2017 Topps Series 2: Just like old times

It's risky to walk into a Target at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.

Against my better judgment, however, I did just that over the weekend, running the risk of people coughing on me (which happened), screaming kids running in circles around me (also happened), and having carts from impatient customers bump into my backside while waiting in the checkout line (also happened).

And to think I did all this in search of Series 2, generally the most boring of the three Flagship series in what has already been a pretty boring year for Topps. Lo and behold, my Target had them in stock. I grabbed a blaster and a couple rack packs and counted the seconds to when my turn came at the cash register.

But then something else happened, something I wasn't expecting.

I bumped into an old friend from school, someone I hadn't seen in years.

This friend is significant to me and the hobby because, in my 25 years on this earth, he's the only person I've been able to single-handedly convert to card collecting. He and I collected together for about a year during 8th grade and early high school before he eventually lost interest to the usual adolescent distractions.

After the usual How's it going and Been a long time and How's work greetings that usually color the brief rekindling of past friendships, he noticed the Series 2 packs in my hand, and we got to talking about our old times the hobby.

He told me with pride that he still had some of the better cards from his collecting days -- notably, a Scott Podsednik printing plate and a Jermaine Dye jersey card (he's a Sox fan, if you can't tell) -- and considered the possibility of digging them out of his closet one of these days.

At some point, I mentioned that Topps was the only game left in town. He was floored when I said this. Topps was the far-away #1 in the hobby when we were collecting, but I have fond memories of us buying packs of other products at the time.

Really? Yes: I had to tell him. No Upper Deck? Nope. Fleer? No.

In an odd way, sometimes it takes a conversation like the one I had on Saturday to truly realize how much things can change while generally staying the same.

There I was in a Target checkout aisle holding a bunch of baseball cards in my hand while my friend picked a Monster energy drink from a nearby cooler, unaware of the news that Fleer had gone out of business. How different things might've been had I given up the hobby all those years ago.I was thinking about my old friend the entire time it took to open my first packs of Series 2.

Despite this year's underwhelming design, Series 2 did manage to provide the pack-busting thrill I still treasure to this day, with a few unexpected surprises: notably that the Dodgers team card you see above, which is now and forever the king of my "tip of the cap" mini-collection.

One of the fringe benefits of Series 2 is that it's the only set around nowadays that's able to provide scarce high-numbers in the 400-600 range for my frankenset.

Three of these (Cotton, Gordon, Saladino) fit nicely into my mini-collections, but John Jaso and his white-guy dreads are frankenset-worthy since they're kind of like a car accident: you don't want to look, but you just can't help yourself.

I think the 2017 Topps design works best with the horizontals, and all of these are sure to warrant strong consideration for the frankenset.

This, however, was probably the best of the base cards I pulled on Saturday.

On the surface, it doesn't look like anything special. A card of an aging veteran who hasn't cracked a big league roster in 2017. Though it's a decent airbrush job on the part of Topps, I know with 100 percent certainty that James Loney's Rangers jersey is, in fact, a creation out of Photoshop.

Why? Because Loney never played a game with the Rangers. Indeed, he signed with Texas prior to this season before being released at the end of Spring Training. He's currently jobless after a brief stint in the Braves' system.

That makes this -- say it with me, now -- a zero-year card!

The theme of Series 2 seems to be an all-uppercase AMERICA.

These commemorative flag patches fall one per blaster, and though it's not a terrible card (notably thinner than a lot of past manu-relics), I have no intentions of keeping it.

These are exclusive to retail packs, including a special Salute-style set dedicated to Independence Day jerseys...because AMERICA.

Not sure if these are retail-only or not, and I don't really care because they're painfully boring.

Believe it or not, I actually pulled a semi-interesting overproduction-era buyback: one of my packs allowed me to REDISCOVER the final card Graig Nettles would ever receive from Topps.

I've said this before, but my dad is (and has always been) of the mindset that advertisements aren't baseball cards.

I couldn't disagree more: you can bet your behind I'll be adding that MLB The Show ad to the rest of my Griffeys.

Chet Steadman aside, I have no real interest in any of the First Pitch inserts from Series 2, and that included the only two I pulled from my Series 2 packs: a pair of golfers I'd never heard of.

Obviously, I am not a golfer.

Inserts revolving around the All-Star Game are always good with me, especially when companies use photos that, you know, actually come from All-Star Games, which both of these appear to do.

But my favorite pull of the afternoon had to be the card you see above, one that documents perhaps the most memorable of all the All-Star moments our National Pastime has had to offer.

The design, like most of the inserts I've shown thus far, is crap (gray does not work on a card design, Topps!), and to top it off, the copy I pulled is oddly miscut.

But despite all the efforts to the contrary, nothing can prevent my affection for this card. Shockingly, it's the first one I've ever seen featuring Teddy Ballgame's touching farewell to the game he loved so much.

Cards -- like hobbies, like friends, like myself -- change as the years go by. But part of the reason I think I've stuck with collecting is that I simply haven't found anything else that thrills me as much as the gratifying snap I hear when I open a pack of baseball cards. No, Series 2 isn't going to have me rushing back to Target for more and more helpings of it.

But it's good to know that -- despite the fluidity our lives often have -- they're there, waiting for me whenever I need them again.

Frankenset Redux, Page 4: Numbers 28-36

Page #4 (Numbers 28-36):

Completion Status: 9/9

Numbers Needed: None.

The Players

1995 Pinnacle #28 Derrick May

A leaping grab at the ivy. 

2000 Just Minors #29 Brian Daubach

Brian Daubach celebrating with...whatever the heck that mascot is supposed to be. 

1993 Classic #T30 Junior Felix

Baseball card ballet. 

2016 Topps Update #US-31 Eduardo Nunez

Turning two at the Midsummer Classic. 

1973 Topps #32 Fred Norman

One of the shiniest gems from the legendary '73 Topps checklist. 

1973 Topps #33 Jim Breazeale

Jim Breazeale and his curious frames completes the '73 Topps one-two punch. 

2013 Topps Update #US-34 AJ Pollock

For the win! 

1995 Topps #35 Ricky Bones

Either Ricky Bones's hand is really big, or that water bottle is really small. 

1994 Collector's Choice #36 Wilson Alvarez

Wilson Alvarez giving some tips to a young Sox fan.

Stats

Cards By Decade:

1970's -- 2 (Running total: 2)

1990's -- 4 (Running total: 18)

2000's -- 1 (Running total: 4)

2010's -- 2 (Running total: 9)

Mini-collection Hits:

Double Dips -- 1 (Running total: 6)

At the Wall -- 1 (Running total: 4)

Cards with Kids -- 1 (Running total: 3)

Play at the Plate -- 1 (Running total: 1)

Best Cameo

Paul Goldschmidt makes a special appearance on this All-Star Game double dip.

This Magic Moment

I could've taken the easy way out and decided to date the aforementioned Eduardo Nunez double play, which was turned at the 2016 All-Star Game (of course).

But that's not how we do things here: instead, I sought out to find the exact moment this celebratory shot of AJ Pollock was taken. The D-Backs players spilling out of the dugout would seem to indicate a walk-off win taking place, which makes this task a whole lot easier.

It seems certain this photo was snapped as Pollock was in the process of scoring the winning run in a game against the Dodgers on April 14th, 2013, early enough in the season for the shot to appear in a late-calendar release like Topps Update. 

Pollock scored the only run of the game on a single by Paul Goldschmidt (again!) to complete the Diamondbacks' 1-0 win that afternoon.

Funniest Card

I don't want to know where Jim Breazeale shopped for glasses.

Lessons in Card Backs

I couldn't find any record as to whether or not former Padre pitcher Fred Norman is still a bachelor, but thanks to the cartoon on the back of this card, we know he was fighting off the ladies as of 1973.

Best of the Rest

2008 UD Masterpieces #33 Asdrubal Cabrera

You'd think an unassisted triple play -- like the one Asdrubal Cabrera turned in 2008 -- would warrant a spot in this frankenset...until you realize you have to go up against Jim Breazeale's glasses.

Toughest Draw

1999 Stadium Club #34 Turner Ward

Pollock's dramatic walk-off win is a fantastic card from a great year of Topps, but the card-numbering gods unfortunately put him up against a picturesque shot of Turner Ward almost literally making a pitcher eat his dust.

Sorry, AJ.

Second Guessing

1997 Upper Deck #33 Scott Servais

I'll be second-guessing this one for as long as I live: I keep switching these two cards in and out of the Inaugural Frankenset.

For now, Scott Servais and his masterful point-of-impact PATP from 1997 Upper Deck wins over Breazeale's goofy shades at slot #33, but check back with me tomorrow because I may well have a different answer.

Favorite Card

No contest here: between the off-kilter mound shot, those god-awful McDonald's-mustard Padres jerseys, and the attendance of exactly zero in the background, Fred Norman is the unquestioned king of this frankenset page.

Another nine in the books.

Thanks for reading!

Fun and interesting

Sometimes, I get a bit worried when someone new approaches me for a trade.

Don't get me wrong, I'm always excited to send and receive cards in the mail, but I've never really known how to answer the question I inevitably get in any potential trade email: So what do you collect?

As was the case when Shane K. of "Off the Wall" dropped me a line recently. I knew of his blog and had seen his name pop up in quite a few trade posts as of late, but this was the first time the two of us had been in direct contact. As for what I collect: believe it or not, I'm much better at compiling specific want lists now than I once was (I don't know how in the heck anyone traded with me in the past).

For all my randomness, I do have a somewhat organized page of set needs (actually player needs in disguise since I'm not a set builder), and I directed Shane to that page soon after we'd decided to strike up a trade.

Parallels are a surefire way to my heart, and Shane certainly made his presence known there.

In addition to the glorious George Springer pink parallel (numbered to just 50 copies) at the top of this post, Shane threw in a cornucopia of reds, golds, emeralds, etc., all of which will look beautiful in my binders.

Shane went for the jugular on my Heritage want lists (dig the Schwarber floating head!), and he'd reminded me of something I'd forgotten: that I do actually still need regular old base cards from as far back as 2015 Heritage.

Next up on Shane's hit list was a mess of Archives.

I was specifically glad to see the Olerud fall out of this mailer since Topps decided to short-print that card back in 2014, a dastardly deed that caused me to wait three long years before it finally arrived in my collection.

Rounding out the want list barrage was a stack of recent inserts from Topps and its various incarnations.

Here's where trading with me can, admittedly, feel a bit tricky.

Apart from my want lists, I usually tell new trade partners that I'm more than willing to accept any card he/she deems fun or interesting. Now, this can mean a lot of different things, and I worry such openness leaves people wary or unsure, much like the rare teacher in school who would let us take open-book exams.

But what I'm about to say is the absolute truth: never once have I been let down or disappointed by the random cards I've received from others. That's precisely why I use words like fun and interesting: because the terms leave themselves open to a wide variety of interpretation. So, after Shane's annihilation of my want lists had been completed, he went to work on the random side of things.

Is a horizontal action shot from '92 OPC fun and interesting? You bet!

New mini-collection hits: always a treat, and perhaps a bit easier to spot now that I've added a visual guide to the header of this blog.

Cubs minis are always good for a little excitement.

Here's one that registered high on the fun-and-interesting-o-meter: an odd foldout Collector's Choice insert I'd never seen before.

Unfolded, cards from this "Evolution Revolution" series look like nothing more than a drawing of a jersey. Folding them out, however, reveals a player hidden beneath the surface: in this case, Greg Maddux. They just don't make inserts like this anymore.

Score another point for Collector's Choice.

I've never set out to specifically collect Japanese players, but the fact of the matter is that I do chase cards of quite a few of them.

Notably Hideo Nomo -- seen here during his often forgotten Mets days -- and the prankster himself, Munenori Kawasaki -- seen here suiting up for Team Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, years before he'd grace MLB with his presence.

Shane closed things out with a cherry on top: a Dime Box Dozen need.

As far as I know, this is the only card of former White Sox bullpen ace Bobby Thigpen as a Seattle Mariner, a team which he spent all of seven games with at the tail end of his career. I'd had the Silver Signature parallel of this one in my binders for a couple years without ever having found the standard base version, and I probably don't have to tell you how frustrating that is.

Thankfully, Shane put an end to that anguish by putting Mr. Thigpen in my collection.

Fun and interesting are just a couple of the words I'd use to describe the cards I love to chase, but they seem to get the message across to the new trading partners I've made during the lifespan of this blog.

Seeing the cards that speak to others is a large part of what makes trading such a consistent thrill for me.

Don't care how, I want it Now

I'm only about a year late in posting about this, but it's finally time to rehash my journey through the world of Topps Now.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you probably already know the deal with these things: they're made-to-order cards based on big moments from the preceding day's baseball action, sold exclusively through the Topps website for $10 a pop.

My initial reaction was (like many others I'm sure): $10 EACH?! I'm not touching these things. And I truly thought that'd be it...until my dad surprised me with the Zobrist Topps Now card you see above one afternoon last year, which he'd seen mentioned on a local news broadcast.

While it's not exactly a heart-pounding moment -- Zobrist is seen here riding his bike to Wrigley through a Chicago alleyway, much like the hundreds of alleys I biked down during my childhood -- I'm glad I have it. 

The card received some flack at the time of its release, but for me, it's great for the quirkiness that so much of my collection revolves around.

After that, the Topps Now bug had bitten me, if only slightly.

I soon found out that you could find many of the singles for well under the $10 retail tag on Ebay, thanks to sellers who receive volume discounts on bulk orders from Topps. Thus, I pulled the trigger on Ichiro's 3,000 hit celebration, which snagged for around $6 shipped. It's a great card -- front and back -- and it chronicles a crowning moment from my very favorite player in the game today.

Call me a sucker, but I had to have it.

I guess nothing that big happened in 2016, you know, apart from that whole Cubs winning the World Series thing.

In hindsight, Topps picked a helluva year to launch Topps Now: I had no choice but to purchase the made-to-order card that brought the euphoric Series-clinching moment to cardboard, one that I crowned Card of the Year for 2016.

But I wasn't done there.

Along with the celebratory team shot, I picked up this heroic image of Grandpa Rossy being carried off the field following his final big league game in the wee hours of November 2nd.

Both Cubs Topps Now cards ran me a little over $6 a pop, and this one instantly became the centerpiece of my collection of perhaps the most famous backup catcher of my generation.

My dad, like me, didn't know that the Topps Now singles could be had at a discount on Ebay, but in the end, his ordering the Zobrist directly from Topps turned out to have some benefits.

That lone card apparently put him on Topps' mailing list, because my dad received this bonus holiday-themed card around Christmastime last year, a star-studded Bryant-Sanchez-Ichiro-Papi quartet.

Turning the clocks to 2017 Topps Now resulted in another unexpected surprise from Topps.

My dad found another envelope from Topps in his mailbox right around the dawn of Spring Training in February. This one featured the debut of the 2017 Topps Now design (solid) with none other than Mike Trout himself.

The card is actually a coupon for 25% off one of the Spring Training team sets from Topps Now, but even with the gracious discount, I never seriously considered buying one.

But I'll sure take the bonus Trout for my binders.

So far, I've only broken down and bought one Topps Now card this year.

Again, it relates to the Cubs' 2016 World Series victory, featuring Anthony Rizzo leading his club onto the field with the glorious Commissioner's Trophy in the flesh -- the first time the hardware has seen the light of day at Wrigley in the 100-plus year history of the ballpark.

My thoughts on Topps Now aren't much different than most of the others I've read: a great idea, but a tad too pricey for my wallet. I have a hard time forking over more than a buck or two for any modern card, so something in the $6-$10 range is something close to a king's ransom.

Yet, for a Cubs fan like myself, it couldn't have happened at a better time, because it turned out to be a perfect opportunity for collectors who wanted their piece of the moment...NOW.

No need to scream.