taking my turn in the blog bat around with my five best pack pulled hits

i am always happy to engage in a blog bat around, and this one initiated by diamond jesters is no exception. matt asked us to share our five best pack pulled hits, and i knew right where to go. i had previously hinted at my list in a post from a few years ago, and had included some of the cards on that list in a post even further back as part of a blog bat around that i initiated.

before i get to the top five, i will note that i am going to discount anything i found in packs of topps tribute. i opened a box or two of 2001 topps tribute, as well as boxes from 2002 and both retired player releases from 2003. there was a guaranteed hit in every pack, so it's a bit like cheating. i did find some nice cards, including babe ruth bat cards from the 2003 perennial all-star edition

and the 2003 world series edition

my best pull from the inaugural 2001 release was this eddie mathews patch 

which has a print run of 30. i still have both ruth bat cards and the mathews patch card, by the way.

so, on to non-guaranteed hits. here's an honorable mention:

that's a mickey mantle magenta printing plate 1/1 from 2006 topps chrome. it was an exciting pull, but it seemed gimmicky to me at the time, and i sold it. even though it was the first 1/1 i ever pulled, i have it just outside of my top 5 pack pulls. 

number 5 is this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams platinum auto 1/1 of bake mcbride

pulling a 1/1 from a pack of cards of one of my favorite upper deck era sets is a very good thing.

number 4: 2003 ud sp legendary cuts bill dickey cut auto #/25

to this day it is the only hof cut auto i have ever pulled. oddly, i've pulled cut autos of living guys like mark prior (back when he was still pitching) from a pack. anyway, i bought a box of this product online for $60 and sold this card for $200 back in 2004. it's the only box of legendary cuts i ever bought.

number 3: 2016 topps chrome update clayton kershaw auto/relic /25

it's a lot of padres for a dodgers card, but pulling this card from a target blaster was a huge surprise. the autograph is way more visible in hand - the scan brings out the bubbles.

number 2: 2000 upper deck legends mickey mantle legendary game jerseys relic

a coworker and i went to a card and comic store over lunch one day and i bought a box of this product back in 2000. i was stoked to find this card in one of my packs as relic cards were fairly new to the hobby. i immediately tried selling it, but set a high reserve that was just barely not met. that coworker asked me why i would sell it, because "isn't a card like that why you collect?"  he was right, and the card is still in my collection today.

number 1: 2013 topps allen & ginter nick saban autograph

this card came from a target blaster back in 2013, and it is one that i did sell. it's number 1 on the list today because of what it is worth today - my baseball focused brain didn't really think this one through, although i did get a nice sum for it 11 years ago. still, who knew that alabama would go on to win three championships in the ensuing years after this card was issued.

thanks for the inspiration matt!

a card of significance (to me)

this post will publish at just about the moment 43 years ago that reggie jackson was breaking my six-year old heart in game 6 of the world series. as painful as that memory is, i do have this card in my mini collection of meaningful and "just because" cards:

that's a 2002 topps tribute card of mr. october showing him admiring the last of his three home runs hit in the championship clinching game that took place 43 years ago tonight.  here's another card featuring the same (although altered) scene from 2003 topps tribute

with charlie hough in the frame, this particular card is in my lurker mini collection. not sure what happened to steve yeager and the umpire, though. the back has a box score from the game:

in case i need reminding.  for better or for worse, this is one of my oldest memories of major league baseball - watching the 1977 world series - and so i am ok with having such a card in my collection.

the oldest card in that "meaningful and just because" mini collection is one that i've shown before and mentioned often:

the 1955 bowman don hoak card was a card i obtained in a trade back in 1979 with a guy who lived around the block from me at the time. the dodgers had better luck against the yankees in the year this card was released than in 1977.

i'll be sharing some other cards from this mini collection over the next few months, although none bring up as painful memories as the jackson above.