2011 opening day...

So 2011 Topps Opening Day is live in my area. Funny that the sell sheet states that it will be available March 19th. Then they changed it to the 7th. The Target in my area here is usually slow at getting cards and yesterday was the first time I had seen some OD's there. So I picked up a blaster. Ten bucks, ten (plus one!) packs. Here are some highlights:

Now, also weirdly enough, the sell sheet states that there will be hobby exclusive inserts. Those inserts being the Presidential First Pitches. I had no idea Target was now a hobby shop. Maybe they just changed their minds. Also we see a Under the Lights Heyward and A-Rod 3D dealie. The Reyes is the blue bordered parallel. Wait though, lets check that out closer shall we:

What. The. Eff. They can use the gold stamping on a product like Opening Day but for the base 2010 and 2011 (and 2010 Opening Day for that matter), we get that cheap crummy black printed serial numbers? That screams crappy to me. Nothing like cheapening your base product there. Especially when the fronts have ZERO foil at all. This is the cheap set, not your flagship set Topps! Besides those above cards, I did get two Jays (Romero and Wells), three mascots, another blue border card (Austin Jackson, which is in the rookie cup personal collection), two 'Spot the Errors' and a buncha base cards. I am not chasing this set this year. This set is supposed to be 'fun and easy to build' and 'intended for kids' but I had nothing but grief trying to assemble the 2010 set. I bought WAY too much and ended up with one set. One set I had to finish by buying the remaining 5 or so cards off eBay. Total crap collation on this product and I'm sure 2011 is the same exact way. This may actually be the only time I do buy Opening Day this year, this one lonely blaster...

its a hot one...

Its too hot today, so I think I'll leave it short and post my favorite part of the Opening Day set this year:



Mascot Mania!!!!!!!!

open all night

2010 Topps Opening Day.

What is it really? Is it a low end value set geared towards younger collectors? Is it kind of a 'greatest hits' compilation of the 2010 issue? Or is it just another set to make them some more cash while we wait for the next set to drop? I'd like to think its all three. While Topps does recycle many of the images from the main flagship set, Opening Day does have its quirks. As you can see above, our friend Hanley Ramirez is in the post hitting pose, while his Series 2 card looks like this:

So there are a few differences in some of the players pictures. Many airbrushings are abound in this set, but its nice to see a player in their current uniform. I wasn't sure that I wanted to collect this set at first but then decided that I would like to collect each set that has this format. I really like the 2010 layout and to have every set (Series 1, Series 2, Update, Opening Day and Chrome) with this layout would be totally rad in my eyes (I think I'll skip Pro Debut though). I love the blue border parallels of this set. I picked up a blaster the other night and tore through the 10 packs and when opening the 8th pack I discovered this (not the blue border):

Now Daniel McCutchen isn't even listed on the checklist as an auto, but here he is. What a glaring oversight. the checklist lists ten autos in the set, he is not one of them. The stated odds on the back of the pack for an auto is a ridiculous 1:746 (I'm not kidding), making this the rarest pull I've ever pulled from a pack, even beating out the 1 of 1 (of 4) Chicle printing plate (1:300 odds). Very odd. Maybe because its so over-produced that pulling an auto is impossibly hard. I haven't even seen many on eBay, but maybe because they aren't that desirable. I'm all for it though, any auto is a good auto in my book.