Blaster Fantasy League & 2013 Heritage Pack

I stopped off at Wal-mart on my way home from work on Tuesday to pick up some essentials in anticipation of the big snow storm that's supposed to be coming through by the time this post is published. I happened to pass the card aisle and noticed they had 2013 Heritage blasters and packs out, although not many of either.

I hadn't been paying attention to release dates so I wasn't expecting them to be there at all. By the time I got home, there were several posts from others already. Geez, even when I'm early, I'm late.

As you can see by the pictures, I picked up one of each. The blaster is one of the prizes for the Blaster Fantasy League I'm running this year. Click here or the tab above to find out more. Lots of prizes available for the price of less than one Blaster. The league is halfway full already and the start of the season is right around the corner so if you want in, let me know ASAP!

The pack didn't give me much to go on as far as getting a feel for this set. I pulled all base cards, no inserts or short prints aside from one blue bordered parallel. As for now, I think I will just stick to the Cubs cards and skip chasing this set. Or maybe pick up a complete set on ebay later on.

Some noteworthy cards:

Padres hot pack! These will be on their way to Marcus over at All the Way to the Backstop as soon as possible. I believe I'm a trade package behind so its time to catch up!

The only "insert" I pulled was this blue bordered Robinson Cano. Anybody pull any Cubs? As always, I'm interested and this one is available.

And the best part of the pack? This Darwin Barney card! The Cubs checklist is a lot bigger than the flagship's series one so I'm excited about tracking down all of the base cards and parallels. Since I'm showing off the card, I may as well break it down.

Photo by Brian D. Kersey (courtesy of Getty Images)

The photo was taken on May 5, 2012 prior to a game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs lost to the Dodgers 5-1. Not a particularly notable game for Barney either who went 0-4 at the plate. Not too many uses for this kind of photo, but its perfect for the extreme closeup, Heritage set!

The back highlights Barney's record tying errorless games streak although there is no mention of the resulting Gold Glove Award. I wasn't brave enough to "ruin" the back of the card by scratching off the answer to the trivia question so I did what any kid would have done with an original 1964 Topps card. I googled it.

"What was Sid Gordon's gift for HR'ing on "Maine Day" in '52?"

A summary of the 1952 season on Wikipedia provided this nugget:

On the 22nd of June, Boston Braves player Sid Gordon hits a two-run homer over the left field fence at Braves Field. His homer won Gordon the prize of a 100 pound bear cub for being the first Braves player to homer on "State of Maine Day". After the game, Gordon was presented with the animal in the Braves clubhouse.

I haven't looked at any of the other trivia questions but I do wonder if the prize "cub" was intentionally used on a Cubs card or if it is merely a coincidence.

Don't forget to sign up for the fantasy league!