Lucky Breaks

I recently participated in two, er technically three, group breaks and a contest.  The first was a 2006 Ovation break in which everyone participating agreed to receive a full set plus any "hits" and extras of the team of their choice.  In addition to the team of their choice, each person was assigned a second team for which they would receive cards.  Thank to the Daily Dimwit's "true group break" thinking on this one.  Very clever way to go!  So, what did I walk away with?

First up, a Travis Hafner "Superstar Theater" card.  These are kinda cool in a cheesy sort of way.  It reminds me of something I would create.

Above are the base cards featuring Hafner, Martinez, and Sizemore.  The cards have that Ovation embossed baseball thing going on, and have always been one of my favorite sets.

The six-pack above shows off a game-used Hafner, two gold parallel Indians, and three Serially-numbered Dodgers.  Dodgers!?  Yeap, I was given the Dodgers as my second team, and pulling these made it all worth getting that team.  The Ethier is getting shipped to Night Owl to enjoy!

The second and third breaks come from A Cardboard Problem.  I initially signed up for just the Facebook break, but decided to add the blog break at the last minute.  Man, it's a good thing I did!

First up, we have a few Fellers:

I have to say, that leather nameplate is one sweet card!  I think it is time to update ye olde site banner!

I also snagged a nearly full 100-count box of base Series 2 Indians cards featuring 12 players (and lots of duplicates to go around!):

Why is it that Nix is the only one that gets a horizontal card? I mean, why bother?  Make them all verticals and call it good. Oh well, guess that's one of 80,000 reasons I am not on the Topps design team.

In addition to the base cards, I also managed a few cool inserts, parallels, etc:

Above, we see a few gold cards and refractor inserts plus I had a couple of Sizemore Toppstown code cards.  Oh, I also received a handful of the Diamond Giveaway cards.  I'll be exchanging the Toppstown codes for new clubhouse swag soon.  My daughter loves Toppstown.

Finishing out the Cardboard Problem group breaks, I snagged a couple Roberto Alomar and Manny Ramirez retro cards along with a Josh Tomlin autograph card. Sweet!

The last card I have to show came from a cool giveaway done by TheDiamondKing in which winners chose their preferred card from a list.  Through process of elimination (that is, someone else's selection), the cards were handed out in something of a "law of diminishing possibilities."  I was sort of in the middle of the pack for picking, so I chose the 2010 Topps Tribute Alex Rodriguez dual GU #'d /99:

Is that not one sweet card!?  Ohhh yeah!  My son is a huge A-Rod fan, so I may be putting this one in my non-Tribers collection.  Thanks, Kevin!

And, thanks to EVERYONE that held these breaks!