Dimwit's February Group Break Haul

I partook in Sam's (The Daily Dimwit) February group break recently.  He busted a box each of 2005 Topps Updates and Highlights Chrome, 2011 Panini Limited Baseball, and 2013 Topps Series 1 Jumbo.  I naturally secured the Dodgers as my main team and received the Seattle Mariners as my randomized second team.  I was particularly excited for the 2005 U&H Chrome box because of the Matt Kemp rookie cards present in that set.  Ultimately, I did not get anything from the 2011 Panini Limited box, but I did receive a nice haul from the other two hobby boxes:

Ol' Thomas Oldham there on the left looks like Sergeant Brody (Damian Lewis) from Homeland.  Though Oldham is out of professional baseball as a player, he apparently runs a baseball school in Nebraska - Tom Oldham Baseball.  I imagine Oldham's daily life to be much less stressful than that of the fictional Sgt. Brody.  Also, Pokey Reese.

Dodgers!  The Russell Martin rookie card is nice.  I do enjoy pack-fresh older issue Chrome cards.  Jealous, Zakwin?  Jose Valentin's (far right) son Jesmuel was the Dodgers' first round pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, 51st overall.  I posted a card of Jesmuel Valentin a few weeks ago.

Yay!  I got the Matt Kemp rookie card.  It's your standard Chrome base rookie of Kemp, but pack fresh!  I am also happy that I got the Mariners as my second team, because of what I got above.  Rumors abound that "King" Felix Hernandez signed some insane, mammoth blockbuster of a contract today.  This is my first rookie/prospect card of King Felix.

A pile of Seattle Mariners cards from the 2013 Topps Jumbo box.  The Mariners only have 9 cards in their team set for this release.  I tend to root for the underdog Mariners if they are not playing one of my favorite teams.  But hey Seattle, at least the Seahawks are really good!

Mini-King.

A pile of Dodgers cards.  Some of you might be aware of my general ambivalence toward Topps and its products.  Heck, I've even moved beyond ambivalence into unbridled animosity and pure hatred for that company at times, depending on what new way they decide to screw me over.  I do not trust Topps after several debacles with their shoddy customer service and community support, as well as having to experience their absolutely atrocious 2011 UFC Finest set - the very pinnacle of their failures in quality control.  That being said, I do like the photography and design of 2013 Topps Baseball.

Emerald thing of Dee Gordon.  So, are you Team Hanley or Team Dee for Dodger shortstop?  I am Team Put-Hanley-at-Third.

Lastly, an insert card of Jackie Robinson.  Happy belated burfday, Jackie!

Thanks for the group break, Sam!

Card Giveaway and Part 3 of Dan's Other World Crazy Group Break Haul

Well, that was an unreasonably long pause between group break posts!  I have been in San Diego the past two weeks.  Here's a selection of various cards I received in Dan's The Other World group break (mostly Dodgers):

That Finest Orel Hershiser card is super cool.

Since this is the last post about Dan's group break, I will do a card giveaway!  There are five of them in total, but I will give them away in two sets.  It is easy to enter this game of chance.  I will think of a number from 1 to 100... now!  I have now written that number on a dummy card with my new surf colored Sharpie marker (yes, I am proud of it) and taken a photo of it next to the date and time - 12:40 AM on December 6, 2012 to be exact.  Simply guess the secret number that I wrote down in a comment on this post and also mention your first choice of the two sets that you would prefer to receive if you win the giveaway.  (It would also be nice, were you to follow me on Google - left side of my blog.)  Here are the cards you can win:

Set #1.  Three prospect autos from 2007 Tristar Prospects Plus!  From top left, clockwise: Eddie Kunz (heh), James Simmons, and James Adkins.  I have no idea who these dudes are, but maybe you do!

Set #2.  Two game-used jersey cards from 2008 UD Goudey.  Russell Martin and Josh Beckett.  Dan was awesome enough to throw in these two extra hits, but unfortunately I am trying to minimize my collection of relics.

So there you have it!  Have fun guessing the number between 1 and 100.  Naturally, closest number gets first pick of the card sets and next closest gets the set that is left.  I will leave entries open for a few days to a week at most.