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11 Blaster Packs of 2019 Topps Update Series

Well, quite obviously, I'm not getting a hobby box of Update this year.

This is the deal I have with Topps. If they actually put traded players in their sets, and not just the ones from January that should have been in flagship, but the ones from July that Update used to be full of, I'll get a hobby box. If not, I'll get a few retail packs, and just find singles of the other base cards I want. This is what happened in 2017, when they balked the traded players and kept the big one, Yu Darvish, to a short print. And this is what they've done in 2019. Yasiel Puig is the only player in a July-on uniform, and that's also a short print.

So, I got two blasters today, and that may be the most of the retail sales they'll get from me. So, fourteen packs...and three of them were EXACT REPLICAS of other packs in this break. Collation is so bad now that exact packs are repeating themselves. So those three will not be shown here (I might mention the inserts), but the first eleven certainly will.

Guaranteed Manu-Patch Cards: Warren Spahn & JD Martinez

Pack 1-
85- Robbie Grossman, quietest DH in baseball
95- Nick Senzel Rookie Debut. I really don't think they need to do these.
124- Raimel Tapia
63- Trent Thornton RC. There's something people actually wanted from this set, rather than roster pieces that were kinda set in January and BS-set-fillers.
163- Miguel Castro. Another thing Update should be used for- relievers. I wanna see more of these, and less filler cards.
89- Carlos Santana ASG GOLD #'D TO 2019. Nice pick for a gold card
84T insert of Jon Duplantier. Man, they really doubled down on this guy.
Bryce Harper Welcome to Philly insert. Okay, so...as much as I enjoy Bryce-Phillies stuff...lemme ask you this. Topps has done these player-centric inserts for Judge, Bellinger, Torres and Ohtani, and now Bellinger. What happens if a big-mojo rookie comes into a no-market baseball city like Miami or Detroit?
205- Darwinzon Hernandez
203- Wilmer Flores
78- MIKE FORD RC. Okay, NOW I'm happy. If Ford's rookie wasn't in here, I woulda revolted. Though, Ford being here and Alvarez not being here, even if Alvarez debuted earlier, is VERY fishy
195- Nick Hundley
87- Willson Contreras ASG
92- George Springer ASG

Pack 2-
182- Andrew Knizner
123- Justus Sheffield RC
294- Josh Fuentes. Lots of rookies who were big in like May
282- Nate Eovaldi
236- Adam Ottavino. Alright, now I'm happy
65- Brad Hand ASG
Reds History insert of Johnny Bench. I kinda love they're doing this, as the Reds don't get a ton of love as is
187- CURTIS GRANDERSON 150-stamped.
115- Pedro Avila
262- Pete Alonso HRD. At the very least, this card is great.
296- Dan Vogelbach ASG
177- JP Crawford. It looks suspiciously like Topps PD's out the Spring Training patch
46- Tanner Roark. Outdated Update #1- Roark finished the season in Oakland
66- JT Realmuto. WOOOO

Pack 3-
170- Michael Chavis RC, which is nice
110- Marwin Gonzalez. This is a very nice card
211- Skye Bolt
132- Neil Walker
248- Ryan Helsley
137- Hansel Robles, which is a MUCH-NEEDED Update Series card
270- Homer Bailey. Outdated Update #2. Bailey also finished the season in Oakland.
27- JD Hammer SHINY.
165- Dwight Smith Jr.
275- Brandon Kintzler, who had a great season in relief for Chicago
286- Luis Cessa. Yeah, I'm fine with the excess relievers, except for the unneeded rookie ones
151- Mookie Betts ASG
214- Zack Britton. Ottavino and Britton in 2 packs. Nicely done
58- JT Realmuto ASG. Annd 2 Realmutos in 2 packs.

Pack 4-
108- Cole Irvin
277- Luke Weaver
199- Will Smith RC. This one looks nice.
184- Travis D'Arnaud. Very satisfying that this guy stayed healthy this year.
37- Tim Beckham and his 50-game suspension
194- Max Muncy ASG. Nice looking card, too
Perennial All-Stars of Sandy Koufax
Another Welcome to Philly Harper insert
103- Austin Allen
209- Justin Bour, post-awful LA season
27- JD Hammer again
134- JD Martinez ASG
292- Joe Biagini. Outdated Update #3- Biagini was traded to Houston
155- Charlie Morton, MLB's Mr. Life Begins After 30.

Pack 5-
243- Eloy Jimenez RD
153- Tyler Austin. Outdated Update #4- Austin ended 2019 in Milwaukee
295-Cavan Biggio RD
269- Craig Kimbrel as a Cub, perhaps one of the two important Update Series cards in this set
18- Christian Walker
162- Scott Alexander, sans-awesome-stache
84T insert of Carter Kieboom
202- Nicky Lopez
57- Clayton Richard
90 Blake Pakrer. Outdated Update #5, Parker was traded to Philly in July
128- GIIIOOOOOO Urshela. That's a nice inclusion
91- Ketel Marte ASG
25- Cody Bellinger ASG
47- Pete Alonso ASG. Man, imagine how much more they could do with this set if they ditched the ASG subset and made said subset a ToppsNOW exclusive thing for 40 bucks or something.

Pack 6-
240- Merrill Kelly RC. Not...necessarily a rookie
222- Martin Perez
198- Pete Alonso RD
119- Jesus Sucre. Okay, with Sucre's like 16 games in Baltimore, we did not need a card of him in this.
71- Queen City Kings. It's a Dietrich-Puig combo, and I am counting this as a Derek Dietrich card because he's featured more prominently
9- Masahiro Tanaka ASG
189- Another Combo, PACIFIC POWER, with Trout and Ohtani. Because it is called 'PACIFIC Power', I'm counting this as an Ohtani card, sort of like his Japanese-text combo card from earlier this year
Greatest Players of Alex Bregman
36- Jake Odorizzi ASG
111- Matt Festa
206- Dylan Moore
100- Austin Riley RC, which is kinda nice
152- Jordan Lyles. Outdated Update #6, Lyles went back to Milwaukee at the deadline.
72- Albert Pujols 2000 RBI Checklist

Pack 7-
139- Adam Haseley RC, which is a nice start
26- Mark Reynolds
169- Taylor Clarke RC
35- Derek Dietrich
210- Borque/Noll Combo RC
59- Jared Walsh. I love that the card credits him as a 1B/P. That is cool. I want them to do that for Michael Lorenzen
284- Clayton Kershaw ASG
1- Vladimir Guerrero...PHOTO VARIATION RC. Holy crap. This shot is of him pointing, which is different from the him-throwing RC. Photo variations are seeded 1 in 32 packs, so this is a NICE pull.
...and that is followed by...
84T AUTOGRAPH OF...Jason Martin. Yes, it's an auto of a career .270 minors hitter who played 20 games this year for Pittsburgh, but it's still a rookie autograph out of RETAIL Update. Hell, 84T autos are seeded 1 in 580 packs. FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY. So to say I beat the odds is an understatement. Hell, let's multiply 1/32 by 1/580. The odds of pulling both of these is 1 in 18,560 packs. Holy crap.
49- Mike Moustakas ASG
74- Elvis Luciano RC
259- Alex Bregman HRD
28- Oscar Mercado
24- Lucas Giolito ASG

Pack 8-
1- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC. THIS IS THE REGULAR ONE. So...with this one, the variation, AND the variation I somehow got from S2...I now have 3 versions of Vlad's rookie card, and I'm not even a Jays fan
11- Brandon Brennan
81- Jose Iglesias
186- JR Murphy. Didn't exactly need an US card
268- Jose Berrios ASG
229- Kyle Dowdy
84T Xander Bogaerts, which is nice
Welcome to Philly Harper Insert. MORE. I know this is stupid, but MORE.
191- Brad Boxberger
120- Billy Hamilton. Outdated Update #7- Hamilton went from KC to Atlanta in August
192- Michael Chavis RD
279- Freddie Freeman ASG
232- Michael Brantley ASG
21- Melky Cabrera

Pack 9-
224- Yasmani Grandal ASG
67- Nick Ramirez
121- Asdrubal Cabrera. Outdated Update #8, left for Washington
94- Gregory Soto
213- RICHARD LOVELADY, BEST BASEBALL NAME OF THE YEAR
166- Andrew Miller
Greatest Players of Paul Molitor
265- Syndergaard's HR and Shutout CL
62- Vlad Jr. RD. Yeah, they even make a Rookie Debut card for people who's debut was listless.
187- Curtis Granderson. They knew I'd be getting these boxes, I guess
109- Carter Kieboom
106- Yasiel Puig...sadly as a Red, not an Indian
257- Josh Donaldson, who had an awesome year
271- Ronald Acuna HRD

Pack 10-
233- DJ LEMAHIEU
51- Bryan Reynolds RC
118- Freddy Galvis. COME ON. Outdated Update #9, traded to Cincinnati.
235- Alex Jackson RC. This card wasn't necessary
234- Trevor Cahill
127- Kelvin Herrera, who had a very weak year in Chicago
261- Jeff McNeil ASG
151- Mookie Betts ASG FOIL
105- Luis Rengifo RC
77- Drew Pomeranz. Outdated Update #10, ended the year in Milwaukee
237- Domingo Santana
141- Brandon Woodruff ASG
13- Yasmani Grandal ASG
83- Whit Merrifield ASG

Pack 11-
73- Peter Lambert RC
226- Ryne Harper
131- Mike Moustakas. SO...MOOSE, who must have had a base card in flagship, gets a base card HERE because he almost switched teams in the offseason, but didn't?? REALLY, TOPPS?
138- Adam Warren
117- DJ LeMahieu ASG. Awesome
183- Bird/Dowdy Rangers Rookies. WAIT, KYLE DOWDY ALREADY HAS A SOLO ROOKIE IN THIS SET. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??
Perennial All-Stars of Jose Altuve
Bryce Harper Welcome to Philly. WOO
149- Corbin Martin RC. Outdated Update #11, traded to the Diamondbacks for Zack Greinke, who's ALSO not in this in a new uniform.
52- Keston Hiura RD
56- Fernando Tatis RD
272- Vlad Jr. HRD
45- Brendan Rodgers RD
112- Josh Bell ASG. Enthralling.

And the highlights of the 3 dupe packs:
84T Insert of MARIANO RIVERA
Greatest Players of RHYS HOSKINS
213- RICHARD LOVELADY...gold #'d to 2019. Yep. My favorite baseball name of the year, in gold. I love it.

So...yeah, Topps still makes a TON of bad mistakes here, but...as an Update set, it's fine? I guess. I got some nice stuff out of it, including that INCREDIBLE Pack 7, which has gotta go among my all-time ripping achievements. But...idk if I'll go back to retail for much more. Especially if the collation's always gonna be this bad.

Finality

My college is a very artsy, quiet little place in New York. Whenever I see updated sports paraphernalia, I do a double take. There are, however, people on my campus who care about sports, one way or another.

Last night, at 8 PM, when the World Series began, I wasn't watching. To be honest, I was watching Survivor.

Once that ended, however...no, I still wasn't watching. I had to run over to the other side of campus and lead a meeting of the improv club on campus, which I was somehow the co-president of. As I was there, I'd periodically check my phone. My friend Derek, who sort of knew sports but was rooting for Bill Murray, would be right there with me. Especially as the huge Cubs lead happened, fueled by David Ross, Dexter Fowler and Willson Contreras. Derek was keeping my updated, even as the improv meeting went on.

By 11:30 I was absolutely exhausted, on account of my very long day, and the fact that the room we were doing improv in had no AC. As I was standing in what ended up being my last scene of the day, Derek came behind me and whispered something truly horrifying in my ear.

"Tied at 6. Bottom of the eighth."

No matter how much I adored the Indians, no matter how neutral I wanted to be, this needed to be the Cubs' year. There wasn't going to be a last second 'ha-ha' moment that kept the curse going. Not tonight.

Right then, I got a text from my dad: "Are You Watching This????"

No...but I had to be.

I told my co-president that I was fried, grabbed my jacket and left to a sea of 'awwww'. I then raced all the way across campus to my dorm, turned on the TV, and laid back. My roommate was out of town, so I could just enjoy the game.

It was the top of the ninth. The tension was killer.

Throughout the entire ninth inning, I was waiting for something to happen, something either good or bad, and nothing really did. Aroldis Chapman managed to get himself out of a scrape or two. Nobody got any runs or anything.

And as the tenth is about to start, I feared the curse was beginning to rear its ugly head again as the tarps went out, and I had to listen to Joe Buck's grating-ass voice for 15 minutes. This was enough to test my patience. To test my loyalty. Was I a true fan of baseball? True enough that I'd listen to a sportscaster drone on about rain patterns for way too long just for the promise of a killer ending? You bet I was. My dad, on the other hand, went to bed.

Eventually they rolled back the tarp, brought the game back on, and Kyle Schwarber got up against Trevor Bauer. And then...the fun really began. Schwarber, Rizzo, even Miguel Montero all banded together and smacked the crap out of Trevor Bauer, resulting in an 8-6 lead, and making me extraordinarily happy.

As for those three excruciating outs that ended the game...they were killer. And with Rajai Davis, it looked bleak. But Michael Martinez, of all people, hit one right to Kris Bryant, who proceeded to fire the Curse of the Billy Goat into oblivion, just with a simple throw to Anthony Rizzo.

And with that...the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. I cannot believe that I typed those words, and I was 100% behind them when they did. This was a moment that was as electric on the field as it was in my dorm room in Purchase, New York.

That may have been the most satisfying World Series...actually no- top to bottom it was an amazing series, with some great moments and heroes from both sides. I don't think there's been a series this...evenly matched since the 2001 one. I'm just very grateful that I got to watch at least some of it.

So, with that, the 2016 baseball season's over. And until February, I have to cope with the fact that there's no baseball. Hopefully the blog won't show this. I imagine I'll have enough planned to keep the blog from going dark for too long, but, like usual, I won't make any promises.

Hell of a way to end it, Cubs. I'm very proud of you all.

To Ich His Own

 

Would you believe me if I said I didn't see this coming at all?

Ichiro Suzuki, as long as I can remember, has been one of baseball's biggest stars. He's a big deal, and everyone knows it. Another thing that everyone knows is that his ten year hitting record and consistency will likely land him in the Hall of Fame before any other Japanese player. 

And that's a big honking deal.

 

And then, while readying customs at home for the first time in a week, I hear he's batting eighth for my team tonight.

Isn't that the wackiest thing ever?

Possibly one of the best personalities in the game, and one of the biggest stars of the last decade, is now a New York Yankee. I couldn't be more surprised.

 

Ichiro has been Seattle's Golden boy for twelve seasons now, and I realize how shocking it is for them, as well as for us. 

It's Ichiro, man! 

Ichiro IS Seattle. 

There's nobody else, not even King Felix, that can compare to Ichiro. 

I know that team is in last place, and I know that team hasn't seen October since they won more games than anyone else, but at least they could have held onto him, just for the fans sake.

Seattle must be pissed at us now. First we steal Pineda and ruin him arm, and now we steal their biggest star, possibly ever. They will likely send an angry mob down to the Bronx and complain.

Unless they wanna watch the game. They're more than welcome to see a game played in weather other than rain.

The bottom line- am I happy to see Ichiro Suzuki playing right field? You bet your ass. Am I happy that Brian Cashman actually made a decent move this July? You bet your ass. Could this team resemble the Titanic any more? No. 

Will I make a custom of him by the end of the week? You know me. 

Whoa.

So...does this mean Bobby Jenks is looking for a job?

Still, this was a huge move. Boston is only getting richer, and Oakland is only getting oaklandier.