Pack Break! One For The Archives

So I found a reason to go to Target yesterday (for the record I really did need new T-Shirts) and that means time to pick up a pack of Heritage. Yes I'm collecting the set one pack at a time, the most inefficient and expensive way to do it, but hey it fills the fix I occasionally have for pack bustin'.

Underneath the well-pawed over gravity feed box of Heritage there was a newish looking box of Topps Archives. Back in January I planned on not wasting money on sets I have no intent of finishing, but now that I have a little extra scratch in my pocket I decided to see the product that all the kids are talking about. So I flipped a back in my basket and went on with my day.

What did my deviation from the norm yield? Riches? Non-riches? Orioles? Cubs? Ummm how about none of the above. So lets take a look at what I did receive.

Matt Moore - The Rays rookie phenom recently snapped a 4-game losing streak by tossing 6 innings of 2-run ball against my beloved O's.

Hanley Ramierz - Some folks (hi, Strums) say that the Marlins uniforms occupy that space where ugly becomes beautiful.  I disagree. Sometimes ugly is just ugly.

Jordan Zimmermann - The Zimmermann with the extra "n" in his name on the Nationals might have a losing record, but his stats aren't that bad. He's currently on pace to have career lows in WHIP, ERA and opponent's BA but still has a losing record at 3-5. (This card is no longer available for trade)

Ryan Howard - The big slugger has yet to play a game in the big leagues this year as he continues to rehab his injured Achilles. Per ESPN he has started playing in simulated games down in Clearwater (one of the best baseball stadiums in the Tampa Bay Area).

R.A. Dickey - Fairly interesting guy. Besides being the only knukleballer left in the big leagues he also is a voracious reader and has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Duke Snider - Snider was one of a trio of outfielders that dominated New York sports during the '50s (Willie, Mickey and The Duke). He was also the teammates with a young Sandy Koufax.  I'm reading a book about Koufax, which has absolutely nothing to do with this card.  Let's move along.

Kevin Youkilis - It seems the "Greek God of Walks" is living on borrowed time in Boston.  Youkilis is going to be a great candidate for the "What Could Have Been if Not For Injuries" game.

Brandon Morrow - Morrow is making $4 million this year. Not a bad deal as he's been rock steady this season (although his .243 BAbip might have some saying his numbers aren't sustainable).


Overall I'm not all that jazzed by the Archives, mainly because of the card stock.  Flimsy is the best way I can describe it, and the slick finish just doesn't work with some cards (such as the Matt Moore). If they had been printed on the cardboard stock I might feel a little better about them.

Since there are no cards here that I'm looking for - they are all for trade.  Feel free to check out my Heritage trade page while you're at it.

The Pinnacle of My Day

I did something today that I haven't done all summer. I bought a pack of cards. Things have been a little slow on the pack/box buying because of our current economic situation. I was in Target doing the normal daily shopping (yes I grocery shop everyday, because well it gives me something to do instead of staring at a computer) and saw that they had a very slim selection of loose hockey cards, as in they had none.

So I dug around the value box to see if there was anything worthwhile in there. There were a couple of packs of Pinnacle (not marked down) and a couple of packs of 08-09 Upper Deck. I went with the Pinnacle simply because I hadn't busted any of it this year and wanted to see what my luck would be in one retail pack.

I know my luck. I wasn't getting a Tough Times autograph or a City Lights Materials card. The only thing I was looking for was a Vincent card. Or any Lightning card for that matter. Well, let's get right to it and see how I did.



Not a bad way to start. Alex Ovechkin freight-training Tomas Plekanec. Or as the back of the card says he's "more than willing and able to play the role of the rough and tumble".

I'm not really digging the way that was written.




Scottie Upshall celebrating a goal. Or the fact that he wouldn't have to move to Winnipeg.



Tyler Ennis pulling a Bobby Orr against the Penguins. Or is it the Panthers? Nope, it's the Blue Jackets. Hey NHL teams, how about we stop with the dark blue uniforms and circle crest in the middle.



Wow, I really do not like this card. Let's see why:
A. East Coast Bias prevents me from liking Detroit.
B. The Phoenix player gets absorbed by the border.
C. This probably would have been sweet as a horizontal card.
D. Hank Zetterberg sucks.
E. All of the above.
F. A,B,C,D

That's right it's F!



As much as I disliked the Zetterberg card, I really liked this one. Doesn't Pavelic just look happy to be playing hockey and not, say, unconscious in his goal crease?




Patric Hornqvist getting stopped by Carey Price. I flipped through this pack about 4 times on the bus ride home (grown man looking at hockey cards and I'm not even one of the top five weirdos on the bus! Love the Big City!) and it wasn't until I scanned the card until I noticed it was an "Artist Proof" parallel. Way to make your inserts stand out!




Bryan McCabe. No jokes here. It feels like I would just be piling on.



Daniel Alfredsson. Nothing to striking about this card other then the look on Alfie's face. Almost as if he's surprised he scored. Take a look at the fan under his left armpit.



Man? Woman? Brett Michaels? Even looking at it a day later I'm not sure.

And the final card in the pack!



Boom! Lightning player! Big Vic Hedman. Not only does it look like he's doing an excellent job of obstruction Daniel Alfredsson, it also looks like he's thumbing Popeye in the eye. Good job Vic!

There ya have it. For $2.99 I got 9 cards, wait what? Nine cards? The pack says I should have gotten 10 Cartes De LNH a Collectionner. Why those no good, scruffy-looking.....