I made a quick top by the local Target on my way home from work last night looking for a few packs or a blaster box of 2023 Topps cards. I had checked earlier in the week, no luck.
Last night was different.
Always feels like a big moment opening the first pack of the year.
This is the 40th year that I have collected baseball cards, with my first packs coming sometime late in the summer of 1983. I was in first grade at the time. I opened a pack of 1983 Fleer and my first card was of Pirates shortstop Jim Smith.
I am hoping for some good things out of 2023 for my collection.
So, here are my firsts for the 40th time.
My first card of the year was Rockies first baseman, C.J. Cron.
I think the design is decent this year. Not sure I love the giant team logo at the bottom, but the small player photo in the bottom is a little reminiscent of the 1983 Topps cards, or 1963 depending on your preferred set. Nice action shot of Cron in the field.
Here is the back of the card.
Again, decent.
A few other firsts....
First Cardinal......
First former Durham Bull........
A few other thoughts.
The manupatch cards that are in the retail blaster boxes stink.
No, they really smell like cheap plastic Happy Meal Toys. That's on top of looking really cheap. Definite let down after last year's batting helmet cards.
I love the 1988 Topps inserts.
These are great and I am going to have to work on finding all the Cardinals, former Durham Bulls, and other past favorites.
Blake Snell is wearing one of those ridiculous Padres Nike City Connect Jerseys on his card.
Not a fan. Give me a brown Padres jersey seven days of the week. I feel like Topps made a ton of cards last year with the City Connect Uniforms, feels like it is happening again this year. Why not throw some Nike ads on the back of the card packaging?
Last one for now.
Cards 4 and 5 are.......
I'm just amazed that you're able to remember your first pack, and who was the first card to come out of said pack! That kind of memory would be nice to have.
ReplyDeleteI helped that I already had an older brother who already collected cards. I knew to make a big deal of it when it happened and it has just stuck all of these years.
DeleteI wasn't planning on buying a blaster, but seeing everyone else opening up this stuff has changed my mind. Solid design and there are actually a couple of inserts I like.
ReplyDeleteP.S. As a Padres fan, I hate those City Connect uniforms too.
Agree. The design is solid. I did not pull one of those Ace cards, might be Hobby only, but I am going to get my hands on a few of them.
DeleteI am awaiting the impending disaster of the Cardinals City Connect jerseys. They are doing all the teams, but it's interesting to note that Nike is kicking the can down the road on some of the long-running teams with little uniform variance.
I don't remember the exact first card I pulled out of my first pack, but I remember at least one card in my first packs -- and it was more recent than '83. So either my memory is trash or I was too young to realize the significance.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I kind of like that City Connect jersey, but maybe not for the Padres. It's more of a Miami look, IMO.
I had an older sibling who helped with providing the significance on my first card. My brother probably reminded me several times the first few years I collected too, that guy has quite a memory.
DeleteThe Padres City Connect uniforms actually remind me a lot of the ones that Nike made for the Miami Heat, just using white instead of black as the solid color.
Wouldn't this be your 41st year?
ReplyDeleteI didn't fully explain the number, but if I had collected full years than I would be at 41. However, I did not collect a full 1983 and I also took a huge chunk of 1994 off. Put the two partial years together and you've got a year. At least that's the way I did the math.
DeleteI certainly remember my first card from my first pack of cards (Tommy John, 1974) and the first pack I ever bought (Darold Knowles, 1975).
ReplyDeleteHave you seen how many Cardinals are in the first 50 cards of 2023 Topps? It's odd.