Group Break Hit: Random Braves Hits

Well, I've shown you the hits I got from Thorzul's December group break. He also ran a "interim cheapo" group break late last month where I also had the Braves. Basically, he found a lot on eBay that promised numerous random inserts, autographs and relics from virtually every team. Naturally, I didn't expect to land any big hits, but it certainly sounded like fun. Here are a few of the cards I picked up.

This would be my second Brandon Hicks autograph, and by far my favorite of the two.  My first auto has him in his college uniform in a Donruss Elite Extra Edition set from a few years ago. Now I have two Atlanta Braves Topps Chrome autographs from 2010: Brandon Hicks and Jason Heyward.

I don't remember Caellan at all. Either way, it looks like this player with this name is out of organized baseball in the US right now. (There are others with the name, so I could be wrong.) However, I just wanted to say, that I'm heading to Athens on Friday for the Braves Caravan where I will attempt to get a Brian McCann autograph. I just need to pick which card I want him to sign. Any suggestions? 

In better economic times, I would probably have built this set. Well, to be honest, I would have started building it and spent years and years slowly chasing SPs. I am a sucker for cards on cardboard and I'm a sucker for painted cards. Sure, this set has some dogs (such as the Babe Ruth - Chipper Jones abomination), but overall, I like it. Honestly though, without his name on the card, I'm not sure I would have been able to identify this as an Eddie Mathews card. That's no intended as an insult of the painting. It could just be a problem with my eyes.

This is a terrific card and I was fortunate enough to get two. If you have to get two cards of a Braves player, it might as well be Eddie Mathews.

P.S. - I'm running a contest.

Group Break Hit: Legendary Cuts

The other box Thorzul broke in his December group break was a box of Legendary Cuts from 2007. I didn't get a relic or an auto, but I got a few nice Braves cards.

I keep falling into cool Niekro cards lately. I'm not complaining. I really like the look of these cards and I love that they used the old Atlanta logo.

Not necessarily one of my favorite Braves in history, but the guy had a few big years and an above average career. He even finished in the MVP voting 4 times.

On the other hand, Eddie Mathews is one of my favorite players of all time. I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Eddie is the only player to have played for the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves.

I recognize that Walt Whitman isn't strictly a Brave, but I did pick him up as well in the break. According to Annie Savoy, he pitched for the Cosmic All-Stars, and that's not nothing. More importantly, his epic poem, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" was forced upon me as my term paper topic my Junior year of high school. The poem itself isn't bad, but it is LONG. My advice, is have the one you love strip down to their underwear, tie them to the bed posts, and then read Whitman to them all night. They'll love it. Trust me.

Group Break Hit: Bowman Sterling Relics

(In case you missed it, I'm running a contest. Click here for details.)


I picked up a few nice cards in Thorzul's December group break. Opened first was a box of 2005 Bowman Sterling. I had the Braves and was assigned the Rangers as my random team, which yielded the two cards below.

I don't want to like Mark, but I can't help myself. He seems like a pretty OK guy and his taped message that played during the Bobby Cox tribute last season was excellent. Still, he's a Yankee, and I would be OK if he never got another hit in his career.

There was a brief moment in time where Giles was almost my favorite player on the Braves. Then they moved him to the lead off spot, he started whining, and his career was pretty much over. From an All Star to a bum in less than a season. Kind of a shame.

I guess it's a strange turn of events that when he was one of my favorites, I had very few of his cards, and in the past year, I was sent an auto of his in a trade with Alfredo and now I pick up a relic in a group break.

Group Break Hit: Chipper Jones Relic

2004 Topps Clubhouse Collection #CJ

Here's my latest hit from a Thorzul group break. Always nice to get another Chipper relic. I haven't kept up with everything I've received in his breaks, but this year, I know I got a Phil Niekro autograph, a Kirby Puckett autograph and an Eddie Matthews relic. Not bad, not bad at all. I've become addicted to the group break!


By the way, Thorzul is signing people up for his next group break now. He'll bust a box of 2009 Finest and a box of 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams. There are a few spots still open so buy in if you're interested. (This time around, you can pick one open team, and after he gets 15 people to buy in, he'll randomize the remaining teams and we'll each receive a single additional team.)

Get In Now!!!!

Just a reminder to everyone that Wicked Ortega is hosting a killer group break with tons of boxes form the junk wax era. It should be a blast. He's asking for 19 bucks per team which includes shipping. The break will go down starting Friday night so if you want to get in on it, sign up now!


The teams he has left at the time of this posting are:

• Chicago White Sox
• Detroit Tigers
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Cincinnati Reds
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Los Angeles Dodgers
• San Francisco Giants  
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Texas Rangers  
• Milwaukee Brewers

Awesome Group Break

Wanna get in on an awesome junk wax group break? Head over to My Past Time for the details. A word of warning ... some jackass who looks like me has the Braves.

Are you looking for a group break?

Over at Georgia Mindset, they're trying to put together a 10 box Topps Chrome group break. There are 15 slots and you can pick one team. Once all the slots are filled up, the remaining teams will be randomized and you'll be assigned a second team.


If you're interested in Topps Chrome, head over to Georgia Mindset and participate. We need more group breaks!