2011 Prime Cuts Box Break HUGE MOJO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many of you have probably realized that I don't open many boxes.  Well, I got to pick out my own birthday cards this year and decided to treat myself to a hobby box.  Like I already posted, I got a box of 2011 Prime Cuts with some packs of 2013 Gypsy Queen.  I've already posted the Gypsy Queen, so now its time for Prime Cuts.

If you are familiar with 2011 Prime Cuts, you will know that that there are 5 cards per pack with at least 2 autographs.  However, there are usually 3 autos and most of them are prospects.  Two out of five boxes have three prospect autos while three out of five have two prospect autos and a veteran or hall of famer auto.

The way Panini packaged the product, you can tell right away if you've got a box with all prospect autos.  These boxes have a a base card on top.  Granted there are some nice relic cards in this product, three prospect autos are never a good sign.

So now on to my break.  Being a higher end product I go with the slide reveal approach, and I see a relic card on the top!  This means only 2 prospects.  The relic is a Matt Kemp bat peice.  The next card is a relic too, but I will skip over it for now because quiet frankly I would take a relic over a crappy prospect auto any day.

My two prospect autos were Michael Kelly and Chad Comer.  Blah.  Although, they were both short printed out of 99 instead of the usual 299.

At this point I have looked at the second relic, but I'm going to skip it again, and I'm sure you'll see why.  That leaves the veteran or hall of fame auto.  Crap.  Its a redemtion.

I'm already excited becuse it is a notable nicknames auto.  That means it is an on card auto inscribed with the players nickname, and the checklist is pretty strong.  Well, its triple crown winner and MVP Miguel Cabrera.  I would have been thrilled with just this, but it isn't even the best card in the pack.

Remember that memorabilia card I skipped earlier?  Well yeah,

Satchel Paige game worn two color patch numbered 6/10.  This is amazing!  I did a little research on Beckett and found that Satchel Paige only appears on 22 patch cards.  Thats pretty rare.  Safe to say that this is my best box break since 2010 when I pulled my Mystery Cut out of 2009 SP Legendary Cuts.

-20youksox

The Sentimental Side of My Collection: My Favorite Cards (Pt. 1)

Today, I felt compelled to share with the the readers some of my cards which mean a great deal to me for varying reasons. Each reason brings with it an interesting story as to why I hold the card to be so sentimentally valuable to me. I plan on showcasing more in the very near future, but for today I picked three which mean a great deal to me. Without further ado...



The first card I chose to display is my 1994 Classic 4 Sport Nomar Garciaparra Rookie Card. Growing up, Nomar Garciaparra was my favorite baseball player by far. I had posters on my wall, jerseys, shirts...you name it. I remember how emotionally spent I was when he got traded in 2004 at the deadline. I was only 7 or 8, but to me it felt like my heart had been broken. The ironic thing was I was wearing a Nomar shirt at the time, so I went upstairs when I found out (we were staying at a relatives house) and tried to rip my shirt in half, and couldn't so I tossed it into the empty trash bucket (I later picked it up and washed it, and still have the shirt today). Regardless, one Christmas my dad bought me a photobox that is generally used for storing pictures...but he converted it into a cardbox and replaced the picture windows on the lid with images from the Boston Globe issued on the day I was born. This was the best Christmas gift I had ever gotten, and with it I recieved a plastic case of various assorted baseball cards. And, lo and behold, one of the cards was this Nomar. I will always love this card for so many reasons. I continued to follow Nomar after he was traded, but eventually fell out of my line of sight due to me having new favorite players. But Nomar was never really gone. I had always held a special place in my heart for him. So, when he signed a one-day contract to retire with the Red Sox at the end of his career in 2010, I could not help but smile. I now have plenty of Nomar cards in my Red Sox binder, and I hope to eventually start a PC of my childhood favorite. So, here's to you Nomahhh!

1994 Classic 4 Sport Nomar Garciaparra RC

The next card I chose to showcase is this 2004 Upper Deck First Pitch Pedro Martinez. The card itself is so unassuming, and it's not necessarily the card but the photography which provides me the joy of sentimental collector's value. I've probably had this card for a long time, but believe it or not I just found it in my assorted card boxes a few weeks ago and slipped it into my binder. The picture, to me, captures one of the most dominant pitchers in the history of baseball pointing to God and thanking Him for his blessings as he always did after leaving the game. My faith and God is the most important thing in my life to me, without a doubt. I've always been fascinated by the connection between faith and sports, and I've always admired athletes who talk about their faith and how they play for a greater cause, but do so humbly. I always enjoyed watching Pedro pitch growing up, and next to Nomar he surpassed every other player in terms of being my favorite. I feel so blessed by God to be able to do all I do in my life, and be able to get a good education and enjoy the life he gave me. Little things like this make me happy to know that I'm part of a larger plan and that other people all over the world share the same Faith.

2004 Upper Deck First Pitch Pedro Martinez

The last card I chose to talk about is this 2004 Fleer Tradition Manny Ramirez card. This card denotes his winning of the 2004 World Series MVP, and as I recently just found out it is actually short printed. Shortly after the Red Sox won the world series in 2004, I was at an Olympia Sports at a mall near my house. While there, I was looking at the various baseball cards near the checkout counter with my mom, when a younger employee noticed I was doing so. He asked me if I liked baseball cards, which I said I did, and he and I started talking about cards and collecting. Being only 8 at the time, I was pretty early on in my collecting career. So, he told me he had something for me and that he'd be right back, and when he returned from the back room, he told me that he had in his hand some cards from his personal card collection. He insisted on giving them to me, and the card he specifically pointed out was this card. He noted that the gold wreath around the Fleer logo meant that the card was truly special. I was overjoyed, and I've kept this card ever since. I never got the employee's name, but he knows he mad a kid truly happy. I had watched the 2004 World Series with my Dad, and it was one of the better experiences of my life. The only game I fully stayed up for until the last out was Game 4, and I've never been as excited as I ever was when Keith Foulke underhanded a chopper back to the mound to Doug Menkevich for the final out.We had watched Manny Ramirez tear it up that series, and deservedly receive the World Series MVP award for his play. This card always brings back those memories upon simply looking at it, which is one of the reasons why it's truly one of my favorite cards.

2004 Fleer Tradition Manny Ramirez WS MVP SP

2013 Gypsy Queen 6 Pack Break

This year for my birthday, I got some cash so that I could pick out my own cards.  Normally I try to stick to singles for my Youk PC, but I decided to treat myself and buy some wax.  So, I placed my order from dacardworld for a box of 2011 Prime Cuts.  Since I was just a little ways away from free shipping, I bought some packs of Gypsy Queen.  I also got 8 free packs of 2010 Upper Deck Baseball, but those didn't yeild anything worth mentioning other than a Youkilis base card.

On to the Gypsy Queen, I did manage to pull 2 on card autographs and 2 serial numbered minis.  For the Gypsy Queen conspiracy theorists, yes, the numbered minis were in the packs with the autographs.



Anthony Gose and Brock Holt

Nothing extraordinary, but 2 on card autos from 6 packs is a win in my book.  Not to mention that Brock Holt, pictured in a Pirates uniform, now plays for the Red Sox.  I don't have scans of the minis, but they were a green /99 of Jaime Garcia, and a black /199 of David Murphy.  I also pulled a Troy Tulowitzki short print and a Manny Machado rookie.

By this point, you are probably thinking didn't he say something about a box of Prime Cuts?  Well, yes I did.  And, I will share my Prime Cuts break with you... tommorow.  Trust me, it is worth it.  I got not 1, but 2 big mojo hits.  Make sure you check back for those, and I promise you won't be dissapointed!

-20youksox

The Thrill of the Throwback: My New Mini Collection

Throwback uniforms, or pretty much any cool or unique uniforms, have always been a favorite of mine. That interest has begun to manifest itself in a subcollection of cards. I'm devoting an entire section of my binder to baseball cards that have pictures of players in throwback/awesome uniforms. So far, I only have about a front side of a page full, but I'm hoping to make some trades with 20youksox and maybe find some dime-box pickups along the way. 

Also, I've been inspired by Dime Box Nick over at baseballdimebox.blogspot.com to start valuing cards (that can even be as cheap as a dime) for more than their book value: whether it be cool photography, nostalgia, or any other things that set apart these "gems" (as he calls them), I'm going to try to pick some up whenever I see a dime box. I'll even try to devote a section of my binder to dime-box pickups. 

Needless to say, I'm hoping to advance my collection of cool uniform cards in the near future. You all should really check out Dime Box. It's linked on the sidebar blogroll on the right hand side of your screen. Soon, I'll have scans of how my collection is progressing. 

This Must Be a Sign

A while back, I pulled a million dollar chase redemption code.  I never redemed it because I will never win anything anyways, but I got bored tonight and figured I would enter it.  Well, I got none other than Kevin Youkilis, my favorite player and my PC player.  My official prediction is that Youkilis will have a 60 game hitting streak and I will win a million dollars.  Hey, I can dream right?

-20youksox

Jumbo Patch Mailday!!!

Hey everyone.  I'm back, and this time it should be for good.  Like I said last time I have been super busy, but now I'm free and should be back to regular posting.  I'll start off the posts with a sick mailday I got.  As many of you know, I am trying to acquire all of the six 2011 Topps Update Kevin Youkilis All Star Jumbo patches.  I had four of them, and now I have five!

This one is numbered 5/6.  That means that the only one I am missing is 6/6.  Also, all of the patches I have so far fit together.  This one is the top of the N from AMERICAN, with a little of the top of the A.  I'll post pictures of them together tomorrow.  I really hope I can get the sixth one someday.

-20youksox

Oh Really, Mr. Mc Dowell?

Really.

Found this card digging through my Misc.boxes yesterday.

Credit for the image is attributed to http://bit.ly/Zys61A (The Trading Card Database)

My scanner is sort of dysfunctional at the moment, so I used TCD's image.