Welp, the streak is over. My month-long hiatus from buying or opening packs is done, and let me say that it has been a tough month.

I’ve checked the card aisle at Target looking for something, but have staved off the real urge to buy anything.

I’ve checked Dollar Tree for some cheap thrills … I’ve even grabbed a few of the Hoops packs they have there and headed to the check stand before thinking better of the situation.

I even had two unopened 1990 Fleer baseball packs sitting in my trunk that I had forgotten about until a brief discussion with CardJunk from (Twitter). I grabbed those with the idea of opening them before remembering that their value to me as an unopened pack is greater than another stack of cards.

But as most of you know, Jan 30, 2019, was the release date for Topps Baseball Series One, and it effectively marked the beginning of a new card year. Earlier this week I wrote about the anticipation, and wrote some words of encouragement (mainly for myself) to help guide me in the right direction.

I was absolutely going to open some of the new product — there was no contention about that. But the point I wanted to make to myself was that it’d be best if I purchased a hobby box from my Local Card Shop and made it an event; that’s to say open the box with my son.

And so we did. I got the heads up from my LCS that the cards arrived at noon — an hour after the store opened — and then we went as a family to the shop after the kids got off of school. My daughter and nephew — whom I bought cards for Christmas but has yet to open them (WTF!) — decided they were too cool for the shop and stayed in the car while my son and I went inside.

We met with Tom at South Bay Sports Cards who gave us the quick rundown on the change in box/pack configuration, which then made me think I needed to buy just more than a single hobby box to be close to a complete Topps Series One set.

After 10 minutes, my son and I walked out with a Hobby Box (and the one 1984 Chrome pack), a single Jumbo pack, and five loose packs from the box on the counter. The idea was that with any luck we’d have fun ripping these, and then be somewhere around 20 cards short of a set when factoring inserts, duplicates, etc. 

OUR FIRST CARDS OF 2019

I grabbed one of the loose packs and opened it in the car. The first card on the back of the pack was Mike Zunino of Seattle Mariners. When I flipped the stack over, the first card facing up was Atlanta Braves pitcher Kolby Allard. I chuckled when I realized cards in my first pack were stacked A-Z.

On a side, note, what do YOU consider to be the first card in the pack? The one you see on the back when you open the pack, or the first card that is facing upward? It’s a fun discussion that carried on Twitter, and was even continued on the About The Cards podcast.

As for my son, he managed to mix up some of his cards before I could get a chance to see who was on the back and front of his pack. But he assures me that Clayton Richard was the first card front he laid eyes on. Good enough for me.

WHAT WE PULLED

I’ll give you the quick version:

-Jumbo pack: This contained my first Clayton Kershaw card of 2019, and as noted earlier this week — he does in fact have his zipper down. The pack also contained one of the thickest cards in recent memory: a 150th Medallion card of Reggie Jackson.

-Five loose packs: I opened two of these and let my son open three. My son proceeded to pull three serial numbered parallels, which was insane considering the odds. The Gold is easily attainable at 1:5 packs (serial numbered /2019); but he also pulled a Black seeded at 1:122 packs ( /67) and Advanced Stat back inserted at a rate of 1:75 packs (/150) made those packs amazing. Hell, any ONE of those inserted into a hobby box would have made it a win in some people’s eyes. Oh, and he pulled a Home Run Challenge Freddie Freeman (1:24 packs or 1/box). I pulled 1984 Designs of Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz, as well as a Topps Now Review featuring Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Shoei Ohtaini.

-Hobby exclusive Chrome pack: The four guys we got were Ramon Laureano, Manny Machado, Noah Syndergaard and Kyle Schwarber. Laureano made me smile because aside from a 2017 Topps Heritage Minors and a Topps Now card from 2018, I do not think the Athletics outfielder has any other cards. This one was special to me because my kids and I saw Laureano hit his first major league homer.

–Hobby Box: This was above average IMO: Relic (1 per box) was Miguel Cabrera Home Run Challenge (1 per box) was Rhys Hoskins, Short Print (1:15 packs) was Justin Turner; Golds (5 – 1:5 packs) were: Kevin Gausman, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Brandon Lowe, and Clayton Richard; Rainbow Foil (2 – 1:10 packs) were Adam Jones and Trea Turner; 150th Anniversary Stamp ( 5 – 1:6 packs) Oakland A’s Team Card, Houston Astros Team Card, Alex Gordon, Sean Reid-Foley, and Josh Harrison; 1984 Design inserts (6 – 1:4 packs) were Eddie Rosario, Mark McGwire, Trey Mancini, Whit Merrifield, Bo Jackson and Jeff McNeil; Iconic Cards Reprint (1 – 1:21 packs) Roberto Clemente; Iconic Cards Reprint 150th Anniversary stamp (1 – 1:144 packs serial numbered /150) Jackie Robinson; Evolution Of (1- 1:42 packs) Memorial Stadium/Camden Yards; Revolution of the Game (1- 1:104 packs) Joe Torre; Greatness Returns (1-1:42 packs) Ty Cobb/Bryce Harper; 150 Years of Professional Baseball (4 1:7 packs) Mike Piazza, Albert Pujols, Juan Marichal and Harmon Killebrew; and Topps Now Review (2 – 1:18 packs) Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna. Jr.

We need 22 cards for the set … and any Clayton Kershaws you’ve got

I sorted all of the base cards from the packs and paged them up and determined that as of this initial writing we needed 19 cards to complete the 350-card Series One set. See the photo below and let me know if you have any of these. We have about 40 duplicates available.

Also, at this point I need all Kershaw inserts and parallels; and probably will take any base Kershaws you have.

Got something I neeed? Hit me on TWITTER (link), or via email at cardboardicons AT yahoo.com