2013 Panini Cooperstown Gold Crystal Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacture: Panini

Set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 97

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Set: Gold Crystal

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 265/299

COMC Black Friday Haul #19

For me it seems Cooperstown was a set that always had one more parallel to find.  Well I can say that with this Gold Crystal parallel I finally have all the parallels, except the Black Crystal 1 of 1.

I was just reminiscing the other day that it's been quite a while since we've had a HOF dedicated set.  Not that I'm pining for another Panini effort, but it would be nice to see a very decent effort by Topps for such a set.  Maybe now that Topps' golden cow will be entering the hall we'll see one.

The 2013 Coopertown set wasn't bad.  Panini using black and white photos eliminated them having to skew the colors of player uniforms and the close cropped faces meant they didn't need to airbrush out logos.  Panini probably could have found a worse picture of Robin to use for his card, but they also could have found one a little better.  A nice touch on the back of the card having the box score from the 1992 game against Cleveland where Robin hit his 3000th hit.  And a great piece of trivia is that Cleveland was the team that Robin got his 1000th and 2000th hits as well.

2013 Topps Sticker

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: MLB Stickers

Card Number: 206

Card Type: Base Sticker

COMC Black Friday Haul #18

It was just coincidence that I featured a card yesterday that had the exact same image on it.  I also pointed out in the post how over used this one image is.  I haven't been keeping track, mainly because I gave up caring about it, but Topps has used this and a few other images over and over again.  

Last year I made it a point to try and track down some of Robin's stickers that were missing from my collection.  Most of those were from the '80s and '90s, but I did finally pick up this modern 2013 sticker for the old collection.  

The overall stickers from the set had a very basic, yet visually appealing simplicity to them and of course the same over used image. I tried searching Getty Images to see if I could find this exact image and maybe some notes, but came up empty (although I didn't try too hard).  

Regardless even lowly modern stickers have a kings seat in my collection and I'm glad to have this one crossed off the needs list.

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Zip Code Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Hometown Heroes

Card Number: 19

Card Type: Base Parallel 

Parallel Set: ZIP Code

Next up in my COMC Black Friday haul delivery is this 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes ZIP Code Parallel.  I had been looking for one of these cards since 2013.  The ZIP Code parallels fall 1:12 packs which equates to one per hobby box. NO clue what the insertion rate was for the 24 pack retail boxes. I couldn't find any print run information on the cards but as a box hit and the full 300 card set is paralleled any one card is pretty hard to get.  This was not a card I nabbed on Black Friday, no this card had been sitting in my portfolio since last January.  I can count the number of times I've seen this parallel or Robin's come up for sale on one hand so when this popped up on COMC or under $4 I grabbed it.  Overall I actually really like this set, it's fun and has some great inserts and bright in your face colors that really pop.  This card however is pretty terrible, with most of Yount's face obscured, the terrible photoshopped uniform color and airbrushing.  But I'm glad to be able to finally cross this card off my wantlist.

2013 Panini Cooperstown - Red Pennant box topper

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 16

Card Type: Box Topper

Insert  Set: Red Pennants

I just got in my Black Friday order from COMC.  Included in the box was 26 new Yount items.  Some I've had sitting in my portfolio for over a year and others I picked up during the Black Friday sale on the site.  One of those items is this 2013 Panini Cooperstown Red Pennant box topper.  This was by far the most expensive item I picked up during the sale, but I still got it for a really good price.  This and it's sister blue pennant have been incredibly ellusive.  I've only seen a couple of these pop up on eBay and most of the time they either go for way more than I want to spend or the price tag is way too high.  So when one of these popped up on COMC for less than $9 I couldn't resist finally adding it to the collection.  I'm not sure how rare either pennant is but from just from the sheer lack of seeing them very often I'd say they are pretty scarce.  2013 Cooperstown had a couple different box topper possibilities.  Besides the pennants there was also a die-cut Cooperstown Lumberjacks topper you could pull.  These are about 5-6 inches long and about 4 inches wide at the top and surprisingly stiff.  The pennants are a homage to the 1916 Ferguson Bakery pennants.  I'm still on the look out for its blue counterpart.

2013 Topps Triple Threads Emerald Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Triple Threads

Card Number: 79

Card Type: Base parallel

Parallel Set: Emerald

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 119/250

Ah good old Triple Threads.  Chances are if you like Triple Threads you still like Triple Threads, because over the years the relics, autos and auto relics really haven't changed much.  The base cards still have a ton of foil and multiple color parallels.  The main thing that has changed since the early days of Triple Threads is the base cards are no longer numbered.  If you remember the base cards were numbered to 1350. 

Anyway, we have here today Robin's Emerald parallel base card numbered to 250.  It's a nice looking card using an over used image.  Pretty typical for Topps in 2013 to reuse the same image for retired players in multiple products.  Actually they still do it on a pretty regular basis now.  I do like that the card has a green tint, green foil, and that the back of the card is also shaded green.

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes - Homegrown Heroes

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Hometown Heroes

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Homegrown Heroes

Card Number: HH18

I featured Robin's 2013 Hometown Heroes States parallel last time and figured I keep with the same set and show one of the inserts I picked up from the set as well.  I was also able to find this base Homegrown Heroes insert to add to my Black Friday haul.  This insert also has two parallels, black and gold.  The card features a pretty simple design with the same awful photoshopped colors and logo removal.  But at least on this card we get to see Robin's face.  

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes State Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Hometown Heroes

Card Number: 19

Card Type: Parallel

Parallel Set: States 

I'm still working through my Black Friday pick-ups.  I consider myself a threefold collector.  I have player collections, team collections, and set collections.  Over the years my priorities have shifted as to how and what I collect, but Robin's player collection is by far at the top of my priorities list.  So while it's silly that parallels as simple and pointless as this one is they are something I look out for like a hawk.  The only difference between the base card and this card is the Wisconsin stamped on the front of the card.  I really like the design of this card.  I love the bright colors and the fact that Robin get card #19, his number.   I don't particularly like the photo used.  We don't get to see Robin's face.  And I don't like the terrible photoshop job done to the uniform colors and the logo removal.  There is one more parallel for this set, the zip code parallel. I'm still on the look out for that one.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Blue Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Museum Collection

Card Number: 27

Card Type: Base parallel

Parallel Set: Blue

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 08/99

Some parallels just stick out.  That can be good or bad, For Robin's 2013 Museum Collection Blue parallel card the blue border with gold strip match the Brewers colors so well this card really pops.  

2013 Panini Cooperstown Orange Sparkle Matrix Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 97

Card Type: Color Parallel

Parallel Set: Orange Sparkle Matrix parallel

Card attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 089/325

The 2013 Cooperstown set is full of color parallels.  And depending on where you turn for your information this parallel set is called multiple things.  Beckett calls it the Orange set.  Fair enough.  Cardboard Connection and Panini's own checklist call this Matrix.  Umm Ok.  Regardless it's still a great looking card color wise.  It reminds me of the sparkling fabric they use to use for padded bar stools and chairs, especially at bowling alleys or that really expensive prismatic paint they use on cars.  Still the card looks very nice in hand.  

2013 Topps Triple Threads Amber Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Triple Threads

Card Number: 79

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Set: Amber

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 015/125

I ended up picking up a few Triple Threads color parallels I was lacking this Black Friday from COMC.  I really like the 2013 Triple Threads parallels. I like the design overall even if Topps used the this image for a 1000 other cards that year.  I also like that the color parallel is carried over to the back of the card. 

Triple Threads is a product that I have no interest in breaking.  Well let me clarify I would love to open boxes of Triple Threads I just don't have that kind of money to open a product that I doubt I'd get any cards I wanted in it.  So the only reason would be to break it and then try to resell what I got for a profit and that's always a losing bet with high end stuff like this.  But I will pick up the cards I want on the secondary market.  Sometimes I have to wait years before I find cards at a decent price.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Asia Exclusive Turquoise Parallel

Year: 2013

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Museum Collection

Card Number: 27

Card Type: Base Color Parallel

Parallel Type: Asia Exclusive Turquoise

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 27/50

This is probably the coolest card I picked up off of COMC for Black Friday and the most expensive. Actually I picked this up well before Black Friday and had thought about waiting to see if the price dropped, but considering I've never seen one of these card in the three years since it was released and to my embarrassment didn't even know this parallel existed.  Asia Exclusives aren't new.  Both Topps and Panini do them, but I'm not sure how I missed this.  

That being said in the end I scooped this card up.  I didn't want to wait and have someone else pick it up To be honest it wasn't that expensive, just the most expensive card I bought in my haul.  

The color parallels are subtle in Museum Collection with just the inner frame differing from parallel to parallel, but still a nice color variation and a great pick up.

2013 Topps Triple Threads Base card

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Triple Threads

Year: 2013

Card Number: 79

Card Type: Base

Back when Triple Threads was new the base cards were all serial numbered to 1350.  Topps has stopped serial numbering the base cards. I wonder if they are still limited to 1350 or if Topps just said screw it.  Regardless the 2013 Base design looks great.  Topps' decision to recycle an over used  kind of blurry photo is not so great.  But I like the framing and I like the base border color.

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Blue Crystal Shard parallel

Card Manufacturer: Panini

Card Set: Cooperstown

Year: 2013

Card Number: 97

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel: Blue Crystal Shard

Card Attributes: Serial numbered

Serial Number: 057/499

Another Black Friday pick up last year.  I'm a sucker for Panini's Cooperstown set. Not enough to try and collect the whole thing, but I love that fact that there's a good bet Robin's going to have a few cards in it.  The scan doesn't do the sparkliness justice.  

I'm not a big fan of the black and white photo.  This card would have really popped with that classic blue and gold uniform.

2013 Panini America's Pastime

Card Manufacturer: Panini

Card Set: America's Pastime

Year:  2013

Card Number: 127

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 044/125

I just finally was able to get my hands on this one.  Panini's America's Pastime wasn't as high end as National Treasures, but it's still a pricey pack at about $225 and base cards are all numbered to 125.  Each box had one pack of 10 cards.  You got 1 book card, 3 autographs, 2 relics, 1 to 2 inserts, and 2 to 3 base cards numbered to 125 or less.  Each base card has 3 parallels.  The gold numbered to 25, the green foil numbered to 10 and the black 1 of 1 cards.

Robin's card in #127 in the set and while I give Panini some slack for not having the MLB license to use logos this picture is one of the worst I've seen used.  The overall design isn't bad, but this card looks more like something I would have pulled out of a food issue back in the late 80's instead of a $200+ pack of cards. And these are kind of hard to find. I'm guessing that not many people are rushing out to bust an expensive non-licenesed product.   But still a great addition to the collection.

2013 Topps Five Star

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Five Star

Year: 2013

Card Number: 43

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 62/75

Been posting about the old stuff for a while now I thought it was time for a modern card. As a matter of fact I just got this one in the mail today.  As soon as I saw Robin had a base card in this years Five Star I wanted to add one to the collection.  According to Topps' sell sheets the base cards for this issue were only going to be numbered to 60. But come product release time that number had been raised to 75. Still a pretty insanely low issue.  Besides the base cards which are numbered to 75 there are also two parallels numbered to 10 and 1.  

When this first hit the market Robin's card was going for over $20 a pop. I bidded my time and was finally able to pick up this bad boy for about $8 delivered. Thats a price I'm a little more comfortable with.  

A very nice card. These base cards are super thick, around 120 pt I think. The same size as most of the autos and relics in the set.  

2013 Topps Triple Threads Amethyst parallel - The first of many, many posts from my COMC Black Friday Hauliday!

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Triple Threads

Year: 2013

Card Number: 79

Card Type: Base Color Parallel

Parallel Set: Amethyst

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 183/650

I ended up picking up a ton of new Younts for the supercollection this Black Friday from COMC. I think I added over 35. 

First up is my first base card of any kind from this years Triple Threads.  I really love the purple cards that Topps has been putting out this year. From Chrome to Triple Threads they all look good.  This is actually the Amethyst parallel and they are the high numbered parallel this year.  This is the second year that Topps decided to stop serial numbering the common base card.  I didn't notice last year because Robin didn't have a base card in that set.

I also like that the color variation continues onto the back of the card.

I've already managed to acquire one of this years Unity relics and that'll probably be enough for me.

Stay tuned for the rest of the haul.  cb out

Radar alert, New Yount on the horizon.

Figure I'd throw this out there for anyone who cares about new Yount cards.  2013 Topps Five Star is about to hit the streets tomorrow.  Mr. Yount has a base card in the set. It's card number 43 and the base is numbered to just 60 cards! There are also Rainbow Foil parallels numbered to 10 and the Five Star 1/1 card.

Robin will have a bat knob card in this years set. I remember the bat knob from last years National Treasures went for big bucks.

This product had some QC problems last year with chipped edges and honestly it's really expensive. Not as spendy as some of Panini's super high end stuff, but this is a product well worth letting someone else bust and picking up the scraps later on ebay.

I'll be adding the base and rainbow foil to my want list, but I have no expectations of ever seeing the other cards.

2013 Topps Triple Threads Sepia Unity Relic Bat card

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Triple Threads

Year: 2013

Card Number: TTUJR-RY

Card Type: Relic

Relic Set: Sepia Unity Relics

Relic Type: Bat

Card Attributes: Bat Relic, Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 10/27

You know the best part of about Topps Triple Threads each year is the base cards. Seriously. It seems that those are the only cards in the set that change.  Look at all the relics and auto cards in this years set and they look exactly like all the years past.  But for some I guess that's a good thing.  I have a hard time keeping up with every insert set in Triple Threads too, mainly because there are a ton and on top of the each set has about 5 parallel versions.  

It was a little overwhelming for a player collector. Until I realized that I could be happy with just one representative card for my collection.

I ended up picking up this beauty recently and for a great price.  This is from the Unity Jumbo Relic set.  The base cards in the set are numbered to only 36.  This one happens to be the Sepia parallel numbered to 27. And there are 4 more parallel versions numbered even less.  But I'm happy to finally have this one card in the collection.  Not that I wouldn't hunt down the other parallel versions of the card for the right price, but I'm happy to have just the one Unity Jumbo Relic card in the collection.   Now to find some cheap base.

2013 Topps Update Commemorative Coin Card

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Update

Year: 2013

Card Number: PCC-RY

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Pennant Chase Commemorative Coin Card

Card Attributes: Coin, Serial Numbered

Serial Number:  49/99

When I saw the checklist of 2013 Topps Update I was pretty excited to see Robin had a coin card this years set

.

While I hate that Topps calls these relics they are pretty sweet cards.  

I had been watching just about every one of these copper level coin cards on ebay that have been up for auction. I was biding my time.  I finally was able to snag one for a decent price.  Still it was more than I really wanted to spend on the card, but there comes a time when sellers stop putting these up for 99 cents and letting the market determine final price and just start listing them as Buy It Now with insane price tags. 

I will say this it's a great card. It's super heavy. The coin is solid and the card looks amazing in hand.  There are two more levels of coin cards the Wrought Iron and Steel, numbered to 50 and 10, but I'm not really worried about them, if I can find either at a great price I'll bite, but I'm glad to have at least this great tribute in the collection now.

The theme of the Coins is Pennant Chase and this coin commemorates the 1982 World Series team that lost to the Cardinals in seven. Sadly the one and only time the team made it.

2013 Topps Museum Collection

2013 is shaping up to be a great year for new cards and parallels for Robin Yount. I haven't even bothered to try and figure out exactly how many new cards were put out this year, but it's well over 30.

In this year's Topps Museum Collection, Robin has a base card in the set with all the parallels that go along with it and a couple of relic cards and their parallels as well. I still need the blue to round out my parallel set. There is also a red parallel, but since it's numbered 1/1 I won't even bother to list it as a possibility.