Hi everybody!!

I’m just posting this to let everyone know I’m still alive and well. As you already know, I haven’t had much free time as of late (in fact, I still don’t, but things are improving), but…….

Breaks are on the way! With my birthday less than a week-and-a-half away, I thought I’d treat myself to my first boxes in months. As a matter of fact, in the two-plus months I’ve been on hiatus, I’ve acquired a total of ONE new card. As far as the incoming boxes go, they’re a little different from the boxes you’d normally see me break. For one thing, they’re newer than any other box I’ve broken for this blog and come from the years 2003 and 2004. They’re fairly loaded in content and there will be “hits.” I will post my usual write-ups for those boxes but in addition, I will for the first time ever videotape my break (or at least attempt to with a crappy webcam I found). Let’s see:

Old boxes [x]
“Hits” [x]
Video camera [x]

Am I planning a sequel?!?

Oh yeah. Old School Group Break: Part Deux is coming to you this holiday season.

You may have noticed that the posts have come to a screeching halt in the past couple weeks and that I haven’t posted a box break/review in nearly a month. Sadly, I’m posting this today to let everyone know that it’ll be at least a little while longer before another break is posted. Thanks to some recent surprise bills and a lack of free time lately (among other craziness), my ability to post new material to this blog and more importantly, my passion for writing this blog has been dwindling. That said, it is with regret that I announce that Old School Breaks will officially be on hiatus as of today.

I would like to assure my readers that this is definitely not the end of this blog. I will be back in due time, as soon as I can get my stuff together. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to go back and read some of the past articles they have missed, either by searching, tag cloud, or the Best Of page. For those that need their “old-school” fix, be sure to check out ’90s Box Breaks while I’m away.

Thank you for reading and I’ll (hopefully) see you in the (not so distant) future.

-John Hollod
Old School Breaks

Note: An important announcement regarding this blog’s future will be posted shortly.

I haven’t done a whole lot of trading lately, but last week, Greg of Night Owl Cards and I reached a deal that sent several Dodgers his way. You can probably guess what he sent me in return. The great thing about being a Yankee fan is that people are often very willing to give away their (referring to the Yanks, of course) cards to you. Anyway, here’s a look at what Greg had sent me.

The complete list:
2007 Topps Update Gold Jorge Posada /2007
2008 Topps Update Gold Mariano Rivera /2008
2008 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Robinson Cano
2008 UD YSL #6014 Paul O’Neill
2008 UD YSL #6097 Tino Martinez
2009 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Mark Teixeira
2009 Topps Heritage Flashback Mickey Mantle
2009 Topps Career Best LegendsMickey Mantle
2009 Topps WalMart Cereal Box Mickey Mantle
2009 Topps A & G National Pride Hideki Matsui
2009 Topps A & G National Pride Alex Rodriguez
2009 Topps A & G Relic Mark Teixeira
2009 Topps A & G Relic Alex Rodriguez

Overall, I was very impressed with the lot Greg sent over. I always love getting refractors and the Teixeira card gave me my first taste of 2009 Topps Chrome. I really like it. The WalMart card was new to me as well. It’s pretty rare when I can actually trade for a Paul O’Neill card I don’t have so I was pretty happy to add the YSL to my collection (number 667 overall). Thanks a lot for this trade Greg! I’m happy I was able to “rid” you of these cards (and I’m sure you’re even happier about the fact).

Randomly inserted into packs of 1998 Donruss Signature were Significant Signatures inserts, which featured beautiful on-card autographs of legends such as Yogi Berra, Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, and Phil Rizzuto, just to name a few. Each card was limited to 2,000 copies, with the exception of Rizzuto, who only signed 1,000.

However, not all the cards were directly inserted into packs. Redemption cards were created for Sandy Koufax, Ozzie Smith, and Nolan Ryan. The redemptions (which had to be redeemed before the year 2000) were for special signed REFRACTORS with a print run of 2,000. However, some time after the product’s release, non-refractive versions of these three cards were found. They featured different photographs from their refractor counterparts, but still looked very sharp in basic foilboard. While Koufax and Ozzie once again had 2,000 cards out there, there were only 1,000 of the non-fractor Nolan Ryan card.

Oh, and if you’re reading this Jason, this Ryan is your prize for winning the contest. Congratulations and enjoy!

First off, I want to thank everyone who checked out the contest, especially those of you who tried solving the puzzle. Here’s how it worked:

The 9×9 grid was actually comprised of 9 3×3 grids with letters that, when rearranged, spelled out names of baseball Hall of Famers. In 6 of these grids, the letters spelled out a first and last name. In the other 3, they spelled out just a last name. These names were (from left to right):

Top Row: Jim Palmer, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson
Middle Row: Tom Seaver, Hank Aaron, Eckersley
Bottom Row: Tony Gwynn, Henderson, Newhouser

Most of you found these names, but were unsure as to what to do next. When I numbered the columns 1-9, I was hoping that someone would think outside the box and start thinking about how numbers could play a role in this puzzle. If you notice, every one of the players from the 9 3×3 grids wore a double-digit uniform number that was later retired by a Major League team. The uniform numbers of these players were actually coordinates to the letters you needed to find in order to find one last 9-letter jumble, which would lead to the identity of the mystery Hall of Famer.

Jim Palmer (22) (2nd column, 2nd box) = L
Dizzy Dean (17) (1st column, 7th box) = N
Bob Gibson (45) (4th column, 5th box) = N
Tom Seaver (41) (4th column, 1st box) = Y
Hank Aaron (44) (4th column, 4th box) = A
Eckersley (43) (4th column, 3rd box) = N
Tony Gwynn (19) (1st column, 9th box) = O
Henderson (24) (2nd column, 4th box) = A
Newhouser (16) (1st column, 6th box) = R

To see the grid again, here is the original post.

Put that all together and you get “LNNYANOAR” which when rearranged spells out the name of the secret Hall of Famer:

NOLAN RYAN!

Jason aka “The Jaw” was the first person to correctly solve the puzzle and (like I said) will win a special prize of someone directly related to the contest. The prize is actually one that’s on its way to my house right now and will be revealed on my next installment of Old School Hits shortly.

Thanks again all! Hope you enjoyed it!

THE CONTEST HAS ENDED. “THE JAW” FIGURED OUT THE CORRECT ANSWER, NOLAN RYAN. DETAILS WILL BE POSTED LATER TONIGHT/TOMORROW. FOR NOW, SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT HOW HE DID IT. CONGRATS JAW!

Last month, when I created the Crack This! contest, it was far more successful than I had anticipated. It seems that there are quite a few out there who like puzzles so I’m back again to give you your fix with something I call The Cooperstown Grid. Here’s how it works:

Below, you will find a 9×9 jumble of letters. Hidden in the jumble are the identities of several baseball Hall of Famers. Your job will be not only to figure out who these men are, but use them (the real puzzle) to figure out the identity of the secret Hall of Famer, who is the key to winning this contest. The first person to correctly post the identity of the secret Hall of Famer ON THIS POST will be declared the winner and will win a VERY special prize of someone related to this contest (something awesome, trust me). The special prize will be revealed once the contest is over.

EDIT: If you are viewing this post on the homepage, click on this particular post to see the grid better. The letters should be centered that way.

EDIT2: Not only are the grid letters important in this puzzle… Numbers are as well. This will be the only hint I give.

COOPERSTOWN GRID

1               2            3             4            5           6          7            8           9

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but Topps Gallery was one of my absolute favorite brands when it existed (excluding 2005). Year after year, Gallery provided a sharp-looking set and even sharper inserts, with awesome artistic tones. You may recall some of my previous Gallery breaks but if you need a reminder, here’s a look at the versions of 1998 and 2000. For now though, have a look at where it all began, 1996 Topps Gallery!

Box Details: 24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack, $35
From: Dave and Adam’s Card World

Base set: The base set is comprised of 180 cards. Each base card contains one of four different designs, depending on where they fall in the set. The first 108 cards are pure full-bleed photos with a holofoil nameplate, as evidenced by the Kevin Appier card. Cards 109-126 (The Modernists) feature a colorful block background and consist mainly of players who were in their third or fourth MLB year in ‘96. Cards 127-144 are titled as The Futurists and as you would expect, consist solely of rookies. Lastly, cards 145-180 are entitled The Masters and feature the very best in the game, such as Greg Maddux. The semi-border and nameplate resemble that of a framed masterpiece and heavily influenced the design of the following year’s set. In this box, I pulled 115 out of 180 base cards (64%) with 63 dupes and 2 triples! There was a major collation flaw in this box that I will discuss later.

Players Private Issue (1:8 packs, /999): The first-ever Topps Gallery parallel was known as the Players Private Issue. This parallel mirrored the entire 180-card set and can be identified by a gold holofoil stamp on the front of each card. The print run on these cards is 999, but a couple things should be noted. First, the first 100 cards were sent to the players themselves, hence the name of the parallel. Second, it was announced after the 1996 season that Topps destroyed a whopping 400 sets, leaving 499 left in circulation. I pulled PPI cards of Geronimo Berroa (492), John Wetteland (450), Paul Wilson (638), and Jeff Suppan (306). These cards are numbered “xxx” rather than the standard “xxx/xxx” that we’ve all been accustomed to for years.

Expressionists (20 cards, 1:24 packs): The only insert in this product inserted at a rate not worse than one per box is known as Expressionists. These cards are smothered in several different types of foil and have somewhat of a raised texture to them. The photographs on these are superb. This card features a shot of Gary Sheffield popping up a can of corn. The checklist is certainly a diverse one. Mike Piazza, Ken Griffey, Jr., Mark McGwire, Ray Lankford, Carlos Baerga, Dennis Martinez, and Edgar Martinez are in this set as well.

Photo Gallery (15 cards, 1:30 packs): Photo Gallery is a full-bleed insert that featured some of the game’s biggest stars and some of the greatest moments of the 1995 season, such as Eddie Murray’s 3000th hit or in my case, David Justice hitting the game-winning home run in Game 6 of the World Series. Special foil effects were also added to each photo. Check out this Randy Johnson, for example.

Mickey Mantle Masterpiece (1:48 packs): Like most other Topps products in 1996, Gallery also had a tribute insert to the late Mickey Mantle. Unlike some other inserts, this Masterpiece insert was done extremely well and actually served a purpose. The back of the card depicts a smiling Mickey, along with complete career stats. As annoying as some of his inserts in recent years have been (screw you HRH), this one’s a keeper.

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: D

Over half (56.5%) of the base cards I needed for the base set had a dupe or triple. In fact, the dupes accounted for more than one-third of the box’s contents! The issue that I mentioned earlier was the fact that in every pack, the second and third card were exactly the same. Yes, this happened in all 24 packs! You probably know that I like to try to collate sets when I bust a box so I don’t have to tell you how much this annoyed me. The rest of the box delivered well in my favor, though. I pulled one more PPI card than normal and also found a Mantle Masterpiece as an added bonus.

Condition: A-

The condition of these cards was by far the best part of the box. I was very happy with how clean these super glossy cards came out. There were few blemishes to be found.

Pulls: C

All the PPI cards were pure commons (though I love the Wetteland) and one of my inserts was of Gary Sheffield. Not good. If it weren’t for the Mantle, this box probably would’ve been a total bust, but at least the cards look sharp.

Value: C+

Compared to some of the other years of Gallery, 1996 has fewer actual inserts and more PPI parallels, which is something I’m not exactly fond of. The reason for this is probably that I don’t think much of a parallel which is nothing more than a stamp (one of the reasons you see no Pacific breaks here). They just don’t stand out, are pretty easy to miss, and give the illusion that 20+ packs out of a 24-pack box contain nothing but plain base cards. Boring.

Anyway, back to the inserts. If you haven’t already, go ahead and check out the earlier Gallery breaks I linked to at the beginning of the post. Based on the odds, it would be hard to pull more content out a box than I did here, but I still wasn’t as impressed as I was when I broke those other boxes. I suppose it’s just a quality over quantity issue. All three boxes can be had for roughly the same price but when it comes down to pulling parallels of likely commons with just two additional inserts vs. pulling several inserts of stars plus potential big hits such as printing plates or even autographs, I think I’d stick with the later years of Gallery, preferably before they switched to the all-painted sets.

Overall Grade: C

As you can see, the action on this blog has been slowing up a bit. In order to help avoid “tumbleweed” status, I thought I’d fill you readers in as to what to expect from me in upcoming weeks. First, as I mentioned in the last post, I do have a box that’s been broken and ready for recap/review. I’ve had little time to maintain this site since my last post but I can assure you that will be up before the weekend. Second, I’m in the process of ordering some new boxes for next week. I’m looking at some Topps Stars and Black Diamond, among others so watch out for that. Third, just weeks after holding my last contest, I’m already throwing ideas around for the next one. Like Crack This!, it will be in the form of a puzzle BUT the prize will be much greater than any card I’ve given away in any contest.

Check back soon…

In mid-2001, Upper Deck released a product named SP Game Bat Milestone Edition. Inside each pack was a Milestone, International, Bound for the Hall, Autographed, or multi-player game bat card. While the first three sets on that list represented the most common pulls (They also had a gold parallel numbered to 35), the autographed and multi-player cards were very difficult to pull, seeded at 1 in 100 packs and 1 in 50 packs respectively. The multi-player cards I speak of feature either three (as pictured) or four players per card. This card of Paul O’Neill, David Justice, and Roger Clemens is just one of 14 Trios available. For the complete Trios checklist, click here.

I have another box ready for review but first, I thought I’d catch up on a mailday that I’m very late in recapping. Recently, Greg of Beardy’s Baseball Blog and I had a team swap of Orioles and Yankees. It started when I emailed him stating that I had a small lot of O’s that I wanted him to have. The lot consisted of about 10 cards, most of which you can view here. Greg more than reciprocated the favor and a bulging bubble mailer from Maryland found its way here, much to my (pleasant) surprise. Here are the contents:

“Beardy” sent me this certified autograph of Chase Wright from 2007 SP Rookie Edition. The wood theme here is inspired by the 1996 SP set. I think you all know how much I love old SP/SP Authentic sets by now. I hate sticker autographs as much as the next guy, especially when they’re placed on the card in a crooked way. However, in the case of this card, the crooked sticker actually makes the signature appear straight so I’ll make an exception this time.

Greg also sent me my first cards from 2007 SP Legendary Cuts. I have never opened any of this stuff before, but I might consider doing so now that the price has come down. I love the look of the base set. It’s black, classy, and actually has legends in it! In my opinion, this is what Legendary Cuts is supposed to look like. Personally, I wish this product would’ve gotten the axe before they made cards LIKE THIS.

Finally, here’s a look at some of the other 42 cards he sent me. There were cards from Sweet Spot Classic, Finest, Turkey Red, Spectrum, Topps ‘52, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Heritage, and of course, Allen and Ginter.

Thanks for the trade and the great cards Beardy!