jackie calling

i couldn't resist while strolling through target the other day.  one of those '2011 topps baseball value box' thingys was calling my name.  well, it was actually the jackie robinson diamond giveaway card that caught my eye.

i did what any self respecting dodger fan would do, and bought the box.  the second diamond giveaway card featured roy halladay

 between the two, i unlocked some fairly worthless stuff.  a 2006 topps billy wagner and this 1992 topps paul molitor.

bring the trades!

the heritage packs didn't yield a whole lot.  no high numbers and just one chrome card (josh thole).  i did get a manny ramirez rays card which makes me laugh and feel kinda sad at the same time.  the lone dodger was james loney

who also makes me kinda sad these days.  i sure hope he gets on track soon before donnie baseball does something drastic.

it's a strange thing for me to open a pack and see a steve garvey card in front of me, but that's what happened with the regular topps packs.

i was disappointed to see that the 1985 card featured in the topps booklet was dwight gooden's, not the garv's.

i also was intrigued by this trevor hoffman card

since it should be his final tribute card.  alas, it is a checklist, so no career stats on the back.  kind of like brooks robinson's 1978 topps card which was a record breaker instead of a regular card.  that irritated me (and still irritates me) to no end.

even if topps can't get final tributes right, at least they are doing something about cards that should have been.  here's one of the 'lost years' cards, a 1953 topps stan musial. 

i really hope topps expands this insert set, or even issues a separate set as i asked for in a blog bat around a long time ago.

while i was also limited to a lone dodger in the regular topps packs (clayton kershaw), i managed to pull three torii hunter cards.  yes, tor-ii hunter (clap clap clap-clap-clap).  here's the first one

 then, here's torii again, this time front and center on the 'team' card

 and the torii trifecta is this cristian guzman double play card, featuring two former twinkies

i will finish with the bonus 'exclusive chrome refractor card' that topps promised   i knew i had a 33% chance of landing the jackie, but figured i would wind up with the ty cobb since that's been my luck in the past.  nope.  good ol' jackie robinson came through for me this time. 

now if only he could do something about the cards i unlock...