Early Present to Myself, Some Retail

During today's last minute holdiay shopping run, I had that itch to grab some repacks. I was browsing the card isle in Target, but just couldn't find anything that my head and wallet could agree on. I remembered a recent blog post that I read which highlighted some discounted repacks bought from K-Mart. I can't remember who's blog it was, but whoever you are, thank you for the inspiration!

There was K-Mart on my way home, so I stopped in for a peek. I was happy with what I saw:

Discounts indeed! It seems that baseball cards are generally one of those things that are very inflexible with their prices. It's rare to find sales or discounts on good cards, so these big red stickers instantly caught my eye. 

Small note about K-Mart's normal pricing: They're actually higher across the board, with  slight, consistent inflation. Single repacks were $2.29 rather than $2, jumbo packs were $5.79 rather than $5, blasters $21.49 rather than $20, etc etc. It seems K-Mart is the place to go for discount, but not much else.

Here's what I pulled from 2010 Topps S1 Jumbo:

Three inserts, all unique. I love the Bo Jackson reprint. I love all things Bo Jackson, really. What a freakish athlete. I also enjoyed the humor in A-Rod appearing on a "Peak Performance" insert. The phrase "peak performance" almost sounds like a steroid joke.

I was fortunate enough to pull the one card I really wanted, the Cutch RC. Next to him is a Kyle Phillips gold parallel /2010. Phillips is lifetime minor leaguer. To the right is Johnny Bench appearing on a nice turkey red insert.

On to the bonus box of 2008 Topps S1:

The box promises three gold bordered cards in a bonus pack, exclusive to K-Mart. While I haven't heard anything about  any of these guys in a while, these are still nice cards. I'm reallllyyy not a fan of the design of 2008 Topps, but the gold borders somewhat save it. All three cards are rookies, so no complaints here.

To the left is a mediocre looking Fausto Carmona insert. Carmona, now named Roberto Hernandez, signed a 1-year, 4.5 million dollar deal with the Phils last week. Honestly I had no idea this guy is still in the league until I looked him up. Once a 19 game winner, his lifetime record sits at a paltry 59-82.

Next to Mr. CarmonaHernandez is politician John Edwards... pre-sex tape. I literally laughed out loud when I saw this guy's face in a pack of baseball cards. Just look at that creepy "I just had sex" grin...

Rounding out the fun is two Buccos, of course. This Clint Hurdle base card actually marks the first of any sort of memorabilia I own of his. Although I'm not a fan of 2008 Topps, I've got to hand it to them for including the managers in the set, as these guys often go unappreciated.

So overall, nothing too crazy in these breaks. The jumbo pack was more rewarding than the more expensive box, interestingly. Some good PC additions for sure though, and for 9 bucks, certainlu can't complain!

Thanks for reading.