I opened my missing autograph claim with Topps

For those of you that watched my box break #12 video the other day you'll know why I'm opening this claim with Topps. I sent the email this morning and got a claim number back less than an hour later. The email stated that I would receive a response within 2 business days. I'll keep you guys posted on any progress.

For those that don't know, Topps has made it very easy to report missing hits. You no longer have to mail anything to them, you can just email all the necessary items. It's all explained in the video below.

2010 Topps Chrome Football Value Rack Break - 5 Racks

I thought that the 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball case I broke last week would feed the beast until my 2010 Bowman Chrome Baseball cases arrive this week. Wrong, I went out to Wal-Mart this morning in search of 2010 Topps Chrome Football value racks. The first Wal-Mart I hit had plenty, but the orange refractors had obviously been searched. I went to a different Wal-Mart and they had five that showed no signs of searching.


Most of my nice pulls to date on this product have come from the orange refractors so I didn't want anyone breaking my streak. This break was different, the biggest hit came from the retail packs. There aren't any odds of the back of the pack for this pull but I can imagine it's pretty rare in retail. The pull was a Bowman Chrome Refractor of Jimmy Clausen numbered 08/99. There weren't any other great pulls this time. I did pull an orange refractor of Jahvid Best as well as a base rookie of him, Sam Bradford and Ryan Mathews. Pictures of the better cards below.

Scans from the 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Case Break

AUTOGRAPHS








RED, GOLD and BLUE NON-INSERT REFRACTORS




REGULAR REFRACTORS




REGULAR AND BLUE INSERT REFRACTORS




KEY BASE ROOKIES

2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Case Break

I purchased this case from Blowout Cards. I'd like to thank them for the great deal and quick shipping.

I don't know if you can make it through all of these break videos, just make sure you watch Box 12, it's tragic! I'll post scans in the coming days so you don't have to watch all of these.

2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Value Pack Break

I went to Wal-Mart this morning to pick up some random stuff. I had no intention of purchasing cards, I swear, but what kind of person would I be if I didn't just take a peek at the selection? To date, I've not been able to find any substantial amount of 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball value racks. I'd had no problem finding football but baseball had eluded me. There was a full hook this morning so I grabbed four of them.

The offering is exactly the same as the football version. Each rack comes with three retail packs of 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball (4 cards per pack) and one bonus pack of three orange refractors. The price is $8.95 per rack, just like football.

Every break that I've read online speaks of the poor quality of Topps Chrome Baseball this year. I can confirm these claims. The first thing I noticed was the curve of the retail packs. All the cards have the familiar chrome curve to them, but worse than usual. Football didn't seem to have this problem, at least not this bad. The surface defects of the cards I've reading about is there too. There are lines, scratches and dimples on the surface of at least half the cards. I can handle refractor lines, they've always been around. The scratches and dimples are just poor quality control by Topps. The centering on some of these cards is pretty bad too.

On to more important things, the cards. I think I did really well on the orange refractors. The highlights were Mickey Mantle, Carlos Santana, Starlin Castro, Ike Davis and Joe Mauer. In the retail packs I didn't fair as well, the highlight was a Stephen Strasburg. I also pulled four refractors and four x-fractors. Check out all of the pictures below as well as the pack odds.

Speaking of the pack odds, I did find my refractor pulls from the retail packs a bit strange. Odds for refractors and x-fractors are 1:3. I pulled four of each in twelve total packs, clearly beating the odds. Purple refractors are 1:12 but I did not receive one of those. I pretty much saw these same rates in the football value packs too.

07-08 UD Hockey Series 2 Box Break - Sometimes You're Lucky

I got a really great deal on some 2007-2008 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey retail boxes on eBay this week. The UPS man came through and delivered them so I have something to open over the weekend. I love when that happens.

2007-2008 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey has one great Young Guns rookie card, Jonathan Toews. That card is the only reason I bought the boxes. Tuuka Rask has a rookie in here too, nice card, but not what I'm looking for. The Rookie Materials jersey cards are nice too, but again, not what I'm looking for.

I couldn't stop myself from opening a box right when I got home. I'm sure you know where this is going... I ended up pulling a Jonathan Toews Young Guns rookie in the first box. Awesome! Each pack comes with an Upper Deck Victory Update card inside, pulled a Toews rookie from those too. My jersey card (1:24) was a Rookie Materials of Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano isn't a great one but I'd rather get a Rookie Materials than a Game Jersey card. The other five Young Guns and the various inserts aren't worth mentioning.

Now, the question, should I open the other three boxes that I bought or store them away? I got the one card that I wanted.

2010 Topps Chrome Football Value Rack Pack Break

I stopped by Target tonight in search of 2010 Topps Chrome Football value rack packs. I've been reading about the great breaks on the forums and it got me excited to go buy some. Luckily, there were three racks left and I snatched them up. There were no shortage of blaster boxes but that wasn't what I was in search of tonight.

Each value rack pack comes with three 4-card retail packs and one 3-card orange refractor pack. The special orange refractor pack is obviously the allure of these packs. The cost for one of the racks is $8.99. That's a bargain in my mind.

I'll list below how many of each type of card I received in the three racks combined. I've included scans of the best cards below, I think I did pretty well. I've also included a scan of the odds from the back of the rack pack.

Orange Refractors: 9
X-Fractors: 2
Refractors: 2
Bowman Chrome Rookie: 2
Legendary Lineage: 3
Rookie Base: 16
Veteran Base: 11