Last weekend I found myself with a rare opportunity to not only get into the nearest hobby shop, but also have enough after stocking up on supplies to actually buy some cards! This is great because I strongly believe in hobby packs over retail, and yet I’m stuck at buying 95% retail because it’s too damn convenient and money in this budget does not get budgeted, only spent until broke.
So anyways I picked up a few of my first Goodwins and a few Topps Series 2 along with a few singles out of the dollar trays that caught my eye. Oh, and a 1992-93 Upper Deck Trail Blazers team set. I already covered the Bill Walton singles I picked up, and I also came up with a $2 EX condition ’84 Topps Darryl Strawberry and a $1 1969 Topps “Ted Williams Shows How” card which I’ll probably scan for my ’69 Topps blog eventually. I did well with the Series 2 Topps and pulled my first ever redemption card, Red Hot Rookie #5. But Series 2 Topps is so last month right? So onto Goodwin Champions!
Pack 1. Nice looking card. I find myself rooting for the Giants to catch Colorado and.. it looks like Atlanta too now. They’ve got some great young stars. Fun to watch, but inconsistent.
Sweet! My first MMA or UFC card ever! I tell you, I was really excited for Topps UFC Round 1 earlier this year but it sold out before it barely, if at all, hit the shelves. So here comes Round 2 and I’m stuck without a pre-order (never pre-ordered anything before) and will probably be left out again with my only option being a single pack off of eBay for 15 bucks!
The minis look great. End of pack 1. Also pulled #3 Jon Lester and # 29 Carlos Quentin.
Pack 2. Hit! Cory Wade. Heard his name before but not too familiar with him. Cheers to Upper Deck for the on card autos in this set. Stickers just look bad, especially on vintage style sets!
Oh yes, I love retired player cards! Fisk is a big plus, cool old-style Red Sox logo, big plus, and it’s a mini! Plus. This might be my favorite card from all 3 packs.
Despite my best efforts to collect all things trading cards, I am lost on Hockey cards. Don’t get me wrong, I like hockey, but I don’t follow it enough to know more than 5% of the names in a small hockey card set. I do keep any names I know (Gordie I know), but I’ll eventually trade off any other hockey I’ve accumulated.
3 packs is pretty good odds to pull one of these dreaded Anniversary cards. I think they’re 1:4 packs. I actually enjoy them when they’re sports related but I do not need cards on gas prices and Dick Cheney taking up space in my packs! Upper deck really messed up a golden opportunity to do something right with great success with this insert set. If they simply went with sports events, I would have been a happy collector. Even some trading card history and a few Olympic highlights would have been nice. Olympic cards probably require another license though. End pack 2. Also pulled #188 Fausto Carmona which is available for trade.
Pack 3. Fukudome with a vintage Cubbies logo. Very nice.
Pettitte. Eh. This might be the Yankees year.
Curtis Granderson mini. Very cool. Glad I saw the Tigers play this year in Seattle. Might be their year too if they can beat the Yankees. End of pack 3. Also pulled #59 Evan Longoria and #113 Jose Reyes.
To sum it up after my first Goodwin packs, I love this set! But, after mulling over wether or not to try and complete the whole set, I don’t think I will. It would take a LOT of packs to complete this set with only 2 to 4 base cards per pack. I will definitely sample some more though whenever I see them.
Pack Addict 
