The largest player draft in Blowout Cards history is complete.  We broke 5 cases of 2010 Bowman Draft and 5 cases of 2011 Bowman Draft.

Most of the autographed player slots were successful, but a few were shutout.  Unfortunately two of the shutout players were the top 2 picks – Bubba Starling (pick #1) and Manny Machado (pick #2).  Unlike a 10 case break, the smaller 5 case breaks usually have a few players with no autos.

The 2010 break was remarkable in that we had 7 gold autos in 5 cases – an amazing number.  We had more gold autos than blue!  Once again I did fail to pull a superfractor or red base 1/1 in 2010 Bowman Draft.  That is over 10 cases now.

The 2011 break was remarkable in that 9 of the 34 autograph players had no autos – and where the 2010 cases had 7 gold autos, the 2011 cases had none.

Here is the breakdown from 5 cases of 2010 Bowman Draft baseball:

Here is the breakdown from 5 cases of 2011 Bowman Draft baseball:

Image gallery:

Group breaks are fun, really.

As a participant (and I participate a lot), I enjoy the chance at a huge hit for a small price.  Even when I get a bad slot in the random or shut out on a hit, I still enjoy the theater of it – the thrill of the break.

As a host (and I host a shit-ton), I love all the same things as a participant – plus I also get to pull the big hits.  My highlights in the last few months have been the Manny Banuelos Superfractor auto, the Dylan Bundy Superfractor auto, and the Yu Darvish Tribute auto.  That is fun!  I especially enjoy pulling big cards for my friends – I got to pull the Eric Hosmer Orange refractor auto for The700Level – who always joins my breaks.

I hate a scammer – especially a group break scammer – because Read the rest of this entry

I love opening some Topps Heritage every year.  Sometimes most of my Heritage packs come from Topps Value Boxes, but still I enjoy the set.  The best part about Topps Heritage are the SSP variations.

Normally I just check the Topps code in the bottom right corner on the back of each card to spot the variations.  However, this year the codes appear to be the same based on the images that are available online and on eBay.  Figures.  Now I have to back through all my 2012 Topps Heritage cards again.  haha

Here is a detailed checklist of not just this year’s variations and their corrected versions, but also the original cards from the 1963 Topps set.

There are 10 different SSP variations – but only 9 different cards. Read the rest of this entry

As many of you know, I am opening 20 cases of 2011 Bowman Draft.  Yes, 20 cases!

2011 Bowman Draft Bryce Harper

So, for the many people in my breaks – and for myself – I am creating this small prospecting tool.  Hopefully it will be of some use for anyone that is planning to open any of these products.

Bryce Harper autographed cards

There are actually 3 different Bryce Harper autos in 2011 BDPP.  There is the green parallel of the original Bowman card #BD1 that you see on the right – this is inserted in both retail and hobby packs.  There is an autographed Futures relic card #BHAR1 that is separate from the main futures subset – this is hobby only.  The third and final Harper auto card is retail only (and listed separately in that section).

BHAR1    Bryce
 Harper
BP1    Bryce Harper Read the rest of this entry

I don’t mean to brag, BUT…

I PULLED 2 SUPERFRACTORS!

Granted, I opened 12 cases, but still the odds were against pulling any superfractor at all.  I pulled:

Read the rest of this entry

So I just busted the master case of 2011 Topps Marquee tonight.  Had 2 MONSTER hits and a bunch of very, very good hits.  I will not be buying anymore of this – I know to quit when I am ahead – but man this was a fun break!

2011 Topps Marquee 12 Box Master Case

Read the rest of this entry

The Original 1964 Topps Giants Set Was Awesome!

1964 Topps Giants Joe Torre

The 1964 Topps Giants set was a test issue by Topps of the first postcard sized set.  There were 60 different cards and a handful of them were short printed.  Two of these short prints were Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax.

Although many of the names on the 1964 Topps Giants set will not be players you would necessarily recognize today, there were several future Hall of Famers included.  You have probably seen pictures of the Mickey Mantle or the Roberto Clemente, but there were also cards featuring Whitey Ford, Al Kaline, Nellie Fox, Joe Torre, Frank Robinson, Warren Spahn, Brooks Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Billy Williams, and Orlando Cepada – among others. Read the rest of this entry

2011 Topps Monopoly Baseball Cards

2011 Topps Monopoly Babe Ruth Relic

Now Topps is just being cruel.  With their new 2011 Topps Monopoly cards they are really just trying to rub it into Upper Deck and Pannini’s faces.  Monopoly?  Are you kidding me?

Many of you have probably already seen the 2011 Topps Monopoly preview images on the Mojo Beard website.  The images and card design have truly impressed most collectors and hobby enthusiasts.  As a matter of fact, other than a handful of pathetic whiners on a few forums, the response has been amazing. Read the rest of this entry

Topps Sparkle Bounty Cards

The new 2011 Topps Double Sparkle Bounty cards are already sparking controversy and I have not even seen one pulled yet.  I checked the eBay listings and nothing, nada, zip, zilch.  I am guessing these cards are REALLY rare.

Personally, if these cards have the regular backs and not some “contest” back, then I think they are fine.  I enjoy the gimmick parallels that Topps puts out each year.  (I realize I am probably in the minority on this front though.)

Read the rest of this entry

I am currently running a group break on Blowoutcards…  Cheap Fun Break 6 (3 cases 2010 BDPP and 1 case 2010 Bowman Sterling).  So what you see below is actually the draft from this break.  On Monday 7/11, I am busting all 4 cases live on ustream.  It is going to be alot of fun.

1. hester72598 – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #1
2. kelleys1 – BDPP 80 Manny Machado Auto
3. kevinshreves – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #2
4. Axeldog15 – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #3
5. hester72598 (from DizzyDSki from reddeer) – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #4
6. houdini – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #5
7. hester72598 (from ExpFacilitators) – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #6
8. Bruvydsb – BDPP84 Matt Harvey Auto
9. SethMurphy (from dimer10) – BDPP Cito Culver Auto
10. hundley – Bowman Sterling Draft Pick #7 Read the rest of this entry