The Zippy Zappy Fukubukuro: Part Three

When Zippy Zappy gives a lucky bag, the bag just keeps giving. It's like Mary Poppins' carpetbag.

 One of the team bag "packs" held a lot of minor league cards.

 Those first four cards cover the past four years of the NY-Penn League Top Prospects sets, though there were several more cards from each set in the pack!

 And a 2014 Brooklyn Cyclones card for good measure to go along with a Bowman parallel (retail only)!

 There were several cards from this cool retail box set that Topps issued in 2010 commemorating the Yankees 27 titles. Yes, Topps has done a lot of reprint and throwback issues, but I like this concept - one player from each of the Yankees World Champion teams. Many of the cards from the set were included, so I might just grab the missing ones and have a full set of my own!

And remember, according to the set's listing on Amazon.com:

• The Total Beckett Value for all 27 Cards is over $57 !!

 The last card I scanned from that pack was this pizza card! It's probably a good thing I didn't live in America this year, because I would have bought so much pizza. I hope Topps continues to team up with retailers for food and product issues - these are the kinds of things that attract kids to the hobby.

 I had a hard time scanning packs through my sheet-fed scanner. This is the best I could do for the first custom pack in the bag.

 A nice numbered parallel is a good start!

 As much as I dislike Bowman Chrome, these cards look really nice in person. The chrome shines well here.

 I'm not sure why I scanned the backs of so many of these cards. But this card is a reminder that I might some day go back and grab all the Topps Archives sets, even though I don't do Heritage.

 Another minor league card! Folks, if you have single minor league cards from team sets, I can use them. I have a spreadsheet somewhere, but unless it comes from around 1988-1991, I'm pretty sure I need it.

 More nice cards for my type collection! The Alcantara card is a Prospects card. It's hard to read his name thanks to the font choice. Rs and As look very similar in all capital letters.

 Yeah, that Salvador Perez Bunt card is numbered!

 A little Say Hey Kid from Bunt, too. I almost bought the set. I'm still interested in one of the insert sets.

 Oh, just a Jose Altuve card... from the Astros team set!

 The last pack for today's long post is this Bowman 2015 pack. But of course, there were no Bowman cards inside.

 A couple more Top Prospects cards!

Okay, I lied. There was one Bowman card inside. But it was Buck Farmer, my biggest super-collection!

 I don't think collectors have much of an actual choice when it comes to minor league team sets. Each team generally issues one set each year.

 In case you were wondering, here is the checklist from the NY-Penn League set.

 A couple more for the type collection.

 These cards keep popping up in random places. This is a 2014 Korean Super Star Baseball Card. It's designed to be used in a game, but NPB Card Guy and others have taken to just collecting the set.

The last card for the day is this Whitey. That's a good picture with Yankee Stadium in the background!

And yes, there is more to come. So, until then...

The Zippy Zappy Fukubukuro: Part Two

After getting through the box, my next task was to tackle the packs. Zippy Zappy's big bag included a few team bags of cards separate from the masses.

 Shiny from both baseball card companies.

 There were a few Paninis in there. But no paninis. I could go for a nice sandwich right now.

 I'll take Finest over Chrome any day.

 That said, these Bowman Chromes are destined for my type collection.

 Bowman Platinum looks better than Bowman Chrome this year.

 I don't know what the difference is, but the colors just pop better, like Finest does.

 My Nick plays on the double feature screen, your Nick went straight to DVD.
My Nick, bigger than a bridge. Your Nick...

 I'm not a prospector, but I like the idea of this insert set. It has purpose.

 Shiny vs. Not Shiny Yankees.

The next pack had some packs of its own.

 Outside the packs were a couple 2016 schedules. Since I don't have *a* team, collecting schedules is not a major goal. But I keep any schedules I get, and eventually I'll try to get one from every team, major and minor. These are always fun to pull out of a trade package! (By the way, anyone from Houston have any Altuve schedules?)

 The last card I'm going to show you came out of this pack. Zippy Zappy kept the other three cards, but I'm not complaining. Based on the odds, 360,000 total packs were made, with (up to) 4 cards per pack. There are three parallel tiers, cap relics with 1/1 logo parallels, and five 1/1 autographed relics. Again, based on the odds, only about 1:400 packs have anything other than base cards. I wonder if all the packs were given out, and what has happened with the parallels and hits.

Anyway, this is the card that was inside. I'm always happy with a Buster!

Are we done yet? Not even close! More Zippy Zapping to follow.

The Zippy Zappy Fukubukuro: Part One

Clearance sales are few and far between in Japan. But there is one thing to look forward to on New Years: Fukubukuros. Basically translating as "lucky bags", these are grab bags full of stuff worth more than the price of the bag. Whether it's actually worth the price to the consumer is another question altogether. Coffee shops usually include coupons for free coffee drinks, some ground coffee, and mugs or tumblers. Clothing shops fill their bags with clothes, and electronics stores give electronics. I have yet to buy a fukubukuro of my own, though I've come close on multiple occasions.

Part of the fun of the fukubukuro is the risk. Like a baseball card grab bag, you know the book value should be there, but you might be stuck with stuff you don't want. Or you could come across some awesomeness. There is no risk in getting a fukubukuro from Zippy Zappy, though - it's free, and custom tailored to the recipient!

Within two minutes of getting together, Zippy Zappy handed me a big dark blue plastic bag full of cards and other goodies. I resisted the temptation to sift through it, though I did give it a peek eventually. I've now unloaded the bag, and while time will tell exactly how much I "need", there was a lot of great stuff inside!

Most of the cards were stacked up in an old tissue box. You gotta do what you gotta do, right? 

 It started with this Star Wars sticker. Will I stick it to something? I just might.

 From there, it was a completely random assortment of cards. I love Topps Heritage team cards, by the way. These are the cards I use for World Series teams in my collection.

 Ripken! Sketch card! And more Ginter.

 Two things with pointy noses.

 There were a bunch of basketball and football cards in there, too. Zippy, did you test the waters with other sports once?

 Ivan Nova looks like he's pitching batting practice. Who can smile while throwing a curveball?

 More Heritage.

 1990s (well, early 2000s) insert!

 1988 Score! But it's not Bip Roberts.

The Satchel Paige is from the Ken Burns Baseball movie set. I just noticed now that this card has the GM logo on it, which I think means it's not from the base set.

 Modern stuff!

 This reminds me of that time I went to a hockey game right before the Olympics. All the players leaving the league temporarily to join their national teams were honored at that game.

 Two mascot cards. Wait. Ryan Howard isn't a mascot. Hah!

 Sure, the massive stack of cards had a lot of random stuff that won't fit in my type collection, but I think that Tampa Yankees single and purple parallel (Toys R Us?) should.

 More random parallelness for the type collection.

One less card I need to overpay for on COMC. (But how great is COMC?)

And with any card like this, I need to post a video:

More next time! Until then...