Did the Hobby Box Break Get Me the 43 Cards to Finish Series 2??!

When last we looked at the results of my retail packaged 769-base card sorting, I found I had 307 of the 350 cards needed to complete the Series 2 set. I was left needing 43 cards to finish the set. I had five retail packs that I had not opened plus the full jumbo box to break. My recent history with this kind of luck was screaming, "No, you will not finish this set after you open the Hobby box. Prepare to beg for trades on TCDB and possibly Facebook." But, I clearly believed I had a shot at it.

So when my family went to my sister's house for the 4th of July festivities, I brought the Hobby box and after food was served and conversations kept going (the rain may have been a factor as well), I decided to go inside and open the 10 packs to try my luck.

To review, the list below contains the 43 cards I needed to complete S2. Plenty of eventual 2026 All-Stars on this list (Adley Rutschman, Juan Soto, Ernie Clement, Jordan Walker), the Rays, Giants, Marlins, and White Sox team cards, the Jack Dreyer ASRT card, a lone Cubs card (Justin Steele)...

Back to the point.

Let's just say that after the first look at what was inside, I was already worried. 

Because one of the packs looked pretty thin for a jumbo pack. Could this mean that I may have pulled huge relic card, thick enough to remove almost everything??!

No. The pack that should have had 40 cards in it only held 26. Panic was starting to creep in.

To alleviate the pit in my stomach, I first opened the bonus packs of 1991 Topps Chrome cards.

Pack 1:

• #91C2-35 Tatsuya Imai
• #91C2-37 Samuel Basallo
• #91ASC-30 Freddie Freeman
• #91ASC-26 Pete Crow-Armstrong

Pack 2:

• #91C2-48 Lawrence Butler
• #91C2-11 Kyle Schwarber
• #91ASC-34 Ronald Acuña Jr.
• #91ASC-13 Ichiro

Thoughts: pretty good packs. Balanced between the regular 1991 cards and the All-Star cards. And yes, a PCA All-Star card among the 8. Can't complain. Will add all to the trade/sell list. Maybe keep PCA though.

So with the anxiety already starting, I started opening each pack. Here were the results:

Pack 1: 394, 470 408

Eric Wagarman of the Twins, Brandon Nimmo of the Rangers, and the Rays team card. Okay, not too bad a start. I figured that most of what I was missing would be clumped together in a group. Think of it this way. If you opened packs of 1989 Topps and found a Chris Sabo, you will 99% for sure get the Mark Grace card behind it.

Back to the story.

Pack 2: 664, 390, 600

Jayden Murray of the Astros, Jack Dreyer of the Dodgers, and Juan Soto of the Mets. Another trio grouped together in the pack. Okay, this is consistent. Six cards down, 37 to go. Crossing fingers. 

Pack 3: nothing

This was the infamous 26-card pack. My first thought was, "If I don't manage to complete this set, I am definitely calling Topps to complain."

Pack 4: 422, 499, 486, 520, 460

Now we're getting somewhere. Five cards, a trio and a pair. And with the Steele card in hand, I have the full Cubs set for the year.

Pack 5: nothing

At this point, it was a nice run. But based on the first four packs, only a miracle could complete this set.

Pack 6: 480, 382, 539, 565, 578, 430, 571, 621, 696, 580, 634, 522, 375

Cue the miracle. Thirteen cards out of 40 in the pack. With 24 cards now in hand, the odds of getting the remaining 19 started to look pretty good.

Pack 7: 592, 661, 523, 684, 505, 663, 579

This definitely helped. Seven more cards to bring the needs pile down to 12. The pack even included the guaranteed relic card, 

Momentum was shifting, disaster starting to feel averted.

Pack 8: nothing

Cue the disaster. The only saving grace of this pack was that it contained the auto. Okay, it was a redemption card for a 1991 Topps card. Of Samuel Basallo from the Orioles. Which I have 10 years to redeem.

Pack 9: 562, 501, 655, 429, 610

Okay. Five more cards. With 36 cards after 9 packs, and one pack to go. I need 7...SEVEN cards to complete the set. Time to clench.

Pack 10: 

546 Nick Fortes, Rays

414 Andy Pages, Dodgers

564 Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics

496 San Francisco Giants Team Card

451 Jake Burger, Rangers

593 Sal Frelick, Brewers

...

...

...

358 Adley Rutschman, Orioles

It happened.

IT HAPPENED!!!

I managed to get the final cards I needed. Fortunately, I kept the screaming to a minimum.

It was a good day to be a card collector. Especially a good day to be THIS card collector.

Although the set is now complete, I've yet to be able to have time to put them into the binder. I'm hoping that I can do that soon.

Maybe after the All-Star Game is over.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama