2010 Donruss (Panini) Elite Football Box Break

Howdy all,

Well I finally had a few days off.  I've been working 2 weeks straight and didn't actually expect to be have anytime off so it's a nice surprise and much needed.  I was at the local comic/card shop here in Fairbanks were I'm working out off for the next month or so and decided I was going to buy a box of cards.  I had been trying to hold off till Allen and Ginter came out but I'll be out of town working in the bush by then so I when I went into the shop I spotted the newly released 2010 Elite Football.  I was thinking of buying a Prestige box but decided to go this route.  I had great luck with this product back in 2005 pulling a Cadillac Wiliams gold die cut #'d to 24.

To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of Elite.  The cards from year to year don't change that much and it's pretty much just the player cut out onto foil board.  But on the pull side if you need something to catch a fish with these will do nicely. 

It's interesting to note that the checklist has the Donruss Elite logo on it put the sheet is labeled Panini Elite.  Looks like Panini is doing brand shift over.  I'm betting next year it's just called Elite or Panini Elite. Chekc it out.

So here is the box break down and then I'll get to my Hits ect.

The box boasts 4 hits either autos or memrobilia.  So in theory you could get 4 autos or just 4 patchs, but we got a 2 of each and all the video box breaks I watched on YouTube were the same.

20 packs, cards per pack, cards with a patch actually have 6.

There are actually 200 cards in this set the first 100 are vets and then 101 to 200 are all numbered to 999 rookies.  So for realities sake I'm calling the base set the first hundred.

Base cards: 85 (85% complete set)

Duplicates: 0  (nice)

Numbered Rookies 101 +: 4

Elite Series: 1

SuperBowll 44: 1

Prime Targets: 1

Zoning Commmission: 1

Stars: 1

Aspriations Blue Die cut: 1

Chain Reaction:1

Prime Targets Jersey: 2

Rookie Insert: 2

Turn of the Century Green Rookie Auto:1

Status Rookie Die Cut Auto #'d to 24: 1

So that's the breakdown here are the picks.

The base cards look like this.

I just pick Portis at random there.

Next we have the rookie inserts.  These are the cards that are hard signed if these were auto versions.

Jonathan Dwyer and Rolando McClain, both numbered to 999.  Which by the way is the reaccuring them in numbering inserts here. 

Chain Reaction

My lone Packer Insert Donald Driver number to triple 9.

Stars.

Nate Burleson, can you guess what it's number too?

Zoning Commission

Chad 85, #'d to 999.

Prime Targets non Patch

Old fumbles himself AP I wish this had aleast been a patch card, this one too numbered to 999.

Elite Series

Andre Johnson #'d 999

Super Bowl 44

4 numbered rookies.

Dez Bryant, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, and Jevan Snead.

Die Cut Aspirations Blue

Pierre Thomas #'d 65/77.

2 Prime Tragets Jersey Cards

Jamall Charles #'d to 299

DeAngelo Williams also #d to 299 Every one of these I've seen online has been white single color patchs.

Now onto the Rookie Autos

Everson Griffen Green Rookie Auto #d to 388.

And last but not least my big hit

Golden Tate Die Cut Blue Status Auto #d 02/24.  I was watching one of these on ebay and it's going for about 35 bucks so not too shabby.

Over all not too bad of a box you definately get alot of numbered inserts.  As a matter of fact I think there were only 2 or 3 packs in the whole box without one.  No Tebows for me though.

If you like shiny you will definatley like this stuff.  Until next time.

Yep it's official Clown Shoes for Strasburg!!!!

Well checked ebay this morning and now the Red 1/1 Auto Strasburg auction has been ended with no sale!!! Probably going to have to start this crazyness all over again.

Looks like the seller had started to preapprove sellers which is what he should have done in the first place, but who would have thought it would get this crazy, being bid up to close to a million then dropping back down to half a mil.   Still it was pretty obvious that no one was going to pay half a million dollars for a new card from a guy that will have tons of autos and cards out there in a few months.  I don't care if he is the second coming of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Joe Dimaggio rolled into one.

The other Strasburg is sitting at 23,599, with a little over a day left. 

New definitions to collecting and Straswho?

Another day, another day of clown shoes.

Well nothing new to report on the Strasburg crazyness.  Other than the number of bids has been reduce no reduction in price.  The red 1/1 auto still sits at 501 grand!  Superfactor hasn't moved either, will have to see if there is anymore movement when the auctions get close to ending in just under 2 days.

On a lighter note.  I am amending my dictionary of collecting.

I was talking to the store owner in Fairbanks about how it sucks to be a set collector in the age of SP's.  Not just SP variants or accidents but purposeful SPs that make you buy more product to try finish a set.  I'm talking about Heritage and Chicle from Topps mainly, and then Panini's football issues with short printed rookies and yes you too UD.

So I have amended my defintions of a base set to a given product is those cards that are not SP's.  Now for completists this will not suffice I know.  But for base set builders it makes me happy.  I have made it official.  Let it be said that SP's don't matter anymore.  Now who's got those last three high numbers I need? :) 

Until next time.

Let the fall begin. I promise no more pictures of Stasburg cards. Enjoy the shoes once again.

Well no sooner did I post then the red 1/1 has been reduced in half.  We now have  a high bid of 501,000.  How long till we are back in the realm of reality?  Maybe another 450 thousand.  And still it would be insane.  Less than 3 days left. 

On a lighter note, I'm sitting here looking for something to watch and Fuse has a Michael Jackson tribute going on.  Has he been dead a year already?  Well Thriller is on and I have to say it's held up pretty well.  I remember when it came out.  It was the shit.  This is how I'd like to remember the man, not the crazy pedophile plastic surgery junkie.  John Landis you master.

Strasburg on the decline Day 6 Insanity.

You know what these are people? there actual clown shoes!!

You know what this is?

Metaphorical Clown shoes!!

Ok so the card has come from the brink of ONE MILLION dollars to the edge of ONE MILLION dollars.

Still a staggering amount as the current reduce high bid is $ 982,100.  I'm sure we all remember when it was $999,999.00.  Well it looks like the seller and ebay are doing some house cleaning.  There have been about 50 bid retractions and cancelations so far and I have a feeling that there will be more on the way.

It appears that the seller has been contacting bidders to make sure they are legit.  And so far the close to a MILLION dollar price tag is still up there. 

Ah I can't wait to see the media hoopla about this card when it sells and the buyer and seller come out. Actually I can. Look how much press the superfractor guy got.  And nice segway there, that card is currently at $22,822. 

Both auctions have just under 3 days left.  So get your bids in now!!!!

WTF??? Clown Shoes all over again.

Well I guess now it's officially clown shoes for the red 1/1 auto Bowman Strasburg cards.  These can't possibly be real bids by people planning on actually paying.  I figured this back when this card jumped up to 50 grand then 100.  But people kept bidding people with actually good feedback scores and history.  And in a few short hours this afternoon this card went from insane to fucking clown shoes.  The sad thing is I'm sure people are just bidding now for bragging rights.  I can see the conversation now "Remember that Strasburg card that went for million bucks ya I bid on it around 250 grand."

Now looking at the bid history which is up to 215 bids from 105 different bidders the current high bid holder has a pretty significant 100% positive feedback history.  I just can't believe that this card will go for a million bucks.

As it stands it sits with in less than 500 bucks of a million.  Technically it's $999,501.27.  Here is the link to the auction.

I just can't see some one actually paying for the card now.  I can see a lot of non payment  issues and second chance offers and eventually a relisting of this card but a million bucks not likely

On the other StrasFront.  The Superfractor hottly contested 9.5 BGS graded card is up to $ 22,222.00.  So the seller has made over 6 grand on the flip, again if he gets paid. 

Well less than 4 days left and i'll be done ranting about this till the next stupid auctions or something comes up.

Probably a A&G box break or something.

StrasMaina end Day 5 Will the Insanity Ever Stop!!!!????!!!! And other StrasBuzz.

Well here we are with just under 5 days till this crazy, ultra crazy, uber crazy auction for a card of a guy that's not technically his rookie. 

So far we've seen the 20 grand, range broken, the 50 grand and then last night it jumped up to 100 grand in 2 bids!!  Now as it stands its at $103,012.01.  It's the penny thats the killer.

Crazy.

Now onto the other Strasbuzz going on.  It's been announced that the superfractor that's up for sale again has gotten its grade.  And it's over all grade is 9.5.  Now this has bloggers up in arms.

Gellman over at Sports Cards Uncensored had this rant, about Becketts merits and trustworthyness.  I have personally bought and recieved BGS graded cards that I deemed to be subpar from there grade.  And for that reason I will no longer buy any graded card unless its PSA or SGC.  Those are the only 2 companies I'll buy from.  It does look like the auto fractor is off center and edging is in question too. 

On the subject of centering and grading Jeff over at I am Joe Collector, had this nice BGS grading comparison to look at with lots of pretty cards. 

There's all kinds of guesses as to why this guy graded the card let alone with Beckett and all sorts of conspicy theorys about Beckett bumping up this card because of the publicity.  Well duh!  I'm sure the guy sell the card  and getting it graded by Beckett gotta deal here too.  Plus tons of free advertising.

I want to congratulate Sooz over at A Cardboard Problem for correctly guessing the reserve price.  As the card has met its reserve and will sell, current price on the superfractor is 20,655. 

Well with all this crazyness it'll be interesting to see what happens when the 661's get autos and Bowman Chrome comes out and A&G and their printing plates ect ect.  Or it won't.  There hasn't been this much buzz and crazyness around a card since well since the Heyward Auto Superfractor and that wasn't nearly as crazy as this. 

Well if the guy sell the Red Auto actually gets paid good for him and good for the hobby.  Who knows this might bring in new and old collectors with the possiblity of pulling a card, a new card no less, this valuable.  Or maybe not.  I certainly have been less than impressed with Topps so far on their exclusive deal.  I have been really disappointed with the quality control issues with Series 1 and especially Series 2.  In this day and age with lasers and ultra sharp diamond cutting blades there is no excuse for off centerd cards and damaged cards making it into packs.  But that's a rant for another day.

I guess not so clown shoes. Day 5 of StrasMania.

Well I thought last night for sure was the end of the run for the Bowman red 1/1 auto of Strasburg.  Some smart guy last night bid the card up to 100 grand.  Since the bidder had 0 feedback and was new I figured it was just a ghost bid to screw up the works but it doesn't appear to have stopped the bidding as some well established bidders are still bidding up the card.  The current price is $100,400.00. Over double what the guy was offering to sell it for the first time it was posted.  I didn't think this card would fetch 25 grand let alone quadurple that.  I guess sky's the limit now as the price has approached the cost of a new home ( in some parts of the country).  Stay tuned there's still 5 days left of bidding! 

In othe Strasburg news the Superfractor is up to 18,600 and still has not met its reserve.  After thinking about it a while I realized that this guy probably put a rediculious reserve on the card not really wanting to sell it.  His remarks in his interview about testing the water to see what it's worth now make me believe it'll never reach reserve.  It is however almost 2 grand more than what the guy bought it for.

Clown Shoes

Well it's official the 1/1 Red Bowman Strasburg auto is a joke.  Somebody went and had to screw it all up.  Take a look at the history here.  Some jackass just bid the card up to 100 grand.  And you know it's a fucktard cuz it's a new account.  I am assuming and I would do this if it was me but cancel the stupid bid and get back to it. 

OMFG!!!!!

Well it's official who ever ends up buying the Red 1/1 auto Strassburg will be paying more than the original Buy It Now price previously offered.  The card just hit $50,100.00.  And sadly approaching twice my annual salary.

Strasmania Day 4, Too much Mountain Dew!!!! Plus the reappearance of a Superfractor!

Whew.  This thing is going crazy.  First an update for those of you who are not following on ebay.  I'm just a gawker, but it's fun to see what crazy total this card is up to.  As of 1 minute ago $42,600.00!! 

My original guess of 26 and change is a bit off.  I will piss myself laughing if this thing goes for more than 50k, which by the way, was the original auctions Buy It Now price. 

Now on to some other interesting, old news.  Sooz over at A Cardboard Problem.  Posted this last night.

But it looks like the guy who bought the Superfractor Strasburg is already trying to flip it. 

As the auction currently stands he's up on his investment but the card hasn't hit it's reserve yet even at $17,877.  Sooz guess was about 20 grand for reserve which is probably right on or near.  The wierd thing is he states in his auction that the card is currently being graded by beckett, yet he chooses to sell the card with out the grade on it.  As  a matter of fact the pictures look exactly like the ones from the original posting. 

I am assuming that the seller, who I haven't watch the interview yet and I just might not, is taking advantage of the hype from the 1/1 red auto, cuz the end times are suspiciously close, withing 2 hours of each other.  Not a bad idea actually.  And the seller is also correct that he bought the card even before Strasburg played his first game in the majors. 

There was also speculation, not much but some, that it was odd that there was no feedback from the original seller on this sellers feedback profile.  Well we can all relax it's actually there, just a little hidden.  Here's the link to the feedback page  The original seller was dunksb_sz10 the auction and sell date were,(#190398394834) and June 14th.   

Anywho.  I might just have to pop over to the A cardboard Problem to hit the links to the interviews. 

Well stay tuned as I plan on keeping track of these cards and ranting about how crazy this is.  I apologize for the fanatizism but this just blows my mind.  You know what I would do with 42 thousand?  Well I'll tell you what I wouldn't do and it's buy 1 baseball card of a rookie

Strasmania Day 3 Part 2

Wow every time I turn on the computer and look at my watched stuff on ebay this card has jumped a few more grand.  As it sits it's at 35 grand even.  Will it slow down i mean there's over 7 days to go!!

Just a few stats that seem to amaze, astonish and befuddle the card has had over 100 bids on it from 66 bidders.  After looking at the bidding history I grinned from the first guy to bid stopped at 5 bucks.  I would have at least gone 10.

StrasMania Day 3 Unbelievable

Well it's day 3 of the 10 day auction for the above card with is the red 1/1 auto bowman card for Strasburg.

As of 1 second ago there have been 91 bids and the new total stands at $31,600.00  Unfreaking believeable.  Still over 7 days left to bid too! I thought for sure after 20 grand this would slow down.   

Could this card top 50 grand? seems unlikely but what do I know.  All I know if this guy actually gets paid it'll be a miracle and ebay and paypal will make a ton on their fees.

StrasMania Continues unabated

I can't believe this shit.  The card is right at what I estimated it would end at.  Crap.

As it stand the Strasburg Red 1/1 auto is at $26,645 with just under 8 days left.  I wonder if this guy will actually get paid or if now people are just bidding it up and then screw him.  This seems crazy for a card of a guy that isn't even his rookie card and has only played 3 games in the pros.  Whatever.  I plan on following this till the end now so expect lots of post about how crazy this is.

STRASmania Day 2

Well with 2 days down and 8 to go the Red Auto 1/1 of the Strasmiester is at a little over 19k.  mmm.  My prediction of 26.543.34 over at A Cardboard Problem's contest is getting closer.  This card has already surpassed the Superfractor by 3 grand.  It's going to be an interesting ride.  Now I think my bid might have been too low.  I'm sure the bidding will cool off once it gets over 20 grand.

Another easy contest for the Lazy

Well I get extra bonus points for this post any who if you want in on an easy contest head on over to Drinking the Orange Kool-Aid.  Just comment on how to store tobacco sized cards and your in. 

StrasMania

I know I feel like I'm jumping on the bandwagon with this but I'm a firm believer in letting the market decide the value of things.  When the Red Auto 1/1 Strasburg hit ebay the seller had a buy it now price of 50,000.00 bucks.  Here is the original listing.  Did he get that much or take a best offer.  Of course not.  Sooz over at a Cardboard Problem was having a contest to see if it would sell and for how much.  I correctly guessed it would not sell in the current listing, where's my prize sooz!!! Just kidding I think a bunch of us correctly guess no one would be stupid enough to pay 50 grand for a new card.  So today, well actually yesterday, the seller has reposted the card. Here.  And did he relist it for 50 grand?  Maybe cut the price in half.  Nope he started the auction at .99 cents and is going to let the market decide how stupid we are.  He put it up for a 10 day auction and it hasn't even been a full day and the card is at over $14,000.  In one day!!! The Superfractor sold for around 16,500 so who knows he might actually get over 25 grand for this card.

I know, free advertising.  I mean the superfractor actually made national news.  And no I'm not selling it.  I wish.  Hell the 661's are going for 350 plus on ebay right now.  Crazy.  I was going to sell my code cards but now i'm thinking I might want to enter them all to see if I too can find gold.  But lets be honest the Strasburg money train won't run forever.  I remember the same enthusiasm for Longoria and Price.  But at the same time it's kinda nice to see the excitement in the hobby and the attention.  Looks like Topps got lucky this year.  What would have happened if Strasburg never got called up this year?  I know that seems unlikely with the Nationals being the Nationals and the buzz behind him but would it have been another crap Bowman year? 

Anyways my new prediction is this card will sell for $26,000.00 plus or minus a grand.  Who has that kinda money in this economy??  Oh did I mention that you get free shipping if you win?

Until next time.

Bustin' some cheap wax and a couple new packs. 94 Donruss Series 2 Baseball

So today was a bum day spent mostly doing catch up work in town and not getting out in the field at all.  I had to FedEx some stuff to Anchorage and wouldn't you know it the Card/Comic Books shop is literally right next door here in lovely Fairbanks.

Last time I was here i bought a box of 2010 Topps Series 2 Baseball.  But noq  I'm holding out for Allen and Ginter.  But they had some shelves of cheap 90's wax and I couldn't pass up these 2 boxes of 94 Donruss Series 2 for 9.99 a box.  Plus with this sticker on the front how could I resist.

I also decide to pick a couple of Series 2 Topps to see if I could get a MCG code.

So lets see.  36 packs per box 13 cards per pack carry the 2 that 468 cards for 20 bucks plus the bonus Dominator oversize cards.

Ah the early 90's this is back when the inserts were the hits and this box actually had some nice inserts.

I love on the box it also states very boldly that every!! card is foil stamped. 

It also boast to look for Long Ball Leaders seeded 1:18 packs so about 2 per box.  I got 3.

I know the camera sucks but here is Dean Palmer, Cecil Fielder, and Juan Gonzalez.

In Donruss as always is the Diamond King inserts.  I got 8. I really like how the Diamond Kings is all Sparkly.

I know only 6 pictured.  I got 2 doubles the Mattingly and Perez.

But I got the Greg Vaughn, go Brewers, Dick Perez, Don Mattingly, Ruben Sierra,

another Cecil Fielder insert, and Orlando Merced.

As adveritsed there were 2 90's Dominators.  I would call these box toppers but they were actually at the bottom of the box.  Plus they are just larger numbered versions of these inserts.

In this group of 5 inserts is , John Kruk, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey, Jr, Kirby Puckett, and Barry Bonds.

And wouldn't you know it.

My two box bottomer's were Puckett and Kruk. Both numbered to 10,000.  The ninties version of a short print I guess.  Both were in the 9,000 for individual numbers.

Of course this set also has a parallel in very pack called Special Edition and I got 72 of those. 

Not too shabby and a lot of fun to break.  I really wish they'd of had some series 1 and I'd probably put a set together to give me somthing to do, might just have to put together a series 2 set. 

Now I also bought 3 packs of 2010 Topps Series 2 Baseball, must be a series 2 day.  I didn't pull a MCG code but I did get 2 box hits.

I know another crappy photo, but it's a Red Hot Rookie Redemption #6 (so now I have 5, 6, and 8 covered for that Strasburg)   and a Auto of Joey Devine.  And I got out of the shop for under 30 bucks!!!

Well I might have to buy some Ginter when it comes out as I'll actually be someplace that I can buy it. Until then or as rants emerge Keep up the good work.

Strasburg #661

So has anybody gotten one of these cards or know anyone who has?  I haven't seen or heard anything by anyone about actually getting a 661.  I see that every card on the MCG website is up for trade for one though. Hey maybe you can trade this card for a 52 Mantle!!

Topps you bad dog!!

Howdy all,
It's been awhile I know.  I'm up in Fairbanks Alaska enjoying the hot smokey weather and nursing a sore lower back.  It's a bummer but the doc told me to take a couple of days off to let it heal and it's feeling better, but today I was feeling caged and decided to make my way to Fairbanks's only Comic Book/Card store to see what they had.  Anywho I ended up talking with the owner Kevin for about a half hour about Strassburg ect and decided to pick up one of his last boxes of Topps Series 2.  Now I've already busted 2 jumbos and am almost finished with my second set and really didn't need to buy much more but I wanted some Million Card Giveaway cards and it was by far the cheapest thing he had there.  He even gave me a 10 dollar discount.  See shmoozing pays off.
Before I get to the goods lets talk about this whole Strassburg #661 give away card that has the blog/hobby world pissed off.  Not because Topps decided to add a card to something that will be almost impossiple to get but that they promised that it would be available after the first pitch and wasn't until the 7th inning.   Now for me it's no big deal I didn't have any MCG cards to redeem anyways all my jumbo ones are still sitting in a box in Anchorage.  I was contemplating selling them since they are fetching insane prices on ebay right now.  But part of me would love to get a Strassburg card too.  I understand how people would be pissed off having entered all there cards right after the first pitch.  But this just seems dumb to me anyways.  It wasn't like the first 1000 codes would get cards.  And since the code doesn't correspond to a specific card what's the hurry to redeem.  It does seem under handed and sneaky and very unprofessional.  I will whole heartedly agree with that. 

Dayf over at the Cardboard Junkie has a great post I encourage you all to read here. 

Now on to my box.  So I decided to just get a hobby box and not spring for Kevin's last Jumbo. 

My one hit wasn't terrible but not great.

Good old Troy.

I also got one black parallel.

I also got 6 golds.

A red hot rookie redemption.  Figure I'd keep this one and have redeemed it already.  Gotta play the Topps Red hot rookie roulette.

I also got this card.

What the hell is up with these cards.  This is the second one I've pulled.  So it seems in the guise of a contest to find new artist Topps wants you to draw something and send it in and maybe it'll be inserted into a future product.  What do you get?  Nothing I would guess since there is no indication of any prizes or money associated with it.  MMMM.

I also got all the other inserts about 6 each. 

Oh and I got a Joe Mauer Yo Momma original back. 

Not terrible and I'm sure I should be able to complete my second set with this.  I'm a little disappointed in the Turkey Reds I got.  Out of the 9, 3 were doubles.   This is one of the insert sets i'm tring to complete and to get 3 doubles in a box sucks.  I also really like the 2020 cards.  I'm a sucker for the lenticular stuff.  Makes me nostalgic for the old Kellogg's 3-D cards from the 70's and 80's.

Well I'm trapped up north till mid July and I don't know if I'm goint to get any Ginter up here or not but maybe.  Keep up the good blogging.

PS.  Forgot to add this earlier but I got 6 MCG codes and no Strassburg by the way but did get a 64, 72, and 76 along with the junk.