Topps Series 2 Stack

Anyone else having trouble keeping up with all the recent sets? The Braves are on a winning streak and I wanted to pick up my first cards of some of the current players.

Adonis Garcia has come on strong in July, raising his batting average by over 30 points to about .270. During the month he had a 10 game hitting streak and 9 multi-hit games. 

Arodys Vizcaino started the year as the closer, registering 10 saves with limited opportunities, but struggled a bit before going on the DL mid-July. He struggled Thursday night in his return.

Beckham hit well through May before going on the DL, but he hasn't hit well since returning in early July, hitting just 9 for 68 from July 15th through August 8th. 

The Braves traded Bud Norris to the Dodgers after Norris strung together five solid starts.

This is probably my favorite card in this group of base cards. Peterson has become one of my favorite players on the squad this season. Jace has really bounced back after a demotion to the minors in May.

Marksberry's pitched 3.1 innings for the Braves this season and is currently on the DL. He's spent most of his time this season in AAA Gwinnett. He has a solid era there of 2.45 in 28 appearances. The Braves could use some bullpen help. The last few games the games have gotten out of hand once the starters have left the game.

I'm optimistic that Folty will be a strong member of the rotation for awhile. A theme I've noticed is when he doesn't get a strike call or has some bad luck he can let his frustration impact his game. But he's got the talent to be a good starter. 

Tyler Flowers has also been a surprise for me this year with above average hitting and ok defense. While none of the catchers on the team are the long-term solution, they have been fine to bridge the gap to... well we don't know who yet. This is the base version and the rainbow parallel.

A.J. has struggled offensively, but he's not the only one on this Braves team who has. 

I appreciate series 2 and update series about as much as series 1.  It's one of the few sets to get cards of some of these guys. Bring on more sets with longer checklists!

I picked up some inserts but will talk about those in a future post.

Teheran Stack

The Braves likely lone All-Star for 2016 should be Julio Teheran. While there have been bright spots and the team is playing better recently, Julio has been pitching so well that of course his name has been in the trade rumors. Unless the Braves get an offer that no one would refuse, I hope he remains with the Braves as part of the long-term core. He's been excellent to watch this season.

I've picked up the base Topps series 1 card along with the Gold and Rainbow Parallels. The Rainbow looks much better in person but you can kind of see colors on the top half of the card in the scan. 

While others seem to be ho-hum on Gypsy Queen, the base design is one of my favorites each year. Really like this Teheran which scanned very well. Some of the other Braves in this set are particularly sharp and there are some inserts of 90s greats as well which I will come back to in a later post.

On our way back from visiting my parents over the weekend I had an opportunity to stop by a local card shop that I've been to a handful of times over the years. They had some boxes with a variety of base and inserts. I found this new to me Teheran from 2014 Topps. Honestly anything 2014 and prior is probably new to me from before I got back into collecting so most of the time if I look through a random box of cards, I'm going to need some Braves. Teheran's first full MLB season with the Braves was a success in 2013 with a 3.20 era going 14-8 with a 3.2 WAR. Pretty strong debut.

Lastly, Teheran pitched a one hit shutout on June 19, Father's day, against the Mets. As soon as it happened I knew it would be a Topps Now card. When I saw it online in the special uniforms I decided to go ahead and get it, somewhat because I knew it would have a lower print run being Teheran. So here it is.

On the Mark-akis

Nick Markakis has been one of my favorite players since he made his debut with the Orioles 10 years ago. I was thrilled when he signed with the Braves in December of 2014 for four seasons, despite him coming off a surgery for a herniated disk by his neck. He has two gold-glove awards for his career and it seems wrong that he doesn't have an All-Star game appearance.

Markakis is off to a strong start to 2016, one of the lone bright spots in the Braves lineup so far. He's leading the majors with 9 doubles through 12 games. In a game my wife and I attended last weekend against the Cardinals he smashed three doubles and was robbed of a fourth. It seems like he is as healthy as ever based on these early games.

With that said, I've been eager to pick up cards of Markakis in a Braves uniform. I picked up a few from 2015 but recently added a handful from 2016. My #1 want for 2016 is the Opening Day blue parallel. Those things are awesome.

I'll start it off with a trio from 2016 Topps. We've got the Opening Day version, the regular Topps and the Topps Gold version /2016. Foil cards do not scan well for me but fortunately you can see the foiled out parts with the regular version right next to it. How many design differences can you spot in the Opening Day version? Answers at the bottom in white. Highlight over to see. I'll have to do this more maybe with some photoshop work.

Other recent Markakis additions from 2015 and 2016. I love a good Heritage card. One card showing my favorite two current Braves might make my top cards of 2016.

Differences between opening day and the regular version (highlight below to see):
1. The Opening Day log, of course. 2. The Topps logo is in gray on the Opening day and on the right side, silver foil on the left side on the others. 3. The Braves logos and associated text are flip-flopped. 4. Atlanta Braves text is in gray as well on Opening day. 5. White sections flip-flopped.  6. More of the bat showing on Opening Day version. 7. Is it just me or is the image slightly zoomed out more on the Opening Day version? This was fun, but would be more fun if the differences weren't so obvious. Maybe the attempt was amusing if nothing else.