2011 Topps baseball stickers

It has only taken about 3 months and I am behind most other collectors of this set. But I can now hold my head up in pride, as I have finally obtained the 2011 Topps baseball sticker album and some stickers(7 packets to be exact).
My first perusal of the album threw me a little. For a split second I thought that the stickers were not in numerical order, slight little panic and then realised the numbers shown were shirt numbers...phew.
The stickers are in numerical order, a page devoted to each MLB team and there are 309 stickers in total to collect. This includes 30 team logos and 9 legends. The centre pages are dedicated to the 30 team logos and the back inside page the 9 legends.

The sticker packets are not what I have come to expect of stickers. In the UK most stickers come in a paper packets sealed along all four edges. Often in haste to retrieve the contents, opening the packets can cause the stickers to be ripped. Which can be annoying if it is the one sticker you are after. These packets are more like baseball card packs.
The stickers themselves are incredibly strudy and very unlike football (soccer) stickers which come backed on flimsy paper. I can only guess that this is to cater to the collectors who will choose the 'no stick' option and store them similar to cards.
Then a slight conundrum dawns- to stick or not to stick.
Before you waste your answer, I have taken the advice of  Topps themselves and 'started peeling those stickers.'
I will also chronicle the steps towards completing the whole album here at 2011 Topps Baseball Sticker Album.

Pack 1:

Pack 2:

 Pack 3:

 Pack 4:

Pack 5:

Pack 6:

 Pack 7:

Looking forward to collecting the whole lot.

Another pile of baseball cards

The head of my school returned from another short break holiday to the USA. It would appear that this will be the last trip, as they have sold their house in Florida. My first thought was for them ... obviously. The occasional baseball packet haul was nice while it lasted.
 I have been the lucky recipient over the last few years of numerous blasters and loose packs. Their recent trip was interrupted by a freak snow storm which grounded planes across the East Coast. Once again their delay is my windfall. Nothing will ever compare to the Icelandic Volcano delay of a few weeks, however the three day delay meant more cards for me.
This trip I received:

1 blaster of 2011 Topps Series 2

1 blaster of 2011 Allen+Ginter

1 blaster of 2011 Topps Update

and a rack pack of Topps Chrome

The one thing I actually asked for was the 2011 Topps baseball sticker album and some stickers. Unfortunately they searched high and low and were unable to find any. Are they that rare or have I missed the boat on this?

I will be opening these packs on Pursuit of Red Sox over the coming weeks.

2011/2012 Topps Match Attax Football

The recent 6-1 drubbing of Manchester United by their close rivals Manchester City put a huge smile on the face of most football supporters (except the Manchester United faithful-naturally). It would have been nice if it had been Norwich, or West Bromwich Albion, or even Fulham handing out the humility lessons. However we are not fussy. It's not bitterness or jealousy that makes us feel this way. Manchester United is, and has been, a great team for many years. It is more the cocky, swaggery arrogance that the manager and some of the players have adopted in recent times. There lies within the joy of an unbiased supporter.

Unfortunately Topps has developed a somewhat similar attitude towards the Match Attax Brand. Build it and they will come. It's Match Attax, they will buy it no matter what. Let's not forget this is a product directed towards children, the Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh generation. But I cannot feel anything except disappointment as an adult and as a swap club organiser at school.

Let me talk about the positives, or more fitting 'the' positive is an insert called Golden Moments.

Yes they are golden cards, but the 40 card insert focuses on the last 20 years of Premier League football. The set looks at some of the iconic moments of Premier League football such as Jurgen Klinsmann's goal celebration from 1994, David Beckham's goal from the half-way line in 1996, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer netting four goals after coming on as a sub in 1999 and the remarkable Blackburn Premier League winners in 1995. This is a great idea for an insert, even in gold. Dissapointingly missing is Eric Cantona's flying kick on a spectator in 1995, Roy Keane's leg breaking tackle in 2001, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer's same team fight in 2005 and any one of the many Patrick Viera moments- Roy Keane tunnel bust up perhaps. However, for me, the positives stop there.

My main beef is the 'Limited Edition' cards, of which there are 6. These limited cards are not inserted in packs randomly except for one, which is inserted randomly into packs only available from one particular chain of bookshops. The other five limited cards can only be 'collected' through purchasing a football magazine (£2.99), the Match Attax collectors tin (£9.99), the Match Attax collectors box (£7.50), the Match Attax multi-pack (£5.00) and the Match Attax starter pack (£4.99). So a very clever marketing ploy to make you purchase more Match Attax in unique disguises, at a rough cost of £30.00, which would give you the five limited cards and roughly 150 Match Attax cards. There are 360 base cards to collect and a further 65 Man of the Match,100 club and a referee. Is the picture becoming clearer. Some collectors may feel that this is fair and that you purchase all these different products and obtain the limited card, rather than trawling through packs. Fair enough.

My other complaint is that it still much the same as the last years set, and the years before, and the year before that, with just the colour of the backs changed. Topps has the ability to produce design changes elsewhere. Why not here? The starter pack book to keep your cards in is crap as well.

All that said, I will however be collecting the entire set again as part of the swap club I run at school. The lucky winner of our club competition gets to own the completed set and as many of the 'inserts' I can collect.

I think though that this will be my last time doing it. My fifth and final completed set.

2011 Walmart Value Box part 2

This is my secong helping of the Value Box collected by ny head techer while travelling in the USA. The Topps Value Box contains 2 packs of 2011 Topps Heritage, 5 packs of 2011 Topps Series 1, 2 Diamond Giveaway (which I have given away), an exclusive Chrome Refractor card and an interesting collectors guide.
I mentioned in a previous post that if these were available at my local supermarket at $14.98, I would buying these faster than they could stock them, however I may have to change my position on this...
The first Value Box contained a Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers, chrome refractor number 2 in the 3 card series. The second box contained a Jackie Robinson Dodgers refractor as well. The five 2011 Series 1 packs contained these cards;

47 base,
1 gold parallel (Jeff Keppinger Astros 0603/2011),
1 platinum diamond parallel (Alex Rios White Sox)
5 ToppsTown,
2 Diamond Duos,
2Lost cards insert, (1953 Stan Musial Cardinals, 1958 Pee Wee Reese Dodgers),
1 Topps 60 insert (Adam Ethier Dodgers)
1 Kimball Champions (Andrew McCuther Pirates)
1 Topps reproduction (1934 Goudey Jimmie Foxx)

The two packs 2011 Heritage contained;

17 base cards and
1 News Flashback (Mona Lisa visits US)

So my original assumption of supermarket leftovers may be correct.

2011 Walmart Value Box Part 1

The Topps Value Box contains 2 packs of 2011 Topps Heritage, 5 packs of 2011 Topps Series 1, 2 Diamond Giveaway (which I have given away), an exclusive Chrome Refractor card and an interesting collectors guide. If these were available at my local ASDA or TESCO at $14.98, they would be disappearing off the shelves faster than they could stock them.

The first Value Box contained a Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers, chrome refractor number 2 in the 3 card series. The five 2011 Series 1 packs contained these cards;

46 base,
1 gold parallel (Alex Gonzalez 1740/2011),
1 platinum diamond parallel (Russell Martin)
5 ToppsTown,
2 Diamond Duos,
1 Lost cards insert, (1954 Mickey Mantle),
1 60 years of Topps (1955 Ernie Banks),
1 Diamond giveaway,
1 Topps 60 insert (Josh Hamilton)
1 Kimball Champions (Chris Carpenter)

The two packs 2011 Heritage contained;

17 base cards and
1 New Age performer insert (Miguel Cabrera)

I seem to remember buying a tin from e-bay a number of years ago, with a variety of Topps packs (or was that Upper Deck)and a collectors guide. Is this a way to sell supermarket leftovers?

Two 2011 Walmart Baseball Value Boxes

I may have mentioned once or twice that the head of my school visits the USA periodically. My wants list for this recent trip was simple- Allen and Ginter. A bit of a stretch, however failing that anything baseball related would do just fine. Generous as always, she returned laden with gifts for a variety of sources. Oh how I would love to visit and have these pickings;
1) Two of the boxes of the above from Walmart,
2) a complete set of 2010 Topps baseball from a sports collectables shop in Florida,
3) a 2011 Topps Opening Day blaster from Target,
4) eight packs of 2008 UD Timelines from 'The Dollar Tree',
5) two packs of 2010 Topps Updates from 'The Dollar Tree'.

Not a bad little haul. The Dollar Tree sounds like an interesting place. In her words there was 'plenty of cards to choose from!' As for the diamond giveaway cards from the value packs, they are up for grabs. I am presuming this is a similar thing to last years 'Million Card Giveaway', I asked if the cards would be sent overseas however this was not possible. So they are looking for a good home. Any takers?

Topps 2011 Premier League Football Stickers

Firstly an apology directed towards Mr Waxaholic. Stickers are like a catnip to this poor man and I have started him on many a journey towards a completed album and desperately tried to help complete one before starting another.

I have noted the completed World Cup post, so its time to start another. What better way to tempt than to show a sticker I pulled from the first pack. None other than young Edwin...

There are 449 stickers to collect including 3D stickers.
In past sticker sets, Topps tried to include a variation on the sticker theme such as autographs and chase stickers, so this year it is a 3D sticker. The sticker albums include a pair of 3D glasses, the cardboard variety with one red lens and one blue lens. Not really breakthrough technology for a HD TV generation. There is a possibility that Topps has more of an understanding of the demographics for this product than I realised - men like myself, who love a sticker book and think that 3D glasses (and digital watches), although amazingly primitive are a pretty neat idea.
I purchased 6 packets from my local shop and here they are:

Pack 1:
#13 Manchester City Kit
#66 Scott Dann Birmingham
#93 Morten Gamst Pedersen Blackburn
#219 Alex Chelsea 3D
#251 Adam Johnson Manchester City
#262 EdwinVan Der Sar Manchester United

Pack 2:
#20 West Ham Kit
#99 Blackpool Logo
#230 Freddie Piquionne West Ham 3D
#252 Nigel de Long Machester City
#263 Jonny Evans Machester United
#386 Kieron Dyer West Ham
Pack 3:
#10 Everton Kit
#15 Newcastle Kit
#115 Brett Ormerod Blackpool
#223 Adam Johnson Machester City 3D
#381 Luis Boa Morte Westham
#388 Freddie Piquionne West Ham
Pack 4:
#40 Robin Van Persie Arsenal
#65 Stephen Carr Birmingham
#152 Didier Drogba Chelsea
#260 Manchester United Team
#261 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 3D
#302 Andy Wilkinson Stoke
Pack 5:
#12 Liverpool Kit
#129 Chung-Young Lee Bolton
#146 Florent Malouda Chelsea
#192 Bobby Zamora Fulham
#299 Matthew Etherington Stoke 3D
#382 Radoslav Kovac West Ham
#432 Enric Valles Birmingham
Pack 6:
#81 Blackburn Team
#100 Blackpool Team
#102 Matt Giles Blackpool
#150 Michael Essien Chelsea
#408 Mauro Boselli Wigan
#417 Stephen Ward Wolves
#444 David Meyler Sunderland

So Big B interested?