Crackers and Kings

My Group Break participation has slowed of late. I don't think that has much to do me, but it seems like several of the usual hosts have stopped doing what they were doing. I really admire the effort and organizational skill that it takes to pull off one of those things. I think it's possible that I may do something like that in the future, but I would expect it to be different than most in that I'm sure I would be more inclined to purchase something that I am in need of rather than doing some hit chasing.

Back in March, The Daily Dimwit broke some 2005 Topps Cracker Jack and 2004 Donruss Diamond Kings boxes. These are some of my favorite sets that came out before I started collecting again, so I was very excited to participate.

I have no idea why Mark Mulder is simply "Mulder" here. I haven't seen any other player in this set get the Ichiro treatment here, except for (presumably) Ichiro.

Pujols looks like some soulless video game approximation of a real live baseball player here. Very creepy.

I really wish Cracker Jack boxes contained something someone would be interested in keeping these days, instead of crummy jokes or whatever it is that they have now. Some of the minis are stickers, like this Edgar Renteria here. You can tell which cards in this post are minis because they're larger than the regular cards. That makes sense, right?

As is often the case in these group break things, I was randomly assigned a second team. This team was the Marlins, a team no one is willing to admit to being a fan of, with good reason. Miguel Cabrera is the one Marlins player I can actually pawn off on people (on Listia anyway) so I guess there's that.

On to the Diamond Kings - Matt Morris is looking really goofy here. These cards identify the artist on the back. This one is the handiwork of one Mark Chickinelli. I can't draw at all, however, so I have no right to judge. It seems hard!

I guess the old all-time greats just look better when drawn than current players. It's probably because we know what these current players look like from the repetition of watching games and highlights. We didn't see Stan the Man play, though. (Well, I didn't, anyway.)

Here's a Heritage Collection insert of The Man, the first that I've seen. This will fit nicely into my collection, but it's not the best card I snagged in this break.

That best card would be this Jim Edmonds beauty, numbered 093/150 as a bonus. This is definitely the best card I've received this year. I'll pass on the Bryces and Trouts when there's quality Edmonds cards to be had.