A Few Thoughts On 2017 Topps......

The 2017 Topps base set dropped last week and I went out and picked up a jumbo box and a few loose retail packs.  Always a fun day when the Topps set drops and I had a blast opening up my packs.  Here's my quick take on the newest Topps product....

First, when I bought my jumbo box of Topps I also ended up picking up two silver packs of cards.  The silver packs were available at hobby shops and were given to customers buying boxes 2017 Topps.  Each pack contained four cards of 1987 style cards with a chrome finish.

My best card was Dansby Swanson.....

My scanner did not want to make a straight picture, sorry it's crooked.  I also landed Max Scherzer, Orlando Arcia, Madison Bumgarner, Manny Machado, Aaron Nola, Yu Darvish, and Nolan Ryan.  Very nice cards in my opinion.  You cannot really show card stock on a scan, but they are a little thicker than the normal chrome cards.  The back of the card has a little different finish then the front, but again really nice cards.  

On to the base cards.....

My first card of 2017 belonged to Marlins pitcher A.J. Ramos.  I am still a little contemplating the design, but it is definitely different for a Topps base set.  It looks like something from Upper Deck or some other card company.  I will get back to the card backs on another post.  I am a little snarky about it.  

Buybacks....

There seem to be new buybacks every year now with some sort of foil stamp.  The stamps are different colors, blah blah blah.  I saw that there is a pretty diverse group of players included in the buybacks this year, always hopeful a Ray Lankford card will pop up, but apparently not this year.

The relic cards are thicker this year, but I am kind of tired of the whole relic thing.  I know a lot of other people are too.  At least it's Longoria.....

Also a little tired of the manu-patch, relic cards that seem to be in every Topps box now.  I thought all of the All-Star type cards were in the Traded/Update set?  They have spilled over into series 1 now too?  I guess they made the metal relic thing two sided, that's my positive take away here....

and finally my two best pulls from the box.  Parallel first.....

I haven't really done anything with Gary Sanchez before now, I know he's popular with collectors, but I don't think there are many of his cards hanging out around my house.  This seems like a good addition for my first good card of the Yankees catcher.

Last up my autograph...

can't end on a better note than pulling an autograph of a player you have started collecting in the past year.  I am hoping for big things out of Alex this year, would have picked this card up at some point anyway, glad I can save a little time and energy.

2016 International League All-Star Set

Why I am I posting this a few months after the set came out?  See the post from yesterday about the Durham Bulls set.  I picked this up at a Durham Bulls game and it features some really good talent from the International League which is Triple A level teams.  Sometimes the amount of high end talent in Triple A can be short lived, it seems that more and more teams get players past Double A and promote them very quickly.

Cards and a little snippet about one of the players, maybe two....

Out of this group I really like Josh Bell.  Berrios could be really good too, but he's been really shaky at the Major League level.  Bell made it to the Majors last year too, and while the pop in his bat did not shine through in the 40 or so games he played in Pittsburgh, he had more walks than strikeouts.  That translated into a .368 OBP.  Getting on base is always a good skill to have and a great way to stick around...

A lot of players to like here....Pompey is a great defensive player, should be around a long time as a good centerfielder.  Glasnow is going to be a good pitcher, Judge is going to hit, and I am still pretty high on Buxton.  Feel like people have gotten down about him, but he is still only 22 and has a lot of potential.  

Sanchez and Turner are the real standouts here, but there are others in this group who could be solid players.  My favorite here is obviously Snell, also good to see Shaffer in this set, but I think he's lost a lot of his luster as a prospect.  Severino and the two Red Sox could also be pretty good.....

Last three...

Hey, I like that Bacon USA jersey Nick Williams is wearing.....

A Christmas Card Now

I did a few of the Topps Now cards this year, not as into the whole thing as some other collectors, but I found some nice cards that fit my collection.  I have a of the cards still on my radar at this point, mainly some of the former Durham Bulls that have ended up spread throughout the league.  Not in any rush to get them, but if they pop up and are the right price I would be happy to pick them up.

In the meantime, I picked up an unexpected Topps Now card a few days back in the mail.  I like classy gestures, and it was nice to see Topps send out a bonus card to all of the collectors who bought a Topps Now card at some point this past summer.  Or at least that's what I think they did based on a few different discussions around Twitter and Facebook.

Here is the card which is two sided....

The front has Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez.  The Topps Now cards usually have a specific event attached to them, but nothing is mentioned on here as to why they are being celebrated.  The Bryant side looks like the final play from the World Series, the Sanchez?  I must admit though that I did not follow along with the Yankees too closely this year.  He hit a bushel of home runs....

The back has Ichiro, 3000th hit, and David Ortiz, who was retiring.  I must say that this was a really cool free card to pick up from Topps and a nice way to thank collectors.  It even has a cool snowflake print around the edges to give it that holiday feel.

The card was enclosed in a holiday card from Topps.  The front of the card.....

and the inside of the card.....

Again, very appreciative of the cool holiday card.  Great way to reward collectors at the end of the year.