Retail Repack Adventures #15

So last Sunday morning I was minding my own business watching TV and then, out of nowhere, boom, the power goes out. Most times, when my power goes out, it's only out for a few minutes and then comes back. Not this time. I reported the outage and got a text update back saying the estimated time for restoration is two hours from when I reported it (so roughly noon). I figured what better way to keep myself occupied than by organizing some cards and tearing into a repack.

Since the power was out, I had to take pictures of everything using my phone. While I've never been all that great at taking pictures of cards, I think I found a good way to do it. I took pictures for some other posts coming up soon and they turned out well enough that I might have a new preferred way to show off cards as scanning can be rather tedious, especially when there's a lot to do, and it means I have to hole up in the bedroom away from everyone. Anyway, I digress. Here's the contents of the repack and it looks oddly familiar, packs and all, as if it was a clone from the previous repack. There's two packs of the TeenyMates, two of the Panini Draft Picks, a Babe Ruth pack, and 2016 Topps Heritage, plus a 50-card bonanza.

First up, the TeenyMates packs. I looked over the back of the packs before opening and it mentioned glow in the dark figures. So guess what came out of the very first pack? Yep, a glow in the dark figure which I'll admit is pretty cool. I kinda like these little dudes but let's see what else is contained within.

Now the highlights from the 50-card mini box. Much like the other box, it started off with a Toys R' Us purple parallel, this time of Aroldis Chapman. Also, bonus points for the throwback uniform. 

A few 2016 Topps Red Sox cards of David Ortiz and David Price from the team set. 

And a few randoms from the mass of 89 Topps that made up about a third of the box. I'll admit, it was kind of neat getting a card of Terry Francona when he was playing for the Indians, long before he was managing them. Also, check out Oddibe's custom warmup jacket.

The contents of the two packs of the Panini Draft Picks. I'll keep exactly two of these, Nick Howard and Justus Sheffield. The rest will find their way into either the trade box or Goodwill donation bag. I didn't bother with the Babe Ruth pack as it has been set aside, unopened, for a new home.

Finally, the 9-card Heritage pack. The best card here is the Rod Carew flashbacks insert but the most colorful is definitely the Erick Aybar card.

This repack definitely felt like a dud, the same exact packs as the last repack, only a handful of redeeming cards from the 50-card mini box, but the TeenyMates figures were pretty cool at least. As for the power outage, it turns out it was caused by a squirrel that somehow found it's way into a relay box.

Say It Ain't So, Arroyo

This must be the year for retirements. First there was Shane Doan of the Arizona (nee Phoenix) Coyotes and now Reds fan favorite Bronson Arroyo has officially hung up the spikes after 16 seasons and a valiant comeback attempt earlier this year.

1995 Topps Traded and Rookies #47T

Arroyo was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 3rd round of the 1995 Amateur Draft out of Hernando High School in Brooksville, FL. He made his major league debut during the 2000 season and started 12 of the 20 games he appeared in during that season. His years with the Pirates were very uneventful, going 9-14 with a 5.44 ERA in 53 games over three seasons.

Just before spring training in 2003, the Red Sox claimed him off waivers. His season that year wasn't much but  he did get to pitch in the ALCS that year out of the bullpen. The 2004 season though is where he really started to blossom with Boston, going 10-9 with a 4.03 ERA in 29 starts. While his playoff performance wasn't great that year, he did win his only World Series ring as the Red Sox beat the Cardinals to break the curse.

He had another stellar campaign in 2005 going 14-10 with a 4.51 ERA over 32 starts. His lone appearance in the ALDS against Chicago that year did him in though as he came in relief in Game 1 an he promptly gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and one homer over 1 inning for an overall ERA of 18.00 in a game where the Red Sox lost 14-2.

2007 Topps #30

Towards the end of spring training in 2006, the Reds pulled off a coup, acquiring Arroyo from the Red Sox for slugger Wily Mo Pena. That proved to be one of the most lopsided trades ever for Boston as Pena never really panned out but Arroyo would go on to be a mainstay in the Reds rotation through the 2014 season. In his first season with the Reds, he made his only All-Star team and finished 23rd in MVP voting. He threw a career high 240.2 innings over 35 starts and compiled a 14-11 record with a 3.29 ERA. 

2007 Ultra #43

Over the next 7 seasons, he never missed a start for the Reds and never landed on the DL once. He also threw over 200 innings every season except for one (2011) where he threw 199 innings and made over 30 start every season from 2006-2014. In 2010, he won a Gold Glove and finished 12th in Cy Young voting for a Reds team that surprised everyone and made the playoffs. For as surprising and memorable as that 2010 club was, they were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs by the Phillies via a three game sweep in the NLDS.

2009 Topps #513

The Reds would return to the playoffs in 2012 in season where the steamrolled the NL Central and won 96 games. That season Arroyo went 12-10 with a 3.74 ERA over 32 starts. Then the playoffs started and despite being only one win away from their first NLCS since 1995, the Giants rattled off three straight wins and surprising knocked the Reds out in the first round. That was the downfall of the Reds as they could only muster a wild card berth the next season, which would be Arroyo's last in Cincinnati.

2014 Topps - Red Foil #78

He signed as a free agent with Arizona that offseason and only managed 14 starts before landing on the DL with arm trouble which ultimately led to Tommy John surgery. While injured, the D'Backs shipped him off to the Braves in June of 2015. He never made an appearance for the Braves and just over a month later, was sent to the Dodgers as part of a massive three team 13-player trade, which included future Reds teammate Jose Peraza. At the end of the season, he was granted free agency by the Dodgers. 

2015 Topps #596
Image from COMC.com

In 2016, he signed with the Nationals reuniting himself with former Reds skipper Dusty Baker as part of a comeback attempt but had rotator cuff problems resulting in him not getting a roster spot. He was released by Washington after the season. On Valentine's Day this year he signed a minor league deal with the Reds with an invite to spring training. 

2017 Topps Heritage #598
Image from TradingcardDB.com

Surprisingly, he made the team and made his first start on April 8th of this year in a 10-4 loss against the Cardinals in a 4 inning effort. It was obvious from the start that he wasn't the Arroyo of old as his fastball had lost a lot of zip and he was forced to rely mainly on breaking pitches and finesse. His last start before arm troubles resurfaced was June 18th, Father's Day, at home against LA where he threw three innings giving up 7 hits, 5 earned runs, and one homer over 16 batters faced. His final stats for the season were 3-6 with a 7.35 ERA. His final career stats came out to be 148-137 record with 4.28 ERA, 1,571 career Ks, 2,4335.2 IP, one World Series ring, and one All-Star appearance.

And so ends the career of one of my favorite players and someone I'm glad to have on my player collection list. I've got a decent start on my Arroyo collection but I'm always on the lookout for more.

Congrats on a great career Bronson. Hope to see you again soon in a few years for your induction into the Reds Hall of Fame.

Bronson, today is your day. pic.twitter.com/qazVQn1l1g

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 23, 2017

You've Got Mail #43: Baseball Every Night

I've got a good selection of the base cards I want from 2016 flagship but hardly any of the inserts. However, in stepped Peter from Baseball Every Night with some of the First Pitch inserts from this year. I enjoyed last year's First Pitch cards so I wanted to try to some from this year too. Since Peter didn't want them, I gladly took them off his hands. While I won't show every card, I'll show off the celebrities I've heard of.

I don't follow boxing at all but some of the MMA news sites I read cover boxing occasionally and I've seen Miguel Cotto's name on occasion, most of it was in conjunction with his fight with Canelo Alvarez last November, which he lost by the way. The picture of former President Bush isn't exactly the most flattering but according to the back of the card, it was right after he suffered a fall and was in a neck brace because of it. Regardless, still pretty cool to have a card of a former President.

I'm not ashamed to say I've got a few James Taylor songs on my iPad. I wouldn't consider myself a fan of his music but I do enjoy listening to "Fire and Rain" on occasion. Just like I'm not a big James Taylor fan, I wouldn't consider myself a golf fan either. I used to play when I was in high school and on occasion after that and will watch a little bit on TV, but that's mainly if I can't find anything else to watch and it's just for background noise.

Good gosh, that's a pretty garish outfit on Don Cherry! However, being the hockey fan that I am, when I saw his name listed in the checklist, I knew I had to have it, mainly because it's a nice blend of my two favorite sports to watch on TV. Speaking of blending sports, Jim Harbaugh definitely went all out, donning the full Tigers uniform, right down to the hat. 

As far as these First Pitch cards go, the line-up wasn't as exciting this year as it was last year when there were cards of Jeff Bridges, Melissa McCarthy, and Metallica among others. For what it is though, it's pretty fun and something nice to break up the monotony when you're opening tons of packs of flagship cards.

Peter also threw in this signed Dave Christian hockey card since he's not a hockey kind of person but I totally am. I'm not too familiar with Mr. Christian so let's see what ye olde hockey reference has to say. Apparently he had a very long career from the 1979-80 season to the 1993-94 season with Winnipeg, Washington, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. 

So there we go, a handful of first pitches and a neat signed hockey card. Another fun package in the books! Speaking of fun, don't forget to stop by on August 1st at Noon eastern for an announcement of something really fun coming in the fall!

You've Got Mail #2: Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary - Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Brian from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary send me a trade package. The main part of the trade package was 1984 Topps and this provided me quite a healthy start to getting this set together. After taking part of the afternoon today to sort these and update my checklist, I thought I'd share some of the cards that were included in the package.

First off ... THIS~! A sealed pack of cards! Unfortunately the Mattingly rookie card wasn't part of the pack but it definitely helped out getting more cards knocked off the list. No, I did not try the gum that was in the pack either.

A number of Hall of Famers here in Yount, Morgan, Henderson, and Murray.

Two former Big Red Machine stars, Pete Rose and George Foster.

And closing out with a random assortment of more Hall of Famers. Happy to see the Eckersley included and he's one of my favorite players to collect.

There were a bunch more good cards included but this post would be incredibly long if I took pictures of everything.

Here's a look at the final stack of everything.

Brian, thanks again for the trade. Hope my return package suits your needs.