Blasted!

Before I get into tonight's post, I just want to give my congratulations to Jim Thome, who became just the eighth player in major league history to hit 600 HRs. It's a pretty amazing feat, especially for someone who's been doing it by and large under the radar for the past two decades.

Here's an Allen & Ginter blaster that I picked up at last weekend's card show for just $16. I don't usually go to card shows expecting to buy blasters, but that's exactly what happened. My only regret is that I didn't have enough money with me to buy, let's say, ten of them.

Pack 1:

67 - Delmon Young (Young is still unfortunately best known for chucking his bat at an umpire in the minor leagues. He was traded today to the Tigers for far less than his value back when the bat was originally tossed.)

200 - Josh Hamilton

68 - Max Scherzer

309 - Kurt Suzuki

45 - Annika Sorenstam Mini (Best female golfer of all-time... or at least, best one I could name.)

HH54 - Joe Mauer Hometown Heroes

Pack 2:

125 - Clayton Kershaw

210 - Chase Utley

119 - Nancy Lopez (Okay, fine, Nancy Lopez is going to make me look bad. In the '80s, it was all Nancy Lopez this and Tom Watson that.)

AOM9 - Placoderms Ascent of Man (Placoderms once ruled both freshwater and seas. Maybe they got too greedy?)

SRU9 - Knife Throwing Step Right Up (Typical female. Always about to throw a knife at you...)

HH24 - Ryan Zimmerman Hometown Heroes

- Code-Cracking Jerk

Pack 3:

156 - Marlon Byrd

116 - Josh Beckett

91 - Joel Pineiro

325 - Mike Stanton (This guy can crush baseballs.)

AP25 - Black-Footed Ferret Animals in Peril (I think I have the correct name of this insert set. It's weird that some of these inserts do not list what they are supposed to be anywhere on the front or back.)

FF7 - Mahmudiye Floating Fortresses

Pack 4:

55 - Dustin Pedroia

132 - Colby Rasmus (Well, at least I'm not a Cubs fan.)

16 - Gordon Beckham

11 - Marc Forgione Code (Has anyone cracked this code thing yet? I'm a big fan of the original Iron Chef, but I couldn't begin to tell you what The Next Iron Chef was like.)

334 - Gaby Sanchez Black Mini (Sanchez is proving that his rookie year was no fluke, as he's put up almost identical production this year.)

HH34 - Chipper Jones Hometown Heroes

- Binder Ad

Pack 5:

206 - Tsuyoshi Nishioka

86 - Greg Halman (A lot of rookies have received at-bats in Seattle this season, but Halman hasn't really found his way yet.)

BHS-14 - Mariano Rivera Baseball Highlight Sketches (I've seen worse sketches, although I'm still not wild about horizontal images with portrait script.)

345 - Zack Greinke (Next!)

105 - Ubaldo Jimenez A&G Mini

HH47 - Phil Hughes Hometown Heroes

- Checklist 3 of 5

Pack 6:

116 - Josh Beckett (Again.)

91 - Joel Pineiro (Again.)

AGA-BM0 - Brent Morel Framed Auto (Okay pack, you win. It was worth the doubles to get this. This is the part of the post where I'm supposed to say I know something about Brent Morel, but I don't. It looks like he's getting significant playing time at 3B despite having dreadful offensive numbers. Let me put it this way - he's making Josh Fields look like Mike Schmidt.)

57 - Derek Jeter Black Mini

HH15 - Matt Holliday Hometown Heroes (Truly a great pack, overall.)

Pack 7:

47 - Phil Hughes

211 - Francisco Rodriguez

257 - Andrew Bailey
310 - Matt Kemp (Someone has made this crack before, but it looks like Matt Kemp is wearing a Dodgers cap made from a blue basketball.)

UG9 - RMS Queen Mary Uninvited Guests (Ghastly!)

MMF15 - Isaac Newton Minds That Made the Future

Pack 8:

277 - Hank Conger

273 - Brent Morel (Ahh, it's this guy again.)

176 - Brian Bogusevic (I love his name!)

AOM18 - Homininae Ascent of Man

WMF2 - The Poe Toaster World's Most Mysterious Figures (I'm not going to ruin it for you, but the story of this "figure" is extremely disappointing and not very mysterious.)

HH23 - Dustin Pedroia Hometown Heroes

- Jerkface McCode Cracker

So there we have it. Unlike most of my posts, nothing here is up for trades, aside from the Morel autograph card and whatever dupes that I have. I have a couple more blasters to work through in the coming days before I post my want list, so stay tuned.