Top 5 Cards; Corey Seager

To put it mildly, the last year or so has not been kind to Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager. In addition to missing most of the 2018 season with a UCL injury, he's been sidelined for almost a month of the 2019 season with a hamstring strain.

I've been a fan of Seager's since his 2016 NL Rookie of the Year campaign. The 2-time All-Star has clearly had his fair share of injuries since making debut in 2015, but he's only 25 years old.

Because he's played for the Dodgers his whole career, Seager already has a ton of playoff experience under his belt, most notably the 2017 World Series appearance. Unfortunately, his UCL injury prevented him from contributing to LA's Fall Classic run last year.

Corey Seager was on-track for a bounce-back season in 2019 before he went on the injured list last month. When he and the 2017 NL Rookie of the Year award winner Cody Bellinger are at their best, it's challenging to find a more productive and young duo in all of Baseball.

It's been a while since we've seen Bellinger and Seager playing together while completely healthy. I don't know too much about the severity of the latter's injury, but I'd like to see him back to 100% in order to help the Dodgers make a playoff run later this season.

After losing consecutive World Series, the 2019 LA Dodgers team appears to be the most dynamic team in decades. If both the Red Sox and the Cubs miss out on the Fall Classic, I wouldn't mind seeing the Dodgers take him the Commissioner's Trophy.

My Corey Seager player collection consists of 59 cards, a reasonable total considering that he's only been in MLB since 2016. I have quite a wide range of cards in my Seager PC, so I actually enjoyed narrowing the group down to my 5 favorites.

#5 2018 Topps Chrome

Given all the various inserts and prospect cards that make up my Corey Seager player collection, I surprised myself by selecting his base card from 2018 Topps Chrome to crack the top 5. Rarely do I see Flagship/Chrome base cards at the same level as other products like Stadium Club and Archives.

However, I'm a stickler for chrome stock cards as a whole, and this isn't your traditional photo from a Topps Flagship set. In fact, I recall seeing a card quite like this in my 2019 Topps Stadium Club box break, so that shows the caliber of this picture and why I believe it's worthy of the top 5.

Now, if only I had a refractor version of this card, particularly blue to match the Dodgers' team colors.

#4 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Profiles Mini Refractor

While attending a Baseball card show last year, I stumbled upon a plethora of Corey Seager prospect and rookie cards, including a rare rookie from Topps Tribute and the Bowman Chrome mini above. 

Though the Tribute rookie was an insane bargain, I didn't deem it as worthy of making the top 5 as this tallboy-style mini. The shape of the card, for starters, is something that we virtually never see in today's card collecting world. Furthermore, there's something about the actual image that was chosen that ties everything together.

#3 2016 Topps Chrome Perspectives

The fact that we never saw the Topps Perspectives inserts after the 2016 season is a shame, for they were a fairly common insert with Stadium Club-style photography. At least Topps included them in the '16 Chrome set as these cards look sensational on chrome cardstock.

This picture of Corey Seager truly resembles something that we'd see in Stadium Club, from the angle of the photography to the superior quality. Even though I could do without his name taking up so much background space just like all the other Perspectives cards, that issue is insignificant. 

I realize that Topps already produces a set that's known for its photography, but I, for one, wouldn't mind a little bit of SC in Topps Flagship and Chrome.

#2 2017 Topps Archives 1959 Bazooka

The 2nd "tallboy" card on this list is an insert from the 2017 Topps Archives set, replicating the original 1959 Bazooka cards. I had the pleasure of seeing one of the originals in person at the Mansfield show earlier this year, so I can thoroughly say that Topps did a fabulous job recreating them.

I have this exact insert for a couple other players that I collect (Judge, Pudge, Ryan), but Seager's recognizable smile combined with the classic red and blue color combo makes this card one of the best.

Similar to how I'd like to see Perspectives revived for subsequent Topps Flagship sets, I'd love to see some tallboy inserts or even a set produced by Topps in the near future. Judging from the 2 minis on this list, it looks like they've done an excellent job.

#1 2016 Topps Stadium Club Black Parallel

I vividly remember pulling this rookie card parallel out of a Fairfield 20-pack repack box towards the beginning of 2017 along with a 2015 Topps Series 2 Kris Bryant rookie card. 

While I haven't seen a single one of those Fairfield repacks since, I'm grateful that they were available for me to purchase, for they delivered some fabulous rookie cards for my collection. 

To be honest, I would've been content with a base rookie of Corey Seager, but the fact that it's a black foil parallel only makes it rarer and more valuable. Plus, the card is from Stadium Club, so there's sensational photography as a bonus.

Writing this post only makes me like Seager as a player even more. He's an awesome guy to collect, and I've accumulated some stellar cards of his over the years.

Hopefully, he can recover quickly from his injury and get back to doing what he does best, contributing to the Dodgers and their success.