Two Rack Packs of 2023 Topps Series 1 [Finally]

 

I was in a place the other day where I not only had enough saved up to get some baseball cards, but there were actually baseball cards present. I won't divulge where this was, nor how much the price was hiked up...but I went with it. It was Series 1.

Obviously I'd seen a lot of this on the blogs for the past month or so, but it'd taken me this long to have any in hand. I got 2 rack packs, and until I figure out eBay selling and/or make a breakthrough with work, that'll be enough. 

Pack 1-

101- Tyler Mahle

My first card of the year was a guy I'd seen pitch only a few days prior. He got chased, yes, but he's still a nice pickup for the Twins if he keeps at Cincinnati-era pace. 

I've probably said as such, but I have come around on this design. I wish it wasn't so fragrantly the photo day icon images that were being used, as they're not too interesting, but I like so many design elements that it counteracts that. 

73- Jon Gray

322- Luis Urias

215- Wander Franco

22- Clayton Kershaw

Two big pulls from a base perspective. As is evident on Kershaw's, full career stats are in play on the back, much to my amusement. 

214- Graham Ashcraft RC

50- Mookie Betts

293- J.T. Realmuto

I agree that there are too many rookies in the set, but at the very least a good majority of them are people that played a big enough part in the second half of the 2022 season, like Graham Ashcraft. Also nice that star cards aren't too rare, especially JT.

34- Zack Thompson

80- Tanner Rainey

277- David Villar RC

158- Kris Bryant

175- Liam Hendriks

Maybe it's because he was injured for most of last year, but it's still very weird to see Bryant in Rockies colors. I really hope Hendriks makes it to the mound at some point this year, he's awesome. 

12- Jeffrey Springs. Not showing his picture, not even collecting his cards. Ya done goofed, pal.

255- Cal Quantrill

257- Yadiel Hernandez

218- Jhoan Duran rainbow foil, unnumbered. I still don't see the point of these, and of making gold numbered cards rarer, but Duran is filthy.

88 Topps Brendan Rodgers. Pleased they finally did these, even if there are slight font issues. 

Stars of MLB Wander Franco

Stars of MLB Bryce Harper

Good subjects, but for a 'multiple-per-pack' insert, I would have preferred the 88s, honestly. This is at least cool design wise, but there are others similar, like 2019's Stars of the Game or 2018's Legends in the Making, that are more memorable to me.

226- Michael Harris II RC

One of the big rookies of the first series. And one hell of an image for it, too.

194- Josh Staumont

220- Cubs TC

292- Rangers TC

113- Dodgers CL

174- Mariners CL. These team cards and checklists are cool, but they feel like filler sometimes.

32- Jordan Montgomery

162- Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Even if I knew they had Gumby photos available, his card still looks photoshopped. The good news is both these cards show variance in the types of headshots we can see, like Montgomery's in-game shot and IKF's slight tilt. A little change-up goes a long way.

IKF's smug smile here says something along the lines of 'hey Anthony, you're really good and all but you know I'm making the opening day roster and you're not, right?'

37- Josh Smith RC

76- John Winckowski RC

105- Seth Beer

278- Aaron Nola

179- Carlos Rodon

290- Max Fried

Three of the best pitchers in the majors in one pack. Plus, Nola and Fried might actually pitch in the first half!

90- Korey Lee RC

286- Ezequiel Duran

PACK 2-

53- Dylan Cease

236- Shane McClanahan

Two pitchers who had incredible 2022s start us off. I really hope Cease can sustain this. McClanahan too, but, y'know, division rival.

232- Ian Happ

13- Giovanny Gallegos

163- Miguel Vargas RC

21- Max Scherzer

313- Cal Mitchell

Scherz is Scherz. Mitchell I saw as an A-baller and have some pride in, even if he's not very good in the majors so far.

74- Tarik Skubal

171- Mychal Givens. I'll say this, the reliever presence in this set seems like an improvement.

132- Gavin Sheets

204- Manuel Margot

269- Steven Matz

182- Nick Pratto

68- William Contreras

Pratto's rookie is a decent pull. Contreras' is a great card even if it is already outdated.

66- Brandon Crawford

154- Jonathan Aranda

Home Field Advantage Bryce Harper.

I...had a reaction to this one. Didn't think I'd end up pulling one of these, so the fact that I do and it's the hometown superstar is...a huge deal. I love so much of this card. Rocky's boxing gloves, man. Penn and Franklin. As a Philadelphian, I wholeheartedly approve. As a Phils collector, I'm even more grateful. 

88T insert of Matthew Liberatore

Stars of MLB Rafael Devers

Stars of MLB Gerrit Cole

I still don't exactly see the point of bringing the rookies that aren't sure bets into the inserts but Topps is doing their thing. Good to get a Cole, seeing as he was on the mound when I was in Tampa [more on that later].

303- Checklist

190- Checklist

326- Checklist

I mean, the checklists do at least point out how well-done the photography in this set is. I just think the contractually-obligated MLB logo takes away from it a bit.

4 dupes from last pack including the Harris RC

191- Caleb Smith, who I believe just got demoted by the Pirates, which is an insult in itself.

49- Mitch Haniger

276- David MacKinnon

45- Gerrit Cole

87- Ethan Small RC

There's Cole again, given his own hero number. 

296- Cristian Pache

67- Travis Swaggerty RC

110- Randal Grichuk

So, not especially showy save for that Harper insert, but a nice array of base and fun details from this set. I'll try to get more when I can, and I'll see if I can build team sets and get the guys I collect. There's fun ideas here, and I think Topps can survive on this for the rest of the year. 

Notes from the Retail Shelves: 2022 Topps Series One

 

I'd lost hope.

It was April. APRIL. And not only had I yet to find any 2022 Heritage in the wild, I hadn't found any 2022 Topps FLAGSHIP in the wild. The retail shelves were shrugging their shoulders every time I came by, January til March. And I, obviously, was getting discouraged. Worried that I'd have to get all my cards online again this year. Heck, I placed an order from Topps's site for a few Heritage blasters, already thinking none of them would get to Target.

And so yesterday I wound up at Target. And finally, out of the blue...there it was. Not just flagship. LOTS of flagship. I was worried if there'd be anything, there'd be like one of something. No, there were dozens of rack packs. I didn't feel bad in taking three. And I threw in a blaster as well, because lord knows when I was gonna find anymore. 

I present to you now, my findings, from 3 rack packs and a blaster of Topps Series 1. A lot of this product has been heralded to you already, so I'm sticking to the highlights.

Pack 1- My 'first card of the year' was not only a hometown hero, but a perennial favorite of mine in Didi Gregorius, former Yankee hero. This is also a beautiful shot and a great hero moment for Didi in Philly. Glad I got it so soon.

What I noticed pretty soon off the bat here was the excellent photography, even in the team cards. No much character, so much 'picture of a moment' stuff that I love. The Dodgers CL one is the best of these.

I surprisingly didn't find many parallels at all in these, but two out of three of them were in this opening rack pack. The Elieser Hernandez is an unnumbered blue parallel, seeded 1 in 10 packs. The IKF gold, numbered to 2022 as usual, is now seeded 1 in 38. They're printing more cards now, because the demand is great enough, so the gold parallels are even rarer. Which means it's cooler that I not only pulled one, but pulled one of a current Yankee. 

The inserts are...Topps inserts. Our reprint du jour is, once again, 1987 Topps. These don't even have the fun cardstock of the 2017 iterations, and instead have the same as the last few flagship reprint inserts. Stars of MLB is, what I can gather, the 1-per-pack multi-centric insert this year. I prefer when it was something like Turkey Red, or even the multi-reprint ones from last year. Bichette's is the first of two images of his Canada Day duds in this set.

Pretty cool photography all around, honestly. Like the Moose one a lot. Also, glad to see MV3 get a true hero card.

Rack Pack 2- Yeah, these horizontals are wonderful. Tatis's reaction in that first one is great. I love the Bichette, again incorporating the red Canada Day duds in there.

I....pulled an SP. 

Pack 2 of the whole thing, here's an SP, it's Hank Aaron. SPs are seeded 1 in 112 packs, so I definitely beat the odds there. Usually when I pull SPs, it's either something esoteric that I don't care about or it's something incredible that I can't believe. Here, it is definitely the latter. Short Print of one of the greatest baseball players of all time, just...hanging out in one of my packs. And I don't think this was even the best 2022 Series One had to offer for me this time out. 

Inserts. Willie Mays heard Hank Aaron showed up and wanted to help the cause.

I shit on Topps for having early print schedules, but at least they can finally deliver these new uniforms eventually. That's a wonderful throwback shot for Galvis [I wanna know if that was taken at the game I was at, which was a Throwback Thursday night], and good to finally put a cap on the Starling the A era before the Mets issues come flooding in.

Rack Pack 3- More incredible photography, and another lovely Bryce to go along with it.

SPEAKING OF BRYCE, HERE HE IS AGAIN. Keep in mind, I already enjoyed pulling cards of him before the MVP, I love it more now. Always a believer. 

Kinda cool that Topps did a final tribute for Ryan Zimmerman. Mr. Nat may not have too much of a Hall of Fame case, but he was hella fun to see play.

Alright, now the blaster packs. I'll show the highlights for each one.

Pack 1- Burger could be a big piece of this new White Sox team. Alcides Escobar looks so happy to be on an active roster again. I like that Topps is returning to foil inserts, it gives passe ideas like 2021's Greatest Hits and Stars of MLB a bit more pop. Not complaining about pulling an Ohtani insert. 

Pack 2- Even the relatively normal looking cards just look cool in this one. Kind of like a 1993 or 1995 Topps quality. Something just pops, y'know? Hoy Park may not have much to do with the Pirates this year, but...to be fair, he wouldn't have much to do with the Yankees if he'd stayed.

Great horizontals. Will this be Gardy's final sendoff? I don't know if anyone's gonna sign him this offseason. Heck of a career, though. To me, he felt like Roy White 2.0. 

A Kershaw insert, and my blaster-exclusive manu-patch thingy that used to get its own pack. And it's a Red Sox. Topps, honestly...what the hell am I gonna do with these? They're thick and take up space. 

Pack 3- JT being JT, a cool shot of Ben Gamel, an 87T insert of Jackie Robinson, and a Vladdie insert. Nothing too bad here.

Pack 4- I liked this pack a lot. Rookie for scoreless 2021 hero Luis Gil, a Chapman base card, a Home Run Challenge card of a guy that's gonna hit a lot of home runs for the Yankees, Joey Gallo, and an insert of a fun up and comer Ke'Bryan Hayes.

And then...

So...I may have reacted to this one.

This is...a Mother's Day Hot Pink parallel of Mike Trout. It is numbered to 50, and seeded 1 in 1,519 packs. This is a card that, given to a collector who actually knows how to time the card market and sell things on eBay, might be worth a great deal of money.

...so what the hell am I to do with it?

This is a wonderful card of an all-timer, low-numbered and worth probably a lot of money. I'm not eBay educated, and with a large number of similar-caliber stuff hanging around my collection, I really should be. It's worth researching, I suppose. But yeah, this card floored me when I pulled it. Little to no topping that.

Pack 5- One more Yankee, and some par-for-the-course stuff. Kinda puzzled as to why Welcome to the Show isn't foil-based like some of the other inserts.

Pack 6- Hey guys I pulled a Wander rookie

Double dose of Yelich in this pack, which is all well and good. The Acuna chrome is also a nice touch.

Pack 7- Some more great photography, big names, and an 87T of a Hall of Famer round out the blaster.

So yeah. Target did a lot of help in making sure I finally got some 2022 Topps. I like this set, and I think there's a lot going on design-wise and insert-wise that's cool, despite the usual autopilot tendencies. I also pulled a short print of a Hall of Famer and a pink parallel of a future Hall of Famer. So yeah, did pretty well.

I also got a blaster of heritage. That's up tomorrow. 

FINALLY SOME RETAIL: 2 Rack Packs and a Blaster of 2021 Topps Heritage

 Topps cards in retail stores have officially pulled the Nanny McPhee line. When I want cards, but do not need them, they won't be there. But when I need cards, but do not want them, they will be. It's rather sad, really, but there it is.

So every week I'd desperately scour the Target or Wal-Mart shelves hoping for some relevant card product to be there, and nothing ever was. Again and again and again. And so today, as I went to Target for some other things, I didn't expect to find any cards.

And suddenly there some were. On the exact opposite side of the standee as I was used to. A few blasters and rack packs of Heritage, alongside some stragglers from flagship and Opening Day.

Actual cards. New cards. That I could buy. Who could imagine?

The aisles weren't really being policed, so I was able to walk away with a blaster and two rack packs. There was more than enough left that it didn't exactly feel like robbery or anything. But still, I didn't have to go online for Heritage, it was just there. 

I'll cover the rack packs, then the blaster. I'd been excited for this year's Heritage as well, as 1972 Topps is a set I do have some fondness for.

Pack 1-

321- Joey Wendle. A Yankee fan pulling a 2020 Ray as the first out of a product is too on-the-nose

391- J.D. Davis. As is a Phillie fan pulling a Met second

210- Devin Williams. One earned run in 22 innings...and so far in 3 innings he's allowed two so far. Interesting. 

133- Danny Jansen. We've so far gotten lots of teams that oppose ones I root for, none of the actual ones yet.

201- Ryan McBroom. Okay, very funny, a former Yankee farmhand. Seriously, guys. I know I'm getting a bunch of Yankees cause I claimed the Yanks in Nachos Grande's last Heritage break, but COME ON now.

154- Framber Valdez. Still not funny.

319- Chad Kuhl, something resembling an ace in Pittsburgh this year

316- Jeff McNeil

78- Brian Anderson

New Age Performers insert of Kyle Lewis. These look cool this year.

185- Mountcastle/Dalbec RC. Figures

365- CY YOUNG AWARD. Also figures

161- Dexter Fowler, already A.) on the Angels and B.) out for the season, but how would they have known?

297- Jose Ramirez. The amount of wider posed shots is giving me throwbacks to 2007 Heritage. Not sure if that's a good thing or not

116- Tommy Milone. I forget if he made the Jays or not.

359- Taylor Williams

363- THERE WE GO. Yanks rookies. Nick Nelson's a relief favorite, Miguel Yajure's a lower-tier prospect, and Albert Abreu has been lights-out so far this season

'167- Mookie Betts. High-tier star card- check.

53- Austin Hays

190- Albert Pujols IA. Shouldn't be much of a surprise that I love the In Action subset in this set

Pack 2-

103- Paul Goldschmidt

68- Carson Kelly. Lol, these two were traded for each other..

261- Tyson Miller/Jimmy Lambert RC

33- Luis Robert. One of the big to-get cards in this set

226- Austin Riley

111- Kyle Tucker

64- Spencer Turnbull

118- A.J. Puk. Lot of commons-y guys so far

47- Shane Bieber. Alright, there's the Cy Young winner.

228- James Karinchak

136- Mike Yastrzemski IA. 

204- Kenta Maeda

21- Tatis Postseason Highlights card. 

331- Danny Duffy

182- Max Scherzer IA. Lot less to say about this grouping, honestly

377- Anthony Santander

134- Evan White RC IA. You know, if Topps had banked on White instead of Jake Fraley last year, we would not be getting Evan White rookie cards in 2021. 

2- Max Muncy. 

294- Bo Bichette IA, not bad at all

346- James McCann. The McCann-Mets deal happened in December. This set went to print before December????

And now the blaster:

Pack 1-

105- Pete Fairbanks. So no matter which I broke first, I would have pulled a Ray first.

187- Jo Adell/Nick Madrigal RC. Not bad

245- Shohei Ohtani. Kinda love this shot

2 dupes from last pack

New Age Performers of Alex Verdugo

402- Shed Long. Shed Long got short print status? Hmm.

298- Jose Ramirez IA.

278- Adam Eaton. Man, if the print date wasn't so damn early Topps could have just got a posed shot from 2016 to throw in here rather than still being wrong.

Pack 2-

125- Nick Castellanos

280- Gio Gonzalez, who has already retired

11- SPENCER HOWARD/ALEC BOHM RC. Not bad for the hometown team.

236- Kevin Pillar. If anything, this does ensure that Pillar will have some cards as Rockie..

295- Dylan Carlson/Evan White RC

182- Scherzer IA again

183- Trea Turner

108- Miguel Cabrera IA

232- Trent Grisham

Pack 3-

371- Gregory Polanco

231- Robbie Grossman pre-Tigers

374- Ender Inciarte

239- CUUUUUUUUTCH!

237- Eduardo Escobar

242- Brandon Lowe IA. I'll say it again, I'm glad Topps had fun with the In Action subset in this one

139- Kyle Schwarber

22- Mike Brosseau Postseason highlight

381- Evan Longoria

Pack 4-

249- GERRIT COLE

334- Randy Dobnak, former Uber driver

97- Ke'Bryan Hayes/Jose Garcia RC. Very nice

333- Sean Manaea

314- Nolan Arenado IA. As per the theme, not a new uniform.

340- Jurickson Profar

478- Ramon Laureano. Now THERE'S an apt subject for a short print..

174- Cody Bellinger IA

198- Josh Donaldson

Pack 5-

3 dupes from pack 1

212- Dominic Smith's mighty swing

265- Boyhood Photos of Jesus Luzardo. Glad they brought this back as well

203- Hunter Dozier

72 Flashbacks- Golden Gate Bridge welcomes the public. Thrilling.

40- Freddie Freeman IA

353- Justus Sheffield

Pack 6-

133- Danny Jansen

173- Cody Bellinger, very nice

26- World Series Game 1- Mookie Betts. I feel like there's a Dodger blogger who's been excited for these.

362- Austin Slater

354- Rick Porcello. I don't think anybody signed Porcello this year, and 5 years removed from the Cy Young as well..

357- Kelbert Ruiz/Mitch White RC. Dodger-friendly pack

9- Miguel Rojas

149- Boyhood Photos/RC of Ryan Mountcastle. Not bad

360- Tanner Houck/Sam Huff RC

Pack 7-

305- Charlie Blackmon

8- Rio Ruiz

157- Brett Anderson

359- Eric Thames. Despite him not playing in the bigs this year, I'm happy to pull cards of him

267- Boyhood Photos of Whit Merrifield

256- Victor Reyes

427- David Fletcher, another subject worthy of a short print

148- Spencer Howard RC/Boyhood Photos. A good one of these to pull

66- Asdrubal Cabrera

Pack 8-

41- Willson Contreras

396- Yasmani Grandal. 2 straight Chicago catchers

222- Blake Treinen

247- Justin Verlander, who'll hopefully turn up eventually this year

329- Gregory Soto

46- Joey Votto IA

A 72 Die-Cut insert of Casey Mize. Still thinking he'll be a big star once he gets used to the majors. 

263- Yu Darvish, still a Cub

135- Mike Yastrzemski. Very classy

So yeah, I'm liking Heritage so far, printing deadline woes aside. It looks great, it feels great, and doesn't feel like a waste of retail space. Doubting I'll find any more in the wild, but you never know. 

AT LONG LAST! 4 Rack-Packs of 2020 Topps Big League

It feels SO GOOD to have new cards on the shelves again.

The last few months have been excruciating, with  solely dregs of Flagship and Heritage clogging retail shelves, and the latest weeks of...nothing hanging there except for 2019 Topps Star Wars or boxes of Stickers. So it felt amazing to open something new, and it felt even cooler that this something was Topps Big League.

I loved 2018 Topps Big League, I loved the 2019 version, and I was even more excited for the 2020 edition on the basis of its base design  alone. So what if there's no baseball for another month. BIG LEAGUE IS HERE!

Here are the results of the four rack-packs I got of it:

Okay...this is frigging awesome. THIS BASE DESIGN IS SO COOL. I feel like this is the sort of design we'd get if Upper Deck continued their OPC set after 2009. It's so retro and so fun-feeling without entirely pandering. AND THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS GREAT.

AND THE BACKS ARE AWESOME TOO. Oh man. This back is some classic Topps stuff right here.

 It's still generally cool to see cards of Zack Greinke as an Astro, even in 2020.

 Yeah, more impressive landscape action.

The rest of this section  of base, plus Renato Nunez, which I didn't scan. A ton of iconic-looking stuff right here. Even the Award Winner cards look cool. That Gurriel shot is an awesome one.

 I am glad this card is in this set. No photoshopping, no airbrushing, the real deal. Gerrit Cole on my team. Excited to see this in 2020.

Every pack comes with  some orange base cards, including this Santana. Also, Alvarez rookie despite exceeding rookie limits in 2019, rant goes here.

 INSERTS! ALL OF THESE ARE COOL. Flipping Out is a very 90s-feeling set that I somehow got 2 cards of this pack, Vlad and Soler. The sketch  reproductions  return, and this Tatis is a nice one to pull.

This insert I absolutely love, though. Yes, some airbrushing probably, but...look how awesome he looks. Look how intimidating. This is a very  cool insert, and a great card for me to have.

2 more orange borders and a Seager base. Again, even the throwaway base cards look cool. The orange borders do work better for teams with orange colors, like the Astros.

Three of the base cards I was genuinely looking for, and they all pop up here. Guys in new uniforms. That Betts card looks insanely nice, too.

And we end pack one on a killer landscape shot of Sonny Gray. One pack in and this set has already won me over.

Pack 2- [I'll do the rest with occasional photo  highlights
91- Shin-Soo Choo
292- Bo Bichette Highlights
43- Cody Bellinger
149- Chris Sale
244- Leaders

That Choo photo is so damn fun.

202- Carlos Santana
131- German Marquez
259- Leaders
1- Salvador Perez. It is genuinely cool that they give #1, not to some big star like Bellinger or Trout, not to some hot rookie like Tatis or Alonso, but to good ol' veteran catcher Salvador Perez. I love it.
143- Harold Ramirez

SUCH A GOOD CARD. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Early candidate for card of the year. Even the 90s throwback looks awesome.

175- Dawel Lugo
210- Ketel Marte
119- Andrew Benintendi
238- Leaders
129- Dansby Swanson
52- JT REALMUTO
232- LUIS ROBERT RC

 ALL OF THESE CARDS ARE GREAT. Yes, the JT takes priority due to my collecting habits, but now I can say I have a Luis Robert RC. Which is nice.

Our three inserts. Defensive Wizards is a nice one, very  comic-book oriented, but I still love Flipping Out.

300- Ronald Acuna Jr.
191- Gio Urshela
3- Patrick Corbin
100- Michael Conforto, again an underrated pick for a hero number
114- Jorge Polanco
5- George Springer

More wins for the landscape division.
187- Howie Kendrick
181- Gio Urshela again
51- Ramon Laureano
173- Hanser Alberto

Good to see Howie and Gio. Two of my favorite unsung heroes of the MLB.

Pack 3-
213- Rowdy Tellez
188- Rhys Hoskins
272- Stephen Strasburg Award Winners
56- Sean Murphy
184- Manny Machado
8- Jose Urquidy
107- Aristedes Aquino RC [YAY]
36- Noah Syndergaard

Yeah, this set doesn't have many bad cards or photos in it, guys. Even Stephen Strasburg holding an award looks good in this set.

111- Juan Soto
211- Tim Anderson
235- Justin Verlander
79- Jordan Yamamoto
142- Eddie Rosario
72- Anthony Rizzo
157- Brandon Lowe
298- Aristedes Aquino Highlights

I now have 2 more Aristedes Aquino rookie cards than I did yesterday. Go me.

265- Leaders

This pack's batch of inserts. All three are pretty good.

103- Eugenio Suarez
51- Ramon Laureano
156- Nick Solak
294- Shohei Ohtani Highlight
229- Zac Gallen
196- JD Martinez
243- Leaders
186- Mike Yastrzemski
66- Luis Castillo
252- Leaders

Cool stuff here. That Yaz card is a cool one, very  SC-esque. The Castillo is a 4th-of-July shot, judging by the cap.

Pack 4-
104- Mitch Keller
286- Ichiro HL
180- Kyle Lewis
148- Maikel Franco
264- Leaders
138- Brandon Crawford
77- Charlie Blackmon
255- Leaders
60- Dustin May
20- Griffin Canning

I am glad Topps threw in that Ichiro. Class act. Also, good to see Maik on the Royals

The next batch of cards, from there to the inserts, were all dupes from Pack 3. So Topps' lovely collation issues are still a thing

113- Albert Pujols orange
12- Tommy La Stella orange
89- Paul Goldschmidt
216- Joey Gallo
289- Pujols HL
194- Josh Hader
101- Joe Musgrove
285- Mike Trout AW
185- Randal Grichuk
151- Michel Baez

And this assortment of awesomeness ends our packs.

I still love this set. Yes, the collation issues take away slightly, but so much of this base set, design, and mindset still impress me, and I'm likely going to keep busting packs of this until well after S2 and SC are out.