You'll notice that there's been a shortage of baseball card-related material on this baseball card blog.
To be honest, it's not even my fault. We've just finished off the most dry card spell of the season, with a lot of products (like Gypsy Queen, Opening Day and Pro Debut) that I don't have a ton of interest in, give or take a few singles. Also, it's seeming more and more like Topps doesn't especially care about its card output, as early looks at the checklist proved that there were some glaring flaws of logic in the execs' thinking, ones that weren't ever going to be rectified.
So this hanger box of Series 2 (followed tomorrow by a blaster of it) is just out of necessity, really. The 2018 Topps set has been, while a technical and photographical improvement on 2017, another step backwards in terms of general creativity. To be honest, I've already become kind of mad at the fact that this set was produced in, like, January, and a lot of things have happened since that have rendered these cards obsolete. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna count all the cards that either have the wrong uniform or simply don't need to be there (combos and team cards don't count).
So, here's the hanger box:
424- Matt Wieters. It's theraputic that my first card of the series is a guy who took 7 years to get a Topps card.
404- Alex Claudio
544- Yadier Molina. I agree that the abundance of facemask flaps is ruining batter's box action shots on cards. How can you gauge the excitement if most of the face is obscured?
488- Joe Panik.
361- Middle Infield Marvels- Altuve/Correa CL
471- Josh Harrison. I still don't like the fact that the twitter handles take more space from the stats. Not at all.
505- Taylor Williams. All of these are fine so far.
388- Taylor Motter! AHA! Unneeded Card #1. He's pictured with Seattle, and is currently in the Twins organization.
414- Danny Valencia. Unneeded Card #1. He's currently floundering with Baltimore, instead of his picture M's uniform.
523- Matt Bush. Perhaps he should have stuck to hitting
656- Brian Goodwin
671- Tyler Clippard. Unneeded Card #3- Pictured with Astros, now with Blue Jays.
543- Luis Castillo. Proof that the Reds' pitching is in dire need of improvement.
462- Paul DeJong. Injured, but still a key part of this up-and-coming Cards team.
422- Victor Caratini
698- Ryan Sherriff. Excessive rookies don't count as Unneeded.
655- Andre Ethier. Nor does this. This is a pretty striking and beautiful final tribute for the legendary Dodger, who's probably hanging it up (unless someone signs him).
683- Adam Eaton. Glad to see he's finally healthy, and surging.
669- Matt Chapman, the A's anchor right now
460- Robert Gsellman. I do really enjoy the horizontal photography here.
549- Alex Gordon, who FINALLY remembered how to hit
415- Jace Peterson...as a Yankee??? Unneeded Card #4. Yanks released him in April.
522- Guillermo Heredia
609- Austin Hedges
465- Padres TC. Once again, we don't need to carve out space to print Twitter/Insta handles that are too f--king self-explanatory. Are you doing this for the stupid people who wouldn't think to just google 'What's the Padres' twitter handle?'. "OHHH, IT'S (A) PADRES!!! I HAD NO IDEA!!!"
442- Jesus Aguilar, a cool action shot that looks better sideways.
629- Max Scherzer...the best pitcher in baseball. Yep.
665- Tommy Pham
690- Cardinals TC
425- Shelby Miller, with a nice horizontal walk-up card. One could argue that this one's also Unneeded, as he's not debuted yet this season, but...I'll be generous and allow this one.
516- Ken Giles in a cool closer-catcher card
680- Enquire Hernandez
474- Jeff Mathis
Salute Legends: Roberto Clemente. Still not a fan of the simplicity of this insert set, but I won't turn down pulling a Clemente card.
83T- George Springer AS. Great reproduction of the AS cards, always a nice one.
400- Jose Altuve...shiny. Okay then.
533- Kennys Vargas...INDEPENDECE DAY PARALLEL, #'D TO 76. Considering that I literally saw this guy play for Rochester the other day, it was very nice to get a parallel of him, especially so low.
Instant Impact of Jose Abreu, a guy I always enjoy pulling cards of.
2 Aaron Judge inserts I'm not gonna go over because you're all sick of him
Legends in the Making of Kyle Schwarber. One of the few inserts I enjoy in this set, and Schwarber, considering his 2018 season, is a good choice
Legends in the Making of GIANCARLO STANTON. OOOOOOH, THAT'S EVEN BETTER!
371- Cole Hamels. Still among the best
457- Hanley Ramirez. Borderline, but not Unneeded, seeing as he just got released a week or so ago. Pity, too.
359- Wade Miley. Hasn't played a game in a Brewers uniform yet, and yet...here he is. Alrighty then. Unneeded Card #5 it is.
464- Travis Jankowski
360- Taijuan Walker, who's currently on the DL, but at least pitched this year, ergo he deserves a card this year.
437- JJ Hardy. Unneeded Card #6. He didn't even retire gracefully, so no Sunset Card needed for him.
450- Joey Votto. Class act. Probably a future HOFer, too
432- Albert Almora.
570- Trevor Williams, having a big comeup for the Pirates this year
446- Lucas Duda. I'm 90% sure this is a photoshop job, but even if it is, it's one of Topps' better ones
678- Chad Bettis, FINALLY BACK for Colorado
545- Nicholas Castellanos. The fans ADORE this guy in Detroit, and with his swing I can see why.
472- Matt Garza. Another guy that didn't really need a sunset card. Unneeded Card #7
508- Ryon Healy. Not a great PS job.
617- Doug Fister. Marginally better PS job, but wondering where they got the all-red uniform from. Probably Boston, but looks more like an Angels uniform, which...I could have SWORN he pitched for, even if they did sign him and dropped him before he could start a game.
507- Zack Greinke, still one of the best
606- Jake Arrieta. I seriously doubt this is a photoshop job, because...I mean, it's Arrieta as a Phillie. They got a real photo, I think. Which is nice.
530- Jason Vargas. THIS ONE, THOUGH...not a great PS job. If you're gonna rush out players in new uniforms, at least put some f--king effort into them.
509- Santiago Casilla.
510- Freddie Freeman. MVP?
358- Brad Brach
520- Jim Johnson. If there's no twitter/insta, they paste a big #TOPPSBASEBALL on there, like it's a big MAGA or something. Why do they think that wasting card space for something like a #TOPPSBASEBALL thing is a good idea? It's barely practical. Twitter shit like that is disposable. Cards last longer than that.
670- Asdrubal Cabrera. Finally back to his old tricks
583- Tommy Joseph. Hasn't played in the majors yet this year, or for Philly...or Texas, or whoever he's with right now. Unneeded Card #8
534- German Marquez
369- Chris Taylor
362- Miguel Rojas
538- Jason Castro. Got injured post-Opening Day, so still deserves the card
515- Greg Bird. Glad to see he's finally hitting
504- Scott Schebler.
So...while there's a lot of good base stuff, and a few good inserts (and a nice parallel), Topps Series 2 is more of the same from Topps. Laziness, lack of creativity, and a lot of unneeded cards that will only be rectified by Update...which then won't have any room for the other cards that Update is meant for. But that's a rant for another day.
I also bought a blaster of this, and you'll see that tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment