Blowout, you complete me

Today a pair of very productive packages graced my mailbox:  I made a couple deals on Blowout this weekend--a small purchase and a trade--and ended up with the following:

Three 2008 UD Heroes cards

These four 2008 Topps Series II cards plus nine others.  I chose these because 1)  I didn't realize Topps produced women's sports cards, 2)  Dunn's had a remarkable comeback year, 3)  Chipper singled in his final All-Star Game, and 4)  I included Prado for Derek for the hell of it.  Lots of Braves!

In case you somehow didn't put it together from the title, that means I completed two more sets thanks to these pickups.  I'm definitely happy to have the excellent UD Heroes set completed, more so than my second set of '08 Topps II (which came mostly from an extra Series II box I picked up a while back).  But anytime I complete a set I consider it a cause for celebration.  Incidentally, the Topps set is available for trade if anyone can use it; otherwise I'll be working on trying to pick up another series I set to pair with it so I can trade or keep that.

Hooray for more progress towards completing sets!

Group break results and post-mortem

Well, things definitely went smoother today with the break occurring during the day instead of on a Sunday night.  Anyway, what everyone's been waiting for, the results:

First group

Second group

All of them

Having some fun

There are plenty of interesting things you can spell with these, just use your imagination.

Blow-by-blow, since those are hard to read and impossible to scan well (Player, team, letter, #'d out of or not at all):
(Cards bolded in red worth $50+)

Box 1:

Mike Stanton FLA N 20

Kyle Skipworth FLA H 20
Danny Espinosa WAS S 20
Joshua Fields SEA L 5
Dan Hudson CHW U 5

Box 2:
Rashun Dixon OAK I 5
Robbie Weinhardt DET N 20
D.J. Mitchell NYY T 20
Aaron Hicks MIN H
Brian Matusz BAL Z

Box 3:
Tim Beckham TAM E
Pedro Alvarez PIT Z
Jason Castro HOU O
Justin Smoak TEX O 20
Kirk Nieuwenhuis NYM U 20

Box 4:
Cutter Dykstra MIL R 20
Brian Matusz BAL U
Ryan Lavarnway BOS A 20
David Cooper TOR P

Cutter Dykstra MIL S 5

Box 5:
Dexter Carter CHW A 20
Yonder Alonso CIN N

Buster Posey SFG S

Dexter Carter CHW E 20
Kyle Skipworth FLA W

Box 6:
Garrison Lassiter NYY R 20

Pedro Alvarez PIT V 5

Matt Wieters BAL S 5

Jeremy Beckham TAM B 20
Jason Castro HOU T

Box 7:
Josh Lindblom LAD N 5
Brett Wallace STL A
Michael Inoa OAK O
Curtis Petersen FLA R 20
James Darnell SDP N 20

Box 8:
David Cooper TOR P 20
Justin Smoak TEX A
Tanner Scheppers PIT E 20
Kyle Weiland BOS E 20
Tim Beckham TAM C

Box 9:
Ryan Westmoreland BOS L 20
Eric Hosmer KC E 5
Ryan Westmoreland BOS N 20

Aaron Hicks MIN C 5

Aaron Crow WAS R

Box 10:
Allan Dykstra SDP D 20
Juan Carlos Sulbaran CIN B 20
Matt Thompson TEX S 20

Gordon Beckham CHW C 20

Buster Posey SFG P 5

The verdict:  God DAMN are these worth the $100 I paid.  I feel sorry for anyone who considered joining the break and didn't--the four of us had a ton of great stuff to choose from.  I'm not listing everyone's haul because there's still some trading to be done, but boy am I happy.  Total Beckett value for all the cards:  $1440.  Each participant (other than me) got six cards totaling $150+ in BV for their $33 slot fee (shipped!).  And did you see that Posey #d of 5?  I mean jeez, we got waaaaaaay more numbered cards than I thought we would.  I didn't get my Zach Putnam and we didn't get any 1/1s (including BA Benny's Ike Davis) but obviously I'm extremely pleased with how we did, and very well might get another case, even if it's just for me.  That's pending selling stuff on Blowout/the Bay, but whatever, I've got some nice stuff to put in the PC or get my money back.  GET THIS CASE!

A huge thanks again to Mike, Eric and Derek for participating and making this another success!