First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting on the blog since Thursday. The room in which I do my blogging was having the carpet ripped out, so I had to move all my stuff including my scanner. Thus, I didn't have a place to write my posts, scan my cards etc.
Second of all, in the past few days, I took a trip to my local Target to pick up some Topps Update. I had seen what some other bloggers had gotten from their 2017 Topps Update products and even though I was far from impressed, I decided, against my better judgement to pick up 2 36-card value packs of the product.
For those of you who don't know, Topps Update combines players who have been called up to the majors, players who switched teams throughout the year, as well as veterans who didn't make the 700 card base set. They put all of these players into one checklist and call it Topps Update. It's year after year the final release of the card season, the last one before flagship comes out in February.
A big part of the Update set year after year is the Rookie Debut portion. It shows cards of rookie players who have made their debut within the last year and puts the date on the front of the card. It also includes information about what happened in their first MLB game and how it went. I recall these 4 players being very well thought of at the beginning of the 2017 season. While Reyes and Dahl didn't play in 2017, Moncada was not the type of player he was expected to be. In fact, the only one of these 4 that was able to live up to expectations so far is World Series Champion Alex Bregman.
Another thing that Topps includes in 2017 Update is these Rookie Combo cards. It basically combines 2 rookies on one card. Becuase obviously giving Cody Bellinger one less card in order to give these rookies one card each just can't happen.
However, this idea is not a bad one and is one of my favorite parts of Update. This part of the set includes all the players elected to the 2017 All-Star teams and features the 2017 All-Star logo in the bottom left instead of the team logo. The reason I like these is that not only do they include the all-stars which can be overlooked, but they also include some in workout jerseys and some in actual uniforms. It's a great balance, plus I also pulled a Red Sox in Chris Sale so that only helped me like it more.
And just in case the All-Star game wasn't enough for you, Topps included cards from one of the most exciting events of the year, the home run derby. The card that I got commemorating the Home Run Derby was of Miguel Sano, a player who had a break-out season in 2017 and helped lead the Twins to an unexpected Wild Card game appearance. He reminds me a lot of David Ortiz and I truly believe if he can get his batting average up, there will be no stopping Sano.
Now we get to the real let-downs of the packs.
For example, these foil cards which are a staple in Topps sets are something that I have no clue if anyone actually collects or not. I actually didn't get bad cards, it's just that the foil does absolutely nothing for me.
The gold parallels aren't as bad, but when you're getting players who are just so off your collecting radar like Luis Castillo it's hard to get excited.
This part actually wasn't so bad. I love throwback uniforms so it's nice to be able to get cards designed around the retro jerseys, even if it's cards of players I don't collect. I just think I can speak on behalf of collectors everywhere and tell Topps WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF SALUTE GET IT AWAY FROM ME!
It's hard not to get more disappointed as the cards go on especially when you get postseason celebration cards of teams who haven't had anything to celebrate in the postseason in over a decade. Seriously, these cards are just of big crowds, they don't feature players at all. Not a good idea Topps, people buy baseball cards to get baseball players, not a big bus driving down a snowy road.
And with so many ups and downs in these few packs, I was at least able to get 1 card that made me extremely satisfied which was this retired player variation card of Ozzie Smith. Basically, the deal with these cards is that these are SP variations where retired players are thrown into the sets with decent odds to pull one of them. Since Ozzie Smith is a player I collect and one of my favorite Cardinals of all-time, I would call this card a success.
However, I can't say I could call these 2 packs a success. Yes, I got some cards I like, but for the most part, the base cards were of rookies I had never heard of and washed-up veterans. Maybe I just need a year to forget about Update, then when 2018 Topps Update hits the shelves, I'll pick some up and be let down once again.
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