How quickly a box can turn

It is funny how one's feelings about a box can change from disappointment to excitement in the span of two packs, but that is what happened with my box of 2002 Topps Gallery. My last post was about my first hit of the box. Well, today with only 7 packs left I opened a much larger hit of as likable a player.
Now clearly Gwynn does not have the following that Griffey Jr. does, but I have always preferred the high batting average (and now high on base percentage) players to the big HR guys (see my appreciation of John Olerud and Edgardo Alfonzo). As a kid I used to separate cards that would go in my binder from those that would be filed away in a box by batting average: below .300 and the player went to the box, above .300 and the player had a shot at the binder. Gwynn, of course, was the best of a generation when it came to batting average and contact.

The use of the bat as a palette is kind of interesting, I'm not sure how I feel about it. However, I really like the painting of Gwynn, so this is a keeper. Considering the fact that the odds of pulling one of these was 1:169 packs and that other players in the sub-set included Jaun Gonzalez and Jose Conseco I think I did pretty well. Actually, even the autographs in this set weren't that great with Lance Berkman as the best non-yankee of the group.

This also happens to be the first game used bat card I have pulled from a pack, so I will be holding onto it for that reason as well.

Awesome, now I can open the remaining six packs without any expectation and wait for my box of 2008 UD Masterpieces which I will be breaking in its entirety as part of my Opening Day festivities.