September Trade Bait

Are there any Mariners fans out there? Anyone?

Sunday was a fruitful day in the retail pack busting department. I snagged another Allen & Ginter blaster and one of those Topps Chrome rack packs that all the kids have been chattering about. I'm not quite ready to compile my Allen & Ginter list for this year just yet, but I don't usually keep the memorabilia/auto cards unless they're a team or player favorite. Jersey cards are a dime a dozen these days, but I've got one of a young up-and-coming Seattle pitcher if you're interested.

Chrome blasters this year have sepia colored refractors, while it seems that the rack packs have pink bordered refractors. Both are a little strange to me, but I'm sure they'll stand out in any binder.

There's a pink Odor.

It seems like Sabathia's career may be winding down. Also, pink and Yankees colors don't really blend.

Nothing to see here folks... just a regular refractor of a scorching hot hitter.

I might actually throw this up on eBay if I don't get any nice offers. This is a prism version (this year's "X-Fractor" I guess), so it's maybe a bit more desirable?

And here's a gold refractor Padres auto. On card, even! How about that? This one is numbered 13/50 if this intrigues you at all.

Ideally, I'd love to get some Cardinals from this set, but I'm open to just about whatever. Send me an email, a comment or a Tweet... or all three if you really don't value your own personal time.

Chrome is Weird

Shiny and new and weird.

One of the things that fascinated me the most when I first came back to the world of baseball cards in the mid-aughts was the whole concept of a Chrome card. What would it look like? What would it be like to feel? And why would anyone in their right mind pay so much money for a pack of 3 or 4 cards?

If I remember correctly, the first Chrome card I ever owned was a 2006 Topps Chrome Skip Schumaker "rookie card", and it skewed my view just a bit. These things felt weirdly like a piece of glass to hold. They also tend to attract grease and dirt pretty easily! And here I was, last Saturday, plunking down $18 for a brand new blaster of this year's edition more or less to get a few trade bait cards I could flip. I won't make a habit of this, I promise.

The box began with a special 4-pack retail bonus full of sepia-toned refractors. I didn't do so well with these. In addition to Austin Jackson, I also found Mike Minor, Michael Cuddyer and Michael Taylor. Lots of Mikes, basically. In another pack, Brandon Crawford was a non-special refractor, just shining on his own.

I doubled up on Bryce Harper in the same pack, as you can see here. Are there any Nats traders out there, or did everyone throw their collections into the river after the Strasburg market took a critical dive?

This is a Prism refractor. It's not an X-Fractor. Don't get it twisted.

Here's a really nice shiny looking insert card of a guy I've never heard of. I am really glad the Jays went back to their more classic look.

Here's another refractor. The Mariners a sad lot.

Refractor Starlin says hello. I broke my "No Cubs" rule again, but mostly just to point out that Starlin has been terrible and also to complain because he's on one of my fantasy teams. Wah!

All of these cards are available, as well as the base cards I didn't even bother to mention. There were no Cardinals to be found.