It's Opening Day - So Let's Open Some Packs! (BTW - 100,000 views for ATBATT)

Aloha, everybody, 

Happy Opening Day to all of you, my fellow baseball fans, on this most excellent day. 

I even wrote a baseball haiku. Here it is, in case you didn't see it on Twitter (with apologies to any haiku purists out there)...

Hot dogs and beer, 

A Spring celebration 

It's Opening Day 

With that, my team isn't playing today, so I figured the next best thing would be to OPEN a few packs. Luckily my old lady was headed out to the local Target and she asked me if I wanted anything. You bet! 

I put in an order for a few packs, and here is what she returned with...

Welp, it turns out she also has the knack of choosing packs just like me. The Topps Series One pack followed the same pattern that I've been pulling since the start of the cardboard season. The first card from the first pack I opened...

 Wouldn't ya know it? An Angel. I also got the usual assortment of inserts, Cubs and Yankees.

The 2016 Heritage pack followed the same pattern as usual - way too many Giants, nothing for my collection, and something for ZZ.

Here are the highlights (?) from the Opening Day pack...

Yet even more Yankees...

And some kinda insert...

 In the end, my old lady chose well, because I pulled one of the cards I've been wanting since we all opened our first packs this year...

 It's extra cool because I got it from Opening Day, on Opening Day. 

Finally, Opening Day 2016 is a little extra special because ATBATT quietly passed a milestone today - 100,000 views. Not bad for a humble little blog. More on that next time. 

The Dodgers open their season tomorrow! Aloha!

 

Was It Hemingway Who Said: "No Inspiration? Rip Some Packs!" ?

 

Aloha everybody, 

It's been a while, I know. Hope ya missed me. 

I've been away for a few reasons - one was alluded to in the title. I simply didn't have any new cards or trade packages to write about, and nothing was particularly inspiring me to write about the cards already in my binders. 

Another reason I was away from here was a positive for the writing juices, as I've begun writing (and finding other inspiration) for a new Dodgers sports site - LAdodgerreport. 

Although some of you out there are not Dodger fans, if you enjoy my writing, I would appreciate you dropping by and reading my bylines there. If you follow me on Twitter (@omsports42), you can see the tweets when I post up an article. We've been discussing a podcast, so stay tuned for that to launch soon.

Finally, I've been away because I had in-home visitors for the past four days. They just left this afternoon. I presume you've heard the one about both fish and visitors stinking after three days - try four. I feel like I've finally got my home and my privacy back. 

Now on to the cards. As I mentioned, I didn't have any new cards to drop on you all, so in one of my trips to escape the visitors, I ran out to the local Target and bought a few packs, hoping to pull something exciting and keyboard-worthy. Let's see how I did...

Is that a lurking Clint Hurdle back there?

 Of course if you see cards here from the team you collect, you can rest assured these are dropping right into your team bags, Matt, Mark and ZZ. 

Why all these cards for east coasters? At least I broke the streak of always pulling Angels from packs.

Anybody collecting Jose Canseco? Or this Pressed Into Service subset?

So, I know you're all wondering (or at least Night Owl is wondering) if I pulled any Dodgers...

I got one ex-Dodger. Not close enough, you say? 

We need a guy in a Dodgers jersey throwing in Dodger Stadium, you say?

He's got glasses, but it aint Bulldog Orel Hershiser or Game Over Eric Gagne, it's the king of all jackasses. 

And THAT'S how I did with four packs. At least I escaped the visitors for an hour. 

Aloha!

 

Finally, I Scored Some "H"

Aloha, everybody,

Last week I struck out in my hunt for 2016 Heritage. Today I was out and about and stopped in to Walmart looking for some "H". 

Bingo!

 Ok, let's get to ripping and see what's in there. My first card of the year is an Angel...

 Then I pulled one of those discs.

I was about seven cards into the pack when I finally found a Dodger - a pretty good one...

Right behind A-Gon I found another Dodger....

 Waitaminute...that's not a Dodger. That's an airbrushed mercenary. 

Anything else in the pack? Just a whole lotta trade package action for all of you. 

I bought some insurance just in case the Heritage pack was lacking, in the form of a discounted rack pack of Topps 2014 - for two reasons. Of course, the first was the discount. Secondly, the front of the package reminded me of the Babe Ruth Story inserts. 

I love Babe Ruth cards, so that was enticing. I also remembered good ol' Night Owl has been looking for one last Babe Ruth Story insert to complete his set. Maybe this pack contained that final card.

It was a semi-hot pack, and included a few inserts. If anyone is chasing these, I hope I pulled an insert you need...

 While I didn't get the BRS card that Night Owl needs, I did catch one...

 Can't go wrong with pulling any Babe Ruth card, and it's extra cool when he's featured as a Red Sock. 

Not a bad haul for a quick hit and run at the hobby card rack. 

UPDATE: Oops, I just checked N.O.'s site and it was Jackie Robinson story inserts he's been chasing! Doh! 
 No wonder I didn't find what he needed. 

Aloha!