2019 Topps Series 2 Rod Carew Photo Variation #631

I don't really seek these out because they become too hard to find or seem outright common to care about, but I grabbed this card for a price of an unopened pack - with the card in-hand, maybe the image [of Carew swinging to get his 3,000th hit in 1985] seems just a little pixelated or perhaps wasn't touched up as much, so it doesn't look as sharp.

2018 Topps Heritage Minors Jo Adell #220

I bought a copy of Adell's short printed Heritage Minors card last fall, because I thought it might be a nice low-end single, especially if he impressed in spring training - unfortunately, the crown jewel of the Angels farm system will be out for 10-12 weeks after getting hurt during a game.

While injuries suffered saps some of the prospects rankings hype for Adell entering the year - hopefully his circumstances doesn't affect his rise towards becoming a big league star, even if he'll be on the shelf in the meantime.

I got another copy of the Adell card when I recently purchased a full hand-collated set [1-220], including the SPs [201-220] - there wasn’t an incentive to get last year's Topps Heritage Minors set because I didn’t go to the Arizona Fall League to sort of get started on getting at least 15-20 inked up.

However, because of the odd in-person or TTM opportunity to get some of the cards off this set signed, it’s hard to think about not having stocked up on the most recent Topps Heritage Minors set - I’ve tried to go ‘cheaper’ in years past, only buying the base 1-200 set, but just so there are no questions about not having certain cards, I got a set with the 20 short prints.

2016 Topps Heritage 35-card hanger box

I'm not exactly a fan of Topps Heritage because it's a played out card product to me - it's not like I don't appreciate 'old school' elements in baseball cards, but Heritage is just kind of bland and lacks imagination.

The images used are boring for the most part with no action shots - these Heritage cards either show the players from the waist up and/or boring poses from spring training photo shoots.

The images on the cards look like they are grainy, maybe part of a process [scanned newspaper effect?] - trying to make these new cards look old-timey.

The card backs seems like they are easier to read - so that is probably a good thing.

It’s probably not a consideration for strictly baseball card collectors but the images used and the facsimile autograph - makes the cards seem a little too cluttered to get a random in-person/TTM autograph on.  

For in-person / TTM graphing, I’m mostly an Allen and Ginter guy [until the Topps Heritage Minors product comes out] - going through these cards, I’m not exactly excited to get the guys’ cards I think I can get autographed.

#77 Evan Gattis

#247 Hector Santiago

#179 2016 Diamondbacks Rookie Stars - feat. Godley/Brito

#348 Detroit Tigers team card

#381 Arodys Vizcaino

#193 A.J. Pierzynski

#187 2016 Giants Rookie Stars - feat. Brown/Williamson

#365 St. Louis Cardinals team card

#279 Jeff Bannister

#378 Jason Castro

#132 Ichiro

#399 J.J. Hoover

#267 Mike Scioscia

#181 NL Rookie Stars - feat. Conforto/Nola

#303 David Murphy

#310 Chris Sale

#220 Matt Duffy

#486 Rusney Castillo - short print

#TOPPS NAP-MMA Manny Machado - New Age Performers insert

#TOPPS TAN-YA Carl Yastrzemski / Nolan Arenado - Then and Now insert

#Pittsburgh Pirates team card

#227 Carlos Gomez

#421 Taijuan Walker

#45 Hanley Ramirez

#370 San Francisco Giants team card

#321 Garrett Richards

#72 Mark Trumbo

#88 Xander Bogaerts

#203 Lonnie Chisenhall

#26 Drew Smyly

#191 Jimmy Rollins

#317 Colby Lewis

#312 Vidal Nuno

#17 Brayan Pena

#328 Denard Span

2015 Topps Heritage hanger box recap II

I bought this earlier in the year and finally ripped it open - hoping to see some sort of big hit pull or redemption for one

I was in a bored stupor going through these 35 cards - as is, I probably could have left this unopened for a bit longer.

#366 Alex Cobb
#26 Ryan Zimmerman
#306 Rafael Ynoa / Jackson Williams
#411 Ryne Sandberg
#362 Carlos Beltran
#246 Kyle Gibson
#312 Jon Singleton
#278 Mike Morse
#174 Neftali Feliz
#67 Dilson Herrera / Erik Goeddel
#410 Rajai Davis
#158 Trevor Cahill
#135 Conor Gillaspie
#160 Michael Pineda
#467 Paul Goldschmidt - SP
#NAP-18 Troy Tulowitzki - New Age Performers insert
#TN-1 Harmon Killebrew / Nelson Cruz - Then and Now insert
#THC-34 Todd Frazier - Holofoil parallel
#THC-437 Josh Hamilton - Holofoil parallel
#THC-462 Felix Hernandez - Holofoil parallel
#THC-60 Matt Holliday - Holofoil parallel
#THC-477 Ian Desmond - Holofoil parallel
#280 Howie Kendrick
#359 Steve Cishek
#138 Tony Gwynn Jr.
#125 Jon Jay
#389 Shin-Soo Choo
#217 Giancarlo Stanton / Anthony Rizzo / Lucas Duda - National League Home Run Leaders
#262 Huston Street
#140 Aroldis Chapman
#78 Joe Panik
#39 Marcus Stroman
#132 Travis Ishikawa
#194 Nationals 1st Place NL East Division
#341 Terry Collins

2014 Topps Series I Trout jumbo pack recap

During a week long sojourn in Arizona, my buddy and I stopped at a Surprise Walmart - when I saw there were 2014 Topps Series I jumbo packs still hanging up at the trading card section, I dug around to see if there was one marked with an exclusive Mike Trout card inside.

I've never heard of a 2014 Topps Mike Trout card available in Topps I Walmart jumbo packs until I read the Angels in Order blog - I was vaguely aware of the particular Trout card, though I thought it was just another base card variation / short print.

I actually spotted one marked pack and started taking the packs off the hanger to grab the 'Trout' pack - I do wonder why the card was only available in Walmart packs and why Topps had to mark the pack the card was actually in?

Maybe it would have been better if the cards were randomly inserted into unmarked packs - so the allure of the hunt remains instead of a certain number of packs being poached while the rest remain unsold on the shelves.

Maybe Topps should have created a more unique bonus card - besides the image, the Trout photo variation card doesn't really feel like it's all that jazzy

I was also thinking that a special Trout card should be one per pack instead of this wild-goose chase - but that would make the cards more 'bargain box' fodder, than something to fish for.

Top section
#35 Trevor Cahill
#182 Carlos Ruiz
#57 Yadier Molina
#123 James Paxton
#301 Shane Victorino
#47 Chris Davis
#218 Matt Dominguez
#61 Nick Markakis
#224 Michael Saunders
#231 J.R. Murphy - Gold parallel serial #'d 1976/2014
#1 Mike Trout
#248 Travis d'Arnaud
#282 Rex Brothers
#8 Coco Crisp
#173 Brandon League
#134 Josh Donaldson
#211 Dioner Navarro
#268 Don Kelly

Bottom section
#252 Kevin Pillar
#288 Julio Teheran
#292 Aaron Hill
#143 2013 National League Runs Batted in Leaders - feat. Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman and Jay Bruce
#259 David Ortiz
#321 Mariano Rivera - Green parallel
#UC-45 Ryne Sandberg - Upper Class insert
#FN-18 Wil Myers - The Future is Now insert
#RCT-3 Joe Morgan - Topps All Rookie Cup team insert
#1 Mike Trout - Gatorade bath SP
#289 Matt Thornton - Walmart blue parallel
#102 Matt Lindstrom - Walmart blue parallel
#238 Alberto Callaspo
#151 Bruce Chen
#236 Joel Peralta
#256 Abraham Almonte
#75 Brandon Barnes
#209 Carlos Quentin