Let the Festivities Begin

Well, it's finally here. After months of anticipating the release of 2019 Topps Series 1, I finally made my first purchase of 2019 Baseball cards in the form of a standard hobby box earlier today at my LCS. 

Included with the box was a silver pack, the promotion that Topps has been rolling out for the last few years with the purchase of a Series 1, 2, or Update hobby or jumbo box. 

Since Series 1 jumbo has been a letdown so far in terms of what its produced and the pack odds, I went for a regular hobby box instead, where I'm guaranteed 1 autograph or relic. Plus, I still receive 1 of the silver pack cards with my purchase compared to 2 for a jumbo box.

Truth be told, I haven't even busted the seal on my hobby box yet so today's post will be solely for the silver pack cards. I'll probably take this weekend to open, recap, and sort the cards I pull in a couple blog posts before getting settled for the Super Bowl this Sunday.

Since this is the first time I've ever opened a hobby box of Topps Flagship, the silver pack I received is also the first of the hobby-exclusive packs that I've ever opened. However, I've watched enough YouTube videos to know what to expect. I'll be getting 4 cards with chances of a colored parallel or even an autograph with the 4th card in the pack.

This year, Topps is paying tribute to the 1984 Topps design, so in addition to the '84 insert set, the silver pack cards are also in the 1984 design, though they feature a particular chrome refractor that I believe is called a mojo refractor, but don't hold me to it.

Without further adieu, let's see what I get out of my first ever 4-card silver pack.

#T84-30 Darryl Strawberry

Just because I've never opened a silver pack before doesn't mean that I haven't found past promotional cards in the dime or quarter bins. With that being said, it's a completely different story to actually pull these cards from packs. 

Not to mention, the cards actually scan surprisingly well, and they look awesome in-person. Darryl Strawberry isn't a guy I collect, but that doesn't make this picture or the refractor any less stunning.

#T84-14 Bo Jackson

Nice! 2 cards in and we have a player I collect, featuring an exceptional photo as well. Bo Jackson is often represented in these type of products like Archives and other throwback sets, but it's weird to see him in the 1984 Topps product considering that his first Topps card was technically in 1986. 

The powder blue uniform looks absolutely awesome and is undoubtedly the proper choice for this card. Moreover, the pink background behind the headshot of Bo is another specific detail that I'm quite fond of.

#T84-7 Corey Kluber

All the card backs say the same thing, a quick blurb about the '84 set and how 2019 is the 35th anniversary of the product, so I opted not to include photos of the card backs in favor of the awesome refractor photos on the front. Kluber is another guy who I collect, so I'm 2-3 as far as that goes. His card, like the first 2, is truly well-done, and you can tell that Topps put in an exceptional amount of effort to perfect these promotional cards.

#T84-50 Cal Ripken Jr.

While I was unable to land any serial numbered refractors or autographs, I landed cards of 3 players I collect from my first ever silver pack opening, so I'm incredibly pleased about that. For one reason or another, the Cal Ripken Jr. card might be my favorite despite the awesome uniform that Bo Jackson is wearing on his card. Something about Ripken and 1984 Topps causes the 2 to work so well together, and the result is an awesome way to end the pack.

I realize that today's post was short, but I only recently got the box in-hand and I really want to take my time with both the box break and the post I write on it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm about to open my first ever box of cards from 2019. Wish me luck.

Old-Time Players and Modern-Day Inserts; Card Show Recap #14 Part #2

As fabulous as yesterday's dime boxes ended up being, I knew I couldn't spend all my time and money searching through those bins all afternoon. Not that I was opposed to doing so, but because I knew there were many other options to be explored at this particular show, and I was ready to take full advantage of them.

I allotted myself around 10 minutes to walk around the show just to have an idea of what was available, and there sure was no shortage of options. There were likely over 100 vendors at this show, some with items far and beyond my budget. Display cases loaded with graded vintage, stacks of brand new hobby boxes and old-school pennants made up just a fraction of what was available.

Eventually, my searching brought me to a 50 cent box that I looked through after meeting up with my Dad who presented a couple stacks of cards that he had bought for around $1 each. This post serves as a combination of what we collectively picked up from a couple of different dealers.

I already forgot what year these Draft History inserts are from as soon as I scanned them, though I know for certain they're not from 2017. Not that I necessarily needed to know the exact year these cards are from in order to pick up new cards of Nolan Ryan, my largest player collection, and Ken Griffey Jr. who officially reached 200 cards thanks in part to yesterday's dime boxes.

As far as 2017 silver pack 1987 cards go, 50 cents each is a heck off a good deal, especially when the players are both guys I have over 100 cards of. Though I have a few 2018 silver pack cards and picked up more of them yesterday, my only 2017 silver pack card before grabbing these 2 was of David Price, a card I picked up at the Mansfield show earlier this year.

Considering that the 2001 UD Decade 1970's set was made to, well, honor the 1970's, the greatest decade in baseball history, it's pretty much expected that the base and insert cards would embrace the colors and designs synonymous with the 1970's decade. Indeed, Upper Deck accomplished that, especially with the Decade Dynasties inserts that I grabbed of Catfish Hunter and Mike Schmidt.

All the cards up until now were cards that we collectively decided on at the 50 cent bins, but beforehand, my Dad had just purchased a nice selection of cards from another vendor, including a wide range of cards of the legendary Ted Williams. Ranging from Upper Deck Play Ball to Panini Golden Age, the 4 cards shown above represent not even half of the selection of cards my Dad picked up of Ted Terrific. 

Probably one of my favorite parts of the way I collect cards is discovering brand new sets that I had never seen before, even if the sets are part of a brand I'm fairly familiar with, like Topps Tribute. For example, I had never seen the 2002 Topps Tribute design before in my life until my Dad picked up a few singles for our player collections. Ah, the endless wonders of card collecting.

As far as Topps Tribute goes, my Dad wasn't done and went on to pick up 2 different cards of Roberto Clemente, his favorite player, from this high-end brand. As I elaborated on yesterday, Clemente is one of my favorite players to collect just due to how amazing of a human being he was. 

Given that there's no shortage of incredible cards of Clemente with the 2 above falling right into that category, it's evident why he's been near the top of my list of player collections despite him not being at 100 cards quite yet.

Back to the 50 cent bins for a brief moment, I have to say I've become more and more fond of Rhys Hoskins throughout the 2018 season, especially after his Home Run Derby performance. Sure, he didn't have the best 2nd half with September being a particularly bad month, but this rookie power hitter has a lot to show for someone who's still just 25. A simple rise in his batting average could for sure catapult him to one of baseball's superstars as early as next season.

I love these 70's Padres uniforms. I love fun parallel cards. That is all.

Every so often, certain cards come along that I have absolutely no clue what they're called. With absolutely no information on the card backs, I can't know for sure what these cards are from. Honestly, I don't even have a clue, but that's what the blog is for. 

Like the majority of the cards he picked up, my Dad grabbed these cards for our player collections and given the players he found, I'd say it's from the late 60's or so.

1 week later and my hype for the World Champion Boston Red Sox has settled, albeit barely. Anytime I see cards of these guys, I not only get excited about 2018, but I get hyped for the 2019 season as well. With their young players on the rise after successful 2018 seasons, any chance I have at picking up cards of them is one I'm going to take, especially when it's numbered 13/25 like this Xander Boagerts 2017 Bowman insert is.

Topps always makes their orange refractors very low-numbered which is contrary to what I've seen Panini do. I must say I'm very glad the orange doesn't take up the whole card as I feel just the borders is the perfect amount of color for something like this. For 1/4 of the price of a blaster, this low-numbered parallel of a World Series champion shortstop is an incredible deal.