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.

2015 Topps Series I blaster recap

I still have to pick up my share of loose hobby packs and an obligatory hobby jumbo pack - but I think I got my initial retail samplings of this year's Topps flagship brand out of the way.

Commemorative patch pack
#FHRM-MM Mike Moustakas - first home run medallion card; even if they aren't going to worth much, these cards are pretty nice to have in-hand; I do wonder if the medallions are going to rust over time and it's just too bad I got a guy who killed the Angels in the Division Series last October.

Pack one
#40 Joakim Soria
#79 Starling Marte
#227 Madison Bumgarner
#277 Cincinnati Reds team card
#325 Felix Hernandez
#298 Rymer Liriano
#R-2 Alexi Amarista - Robbed in Center insert
#FHR-39 Dustin Pedroia - First Home Run insert
#191 Yimi Garcia
#267 Zack Greinke
#67 Hunter Pence

Pack two
#77 Edwin Escobar
#246 Chris Carter
#287 Everth Cabrera
#60 Michael Wacha
#271 Pittsburgh Pirates team card
#42 Todd Frazier
#215 Alejandro De Aza
#H-16 Catfish Hunter - Highlight of the Year insert
#72 Jordan Lyles
#121 Garrett Jones
#131 Edward Mujica

Pack three
#241 Dilson Herrera
#182 Devin Mesoraco
#61 Johnny Cueto / Clayton Kershaw / Adam Wainwright - 2014 National League ERA Leaders
#21 Brett Gardner
#38 Jordan Zimmerman
#7B Hank Aaron - Baseball History insert
#FHR-21 Jose Bautista - First Home Run insert
#173 Carlos Torres
#89 Michael Choice
#266 Brandon Phillips

Pack four
#183 Craig Gentry
#65 Alexei Ramirez
#342 San Diego Padres team card
#319 Derek Jeter
#317 Clayton Kershaw
#48 John Axford
#96 Sergio Santos - Rainbow Foil parallel
#I-12 Frank Thomas / Jose Abreu - Inspired Play insert
#233 Carlos Ruiz
#274 Ryan Zimmerman
#62 Nolan Arenado

Pack five
#44 Gio Gonzalez
#83 David Wright
#43 Starlin Castro
#314 Jackie Bradley Jr.
#297 Scott Kazmir
#A-5 Yasiel Puig - Archetypes insert
#FHR-22 Josh Hamilton - First Home Run insert
#55 Trevor May
#162 Drew Pomeranz
#114 Mike Zunino

Pack six
#112 Daniel Nava
#149 Daniel Murphy
#341 Felix Hernandez / Chris Sale / Corey Kluber - American League ERA Leaders
#88 Madison Bumgarner
#49 Dominic Leone
#H-7 New York Giants Shot Heard 'Round the World' - Highlight of the Year insert
#JR-4 Jackie Robinson - The Jackie Robinson Story insert
#216 Greg Holland
#91 Corey Dickerson
#218 David Buchanan

Pack seven
#82 Nick Tepesch
#201 Tommy LaStella
#200 Miguel Cabrera
#5 Josh Donaldson
#167 Matt Cain

#FHR-40 Deion Sanders - all things considered [i.e. with all the non-baseball subjects Topps' Allen and Ginter sets and even subjects in this year's First Pitch inserts], Sanders is my pick for the least likeliest guy whose card I'd expect to pull from a 2015 pack of baseball cards.

I realize he was a 'two-sport' player whose accomplishments in the NFL have him enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame - but this isn't the early 1990's [the height of Prime Time] and no one cares about his pro baseball career in 2015.

#FP-09 Tom Willis - First Pitch insert
#99 Yonder Alonso
#240 Anthony Ranaudo
#339 Austin Jackson

Pack eight
#328 Adrian Gonzalez
#36 Julio Teheran
#120 Yoenis Cespedes
#129 Jacob DeGrom
#205 Josh Harrison
#300 Mike Trout - Gold parallel serial #'d 2011/2015
#F40-9 Alex Rodriguez - Free Agent 40 insert
#335 Matt Barnes
#292 Neil Walker
#309 Maikel Franco

Pack nine
#151 C.J. Cron
#116 Vidal Nuno
#25 Jose Bautista
#206 Rick Porcello
#R-7 Ryan Ludwick - Robbed in Left insert
#FHR-03 David Wright - First Home Run insert
#39 Salvador Perez
#110 Tony Sipp
#66 Vance Worley
#310 Jake Lamb

Pack 10
#340 Carlos Gomez
#286 Trevor Rosenthal
#9 Hunter Pence
#219 Kennys Vargas
#343 Shane Greene
#H-27 Cal Ripken Jr. - Highlight of the Year insert
#JR-6 Jackie Robinson - The Jackie Robinson Story insert
#231 Andrew Cashner
#78 Yordano Ventura
#253 Gregory Polanco

2014 Topps Update Value Pack recap

I wanted to get my initial fix out of the way, so I impulsively grabbed a blaster box and a value pack about a week ago - not that it matters, but this pack configuration was 36 cards in single hanger pack as opposed to a two section rack pack.

#US-244 Daisuke Matsuzaka
#US-73 Francisco Cervelli
#US-83 Brandon Hicks
#US-84 Daniel Descalso
#US-296 Tyler Moore
#US-116 Brett Anderson
#US-112 Aflredo Simon
#US-111 Emilio Bonifacio
#US-287 Mike Bolsinger
#US-19 Bronson Arroyo
#US-38 Jason Giambi
#US-107 Josh Collmenter
#US-93 Troy Patton
#US-86 Cesar Ramos
#US-164 Joe Kelly
#US-46 Jake Marisnick
#US-2 Derek Jeter - Gold parallel serial #'d 0005/2014
#US-280 Cole Gillespie - Red Hot Foil parallel
#FN-NC 2 Nick Castellanos - The Future is Now insert
#WSH-BSA Bret Saberhagen - World Series Heroes insert
#US-7 David Price
#US-325 Jose Abreu
#US-13 Andrew Heaney
#US-14 Justin Grimm
#US-293 Tom Koehler
#US-174 Jace Peterson
#US-267 Jonathan Diaz
#US-237 Jorge Polanco
#US-17 Yangervis Solarte
#US-330 Daniel Webb
#US-52 Chase Anderson
#US-154 Yu Darvish
#US-18 Aramis Ramirez
#US-258 Matt Carpenter
#US-30 Elian Herrera
#US-224 Jared Burton
Security card

Simply dominant: Michael Phelps