2015 Panini Contenders blaster box 2 of 2

Pack one
#35 Zack Erwin
#28 Cody Poteet
#20 Brandon Koch
#22 Donnie Dewees - Game Day Tickets insert
#40 Braden Bishop - School Colors insert

#46 Tyler Jay - Old School Colors insert

Pack two
#11 Anthony Hermelyn
#1 A.J. Minter
#31 Dansby Swanson

#1 Yoan Moncada - Passports insert
#17 Jake Lemoine - School Colors insert
#4 Craig Biggio - Old School Colors insert

Pack three
#10 Andrew Stevenson

#91 Tony Gwynn
#83 Robert Refsnyder
#9 Jon Harris / Tate Matheny - Collegiate Connections insert
#5 Andrew Benintendi - School Colors insert
#14 Tony Gwynn - Old School Colors insert

Pack four
#76 Pete O'Brien

#70 Michael Conforto
#1 Dansby Swanson - autograph; Draft Ticket blue foil parallel
#23 Scott Kingery - Class Reunion insert
#29 Mikey White - School Colors insert
#29 Kyle Schwarber - Old School Colors insert

Pack five
#65 Luke Weaver

#61 Mike Schmidt
#58 Tyler Beede

#20 Alex Young - Game Day Tickets insert
#8 Breckin Williams - School Colors insert
#39 Breckin Williams - Old School Colors insert

Pack six
#56 Jon Harris
#19 Braden Shipley

#27 Triston McKenzie - autograph
#9 Yoan Lopez - Passports insert
#31 Anthony Hermelyn - School Colors insert
#10 Bo Jackson - Old School Colors insert

Pack seven
#9 Richie Martin

#99 Will Clark
#90 Thomas Eshelman
#6 Dansby Swanson / Rhett Wiseman - Collegiate Connections insert
#47 Zack Erwin - School Colors insert
#20 Kevin Newman - Old School Colors insert

2015 Topps Heritage hanger box recap II

I bought this earlier in the year and finally ripped it open - hoping to see some sort of big hit pull or redemption for one

I was in a bored stupor going through these 35 cards - as is, I probably could have left this unopened for a bit longer.

#366 Alex Cobb
#26 Ryan Zimmerman
#306 Rafael Ynoa / Jackson Williams
#411 Ryne Sandberg
#362 Carlos Beltran
#246 Kyle Gibson
#312 Jon Singleton
#278 Mike Morse
#174 Neftali Feliz
#67 Dilson Herrera / Erik Goeddel
#410 Rajai Davis
#158 Trevor Cahill
#135 Conor Gillaspie
#160 Michael Pineda
#467 Paul Goldschmidt - SP
#NAP-18 Troy Tulowitzki - New Age Performers insert
#TN-1 Harmon Killebrew / Nelson Cruz - Then and Now insert
#THC-34 Todd Frazier - Holofoil parallel
#THC-437 Josh Hamilton - Holofoil parallel
#THC-462 Felix Hernandez - Holofoil parallel
#THC-60 Matt Holliday - Holofoil parallel
#THC-477 Ian Desmond - Holofoil parallel
#280 Howie Kendrick
#359 Steve Cishek
#138 Tony Gwynn Jr.
#125 Jon Jay
#389 Shin-Soo Choo
#217 Giancarlo Stanton / Anthony Rizzo / Lucas Duda - National League Home Run Leaders
#262 Huston Street
#140 Aroldis Chapman
#78 Joe Panik
#39 Marcus Stroman
#132 Travis Ishikawa
#194 Nationals 1st Place NL East Division
#341 Terry Collins

2015 Panini Contenders blaster box 1 of 2

I wanted to see what these cards look like so I picked up a two-box blaster of lot - to mainly pull assorted cards of players drafted this past year.

Because this product is currently $130 per hobby box on Blowout Cards, it may not be a heavily broken down product like Bowman Draft - where there might be hand collated base sets available left and right.

Maybe I'm missing something, but this lot might be a reasonable purchase - especially with two autos [even if they are the $2 variety] per box as sort of a bonus to whatever else I'm going to pull.

The design and images are fairly sharp - as far as player content, in addition to 2015 draftees, there are players from previous drafts, international players and also retired MLB stars / legends who played in college.

Though this product isn't licensed by MLB/MiLB, Panini has an agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company - so while college baseball isn't followed as strongly as football or basketball, cards of players who came out of college can be tied back with their particular schools.

Pack one

#45 Grayson Long
#39 Drew Smith
#32 Dave Winfield
#23 Yairo Munoz - Passports insert
#24 Brett Lilek - School Colors insert
#23 Aaron Judge - Old School Colors insert

Pack two
#24 Carson Fulmer
#15 Blake Trahan

#5 Alex Bregman
#21 Russell Wilson / Trea Turner - Collegiate Connections insert
#38 Blake Trahan - School Colors insert

#44 Ozzie Smith - Old School Colors insert

Pack three
#95 Tyler Jay
#86 Skye Bolt

#78 Philip Pfeifer
#13 Cody Poteet - Class Reunion insert
#1 Dansby Swanson - School Colors insert
#2 Reggie Jackson - Old School Colors insert

Pack four
#71 Michael Matuella
#49 Ian Happ

#21 Eric Jenkins - autograph; Draft Ticket blue foil parallel
#10 Kevin Newman - Game Day insert

#3 Dillon Tate - School Colors insert
#12 Paul Molitor - OId School Colors insert

Pack five
#44 Garrett Cleaviger
#38 Donnie Dewees

#31 Dansby Swanson
#21 Teoscar Hernandez - Passports insert
#27 Andrew Suarez - School Colors insert
#27 Hunter Dozier - OId School Colors insert

Pack six
#23 Brent Lilek
#14 Barry Larkin

#42 Bryan Hudson - autograph

#19 Aaron Judge / Taylor Ward - Collegiate Connections insert
#6 Carson Fulmer - School Colors insert
#37 Carson Fulmer - OId School Colors insert

Pack seven
#4 Aaron Nola
#94 Tyler Beede
#85 Scott Kingery
#11 Richie Martin - Class Reunion insert
#46 Tate Matheny - School Colors insert
#42 Andrew Suarez - OId School Colors insert

Topps [1978-present] card run

I finally went through the cards I had for all 30 MLB teams and listed them in a Google Sheets file - this projects seems to be a little tedious because I have to try and make a wantlist for cards I may not be interested in chasing after at the moment, though I do want a showcase of Topps cards for each of the current MLB teams.

The goal is to find a player's card for each team, for each of the years - anything highlighted in red means I need the particular card, anything listed in black is the card I already for the team/year and any blank spaces are spots I still have to figure out with regards to selecting a card.

For whatever reason, I chose 1978 as the starting year for this project since I figure that is already at least 37 years worth of cardboard to pore over - even if I'm not going all the way back through the old-school/vintage Topps years.

While 1978 is the starting point, the plan is find cards for the present year going forward - for as long as I have this itch for this particular project.

One rule for this project is not having a player represented more than three times - as much as I'd like certain players from particular teams represented as much as possible, I want a variety of different players.

Another rule [I may actually about to break starting from 2015] is only using cards from flagship Topps sets - I actually found some 'stragglers' that were part of update sets that I removed.

However, I'm missing a 2015 Houston Astros card and while I can fill it with a random Astros card - I think a 2015 Topps Update Carlos Correa would fit in perfectly.

Featured autographs - Garrett Richards and Sonny Gray

2015 Topps Triple Threads Garrett Richards UAJR-GR - Unity Autograph Jumbo Relics Sepia serial #'d 14/75

2015 Topps Triple Threads Sonny Gray UAJR-SG - Unity Autograph Jumbo Relics Sepia serial #'d 06/75

Certified autograph cards of MLB players seem to be a dime a dozen and within a product like 2015 Topps Triple Threads - maybe there one too many variations of basically the same type of card, with just a different color scheme and serial numbering.

These cards will never be worth more than what I paid for them since they are not considered big hit pulls from the product - however, for about the price of a blaster box, I like the idea I was able to pick up a pair of nice looking cards featuring a couple of pitching aces.

2015 Bowman Chrome Miguel Sano #PP 8

I picked this Prospects Profiles Minis insert up for a dollar because it's shiny and it pictures a guy who had quite a rookie season - the card probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I don't like that it's kind of odd-sized and doesn't quite look like a 'stand alone' card.

I want to say there may have been some novelty in the idea this maybe an early card - but Sano has had at least several years worth of prospect and minor league cards.

Featured autograph - Ryan McMahon

It looks like McMahon has had certified autograph cards since 2013, so this 2015 Bowman Inception card probably just another miscellaneous card - it did catch my eye and I picked it up for $4 since I thought it was a nice looking card serial #'d 17/99.

McMahon appears to be a solid hitting prospect who may get a boost if he gets to play in Colorado - even with Nolan Arenado entrenched at third base, he could probably reach the Major Leagues at some point within the next couple of years.

Collecting projects - and the beat goes on

I've had flings with starting an Angels frankenset, tinkering with my award winners collection and trying to tweak my personal collections list - while I'm not a kid anymore and maybe the hobby of trading cards has been 'over' a long time ago, I'm still thinking up various ways to mess around with my cards.

Other card projects I have on my mind include:

1.) Topps year-to-year card run [1978-present] for each 30 MLB teams - this has been a dormant project for me, though I’d like to go through the cards I have and create a wantlist so I have some cards to chase after like a 1978 Topps Johnny Bench and a 2016 Topps Buster Posey [when next year's cards come out] for their respective team runs.

2.) Collecting topics / mini-collections - I want to be able to list the various mini-collections cards I've picked up this year like this 2014 Topps Chrome Yosmil Pinto [awesome action] as 'yearly achievements' and occasionally account for cards I've picked up from previous years but haven't really bothered to list.

A problem I have is my mini-collections spreadsheet seems to have gotten too bloated to upload to Google Sheets - while I want my mini-collection information in one database, I'm thinking about listing 'prominent' mini-collections in separate 'stand alone' files.

3.) Building up my A-Z singles collection as sort of a refined showcase of sorts - I'd like to list cards that fit my 'A-Z singles' criteria [not quite PC cards, probably more like random pulls and finds that may have some appeal depending on what the player does] and also physically have the cards together in one place as opposed to being scattered around.

Maybe having a collection of 'A-Z singles' is kind of like fantasy sports - where I try to keep up with players' performances to see which guys are hot and not.

4.) Angels Opening Day sets - maybe inspired by at least a card blogger or two, maybe I want to put together a collection of cards featuring Angels opening day lineups.

Maybe my Angels cards are just kind of 'loose' all around - so much like with my frankenset project, maybe a goal is really to use up much of my base and ‘lesser’ insert cards for something relevant.

2015 Topps Update hanger box break

Even though it's just a bunch of cards to me at this point - though there maybe an eclectic mix of players past and present found here.

#US-38 Michael Lorenzen
#US-30 David Phelps
#US-325 Matt Kemp
#US-205 Andres Blanco
#US-157 Noah Syndergaard
#US-122 Marlon Byrd
#US-263 Pedro Strop
#US-296 J.B. Shuck
#US-179 Adam Liberatore
#US-352 Jose Reyes
#US-112 Conor Gillaspie
#US-200 Adam Jones
#US-132 Gerardo Parra
#US-12 Travis Ishikawa

#FHR-1 Ernie Banks - 1st Home Run insert / gold foil
#FHR-26 Kennys Vargas - 1st Home Run insert / gold foil
#US-318 Phillippe Aumont
#US-13 Tommy Pham
#US-223 Kevin Jepsen
#US-81 Pat Venditte
#US-326 Jonathan Herrera
#US-256 Danny Dorn / Darrell Ceciliani
#US-28 Miguel Cabrera
#US-121 Alexi Ogando
#US-377 Taijuan Walker
#US-40 Sam Dyson
#US-149 Thomas Field
#US-201 Jose Altuve
#US-314 Rafael Betancourt
#US-290 Zach Britton
#US-49 Mark Canha
#US-27 Nathan Eovaldi
#US-5 Ryan Vogelsong
#US-379 Cameron Maybin
#US-32 Blake Swihart
#US-382 Dan Uggla
#US-35 Justin Bour
#US-390 Donovan Solano
#US-334 Clint Barmes
#US-354 Brandon Finnegan
#US-63 Kelvin Herrera
#US-88 Marc Rzepczynski
#US-391 Clayton Richards
#US-209 Prince Fielder
#US-3 Tyler Wilson
#US-70 Vance Worley
#US-140 Mark Melancon
#US-322 Mat Latos
#H-68 Bob Lemon - Highlight of the Year insert

#US-290 Zach Britton - Rainbow Foil

#RS-18 Derek Jeter - Rookie Sensations insert

#US-64 David Price - Pink parallel serial #'d 19/50

#TMB-1 Jose Canseco - Tape Measure Blasts insert
#PP-2 Curtis Pride - Pride and Perseverance insert

#518 Rajai Davis - Target Throwbacks parallel
#US-156 Colby Rasmus / Jake Marisnick / George Springer - Amazing Astros
#US-242 Kris Bryant

#US-251 Carlos Correa - Rookie Debut subset
#US-253 Trevor Rosenthal 
#US-79 Kris Bryant / Addison Russell - Rookies Rising
#US-109 Anthony Ranaudo
#US-143 Tommy Hunter
#US-241 David Ortiz / Pablo Sandoval / Hanley Ramirez - Sluggers Supreme
#US-50 Alex Guerrero
#US-85 Justin Nicolino
#US-43 Randall Delgado
#US-11 Evan Gattis
#US-55 Hank Conger
#US-174 Carlos Correa
#US-327 Ryan Webb
#US-123 Felix Hernandez
#US-168 George Kontos

2015 Topps Chrome Update box recap #2 of 2

Box two

Topps Chrome Update packs 

Pack one
#US-286 Francisco Lindor
#US-324 Carlos Rodon
#US-362 Rick Porcello
#RSC-18 Derek Jeter - Rookie Sensations insert

Pack two
#US-16 John Axford
#US-280 Mike Bolsinger
#US-388 Kevin Pillar
#US-46 David Price

Regular Topps Update

Pack one
#US-10 Bobby Parnell
#US-183 Justin Turner
#US-3 Tyler Wilson
#US-70 Vance Worley
#R-7 Anibal Sanchez - Rarities insert
#US-253 Trevor Rosenthal
#US-79 Kris Bryant / Addison Russell - Rookies Rising
#US-184 Sean Rodriguez

Pack two
#US-36 Roberto Perez
#US-161 Jeff Samardzija
#US-140 Mark Melancon
#US-322 Mat Latos
#H-67 Red Schoendienst - Highlight of the Year insert
#US-109 Anthony Ranaudo
#US-170 Mike Foltynewicz
#US-388 Kevin Pillar

Pack three
#US-328 Brandon Morrow
#US-285 Josh Rutledge
#US-87 Zack Greinke
#WW-13 David Ortiz - Whatever Works insert
#US-169 Max Scherzer
#US-108 Adonis Garcia / Jeffry Marte - Rookie Combos
#US-207 Chris Young
#US-103 Joey Gallo

Pack four
#US-331 Orlando Calixte
#US-309 Howie Kendrick
#US-218 Pedro Ciriaco
#US-305 Ryan Tepera
#US-125 Ben Revere - Gold parallel serial #'d 0133/2015
#PP-3 George Springer - Pride and Perseverance insert
#US-234 Noah Syndergaard
#US-141 Glen Perkins

Pack five
#US-387 Jonny Gomes
#US-31 Gordon Beckham
#US-366 Kelly Johnson
#US-273 Justin Upton
#MLB-7 Joe Panik - MLB All-Star Game Access insert
#US-213 Mike Trout / Albert Pujols - Home Run Halos
#US-378 Devon Travis
#US-392 Odrisamer Despaigne

World Series champs Kansas City Royals

I wouldn't have thought Christian Colon would get the opportunity to come through and get game-winning hit to lead the Kansas City Royals to their first championship since 1985 - even though Colon had been obscured as a utility guy, I guess it should be no surprise since he's just another valuable cog the Royals were able to trot out.

Though I probably wanted the New York Mets to stretch out the World Series to at least a Game 6 - the Royals were relentless and were not going to be denied, while the Mets kind of just ran out of magic.

Though I take no particular interest with the Royals, in the aftermath of their accomplishments in 2015 - it's kind of fun searching for what was written in the last five years when it came mocking and/or deriding the organization's apparent non-commitment to building a winning franchise.

Maybe with the Royals getting to the World Series in 2014, some of the doubt from the baseball pundits kind of went by the wayside - however it's much more interesting to read some of the doom and gloom now, with the Royals actually winning a championship, rather than when they fell short of their run last year.

2015 Topps Chrome Update box recap #1 of 2

I picked a couple up for $14.99 each even though, the way the Chrome Update cards are distributed seems stingy on Topps' part - at least a couple more Topps Chrome Update packs would make these boxes less of a feast or famine purchase.

Box one

Topps Chrome Update packs - apparently a 'Bubble/Pulsar Refractor' finish to these cards is the standard and I sort of like it.

Pack one
#US-238 A.J. Cole
#US-392 Odrisamer Despaigne
#US-319 Will Harris
#RSC-4 Mike Piazza - Rookie Sensations insert

Pack two
#US-319 Will Harris - nice collation Topps
#US-398 J.T. Realmuto
#US-257 Josh Hamilton
#RSC-14 Jose Abreu - Rookie Sensations insert

Regular Topps Update - eight card packs

Pack one 
#US-84 Sean O'Sullivan
#US-78 Kris Bryant
#US-250 Danny Valencia - Rainbow Foil parallel
#RSC-5 Carlton Fisk - Rookie Sensations insert
#US-307 Hector Santiago
#US-193 Angel Castro / Arnold Leon 
#US-50 Alex Guerrero
#US-85 Justin Nicolino

Pack two
#US-204 Jeff Francoeur
#US-196 Paulo Orlando
#US-271 Mike Leake
#US-310 Clayton Kershaw
#MLB-4 Yadier Molina - MLB All-Star Game Access insert
#US-100 Andrew McCutchen
#US-59 Rafael Martin / Matt Grace
#US-43 Randall Delgado

Pack three
#US-381 Sergio Romo
#US-120 Brandon Cunniff
#US-97 Josh Ravin
#H-68 Bob Lemon - Highlight of the Year insert
#PP-5 Jason Johnson - Pride and Perseverance insert
#US-114 Jason Garcia / Scott Copeland
#US-380 Buster Posey
#US-398 J.T. Realmuto

Pack four
#US-395 Dexter Fowler
#US-131 Jordan Pacheco
#US-29 Ben Paulsen
#WW-15 Alex Gordon - Whatever Works insert
#US-154 Paul Goldschmidt
#US-159 Darren O' Day
#US-138 Dellin Betances
#US-117 Enrique Hernandez

Pack five
#US-38 Michael Lorenzen
#US-30 David Phelps
#US-360 Joc Pederson
#US-192 Albert Pujols
#US-8 Alex Claudio - Gold parallel serial #'d 1853/2015
#US-52 Cody Anderson / Phil Klein
#US-134 Steven Matz
#US-25 Byron Buxton