Friday, February 1, 2019

2019 Topps Series 1 Blaster Battle, Part 2: Babe's Box


Yesterday we saw the first of my two Blasters of 2019 Topps Series 1, and it scored a nice 87 points. Today, we tackle the 2nd box, belonging to Babe Ruth. Will his box reign supreme over Aaron Judge's? Let's find out.

Once again, scoring rules:

Common/Duplicate: 0
Great Photo: +1
Yankee: +2
Player I Collect: +1
Insert: +2
1984 Insert: +3
Guaranteed Manu-Patch: +4
Red Sox: -1 (multiplies inserts/parallels)
Phillies: +1
Cardinals: -1 (multiplies inserts/parallels)
Outdated Uniform: -1
Hall of Famer: +2
Gold Parallel: +3
Lower-Numbered Parallel: +5
Relic/Auto: +10

 We start with the manu-patch, this one of Javier Baez, which is a nice one, I guess.

Box Total: +4

Pack 1- Well...11 of the 13 base cards were doubles. So nothing to report here so far.

These three I needed. +2 for collecting Buck and DeGrom, and +1 for that cool Buxton bunt photo. Boggs' insert is a 84T, which is +3, and a HOFer, which is +2...but it's a Red Sox, so multiply it by -1 and we have a -2 total for this pack.

Box Total: +3

Pack 2- Only Sanchez and Snell aren't dupes, and I don't collect either. Still, I'll throw in a +1 for the Phillie
Box Total: +4

+3 for collecting all three of these guys, but -1 for Bruce now being on the Mariners.
Box Total: +6

Dan Straily's is proof that the Gold Parallels are pretty cool this year. For a second I thought that Marlins logo was a mistake, as it looks just a bit like an old Brewers logo. +3
And Clemente's Spring Training insert is a nice one. +5 overall for being an insert of a HOFer I collect.
Box Total: +14

Pack 3- 5 dupes, including Chapman which I'll allow a +1 for, and a reprints insert of McGwire's 86 rookie...which I'll only allow a +1 for, given that I don't love that Mark McGwire is still in modern Topps products.

Box Total: +16

All these base cards were needed, and this includes 4 people I collect (+4), Olson and Flowers' fantastic photos (+2), Blake Parker playing for the Twins now (-1), and Harrison Bader being a Cardinal (-1)

Box Total: +20

Pack 4-
Only the bottom three aren't dupes. Mikolas is someone with a great photo that I collect that happens to be a Cardinal...so only +1....which doesn't even get counted because Clayton Richard is now a Blue Jay, so that cancels it out.

Damn, this box is killing me.

Okay good, I collect all three of these guys. But that's honestly all these have.
Box Total: +23

I love Yaz, and he's a HOF insert...but nonetheless a Red Sox, as nice as this one is. -4 right off the bat. Luckily, Altuve's insert is going into my binders, so we're down to -1
Box Total: +22

Pack 5- Only the bottom three are dupes, but we have deductions for Allen and Puig being in the wrong uniforms, and Carpenter being a Cardinal. I'll move it to -2 thanks to a good shot from Joey Lucchesi.

Box Total: +20. Wow.

All positives here- I collect all but Stroman, and love the Baez and Stroman photos. So a solid +5 here to hopefully get us further.
Box Total: +25

And of course, a solid 84T insert of Joey Votto, someone I definitely collect, bringing us to +4.

Box Total: +29

Pack 6- Taylor's is the only dupe. +2 for 2 Phillies, and +3 more for the beautiful Citizens Bank Park shot, smiling Arcia and a good Cubs shot.
Box Total: +34

Two phenomenal shots of guys I collect gives us +4 more. That Yelich is an MVP shot for sure.

Box Total: +38

The Spring Training set does work, because it does feature photos of great players that we may not have seen before, like this Hank Aaron one. +5 for HOF, collecting, insert.
And +2 more for those other two I collect...and another +1 because I love that Votto photo.

Box Total: +46

Pack 7- Only the top row is dupes. -1 up front for Porcello's Sox-ness, but +1 for collecting Jansen, and +2 more for those Engel and Stros photos.

Box Total: +48

I collect all three of these guys, and all three are phenomenal photos. +6 altogether.

Box Total: +56

And we end on one last 150 insert of Ty Cobb, a HOFer, giving us a +4, and...a base card of the best pitcher in baseball, which I'll give a +2 because I collect him and...he's Clayton Kershaw.

Final Box Total: +62.

87 > 62
WINNER: AARON JUDGE'S BOX.

This was a fun rip, and even though Box 1 was better than Box 2, and had more Yankees and less inserts of Cardinals and Sox, I enjoyed both boxes. This product is a strong one, even with its usual insert problem. Will probably snag some more very soon.

1 comment:

  1. Love that Almora! Hope he bounces back this year after disappearing in the 2nd half of last season.

    ReplyDelete