2003 Finest Baseball Review

The second box I opened on my birthday, this box of 2003 Topps Finest was originally videotaped, but due to the horrible overall quality (lots of lag, audio distortion), the video was never published. As you’ll see, it was a pretty darn good break.

Box Details: 6 packs of 5 cards each per mini box, 3 [...]

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Hello all. Before I post up my next review, I just have a couple of quick announcements to make. First, be sure to look at my sidebar for my updated e-mail address. Second, I have created a channel on Youtube for future video breaks. The channel can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/oldschoolbreaks1
There are no videos up yet, [...]

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For my first box break in over 2 months, I decided to go with a box of 2004 Donruss World Series, a product that delivers a multitude of hits in each box and pays tribute to Fall Classics of the past in each pack!
Box Details: 24 packs per box, 6 cards per pack, $99
From: Dave [...]

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The full review and scans will be posted Thursday evening, but for now, enjoy!
Here’s the link because for some reason, the video won’t embed properly.
Posted in Videos Tagged: 2004, Donruss, Donruss World Series

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Hi everybody!!
I’m just posting this to let everyone know I’m still alive and well. As you already know, I haven’t had much free time as of late (in fact, I still don’t, but things are improving), but…….
Breaks are on the way! With my birthday less than a week-and-a-half away, I thought I’d treat myself to [...]

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You may have noticed that the posts have come to a screeching halt in the past couple weeks and that I haven’t posted a box break/review in nearly a month. Sadly, I’m posting this today to let everyone know that it’ll be at least a little while longer before another break is posted. Thanks to [...]

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Note: An important announcement regarding this blog’s future will be posted shortly.
I haven’t done a whole lot of trading lately, but last week, Greg of Night Owl Cards and I reached a deal that sent several Dodgers his way. You can probably guess what he sent me in return. The great thing about being a [...]

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Randomly inserted into packs of 1998 Donruss Signature were Significant Signatures inserts, which featured beautiful on-card autographs of legends such as Yogi Berra, Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, and Phil Rizzuto, just to name a few. Each card was limited to 2,000 copies, with the exception of Rizzuto, who only signed 1,000.
However, not all [...]

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First off, I want to thank everyone who checked out the contest, especially those of you who tried solving the puzzle. Here’s how it worked:
The 9×9 grid was actually comprised of 9 3×3 grids with letters that, when rearranged, spelled out names of baseball Hall of Famers. In 6 of these grids, the letters spelled [...]

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THE CONTEST HAS ENDED. “THE JAW” FIGURED OUT THE CORRECT ANSWER, NOLAN RYAN. DETAILS WILL BE POSTED LATER TONIGHT/TOMORROW. FOR NOW, SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT HOW HE DID IT. CONGRATS JAW!
Last month, when I created the Crack This! contest, it was far more successful than I had anticipated. It seems that there are [...]

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I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Topps Gallery was one of my absolute favorite brands when it existed (excluding 2005). Year after year, Gallery provided a sharp-looking set and even sharper inserts, with awesome artistic tones. You may recall some of my previous Gallery breaks but if you need a reminder, here’s a look [...]

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As you can see, the action on this blog has been slowing up a bit. In order to help avoid “tumbleweed” status, I thought I’d fill you readers in as to what to expect from me in upcoming weeks. First, as I mentioned in the last post, I do have a box that’s been broken [...]

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In mid-2001, Upper Deck released a product named SP Game Bat Milestone Edition. Inside each pack was a Milestone, International, Bound for the Hall, Autographed, or multi-player game bat card. While the first three sets on that list represented the most common pulls (They also had a gold parallel numbered to 35), the autographed and [...]

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I have another box ready for review but first, I thought I’d catch up on a mailday that I’m very late in recapping. Recently, Greg of Beardy’s Baseball Blog and I had a team swap of Orioles and Yankees. It started when I emailed him stating that I had a small lot of O’s that [...]

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Here is the box break/review that I hyped up a few days ago, 1997 SP! 1997 was the last year that the brand wasn’t dubbed ‘SP Authentic’ as it is today. Despite this, there are still quite a few authentic autographs and other great cards to be found. Let’s see what this box yielded…
Box Details: [...]

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A random Yankee-filled package arrived in my mailbox yesterday (by way of the UK) which means that John from The Pursuit of 80’s(ness) has done it again. For those that don’t know, John is a great and very generous guy. The only problem I have is finding stuff to send him in return (John collects [...]

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I haven’t posted much in the past few days, partly because I haven’t had much to write about and partly because I’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of one the most sought-after boxes on my personal wantlist, 1997 SP (image from chippercards.com). 1997 SP is an extremely difficult box to find and is chock full [...]

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I apologize for the dumb cliche in the title, but Ryan of Trader Crack’s is holding a contest where a special cut autograph from Razor Sports Icons will be given away! Contest entries must be received BEFORE Monday so be sure to check out the contest today!
Posted in Announcements Tagged: Razor, Razor Sports Icons, Trader [...]

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Inserted at a rate of 1 in 40 packs, the Fresh Ink set from 2000 Fleer Mystique featured a bevy of star autographs which included the likes of Tony Gwynn, Andruw Jones, Will Clark, Mike Mussina, Lance Berkman, Carlos Delgado, Magglio Ordonez, and Cal Ripken, Jr. This set is significant as it included the first-ever [...]

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I have no box break, Old School Hit, or anything else planned for today, but rather a question. I did receive some feedback on my Crack This! contest but given the number of people that viewed it, I’d like some more.
What did you think of the contest, honestly? What should I have changed if anything? [...]

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Well, not even 24 hours after I unveiled the code, we have our winner! The winner was Scott of Hand Collated!!!. I’m not sure if I made the code hard enough but I didn’t want to make it so hard that nobody would get it for days on end. Anyway, here’s the solution to my [...]

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Alright ladies and gents, here it is…my latest, greatest, and most complex contest yet. It’s no secret that “Gintermania” has been running wild all over the blogosphere lately with the countless breaks, Gint-A-Cuffs posts, and even the unraveling of the 2009 Ginter Code (hats off to those guys). However, now lies a new challenge.
When Mike [...]

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Hello blogosphere…
Do you like contests? Yes?
Do you like Allen and Ginter? Yes???
Would you like to participate in a very special contest where you can win Allen and Ginter cards (and more)?!?!? I thought so….
Then stay tuned. This weekend (likely Saturday), I will announce a very special contest that I’m pretty sure will be unlike any [...]

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Before it was turned into an ugly mess of a product in 2002, Topps Gold Label had been one of my favorite releases. The product was known for thick, glossy, colorful, refractor-like cards and levels upon levels of parallels (though that might not have been a good thing necessarily). 2001 was the first year Gold [...]

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In my personal opinion, game-used ball or base cards are about as useless as a manufactured lettermen patch, with a few exceptions, of course. However, this card is not one of those exceptions. In 2000, Upper Deck inserted game-used ball cards at a rate of 1 in every 287 packs. The cards are approximately 1/8 [...]

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Finally….the conclusion of my Gint-A-Cuffs box!
Pack 21:
#59 Mark Reynolds
#165 Chase Utley (+2)

#126 Trevor Crowe
#107 Bryan Berg
#251 Carl Crawford
#307 Hunter Pence SP (+5)

Mini A & G Back #276 Michael Phelps (+2)

National Pride #NP23 Chien-Ming Wang (-1)
Total: 8
Pack 22:
#115 Ryan Doumit
#138 Garrett Atkins
#86 Michael Cuddyer
#216 Derek Lowe
#249 John Higby
#158 Sigmund Freud
Mini #198 Raul Ibanez
National Pride #NP20 Akinori [...]

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Pack 17:
#288 Joe Saunders
#137 Mark Teixeira (-1)
#116 Charles Darwin
#266 Johnny Cueto
#273 Jason Bay
Code Card #84 Justin Upton (+2)

Black Bordered Mini #195 Kevin Kouzmanoff (+3)

Scratch this one off your wantlist, Sooz. It’ll be headed your way.
National Pride #NP16 Jake Peavy
Total: 4. Meh…
Pack 18:
#144 Joakim Soria
#100 Ichiro
#176 Ramiro Pena RC (-1)
#75 David Wright (+2)

#214 Adam Dunn
#331 Jeff [...]

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Pack 13:
#210 Johan Santana
#9 Ryan Theriot
#290 Cat Osterman
#164 Erik Bedard
#212 Mariel Zagunis
Code Card #288 Joe Saunders (+2)

Black Bordered Mini #276 Michael Phelps (+3)

National Pride #NP28 Melvin Mora
Total: 5

Pack 14:
#227 Nelson Cruz
#207 Jack Cust
#12 Jermaine Dye
#53 Clayton Kershaw (+2)

#19 Mike Pelfrey
#342 Sitting Bull SP (+5)

Mini #15 Alfred Nobel (again!)
National Pride #NP31 Grady Sizemore (+4)

Total: 11
Pack 15:
#113 [...]

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Pack 9:
#223 Scott Rolen
#110 Kevin Youkilis
#56 Daniel Murphy
#83 Ludwig Van Beethoven
#298 Dan Haren
#243 Alexander Cartwright
National Heroes #NH16 Chiang Kai-Shek (+5)

National Pride #NP24 Chase Utley (+4)

Total: 9
Pack 10:
#262 Magglio Ordonez
#134 Jered Weaver
#195 Kevin Kouzmanoff
#28 Ervin Santana
#209 St. Patrick’s Cathedral
#333 Nick Swisher SP (+4: 5 for SP, -1 for Yankee)

Mini #15 Alfred Nobel
National Pride #NP25 Jonathan “No-Hit” [...]

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Pack 5:
#283 Mike Aviles
#5 Luke Hochevar
#276 Michael Phelps
#220 Suez Canal (-1)
#145 Todd Wellemeyer
National Heroes #NH2 Haile Selassie I (+5)

National Pride #NP36 Yovani Gallardo
Total: 4. Ho hum…
Pack 6:
#233 John Lackey
#222 Akinori Iwamura
#111 Jason Giambi
#156 Jayson Werth
#252 Lastings Milledge
#324 Wladimir Balentien SP (+5)

Mini A & G Back #92 Joe Mauer (+5: 3 for the Favorite, 2 for [...]

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Yes, the man who only opens old wax has signed up for Gint-A-Cuffs, finally has a box in hand, and is ready to do battle! Let’s get right to it, shall we?
N43 Boxtopper:
#N43-TL Tim Lincecum (+10)

Pack 1:
#185 Dustin Pedroia (+2)

#99 Chris Duncan
#140 Loren Opstedahl
#173 Francisco Rodriguez
#66 Alex Rodriguez (-1)
#132 Anna Tunnicliffe
Mini #262 Magglio Ordonez
National Pride [...]

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With a title like that, I suppose you’d assume that I acquired a Ric Flair autograph from Donruss Americana but that isn’t the case. However, I did acquire my first-ever autograph from the Americana line, a Private Signings card of John C. McGinley numbered to 50.

McGinley, a veteran of film, TV, and Broadway has been [...]

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Randomly inserted into packs of 1999 Fleer Mystique was one of the earliest game-used sets to hit the hobby known as Feel the Game. The checklist was small but potent (for the time) and featured a mixture of established stars and the hottest newcomers. These cards were great for a variety of reasons. First, jersey [...]

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Well, July has arrived so what better way to start the month than with a box of 2002 Studio! In 2002, Donruss put a patriotic twist on its Studio line with Old Glory in the background of every base card/parallel, a revamped Spirit of the Game insert set, and actual game-worn flag patches used in [...]

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With the fourth of July less than a week away, I thought I’d showcase a hit from a product described as “a Star-Spangled Tribute to America’s Pastime,” 2002 Donruss Studio. The base cards featured the traditional Studio-style portrait shot of each player with Old Glory and some shots of the player’s home city in the [...]

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