Box Break part II / III

 Here's part two of the retro box break... and also part three of the Anniversary break?!?

Before opening any packs I perused the face cards to try and match the collecting preferences of my friends in the Anniversary break. So if you're collecting the base set or glossy All-Star set *cough* Fuji  don't add any new singles to your set build until you receive these 😉

These are the packs I kept:

Yup, two Mel Hall cards in the same spot. I could not inflict that horror upon any of you, so I'm stuck with 'em. 

I was too busy playing tic-tac-toe with Blue Jays to see there were two Enos Cabell cards facing front in the same spot as well. Not a single Hall of Famer base card facing front, but the Cecil Fielder RC might be the best card in the set anyhow. 

Got two Tim Wallach All-Star cards facing front, too. Wonder why they seem to choose the same cards to top off each rack pack? And why they wouldn't put bigger names to entice kids to buy them? This was a BBCE sealed box so I know it wasn't searched. I checked the backs and found three Hall of Famers: Jim Rice, Rod Carew, and Steve Carlton. So the stars are in these packs -- at least some of 'em. 

There's no way I would have completed a Glossy set even if I'd kept every pack.

x Sparky Anderson
2 Eddie Murray
x Lou Whitaker
2 George Brett
1 Cal Ripken
x Jim Rice
1 Rickey Henderson
x Dave Winfield
1 Carlton Fisk
1 Jack Morris
1 American League team
1 Dick Williams
x Steve Garvey
x Tom Herr
x Graig Nettles
1 Ozzie Smith
1 Tony Gwynn
x Dale Murphy
1 Darryl Strawberry
1 Terry Kennedy
2 LaMarr Hoyt 
x National League team

Six Padres seemed excessive until I remembered that 1) the 1986 set has 1985 All-Stars, and 2) the 1985 All-Stars were largely chosen based on their 1984 performance. San Diego won the NL pennant in '84 - but the Tigers won the World Series and they only had half as many cards in this insert set? Was the NL just totally bereft of name-brand players in '84-85?

As for the main set, I opened them pack-by-pack and sorted them on my kitchen table, just as I did with my first-ever set build which was actually 1987 Topps, but ..close enough.

I cracked these open during a rain storm, which reminded me of a similar day sometime in '86. My mom agreed to drive me to the corner store to pick up packs of Garbage Pail Kids and we got back home just as the sky darkened ominously. I remember spreading out my packs on the dining room table while thunder boomed and rain poured outside. Maybe I should rip a box of GPK for this Anniversary break? 

Don't worry, I'm not going to send you all GPK stickers lol. But while I'm on the topic, Series 4 was the set I was most familiar with, as it was the most common and current release in the summer of '86 -- just like 1986 Topps baseball. 

Series 3 packs were released in January 1986, but they may have well been released before I was born. A couple older kids on my block had Series 3 singles and I was in awe of each and every one. Similar to how I viewed my older brother's baseball card ablum and his random singles from 1982-1985. 

6 year-old me when I saw a 1 year-old card/sticker 

I knew someone who had Garbage Pail Kids stickers from Series 2. And boyyy did he let us know it. He even claimed that he had an Ashcan Andy from Series 1 (the '52 Topps of GPK lol) but he never took it out because it was "too valuable" and our goober hands would wreck it or whatever. Psssh. He sooo did not have an Ashcan Andy.

Oh! Speaking of round metal things.. I saw the Stanley Cup! It was so random and unexpected. Yesterday I decided to take my bike out for a ride in downtown Cranford(town next to me) because Saturday was a washout, and I was on my way to get a burger when I turned the corner and saw three guys getting out of a car. They all looked to be about my age (i.e. not pro athletes) and one of them was carrying The Stanley Cup!!!? 

In New Jersey. 

Like..huh? 

I had actually not watched much of the playoffs and it took me a second to figure out who had won when I got semi-close to the guys and shouted "You got the Cup?!?! That's awesome!" across a side street. 

They did not reply to me because of course they didn't. They're friggin Carolina Hurricanes 😡

If I were a few years younger, if my wife were still around, or if it were a member of a team I haven't hated for three decades.. I might have followed them and asked for a picture with it or something. 

Instead I went on my way, grabbed my burger, and immediately started searching "Day With the Cup" online. All the internet would tell me was that little-used spare forward Nic Deslauriers had it in another part of the state on Friday. It's Day with the Cup, not weekend. 

This wasn't Nic though. Even though he's at the end of his career he's still noticeably younger than the guy I saw. 

I had never heard of this guy (I'm not exactly current on Carolina's front office staff) but apparently he's the third  member of the organization to bring the Cup to New Jersey. I'm still not happy they won it though. 

New Jersey hockey fans got a chance to see the Stanley Cup up close this week, more than 20 years after the Devils last won the championship.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Nick Deslauriers brought the trophy to North Wildwood, where fans posed for photos on the pier. Deslauriers, a former Philadelphia Flyer, said he grew to love the Jersey Shore during his time in the area.

The day before, Hurricanes assistant coach and Wood-Ridge native Bill Burniston brought the Stanley Cup to his hometown firehouse, Ridgewood High School, W’s Village Grill in Oakland and Parkwood Deli in Ridgewood, giving fans another chance to celebrate hockey’s biggest prize.

Before I left for that surprise Stanley Cup viewing... I recorded the third and final installment of the Chrome Anniversary Box Break trilogy. Ugh I am never filiming myself ever again ever...

We're still a month out from my actual blogging anniversary but I want to get the rest of the prize haul posted this week and mail out the gifts next week. You'll see why soon enough.

Thanks for reading!

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