Retail Repack Adventures #1

The family and I had to pick up a few things from Walgreens the weekend before Halloween. We went there mainly for the giant sale on trick-or-treat candy ($1.75 a bag!) and few odds and ends. While we were there, I decided to grab one of the $4.99 repacks that have been hanging on the shelf since we moved back to town in the spring of 2014.

The best card in the box, this 2014 Topps Chrome orange parallel of Carlos Beltran. Not really big Beltran or Yankees collector but this is a really nice card and it'll be kept with my stash of "good stuff".

This repack had a little bit of everything. This was some of the cool junk wax, an Electric Diamond Marquis Grissom and a weird Dave Hollins card that resembles a credit card.

More late 80s/early 90s stuff. I don't care much for the term "junk wax" as it makes cards like these sound as if they are just useless. I believe the Gary Carter could be a sunset card but I'm not sure.

There was also some new stuff. That Jeremy Moore card is really neat, especially with the retro uniform. I always get 2013 and 2014 Topps mixed up as they look pretty similar to me.

Can't forget about these old-timers. I'd forgotten how awesome the Colon collection cards are.

A pair of Padres.

And the obligatory Reds to finish it off. I'm thinking the Griffey might be a sunset card as well.

Busting this was pretty fun, if nothing else for the randomness that was contained within. I might pick up more of these on occasion just for the heck of it.

The Mystery Box!

Last weekend, I posted about my visit to Mavericks Cards and Comics. As I mentioned in that post, the shop owner was generous enough to let me have this box of extra cards he was trying to get rid of for his friend for free. Included in the box were a bunch of singles from 2014 Topps football, 2015 Allen & Ginter, and 2015 Topps Series 2.

Random football singles are fine, but considering I didn't know half the players in there it was what it was for a box of free cards. I picked out cards of guys I know and scanned in a few below.

These and the other commons I pulled out are going into my football binder. Not a big fan of these in general since you really have to work to read the name and position on the bottom of the card. I'm working on a trade list for the rest and I'll have them posted up shortly.

Moving on, there was a good batch of stuff from Topps Series 2. Here are a few highlights:

Carlos Martinez and Dellin Betances. Martinez just had a season-ending injury but it looks like he'll be OK for the post-season. Betances has had a good season for the Yankees as well.

A few more "future stars" cards here. To me, Betts is the highlight of this bunch.

Finally, two former Reds that are still kicking around the league.

The rest of the Series 2 batch was mainly commons but with a few stars such as Verlander, Cano, etc. but nothing overly exciting. There were some duplicates as well, so look for those on the trade list that should be up hopefully in the next few days.

Finally, the cards that turned this into a great haul ... 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter! I'll admit, I wasn't a fan of Allen & Ginter when I first saw it this year as I felt it was overhyped from the start. However, the saying "don't knock it 'til you try it" definitely applies in this situation as these cards are great! As with the rest of the box, there were some commons but there were also a bunch of short prints ... as in 18 of them!

I was wanting the Val Kilmer card anyway as he is probably one of the best parts of the movie Tombstone so that's a win for me.

There were also some minis in the box, three different kinds of minis to be exact ...

As you can see, the Tanaka is a no-numbered Ginter back, the Cuddyer seems to be the standard backed mini card, and the Puig is a Ginter back.

I'd say my tune has definitely changed on Allen & Ginter so if I see anymore singles anywhere for cheap or if any of my local shops have some decent prices on packs, then I think I'll definitely pick up some. 

This was a fun box to dig through. For a free box, I wasn't expecting much but with the Allen & Ginter, I feel like I got more than I bargained for. As I mentioned in my Mavericks article, I did offer to purchase these instead of just taking them, but the owner insisted they were free. So, to Jack at Mavericks, thank you for the cards. I appreciate it very much.