You saw my blaster from yesterday. It was...pretty good. A lot of base, but also a rare PHOTO VARIATION....OF AN AWESOME PLAYER. So yeah. Now, here's another one. Hopefully it'll be a little snazzier.
COINS: Rafael Devers, a Red Sock, and...Squints, from the Sandlot. It's not a player, but it's a pretty fairly big Sandlot character, so I'll allow it.
Pack 1-
We start with a Cardinal and a Blue Jay. Not a great sign.
The 77s wielded better stuff, like an Ozzie Smith, a RARE card of David Ortiz as a Twin, and TURN BACK THE CLOCK SHORTPRINT of ICHIRO AS A YANKEE. LOTS OF GOOD THINGS HERE. Plus, I'll say that I like the short prints better as TBTC cards, rather than just impossible-to-find-base-cards. These TBTC SPs are 1:14, which is a TON better than the 1:70 ratio from 2015, and make these short prints fresh and obtainable. Score for Topps.
And, despite Starling Marte's best efforts, we end Pack 1 with another Cardinal. Grrr.
Pack 2-
Lots of Braves going on early on, plus a cover-boy shot of Kris Bryant. How lovely.
Iglesias' card I would have filtered differently, as there's too much shadow. Turner's is nice, despite the trimmed Turner-beard.
The Albies-Acuna-Gohara FS, while not exactly an under-the-radar observation, is nice. Turner's is a good base card, and Darvish's would be a lot better if Yu Darvish as a Cub was actually a pretty sight at this point.
Pack 3- GREAT LEGEND CHOICES HER. HOYT WILHELM? Fantastic! Single most underrated HOF pitcher of his era. Schoendienst is a nice touch too, having just passed.
Fun, inoffensive 77s. I like the poses here. Very retro.
And some cheerful 81s. Great use of Phillies here, even if Crawford has been slightly disappointing. A Robin Roberts card is always a nice pull.
Pack 4-
The Seaver and Aaron photos I have seen before, but they're both welcome here. Blackmon's shot is awesome. And the Stanton-Judge combo card is a really cool one for me to pull.
Two largely-ineffective second-year players for 4th place teams.
Annnnd two Hall of Famers, with fairly unused photos. No complaints here.
Pack 5- L TO R: The best ace in the game, and the worst ace in the game.
Solid posed 77s, though Marky's does stand out a bit in an odd way.
Jon Gray's is nice and all, but...A-Rod as a Mariner...AND ICHIRO'S FINAL SENDOFF. A bit less showoffish than his other ones, but still welcome.
And...not gonna lie, it does feel pretty cool to pull a card of Benny The Jet. It's kinda awesome.
Pack 6-
Bringer of Rain, and Bringer of Disappointment
Three absolute legends. Sucks not seeing Bunning as a Phillie too, but as the shot of him in Detroit seems to be more rare these days, I'll allow it. Ashburn and Bench, of course, look great here.
And some solid 81s. Scherzer's stands out because, OMG, AN ACTION SHOT. Also, I love Daniel Mengden's mustache. Not since John Axford in 2011 have we had a stache that cool.
Pack 7-
Rookies and a Royal.
Ah yes, now the REGULAR BASE JETER, which is a little less flashy than the SP I pulled last box, paired with an Arenado. I don't agree with the Rockies using red as their base color, but...oh well.
Two nice cards here, and ANOTHER ACTION SHOT. MY GOD.
And we end on another rookie history card of a Dodger.
Another fine blaster, with a ton of base card love, and some good stuff all around. I still enjoy this set, but I do think there are a few issues that Topps could have solved if they put in a liiiiiitle more effort.
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