I Won Play at the Plate's June Contest

Hey, it's only July 6, I've been way further behind than this before. The June Contest was for a blaster of 2012 Topps Series 2, so I won a whopping 81 cards. Here's what I got.

Base cards:

There were 51 base cards, 2 of which were Cardinals, and one of which is a guy from my hometown (or at least my home megalopolis of connected towns), Mark Buehrle.

2012 Topps #612 Carlos Beltran

2012 Topps #559 Brandon Dickson

2012 Topps #355 Mark Buehrle

And the rest:
332 Jose Reyes
337 Glen Perkins
338 Jose Constanza
342 Kosuke Fukudome
352 Julio Teheran
355 Mark Buehrle
369 Huston Street
371 Jim Thome
378 Brandon League
381 David DeJesus
382 Wandy Rodriguez
384 Sean Marshall
385 David Murphy
386 Ryan Zimmerman
389 Alexi Casilla
390 Taylor Green
406 Juan Rivera
410 Jeff Locke
420 Barry Zito (Really Topps? This isn't a little too on-the-nose for you?)
421 Heath Bell
428 Jordan Schafer
432 Wei-Yin Chen
438 Juan Uribe (one of my worst Fantasy Baseball pickups this year)
442 Johnny Giavotella
443 B.J. Upton
449 Shane Victorino
460 Thomas Field
465 Michael Schwimmer
481 Matt Harrison
493 Ryan Madson
523 Jim Johnson
526 Casper Wells
538 Wilson Betemit (As he's a Wilson, I feel like I should start a collection)
545 Randy Wolf
553 James Darnell
559 Brandon Dickson
564 Jose Valverde
568 Jason Castro
572 Hiroki Kuroda
580 Tony Campana
582 Shin-Soo Choo
596 Freddy Garcia
604 Juan Abreu
611 Neftali Feliz
612 Carlos Beltran
622 Daniel Hudson
623 Clint Barmes
637 Brad Brach
641 Derek Jeter CL
650 Prince Fielder
658 Juan Pierre

Blue-Bordered Parallels:

Because this was a Wal-Mart blaster, there were 2 full packs of Blue-bordered Parallel cards out of the 10 total packs, 12 cards in all because there were inserts in the packs as well.

2012 Topps - Blue Border #574 Kerry Wood

And here are the rest of those:
373 Carlos Gonzalez
401 Kenley Jansen
418 Jarrod Parker
515 Willie Bloomquist
534 Hector Gomez
541 Jack Hannahan
546 Matt Thornton
574 Kerry Wood
586 Daisuke Matsuzaka
603 Lonnie Chisenhall
625 Tommy Hunter
644 Andy Dirks

Golden Moments Parallel:

More parallels! Inserted 1:4 packs, I should have expected 2.5, and got 3.

2012 Topps - Golden Moments Parallel #348 Alfonso Soriano

2012 Topps - Golden Moments Parallel #554 Raul Ibanez

2012 Topps - Golden Moments Parallel #610 Cody Ross

Golden Moments:

Yeah, I'm confused too. I'm pretty sure the above are in fact called Golden Moments Parallels, while these are just Golden Moments. Also inserted 1:4 packs, I got 2. That's much better than 2.5 of each.

2012 Topps - Golden Moments #GM-22 David Wright

2012 Topps - Golden Moments #GM-28 Joe Mauer

1987 Topps Mini:

For some reason I like when Topps uses old designs with current players, and I think lots of collectors do, too, but I hope they don't overdo it with Heritage, Archives, the 1975 Minis that were in 2011 Lineage, and now these 1987s. These were also 1:4, so I got an extra half again.

2012 Topps - 1987 Mini #TM-57 Jacoby Ellsbury

2012 Topps - 1987 Mini #TM-66 Cole Hamels

2012 Topps - 1987 Mini #TM-85 Michael Pineda

A Cut Above:

Now to the rarer inserts, at a scant 1:6 packs. These are die-cut and hard to get into sleeves, but cool looking. Also they seem to feature Hall of Famers based on my small sample. I got 2 instead of my promised 1.67.

2012 Topps - A Cut Above #ACA-14 Willie Mays

2012 Topps - A Cut Above #ACA-20 Johnny Bench

Gold Futures:

Another 1:6, but features young guys this time. I got 2 again, I'm on fire!

2012 Topps - Gold Futures #GF-32 Drew Storen 

2012 Topps - Gold Futures #GF-29 Chris Sale

Gold Standard:

I have a feeling all these gold names are going to get confusing when traders are emailing back and forth. Here's another 1:6 of which I received 2.

2012 Topps - Gold Standard #GS-38 Paul Molitor

 I love that Jays uniform, I'm glad they brought something similar back.

2012 Topps - Gold Standard #GS-48 Lou Gehrig

Career Day:

What an arbitrary accomplishment to celebrate. Dustin Pedroia is only the second player since 1919 to get 5 hits, 3 home runs, a double, and a walk in one game. Another 1:6, but sadly my luck has run out and I only got 1.

2012 Topps - Career Day #CD-14 Dustin Pedroia

Golden Giveaway:

I wish they'd make these more like real cards, because they're numbered and I still feel compelled to collect them. This one features "The Old Man" as I jokingly refer to him to my friend who lived in Baltimore for a bit. These were also 1:6, and I got 1. I haven't redeemed the few of these I have yet, and I think I may try to trade the codes off soon. Watch for a post on that if anyone's still reading this far down.

2012 Topps - Golden Giveaway #GGC-18 Cal Ripken, Jr.

Mound Dominance:

Here's a 1:8 insert, the rarest of the common. This one celebrate Tom Seaver No-hitting the Cardinals June 16, 1978. Booo. But hooray for me for getting a cool card.

2012 Topps - Mound Dominance #MD-1 Tom Seaver

Retired Number:

After seeing may bloggers post the Historical Stitches cards, I was hoping I would get one of those for my patch card, but that was before I saw the Retired Number cards. To me, these are better looking than the alternative.

2012 Topps - Retired Number #RN-GC

Now for a little math diversion. Skip to the end if you loathe math. I was wondering if I got something near what was promised on the box as far as inserts. Of course, those odds are across the entire run, so certainly a little variation is acceptable.

Set	Rate	Expected	Actual	Difference
Golden Moments Parallel	1:4	2.5	3	+0.50
Golden Moments	1:4	2.5	2	-0.50
1987 Topps Mini	1:4	2.5	3	+0.50
A Cut Above	1:6	1.67	2	+0.33
Gold Futures	1:6	1.67	2	+0.33
Gold Standard	1:6	1.67	2	+0.33
Career Day	1:6	1.67	1	-0.67
Golden Giveaway	1:6	1.67	1	-0.67
Mound Dominance	1:8	1.25	1	-0.25
GM Wood	1:31k	0.0003	0	-0.0003
GM Platinum	1:31k	0.0003	0	-0.0003
			Total	-0.08

In conclusion, I was shorted 8% of an insert card. How awful, Topps!! I'm kidding of course, I don't think it'd be possible to get any closer than that.

Well that was a long post, so in case you've forgotten, I owe a thanks to Play at the Plate for another awesome contest. He runs them monthly and always had some cool prizes.