Let’s Not All (Gold) Rush At Once

So, you guys already know about the 5 Jumbo cases we opened of 2012 Topps Series 1.

As you can imagine, that left us with a massive box full of wrappers.  Normally these would go to set packing material, but this year Topps announced a very limited-time offer to redeem your wrappers for more cards.

All you needed was 14 jumbo wrappers (or 50 hobby), which is about 1.5 boxes worth and you can get a pack of 5 Gold Rush cards (in a 50 card set), which feature the chance to get an autograph parallel version.

Quick math told me that 300 wrappers = 21 packs = 105 cards.  We decided to play Rumplestiltskin and spin this stuff into gold.  Want to know how we did?  Here’s the quick video of the break.

I was hoping we’d beat the odds and get a second autograph, but one was virtually expected.

What wasn’t expected was the poor collation.  Out of the 105 cards, we were 7 cards shy of the 50 card set.  Our packs did not yield a single #2, 12, 16, 28, 30, 42, or 49.  Pretty ridiculous.

Match the borders to crack the Gold Rush code!

If you’re curious, here’s the full checklist along with the number we found.  If you could care less, scroll down for a close-up of our autograph

Card#1 Albert Pujols – 2
2 Adrian Gonzalez – ZERO
3 Albert Belle – 3
4 Allen Craig – 4
5 Aroldis Chapman – 2
6 Brandon Phillips – 2
7 Brandon Belt – 2
8 Brett Gardner – 1
9 Nelson Cruz – 3
10 Carl Yastrzemski – 2
11 Carlos Gonzalez – 2
12 Jay Bruce – ZERO
13 Chris Young – 3
14 Clayton Kershaw – 2
15 Dan Uggla – 1
16 Daniel Hudson – ZERO
17 Danny Espinosa – 2
18 Edgar Martinez – 2
19 Felix Hernandez – 1
20 Willie Mays – 1
21 Frank Thomas – 2
22 Jordan Zimmermann – 5
23 Ian Kinsler – 1
24 Tony Gwynn – 2
25 Jason Motte – 5
26 Jemile Weeks – 1
27 Jered Weaver – 1
28 Jesus Montero – ZERO
29 Joe Mauer – 3
30 Mariano Rivera – ZERO
31 Jhonny Peralta – 2
32 Tommy Hanson – 3
33 Josh Hamilton – 1
34 Andre Ethier – 1
35 John Smoltz – 2
36 Matt Kemp – 1
37 Miguel Cabrera – 5
38 Mitch Moreland – 3
39 Roy Halladay – 4
40 Ryan Braun – 3
41 Dennis Eckersley – 4
42 Ryne Sandberg – ZERO
43 Salvador Perez – 2
44 Starlin Castro – 3
45 Tim Hudson – 2
46 Tim Lincecum – 2
47 Sandy Koufax – 4
48 Warren Spahn – 3 (one with bad crease down the middle, our only damaged card)
49 Yovani Gallardo – ZERO
50 Hank Aaron – 4

Stop! Auto Time!

I still mostly remember him from the 3-error All-Star game

Okay, okay. Not too bad.  It certainly could have been worse.  The bigger named guys are even tougher to land, only signing/stickering between 5 and 30.  This has the highest production run at 50 copies, which isn’t all that bad.  I’ve only seen 2 show up on ebay, and both claimed to be #6/50.  It kind of looks like someone bought it and tried to re-sell.  Save that technique for COMC, buddy.

BOOMTOWN!

To prove we’re not the third one up with the same numbering, here’s the back.  Nice clean foil stamping.  Also a wedged in 1800s gold rush reference.

As I stated in the video, I really like the look of these cards.  They’re shiny and in hand, I don’t mind the monochrome nearly as much as I thought I would.  They’re nice and sturdy without being overly thick.  If this were a straight-up insert, it would easily be my favorite of the year.  My only complaint is the short window to redeem.

All of these were part of the business purchase, so they are up for sale.  I’m buying a copy of the Thomas and Gwynn (yes, I still have to pay – I couldn’t afford to buy our Frank Thomas retired ring at the time so that’s still on my want list), but there’s still 1 other copy up for grabs.

These are all currently through our sportlots, but we’ll gladly cut you a deal if you contact us through the blog our our gmail (communitygum@).  The Uggla is sitting on ebay with a very optimistic BIN, mostly because it’s the only one up (UPDATE:  The Uggla Auto is now sold).  If you’re interested, make us an offer.

If you don’t want to buy any, that’s perfectly cool too.  Let us know what you think about cards in the comments.  No rush.