Other than my previously mentioned baseball card collections, and the occasional Allen & Ginter cards, I don't buy too many baseball cards. By "too many", I mean not more than I can fit in the few dozen 5000 count boxes that are spilling out from under my desk.
I hadn't collected the flagship (read: basic) Topps set since the early '90s. But that all changed last year. Topps came out with the Million Card Giveaway. The concept of getting a code in a pack of cards, and having it magically transmogrified (Dayf's term) into a baseball card drew me in hook, line, and sinker.
At least twice a week on my lunch break, I would drive to Target or Wal-Mart and buy a few packs, hoping for one of the code cards. The ability to enter the codes via my iPhone, meant that I wouldn't even have to leave the parking lot before my card was in my digital portfolio. Most of the cards were junk that I wouldn't bother keeping, but being able to trade cards on the site made it so much more fun. Earlier this year, I had 61 of my cards shipped. I paid about $20 for the honor, but it was worth it to me.
I was a little leery that Topps was going to do it again this year. There is no way it could be as much fun. Great, I thought... I'm going to get all of the crappy cards that I didn't have shipped last year.
I have to hand it to Topps. They actually made it more fun this year. The Diamond Dig is pretty interesting, and they added some pretty cool new cards into the mix. With my very first code this year, I got a card from 1956. I love cards from the fifties! Shortly after that, a code netted me a 1962 Rookie Catchers card. Yup, none other than Bob Uecker's rookie card! Sweet! I also got one of the new Diamond Die Cut cards. Mine was Justin Morneau, but I offered it in trade with a couple of '60s commons and got myself a Tony Gwynn Die Cut!
What I didn't know at the time was this was one of the super-limited "Black Diamond" cards. Turns out that these are considered a "prize" card, and allow you to have your cards shipped FREE! That saved me some money at the end of the year. Thanks for the heads-up, JayBee!
If you haven't tried it yet, I'd highly recommend the Diamond Giveaway. I pulled a new code card today, and I'd like to input it "live" with you.
Here's the screen where I input the code:
As you can see by the ring chart on the left, I have done this a few times. Let's see what we get...
TBCB Muppets - #13 Kermit
That was a long way to go for that... Thanks for getting to the end.
