Old Standby Blaster

First off, before you read further, I want to tell you about the group break going on over at Cardboard Collections. Only a handful of teams have been claimed so far, and the whole thing only costs ten bucks a team and there are discounts for multiple teams claimed. I frequently either get beaten to the punch when people hold these things or determine that it's totally out of my price range, so this is a good opportunity for some of you to get some baseball cards for half the price of a blaster.

Meanwhile, to no great surprise, I have been completely unable to find any of the new products at the retail stores that I've visited lately. I can't really afford to get into buying World Cup stickers, but it would make me happy if I at least saw them on the shelves and maybe saw a few kids with packets in their hands. I am not going to complain about Bowman all that much because it sounds like with Strasburg fever breaking out everywhere, I'd be better served just trying to slip a few dollars to the chumps that are breaking case after case open and literally have several rooms full of "crappy" base cards. I do want the Cardinals, you know. The thing that bugs me the most is that I have yet to see Topps Series 2 and it's already mid-June. I was even prepared to buy a blaster if no loose packs were available. However, I reallocated that $20 towards an old standby: the 2010 Topps Heritage blaster.

Pack 1:

235 - Will Venable

288 - Carlos Zambrano (The Cubs are kind of a mess this year and so is Zambrano. My heart bleeds.)

237 - Alexei Ramirez

290 - Joba Chamberlain (A good example of why I have no interest in collecting prospects.)

283 - Cleveland Indians

388 - John Smoltz (John Smoltz was a Cardinal? Was it all a dream?)

365 - Todd Helton (Helton hasn't topped 20 HRs since 2004, but he has maintained a great Batting Average.)

470 - Hanley Ramirez All-Stars (First pack out of the box holds a short print. Nice.)

Pack 2:

94 - Zack Greinke

35 - Gordon Beckham

37 - Curtis Granderson (Granderson has been in sharp decline since his breakout 2007 season, but apparently the Yankees were oblivious to it.)

38 - Rafael Furcal

417 - Garrett Atkins

C76 - Roy Halladay Chrome 1892 / 1961 (Can't complain about this one.)

54 - Daniel McCutchen

422 - Dioner Navarro

Pack 3:

342 - Daniel Murphy

344 - Homer Bailey (The Cards have tied the Reds in the standings, so it's safe again to show a Reds card here for now.)

74 - Russell Martin

NAP1 - Justin Upton New Age Performers (There's an "Uptown" section at the Diamondbacks stadium. How is anyone supposed to think of anything but Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" when they see that?)

189 - Checklist

8 - Rajai Davis

393 - Ryan Braun

362 - Brandon Allen

Pack 4:

219 - Charlie Manuel (Charlie Manuel seems like he's about 100 years old and not completely aware of his surroundings. Has anyone else had that impression?)

152 - Prince Fielder

154 - Shane Victorino

96 - Randy Johnson (I should have scanned the back of this card. Randy's stats are completely unreadable because of the way they tried to get all of them in and the cartoon panels for whatever reason.)

233 - Ian Kinsler

332 - Ryan Langerhans (There was an official Ryan Langerhans Sighting last night when he hit a pinch HR off of Ryan Franklin.)

120 - Chipper Jones (Chipper's considering retirement, so says an extremely whiny and sappy article.)

457 - J.D. Drew (Nobody really knows what J.D. Drew does. He just shows up, punches the clock and takes up space. He doesn't even wear a hat.)

Pack 5:

36 - Glen Perkins

132 - Ozzie Guillen

134 - Jim Riggleman

162 - Johnny Cueto

228 - New York Mets

56 - Mickey Mantle (This made me do a major double take. Apparently this is a rather limited variation. The "normal" card 56 is actually Jake Peavy.)

As you can see, the back of the card has white stock like the short prints. The sensible side of me wants to sell this card because it's commanding more than $40 on eBay right now, but now that I know that it's actually possible to get these gimmicky Heritage variations, it's hard for me to let it go.

315 - Brandon Webb (I wonder if Webb will ever pitch again. Arizona fans had better hope he is more Chris Carpenter than Mark Mulder.)

84 - Garret Anderson

Pack 6:

160 - Andy Pettitte

280 - Tobi Stoner (Duuude.)

292 - Koji Uehara

336 - Francisco Rodriguez

18 - David Huff (Anyone who can take a liner off his head is alright in my book.)

373 - Boston Red Sox

129 - Ian Desmond (Desmond has had a solid rookie campaign so far, but he needs to cut down on those errors. 15!)

452 - Cliff Pennington (Third SP of the box.)

Pack 7:

95 - Miguel Cabrera

153 - Scott Baker

97 - Chris Dickerson

155 - Luis Valbuena (You learn something every day. Such as, Luis Valbuena is a Major League Baseball player...)

151 - Brad Kilby (Kilby is an interesting looking guy.)

NF9 - Vostok 1 News Flashbacks

246 - Johnny Damon

316 - Kevin Youkilis

Pack 8:

72 - Matt Cain

287 - Juan Francisco

289 - Carl Crawford (All-around good guy, blogger favorite...)

221 - Terry Francona

307 - 2009 World Series Burnett Outduels Pedro

BF2 - Warren Spahn Baseball Flashbacks (What if the Braves had stayed in Milwaukee and what if Bud Selig had owned them and then hastily moved them to the American League? What would you think about that?)

245 - Ryan Howard

179 - Chase Utley (Start hitting again, Utley! My fantasy teams are mired in a pit of suckitude.)

I will update my 2010 Heritage list shortly. If you have contacted me about a trade for anything from this set recently, we should probably touch base again. I'll review my e-mails as soon as I can get to it.