2011 Topps Baseball Jumbo Box Break - The Bird is the Word~!

I had to wait an extra day due to the blizzard of the decade (seriously, it's a bad sign when you have to start shoveling standing inside your house), but I got my jumbo box of the new Topps set.  Let's see what turned up....

Base Set Cards - 330 out of 330, a full set~!
72 base doubles
10 Kimball minis
10 Topps Town
10 Diamond Giveaways
10 Topps 60
10 Diamond Vision Parallels
10 Diamond Duos
5 Topps Gold Parallels
5 CMGR
3 History of Topps
10 60 Years of Topps
5 60 Years if Topps - The Lost Cards
1 60 Years of Topps Original Back

I'm a big fan of this year's base card design.  I especially like the baseball with the team logo in the lower right corner - encircled by the silver foil it has almost a 3-D effect.  It's nice to pull a full set from a single box, but there was one small caveat - I had about a dozen cards that were missing part of their foil stamping, including 4 that I didn't pull doubles of, so I will need to replace those cards.  Just a minor quality control issue.

I liked last year's reprints, and I'm pleased to see them return with the 60 Years of Topps insert set.  The Kimball minis are also nice.  I'm a little surprised they didn't try to do something a little more flashy with the Topps Gold parallels for the 60th anniversary rather than keep them the same as last year.  They did spurce up the Topps Town cards, including moving the code to the back of the card, which makes these much more like a real card rather than just a pack filler.

As for the hits - no super "money" pulls, but I do really love the auto I pulled:

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych burst onto the scene in the big leagues in 1976, going 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games on his way to winning the AL Rookie of the Year award.  He was definitely a character, with his most famous quirk being a tendency to talk to the baseball while out on the pitcher's mound.  Sadly his promising career was cut short due to a rotator cuff injury.

I also pulled a jersey patch and a manufactured glove leather nameplate:

I suppose the Catro patch is a decent pull since he looks like a talented young player, but then again he plays for the Cubs so I'll always be rooting against him, so this one goes in the "trade bait" pile.

When I first heard about the glove leather cards I thought they were a neat idea, but now that I have one in my hands...I hate to say it, but I'm not impressed.  There's definitely something missing with these cards, they just seem very plain.  It doesn't help that the only picture of the player in question is a small headshot.  I'm not one that hates on all manufactured relic-type cards (for example I liked the bat barrels from last year's Topps set), but this is one that needs to be the genuine article for me to care - a piece of game used glove would be pretty sweet.  Sorry Topps, swing and a miss on this one.

On the other hand, Topps hit a home run with the Diamond Vision parallels:

Now THESE are BUYS~!  I'm absolutely in love with these cards.  In fact, I'll serve notice right now that I am looking to trade for any and all of these cards - I'll probably never get a full set, but that won't stop me from trying!
 
All in all a decent box break.  This was my first jumbo box, and while the 2 extra hits and full set are great I have to admit part of me missed having the fun of opening 36 packs as opposed to just 10.  Ah well....

GO PACK GO~!!!!!