Group Breakin': O No Part 3

I win, again.

I'm on a roll lately. Team USA jersey from a rack pack. Sidney Crosby dual relic and super short print from the saaaammme pack of 12-13 Artifacts. Some clutch eBay wins. 

Yeah. On a roll. I haven't been on one since...2009 or 10. It'd been a hell of a dry spell.

I almost didn't join Ryan's latest group break over at Another Orioles Blog. But we had a little trade going, so why not pad an envelope with some acid-trippy tunr-of-the-century baseball cards? 

I gave in. Buckstorecards had already grabbed the Jays and Expos (as per usual - which is fine, keep those David Wells and Juicer Clemens' to yourself), so I retreated to my usual backup for that era - the Rangers - mostly for the possibly Pudges. I decided to also grab the Astros, since no one ever does, and all those Bagwells and Biggios end up in an imperfect home. I was also randomed the BROyals and (still teal) Marlins.

There were some lower-end sets, such as:

2002 UD MVP

The MVPs had a great, albeit unorthodox design. It's much of what I miss from that era. Color, foil, and lots of black. Black and color. It makes sense. Seriously.

Ryan also busted, or carefully opened a 1998 Fleer Tradition Update.

They looked like this. That's about all there is to say.

I, myself, joined for the next two boxes, however. Some 1999 HoloGrFx:

Look, more Beltran!

Launchers Insert
Awful name, awfully neat-looking cards.

And some 1999 Topps Chrome. I was hoping for some refractors, but this beauty will do just fine:

Lords of the Diamond

I miss the days when die-cuts didn't suck.

And of course, some Pudges;

Early Road to the Hall

Yes, indeed. The Hall of Fame. When Pudge is inducted, I will be there. In full catcher's gear. 

Moar Pudge!

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned that I won. Well, I suppose some explaining is due. The break had a low probability of provided a hit. As in, none guaranteed.

...so i beat the odds:

From 2002 MVP.

Juan Gonzalez, in the most colorless card I have ever seen. But I totally dig it. Whenever Ryan has group breaks, I manage to get totally hooked up with Juan Gonzalez cards. This is one of the rarest, but the refractor from 1994 Finest wasn't to bad, either.

But hell, I wasn't done. Let's beat the odds again:

Where the hell is Hank Blalock?

Dang. That's a pretty great group break. This wasn't even one of the boxes - there were just a few of the atrocious 2010 Upper Deck packs thrown in for good measure. And hell, it worked out pretty great for me. 

Thanks for the great break, as always, Ryan.

And for this:

Tiny bird!