This is it. The first Collective Troll junk wax group box break is done and over with. Two months and 90 packs later and we have reached the Final Pack of 1997 Pinnacle X Press. Please scroll down because I have the stats for each team posted along with some important info for the break upcoming. Here we go!#47 Albert Belle Chicago White Sox (Belle led the American League with 148 RBI in 1996 and he drove in 100 or more runs in each of his last 9 seasons in the Majors averaging 126 per year) #133 Matt Morris St. Louis Cardinals (The former Seton Hall Pirate was the Cards 1st round pick in 1995. He made his MLB debut in 1997 and had a great rookie campaign and finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote behind Scott Rolen. On the mound he posted a 12-9 mark with a 3.19 ERA in 33 starts. At the plate he batted .205 with 6 RBI)
#53 Javier Lopez Atlanta Braves
#129 Brian Giles Cleveland Indians (Giles was a 17th Round draft choice who spent seven years in the Cleveland Indians minor league system. The Indians traded him to Pittsburgh in exchange for Ricardo Rincon before the 1999 season and in his first full season he hit .315 with 39 homers and 115 RBI for the Bucs. Over the next 4 years he averaged 37 homers a year. In August of 2003 the Pirates sent him to San Diego as part of a package that brought them Jason Bay. He hit .191 in 39 games for the Padres last year. He currently has 287 career homers)#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card -4
#52 John Smoltz Atlanta Braves
#90 Edgar Renteria Florida Marlins (At age 21 Renteria stole 32 bases for the World Champion Marlins in 1997)
#87 Jason Giambi Oakland A’s (Giambi made it into 140 games as a utility man in ’96. He shared time with Scott Brosius at 3rd, McGwire at 1st, Berroa at DH and Phil Plantier in left field. The Oakland A’s hit 243 homers that year and the Giambino accounted for 8% of them. He may have hit more had he spent less time sitting on second base pouting)Now, stick around for the final tally and some important announcements….
Here are the final statistics of who is getting what cards… In no particular order, this is the breakdown for each of the 28 teams.
Atlanta Braves 66 cardsBaltimore Orioles 47 cards
Boston Red Sox 35 cards
California Angels 44 cards
Chicago Cubs 36 cards
Chicago White Sox 22 cards
Cincinnati Reds 31 cardsCleveland Indians 28 cards
Colorado Rockies 48 cards
Detroit Tigers 39 cards
Florida Marlins 51 cards
Houston Astros 26 cards
Kansas City Royals 37 cards
Los Angeles Dodgers 37 cardsMilwaukee Brewers 48 cards
Minnesota Twins 25 cards
New York Mets 28 cards
New York Yankees 56 cards
Oakland A’s 32 cardsPhiladelphia Phillies 30 cards
Pittsburgh Pirates 18 cards
San Diego Padres 44 cards
San Francisco Giants 33 cards
Seattle Mariners 48 cards
St. Louis Cardinals 27 cards
Texas Rangers 54 cards
Toronto Blue Jays 50 cards
Shannon Stewart says: “Please read on, there is some important stuff here”.I think that covers every team. It seemed after the first pack that the Braves would run away with the “most cards” crown. They did. Out of 84 packs in the break, 66 of them yielded an Atlanta Braves card. That is 79%. In second place were the New York Yankees with 56 cards, in third place-the Texas Rangers had 54 cards. In 4th place are the Florida Marlins with 51 cards and the Blue Jays took 5th place with 50 cards. The Rockies, Brewers and Mariners were all REALLY close. The worst yield belonged to the Pittsburgh Pirates with 18 cards (21%). When ya think about it, 21% aint too bad. I’ve ripped two blasters without getting a single Rays card before. Everyone’s packages have been shipped and should be received shortly. I have NOT shipped the Phillies, Rockies or White Sox. If you had those teams, PLEASE get in touch. You have till Monday to send me an email. If you DON’T, the cards from your team will go into the second break and … Just get in touch, okay? The next box break will begin shortly. My parent’s scanner bit the dust, so I am a Troll without a scanner. I want to get one for home before I begin the next break.
The next one will be run MUCH differently. I will NOT be posting all of the packs. I will post the first pack from each box and any packs that have hits in them. Then, I will post all of the highlights and the break-down of how many cards were pulled for each team. One of each pack will also be posted on A Pack to be Named Later and the link will be posted here. There are more than twice as many packs in this break compared to the last one, plus there will be a lot more variety since the packs will range from 1989 up till 2009 and maybe even a few from 2010 if those ever appear in my neck of the woods. With regards to the newer teams in MLB, the Washington Nationals will go to the person who claimed the Montreal Expos. I (the break moderator) will take the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks and any cards with multiple players from different teams. This break is complete. 
The next break (which is called Group Box Break 2010 in tags) will commence as soon as I get a scanner. I should note that when I shipped everyone’s cards yesterday a few of you got selected for bonuses beyond random cards. I included a total of 5 relic cards and 5 autographs randomly with your cards. I will try and do the same thing with the next break. I might post the total from the post office receipt as a warning for anyone else planning on doing this. It has been worth it. I have had a blast, met some new people and lessened my card load by about 1,000 cards (in addition to all the break cards), so I am pretty happy. I will NOT be doing anymore breaks after spring training starts. It’s been fun, but I want to keep the blog available to post “Rays win, Rays win!” Before I sign off I need to send another thank you to Adam E of the Thoughts and Sox blog for providing all of the mailers for this break. Thanks Adam!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
I haven’t posted a pack break in a while, so here goes…
Card #476 Edinson Volquez. He was an All Star last year, and ended up winning 17 games for the Redlegs. He is 4-2 so far this year. Probably not good enough for another appearance in the mid summer classic, but it’s a cool looking card. I love the up close and personal view. I just can’t believe that he doesn’t snag his chain on his glove. I’ll be looking out for that.
Card #531 Frank Francisco. He’s a former teammate of Volquez’ with the Rangers. This year he may be the one to get the All Star call. He has 12 saves and a 0.44 ERA. Wow.
Next outta the pack is another ’08 All Star, Rays catcher, (card #519)Dioner Navarro. It’s a neat shot of Navy calling 2 outs, or giving the stingray sign or encouraging people to worship the devil, but it looks good. The “niche in history” on the back of his card tells me he is the 9th switch hitting catcher to be an All Star in either league. It also tells me he has a .429 career batting average with a 2-0 count. Cool.
Next is John Smoltz with card #355. Topps decided to go with the glamour shot for Smoltzy on this one. He hasn’t pitched a game yet this year, but is scheduled to return to the Sox next Thursday on a tight pitch count. He does eight All Star selections to his credit to go along with over 3,000 Ks. Too bad he’s chosen to end his career with the Sox. I used to like him.
Next we have Edgar Renteria on card #558. The coloring on this card is kinda neat, but I don’t like not seeing a players face, unless they’re doing something cool. Renteria is off to a sub-par performance this year and his .245 BA probably won’t make him an All Star. He has been picked 5 times previous.
Now, we are in insert land. The first one is a “Career Best” card of Ty Cobb, card #LGCB-TC. If you flip the card and read this guys career bests you will see he highest average was .420. He had 127 RBIs with his highest homerun count being 12. He hit 47 doubles, 24 triples and stole 96 bases in one year. Pretty good numbers for someone who never made an All Star team.
Speaking of legends…Next outta the pack is a “Legends of the Game”, #LLG-12, card of Bob Gibson. It’s a nice portrait of Gibson, muttonchops and all, looking off into the distance, likely prior to a game. Gibson appeared in 8 All Star games.
Next we have a Topps Town dot com card of Ian Kinsler. I go online to write this blog, that’s about it. I have never visited that site or entered a redemption code. Just not into it. I do like Ian Kinsler, though. His 18 homers leads second baseman and could give him his second All Star appearance.
We are back to base cards and the first one is Chicago White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, card #488. The back of the card ads a stat from his playing days. I didn’t realize he hit .533 off of Mark Knudson…Ozzie was a three-time All Star as a player and once as a manager. He also finished his playing career in 2000 with the Rays.
Next up is Giants outfielder, Randy Winn and card #549. I really like the orangey-ness of this one. Winn was an All Star with the Rays in 2002. He has very quietly put together a nice career with over 1600 hits in 12 seasons.
Next we have Brewers pitch Braden Looper on card #419. This card is not good or bad. Kind of like Looper’s career. He has been the perpetual “even Steven”. His career record is 63-62 and I am sure his next outing will be a loss just to even things up. I did learn that Brad Ausmus only hit .126 off of him, career.
The 12th and final card in the pack is Rays centerfielder, BJ Upton, card #640. The picture is awesome, BJ in post-power-swing. The back of the card gives me info I already knew, but bears repeating. He tied a postseason record last year with 7 home runs. He was also the AL player of the week this week, but that isn’t on this card. BJ has yet to play in an All Star game, but he’s still only 25. He’s already swiped more than 100 bases, got over 400 hits and scored over 250 runs at age when most are still in the minors.
