Group Break #5 Results from JABOs

Just a Bit Outside has become one of the newer blogs that is identified as a group break Mecca.  Kyle always has 1-2 breaks either running or shipping and I think that is a great thing.  Although it can get a bit expensive.  Last time through in his #4 break, I pulled a killer Tulo relic along with a bunch of Heritage SPs.  This time in break #5, I was far less successful, at least with my Rockies.  My second team, the Twins this time, did very well for me.  Let's take a look at some of my cards from this break.

The box I was the most successful with, at least with the Rockies, was by far 2003 Bazooka.  I actually didn't have any base cards for this set, despite opening a box for my own group break last year.  I still need 4 more for the team set, maybe I should do another group break with this box involved down the road.

I also got a mini parallel for the Jason Jennings.  In case you haven't seen them, these are not A&G sized minis, they are more comparable to the 87 Topps minis from this year's flagship set.  The only other needed Rockies card I got was the Jeff Francis from 2005 Topps Chrome.  So as you can see I did very poorly with my Rox this time.

But then we get to the Twins.

I got both the base and the "silver chunk" parallel of Bazooka Joe for the Twins.  I like this card because each of the 30 teams were represented with only the logo on the shirt changing.  This is card #7 and is from the time when Topps had that number retired.  This is much better than no card at all.

A trio of Twins from the Bazooka set.  One thing I both liked and disliked about Bazooka was the First Year cards.  Some like Terry Tiffee here did make the majors, even if it was just for a couple of short stints.  Others though like Kip Bouknight of the Rockies never made it and their cards just kind of bring the set down.  It is definitely a good thing that the whole Alex Gordon debacle happened.

A pair of parallels round out the Twins from Bazooka.  The Pierzynski is a regular mini, while the Hunter is a color logo parallel.  The color logos were a partial set parallel for mostly the star players.

The only Twin I got from the 2005 Topps Chrome box turned out to be a really good one.  This is a refractor of All Star Rookie Joe Mauer.  Even though Mauer turned out to be a great player, his inclusion on the All Star Rookie team was more of an indictment on the rest of the rookie crop of catchers.  He got hurt in late May and only played 40+ games the entire season, but no other rookie catchers had better stats.

Another box that was opened was 2008 SP Authentic.  I was shutout of needed Rockies, but I did get a nice triumvirate of Twins, along with a special treat at the bottom of the page.

The final box opened was 2003 Flair in which I was also shutout of needed Rockies.  I did pick up a pair of Twins including current Rockie Michael Cuddyer.  Cuddyer is really off to a hot start this season.  I hope he keeps it up.

Here is my big hit for the break.  A By the Letter manupatch Scott Baker letter "B" #'d 46/99.  This nameplate would be a pain to put together because you have to spell out not just "Baker" and not even "Scott Baker."  You have to spell out "Scott Baker Minnesota Twins" to have a complete set and all the letters are #'d to 99.  A tough little project, but I'm sure if anyone can do it, it's Rhubarbrunner.  This card and several of the above Twins are already en route to the biggest Twins collector I know.

Group Break Swag from Juuust A Bit Outside...

I got into my first (but not my last) group break over at Juuust a Bit Outside last month.  Kyle was busting 4 boxes: 2004 Fleer Platinum, 2007 SP Authentic, 2011 Bowman Platinum, and 2012 Topps Heritage.  As far as needed cards go, I struck out on 3 of the 4 boxes.  I got several cards from the 2004, 2007, and 2011 boxes, but I already had them.  You might think at this point that this break greatly disappointed me, but you would be VERY wrong.  This is arguably the best break (definitely top 2) that I have ever been in and all I got was 8 needed cards.  Let's take a look at what nearly made me change my pants.

 Let's start off with a pair of throw in cards which I did need.  I have a good chunk of the Rockies from 2008 Upper Deck Documentary, but I think I still need over half for the team set.  I've said it before that set was fantastic in theory, but not very good in practice.  The Tulo from 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum finished out the team set for me, so it was especially appreciated.  This is the type of set that I think Upper Deck did very well, a smaller set with multiple parallels.  Although, I do miss their 1000+ card base sets as well.

Let's start with the non-short print Rockies that I picked up.  I can't stand the Rookie Star cards, mainly because of the multiple uses of the same player.  I understand that they wanted to use the same amount of cards as 1963 for rookies, but the 1963 set was 576 cards while Heritage is only 500.  They could have cut some and still been fine.  But enough complaining (for now anyway).  Next up is the first Rockies card of Guillermo Moscoso who came from Oakland in the Seth Smith trade.  I have not been too impressed with Moscoso in Spring Training and this might end up being his only Rockies card ever, much like Jose Lopez in 2011 Heritage.

Now we'll go onto the SPs.  I actually got more short prints than regular cards in this break.  It helps that Rockies make up nearly 10% of the final 75 cards in this set with 6 total SPs.  I am really liking the backgrounds in each of these three cards, especially the Chacin.  Getting 3 of the 6 Rockie short prints out of one break would have made this break worthwhile, but Kyle was not done yet.

MY

BIG

HIT

WAS

THIS

BEAUTY

This is the image swap short print Troy Tulowitzki relic hand-numbered 02/63.  This is one of the best pulls I have ever gotten in a break!  I am not one that normally cares about certain serial numbers and such, but I do like that this is Tulo's uniform number as well.  This card might get buried with me one day (NOTE: future grave robbers...I am just kidding).  I was speechless when I saw this card and I think this is the best card that came from the break.  Considering an Albert Pujols autograph #'d to 100 came out of the 2004 box, that is some high praise indeed.

I didn't do as good in JABO's Break #5 (which I will be showing off as soon as it comes in), but I did get a decent #'d hit of my non-Rockies team choice.  Rhubarbrunner you will want to pay attention to that post.