1953 Topps Minnie Minoso #66 find

At a show I went to, I ended up leafing through this seller's bargain bin boxes sitting off to the side - I've seen the person wandering around at other shows and while he seems to do a lot of wheeling and dealing, he seems to be more of a private collector where he might not have a physical shop. 

Maybe his off-condition vintage boxes piqued my interest, despite the idea I didn't know if I was willing to spend anything - I spotted this card of Minoso for $5 and while the condition isn't great, it's a 60-year old card of a 'new' Hall of Famer. 

I might have had other things in my mind however, but as I ended up going through a $3 or '2 for $5' box at another table - I gave up where I couldn't pair up a couple of cards together.

I took a breather outside and thought I should circle back to the table with the playing era Minoso - where it might be a no brainer keeper compared a different combination of cheap-o cards.

I let things be where I might have lingered other tables while seeing another person going through the boxes - when I finally got to coming back around, was able to find the Minoso card again. 

However, the seller was in middle of a big time deal / trade where he might have been getting back a few cards and the other person was getting back a whole box collection of assorted slabs and other various cards - here I am waiting my turn to show the seller the card I wanted and once he was done, I was finally able to get his attention for a moment to make my purchase.

2018 Topps Living Set Gleyber Torres #34

For me, it's been the year of the Topps Living / Topps Now cards - as far as random card purchases go, it fills the gap as far having a card or two to pick up that is timely and specific to a player or team.

I remember the old-school / junk wax era years of picking up cards of guys labeled as future stars, thinking you were going to have a gold mine in hand - in 2018, the definitive 'must have' cards of any young rookie are simply out of reach unless willing to spend hundreds and/or thousands of dollars on prospect cards.

On the other hand, it's fun to pick up a pair of rookie-year cards [$5 and change each] featuring the newest New York Yankees rookie sensation - since he could be a all-star talent in pinstripes for the next 10-15 seasons.

I tend to think that even if there might be 50,000 cards printed of this card - it will be absorbed by collectors and others for future considerations.

2018 Topps Living Set Ronald Acuna #19

At the end of April I picked up a couple of copies on eBay for $5 each and just got the cards in-hand this week - wanting to keep up with the occasional hot rookie chase, I'm trying to see where I can channel impulse purchases from loose unopened packs and blasters to relevant Topps Now or Topps Living Set singles.

With over 45,000 cards made, no one was sleeping on these rookie year Acuna cards, though they should be nice cards to put away - according to what I've read on the Blowout Cards forums, these cards are condition sensitive, though ones I received had no obvious imperfections.

2018 Topps Living Set Albert Pujols #22

Pujols's Topps Living Set card maybe a topical pick-up since he collected his 3,000th hit and join three others with 3,000 hits / 600 home runs - it's not that I've completely warmed up to the Topps Living Set, but it's kind of a no-brainer to spend $5 on a Living Set card of a hot rookie or a guy from 'my team?'

Because it’s an ongoing set, I just don’t know if there will be any sort of completion or closure - but maybe a plan is to pick up Topps Living Set cards of Angels players when they pop up.

2018 Topps Living Set Shohei Ohtani #7

I think heard about this new Topps product in the past couple of weeks and I don't really get how this set is supposed to come together - I think collectors want something that can be tied to a particular set with beginning and a definite ending.

If I was a set collector, team collector or player collector, I would want closure as far as knocking off specific cards from a set checklist in a given year - not something that is going to meander for years to come, without an apparent finish line to cross.

The 1953 Topps inspired design is fine, but why did Topps need to recycle another 'retro' style as opposed to using something original and fresh for something design with a living set in mind [?] - the old-time design was probably decided upon to appeal to collectors' familiarity with Heritage and Archives, though it's been 65 years since the original issue 1953 Topps cards came out.

Go figure, it wasn't too hard of decision to pick up an Ohtani single for about $5 and I see this card as kind of a unique issue - at least something I can't pull out of a pack from a Target or card shop.

Besides his terrible spring outings as a hitter and a pitcher, I believe Ohtani's immense talent will play out - he collected his first big league hit on Opening Day and it would be nice if he does something with the bat in the next couple of games, then showcases his pitching talent on Sunday.

2016 Topps Archives blaster recap

I busted a blaster box of this year's Topps Archives and my thoughts [from a 2015 Topps Archives pack break] about the card stock sticks - I do realize these cards just have to be inspired by and do not have to be exactly like the original Topps cards from 1953, 1979 and 1991.

Maybe the cards from Topps Archives is what the finished product would look like - if the people putting together the original cards [whether in 1953, 1979 or even in 1991] would have been able to use current day photo editing software, print on cleaner card stock and in the case of 1953, print in the standard trading card size.

1953 Topps design - I see these as more of an extension of the 2002 Topps Heritage set, rather than the original 1953 Topps cards; maybe my favorite design because of the vintage Topps aesthetics, particularly for the guys that are playing right now.

1979 Topps design - I have an idea of the look and feel of late 1970s Topps cards and while 'old-school cool,' the original cards were a little grimy with the backs a little too drab.

1991 Topps design - I've collected my share of 1991 Topps and while I don't expect these cards to exactly mimic the originals, these remind me more of the cards from various mid 2000s Topps Fan Favorite products, than the junk wax era [some jazzy images, but low definition quality] originals.

Pack one
#105 Max Kepler
#70 David Robertson
#138 Curtis Granderson
#69 Collin McHugh
#142 Dellin Betances
#85 Joe Mauer
#172 Joey Votto
#269 Adrian Gonzalez
#292 Andrew Miller
#224 Hunter Pence

Pack two
#164 Jacob deGrom
#86 Alex Rodriguez

#187 Kole Calhoun
#21 Travis d’Arnaud

#161 Jose Fernandez
#17 Elvis Andrus
#85DP-RM Rick Monday - 1985 Topps #1 Draft Pick Set insert
#216 Rougned Odor
#207 Chris Davis
#232 David Peralta

Pack three
#182 Joe Morgan
#81 Ralph Kiner
#171 George Kell
#106 Oscar Gamble
#96 Duke Snider
#176 Willie McCovey

#69TS-LS Luis Severino - 1969 Topps Super insert
#296 Edgar Martinez
#284 Catfish Hunter
#246 Gary Carter

Pack four
#16 Tony Fernandez
#158 Gary Sheffield
#5 Richie Shaffer
#36 Hal Newhouser
#173 Billy Williams
#10 Billy Hamilton

#FS-FF Tito / Terry Francona - 1985 Father-Son Recreate insert
#217 Hector Olivera
#241 Rob Refsnyder
#234 Jake Arrieta

Pack five

#97 Randal Grichuk
#116 Stephen Vogt
#18 Chris Sale
#156 Yasiel Puig
#46 Gio Gonzalez
#151 Frank Thomas

#69TS-DG Dee Gordon - 1969 Topps Super insert
#268 Carl Edwards Jr.
#251 Bobby Doerr
#238 Rod Carew

Pack six
#107 Corey Kluber
#64 Brad Ziegler
#170 Brandon Belt
#56 Brian Johnson
#198 Adam Wainwright
#33 Bucky Dent

#90 Carl Yastrzemski - Blue border parallel serial #’d 100/199
#201 Jackie Robinson
#264 Luke Jackson
#299 Hector Rondon

Pack seven
#60 Stephen Strasburg
#174 Tom Murphy
#53 Greg Bird

#110 Jose Canseco
#3 Doc Gooden
#197 Reggie Jackson
#55 Fergie Jenkins
#204 Miguel Cabrera
#257 Giancarlo Stanton
#229 Billy Butler

Pack eight
#123 Luis Severino
#45 John Smoltz

#192 Vladimir Guerrero
#115 Early Wynn
#48 Brooks Robinson
#112 Roberto Alomar
#BD-J Jimmy - Bull Durham insert
#266 Hisashi Iwakuma
#221 Cole Hamels
#293 Craig Kimbrel