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.

2018 Topps Angels factory set purchases

I haven't really paid attention to these sets because they seems so basic, but I actually bought a couple of sets online - since there is a rookie year Shohei Ohtani card in the checklist and early 2018 Angels cards of Ian Kinsler and Zack Cozart.

I was thinking about buying only one, but I thought these are cheap enough where I’ll open one to actually play with and save one just for the heck of it - even though Topps floods the market with these team sets, the Ohtani card is an early year novelty.

FWIW - I have a 1993 Topps Stadium Club Atlanta Braves factory set I bought at a Walmart 25 years ago; it is probably the longest I’ve held onto a baseball card package [it’s in a blister pack of sorts - I’m afraid the cards may have stuck together since they were glossy and foil] unopened, though I any ‘investment potential’ was never there in the first place.