Greetings. I am currently writing to all of you from a hotel in upstate New York. A quick pit-stop on my journey to The National will take place here as my dad has some people to meet here before we head on our way to the hotel in Cleveland tomorrow. In anticipation of what we may bring back and unwillingness to pay extra to check our bags at the airport, we decided to split up the trip and drive from Massachusetts to Ohio. If all goes well, I'll be in Cleveland tomorrow at this time.
As for today's post, I have the final 2 packs from the 2018 Topps Big League blaster box plus the bonus 4-card blue parallel pack and the 1 green card that's to be cut off the box. I'll save that card and my lackluster cutting skills for last.
Now, onto the final 2 10-card packs from the blaster, starting with the 4th pack of the box.
Pack #4
#66 Jose Urena
Taken from a similar angle as the Nick Markakis card I pulled yesterday, this Jose Urena card quickly stood out as one of my favorites of the bunch. I can't even believe I'm saying this, but the Marlins' team colors (light blue and orange) actually look pretty nice with the light grey base borders. If nothing else, this set makes me incredibly nostalgic for borders on baseball cards.
#93 Andrew Cashner
#278 Matt Carpenter
#229 Ricky Nolasco
#174 Michael Fulmer
#246 Alcides Escobar
Even though this pack has been pretty mediocre so far, I appreciate the photo choices for many of the base cards, especially Alcides Escobar's card shown here. Judging by his reaction and the visibly excited Royals fans in the background, I assume Escobar either hit a home run or a walk-off, or maybe even both.
#152 Brandon Belt
#273 Starling Marte
Seeing old-school uniforms making it onto today's baseball card products is something that will never get old. From what I know, the Pittsburgh Pirates wear these throwback jerseys on Sunday home games which are likely when this photo of Pirates outfielder Starling Marte was taken.
#119 Julio Teheran
#224 Jordan Zimmerman gold parallel
Wow. 10 cards and not a single player that I collect. Now that's what I call an underwhelming pack of baseball cards.
Pack #5
#197 Kyle Schwarber
One card into the 5th and final pack of the box and it's already an improvement over the 4th pack of cards. Kyle Schwarber is having a much-improved 2018 season compared to last year and is also a player I collect. To make things better, the card is also pretty great as well as it includes the Wrigley Field ivy in the background.
#38 Byron Buxton
#213 Victor Robles
With Bryce Harper likely on his way out of Washington, maybe even as soon as tomorrow's 4:00 PM non-waiver trade deadline, the Nationals should be investing all they can into their new young players like Juan Soto and Victor Robles. He has yet to play this season and seems like a September call-up waiting to happen. There's been a fair amount of hype around him, so I'm excited to see this guy play pretty soon.
#294 Matt Moore
#70 Francisco Lindor
#173 Tucker Barnhart
#285 Jorge Alfaro
#43 Jordy Mercer
#367 Tyler O'Neil
#142 Hunter Pence gold parallel
I may have pulled a card of Kyle Schwarber and a rookie card of Victor Robles as well, but besides those 2 cards, the 5th pack wasn't all that much better than the 4th. At least the borders in the set make these parallels look even better.
4-card exclusive blue parallel pack
Even though I really do like the shade of blue chosen for these exclusive blue parallel cards, I'm not too crazy about who I got. I already pulled base cards of Escobar and Pence along with a Pence gold parallel as well. The Home Run Apple Ballpark Landmark is not what I had in mind for this pack, so that card is officially up for trade. Finally, Wil Myers is a Padre. I do not follow the Padres. All of the blue parallel cards shown above are up for trade except for the Escobar. I like that card too much to trade it away.
Finally, we have the cut-out green parallel card of Mike Trout who I did not know was included on this box until I began to open the packs at home. Even now knowing the other options including Shohei Ohtani, I would still take Trout over the rest of the guys. Now, let's take a look at my fail at cutting the card off the box.
I know, I messed up pretty bad in the bottom left and top right corners. I was trying to make the card too perfect, especially in the bottom left, and ended up cutting off more than I would like. I wish I had experience cutting Hostess cards back in the 70's. That would've prepared me a bit more for this which is actually far more difficult than it seems.
Even though I didn't pull the best cards, I had a lot of fun with this break. It's nice to see an affordable set with borders and parallels that's quite a collectible set as well. I said this exact same thing about Topps Bunt back in 2016, so I hope 2018 Topps Big League is able to stick around for longer than 2 years.
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