2013 Topps Series 1 rack pack

With my birthday upcoming, my brother and sis-in-law hit me up with a few nice presents during my quick stop in Milwaukee a couple weeks ago.  One of them, since my brother knows me so well, was a pack of baseball cards!  A rack of 2013 Topps Series 1 to be specific.  I won't bore you further since you surely just want to see the goods; here they are:

First, notes on availability of these cards:  the Emerald Santiago is PC, and therefore I'm keeping it.  Everything else is up for grabs, though, so just leave me a comment mentioning what you want.  Please note that if you send me a comment from an account that isn't tied to an email address I can reply to, or don't at least include some way of contacting you, I'm not going to hunt you down and your card(s) will remain up for grabs.

Second, just to see if any of you are still paying attention, the first person to comment and tell me which book and movie I'm referencing in the title and first sentences of this TMM post will have that Million Dollar Chase unused code emailed to them.

Now, for my quick thoughts on the cards:

• I could use SO much less border on the base set--I feel like I'm missing at least half of each photo.  I guess nobody does it like Upper Deck!
• The League Leader cards still bore me as usual.
• There's some nice action shots this year, including Seager's and Descalso's.
• Out of the group of inserts, the only ones I cared for at all were the Emerald (not my favorite color parallel, but not bad) and the Mini.  I still think the "exclusive" retail parallels are annoying cash grabs.  The other ones just kind of run together for me.

So while I can't say I ended up with much at all that I'll end up keeping, most important for me here was the fun of ripping open yet another pack!  And in this case, that's enough for me to say that it wasn't just the thought that counted, but the execution as well.  Long live pack-ripping (and trade bait)!

2013 trade package #1: Uncle Moe flips a coin, sends me some Tigers

Last Sunday, Uncle Moe (a.k.a. Larry) of My 2008 Topps Set Blog was showing off a new part of his Luis Aparicio collection:  a 1964 Topps Coin.  These are a bit on the oddball side for me, but still fairly cool, (and much better looking in-person, I now realize) and while I hadn't planned on adding Bill Freehan's version from this set, Moe mentioned he might have a few extras, so I asked after Bill's coin.  He said he had it and would send it to me right away, since he's awesome like that:

So here's the newest member of my Freehan collection:

1964 was only the second year Topps produced cards of Freehan, so this fits beautifully towards the front of the group, smack between his RC and second-year issue.  It's #57 in that PC, and I'm excited to have added yet another piece to my favorite combined Tiger/Wolverine player set.

Moe also was kind enough to send some new Tigers my way, and I mean brand new:

I'm sure you're all well aware these are 2013 Topps cards, and I do have to say I like how the base stuff looks, especially the Verlander, which is a great example of a horizontal card done right.  I also appreciate getting something of Smyly, especially since he may become an important part of the rotation before long.

Thanks again, Larry, for a great Tigers package!  I have something on the way from COMC for you that I hope you'll like, so watch for that soon.  Everyone, please head over to Larry's unique blog to appreciate his Herculean effort at acquiring a complete 2008 Topps TTM autograph set as well as Luis Aparicio, Daniel Hudson, and Diamondbacks.