Break Loot from the Sky Box Part 2

Earlier in the week, I showed off the first part of the goodies I received from participating Chris' (View From the Sky Box) multi-box break. I mentioned one of the reasons I participated was the selection of product he chose as they seemed to fill some gaps in my collection.

I came back to the hobby in 2010, sticking with pretty much just the flagship from Topps. It was until later in 2011 (and really more in 2012 when I started the blog) that I started branching out into other stuff. One of those sets that flew under my radar and escaped any eBay bulk lot purchases and trades thus far was 2010's Topps National Chicle set. I've seen most of the cards before (maybe leading me to believe I already had some, if not all) but I didn't have a single one in my collection. Score!

From what I can tell, the Cubs team set consists of eight base cards and from the box break, I got seven of them. Not too shabby!

Alfonso Soriano & Aramis Ramirez

Carlos Zambrano

Derrek Lee and Marlon Byrd

Ted Lilly and Ernie Banks

The Ernie Banks was a regular base card, but it looks like he has an SP in the set as well. The only base card I missed pulling was Kosuke Fukudome.

Thanks again, Chris for the break. I think I'll get 2-3 more posts out of the loot.

Break Loot from the Sky Box Part 1

A few weeks back I ran a contest to promote my new blog. The winner, Chris from View from the Sky Box was new to me so after checking out his blog, I saw he was running a multiple branded group break. I love the idea behind group breaks but as a team collector with a pretty sizable collection, unless the product is brand new or potentially loaded with Cubs hits, its hard for me to pull the trigger.

With that said, the selection Chris was offering was pretty amazing. It's like he saw the holes in my collection and specifically picked boxes that would fill them. Apparently he was having a hard time filling the break but like I said, his blog was new to me and I joined when I saw it.

I'm going to start with the newest and work my way backwards, spreading this out over a couple of posts.

Of the three team bags full of Cubs cards, the three Archives from 2013 were part of maybe a ten card group that I already had in my collection. But with a three card team set, that's hard to avoid. Remakes of card sets I grew up with, these will stay in my extras collection that I keep for potential autograph opportunities. The 2013 Cubs roster didn't have many potentially long term players on it so I can understand how card companies would have trouble deciding who to include beyond the big three. 

Speaking of which, Panini selected the same three for their 2013 Triple Play release. These three cards were all new to me. Call me cheap but I didn't buy any packs and didn't want to pay $3.00 shipping for a three card team set that would cost me a buck. I figured somewhere along the way I'd end up picking these up in a trade or from a dime box but now I can cross them off my list.

More to come in future posts. Thanks, Chris, for the break!