TTM autographs received: Burke Waldron

The 93-year old WWII veteran who threw out the first pitch before a Seattle Mariners game in 2016 signed my two cards in blue ink [one personalized] in about a couple of weeks - Waldron also sent a two-page note and sent a small info card for the Latter-day Saints, with the inscription 'And I'm a 'Mormon' written.

Maybe it's the least that can be done for someone who served his country and who has lived as long as he has - but it's nice for Waldron to get his 15-minutes of fame and be immortalized on a baseball card insert of his own.

I made it a point to send to an autograph request to Waldron with two First Pitch insert I found - after it became a thing where TTM collectors reported successes from him.

2016 Topps retail factory set pick-up

I wanted to stop at a Walmart to see if there was any exclusive 2016 Topps Holiday Mega Boxes or 2016 Topps Archives Baseball 65th Anniversary Edition [about $25 for a box featuring a pack of cards with an autograph] in stock - unfortunately the Walmart closest to me on the way home has never had a card section and it's been the case for the past 10 years when I've gone there to look for cards.

I was hoping to find a card section near the counters but literally the only thing I found was a 2016 Topps factory set [about $60] - with a commemorative Mike Trout stamp relic card.

The retail factory sets piqued my interest at Target when I saw one of the Ichiro bonus cards featured a yen relic - I was tried to read up on the different factory sets and found out there were these Trout stamp cards.

I guess I wanted at least one of Trout stamp relic even though they just seem gimmicky - the common, unnumbered versions currently go for about $10-$15 each on eBay.

I thought about it for a moment and decided I might as well grab this set - the stamp relic card in this box was actually the Gold version serial #’d 38 of 50 and while it’s all silly to me, according to the Beckett story about all these Topps factory sets, the Gold versions are found in every 21 sets.

The last time I bought a Topps factory set was December of 2006 - when the bonus cards featured a Mickey Mantle ‘worn’ relic of some sort [not even related to him playing baseball].

That 2006 set is collecting dust on one and I never did bother to break that one open - I’m not likely to break this 2016 set open either, just keep it intact and hope the box / contents survive for quite a while.

2016 Topps Series II hanger box

#620 Daniel Hudson
#610 Adam Morgan
#446 Tom Murphy

#514 Michael Taylor
#638 Michael Pineda
#519 Kyle Barraclough
#676 Jarred Cosart
#525 Jurickson Profar
#432 Cameron Rupp
#411 Brian Matusz
#574 Ryan Dull
#452 Gerrit Cole
#565 Matt Den Dekker
#454 Greg Holland
#378 Jeff Mathis
#459 James Loney
#467 Giovanny Urshela

#360 Eduardo Escobar
#615 Miguel Castro
#690 Jimmy Nelson
#556 Abraham Almonte
#388 Evan Longoria
#666 J.T. Realmuto
#635 A.J. Pierzynski - Gold parallel serial #’d 1140/2016
#KID-17 Ken Griffey Jr. - A Tribute to the Kid insert
#3000-19 Ichiro - Chasing 3K insert
#BB-2-1955 Roberto Clemente - Berger’s Best insert
#HH-13 Robin Yount - Hallowed Highlights insert
#FP-13 Edward Burns - First Pitch insert
#CTG-6 Kyle Schwarber - Changing of the Guard insert
#MLBD2-12 Bill Mazeroski - MLB Debut insert
#376 Brandon Barnes
#462 Jumbo Diaz
#499 Carlos Perez

#489 Adeiny Hechavarria
#643 Elite Meet & Greet - feat. Cespedes and Wright

#657 Johnny Giavotella
#471 Kolten Wong
#681 Joe Smith
#679 Nate Jones
#362 Cory Spangenberg
#488 Colton Murray
#408 Jason Castro
#497 Devin Mesoraco
#601 Leonys Martin
#575 Ryan Strausborger
#480 Mike Foltnewicz
#521 Chris Archer
#559 Cliff Pennington
#381 Bartolo Colon
#639 Rubby De La Rosa
#416 Johnny Cueto
#364 Keon Broxton
#636 Arodys Vizcaino
#384 Michael Morse
#396 Matt Reynolds
#515 Ryan Flaherty
#430 Ariel Pena
#662 Masahiro Tanaka
#544 Jeremy Jeffress

#619 Dustin Ackley
#509 Mark Canha
#543 Carlos Rodon
Info card / 50 cents off 

#527 Jordy Mercer

#438 Paulo Orlando
#602 Keith Hessler

#398 Cleveland Indians team card
#377 Scott Kazmir
#594 Lonnie Chisenhall

#590 Anthony Gose
#545 Hector Santiago

#492 Many Healthy Returns - feat. Molina and Grichuk

2016 Topps Series I hobby jumbo pack

After a prolonged hiatus, I decided to drop by my LCS to stave off some boredom - in addition to small stash of loose cards I put together, I was looking to bust some loose packs.

I balked at the single pack prices [maybe $4-$6] for stuff like 2016 Panini Diamond Kings and 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen - though 'old news,' I knew I hadn't picked up my lone jumbo pack of 2016 Topps Series I for my breaking ritual, so I settled for that.

#18 Francisco Rodriguez
#99 Taijuan Walker
#194 Chase Headley
#17 Billy Butler
#300 Buster Posey
#113 Aaron Sanchez
#9 Eric Hosmer
#267 Chris Heston
#298 Ryan Braun
#230 Ryan Vogelsong
#56 Salvador Perez - World Series Highlights
#172 Carter Capps
#142 C.C. Sabathia
#273 New York Mets team card
#166 2015 NL RBI Leaders - feat. Arenado, Goldschmidt and Rizzo
#65 Pittsburgh Pirates team card
#BB-33 Don Mattingly - Berger’s Best insert
#P-11 Kris Bryant - Perspectives insert
#265 Luis Severino - Rainbow Foil parallel
#WRIG-5 Jake Arrieta - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert
#PIS-4 Michael Cuddyer - Pressed Into Service insert

#TLR-YM Yadier Molina - Topps Laser Relic insert serial #’d 28/99
#39 Mark Trumbo
#106 Jordan Walden
#347 Jason Grilli
#104 Jeremy Hellickson
#173 Jose Abreu
#159 Erick Aybar
#295 Jonathan Schoop
#102 Doug Fister
#312 Curtis Granderson
#149 Chad Bettis
#66 Kyle Schwarber
#40 Jedd Gyorko
#191 Brian Johnson
#83 Starling Marte
#287 Alcides Escobar
#226 Brian Ellington

TTM autographs received: Aaron Nola

The Philadelphia Phillies pitcher signed my two cards in black ink - I mailed this out in early February and got it back on Opening Day.

There doesn't seem much to Nola's autograph, though I'm glad I got my request back sooner than later - the 22-year old looks to be the ace of a rebuilding Phillies team.

2016 Topps Series I 72-card hanger box

#327 Anthony Rizzo

#190 Jeurys Familia

#328 Anthony DeSclafani

#163 Joaquin Benoit

#115 Aaron Harang

#269 Giancarlo Stanton

#77 Clay Buchholz

#158 Henry Urrutia

#15 Ryan Howard

#26 AL Home Run Leaders - feat. Davis, Cruz and Trout

#289 Nick Hundley

#126 Papi and the Prince - feat. Ortiz and Pujols

#181 Minnesota Twins team card

#185 AL ERA Leaders - feat. Price, Keuchel and Gray

#315 San Diego Padres team card

#108 Ben Paulsen

#BB-10 Bill Mazeroski - Berger’s Best insert

#350 Kris Bryant - Rainbow Foil parallel

#FP-5 Evelyn Jones - First Pitch insert

#WRIG-22 Rafael Palmeiro - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert

#P-4 Bryce Harper - Perspectives insert

#MLBD-9 Yu Darvish - MLB Debut insert

#AM-5 Nolan Ryan - Amazing Milestones insert

#62 Trayce Thompson

#64 Corey Kluber

#35 Luke Hochevar

#118 Jose Fernandez

#218 Andrew Miller

#228 Matt Garza

#304 Charlie Furbush

#208 Kurt Suzuki

#68 Odubel Herrera

#239 Huston Street

#82 Michael Bourn

#296 Yordano Ventura

#258 Devon Travis

#145 Jon Niese

#74 Troy Tulowitzki

#133 Aaron Nola

#201 Adam Jones

#194 Chase Headley

#17 Billy Butler

#300 Buster Posey

#113 Aaron Sanchez

#9 Eric Hosmer

#267 Chris Heston

#298 Ryan Braun

#230 Ryan Vogelsong

#234 David Robertson

#276 Francisco Cervelli

#349 Ben Revere

#58 NL ERA Leaders - feat. Greinke, Arrieta and Kershaw

#139 Yasiel Puig

#53 George Springer

#221 Ryan LaMarre

#MLBW-4 Los Angeles Dodgers - Wacky Packages sticker insert

#259 Paul Goldschmidt

#232 Michael Conforto

#138 Francisco Liriano

#19 Delino DeShields Jr.

#293 Hyun-Jin Ryu

#92 Darren O’Day

#196 Hunter Strickland

#244 Matt Carpenter

#86 Wilmer Flores

#271 Kevin Kiermaier

#213 Matt Shoemaker

#319 Adam Wainwright

#134 Yadier Molina

#55 Jesus Montero

#116 Brett Gardner

#38 Jed Lowrie

#264 Jake Arrieta

2016 Topps Series I 36-card jumbo pack

I picked up a retail jumbo and a 72-card hanger box of this year's flagship product - as seen on other card blogs and eBay, I like how Topps has incorporated many unique images in a card design that feels a bit different than in past years.

A minor quibble would be over the Perspectives inserts - I guess people like them for the strong image selections, though the 'Perspectives' banner is distracting to me and perhaps I would have liked a more 'traditional' way to label these inserts.

#350 Kris Bryant

#37 C.J. Cron

#84 Mookie Betts

#184 Travis Jankowski

#112 Matt Kemp

#209 Max Scherzer

#290 Zack Godley

#47 Gio Gonzalez

#127 Zach Lee

#237 Carlos Ruiz

#155 New York Yankees team card

#162 2015 AL RBI Leaders - feat. Donaldson, Davis and Bautista

#170 New Order - feat. Gomez, Correa and Altuve

#21 Mike Moustakas - World Series Highlight subset

#318 Washington Nationals team card

#66 Kyle Schwarber - Gold parallel serial #’d 1365/2016

#WRIG-5 Jake Arrieta - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert

#P-24 Nolan Ryan - Perspectives insert

#MLBD-24 Satchel Paige - MLB Debut insert

#WOW-10 Jose Abreu - Walk Off Wins insert

#70 Kendrys Morales

#97 Ender Inciarte

#88 Ubaldo Jimenez

#45 Ryan Zimmerman

#150 Clayton Kershaw

#146 Stephen Piscotty

#141 Colin Rea

#52 Julio Teheran

#160 Chris Sale

#344 Jonathan Lucroy

#193 Trevor Bauer

#28 Brian McCann

#215 Adrian Gonzalez

#6 Jimmy Paredes

#107 Kevin Siegrist

#320 Jake Peavy