Ten Packs + Two Rack Packs...And Stuff from 2006 & 2007.

So yesterday, I decided to take a chance and sojourn out to the local WalMart to see if I can get more packs of the latest product (we all know what that is...don't we???). It's freezing cold outside, but along the way, I noticed that there was a lot of construction on the road heading to the big box store (trucks fixing light poles or the road...hey, we have to spend those tax dollars somehow). So changing my mind, I went to the next best place...

Meijer.

Yes, Meijer sells cards. And in many past trips to Meijer, I noticed that they also get the same packs that WalMart gets. So hoping to get some of those Blue Diamond cards, upon entering the store, I immediately went to one of the two shelves by the checkout counters and grabbed ten packs of cards (talk about impulse shopping). Although I did see blaster boxes, and even series 2 and Updates of last year's product, I had a feeling that there was more. So the search began.

I found my way to the toy section, and sure enough, there it was. An entire shelf full of sports cards. I heard angels singing (not to be dramatic, but studies show that long exposure to the muzak at a store leads to hallucinations and/or more items in your shopping cart). There was a lot of stuff on the shelf. Everything from the high demand 2011 Topps, to factory sets from 2006, and 2007 and deep discounts ($10-15 off). Blasters from past years, even that bonus box that Walmart was selling of 2010 Series 2 (with the Allen & Ginter pack plus a couple of Million Card Giveaway codes). There were cards from all sports, including a complete 36-pack box of '06-'07 Basketball cards from that other card company. But something else caught my eye.

Among the blister packs of Yu-gi-oh! and Magic, were 2-pack blister packs of 2006 and 2007 Topps. The packages themselves were beaten up, but the packs inside were as clean as the day they were packed out. And at 50% off, I couldn't argue with the price. so along with my ten packs from the checkout counter, and two rack packs from the shelf, I grabbed one blister each of Topps 1, 2007 Topps 1, 2, and U & H.

So far, I've opened five of the regular packs. Some of the hits include platinum diamond cards of Omar Vizquel, Brent Morel (two White Sox cards in a row???), James Loney (great, a Dodgers card to Hong-Chin Kuo), and David Price.

And a Topps gold card of Stephen Strasburg.

"Stras-Jo!!!"

Eventually, I will compare the hauls from the Target run last Saturday and yesterday's Meijer's trip to see which group of packs yielded the better round of inserts. Of course, the base cards are important, and let me just say what has probably been said in other blogs. The pictures on these cards are fantastic!!! If the cards were borderless (and no, I like borders on my basic Topps cards), these would be Stadium Club quality cards.

Speaking of which, I heard flying rumors that Stale Gum is bringing up the Blog Bat Around. Something about if Eisner fired the staff and hired you, and only you, to run the cards division, what would you do? I'll have to read more into it later. You can tell I'm already pretty happy with this year's production and presentation. But all isn't necessarily unicorns and rainbows. There are certain things I could have done without with this year's product. I will get my thoughts together on this topic soon.

Finally, rumor has it that scans of the 17-card team sets are on the Internet somewhere. As tradition on this humble, little blog, I will find and post scans and checklists of these retail exclusive wonders and will now begin the process of saving up the money to buy all 30 team sets (unless somebody wants to be kind and send the money my way, of course).

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama