail. Well, if nothing else, I have added some depth to my 2019 baseball For Trade offerings and that should help me secure some cards I actually want.
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