2018 Card of the Year

As if I could go with any other card but this one for my entry on Waiting 'til Next Year's annual card of the year contest. I mean, the Red Sox won the World Series, something that still seems so incredibly surreal. How could I go with any other option?

To be fair, I thought long and hard about what else I could do for my 2nd ever entry in this contest. Last year, the card of choice was a 2017 Topps Stadium Club Brooks Robinson, likely the greatest Stadium Club card I have ever seen in my life. 

This time around, Stadium Club didn't deliver quite as memorable cards, and while I certainly had other options, I went for the Topps Now card commemorating the Red Sox's World Series win instead.

Even as I write this post, I become increasingly skeptical about if I made the right choice or not. I hit some amazing cards out of 2018 Topps Chrome that I could've gone with, this years' Archives was loaded with options, and I still have yet to open any of Topps Gallery.

But what I've come to realize is that those sets will be back again next year. Stadium Club, Allen & Ginter, Archives, Gallery, and all the other sets that have become my favorites over the last few years will return in 2019 barring any unforeseen circumstances. 

Unlike all those products, we don't know when the next Red Sox World Series championship will come. It could be as soon as next year or Red Sox fans could end up suffering through another 86 year drought before a title is brought back to Boston.

That's what makes this card so special. It symbolizes an accomplishment that doesn't come along too often. No matter what happens this offseason or next year or even 50 years into the future, the Boston Red Sox won the 2018 World Series.

A card commemorating that feat is certainly one deserving of the title; card of the year.