March Group Break Results from Cardboard Collection - Part 2 The Rockies

Well I finally have time to post part two of the group break results from Cardboard Collections.  Here are the winnings that posted about in Part One.  All of those cards that were for trade are now on their way to new owners.  I consider that a fantastically successful second team in a group break.  But now we come to the meat of the break for me, the Rockies.  This post will actually incorporate both the group break and a side trade that Colbey and myself completed during the break.  I am doing it this way to save time and energy...oh who am I kidding?  I am doing it this way because I'm not real sure what is break and what is trade, but hey let's figure it out together.

These 3 are 1994 Collector's Choice Series 1 Silver Signature parallels.  Colbey got this box as a replacement for a sticky cards problem with one of the two original break boxes.  I already the base team set from Series 1, but I didn't have any of these silver sigs so I am happy.  i really like how the Hayes and Young cards sort of act like "pop up bookends."

This is the box that was replaced.  A 1994 Score that had the same mid-90s stickiness problem that a lot of cards have suffered from in their 15 years+ sitting in packs.  When I first got back into the hobby I bought a jumbo box of 1995 Topps and had the same problem.  Colbey still sent the cards along and none of my Rockies were damaged more than slightly.  They are good enough for a place holder in my binder and I may never replace them.

This was the other promised box, 1994 Fleer.  I picked a good portion of the team set out of this break, I think I only missed like 7 or so.  I chose to show these two cards because they show the expansion Rockies experimental "bat workout" video.  Benavides is the "and 1" and Tatum is the "and 2."

These two cards came out of the "bonus" packs that were part of the break.  The Matt Holliday is a 2005 Topps Opening Day rookie cup card.  I like the blue foil that Topps used to use for OD, but I am much happier with the no foil version from this year's set.  The 1996 Sportsflics Andres Galarraga was my favorite card of the entire break.  This card came out of a 100 card jumbo repack.  Expansion teams usually do not do well in repacks, and this was the only Rockie in the pack.  But man what a payoff it was. 

I think this is where the trade begins and a nice beginning it is.  A 2003 Upper Deck Standing O die cut parallel of Todd Helton.  I have one for my Jamal Mashburn collection, but this is my first baseball card from this set.  I think it works, but it has the same storage problem as minis.  There is a reason Topps set the standard baseball card size as learned in The History of Topps insert set.  It's all about easy storage and displaying.

This is a 1998 Donruss Collections Neifi Perez.  Donruss Collections was a similar set to Topps Fusion in that it basically took the stars out of each Donruss set and rebranded them into one set.  Thankfully this idea did not last very long.  I will always take another Tulo rookie.  I know I had several of the 2007 First Edition Tulos, but I think this was my first from the main set.

Okay here's a lesson on the good and bad about parallels.  First the good, the gold parallels for 2008 Topps are my favorite parallel ever.  I think they actually look a lot better than the base design from that year, at least the Rockies do with the purple and gray bubbles.  With the good comes the bad, the 2008 Topps Gold Foil parallel is one of the more useless parallels ever, not the worst ever (those would be the various card back parallels) but there was no need for these to be made.

This is a 2009 SP Authentic rookie of Jhoulys Chacin.  Chacin will be the key to a playoff run this year for the Rox in my opinion.  If he has a breakout year, the division will belong to Colorado barring other unforeseen circumstances.  The insert is a pretty cool one from 2010 Upper Deck.  The Tape Measure Shots showcases the longest home runs hit during the 2009 season.  I like all the info provided on just the card front, it tells me everything I need to know about this home run.

Finally we come to a first for me.  This 2010 Bowman Green Xfractor of first base prospect Mike Zuanich is my first from that parallel set.  It isn't numbered, but it does definitely look cool.  The 2010 Bowman Gold parallel of Rockie superstar Carlos Gonzalez is honestly kind of a boring card, but look for him to challenge for MVP again this year.  He is already off to a hot start.


That wraps up March's group break from Colbey.  I am definitely getting in on April's for the Rockies and probably another team as well to rebuild some team trade bait.  I have thought about running a group break here at the Quarry and may do so during the dog days of summer.  I will definitely be asking Colbey (and others) for tips because his breaks are usually some of the most fun in blog land.