Archives Awakens My Slumber

"Who disturbs my slumberrrrrrrr?"

It turns out a blaster of Archives, of all products, is what pulled my from my card-blogging stasis. 

As a child of 90's, it was impossible for me not to use this Aladdin reference for my awakening. Furthermore, my nineties-upbringing is also what made this blaster so damn appealing, but more on that later.

We've all heard the gripes about this product this year, much better bloggers than I have covered them, so I'm not going to delve into that.  I'll just say that this product has never been anything more than "eh, it exists" to me.  So, then why did I decide to pick up the blaster?  I was really, really bored. 

I almost immediately regretted that decision too, as the box was really disappointing for most of the way through:

For instance, I pulled just one insert and it was of the annoying presidential sort - which, granted, was expected at a 1:8 chance.  It's just that I want baseball cards, not president cards - I'm simple like that.

This was the only parallel that I pulled.  Though I will forever associate Pence with Cubs prospect Corey Black beaning him in Spring Training this past March, he is not a guy that I collect and is totally up for trade.

Like the presidential insert, the Will Ferrell cards are inserted at 1:8 rate, so I knew I was getting one.  I had my fingers and toes crossed that I'd get the Cubs version; but, alas, I got the 2015 style Dodger card; which, by the way, seems like an odd style to use in a retro-themed product.

Anyone want to swap for a Cubbie blue Ferrell?

On top of that, (until the second to last pack) the blaster contained just one, singular Cub - Javy Baez. 

Now, I had no illusions of landing that stupidly short printed Bryant rookie; but, throw me a bone you stingy blaster!

The former golden boy has had a rough go in 2015 - between the death of his sister and his broken finger, but hopefully things turn around for him soon.  

I'll be hanging on to this one, as my Baez collection is only 3 cards deep.

There were a few guys who fit my player collections, which are anyone who ever played/coached/managed for the Cubs, so it wasn't a total loss at this point.  But, even though they are HOF'ers, they are enshrined for their accomplishments with other clubs.  Still, better than nothing, right?

However, right near the end (that second to last pack I alluded to earlier), the blaster redeemed itself in a big way by pulling at this nineties-kid's heartstrings:

Gracie was my guy as a kid, along with Ryno and Slammin' Sammy of course, but Grace was my favorite of favorites.  I vividly remember that my first baseball card trade ever was of my treasured Score Bo Jackson card for a SI for Kids insert of Grace.  That's love right there.

I had to pilfer these images because the bulk of my collection is in storage at the moment.

This autograph will now be forever representing the golden-gloved first baseman and hit king of the 90's in my CATRC.

Not to mention, these are selling for between $20-30 on Ebay right now, so I made my money back too (though I have no intentions to sell it).

So, what was almost a colossal disappointment, turned into an awesome purchase at the very last second.  Ah, the thrill of the hunt!

In the meantime, while I've been away from blogging, I have not been away from collecting.  I've made some pretty cool acquisitions in the past couple of months that I'll have to share with the interwebs.

Thank you Gracie for breaking me out of my blogging dearth!