Thoughts on 2011 Topps Marquee

It is rare when I can afford one of the higher end packs of cards, so when I am able to, it is a good day for me.  The bad thing about spending so much on one pack of cards is that if I get some scrub, it is really hard for me to want to take that kind of plunge again.

So, that being said, I went to the local card shop today to load up on supplies for this weekend's card show (come out and see me, I will be the guy wearing a bright orange Orioles shirt) and decided to get some packs.  I got 2 packs of Lineage (will post those in a later post), a pack of 2011 Finest and a pack of 2011 Topps Marquee (for $50 a pack...).

I opened the box and got base cards of Adrian Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz and the Clayton Kershaw pictured at the bottom of this post.  I had looked up hits from marquee on Ebay before I busted the box; some of it was impressive and some of it was underwhelming.  When I saw what my pull was going to be, I was pleasantly surprised:

A Titanic Threads #6/99 Hank Aaron.  I'm not sure if I want to part with this card; I think I want to keep it in my personal collection.  That is unless someone were to blow me away in a trade or cash.  I'm so glad I pulled Hank, as opposed to pulling a Pedroia or something...

Here is the base Kershaw.  The base cards are really sharp.  They kind of remind me of the Stadium Club cards that Topps put out in 2008 or so.