A virtual/real trade with Brian and a Box BREAK!!!

Not too long ago, fellow blogger Brian over at Play At The Plate mentioned that he was having a hard time getting the Nolan Ryan Rangers die cut off the Topps diamond giveaway. Well, I didn't have a Nolan to send him, but I did have Mike Schmidt. We quickly worked out a deal where I'd trade him the virtual card online, and he'd mail me a beauty of an autograph... see my loot:

That's right, numbered 221/297, this is a Hunter Pence signed auto, even if it is on a sticker... thanks Brian...

Alright, as you may have read, my smitten-ness has transferred from A&G to UD Goodwin Champions... and so I stopped by the LCS and picked up another box of it today and well, I was just as happy with this box as the last... here are my hits:

Gretchen Bleiler is a snowboarder and guys if you haven't seen her FHM spread, well you are missing out. A sloppy but cool auto from an oddball sport. Next is Igor Larionov... apparently a hockey star from the 80's but what a sweet patch! I wonder if it's from a Red Wings jersey or a USSR jersey, either way it's a great card for you hockey collectors out there! And finally we have Texas boy Hunter Mahan who is still early in his PGA career. This may be a card to sit on, wait and hope he really starts playing well. Another cool brightly colored swatch. These are for trade, but the Bleiler auto might be hard to get out of my collection!

And some mini's and inserts:

Yes, that is THE Louis Vitton, the namesake of those overpriced pieces of garbage purses that are all the rave. My favorite of the bunch is the "Gentleman" Jim Corbett mini. The foil mini's are great. Delino DeShields mini is cool, not sure if that's Sr. or Jr., but I know Jr. is in the Astros AA Support Group minor league system right now. I really like the look of these mini's and the set in general. I like the die cut inserts and really like the varied list of relic and autograph subjects. I really would have liked to break this via video, however it's packed at them moment... t-minus 8 days until we're living in Alabama!

Alright, as for the base cards, I couldn't be happier. I've bought two boxes and have a grand total of 12 duplicates!!! That's pretty freakin' sweet in my books. Also, I've got 160 out of 210 total base cards from my two boxes. That's also a big plus in my books. A couple blasters and some trades and I should be done with the full 210 card set. Also, cards 211 through 231 are mini only, so I might even go ahead and chase those since this set is so nice. I've got 3 of those SP mini's already... Overall, this box was a solid B+ for me. Topps: this is what happens when you put out a crappy product, my loyalty switches to a superior product (in my humble opinion). I doubt Topps reads my silly little blog, or cares that they aren't getting $200 more dollars from me for additional boxes, someone else will buy them I guess...