a tale of two packs

the other day i had a few extra minutes in the right part of town, so i headed over to one of the local card shops.  it has probably been a couple of years since i have been in a card shop, and this was the first time i had been in this particular one.   it was not very well organized, but had a bunch of large count boxes just sitting out in the open where anyone could dig through them - vintage and otherwise.  there was an older guy looking through some newer hockey releases, and the worker lady was behind the counter working on a computer learning program of some sort.  i spent most of my few minutes digging through what was essentially a 3 for $10 relic box and made out with about $30 worth of dodger relics.

i have to admit, however, that my main motivation to head to the shop was to try to pick up a pack or two of 2012 topps archives.  sadly, they had none.  but, having anticipated opening some packs for the first time in a looooooong time, i picked up some stuff that was pretty foreign to me.  one pack of 2012 topps gypsy queen, and one pack of 2012 topps heritage.  here's what i got.

first, the gypsy queen.

not pictured - a mini josh beckett.  that's not too bad of a pack if you are a fan of the american league east. i dislike prince fielder in a tigers' jersey when the card talks about a homer he hit as a member of the brewers.  also, ra dickey's sanitarys are looking a bit thin.  which they are - they're sanitarys after all.  i didn't realize big leaguers still wore them.  or socks in general.  thanks george hendrick.

here's the heritage pack

hey, there's ra dickey again.  usually when i see palm trees on a baseball card, i think of dodger stadium, but in dickey's case (and worley's, too) it looks like spring training.  this pack works well for nl and al east fans.  i got a four-in-one rookie stars card, but sadly not one of the many that feature the dodgers' own tim federowicz.  thank goodness for chad billingsley, the last card in the pack, otherwise i would have been shut out of dodgers.

i don't know if any of these are short prints or what not, but they are all available.  except for bills.

now i remember why i stopped buying packs.  at least for a day or two, because i just bought a blaster of archives yesterday.  look for a very disappointed gcrl post this weekend.