Thursday, September 15, 2011

Pack Break Week 2: 2011 Topps Lineage


So this week, I decided to go ahead and open one pack of cards that I bought last weekend at Target. Yesterday, it was the first of 16 packs of Topps Stickers.  Today, it's my first ever pack of Topps Lineage.   

The base set is fantastic, the design would have made a good base design for an eponymous Topps Baseball Card product (or even a Topps Total type set).  This set should have been retired-players only set.  But because MLB Properties won't allow for that kind of set, there is a mix of current players too. But you wouldn't know that based on the pack that I opened.  Here is what was waiting for me when I opened my pack of 2011 Topps Lineage:


The cards that came out of the pack are (in the order of how they were packaged):

  • #25 Whitey Ford
  • #16 Walter Johnson
  • #7 Mickey Mantle (did you ever doubt that #7 of ANY set would not be of the Mick?)
  • #107 Chad Billingsley Platinum Diamond (I have no idea what parallel this is...anyone???)
  • Ryan Howard Stand-Up insert (no #)
  • #182 Frank Robinson
  • #154 Fergie Jenkins (finally, a Cubs card)
  • #168 Delmon Young (the only base card of a present-day player in this pack)


My thoughts. If I had this much luck pulling retired legends out of either Topps Series 1 and 2 (for 2009, 2010, and 2011), as I did in this one pack, I'd be extremely happy.  I'm not sure what parallel the Billingsley card is.  It doesn't look like the regular diamond anniversary cards that they were mimicking from the eponymous set.  I love the design (have I said that enough).  This would make a great set builders set, if the prices for boxes weren't so darn high.  I think I'll wait for the prices of master sets to come down a bit before making a purchase.  I guess that I can't make Ryan Howard Stand-Up, can I?  Is that even allowed in today's collecting world?
That's another pack down, and three more to go. Next up, is the pack of Topps Attax. I'm not even sure what to expect here (other than more cards for the off-season Topps Attax sessions my children and I are going to have).
Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

1 comment:

night owl said...

It's officially called a diamond anniversary refractor, I believe. But I've read several different ways to describe it.

I'd like to trade for it. I have something off your legends SP want list.