19 New Boxes

I just got a large package in the mail.  I ordered 19 unopened boxes.

89 Topps (rack box)

91 Studio

91 Leaf Series 1

91 Leaf Series 2

91 Fleer Ultra

92 Fleer

92 Fleer Ultra Series 1

92 Fleer Ultra Series 2

92 Studio

92 Leaf Series 1

92 Leaf Series 2

93 Fleer Series 1

93 Fleer Series 2

93 Fleer Ultra Series 1

93 Fleer Ultra Series 2

93 Studio

93 Stadium Club Series 1

93 Stadium Club Series 2

93 Stadium Club Series 3

I have been giggling like The Joker since I spread the boxes out on the couch.  I'll post box breaks later.

1993 Triple Play Jumbo Box Break

18 packs each having a Gallery of Stars insert and an Action game card.

Pack 1: 

GoS: Paul Molitor

Action: Juan Gonzalez

Base: 2 different McGwire cards

Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson

A bunch of commons and this Roger McDowell with a cooks mask:

Pack 2:

GoS: Benito Santiago

Action: Juan Guzman

And a pretty good pack for stars

Alan Trammell and Randy Johnson x2

Joe Carter and the other McGwire base card (yes I am still a Mark McGwire fan)

A young Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly

Pack 3:

GoS: Jim Abbott

Action: Don Mattingly

I thought pack 2 was good for stars but this was even better

Pack 4:

GoS: David Nied

Action: Wally Joyner

I'll slow down on the card pictures since they are easy to find for reference.

But here is Bill Clinton

Pack 5

GoS: JT Snow

Action: Robin Yount

Pack 6

GoS: Barry Bonds

Action: Juan Gonzalez again

Pack 7

GoS: Jim Abbott again

Action: Don Mattingly again

Base 

Some fun cards and a young Paul Molitor

Pack 8

GoS: Jim Abbott again

Action: Don Mattingly again

Pack 9:

GoS: JT Snow again

Action: Robin Yount again

Halfway through the box now.  Let's see where I am with the base set.

Looks like I need 90/264 cards.  Pretty good for the first half of the box.

Pack 10

GoS: JT Snow again

Action: Robin Yount again

11 base cards needed so down to 79

Pack 11

GoS: Benito Santiago again

Action: Juan Guzman again

12 base cards needed so down to 67

Pack 12

GoS: Santiago

Action: Guzman

13 base cards needed so down to 54

Pack 13

More dupes on the inserts

12 base cards for the set.  Need 42

Pack 14

More dupes on the inserts

3 base cards for the set.  Need 39

4 packs to go!!  Will I finish my base set?!?!  Will I ever see another NEW insert!?!?

Pack 15

Dupes on the inserts (Bonds at least on the GoS)

2 cards for the set.  Down to 37.

Pack 16

More dupes

3 cards for the set takes me down to 34.

It is not looking good for finishing the set.  Luckily I don't need any huge stars.

Pack 17

Something new!!!!

Plus 5 more cards for the set taking me down to 29.

The 18th and Final Pack

1 base card for the set.  Everything else dupes.

So final tally is 236 out of the 264 card set for about 89%.  Not too bad.

7 out of 10 for the Gallery of Stars set.

And somehow only 5 out of 30 for the Action game set.

What I Have, What I Want

This probably should have been my first post, but better late than never.  My ultimate goal in this quest is rather vague.  I know I want every regular issue Topps set, but there are other sets along the way that I also want to have just for the nostalgia of it.  I am going to try to get other regular issue sets from Donruss, Fleer, and Upper Deck, and throwing in a few of those companies off shoots, like Leaf, Triple Play, Studio, Fleer Ultra, Fleer Flair, Collector's Choice, Stadium Club, Bowman, etc.

When I sold my collection I did keep quite a lot of sets that I had, but then later sold some of the bigger rookies.  So I have most of a 1982 Topps set, minus the Ripken rookie, most of a 1989 Upper Deck set, minus the Griffey rookie, most of a 1987 Donruss set, minus the Bonds rookie.  So I will have some individual cards to get, but ebay will be very helpful in that.

I still have complete sets of:
Upper Deck from 1990-1993
2007 Topps
1986 Donruss
Donruss sets from 1988-1992
Fleer sets from 1986, 88, 90, & 91
1989 Bowman (yay I have one Griffey rookie)
1990 Score
1993 Fun Pack (Master Set) - one of my favorite sets

And I have starter sets for many others.  I lucked into a pretty good buy at a local "antique" mall.  Around here in Southeast Missouri, that means indoor flea market.  I found two 5000-count boxes with a pretty good mix of cards for $30 each.  I bought both and ended up with most of a 1984 and 1987 Topps set.  Both were in really great condition.  The 84s looked like they came fresh out of a vending box.  There weren't any huge stars but I was pretty excited when I found the Willie McGee in the 84s.

So that's pretty much it for the quest.  It's going to be a very long and VERY exciting road.  Along the way I hope to get lots of St. Louis Cardinals cards.

1993 Leaf Series 1 Box Break

First Post

My first post will be a (sort of) box break.  I bought a box of 1993 Leaf Series 1 on ebay to work on my collection about a month ago.  So I can't say for sure which cards in my set that I already had.  This is a set that I have always liked.  Bright colors, and an awesome city skyline shot on the back of the card.  Neat inserts, though I've never been much of a Frank Thomas fan.

I don't know if Topps has gotten me spoiled with their recent distribution of cards in their boxes or not, but this box was a disappointment.  I'm used to getting a box and getting at least most of a set of the base cards and a good variety of inserts.  The distribution in this box of Leaf was ridiculous.  I am down to only 17 cards that I need from Series 1, but I did have about 50 or so to start with.

Here's some proof on the distribution of this box.  For length sake I will only mention the base cards that I got more than 4 extras of.
#4 - Curt Schilling x5 (The only real star in this list)
#16 - Travis Fryman x6
#38 - Milt Cuyler x5
#52 - Sam Militello x5
#61 - Ted Power x5
#74 - Melindo Perez x5
#89 - Rick Sutcliffe x5
#100 - Billy Ashley x5
#103 - Bill Gullickson x5
#110 - Checklist x5
#117 - Mike Bordick x8
#139 - Dave Henderson x5
#160 - John Patterson x6
#169 - Rickey Jordan x5
#178 - Sid Bream x6

The number after the x is the number of EXTRAS I now have.  What in the world am I going to do with 8 Mike Bordick cards?  I wouldn't care so much if it was 8 of Nolan Ryan or Tony Gwynn or someone of that caliber.


Inserts:

In this set, the following inserts are available to get:
Gold Leaf Rookies (10 in series 1, 25 total)
Heading For The Hall (5 in series 1, 10 total)  (Out of the 10 cards in this set 9 of the players have been inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, with the only one left being Roger Clemens)
Frank Thomas (5 in series 1, 10 total)
On the Fast Track (10 in series 1, 20 total)
Gold All Stars (10 in series 1, 30 total)
Dave Winfield 3000 Hits (only in Update set)

Inserts from this box:
(3) Frank Thomas inserts, #1 and 2 of #2
(3) Gold Leaf Rookies, Brandon Wilson, Ryan Thompson, Tim Wakefield
Here's where it gets ridiculous
(4) Heading for the Hall, all Robin Yount
Yes, 4 of the same insert card.

I hate to sound so negative in my first post but I was almost shaking with excitement when this box was delivered and it was so disappointing.  I still love the card design though and hopefully a box of series 2 will be better.

Up next:
I just ordered a jumbo box of 1993 Triple Play.  Hopefully the distribution problem was only in the Leaf set and not company wide since this box comes from the same company in the same year.  Either way, 18 packs with a Gallery of Stars card in each pack should be fun.