Wednesday, June 10, 2009

2009 Topps Series 2

OK, so here's my experience with Topps Series 2. I purchased the jumbo box, which promises 2 relics and 1 auto and 500 cards overall for around $100. With the base set being 330 cards, and the box containing 500 cards, you pretty much expect to complete the set. At least in series 1 I was able to complete the set. The time around I came up one card short (card #383), not sure if that's a collating oversight by Topps (not me, I checked twice) but it would seem like for such a large box, you'd make sure that the whole set ends up in there somehow. Anyway, that irked me slightly.

The hits in the box were pretty lame, and really killed any value that could have been obtained from the box. For staters, the auto is of Chris Volstad a career 10-9 pitcher with a decent ERA. The auto comes, of course, on a sticker, and stickers suck, so that slightly irks me as well. This auto is readily purchasable on ebay for a buck. Thanks topps.



The second hit was an Angel Berroa Career best game-used bat card. The card too can be purchased for a mere dollar on ebay, and in fact most of these cards listed never even sell, so technically it's worth less than a dollar.



The last hit, which is actually sort of decent (in terms of current value) is a Jackie Robinson Legendary Letters commemorative patch #20/50. In terms of value, this card can be had for between $5-20. I only say sort of decent, because we all know this is just a piece of fabric some random stranger sewed together. I could buy these same supplies at a hobby barn for a few dimes. So technically this card really is only worth the price of its rarity.



So out of 3 hits, I see a value around $7-22. I just ended up paying $80 for a base set of series 2 cards (minus #383), and a bunch of inserts. What a load of crap...


Other typical stats which came out more or less as expected...
Career Best (1:6): Hornsby, Speaker
Toppstown (1 per jumbo): 10 (5 regular, 5 gold)
Turkey Red, Ring of Honor, Legends of the Game, Gold parallels (all 1 per jumbo)
WBC Stars (1:2) I got 6...
1 Black parallel of David Freese



Also, each box comes with a red hot rookie redemption, mine was #4. Here's to hoping it's good and provides Longoria-like value when all is said and done. (no wammies, no wammies... and..... stop!)

2 comments:

  1. Just out of curiosity, but what boxes DO hold value? I haven't yet seen a single one that is -consistently- worth the money spent. Nice write up though, I like your blog.

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  2. I've only bought one case of cards in my life, but based on that experience (1 card in the whole case equalled 25-50% of the price of the case) it would seem that purchasing cases provides the best odds for getting decent value in return. And even better return if that case is a high end or rookie laden product. But box to box, the value is still quite horrid. Several examples of the top of my head... 2009 UD Series 2, each case contains something like 2 hot boxes that have an auto in every pack? Buy a case, and you'll get those two boxes that will hopefully offset the lame autos in other boxes. SP Legendary cuts, what's the point of purchasing single boxes without a cut? Purcahse a case and you're guaranteed a few cuts. Of course, the marjority of card collectors can not afford this approach.

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