A Box of Topps

After the arrival of baseball cards in Pizza I got a little carried away and bought a few.  In each pack was a card with two coupons on it, one for a buck off a pack of cards or $2.50 off a box of cards.

Well,  Topps and Walmart suckered me into buying some boxes of baseball cards I probably wouldn't have otherwise.  At least not more than one box.  However, the Hit cards for football this year didn't look good so the money I would have spent on them went on these, so it does balance it out some.

So for today, I figured I'd show off some of the cards I got in the first box of cards I bought.  In total I've bought 3 boxes so far, and I've realized that I guess short prints weren't put into these "value boxes", that or I have some really bad luck.

Anyways, lets see some cards.

Something about the Future Stars cards I don't like.  I think the biggest thing is that its a bit hard to see it.  I think a better spot would be slightly smaller print inside a bordered box above their names.  Even if they kept it in the same spot but with a border it would work.  Having said that, it was a nice list of names to pull, including the Kris Bryant.  I like the Herrera card a lot I think mainly because I've always liked the pinstripe jerseys the Phillies wore.  I was also happy to pull a Stephen Piscotty card.  As I've mentioned many times, I don't care for the team, but I do like a lot of the players.  I think the future of the Cardinals is in good hands with young stars like Piscotty and Kolten Wong.  Oscar Tavaras would have also been a big time player I have no doubts if he hadn't died.

I still don't think the Cardinals should have traded Shelby Miller, but at the time it made sense I guess.  It is odd that just one year later neither Shelby Miller nor Jason Heyward are on the teams they were traded too.  I haven't kept up on Miller much sense he was traded to the desert, but I hear he's off to a rocky start this year.  I hope he'll settle down and becomes a big time pitcher.

Speaking of big time pitchers, I pulled a Clayton Kershaw!  I'm not real excited about it, but it is a nice name to pull, and he is very talented, I can't take that away from him.  I was more excited to pull the Once Royal Ervin Santana and the former Missouri Tiger Max Scherzer cards though.  I also liked that I pulled the Blaine Boyer card as well.  I hear his name quite often as he's a AL Central rival.

Another name I hear all the time is Carlos Santana.  I hear it so much I don't even chuckle when I hear his name anymore, or even think of the musician.  When I pulled the Jarod Saltalamacchia card, I wasn't aware he was on the Diamondbacks.  A couple days later I found out he wasn't even on the Diamondbacks anymore but now on the Tigers (I think).  Then I heard they aren't even paying him, as the Marlins are the ones still paying him.  I guess I was so focused on the Royals the last two years I never realized he wasn't on the Red Sox anymore.  That seems like 6 teams ago now.

I also was happy to pull the Andrew McCutchen card.  I'll always to some level be a fan of the Pirates, and I'm glad Cutch has become their franchise player.  I hope one day he is rewarded with a World Series ring.

Did I mention World Series ring?  I think you know how happy I was to pull these four Royals cards.  I still wish they would dedicate one card to EVERY World Series game instead of just the games the winning teams win.  It can't be that hard to find a spot for 1-3 more cards to a set.  At any rate, I was glad with the ones I got, and glad I pulled cards of Ace and Eddie.  I hope they get out of this current funk they are in, but part of me hopes this current losing streak does drop some ticket prices some so I can catch a game or two later this year.

One guy who really dumped on the Royals in a recent series was Bryce Harper.  It was a bit hard to hate on the guy though as one of the first things he did when he got to Kansas City was look back at the history of baseball and went to the Negro League Baseball Museum.  If I'm not mistaken, he went with his manager Dusty Baker.  As a little bonus the Museum will be inducting four members into their Hall of Fame this year (on June 11th).  Those members include Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Orlando Cepeda, and Tony Oliva.  The Royals are hosting a Dressed to the Nines weekend this weekend as well and on Sunday will be their Salute to the Negro Leagues game as they host the Atlanta Braves.  They posted their jerseys on Facebook today, and I was impressed.  After the game, the Royals auction off the jerseys and some other items and the money goes to the museum.  Its really a nice gesture.

In addition to pulling the Harper card, I also pulled a nice card featuring former Royal Zack Greinke.  If I was seeking out individual cards from the set, I'd likely skip the card in favor of a solo card of Zack, but it was nice to pull this.  I figured since I've bought some boxes, I might try to chase the set, or at least the series one set.  I'm hoping to pull some bonus Royals and a few other guys so I can add to my other collections.

The MLB Debut cards look nice, but I don't really know if I like the insert set.  I think I would like it more if there was more action on the cards or if I knew for sure the photos were from their first game.  As it stands this is just another set to throw some famous names in.  I was happy to pull the A-Rod though.  I like the Mays card too and the Piazza but I don't officially have a collection for those players yet.  Even though I am trying to get the base set complete, I don't really care if I finish the insert sets.  Though I will say a couple of the smaller insert sets I am over half way done to completing.

The other three cards are part of the Berger's Best inserts.  I'm also not sure on this set either.  I know he just passed away last year and they have been doing the Rookie Reprints in some way shape or form for the last few years, but I wish they would just take a year or two off from including them.  Again, having said that, I do like the Tom Seaver as it will likely be the closest I ever get to having one of his old cards.  The same for Brooks Robinson.  Also as odd as it sounds, I don't think I have the original Dice-K rookie that looks like this.  I do have a couple variations of this card, one being with his signature, another has his name in Japanese.

More insert sets I don't really card for include the Wrigley Field ones and the Back To Back.  I never liked pairing two guys on the same card unless it was similar to the All-Star players that were in the 1993 Topps set.  These back to back ones I could do without.  The Wrigley ones I like in theory and glad the want celebrate it, but I think its not a great idea for an entire insert set.  I'd have possibly moved it to a Series Two or Update set or even an Opening Day insert.  I also don't care for the Pressed into Service set, as it just doesn't seem like a great concept.  I do like the design though.  A couple insert sets I do like are The Greatest Streaks set, which has a nice design and actually entails a bit of history, and the First Pitch series.  I was a bit against the idea last year, but it started to grow on me throughout the year.  I am looking to finish last years set, and already have a few this year.  I'm glad I got this one of Evelyn Jones who was 108 when she threw out the pitch last year.  I am still looking for the Hayley Atwell card which is the only Royals one in the insert set.

The insert set I hate the most this year is the Perspectives set.  I love the photos they use, but I like borders.  I don't want players names protruding from the field of play into the shots.

The Walk Off Wonder cards I don't care for too much either.  I like the designs, but I don't care for the concept.  Lastly is the sticker of the Wacky Packages.  I have nothing against this little insert set, it mainly was to advertise the full set which later came out, but to be honest the names of the cards are a little lackluster.  I hope I can get a Royals one though eventually (perhaps I have it already but don't want to reveal it yet?) and with it being a very small set (5 cards) it is possible to complete it fairly easily.

In each box a special insert card is added with its own pack.  Its a nice one and is guaranteed in every box.

I really like the design of this (despite the coin being off centered), and pulling a Mike Piazza was a really nice way to start the box.  I admit I didn't save this for last when I opened the box.  There is no way I'll finish this 40 card set, but the ones I pull will be nice to have, and maybe up for trade if the right offer comes along (though not this one because I want to keep this one).  I'm glad they didn't do another year of patches.  It seemed they ran the patches into the ground.  Maybe they can bring it back in a few years, but for now something different is good.

Overall I was very impressed with this box.  I didn't show all the base cards, but I think it was a nice assortment of guys.  I think the reason I decided to get more boxes was from how much I liked this box.  Sure I don't care for a lot of the insert sets, but it doesn't take away from what I pulled.  It would be nice to get a variation or two, but I guess I'd need to get a hobby box or something for those.  While I want to finish the base set, I don't count the variations as part of it.

Thanks for reading tonight, and I hope you have a great night.  I took a couple days off to work on something for a future post and because I did 11 days in a row so I wanted to take a break so it didn't look too forced.  My goal was to have more posts than last year and at this rate if I average a post every other day I should do that.  I think I have a real shot after having a dry spell earlier this year.  I should post another box later this week, so be on the lookout for it.