The blogging Community

I'm sure we all have our favorite parts of the blogging community.

Maybe it's the great reading material.  Perhaps it's the trades or just checking out what kind of stuff people are pulling.  For most of us, I know we enjoy the camaraderie with fellow collectors.  It's a little strange, but I think we can develop real friendships with people we've never met and may never get the chance to meet.

I feel that way about a number of bloggers and the guys at Community Gum are at the top of that list.   The CG Boys and I go way back and we've sent cards back and forth for as long as we've been blogging. When you send cards back and forth without the parameters of a trade, that's just fun.

Well, this isn't a trade post.  It's a box break post.  Jon busted boxes of 1996 Finest 1 and 2, 1996 Fleer and 2004 Topps Clubhouse Collection.  I signed up for the Rangers and since things were moving a little slowly, I looked over the remaining teams and decided to help Jon out by picking up one more.  The Clubhouse Collection box had 20 hits in it and I looked over the possibilities.  The Yankees hadn't been picked yet and had the most hits available and some great old HOF'ers so I took them as well.  I sure was glad I did.

I ended up with the Angels and Twins as my random teams as well.

I got plenty of cards that I could have scanned, but I wanted to focus on a few Finest cards and the hits.

I like Finest, but it's one of those things I never buy.  They look better in person.  The scanner didn't like them much.  Does anyone peel these?

I think this photo was taken in Baltimore judging by the people in the dugout.  It must have been cold.

Here's the other Will Clark I got.  I have several dupes of these and lots of the other teams I'll be sending out in packages.

Now, on to the main hits from 2004 Clubhouse Collection.  In case you haven't seen this product before, it's 10 packs with 2 hits per pack.  That's it...all or nothing.  Just remember there were a total of 20 hits available.

I hit one Ranger.  Chan Ho Park, the WORST signing in team history.  Some people would say it's ARod, but at least he put up big PED enhanced numbers while he was a Ranger.  Chan Ho Park got $65 million for 22 wins over 4 years.

My first random team was the Angels.

Here we have a nice Tim Salmon jersey, complete with blue pinstripe.

How about some Hall of Fame mojo?  Reggie, Reggie, Reggie...anyone have a Reggie bar?  I'm hungry.

Now for the other team I picked, the Yankees.  You might be saying, "But you hate the Yankees."  You're right, but I was hoping for some of that aforementioned Hall of Fame mojo.

This is the copper parallel Jorge Posada card, #21/99.

Here is some future Hall of Fame mojo.  Mariano Rivera is a man you have to respect, even if you don't like the damn Yankees.

Here is the Hall of Fame mojo I was hoping for...Lou Gehrig Career Legends bat #153/184.  Most of this will be up for trade, but I'll be holding on to the Gehrig.  It's not every day you get a hit like this one.

Now I have to admit, I did feel a little guilty getting 6 out of the 20 hits, but I've had plenty of box breaks where I got zilch.

Jon, best of luck with all the real life stuff going on and thanks for the great break!