2016 Topps Heritage Minors recaps

I picked up a couple of pre-sell boxes from Blowout Cards and got them the same day the product officially hit the streets - from two boxes, it looks like I was able to complete a 200-card base set, which was a relief since I didn't want to worry about looking for any missing set cards.

I listed the contents of my breaks in a Google Sheets file to see how many cards towards the base set were in each box - the count was 124/200 in the first box and 125/200 in the second box with no apparent dupes.

The following cards listed are the various inserts / parallels and short prints I pulled from the boxes.

#1 Brendan Rodgers / Asheville Tourists - Sticker

#11 Andrew Benintendi / Portland Sea Dogs - Sticker
#16 Amir Garrett / Pensacola Blue Wahoos - Sticker
#17 Billy McKinney / Tennessee Smokies - Sticker
#22 Andrew Stevenson / Potomac Nationals - Sticker
#28 Hunter Harvey / Frederick Keys - Sticker
#32 Taylor Ward / Inland Empire 66ers - Sticker
#35 Ted E. Tourist / Asheville Tourists - Sticker
#38 Phinley / Clearwater Threshers - Sticker
#45 Reedy Rip’It / Greenville Drive - Sticker
#50 Rally Shark / Myrtle Beach Pelicans - Sticker
#6 Kyle Zimmer / NW Arkansas Naturals - Sticker
#CCR-RN Renato Nunez - Clubhouse Collection relic
#CCR-RT Raimel Tapia - Clubhouse Collection relic
#MM-10 Mike Hessman - Minor Miracles insert
#MM-12 Lucas Giolito - Minor Miracles insert
#MM-15 Ariel Jurado - Minor Miracles insert
#MM-3 Derek Fisher - Minor Miracles insert
#MM-5 A.J. Reed - Minor Miracles insert
#MM-8 Louisville Bats - Minor Miracles insert
#ROA-AE Anderson Espinoza - Real One autograph

#ROA-DJ Drew Jackson - Real One autograph
#147 Mauricio Dubon - blue border serial #’d 35/99
#15 Renato Nunez - blue border serial #’d 83/99

#150 Sean Newcomb - peach border serial #’d 14/25
#179 Victor Robles - blue border serial #’d 89/99
#86 Ryan Williams - blue border serial #’d 94/99
#201 Christin Stewart - short print
#202 Brendan Rodgers - short print
#205 Drew Jackson - short print
#207 Rafael Devers - short print
#211 Alex Reyes - short print

#215 Yoan Moncada - short print

Jose Fernandez - when it's it, it's it

I only knew of him as a star pitcher who had a God given right arm, so my big takeaway from Fernandez' death last Sunday is that you have to enjoy the run - because even for guys we put on a pedestal, watch on TV and have on fantasy teams, life can be fragile and unforgiving.

Fernandez was a 24-year old who had already endured and survived to be one of the world's best baseball players - he wasn't a guy who would have taken anything for granted, though it was still a somber moment for me to see the headline that he'd passed.

Besides the legacy he leaves as a big league player maybe his personality, his bravado and love for the game is what is going to be missed - if you didn't know much about the guy, I think those qualities is what will stand the test of time, combing through the highlights and the accounts of Fernandez's relatively short life.

Autograph request through the mail received: Ryne Sandberg

The Hall of Fame second baseman signed my two cards in blue Sharpie and sent them back in about a couple of weeks c/o a working address in Illinois - after seeing a fairly consistent stream of successes posted with Ryno, I finally put together a request on my own with a small fee and sent it out.

Featured autograph - Cody Ege

When he popped up on the Angels' active roster, Ege sounded like the most random guy ever - a 15th round draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 2013, the 25-year old lefty was traded to the Miami Marlins a couple years ago and then picked up on waivers by the Angels

Ege fits a profile of guy who may put in a couple of years playing at the big league level before fading out - I wondered how I was going to add his autograph to my Angels collection, but I picked up signed minor league card through the SCN message boards.

Andrew Benintendi Topps Now #385

Benintendi zoomed to the big leagues in his full professional season and I'd wanted to grab his MLB debut Topps Now card - so I had a MLB/MLBPA issued rookie year card that is kind of an oddball, since Benintendi's actually rookie cards were held back for next year.

However, I ended up getting Benintendi's second 2016 Topps Now instead - I had a feeling there would be a Topps card of Benintendi crashing into the left field railing to rob a Tampa Bay Rays batter [Steven Souza Jr.] of a home run.

Who knows if Benintendi will do at least a few more things this year that will warrant another Topps Now cards made - but the home run robbing card [846 printed] is a keeper.

Before getting injured in August and being out a little bit of time, Benintendi was really getting comfortable hitting in the big leagues - he just came back on Sept. 15 and was 2-for-6 combined with two doubles in his last two games played.

Featured autograph - Ryan Schimpf

Originally property of the Toronto Blue Jays, the 28-year old rookie has been one of the few highlights in a long season for the San Diego Padres - despite a .229 batting average, the lefty hitting Schimpf has tallied up 39 extra base hits in just 236 at-bats, including 19 home runs, 15 doubles and 5 triples.

At the very least, his impressive rookie season gives him at least a couple of more years to stick it out in the big leagues - when perhaps he was destined to be a career minor leaguer or someone who ends up playing overseas.

I got this 2010 Midwest League card signed earlier in the year during a trip to Las Vegas to graph the visiting Padres' AAA team - when I was pulling cards for the team, I knew I had the one Schimpf, though he was just another guy I had to track down for a scribble.

Featured autograph - Danny Goodwin

For a guy who was selected No. 1 overall in the nation twice, Goodwin was a bust - he's been pretty much obscured by history, but the one-time Angel was named to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

I picked up a certified autograph of his and then ended up with this stamped Topps buyback - I find it funny that Goodwin is posing with a glove when the position listed on the card is 'DH.'

2016 Bowman Platinum blaster box

This Walmart exclusive product seem to be flooding into various locations now and I grabbed a blaster and two 12-card packs - while I consider these cards a secondary, 'lesser' product, the foil board cards are a change of pace from the regular Bowman / Bowman Chrome products, which gets repetitive and boring.

Bonus pack
#93 Byron Buxton
#81 Eddie Rosario
#TP-DC Daz Cameron

#TP-DD David Dahl

Pack one
#41 Matt Harvey
#21 Nolan Arenado

#NG-18 Jacob deGrom - Next Generation insert green parallel serial #’d 79/99

#TP-WC Willson Contreras

Pack two
#23 Yoenis Cespedes
#59 Blake Snell

#NG-14 Kenta Maeda - Next Generation insert
#TP-RD Rafael Devers

Pack three

#26 Julio Urias
#5 Kris Bryant
#52 David Wright
AFL promotion info card
#TP-DA Domingo Acevedo

Pack four
#97 Carlos Correa
#71 Brian Dozier
#69 Michael Conforto
#TP-DA Orlando Arcia

Pack five
#22 Byung-Ho Park
#47 Jorge Soler

#NG-4 Kris Bryant - Next Generation insert
#TP-ABE Andrew Benintendi

Pack six

#1 Mike Trout
#8 Paul Goldschmidt
#46 Tyler Naquin
#TP-VG Vladimir Guerrero

Pack seven

#11 Michael Fulmer
#96 David Price

#NGP-3 Dansby Swanson - Next Generation Prospects insert
#TP-TC Trent Clark 

Angels Topps stamped buyback cards

These dingy old Topps cards add wrinkles to my Opening Day collection - the Topps buyback stamps make the cards a curiosity of sorts [even if the cards are literally fillers] and depending on a specific card or player, I might seek them out on impulse.

1965 Topps Bob Rodgers #342

1966 Topps Jim Fregosi #5

1966 Topps Bobby Knoop #280

1974 Topps Bob Oliver #243

1974 Topps Sandy Alomar #347

1977 Topps Orlando Ramirez #131

1978 Topps Joe Rudi #635