A Small Sample Size

Being that Topps Series 1 is the first Baseball card release of the year, I always purchase a fair number of packs in order to get an idea of who the rookies are as well as what the design will look like for Series 2, Chrome, and Update as well.

Even though there are many sets out there that are better than Series 1, the fact that it's the first release of the year gives me an incentive to buy a couple of blasters or even a standard hobby box. 

The same, however, cannot be said for Topps Series 2. No matter the year, it seems that Series 2 is always pale in comparison to the initial Flagship set. Despite Topps' best efforts to boost the jumbo box odds and feature 4 popular rookies in Series 2 compared to virtually none in Series 1, I can never get invested in this set.

It also doesn't help that sets like Panini Prizm and Topps Stadium Club (which releases tomorrow) are out around the same time as Series 2. Pretty soon, Allen & Ginter and Topps Chrome will be added onto this list, and Series 2 will be left to sit around on Target and Walmart shelves all across the country.

Each year, in spite of all of these factors, I usually end up buying a small sampling of Topps Series 2, nothing more than a blaster box, in hopes of pulling something that'll motivate me to like this product a little more. Even though I landed an Ohtani rookie last year, the rest of Series 2 was very average.

Simply put, Topps crams most of the superstar veterans into Series 1, leaving little-known rookies and below-average veterans for their second series. If Topps continues with this method, Series 2 will never be as popular as Series 1. 

Today, I went to my local Target and, among other things, picked up 2 fat packs of 2019 Topps Series 2. I felt like this sample size was large enough for me to formulate my own opinion on this year's product, whether it's positive or negative.

Unfortunately, it appears that the 2019 version of this set falls under the same umbrella as the previous releases; underwhelming. 

Maybe my rack packs were just unlucky, but I struggled to pull a ton of cards of players that I recognize, and this is coming from someone who actively watches Baseball and hobby box breaks.

At least there were some throwback uniforms included to distract from the lackluster checklist. I love the Braves jersey that Inciarte is wearing, and while I have no clue who Jace Fry is, I appreciate the inclusion of this 80s White Sox uniform.

Including Mariners pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, there are 5 highly sought after rookie cards (with parallels) in 2019 Topps Series 2; this group includes Kikuchi, Eloy Jimenez, Pete Alonso, Fernando Tatis Jr, and, of course, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Being the most desired rookie of 2019 means that Guerrero Jr is featured in 2019 Topps Series 2 as an SP. However, his card doesn't seem to be too rare as most of the box breaks and recaps that I've seen on YouTube and Twitter have yielded a Vlad rookie card.

If nothing else, the 2 36-card rack packs were reasonable when it came to cards of my 2 favorite MLB teams. However, the limited checklist means that I'm not necessarily pulling the biggest Red Sox and Cubs players out there.

I'm not sure about what it takes for a pitcher to qualify as a rookie, but Bobby Poyner pitched 44 innings last year, so I'm wondering how he's still considered a rookie in 2019. 

Steven Wright is returning today from an 80-game PED suspension, and I've practically given up all hope that the 34-year old will contribute anything to the team. He's struggled immensely since an All-Star season 3 years ago, both on and off the field.

On the other hand, Eduardo Nunez is pretty decent overall, and Cole Hamels is a player that I collect. I've also grown more fond of this year's Flagship design as the year has progressed, and I'm ecstatic, truth be told, for Topps Chrome.

Topps produced a lot more Series 1 and 2 in 2019 than they have in year's past, meaning that even if you pay the same amount of money for cards, you'll end up with fewer inserts/parallels and a lot more base cards. 

Nevertheless, that didn't stop Topps from including some sort of retail exclusive insert in each of the 2 rack packs that I purchased. These Franchise Feats cards appear to highlight the history of each MLB team along with a picture of the face of their franchise. 

While including Roberto Alomar and Rickey Henderson on these cards is somewhat unnecessary, the concept is fairly unique, and I love the logos that Topps selected, especially for the Oakland A's.

Another reason why Topps was able to produce so much Series 1 & 2 this year is the inclusion of these bland 150th-anniversary parallels. The only thing that distinguishes these from a base card is the gold foil logo in the bottom lefthand corner. Other than that minor detail, everything else is the same.

After buying 2 rack packs, this 150th-Anniversary "parallel" was the only parallel card that I pulled; no gold, no rainbow foil, nothing else but this. As much as I enjoy collecting (and feel bad for) Starlin Castro, I wish that Topps would've either left these out entirely or partnered them with some sort of border color. 

Like the 150th-anniversary cards, I ended up with 1 of the 1984 Topps design inserts in my 2 rack packs, and I'd say I did pretty well with the player that I pulled. While the first series featured Baseball's rookies and veterans in the base design, Series 2 showcases the superstars of today's game in the '84 Tops All-Star design.

Seeing this card makes me long for the All-Star card designs of the 70s and 80s. Even though Topps features Future Stars on some players sophomore year cards today, I still wish that they'd revert back to stellar All-Star cards like the ones in the 1984 design.

Still, even with the Yelich insert pull and the Kikuchi and Jimenez rookies, I'm not all that impressed with 2019 Topps Series 2. Let me put this into perspective; 2019 Topps is an extremely base card heavy set. I pulled 2 parallels/inserts (Castro and Henderson) of players that I collect. 

Besides those 2 cards, I landed just 2 other cards for my PCs; the Cole Hamels card from earlier in the post and the Rickey Henderson card above. I only pulled around 5 non-base cards, meaning that around 67 of the cards from these 2 rack packs were strictly base.

I collect exactly 250 players, so to only land 2 base cards of guys that I collect and 4 total means that this checklist isn't very strong. 

Unless anything changes, remind me to skip Topps Series 2 next year. I'll be perfectly happy with Series 1 and Chrome instead.

Picture Perfect

Much like Topps Archives, Topps' delayed release of information regarding their 2018 Gallery product left me wondering if the revived brand would make a return this year. Luckily, a little over a month ago, I received word from Cardboard Connection that the art-based set would be back for 2018.

After making its debut in the late 90s and early 2000s, Gallery ceased all production for over a decade until Topps brought the brand back as a Walmart exclusive in 2017 which is a problem for me given that the closest Walmart to me, roughly 10 miles away, doesn't even sell Baseball cards.

So, I decided instead to save myself the aggravation of wasting an afternoon driving to a much farther away Walmart and instead just order a box of Topps Gallery online. Along with a discounted box of Ultra Pro sheets, I picked up a hobby box of 2018 Topps Gallery. 

There are 20 total packs in the box with 5 cards per pack, resulting in 100 total cards, including 2 autographs. Today, I will be recapping the first half of the box while tomorrow will focus on the 2nd half.

For starters, each box includes 1 over-sized box topper card which came as a pleasant surprise as soon as I opened the box. Wrapped in a gold wrapper, I began to wonder who it could be as I tore open the pack.

It may not look very "over-sized," but I'm fairly happy with pulling a McCutchen box-topper, and even happier that he's shown on the Giants and not the Yankees, though the Pirates would've been my first choice. Moreover, around 10 minutes after I pulled this card, McCutchen signed a rather unexpected 3-year $50 million dollar deal with the Phillies, a team I think he'll work well with.

Poor Cutch. He's been with 4 teams over the last year after spending nearly a decade with the Pirates. Obviously, the Giants and Yankees weren't good fits for him, so I'm truly hoping that Philadelphia is a good fit for the former NL MVP. 

As expected, the artwork in the set is nothing short of extraordinary. Topps seemed to up their game after a few cards from last years' set that were slightly boring, though the majority of the product excited me last year. I picked out a few in particular that caught my eye over the first 10 packs, including recent retiree Adrian Beltre and 2018 rookies Rhys Hoskins and Miguel Andujar.

It sure has been an interesting year for Ichiro cards. After agreeing to return to Seattle on a 1-year deal, the 3,000 hit club member retired early on in the season to take up some executive position for the Mariners. Despite that, Topps continued to produce card after card of the 2001 AL MVP, likely as a way to pay tribute to one of the greatest hitters this generation has ever seen. 

I pulled a couple of short prints so far, one of a retired player and one current player. The modern day player is Yu Darvish, a card I'm hardly psyched to pull, while the 2nd of the 2 is a Masters short print of Randy Johnson, showing him as a member of the Seattle Mariners. 

Though my personal first choice would be the Montreal Expos, the artist perfected some minor details on the card, including the titling of "Big Unit" on his t-shirt.

I don't know if they have any base card colored parallels, but I have come across one of their Private Issue stamped cards in my box so far, serial numbered out of 250 on the back. Despite showing promise, the future for Raudy Read in Washington appears rather bleak given that the Nationals have just got done signing and trading for 2 total catchers, Kurt Suzuki, and Yan Gomes.

As for the insert sets, Topps basically decided to bring back each and every insert set that made the 2017 product what it was. This includes Gallery Heritage, an insert set I've already landed cards from of 2 superstar 1st basemen, Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Rizzo. I can't say I know for sure if it consists only of the 1952 set, but even if it does, at least we have the fabulous artwork if the design becomes redundant. 

Masterpiece has also returned for the 2nd year of the Gallery product, featuring black and white photos that serve as a nice contrast to all the colorful images throughout the set. I continued my luck with rookie cards after pulling a Gleyber Torres insert, one of the Yankees' most promising players, and that's saying quite a lot. 

Even though the art can't really shine as much in black and white, I appreciate the contrast to the rest of the set. As I said last year, they vaguely remind me of the Donruss Diamond Kings cards from the early 80s.

The last of the inserts so far, Hall of Fame Gallery is back with a design that resembles something you'd see out of Panini Cooperstown 75th Anniversary, only with beautiful artwork to accompany the minimalistic design. 

While Honus Wagner isn't one of my player collections or a top choice for whose card I'd prefer to pull, the artists are able to pull off such intriguing designs that I don't even mind that I don't collect the player.

As I previously mentioned, each hobby box guarantees 2 autographs. After 10 packs, I had already pulled 1 of them with the final auto lingering somewhere in the final 10 packs.

Well, I can't say Mike Soroka is one of the better names or even one that I had heard of before today, but after doing a little research, I became a bit more hopeful.

For starters, the card is a green parallel, numbered 46/99 which is already a major plus. Additionally, Soroka is just 21 years of age and is a former 1st round pick out of Canada. Given that he was successful in his minimal playing time in 2018, it's likely that Soroka will find a way onto the Braves' 2019 roster. 

They're an up and coming team, meaning that Soroka could soon and hopefully find himself as one of the better young pitchers in Baseball.

And even if he doesn't, I'll always have the artwork to keep me happy.