2007 Bowman Heritage blaster break: box 2

More Excitement! Adventure! and Card Scans! from this box, which I bought a few days after the last one.

Pack 1:
42 Carlos Guillen
98 Dan Haren
96 Hanley Ramirez
BHP68 Ryan Finan
BHP58 Jeremy Jeffress
205 Hector Gimenez
56 Moises Alou
24 Anibal Sanchez

Finally, a prospect I had heard of, although unfortunately it’s for his tastes in illegal recreational substances.

Pack 2:
62 Chris Carpenter
126 Travis Hafner
3 of 5 Mickey Mantle
164 Chris Duncan (rainbow)
BHP60 Joba Chamberlain
BHP78 Brandon Hynick
223 Chase Wright
3 Derrek Lee

How is Chamberlain still a prospect? Sure, he only pitched 21 major-league innings in the regular season but he was on the playoff roster. Anyway.

Pack 3:
134 Troy Glaus
116 Ervin Santana (rainbow)
BHP74 Matt Young
BHP86 Matt Miller
checklist 3 of 3
219 Michael Bourn
238 Glen Perkins
123 Jason Schmidt
151 Orlando Hernandez

Pack 4:
162 Tadahito Iguchi
154 Scott Rolen
SG-JW Signs of Greatness Johnny Whittleman
12 Hank Blalock (rainbow)
BHP30 Gorkys Hernandez
BHP82 Nick van Stratten
91 Ryan Garko
191 Kenji Johjima

Yay, bad handwriting of minor leaguers an autograph card!

Pack 5:
186 Scott Kazmir
22 Sammy Sosa
186 Scott Kazmir (no signature parallel)
20 Miguel Tejada (rainbow)
BHP62 Aaron Cunningham
BHP2 Peter Bourjos
216 Curtis Thigpen
155 Jimmy Rollins

Pulled one of those neat effect backgrounds (the Liberty Bell on the Rollins) and two Scott Kazmir cards. Can’t complain.

Pack 6:
26 Russell Martin
70 Roger Clemens
64 Victor Martinez (rainbow)
BHP14 Derin McMains
BHP42 Michael Martinez
242 Josh Hamilton
23 Carlos Delgado
47 Mark Teixeira

I think enough has been blogged about the picture on that Josh Hamilton card that I really had no need to scan it in again. It’s still hilarious.

Pack 7:
34 Noah Lowry
14 Mike Lowell
PG-JM Pieces of Greatness Joe Mauer
BHP36 Brendan Katin
BHP10 Chris Carter
checklist 1 of 3
231 Jesus Flores
71 Gary Matthews
75 David Ortiz

Wow, they put Red Sox in this set? Just kidding. I am pleased with the Mauer bat card. It’s kind of hard for me not to have heard of Joe Mauer. ;)

pack 8:
22 Michael Young
233 Akinori Iwamura (no signature parallel)
4 Todd Helton (rainbow)
BHP4 Cesar Nicolas
BHP51 Will Venable
227 John Danks
35 Alfonso Soriano
107 Erik Bedard

The regular and parallel cards are almost identical in most cases but on some of the rookie cards, the placement of the Rookie Card logo is changed. This can be seen in a comparison of these Akinori Iwamura cards.

2007 Bowman Heritage blaster break: box 1

Yes, I’m finally doing these posts. I bought six blasters, detected a whole bunch of fun patterns, and made it a good way into completing a set. I’ve never completed a set.

Here goes my first box, which was opened at work. (This is important, as my coworkers did indeed make comments on my pulls.)

Pack 1:
126 Travis Hafner
162 Tadahito Iguchi
238 Glen Perkins (rainbow)
BHP6 Zach McAllister
BHP70 Vasili Spanos
211 Tony Abreu
92 Bill Hall
16 Kelly Johnson

Not much to complain about. Pulled a Brewer, and that’s always good.

Pack 2:
18 Zach Duke
134 Troy Glaus
186 Scott Kazmir (no signature parallel)
220 Jeff Baker (rainbow)
BHP50 Luke Hochevar
BHP44 Chris Coghlan
checklist 3 of 3
210 Joe Smith
104 Nick Swisher

Pack 3:
49 Adrian Gonzalez
114 Zack Greinke
PG-PK Pieces of Greatness Paul Konerko
BHP24 Leo Daigle
BHP84 Jarrett Hoffpauir
249 Delmon Young
128 Willy Taveras
180 Alex Rios

Indeed, the snarky comment was from someone at work who hadn’t any idea about relic cards. “They’re chopping up bats and putting them on cards?” O_o
Me: “Yes, but who the heck is Paul Konerko?”
I have long since learnt who Paul Konerko is, as that also made the people around me a bit goggle-eyed. 2008 resolution: pay attention to AL Central.

Pack 4:
137 Austin Kearns
101 Andruw Jones
202 Tim Lincecum (rainbow)
BHP18 Cody Strait
BHP16 Jonathan van Every
237 Kevin Kouzmanoff
4 Todd Helton
52 J.J. Hardy

Yay, another Brewer, and also a rookie pitcher I had heard of. Part of the reason I started buying cards was to learn more about the game I hadn’t been paying much attention to over the past decade. The more cards I get, the more familiar the players become.

Pack 5:
97 Brian Giles
53 Bobby Abreu
3 of 5 Mickey Mantle
239 Danny Putnam (rainbow)
BHP100 Fernando Martinez
BHP8 Anthony Hatch
48 Freddy Garcia
108 Rafael Furcal

The expression on his face really amuses me.

Pack 6:
69 Brian McCann
212 Billy Butler (rainbow)
BHP28 Bryan Byrne
BHP48 Woods Fines
checklist 2 of 3
244 Adam Lind
233 Akinori Iwamura
76 Stephen Drew
172 Aubrey Huff

Adam Lind may have a chance at an outfield spot in Toronto this year, but a friend and I think he looks more like someone who’s gone temporarily missing from his emo band. Panic! at the Rogers Centre?

Pack 7:
85 Carlos Zambrano
141 Carlos Quentin
217 Carlos Gomez (rainbow)
BHP20 Young Il Jung
BHP22 Carlos Corporan
245 Travis Buck
184 Tom Gorzelanny
28 Bobby Crosby

Pack 8:
13 Chien-Ming Wang
193 Chase Utley
2 of 5 Mickey Mantle
241 Brian Sweeney (rainbow)
BHP64 Jeff Baisley
BHP72 Thomas Hottovy
229 Kei Igawa
200 Barry Bonds

I’m not really getting behind the Mantle insert concept here but I’ll freely admit I’m probably the only one who isn’t.