Father/Daughter Pack Wars - Round 4: 2011 Topps Baseball vs. 2010-2011 Donruss Hockey

With the NHL draft over and free agency starting, I decided to pick up some hockey cards. I had my daughter with me, so of course, when she sees daddy get something, she wants the same thing. I decided to get another blaster of her choosing and turn our occasional Pack Wars feature into a blaster box edition. Since I had yet to get any Donruss hockey from this year, I decided to give them a try, and luckily for me, the girl decided to pick up something I am collecting, 2011 Topps Baseball.

Here's what we got:

2010-2011 Donruss Hockey

7. Arturs Kulda Rated Rookie - Kulda played in a whole two games during the 2010-2011 season, with 0 goals, 0 assists, and a -2 rating. Ouch. I was, however, happy to pull a rookie SP and happy to see they kept the Rated Rookie logo.

6. Jordan Staal - A base card of one of my favorite Penguins. Can't go wrong there.

5. Brenden Morrow - Yes, the Penguins are my team, but since I live in Texas, I do have some love for the Stars.

4. Evgeni Malkin - Like the Staal, but twice as awesome.

3. Patrick Roy Ice Kings - I have always loved the Diamond Kings cards that Donruss put out for baseball, and if you're going to pull one, you could do much worse than one of the greatest goaltenders of all time.

2. Jimmy Howard The Goalies - I LOVE the look of these inserts. The scan doesn't do it justice, but the cards are clear to give it an icy look. A great enough insert style to make me love a card of a Red Wing.

1. Peter Budaj Boys of Winter Jersey - It's one thing to get a hit from a blaster, but getting a non-guaranteed hit is an extra bonus. White jerseys are pretty boring, but the nice thing with an Avalanche jersey is that you almost always get bright, full colors from the swatches.

2011 Topps Baseball

7. Jayson Werth Commemorative Patch - The guaranteed "hit" from the box. I would have ranked it higher, but Topps, in its infinite wisdom, put a Washington Senators patch with a Nationals player. It would be an understandable error, if they hadn't already gotten it right with a few Expos patches in Series 1. Still, a great looking card.

6. Evan Longoria and David Price 60 Years of Topps Original Backs (2009) - While some don't like the reprint sets, I'm a fan, even if I'm getting a reprint from 2 years ago. The only frustrating thing with this one is that I got the original back (not building the set) instead of the 60YOT back (I am building the set).

5. Sandy Koufax Topps 60 - I really like this set, especially, the old-timers

4. Joey Votto Diamond Stars - Another GREAT looking insert set from Topps this year. Once I get the full 25-card set, it will look great in a binder.

3. Babe Ruth Kimball Champions - Like everyone else, I love this set, and pulling a Ruth means I won't have to pay big bucks to buy it as a single.

2. Mickey Mantle 60 Years of Topps - I know Topps has flooded the market with Mantles, but it's always good to pull one.

1. Jose Reyes Diamond Sparkle SP - I actually didn't see this one at first, and almost missed it the second time I flipped through my stack. It may be a strange gimmick, but the cards are extremely rare, and might get me something nice on ebay.

Well, I thought I had this one, up until I noticed the Reyes. The jersey cards are usually good enough for a win, but there's no competing with that Reyes.

Updated scorecard -      Matt: 1   The Girl: 3