Postage USA and TTM autographs

I am avidly buying unused US stamps from e-bayUK, for two reasons. Firstly to send Mario at Wax Heaven some envelopes just in case a Jacoby Ellsbury card pops up in his generous give-aways and secondly I was reading about 'Through the Mail' autographs. I thought I might give that a try.

I have worked out that it will cost roughly $3.00, give or take 50cents, to post up to about 3 cards in toploaders, etc to the United Kingdom. There are plenty of unused USA stamps available on e-bay, located in the UK. The problem being they are mostly 10c and smaller denomination stamps. There just isn't the room to put 30+ stamps, besides the fact that it would look ridiculous. So I must find the airmail stamps or more recent 40cent stamps. During this process I can see how a fascination with stamp collecting can develop. I have picked up some nice, mostly sport related, US stamps. The baseball stamp was an unexpected bonus from one of the sellers when I explained what I was doing.

I'm not quite ready to send to Mario yet, I have a few more auctions to win. However, I will try the TTM autograph. But I will be honest and maybe there is a reader who can help me out on this. 'I don't have a clue what I am doing!'

I would like to get Jacoby Ellsbury's autograph on a card. I know where to send it but what do I send and which card?

Should the card be placed in a plastic sleeve and a toploader? Or will Jacoby not be bothered to remove the card. He must get 1000's of requests. Is it a waste of time?

What card? I have two Allen+Ginter cards which are not shiny and presume these will be easier to sign. Any suggestions?

Do I write a message, note, request? Short and simple? Specific- explaining exactly what I would like?

Do I include a pen?

I know that I must include a stamped, self addressed envelope but it will need a customs label. This is tricky. I have tried to get a hold of some but to no avail. It appears that you have a section to tear off and keep as proof of postage. Will he (or I presume a PA who deals with these) be bothered?

I would like to try it but keep coming back to:

Am I just wasting my time?

Any help greatly received.

Trade with Ross from Sports Cards Info.

My good friend Ross from Sports Card Info and I have completed another trade. I have to take my hat off to Ross because he always, without fail, sends great cards. A few off the wants list, an odd ball here and there, a Jacoby, a Nomar or two and a variety of Red Sox cards.

This time Ross sent these Red Sox along :
1982 Fleer #288 Tom Burgmeier
1989 Topps #269 Tom Bolton
1990 Bowman #279 Dwight Evans
1990 Upper Deck #463 Nick Esasky
1991 Bowman #109 Ellsi Burks
1991 Bowman #130 Kevin Morton
1992 Topps #324 Danny Darwin
1993 Topps #798 Greg Blosser
1994 Topps #321 John Dopson
1996 Pinnacle #303 Mike Greenwell
1996 Upper Deck #23 Mike Greenwell
1996 Upper Deck CC #1 Nomar Garciaparra
1996 Upper Deck CC #473 Dwayne Hosey
1996 Upper Deck CC #477 Stan Belinda
1997 Fleer #21 Jeff Frye
1997 Fleer#603 Shane Mack
1997 Score #110 Reggie Jefferson
1997 Topps #293 Nomar Garciaparra
1997 Topps #370 Roger Clemens
1997 Upper Deck #234 Nomar Garciaparra
1997 Upper Deck CC #48 Tom Gordon
1997 Upper Deck CC #51 Darren Bragg
1998 Fleer Ultra #263 Michael Coleman
1998 Fleer Ultra #336G Jim Leyritz
1998 Leaf #7 Reggie Jefferson
1998 Leaf #63 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Leaf #255 Michael Coleman
1998 Pacific #45 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 SP Authentic #61 Pedro Martinez
1998 Topps #64 Tom Gordon
1998 Topps #193 Jeff Frye
1998 Topps #427 Reggie Jefferson
1998 Topps #438 Jim Leyritz
1998 Topps Stadium Club #223 Jose Canseco
1998 Upper Deck #320 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Upper Deck #452 Nomar Garciaparra
1998 Upper Deck CC #47 Darren Bragg
1999 Fleer #69 Nomar Garciaparra
1999 Upper Deck #53 Scott Hatteberg
2007 Bowman Best #8 David Ortiz 173/249
2009 Topps Finest #46 Jacoby Ellsbury
2009 Topps Finset #115 Kevin Youkilis
2009 Upper Deck #40 Mark Kotsay
2009 Upper Deck #42 Jacoby Ellsbury
2009 Upper Deck SPX #67 Dustin Pedroia

Fantastic. Once again Ross you have blown me away with your generosity. Thanks.

2000 Topps Tek

Recently Chris Harris of Stale Gum busted, what he called Junk Wax, of 2000 Topps TEK. It must the plastic fantastic nature of these cards but after watching the video, I felt a real need for Topps TEK. Luckily a stumbled across a auction for 21 off these little beauties, in France of all places. The seller was practically begging to have these taken of their hands. The French hey, no understanding of culture or art or things of beauty.
It looks as if I wasn't the only collector who was hypnotised by the allure of Topps TEK.
Cardboard Junkie,
The Hamiltonian,
Dinged Corners,
are all confessing to the irresistible nature of Topps TEK.
Hello my name is John and I am a Topps TEK addict (and possibly a big girl according to Dinged Corners?)

Meeting a Chicago White Sox Fan in Kent

It's holiday time again. The weather is nice and it is the perfect time for DIY. The project for this half term break is a deck in the back garden. I have had the space cleared for a while just not the money to do it. My wife and I took some extra classes after school to save the money for 'a project'. Usually my wife decides on the 'project' I undertake, bathroom, children's bedrooms, living room. Not this time, I decided and I went for a Deck!
This is roughly where the deck will be just outside my shed.

So today I went to to lumber yard with the sizes all written down. I sat down and was asked by the sales lady, Ruth, how she could help me? There was the unmissable American Twang. Before I had even ordered a nail, we were discussing baseball. Ruth was from Missouri.

I must stop here and thank all those who have sent baseball cards. My knowledge of where American states are and which team is in each state is pretty good. So I asked to her surprise if she was a Cardinals fan. She answered no, but said she could have also been a Royals fan. Damn I missed that one. In fact before coming to the UK with her English husband they lived in Maryland, so she informed me the Orioles could also be her team. However she didn't support any particular team but her husband was a Yankees fan. When you talk to English people about baseball, if they don't run away, most will say they like the Yankees.

We talked for a while about why she was here, while I ordered the wood I needed. In walks another guy who works in the yard and hears our conversation about baseball and pipes in that he really likes baseball and supports the Chicago White Sox. I shall call him Rupert because that is his name, is in fact not joking or taking the piss. He is in fact very knowledgeable.

I spend the next three quarters of an hour discussing Dice-K's gyroball, the recent doping scandal, Manny's suspension, the misconception of Abner Doubleday's invention of baseball, our favourite players, etc, etc. I left pretty happy, arrived home and realised I hadn't ordered the decking boards so I went back. This time armed with some White Sox and Yankees cards. I ordered the boards and discussed card collecting and the whole baseball card blog phenomenon. I told him to check out Steve's White Sox blog and a number of others, including my own. This may not be an unusual occurrence in the States but here in Kent its a first.

Who knows I may have a convert closer to home.

2003 Topps Insert 1951 Blue Backs

The prices of listing items on e-bayUK have changed recently. In fact good and bad for a number of reasons.
Any item listed with a starting bid below 99p can be listed for free. E-bay just isn't as popular as it once was because I remember having to pay for the listing picture and that has been free for a while. Now this.
Naturally free listing is good for the seller. We have sold a few items and all our items start at below 99p so we list more, mainly because its FREE.
Free lsting is also good for the buyer. I only ever buy one thing from e-bay and that is baseball cards. OK, I admit I buy the occasional random item, but even they tend to be baseball linked. However... there are more baseball cards listed individually now. Pre the free selling incentive, most cards were listed in bulk lots and you didn't really know what you were getting. Now sellers are listing the entire 1988 Donruss set or the 1991 Score set individually, for 99p a card. That is just ludicrous. The entire set may be worth 99p, but each card? That makes the 660 card set of 1988 Donruss worth £654 and the 893 run of 1991 Score worth £885. That is over cooking it a little I know, but you see the problem.
There is a positive side to all this though and that is I purchased this 2003 Topps Ken Griffey Junior insert fashioned after the 1951 Topps Blue Back cards for 99p. There is often negative comments about the inserts placed in packs. I think they got it right with this 40 card insert set in 2003, there was also the Red Back 40 card set as well.
I like inserts, I don't like parallels. That seems like laziness to me. 'Let's just make the same card but write the name in gold or change the colour of the border'. 'Great idea and lets only make 2008 of them!'
My favourite inserts have been the Topps Allen and Ginter Minis and the 1996 Studio Stained Glass Stars, not to everybody's taste but it smacks of effort.
Maybe its because I live in England, but I don't understand the political campaign set inserted into baseball card sets. Famous people, movie stars but politicians. Can someone explain why? I don't want to collect a card of Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher. It just doesn't seem right!

1994 UD All-Time Heroes

In the last trade I made, with Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius, he sent these two cards which really caught my eye. They looked familiar.
I have gone from a collector who; 'collects all the baseball cards he can lay his hands on' through to 'picking a specific team such as the Red Sox, a specific set, 1980 Topps and a specific player, Jacoby Ellsbury' to now 'collecting cards that are oddball, eye-catching cards or that look vaguely interesting'.
These cards were inserts from the 2008 Upper Deck Timeline set based on the 1994 UD All-Time Heroes Card Design. Flipping through my 1994 folder I stumbled across one card #189 Bill Buckner from the UD All-time Heroes set. A very quick search of the internet produced some of these cards for sale and surprisingly a 100 cards from the 225 card set on e-bay UK! Check out the auction here.
The set is very impressive not just for the names available in the set but also for the iconic images on the cards.
These four cards of Mickey Mantle and Willlie Mays, Jimmy Piersall's backward home run, Bill Mazeroski running through a mob of spectators and Lou Gehrig at Yankees Stadium on 'Lou Gehrig Day' are perfect examples of the quality and content.

I never thought it was likely that I would own a Babe Ruth card, but now I do.
Ted Williams is just one of the names available on the completely black and white set of baseball cards. Nice photography and not a shiny, refractors, game used in sight.

Sorry for the break in transmission

Many apologies for the short break. Sometimes work gets in the way of leisure time activities. The children I teach have had a few weeks of tests. These tests called SATs (Standard of Attainment Tests),which the government subject our 11 year olds to, happen every year. The children are tested on reading, writing, mathematics and science. The inspectors who visited my school recently make judgements about the school, according to how the children in our care perform in these tests. I have been teaching a small group (19 children) of the Year 6 children Literacy skills (reading and writing). Some of the children feel the pressure and others breeze through as if it is just another ordinary day. Thankfully they are over and they can now think about the end of year production and then moving onto their new secondary schools in September.
Well that was a little more long winded than I had imagined it in my head, quick something baseball related.....

The last trade to arrive from the US came from Matt on the 4th May, however a few interesting baseball items have appeared on e-bayUK. (plus a great deal of rubbish too.) I have pursued some more 1980 Topps and Jacoby cards on e-bayUS without much luck. The postage is a killer, varying from $5.00 to $11.00 for 1 card. Although I was outbid, at the last moment, on a lot of Jacoby Ellsbury cards that would have been real cheap to post.
Looking forward to posting about baseball cards regularly again.

2008 Topps Series One

This series has now probably been done to death now. However a friend went to the 'States'. I say friend it was a relative of the neighbours. If I hear of a person visiting the US I ask them ever so politely, to look out for baseball cards, preferably packs. I usually come up short but hit a little jackpot of sorts for this US visit. Packs, 4 of, 2008 Topps. Not bad really. The pedigree of these packs? Wally World? Target? A card show? No. These packs came from a 7-Eleven store in Florida, apparently they went for a Slurpee.
The last time I opened some 2008 Topps sent by James this happened. Lets see if history repeats itself.

Pack 1:

#4 Rick Ankiel Cardinals

#8 Stephen Drew D-backs

#64 Mike Lowell Red Sox

#94 Bud Black Padres

#104 Kevin Youkilis Red Sox

#119 Jeremy Hermida Marlins

#131 Norris Hopper Reds

#148 Gerald Laird Rangers

#169 Adam Lind Blue Jays

#308 Felipe Lopez Nationals

Pack 2:

#3 Jeff Suppan Brewers Gold 0432/2008

##41 Rich Aurilia Giants

#119 Jeremy Hermida Marlins

#131 Norris Hopper Reds

#140 Brandon Webb D-backs

#180 Jose Valverde D-backs

#201 Matt Capps Pirates

#220 Roy Oswalt Astros

#234 Red Sox World Series

#319 Joey Vitto Reds

Pack 3:

#6 Felix Pie Cubs

#28 Kyle Kendrick Phillies

#80 Alex Rios Blue Jays

#88 Jack Cust Athletics

#90 Vladimir Guerrero Angels

#182 Billy Buckner Royals

#231 Casey Blake Indians

#256 Alex Rodriguez Yankees

#321 J.R.Towles Astros

#MMS50 Mickey Mantle

checklist 1/3

Pack 4:

#23 Chin-Lung Hu Dodgers

#77 Angel Guzman Cubs

#98 Classic Combos Howard&Utley Phillies

#115 Johan Santana Twins

#154 David Ross Reds

#210 Mark Teahen Royals

#214 C.J.Wilson Rangers

#225 Hunter Pence Astros

#250 Jonathan Papelbon Red Sox

#CO8-JB Joseph Biden Democrat

Well, pulled the Red Sox World Series card again, but the common variety. I somehow get the feeling that these packs know beforehand that there are no cards I need.
Red Sox count - 4 cards from 4 packs.

2009 Upper Deck First Pitch baseball

I purchased the blaster of Upper Deck First Edition before I had arranged a trade with Charles from Blue Jays Cards. He sent me the entire set of Red Sox, bar one card. So there was only SQ-7, the Dice-K Star Quest I needed.

There are 300 cards in the set.

There are 25 Star Quest cards.

That is it. No jersey, auto or short prints. A simple set and if you bought a box of 36 packets you could (theoretically) get the whole set. This would include the Star Quest, as there is one per pack. This was, I presume UD's answer to Topps Attax.

There are 10 cards per pack, 1 being a Star Quest foil. There are 10 packs in the blaster box.

Pack 1:

#6 Mark Reynolds D-backs

#10 Max Scherzer D-backs

#13 Jair Jurrjens Braves

#38 Daisuke Matsuzaka Red Sox

#71 Paul Konerko White Sox

#189 Carlos Delgardo Mets

#234 Nate McLouth Pirates

#247 Barry Zito Giants

#250 Brain Wilson Giants

#SQ-10 Grady Sizemore Indians

Pack 2:

#24 James Parr Braves

#50 Kevin Youkilis Red Sox

#60 Geovany Soto Cubs

#67 Alexei Ramirez White Sox

#73 Jim Thome White Sox

#89 Cliff Lee Indians

#234 Nate McLouth Pirates

#241 Trevor Hoffman Padres

#282 Roco Baldelli Bay Rays

#SQ-10 Grady Sizemore Indians

Pack 3:

#4 Dan Harden D-backs

#22 Tim Hudson Braves

#39 Josh Beckett Red Sox

#45 Jonathan Papelbon Red Sox

#51 Jason Bay Red Sox

#60 Geovany Soto Cubs

#92 Fausto Carmona Indians

#238 Will Venable Padres

#282 Rocco Baldelli Bay Rays

#SQ-22 Prince Fielder Brewers

Pack 4:

#16 John Smoltz Braves

#20 Brian McCann Braves

#27 Jeremy Guthrie Orioles

#49 Tim Wakefield Red Sox

#67 Alexei Ramirez White Sox

#77 Bobby Jenks White Sox

#171 Bill Hall Brewers

#224 Greg Golson Phillies

#293 Alex Rios Blue Jays

#SQ-22 Prince Fielder Brewers

Pack 5:

#9 Chris Young D-backs

#35 Jacoby Ellsbury Red Sox

#66 Rich Harden Cubs

#76 Mark Buehrle White Sox

#79 Brandon Phillips Reds

#143 Howie Kendrick Angels

#157 Andre Ethier Dodgers

#237 Matt Antonelli Padres

#248 Tim Lincecum Giants

#SQ-5 Chase Utley Phillies

Pack 6:

#3 Brandon Webb D-backs

#28 Adam Jones Orioles

#33 Melvin Mora Orioles

#47 Hideki Okajima Red Sox

#59 Kosuke Fukudome Cubs

#80 Aaron Harang Reds

#93 Troy Tulowitzki Rockies

#146 Joe Sanders Angels

#212 Mariano Rivera Yankees

#SQ-9 David Wright Mets

Pack 7:

#7 Eric Byrnes D-backs

#12 David Eckstein D-backs

#31 Daniel Carbera Orioles

#32 George Sherrill Orioles

#64 Mark DeRosa Cubs

#69 Carlos Quentin White Sox

#84 Joey Votto Reds

#120 Roy Oswalt Astros

#238 Will Venable Padres

#SQ-5 Chase Utley Phillies

Pack 8:

#12 David Eckstein D-backs

#19 Kely Johnson Braves

#21 Jeff Francoeur Braves

#42 Dustin Pedroia Red Sox

#65 Ryan Dempster Cubs

#71 Paul Konerko White Sox

#228 Jimmy Rollins Phillies

#240 Chris Young Padres

#SQ-4 Chipper Jones Braves

#300 Pittsburgh Penguins ?

Pack 9:

#30 Aubrey Huff Orioles

#30 Aubrey Huff Orioles

#46 Jason Varitek Red Sox

#56 Aramis Ramirez Cubs

#79 Brandon Phillips Reds

#81 Edinson Volquez Reds

#109 Dontrelle Willis Tigers

#131 Jose Guillen Royals

#235 Ian Snell Pirates

#SQ-8 David Ortiz Red Sox

Pack 10:

#1 Randy Johnson D-backs

#15 Tom Glavine Braves

#36 Coco Crisp Red Sox

#52 Justin Masterson Red Sox

#53 Jeff Samardzija Cubs

#57 Kerry Wood Cubs

#102 Dexter Fowler Rockies

#249 Matt Cain Giants

#285 Josh Hamilton Rangers

#SQ-15 Jose Reyes Mets

Bonus Pack:

SQ-4 Chipper Jones Braves

SQ-11 Hanley Ramirez Marlins

SQ-18 Lance Berkman Astros

SQ-23 Ryan Braun Brewers

Unbelievable....13 Red Sox from 10 packs, over 1 per pack. That is staggering and a little sad considering that I only needed 1 card from the entire Red Sox run. It is also what we call 'Sod's Law' in the UK.

There was a surprise, a hockey card from the UD 20th anniversary set.

1995 Score Series 2 Baseball

Another couple of pack purchases that seemed like a good idea at the time.

The base set contains 605 cards.This was broken into series 1 and series 2.
There are inserts in Series 2: 18 Airmail, 12 Double gold champs, 110 Hall of Gold and 12 Rookie Dream Team.
There is a parallel set: Gold Rush.
There are 12 cards per pack.

Pack 1:

#332 Ryan Klesko Braves

#380 Al Martin Pirates

#404 Alex Cole Twins

#413 Royce Clayton Giants

#445 Manny Ramirez Indians

#458 Roger Salkeld Mariners

#480 Allen Watson Cardinals GOLD RUSH

#503 Norberto Martin White Sox

#544 Kirk McCaskill White Sox

#581 Duane Singleton Brewers

#572 Moises Alou Expos

#586 Nate Minchey Red Sox

Pack 2:

#336 Kevin Mitchell Reds

#408 Dennis Eckersley A's

#417 Pat Listach Brewers

#438 Jay Bell Pirates

#445 Manny Ramirez Indians !

#458 Roger Salked Mariners !

#466 Willie McGee Giants GOLD RUSH

#503 Norberto Martin White Sox !

#544 Kirk McCaskill White Sox !

#572 Moises Alou Expos !

#586 Nate Minchey Red Sox!

#592 Aaron Small Blue Jays !

Pack 3:

#336 Kevin Mitchell Reds !

#341 Travis Fryman Tigers

#374 Rene Arocha Cardinals

#377 Mark McGwire A's GOLD RUSH

#408 Dennis Eckersley A's !

#474 Juan Guzman Blue Jays

#479 Milt Thompson Phillies

#498 Ken Ryan Red Sox

#529 Duane Ward Blue Jays

#578 Robert Perez Blue Jays

#578 Robert Perez Blue Jays !

#603 Checklist

Pack 4:

#362 Jim Eisenreich Phillies

#387 Darrin Fletcher Expos

#420 Tim Salmon Angels

#439 Juan Gonzalez Rangers

#448 Gary DiSarcina Angels GOLD RUSH

#467 Doug Jones Phillies

#505 Howard Jones Rockies

#515 Billy Hatcher Phillies

#546 Sterling Hitchcock Yankees

#562 Barry Bonds Giants

#576 Ernie Young A's

#584 Dave Staton Padres

Pack 5:

#359 Lenny Harris Reds

#385 Chris Sabo Orioles

#423 Craig Biggio Astros GOLD RUSH

#425 Kenny Rogers Rangers

#435 Walt Weiss Rockies

#441 Rickey Henderson A's

#462 Luis Polonia Yankees

#482 Bernard Gilkey Cardinals

#487 Cory Snyder Dodgers

#492 Pat Rapp Marlins

#493 Brian McRae Royals

#519 Sandy Alomar Jr Indians

#535 Jeff Branson Reds

#592 Aaron Small Blue Jays

#595 Steve Dunn Twins

#563 Mo Vaughn Red Sox

Wow this was a real weird one. Firstly a poor selection of Red Sox 4 cards(inc 1 double). Secondly a pack full of doubles and thirdly, count the number of cards in the last pack ...16! That's right 16. I kid you not.

2006 Fleer Tradition Baseball

I picked up some Fleer Tradition in trades and thought that this would be a decent set to collect. Recently I was able to get a blaster box from e-bayUS containing 11 packs.

There are 200 cards in the base set.
There are inserts: 100 Goudey Greats, 25 Blue Chip Prospects, 25 Diamond Tributes, 25 Grass Roots, 15 Triple Crown Contenders, a number of autographs and threads.
There are parallels: A Black+White set and a Sepia set.
There are 10 cards per pack

Pack 1:

#37 B.J. Ryan Blue Jays

#38 Bengie Molina Blue Jays

#79 Travis Hafner Indians

#80 Victor Martinez Indians

#114 Miguel Tejada Orioles

#119 Jay Gibbons Orioles

#156 Felipe Lopez Reds

#161 Garrett Atkins Rockies

#162 Matt Holliday Rockies

#173 Justin Verlander Tigers

Pack 2:

#16 Chone Foggins Angels

#24 Brad Lidge Astros

#58 Greg Maddux Cubs

#94 Dontrelle Willis Marlins

#105 Carlos Delgardo Mets

#128 Bobby Abreu Phillies

#136 Matt Capps Pirates

#146 Ian Kinsler Rangers

#176 Jeremy Bonderman Tigers

#GR1 Ken Griffey Jr. Reds Grass Roots

Pack 3:

#14 Vladimir Guerrero Angels

#49 Jim Edmonds Cardinals

#62 Jorge Cantu Bay Rays

#91 Jeff Harris Mariners

#129 Chase Utley Phillies

#140 Mark Teixeira Rangers

#152 Coco Crisp Red Sox

#191 A.J.Pierzynski White Sox

#194 Hideki Matsui Yankees

#DT-6 David Ortiz Red Sox Diamond Tribute

Pack 4:

#18 Francisco Rodriguez Angels

#88 Adrian Beltre Mariners

#96 Mike Jacobs Marlins

#112 Brandon Watson Nationals

#124 Trevor Hoffman Padres

#135 Oliver Perez Pirates

#166 Josh Wilson Rockies

#177 Magglio Ordonez Tigers

#183 Joe Mauer Twins

#TC-4 David Ortiz Red Sox Triple Crown

Pack 5:

#30 Huston Street A's

#40 Prince Fielder Brewers

#65 Julio Lugo Bay Rays Sepia

#66 Jeff Kent Dodgers

#100 Dan Uggla Marlins

#111 Matt Kemp Dodgers

#153 Jonathan Papelbon Red Sox

#170 Mark Grudzielanek Royals

#178 Carlos Guillen Tigers

#189 Scott Podsednik White Sox

Pack 6:

#10 Brandon Webb D-Backs

#50 Scott Rolen Cardinals

#52 David Eckstein Cardinals

#92 Taylor Buchholz Astros

#117 Melvin Mora Orioles

#134 Jason Bay Pirates

#147 David Ortiz Red Sox

#159 Chris Denorfia Reds

#165 Ryan Shealy Rockies

#188 Paul Konerko White Sox

Pack 7:

#13 Shawn Green D-Backs

#26 Roy Owalt Astros

#67 Nomar Garciaparra Dodgers

#68 Rafael Furcal Dodgers

#113 Ryan Zimmerman Nationals

#116 Brian Roberts Orioles

#155 Adam Dunn Reds

#158 Ryan Freel Reds

#164 Kendry Morales Angels

#197 Gary Sheffield Yankees

Pack 8:

#7 Chipper Jones Braves

#19 Casey Kotchman Angels

#25 Jered Weaver Angels

#44 Carlos Lee Brewers

#61 Scott Kazmir Bay Rays

#86 Ichiro Mariners

#122 Brian Giles Padres

#125 Josh Barfield Padres

#167 Reggie Sanders Royals

#198 Randy Johnson Yankees

Pack 9:

#1 Andruw Jones Braves

#8 Conor Jackson D-Backs

#43 Ben Sheets Brewers

#56 Aramis Ramirez Cubs

#85 Jeremy Sowers Indians

#98 Hanley Ramirez Marlins

#104 Carlos Beltran Mets

#123 Khalil Greene Padres

#171 Jeremy Affeldt Royals

#182 Joe Nathan Twins

Pack 10:

#7 Alay Soler Mets

#20 Lance Berkman Astros

#32 Nick Swisher A's

#55 Mark Prior Cubs

#74 Randy Winn Giants

#97 Josh Johnson Marlins

#107 Lastings Milledge Mets

#110 Livan Hernadez Nationals

#149 Jason Varitek Red Sox

#200 Derek Jeter Yankees

Pack 11:

#4 Tim Hudson Braves

#12 Orlando Hudson D-Backs

#46 Albert Pujols Cardinals

#54 Jon Lester Red Sox

#72 J.D.Drew Dodgers

#82 C.C.Sabathia Indians

#130 Pat Burrell Phillies

#141 Michael Young Rangers

#172 Steve Stemle Royals

#195 Wil Nieves Yankees

Wow this has to be the best for Red Sox pulls I have had so far. 7 Red Sox including the 2 Ortiz inserts. However there is something a little disappointing. On the bottom of the wrapper it says:

"..themed card, a Sepia Tone or Black and White in every
pack!"

I count only 4 packs out of 11 that contained an insert of any kind. I'm not complaining as it means more base cards, but doesn't this seem like a mistake? Or bad quality control ? These are retail packs so there must be a different ratio, but why put it on the packs -every pack!