2002 Topps Hobby Box Break...

So I did some research into who I thought would be the next HOF'er who didn't already have one foot in the door.  My research yielded Joe Mauer and David Wright.  Naturally, I need their rookie cards, in base format.  Off to eBay I go and pick up a sealed hobby box of 2002 Topps for 15$ + 8$ shipping.  I got what I wanted:

I could have just bought the Mauer on eBay for roughly the same price.  But heck, why not get a hobby box?  Reasons for doing this are many:

1.  Potentially pull a GEM 10 Mauer (I did not, it's at most a 7)
2.  Still have nearly the entire set of 2002 Topps Series 2 (I nearly completed the set)
3.  Potentially pull a super short print (did not happen)
4.  Get to know the years that I missed (did happen)

Unfortunately this box was damaged.  And therefore 10% of the cards had a very bad corner.  70% had a noticeably bad corner.  The Mauer had a noticeably bad corner which is why I grade it only a 7 at best.  Also, the cards were all stuck together and the card itself was just plain ugly with the ugly brown border.  I got 3 gold parallels (hard to tell what was gold and what was base) but no HOF gold.  I also hit a 1952 Gold Reprint of Hank Bauer.

Until next time...