2010 Topps Heritage Blaster

So, Captain Dayf (aka the World's Biggest Stamp Fan, aka the Cardboard Junkie guy) started up some sort of esoteric fantasy league where your team's players can be chosen from a pool that consists of only the players on the baseball cards that you pull from a 2010 Topps Heritage blaster (or a comparable equivalent.) I wasn't going to make any attempt to collect this set this year as I have a ton of other unfinished sets to work on, but... curse you, dayf, for making me really like this set.

Anyway, onto the cards. I will deliberate later tonight to determine who my actual team is. Hopefully I'm not lacking in any positions.

Pack 1:

161 - Madison Bumgarner (The Giants have all these tantalizing rookies and saw fit to keep them in the minors like they're trying to save money or something. I drafted Buster Posey in two separate leagues, so I'm hoping they end up trading Bengie Molina or something relatively soon before it starts to get annoying.)

104 - Jorge Posada

402 - George Sisler Baseball Thrills (Topps did something awesome with the Baseball Thrills cards this time around, by putting actual legends on them instead of current players. The previous years' cards were really boring. This might reflect something that was done with the original 1961 set, but I don't have time to find out.)

348 - Julio Borbon

203 - Juan Rivera

92 - Mark Teixeira (I guess I'm set at first base.)

279 - Erick Aybar

205 - Edwin Jackson (First look at him in a D-Backs uniform. Jackson is a good pitcher, but I don't get why they gave up on Max Scherzer.)

Pack 2:

44 - Carlos Pena / Mark Teixeira / Jason Bay / Aaron Hill AL Home Run League Leaders

259 - Jose Reyes

240 - Elvis Andrus

204 - Brandon Phillips

47 - Adam Wainwright / Chris Carpenter / Jorge De La Rosa / Brandon Arroyo NL Wins League Leaders (4 players and half of them are Cardinals? That's awesome. How did Brandon Arroyo end up leading the league in anything last year?)

407 - Ty Cobb Baseball Thrills

159 - Baltimore Orioles (The team cards are very bright this year.)

493 - Joe Mauer All-Stars (Awesome. This was the only design I was really looking forward to from this set. I think they're all short-printed as they have been in the past couple of years.)

Pack 3:

60 - Asdrubal Cabrera

141 - Kosuke Fukudome

137 - Bobby Cox

70 - Lastings Milledge (I wonder if Milledge will ever become a useful player. I guess I wonder the same thing about Alex Gordon.)

217 - Carlos Ruiz (My starting catcher on one of my fantasy teams. Ugh. Curse you, Giants!)

TN6 - Whitey Ford / Zack Greinke Then & Now (I'm not loving this design.)

102 - Nolan Reimold

42 - Joe Mauer / Ichiro Suzuki / Derek Jeter / Miguel Cabrera AL Batting Average League Leaders

Pack 4:

222 - Manny Acta

392 - Jeremy Bonderman

34 - Fausto Carmona (What happened to Fausto? He had that one great season and has been horrendous ever since.)

320 - Pittsburgh Pirates (Yarrr!)

324 - Mike Pelfrey

401 - Babe Ruth Baseball Thrills (Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer.)

257 - Carlos Quentin

58 - Ryan Dumpster

Pack 5:

162 - Johnny Cueto

56 - Jake Peavy

317 - Brent Dlugach (That's quite a last name you've got there, Brent.)

NAP2 - Jacoby Ellsbury New Age Performers

299 - Derrek Lee (Last year was only the second time that Lee topped 100 RBI.)

254 - Chris Davis

35 - Gordon Beckham

36 - Glen Perkins

Pack 6:

282 - Koji Uehara

336 - Francisco Rodriguez (Proof that when you don't win games, you don't get saves.)

425 - Marcus Thames

122 - Chicago Cubs

194 - Joey Votto

BF6 - Candlestick Park Baseball Flashbacks (Clearly no one is getting blown off the mound in this picture. I wouldn't exactly call this a Baseball Thrill.)

132 - Ozzie Guillen (Quite possibly my girlfriend's favorite person in the world.)

280 - Tobi Stoner (Duuuude.)

Pack 7:

406 - Mickey Mantle Baseball Thrills

249 - Cincinnati Reds

310 - Chase Utley World Series

- Kevin Millwood / Casey Blake Framed Stamps 18/50 (I can't even express how awesome this card looks in person. I just wish there were better players on it.)

76 - Jay Bruce

23 - Rhianna's Boyfriend

160 - Andy Pettitte

484 - Roy Oswalt 2005 NLCS MVP (I would have shown this card but I have this no-Astros policy, and it's baseball season and all. And this commemorates that horrible team beating the Cardinals, which is not good.)

Pack 8:

281 - Cody Ross

207 - Gil Meche

354 - Minnesota Twins

423 - Checklist

370 - Mark Reynolds

269 - Edgar Renteria

334 - Wandy Rodriguez

404 - Rogers Hornsby Baseball Thrills (Nice way to round out the box.)

What? No chrome cards? I don't ever remember that happening before in a Heritage blaster. It turns out that they're a much tougher pull in retail packs this year - 1:18 for the regular chromes and 1:50-something for the refractors. I do have a CC Sabathia refractor I got from a hobby pack, so maybe that's where they're stashing all the chrome stuff. I think I tossed the wrappers from those, so I can't look at the odds to compare.

I will have an update later tonight with my selected team.