My son's loaded Update Blaster

I bought my son one Update Blaster for Christmas. Let's just say that I made sure it was "loaded". He opened it and was opening the first pack when I slipped 7 extra Diamond Giveaway codes and one extra pack to the bottom of the stack. He never realized I did it and just thought he got "extra" lucky. At that point he still needed 14 rings to get to the magic number of 45 for the special edition Diamond Giveaway set.

There weren't any Legend SPs or overly exciting Sparklies in the box. He did get two packs of the Target Red parallels, but even he would rather have a regular pack. His manu-patch, which I mentioned yesterday, didn't thrill him too much.




It was Al Kaline, I believe the same one I used in a contest earlier this year.

The extra pack I slipped into his blaster was one that I got in a Value Box. It was as hard as a brick and I felt pretty sure it had a hit in it so I saved it for him.



It did have a hit. It was this Paul Konerko All Star Workout Jersey Sparkle Edition #58/60. He was pretty happy although he didn't know much about Konerko.

He pulled one code from the blaster plus the 7 extras I slipped in while he wasn't looking. He's too new to the collecting game to realize that I jury rigged the contents, but that's ok. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Counting the 4 codes from the other two blasters, that gave him a total of 12 codes to enter. Overall, I'd say he did pretty good with his codes considering he didn't get a Die-Cut. As a matter of fact, he hasn't gotten even one die-cut which is a little weird I think. Here, in reverse order of year, not the order redeemed, are the best cards he unlocked with his 12 codes.



1976 Jim Wynn--I had to tell him that I'd never heard of Wynn either, even though he has that cool All-Star star.




Sweet...Alou! 1973 edition. He knows I'm working on the '73 set so he said this one was for me. Good kid. Must be the great parenting.




1971 Denny Doyle. He looks like one of my college professors. Sorry, that's all I have for Mr. Doyle.




This one goes (or will go) right into the Senators collection. It's a very nice 1970 Topps A.L. ERA Leaders card. I told him Dick Bosman used to be a pitching coach for the Rangers, and Jim Palmer used to sell underwear (I told him the other stuff too) and Mike Cuellar would only take the ball back from Brooks Robinson. Read it here if you don't believe me.




Ummmm, Expos Rookies, vintage 1969. Hey, it's Vintage so we're happy.




1969 Duane Josephson. You know this card is going in the catcher binder. Yes sir.




Sweet burlap goodness in the form of a 1968 Willie Davis. Willie has a funny Texas Ranger story too. Read it here if you're so inclined.





This was actually the first card he unlocked. It also happened to be the oldest. It's a very uninspiring 1961 Jerry Staley. Nothing personal, but it's just not a great shot. It is however, 50 years old, so that is cool.

After some wheeling and dealing, we managed to trade his duplicate rings and he now has 43 rings. He needs two more to get that set. If anyone has a code or two they are willing to trade, let me know. You don't even have to mail the cards. Thanks!