2015 Topps Archives blaster recap

I impulsively picked up a couple of blaster boxes [the other was 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen] even though I'd already put them back on the shelves once as I went to the check out counter - I had figured with other things going on, none of the cards I might pull would fit anything I'm trying to do and would only add to the card clutter I've hoarded and otherwise mismanaged.

As is, I should have gone with my better judgement and left the blasters where I found them in the card section - the cutesy Archives inserts are missing from years past and I'm also vaguely aware that the short prints are harder to pull.

Pulling mostly base cards, I didn't care how thin the card stock was and the cards look fine - maybe I can't be making snap judgements busting only one retail box, but I felt like these should probably be $10 blasters i.e. like 2015 Topps Opening Day.

Pack one
#248 Catfish Hunter
#66 Dalton Pompey
#192 Matt Barnes
#WF-2 Will Ferrell - Seattle Mariners
#175 Masahiro Tanaka
#211 Kenley Jansen
#33 Oswaldo Arcia
#134 Duke Snider
#213 Brooks Robinson
#35 Eddie Murray

Pack two
#261 Gary Brown

#82 Buster Posey - I just like this card, so I posted a picture of it.
#155 Brian Dozier

#109 Steven Moya - Silver parallel serial #'d 198/199
#173 Ryan Zimmerman
#267 Nick Castellanos
#61 Tanner Roark
#197 Bob Lemon
#214 Orlando Cepeda
#43 Alcides Escobar

Pack three
#232 Carlos Gomez
#74 Devin Mesoraco
#129 Drew Smiley
#188 Yoenis Cespedes
#298 Trevor Rosenthal
#25 Yasiel Puig
#195 Adrian Beltre
#272 Adrian Gonzalez
#89 C.J. Wilson
#116 Carlos Carrasco

Pack four
#277 Edwin Encarnacion
#67 Jose Altuve
#142 Khris Davis
#274 Jose Reyes
#187 Matt Harvey
#292 David Ortiz
#8 Jayson Werth
#210 Carlos Santana
#28 Elvis Andrus
#120 Felix Hernandez

Pack five
#86 Mookie Betts
#118 Ryan Braun
#270 Nelson Cruz

#PC-GF Gerald Ford - Presidential Chronicles insert
#199 Joey Votto
#290 Jason Kipnis
#73 Ian Desmond
#245 Garrett Richards
#44 Jonathan Lucroy
#102 Ken Giles

Pack six
#59 Yadier Molina
#176 Zack Wheeler
#203 Yu Darvish
#164 Aroldis Chapman
#260 Andrelton Simmons
#15 Jason Rogers
#190 Daniel Norris
#291 Jose Bautista
#27 Lorenzo Cain
#183 Matt Shoemaker

Pack seven
#64 Shin-Soo Choo
#174 Trevor Bauer
#265 Starlin Castro
#21 Billy Hamilton
#208 Cory Spangenberg
#58 Bruce Sutter
#124 Phil Rizzuto
#242 Manny Machado
#95 Pablo Sandoval
#113 Salvador Perez

Pack eight
#140 Austin Jackson
#257 Andrew McCutchen
#68 Aaron Sanchez
#207 Fergie Jenkins
#69 Nomar Garciaparra
#179 Frank Robinson
#243 Phil Hughes
#46 Tyson Ross
#194 Yusmeiro Petit
#216 Wil Myers

Fairfield assorted 20 pack repack mix #2

This box didn't end up having as much juice as the first repack box - though the cards may not be worth much individually, the nicer cards came out of the five 2013 Topps Archives packs.

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum
#69 Nick Swisher
#84 Felix Hernandez
#85 Ichiro
#DJ 91 Derek Jeter - Retrospectrum insert

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum
#82 Tim Lincecum
#98 Vernon Wells
#95 Ian Kinsler
#SS-TH Tim Hudson - Spectrum Swatches insert / jersey card
#65 Derek Jeter
#33 Troy Tulowitzki

2012 Topps 
#10 Jon Lester
#154 Ty Wigginton
#TM-35 Zack Greinke - 1987 Topps minis insert
#TT-17 Joe Morgan / Brandon Phillips - Timeless Talents insert
#42 Drew Pomeranz
#283 Brandon Allen
#285 Drew Storen
#131 Ian Desmond
#27 John Buck
#194 Danny Duffy

2013 Bowman Platinum
#BPP 91 Michael Wacha
#54 Josh Hamilton - Gold parallel
#68 Johnny Cueto
#BPP 90 Marcel Ozuna

2013 Bowman Platinum
#44 Jarrod Parker
#BPCP 94 Ty Hensley - refractor
#60 Will Middlebrooks
#BPP 67 Joey Gallo

2013 Topps Series I
#54 Jaime Garcia
#236 Joe Nathan
#308 Desmond Jennings
#43 R.A. Dickey
#277 Brendan Ryan
#4 Yadier Molina
#268 David Lough
#247 Luis Perez
#TM-42 Willie Mays - 1972 Topps minis insert
#146 Kyle McClellan
#102 Denard Span
#237 Brandon Lyon

2013 Topps Series I
#44 Anthony Rizzo
#275 Johnny Cueto
#135 Eric Hosmer
#255 Josh Johnson
#23 Jemile Weeks
#100 Mike Moustakas
#231 Melky Mesa
#TM-18 Carlos Santana - 1972 Topps minis insert
#32 Craig Breslow
#180 Casey Kotchman
#258 Doug Fister
#159 Felipe Paulino

2013 Topps Series I
#329 Rafael Soriano
#38 Brian Wilson
#133 James Shields
#120 Ian Desmond
#207 Matt Holliday
#330 Ryan Raburn
#266 Albert Pujols
#CD-18 Chris Sale - Chasing the Dream insert
#221 Heath Bell
#312 Scott Hairston
#71 Kyle Kendrick
#208 Kurt Suzuki

2013 Topps Series I
#16 Andre Ethier
#52 C.C. Sabathia
#137 Edinson Volquez
#34 Felix Hernandez
#179 Detroit Tigers - 2012 ALCS Game 4
#35 Justin Verlander
#288 Starling Marte
#183 Drew Hutchison
#241 Jacoby Ellsbury - Emerald parallel
#164 Lucas Harrell
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jon Niese

2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#141 Carlos Santana
#22 Clayton Kershaw
#213 Alex Rodriguez
#263 Ted Lilly
#85 Sean Doolittle
#187 Nick Maronde
#111 Casey Kelly
#CD-25 Mike Moustakas - Chasing the Dream insert
#215 Gordon Beckham
#279 Vicente Padilla
#168 Kyle Farnsworth
#211 Jarrod Parker

2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#28 Prince Fielder
#155 Mat Latos
#113 Starlin Castro
#115 Tim Hudson
#17 Shin-Soo Choo
#149 Yovani Gallardo
#254 Sean Burnett
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jonathon Niese
#152 Jose Contreras
#177 Elliot Johnson

2013 Topps Archives
#27 Manny Machado
#88 Derek Holland
#102 Matt Moore
#169 Pedro Alvarez

#83-BH Bryce Harper - 1983 All-Stars insert
#178 Giancarlo Stanton
#1 Babe Ruth
#69 Eddie Mathews

2013 Topps Archives
#182 Andre Ethier
#35 Adam Dunn
#74 Miguel Montero

#MT-DJ Derek Jeter - Tall Boy insert
#66 Tim Hudson
#125 Kyle Lohse
#199 Eric Hosmer
#33 Corey Hart

2013 Topps Archives
#77 Tony Cingrani
#144 Paul Molitor
#184 Kyle Seager

#MT-BP Buster Posey - Tall Boy insert

#GH-JR Jackie Robinson - Gallery of Heroes insert
#154 Yovani Gallardo
#4 Marco Scutaro
#78 Johan Santana

2013 Topps Archives
#163 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#15 Mike Morse
#58 Cole Hamels

#MT-DM Denny McLain - Tall Boy insert
#142 Willie Stargell
#175 Yogi Berra
#18 Jon Lester
#62 Jacoby Ellsbury

2013 Topps Archives
#182 Andre Ethier
#35 Adam Dunn
#74 Miguel Montero
#117 Carlos Santana

#83-BP Buster Posey - 1983 All-Stars insert
#70 Ozzie Smith
#147 Hiroki Kuroda
#155 Wilin Rosario

2013 Topps Chrome
#67 Ryan Vogelsong
#132 Ricky Nolasco
#155 Adam Eaton - refractor
#49 Andrew McCutchen 

2013 Topps Chrome
#189 Alfredo Marte
#CC-MH Matt Harvey - Chrome Connections insert
#55 Mike Olt
#122 Adrian Beltre

2013 Topps Chrome
#160 Ian Kinsler
#177 Mike Moustakas
#213 Gio Gonzalez - refractor
#166 Jackie Bradley Jr.

2013 Topps Opening Day
#172 Manny Machado
#93 Justin Upton
#SC-8 Ryan Zimmerman - Superstar Celebrations insert
#35 Justin Verlander - blue parallel serial #'d 1666/2013
#24 Tommy Milone
#160 Johan Santana
#43 Pedro Alvarez

The one hit included with the 20 packs was a 2003 Flair J.D. Drew Diamond Cuts jersey card #DC-JD - Drew was a fine ballplayer when healthy but was more than a little detached, so he wasn't a traditional fan favorite.

Featured autograph - Buster Posey

In another 'mess up,' I might have lost another binder of cards, including this signed card of San Francisco Giants star Buster Posey when the Chicago White Sox played the Angels - fortunately I was able to recover my 'book' the next day at the ballpark when I checked with guest relations and the woman I spoke with checked a lost and found log.

I must have gotten the card signed in spring training in 2009 - besides a 2008 Bowman Chrome certified autograph I paid way too much for, I've never gotten the other guy on the Posey signed card.

I probably should leave the card 'as is,' as I got the guy who turned out to have a more prominent MLB career as opposed to the up-and-down disappointment - but I'd like to finish it off somehow.

Ranking the 30 MLB teams on my watch - San Francisco Giants #11 of 30

Buster Posey's numbers at the plate fell off a bit after having an MVP season in 2012 - maybe he was a bit hurt or banged up, but a healthy Posey obviously goes a long way in dictating how the Giants do in the next few years.

Even when the Giants crashed in 2013, their front office has proven they can make some savvy moves with the money to make up for any mistakes in signing particular free agents that go bust - so they'll probably retool the pitching staff and try to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.

Starting pitcher Tim Lincecum was re-signed and has extended his stay in San Francisco - but may never get back into the superstar form that made him 'The Freak' and his numbers as he turns 30 maybe 'as is.'

Lincecum overpowered hitters in his prime - now it's about battling himself, battling his control and trying to keep things in check on a start by start basis.

The seemingly metronomic Matt Cain had an off year - though his numbers besides his wins/losses and overall ERA seem to indicate he didn't have such a terrible season, especially in the second half.

Out of some of the pitching woes the Giants suffered, soft spoken Madison Bumgarner emerged as their ace this past season - putting together a fine year with just over 200 innings pitched, with just about the same number of batters struck out while allowing only 146 hits.

2013 Topps Heritage retail jumbo pack recap

Maybe the card stock is a little thinner and the cards don't have the same texture and feel as Heritage cards from other years - the cards seem a little cleaner in-hand and the images are a little sharper than in previous years [where Topps would doctor the images for a 'faux' retro look].

Top section

#267 Marco Estrada
#159 Desmond Jennings
#233 Jeremy Hellickson
#389 Frank Francisco
#175 Alfonso Soriano
#80 Jay Bruce

#BF-SS Shea Stadium - Baseball Flashbacks insert
#106 Mike Leake
#364 Russell Martin

#26 Angel Pagan - not quite a star but after bouncing around early in his MLB career, he helped the San Francisco Giants win the 2012 World Series and has established himself as a borderline All-Star talent.

Bottom Section

#14 Josh Wall / Paco Rodriguez - 2013 Rookie Stars
#420 Bronson Arroyo
#344 Andrew Bailey
#133 Chris Perez
#53 Tyler Pastornicky
#333 Mike Minor
#124 Ryan Cook
#401 Alex Presley

#423 Matt Cain / Buster Posey - Tops in NL subset
#223 James Loney

2010 World Series preview - San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants match up well against the Texas Rangers - except they don't have the middle of the order bashers like Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz and Vladimir Guerrero.

Shortstop Juan Uribe has sort of been a fan favorite in San Francisco - even though he is a player statheads don't like because he makes too many outs.

However he is a key player for the Giants even with his feast-or-famine ability at the plate - his bat got the Giants to the World Series, so he must have done some good things for his team this season.

The rest of the Giants' hitters have to show up with rookie catcher Buster Posey needing to have a big series - most 'baseball experts' and Giants fans have been clamoring for this guy to play all season long and he's proven them right even through the postseason.

Now, he has show up his former mentor [Bengie Molina] and has to compete [at the plate as well as behind the plate] - to see which guy leads his team to a World Series title.

I don't think anyone feels bad for Barry Zito, who signed a $126 million contract to pitch for the Giants - but imagine being once counted upon as the ace of the pitching staff, only to watch your team reach the World Series without your contributions.

I thought some sentimentality would at least play out in finding a World Series roster spot for Zito - but I guess his performance doesn't merit being given an opportunity to appear in the World Series.

The Giants are a good team that reached the World Series - believe they will give the Rangers a fight and perhaps upset another supposed title contender in the making.

I don't know what this guy's deal is, but it was funny watching him punk Chris Rose, who seems like the most genial, wholesome sportscaster - I didn't realize how good this guy has been as a closer in the past year either.

2010 National League Division Series preview

San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves
The Giants should be poised to stick around in the playoffs - a starting trio of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez looks pretty impressive while the Giants' smorgasborg of castoff hitters may just give the lineup enough offense.

It has been no surprise, but catcher Buster Posey has been pretty impressive since taking over the No. 1 catching position for the Giants - he seems like a young guy who can explode with the bat, particularly in a short series.

The Braves made the playoffs despite pretty much some smoke and mirrors - Chipper Jones is hurt, Martin Prado is hurt, Nate McLouth had a terrible year and whipping boy Melky Cabrera is still penciled in as a guy who is going to play a lot, even though admittedly his bat falls short.

Braves rookie Jason Heyward has been a phenom and may give the Braves the sort of inspiring performance to boost them to the National League Championship Series - while Heyward seemed banged up for parts of the season, the 21-year old picked up 91 walks and had a .393 on-base percentage overall in 2010.

There is a story about 2010 being Bobby Cox's last hurrah in Atlanta - not to be a buzzkill, but it wouldn't bother me either way, if his Braves get dusted by the Giants in the Division Series, just to upset the 'feel good' narrative of beloved old-timey, fuddy-duddy skipper leading his team to one last shot of glory under his helm.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds
The Phillies go one-two-three in the NLDS with Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels - general manager Ruben Amaro has been derided for trading off Cliff Lee, but his Phillies are the best team in the National League, with the best pitching staff and a balanced lineup with Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Shane Victorino, et al.



While the Reds don't seem as good on paper as the Phillies - they have Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips among the cast of characters that make for a solid lineup.

Their bench strength should be great with Laynce Nix, Miguel Cairo, Chris Heisey, etc - look for one of these guys to contribute.

A key for the Reds is getting away from staying with a starting pitcher too long, finally making a move in haste to bring in a reliever and watching the reliever implode - the Reds have Aroldis Chapman, a 105 MPH throwing 'big gun' in the bullpen.

Dusty Baker and his coaching staff cannot stick with a starting pitcher who is going to be laboring into the late innings - basically they have to make deft moves and have to think outside the box, even if it means ruffling some feathers with some guys and their presumed roles i.e. Francisco Cordero.

It doesn't seem like the Reds will be able to stay with the Phillies - the Reds' chances of upsetting the Phillies in the NLDS however will depend less on talent, but whether or not Baker micromanages too much, particularly under duress.

2010 Topps T-206 Value Pack recap

2010 Topps T-206 Value Pack [$4.99 x1 at Target] - I don't like the idea of the 'hatless' images used for these cards, but an unintended consquence [that is actually a good thing] is I have cards to add to my 'hats-off' collection of cards [where players are pictured without wearing any caps and/or batting helmets].

Top compartment of the rack

#211 Jered Weaver - looking kind of grim faced; probably the side effect for pitching so well as the ace of a decidedly mediocre Angels' team in 2010.
#236 Johnny Bench
#227 Chad Billingsley mini - Piedmont back
#46 Carlos Quentin
#21 Jason Kubel
#263 C.C. Sabathia
#281 Melky Cabrera

I've only experienced the wrath of Johnny Bench when trying to get his autograph for free at golf tournaments [on something other than a piece of paper] - but this is a nice card featuring the same image used on Bench's 1969 Topps second year card.

Bottom compartment of the rack

#193 Buster Posey - looking to go neck-and-neck against Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann as the best hitting catcher in the Naional League.
#183 Carlos Pena - gold border parallel
#99 Christy Matthewson
#70 Luke Hochevar
#277 Johnny Evers

Buster Posey - a future star waiting in the wings

2010 Topps Buster Posey rookie card #2

San Francisco Giants Buster Posey is one of the top prospects in baseball and his status as a future star is more important - considering he is a catcher, probably the most demanding position on the field. 

Just for his catching skills alone, a guy can last 15 seasons in the Major Leagues - Posey is expected to be the next catcher who is a good athlete, but also can hit a ton. 

Posey ranks near the top of the best prospects in all of baseball - but despite the hype surrounding Posey, the Giants resigned Bengie Molina for one more year. Resigning Molina likely buys one more year in the minors for Posey, but also annoys San Francisco Giants fans.

Right now, Posey is looking to find some playing time on the field at first base as he lies in wait - to take a stranglehold on the catcher's position in San Francisco for years to come.

Gold parallel version

Featured custom card: 2010 Upper Deck 'Tribute to 90' Buster Posey #1

I've been dabbling with the idea of creating my own custom [or tribute] cards and while I'm a total newb, I hope to learn and gain some expertise - just to come up with unique images of trading cards, I'd never pull out of packs or find as singles anywhere, because they exist only in fantasy.

I didn't know how to really make these fantasy cards, though reading a tutorial on making your own baseball cards - inspired me to mess around on Photoshop and see what I can whip up on the fly.

I wanted create a Buster Posey card since he is probably going to be one of the top rookies in 2010, but he came up too late to have a 2009 MLBPA Rookie logo card produced - it is still a mystery, how any of the 2010 UD cards are going to look, especially if it is only licensed by the Players Association and not Major League Baseball.

For me, the most interesting aspect of custom/tribute cards is the ability to manipulate an original trading card design - it blew my mind to think custom/tribute cards using certain trading card designs were created by scratch.

With the most basic custom/tribute cards, all I really had to do was find an image/scan of a trading card - and change certain qualities on the original card, through an image editing program like Photoshop.

I can remove an original image on a trading card, but still retain the basic graphics as a template to layer onto a suitable image - before I do anything else, I have to make sure the image is proportional and not stretched.

It is kind of fun trying to cobble up something together - I'm not going to get every single thing right, but creating custom/tribute cards seems more fun than maybe simply consuming, purchasing, buying, picking up new cards.

The Posey 'card' is designed with the idea UD creates an insert set of 2010 rookies with the 1990 design and old school Star Rookie logo as a tribute [maybe as a potential 'Fat Pack' insert] - Posey's potential would definitely land him the No. 1 spot for 2010, if UD still had its Star Rookie subset after all these years.

Places of note -

Goose Joak

Custom Card Blog

Creating a Custom Retro Card