2002 Topps 206 Odds and Oddities - Joey Votto

[bn2cardz]

I have been looking for the Votto mini from the 2002 Topps 206 for a while even though I was getting out. I have a UZIT, Sweet Caporal Red, and the common Polar Bear. I have not been able to find a Blue and Black Sweet Caporal. I also couldn't find any good information on the odds of these backs.



So today I decided to open a box of Series three I had. I had planned to keep it closed, but I finally got tempted to look. This information may not matter to most people and may not be exact from box to box, but since I couldn't find any help online I thought I would post my findings here for others if they are searching for the same answer.

Here is the mini backs break down of the Series 3 box:

20 Packs, 1 mini/pack:
13 Polar Bear
3 Sweet Caporal Red
2 Sweet Caporal Blue
1 Sweet Caporal Black
1 Uzit

I also had a Series 1 box. I know these don't carry the Votto card, but had fun opening boxes so I did this one also.

mini breakdown Series 1 box:
12 Polar Bear
4 Tolstoi Black
2 Tolstoi Red
1 Cycle
1 Blank Back - This is the oddity promised in the title since I have not seen that a blank back is suppose to exist. I assume this should be a Tolstoi Red based off the findings listed below for Series 2.



A few months back I did open a Series 2 box and kept cards together. I pulled that box out today to add the odds to the other series.

mini breakdown Series 2 Box:
12 Polar Bear
4 Black Piedmont
3 Piedmont Red
1 Carolina Brights

I also watched some box breaks on youtube for series 2:
Box 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkxcugm169g
11 Polar Bear*
5 Piedmont black**
1 Pied Red
1 Carolina Brights
1 pack missing mini

*didn't mention the back on one card, but I assumed it was PB since he made a point to mention the other backs.

**Didn't mention the colors of one of the Piedmonts and it wasn't on screen, but he was excited by the red Piedmont, and even mentioned his 1 red Piedmont and 1 CB at the end of the video leading me to believe the one he didn't mention the color of off screen was black

Youtube box 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpKRCTcbqu0:

14 Polar Bear
4 Piedmont Black
1 Piedmont Red
1 Carolina Brights

Also just another bit of fun:
I did also pull an original t205 from the series 1 box. What is great about that it was a Hoffman Piedmont Second base white. Hoffman t205s were cards I was studying because there were a few variations I noticed and brought up in another thread.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=192728

[swarmee]

Nice Hoffman: I'd give it a 2.5 Good +.

The odds weren't on the pack or box?
Some of the odds are listed here:
http://www.baseballcardpedia.com/ind...2002_Topps_206

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Nice Hoffman: I'd give it a 2.5 Good +.

The odds weren't on the pack or box?
Some of the odds are listed here:
http://www.baseballcardpedia.com/ind...2002_Topps_206

The mini back odds aren't listed anywhere, other than the Bazooka, Drum, Lenox, and AB as those were limited to 30 or less. Though based on these numbers we can assume there were approx. 371,100 packs distributed for Series 3 (Since Votto is in Series 3 and started this off in the fist place).

If we go off that approximate number of packs with one mini per pack there should be 371,100 minis. Subtract out the 625 Baz, Drum, Lenox and AB and you are left with 370,475 distributed over the other brand backs. If my box pull was typical the distribution should look like this:

240,809 Polar Bear
55,571 Sweet Cap Red
37,048 Sweet Cap Blue
18,524 Sweet Cap Black
18,524 Uzit

There were 165 subjects so for any particular subject I would think it is close to these numbers:
1459 PB
337 SC Red
225 SC Blue
112 SC Black
112 UZIT

Of course this is based off the small sample size of one box and expecting the BAZ, Drum, Lenox odds are correct (The AB odds worked out to more packs).

This should still be helpful for people like myself when it comes to looking for any particular backs.

[swarmee]

For what it's worth, there were three red back ones on COMC with the one listed in March 2016 selling for $41. There hasn't been a blue back Votto on COMC since 2013 and that one sold for $26, highest of the four that were on site.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by swarmee

For what it's worth, there were three red back ones on COMC with the one listed in March 2016 selling for $41. There hasn't been a blue back Votto on COMC since 2013 and that one sold for $26, highest of the four that were on site.

I do remember that red one. I didn't purchase it and found mine on ebay. The blue one's were before I was looking and before I was on COMC, but would have been willing to pay the $26 for one.

I will state another reason I am sure these are hard to find isn't just the low print runs, it is the fact that there was 6 years between their printing and his 2008 Rookie season causing these to be forgotten about in common boxes in storage.

[Pat R]

Hi Andy,

That blank back is cool, I bought quite a few boxes of these back in
2002 and I've never seen one. After reading this thread I looked
and found two series three boxes that I had opened but kept
the cards in the box. Here's the mini breakdown of the two boxes.

13 Polar Bear
3 Sweet Caporal Red
2 Sweet Caporal Blue
1 Sweet Caporal Black
1 Uzit

12 Polar Bear
4 Sweet Caporal Red
2 Sweet Caporal Blue
1 Sweet Caporal Black
1 Uzit

One of them was a Votto but it's a Red Sweet Caporal.

[Aj-hman]

Originally Posted by bn2cardz

The mini back odds aren't listed anywhere, other than the Bazooka, Drum, Lenox, and AB as those were limited to 30 or less. Though based on these numbers we can assume there were approx. 371,100 packs distributed for Series 3 (Since Votto is in Series 3 and started this off in the fist place).

If we go off that approximate number of packs with one mini per pack there should be 371,100 minis. Subtract out the 625 Baz, Drum, Lenox and AB and you are left with 370,475 distributed over the other brand backs. If my box pull was typical the distribution should look like this:

240,809 Polar Bear
55,571 Sweet Cap Red
37,048 Sweet Cap Blue
18,524 Sweet Cap Black
18,524 Uzit

There were 165 subjects so for any particular subject I would think it is close to these numbers:
1459 PB
337 SC Red
225 SC Blue
112 SC Black
112 UZIT

Of course this is based off the small sample size of one box and expecting the BAZ, Drum, Lenox odds are correct (The AB odds worked out to more packs).

This should still be helpful for people like myself when it comes to looking for any particular backs.

Here is a larger sample size from this release. It may change the Sweet Caporal Black numbers. I am not a stats guy but thought I would put it out there if anyone wanted to crunch some numbers.

2003 Topps 206 Case Break 9/10 boxes

Box1
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBlk Roberts
1 Uzit Carter
GU Palmerio
GU Garciparra

Box 2
13 PB
3 SCR
1 SCB
2 SCBlk
1 Uzit
GU Johnson
GU Menkwitch
GU Gwynn

Box 3
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBLK
1 Uzit
GU Vaughn
GU Rodriguez
Auto Bradley

Box 4
13 PB
3 SCR
1 SCB
2 SCBLK
1 Uzit A. Rodriguez Blue Jersey
GU Gonzalez
GU Tejada
Buyback T206 Weimer SOV 150

Box 5
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBLK
1 Uzit

Box 6
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBLK Upton
1 Uzit
GU Dunn
GU Schilling
GU Palmerio

Box 7
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBLK
1 Uzit
GU Piazza
GU Edmonds
Buyback T206 Lennox Piedmont 350

Box 8
12 PB
4 SCR
1 SCB
1 SCBLK
1 Uzit
*1 Lenox Alex Rodriguez
GU Tejada
Auto Thames

Box 9
13 PB
3 SCR
1 SCB
2 SCBLK
1 Uzit Halladay
GU Dunn
GU Palmerio
Auto Lopez

Additional Box Break Not from Case
13 PB
3 SCR
2 SCB
1 SCBLK
1 Uzit Meyers
GU Piazza
GU Patterson

[Aj-hman]

Just curious if anyone has ever seen any of these Series 1&3 Autographs: Series 1- Boone, Soriano, Floyd, Backsmeyer, Giambi and Series 3- Hinske, Lowell, Hunter, Soriano, Thome, LoDuca. These are on the checklists but I do not see them for sale. In 2002 when the set first released I believe I saw a Boone but that was a long time ago so I may be mistaken.