Monday, April 5, 2021

Breaking Good - 2020 Panini Diamond Kings

If there's a positive that has come from the lack of cards at my local Wally World, it's that I've had a little extra money for other avenues. I've joined a few small group breaks over the past year, and the cards have started to come in.
 
Over the summer, I joined a group break hosted by Chris over at Nachos Grande. He opened up a box of 2020 Panini Diamond Kings. The price for the Red Sox was within my budget (cheap!) so I signed up.

Before the main event, Chris was nice enough to open a few bonus packs from various sets. Three of those packs netted me some extra Red Sox cards:
 
 
Schilling and A-Gone were the only needs from this lot, the rest I already had (If you're one of those types of collectors  that loves all those 80's Donruss variations, then I guess the Cerone might qualify - it was the first of it's particular variation (pack border, no dot after the INC) that I entered into the TCDB. I doubt I'll have the energy to check all my other 1990 Donruss Rick Cerones to see which variables they really are.)

The Panini Diamond Kings set features 7 Red Sox players in the base set, and interestingly enough, none of them are active players. To be honest, that was actually a point in its favor for me and why I joined the break. The lack of a proper MLB license hurts Panini, but with those older pre-World War I era guys you really don't notice.
 
In the end, I ended up with 3 Red Sox 4 Boston players: 
 
 
I was surprised to see Eddie Mathews there. Yep, technically he is a player from a Boston team, but we all know that it wasn't with the Red Sox. If whoever claimed the Braves in this group break feels slighted, I'll gladly pass the card along. Otherwise, I don't mind adding another Hall of Famer to my collection.

One thing I've learned is that I have developed a bad habit when it comes to these group breaks. Normally, the cards don't automatically get shipped to you. You have to request them. That way you can participate in a bunch of breaks and have all your cards shipped for one shipping fee. That was my intent, too. I joined another of Chris's group breaks later that fall...and then forgot about them. I didn't have Chris ship my cards until last month. Whoops! 

Favorite Card: What the heck, Mathews was a pleasant surprise, so why not?

Thanks for the cards Chris!

3 comments:

  1. Good cards. I enjoy the affordable and cheap breaks as well. Very fun.

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  2. The image on the Tris Speaker card is lot different than the ones he usually gets.

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  3. Nothing wrong with an unexpected HOFer! I enjoy Chris's breaks and I'm hoping to sign up for another one soon.

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