2021 Topps Home Run Challenge - Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez

I added Home Run Challenge codes for Kyle Schwarber and Yordan Alvarez for their Thursday games - Schwarber has been on a Ruthian home run tear through the past week but I felt like I’ve slept on that one lousy code card I had in-hand.

I considered adding the Schwarber HRC code for Wednesday, but figured the Washington Nationals slugger wasn't going to hit a home run in every game and didn’t in a Nationals 15-6 rout over the Tampa Bay Rays - if he’d hit another one then, that would have really been crazy.

Yesterday might have been the start of a new home run thing for Schwarber against righthander Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers - however he hadn't homered in a couple of bats and worst yet, the game ended up being a rain shortened 6-2 win for the Dodgers.

The hulking Alvarez has been solid with the bat all year and checking the probable pitching matchups - all I knew was he going up against a rookie [J.C. Mejia] pitcher for the Cleveland baseball team, so it might be worth adding a code [I have one more unused Alvarez code].

I figured Alvarez might be able to size up the inexperienced starting pitcher and that's what happened as he hit his 14th home run - so at the very least, that's a winner for me.

2016 Donruss 30-card hanger pack break

#50 Sonny Gray

#140 Adam Jones

#131 Yordano Ventura

#123 Corey Kluber

#116 Curtis Granderson

#94 Collin McHugh

#89 Matt Carpenter

#83 Mike Trout

#132 Eric Hosmer

#124 Francisco Liriano

#117 Shin-Soo Choo

#111 Ryan Braun

#55 Jose Bautista

#145 Matt Duffy

#136 Alex Rodriguez

#128 Cole Hamels

#190 John Smoltz

#186 Don Mattingly

#181 Cal Ripken

#178 Kirby Puckett

#174 Justin Upton

#170 David Wright

#D82-29 Eric Hosmer - Base 1982 Pink

#TP-2 Julio Urias - The Prospects insert

#TR-8 Michael Conforto - The Rookies insert

#43 Jose Peraza

#15 Jose Fernandez - Diamond Kings insert

#S10 Michael Conforto - Studio insert

#SGS-KS Kyle Schwarber - Donruss Signature Series insert auto Green Foil parallel serial #’d 01/10

#D82-3 Lorenzo Cain - Base 1982

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

Featured autograph - Kyle Schwarber

The No. 4 overall pick by the Chicago Cubs, Schwarber hit .408 through 28 games and 103 at-bats between two minor league affiliates in his pro debut - I got his autograph when this past college baseball season when he was playing for Indiana University, only knowing he was a player to get because I had his 2014 Panini Team USA card.

With his blistering start, Schwarber was promoted to Daytona, in the Florida State League - he looks to be part of a core of top prospects projected to be impact players in the next few seasons for the floundering Cubs.