Absolutely Sharp Relic

 

In my last post I mentioned blaster boxes and packs starting to pop up online and in some cases in person near me. My family snagged some cards for me off the Target app for Father's day and I added a bit more to my stack to open with my 4 year old son, who legitimately enjoys opening packs and showing me the cards he opens. Obviously I enjoy it as well and am excited that packs are starting to become available again. In this case, I saw 2021 Absolute Baseball sitting on the Target app, and initially passed it up, but a few days later when it showed up again I decided I would try it out, despite the lack of logos. I was intrigued mainly by the relic cards in this product as well as the variety of inserts. Overall it was great to be opening packs again, but I have some constructive criticism as well.

The base design is fine. There's a very apparent lack of variety in color on the base cards in this product. Lots and lots of blue and red and a few cards with black, orange and yellow. Without logos, this really sticks out. I'll stick with, this design for the base cards is... OK. 

I'm glad to add a Freeman card to my collection. First of 2021 and only 2nd since 2017. I've got a lot to catch up on, even just with Freeman base from the past several years. I pulled multiple Ripken cards in this box and I'm pleased with that too. My son knows who Babe Ruth is from a children's book, so it was cool to show him that card.

I think the backs of the base cards actually work pretty well. Same image of the player on the back as on the front. I usually prefer more stats on the back of cards, but the design here works.

The rest of the post I'm going to share all of the insert designs I opened in order of my least favorite to favorite, and I'll end by talking about the relic card I pulled from my box. Let the insert countdown begin, and it was a variety in this box.

7. Rookie Class

These actually scan a bit better than they look in person. It's hard for me to get past that big bare logo-less hat on the Casey Mize. And it's hard to tell in the scan but the Mize is a green parallel. Normally I'm all about parallels but the green parallels don't add anything to these cards, base or insert. I'm assuming Mize is the highest regarded of these four players. Bart is blocked by Posey and could possibly be in trade talks? Giants fans tell me if I'm wrong there. 

Pulling four of these from one box, was hoping for a Bobby Dalbec. Glad to swap for one if someone out there has one available.

6. Extreme Team

Not sure what is going on here, looks like a flame behind Lindor maybe? The background doesn't fit with the border, the colors just don't fit together here. New team for Lindor but what would a break be without a Lindor insert? When I open packs, I tend to pull Lindor.

5. Statistically Speaking

An insert set called 'Statistically Speaking' should have some kind of statistic on it, right? I actually like the design on this one. The black and white works with the red. I'd take off the 6 lines coming into the picture and then I'd really like the design. I admittedly did not know much about Ken Boyer and I now know he won MVP in 1964 with 119 RBI and was an 11x All-Star. The back does have these statistics and I guess that's where they come into play. Happy to send this card to a Cardinals collector who I am sure would appreciate an insert card of Mr. Boyer.

4. Prospects

If I had just opened the Franco I might have rated this higher. I like the simplicity of this Prospects insert set, and I like how the Rays uniform looks with the gray border. The Rutchman is a green parallel. I guess I'm giving into the hype train and putting this #4 because I opened a card of Wander. You know what, I think I'm wrong on the order of this one.

3. Unsung Heroes 

Something about the Heroes text fading into the background just works. The green parallel on the Goldschmidt doesn't work. The A's are a team I never have a problem with, just a classic baseball brand that I'm generally happy to see do well.

2. Power

I'm a fan of cards with lightning. It makes me think of the Thunder and Lightning basketball inserts from the 90s. Easy decision to put this here in the rankings. If I'd pulled Devers it would be easy #1 for me. I'll be adding that one to the want list right away. The Killebrew is a green parallel and it honestly takes away from the look of the card. It's again nearly impossible to tell in the scan.

I can get behind this card back, as well. Can almost hear the crack of the bat.

1. Icons

No other choice when I pull Cal and Griffey. The Cal is a keeper for sure and I'm betting someone out there would enjoy having the Griffey showing his classic swing. The George Brett is also a fine card. These three also wear the lack of logos very well. 

One thing I'll say for Absolute blasters - if you enjoy inserts, you'll get a bunch. 

And one of the reasons I opened a blaster, a chance at a nice looking relic, and the box did not disappoint there. 15 inserts, 1 relic, 5 green base parallels out of 40 cards in the blaster.

This card is thick, and it looks sharp. Three jersey swatches, a nice color schema and a solid player in Dustin May. Can't complain about this one. 

Glad to be able to open some packs again. What have you opened recently and where did you get it? 

And to those of you going to The National, have fun and stay safe!

Sob Rock and Cards

I'm a man with more than one hobby, one of which is listening to music, attempting to learn guitar, and collecting vinyl records. One of the best guitar players out there, John Mayer, released a new album recently, and it was one I knew I would end up picking up. I like the 80s vibe and comedy in the marketing around this release. 

How does this record relate to a card blog, you ask? Well, what came to mind from listening to 'Sob Rock' while going through cards over the weekend was all the negativity around the hobby. 

Prices too high, can't find cards, the bubble's bursting, it's such a bummer. 

Ebay fees too high, buyer returned my item, grading takes too long, what's going on this Summer? 

Look at the lyrics and listen to I Guess I Just Feel Like while you're scrolling through hobby twitter and you might get what I'm talking about.

Well I'm here to tell you that the low-end collector over here is looking at the hobby in a different light, a New Light, even. 

While I'm enjoying the guitar riffs, the 80s sounds on the keys, the can't get it out of my head tune in 'New Light' and the retro look of this John Mayer album, I’m looking at everything that’s great about the hobby.

1) The blogging community is not going away. My involvement often comes in waves, but quality content from the baseball card blogging community is always there, and it’s awesome to see the friendships and support among collectors in this space.

2) I'm finding packs and boxes again, even if it's not in stores. I've been able to snag a few blasters recently from Target (box breaks to come) at normal prices, and while on vacation I even ventured to a local card shop that had some Stadium Club hobby packs in stock. 

This seems like an excellent progression for everyone, and especially the lower end collectors out there.

3) A few examples of cards I'm enjoying picking up these days:

Cards of my favorite players in sweet insert sets like this one, a Betts Warp Speed insert from 2019 Stadium Club. The good thing about returning to the hobby after a few years away is there's plenty of great stuff to see for the first time. And better yet, I picked this one up for a dollar. 

Cards of my favorite players on classic card designs. I never get tired of these types of cards. While we see them fairly often in flagship Topps, Archives and Heritage, I'm always happy to see current cards on iconic designs like this one.

What are your favorite things about the hobby? What keeps you collecting (and blogging)? 

Also, do you have other hobbies besides cards? I want to hear about them!

USA Baseball

We're gearing up for the Olympics in the Card Stacks house. When my wife and I first started dating in 2012 the Olympics were a big topic of conversation, something we were both interested in and had regular conversations about. What our favorite events were, keeping up with the medal counts, etc... We enjoyed the 2012 Olympics together. The Summer Olympics will always be special for us, and we've had to wait an extra year for the Summer Olympics to come back around. This year is the first year where my son is interested in baseball as well, so the Olympics and baseball will both be on center stage in our house. 

Naturally we had to prepare our boys for the Olympics by grabbing some Team USA gear, a few tshirts and a USA Baseball Hat for our 4 year old son. When the box arrived with the hat, which is awesome by the way, what do we find?

Well look at that, an unexpected surprise in our box. We immediately opened the pack, and here's what we found.

All base cards, it seems, but one name that I immediately recognized. Kyle Wright, a former 1st round pick for the Atlanta Braves, is currently in AAA Gwinnett and has 14 career starts for the big league club.

Here's a look at the back of the Kyle Wright card.

Solid design, and it's nice to see some Panini cards with logos, even USA baseball ones. The back of the Kyle Wright mentions his success from the 2016 Collegiate National Team, college success at Vanderbilt and being drafted in the first round by the Braves.

I did a quick eBay search to see if any former Greenville Drive players have USA cards. Tim Federowicz played for the Drive in 2009, but that was before I started watching the team. I actually remember him more from his days at North Carolina. His Tar Heels had some ACC matchups with my Virginia Tech Hokies when I was in school at Tech.

Triston Casas is on Team USA playing 1st base. He's in AA Portland in the Red Sox Organization, a former Boston 1st round draft pick, and is a guy I did see play for Greenville in person a handful of times in 2019.

I ended up picking up a card of Casas from 2017 Panini Stars and Stripes. This is my first card of Casas but I expect I'll end up with more. It shows Casas from his time with the 18U National Team, when he was 16 years old. He's 21 now and playing in the Olympics.

Hopefully the team has success in the Olympics in Tokyo. Since baseball was made an official Olympic sport in 1992, the United States has one Gold Medal (2000), and two Bronze Medals (1996, 2008). And 2008 was the last games where baseball was included until now. Excited to follow this team.

Since it appears Panini has a license to produce USA baseball cards, is anything stopping them from producing a set with players from Team USA Olympic team? Or a product from any company with players from all the countries participating in baseball in Tokyo? Topps has an Olympic and Paralympic Hopefuls product recently released, but no baseball players appear in that set. If there's no plans to either release a set with baseball players participating in the games in Tokyo, that seems like a missed opportunity. 

Who is else watching baseball in the Olympics this year? Any teams or players you're looking out for specifically?

Christmas in July

Like many collectors recently, I haven't purchased retail in quite some time. Even pre-covid, I usually ended up picking up a rack pack of whatever product I wanted to sample. But I guess not being able to find boxes made me want to open a box that much more.  

Prior to snagging a 2020 Wal-Mart Holiday retail box on the Wal-Mart app a few weeks ago, I hadn't opened a box of any kind in years. My oldest son is to the age now where he knows daddy enjoys baseball cards and he gets excited to open them with me. He also loves any holiday, and most of all Christmas. I knew he'd enjoy seeing the garland and snowflakes that come on every card from the Wal-Mart holiday release. 

I pulled the trigger on this box because it was one of the first affordable ones I'd seen online, and 10 packs, 10 cards per pack seemed like a pretty good value. Let's dig into the highlights from the box.

First up is the ornament which was not in a pack. Was hoping for Betts, but Soto is a good one too. I think I'll let my son hang this one on the tree in his room this December.

Here are some of the highlights for me from the base cards. The Freeman meets a player collection need, and I appreciate the expression here for Mallex Smith, a name I recognize as a former Brave. And as popular as Ohtani is right now, I'm happy to pull any card of his.

This Jackie Bradley Jr. card is a good start towards my former Greenville Drive list.  

Here's my favorite action shot from the box. Heck of an effort regardless of whether that ball gets caught.

Here's my favorite rookie card from the bunch. For some reason the colors on this one and that jersey look great. 

Out of 10 packs I opened 5 of the Metallic parallels. The Vlad Jr. was the best of the group. Here's a full list in case anyone is collecting them:

Corey Seager HW64, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. HW49, Ryan Zimmerman 126, Jake Arrieta HW144, Kyle Seager HW153

I opened two SPs, and let me tell you, I had to consult with an online checklist to spot these in my stack of cards. The ornaments, scarves, and skates in the case of the Arenado are easy to miss when you're opening packs.

And lastly, the relic I received from my box. Molina is one of those guys I feel like I always pull some special card of. Lindor is another guy. I've already picked up the Chavis from this set after opening the box. Why not, let's share it while we're looking at Holiday cards.

Hopefully this isn't the start of a string of 'didn't pull what I wanted, so let's grab it off eBay' kind of decisions. 

Oh, one other note- out of 100 cards in my box, 11 were Dodgers. Pretty crazy. 

Former Greenville Drive players? 3 - Jackie Bradley Jr, Yoan Moncada, and Anthony Rizzo. Moncada and Rizzo aren't guys I'm really chasing, but it's fun to see how many players I find.

To everyone out there, hope you are having a happy and healthy July.

First Card in 2021 is Unleashed

It's been awhile, baseball card blog community. Almost two years, and the sports card landscape has changed tremendously. For most of the two years it's been very difficult to find packs and boxes to open at the usual spots. Only now are they starting to pop up online and in person again. But as I always mention after a long time away, I'm never really out of the hobby. Inevitably I'll see a card I like, or watch a piece of a game (stringing together 3 consecutive hours to watch a full ballgame is tough these days), and it will lead to me browsing ebay looking for a particular card. 

When it comes to baseball, I of course prefer to see logos on the cards I pick up, but it doesn't stop me from collecting Panini cards as well. And some of the insert sets coming from some of the Panini brands are too good to pass up. I of course would love a Downtown insert of Mookie Betts, but can't justify spending on one of those. But I came across the Unleashed insert set from Donruss, and what do you know, my favorite Red Sox player and first time All-Star Rafael Devers appears in the set, and it's affordable to the lower-end collector like me.

And next thing you know, boom. First card purchase of 2021.

This is the Vector version of the card, unnumbered but that's ok with me. It's awesome- a bear, a lion, a snake, this is a card that my 4 year old son (who is enjoying cards with me now), can get behind too!

After buying this card, I decided if I was going to re-enter baseball card land in this crazy time in the hobby, I really had to narrow my focus. I'll always enjoy opening the occasional blaster or a few packs of the latest product showing up in retail stores, but as far as who I'm chasing, I'm going after cards in the following categories:

1) Greenville Drive former players (Class A Affiliate of the Red Sox), from last 8 years or so, including player collections of Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, and Michael Chavis. For the former Drive players, I'm mostly after base and inserts.

2) Freddie Freeman player collection

I'll also occasionally add to Cal Ripken Jr, Ryan Klesko, and Nick Markakis player collections.

I'm trying to get a specific want list together, mostly for my own benefit so that I know what I'm looking for when I'm browsing my usual card sites. 

Glad to be a part of the baseball card blogging community, however sporadic my posting habits. 

Question for you all out there- What's your favorite lower-end insert set? Year doesn't matter. 

You Be the Judge

Well I opened my first pack of 2019 a few weeks back, and that led to more packs being purchased, of course. In what I hope will be an ongoing tradition, my two year old son helped me open two 3-packs of Topps Chrome, with some Pink Refractors included with each.

My favorite card of the bunch is the our first Braves card of 2019. I give you, Chrome Nick Markakis.

Base Chrome cards never scan particularly well, but it's the first Braves card I've opened in over a year, what can you do? I compare Nick Markakis to Topps Chrome in that you pretty much know what you're getting. With Markakis you're not going to get a ton of power, but you're going to get good at-bats lots of doubles and solid above-average defense. When you open a pack of Topps Chrome, you know you're getting shiny cards that you've probably seen before, and chances are solid of getting an insert or refractor, and a rookie card. 

These packs fulfilled that expectation perfectly.

Here's the other base card that stood out to me from these packs. I first watched Manny Margot (He'll always be Manuel to me), play in Class A ball in Greenville, and he stood out as one of the best on the field each time. 

I appreciate Topps Chrome (and Topps) showing Minor league and Major league stats for the younger players. This one shows stats from Margot's ascent up the minor league ladder to the Padres, and his switch from the Red Sox system to the Padres (Portland to El Paso). Over 40 stolen bases between Greenville and Salem back in 2014!

The best of the Pink refractors had to be Jeff McNeil, one of the Mets star rookies. While not the most valuable card of the two rookies, McNeil is having a fine season and a big reason that the Mets still have a shot at the playoffs. This was the first of many cards we pulled of rival and 'hated' (Yankees) teams.

Springer I seem to pull a card of in just about every break. Francisco Lindor is another. Could do worse, I guess, and the play at the plate shot here is fun.

Two 1984 Topps inserts, neither fit into my collection and fit the NL East or Yankees criteria. The Nationals are trying to catch up to the Braves in the NL East, but are looking like a sure thing to make the playoffs and are one of the hottest teams in baseball. I also opened a base card of Soto.

And this is the first Judge insert I've seen and while I won't object to pulling his cards, they don't fit into my collection either. The inserts definitely scan much better than the base cards.

Another NL East player in Brian Anderson. Down the road the Marlins may be dangerous but it seems like it might be awhile. Also opened a Trevor Richards.

Kopech can throw the heat with the best of them. Another former member of the Greenville Drive who went to the White Sox in the Chris Sale trade.

Greatness Returns in Jeter/Judge form in my packs of Topps Chrome, and while I'd rather have it return in the form of a Braves great and current star, I know I'll have plenty of takers for this insert. The faces of the Yankees franchise, as the back of the card describes, won rookie of the year 21 years apart.

It looks like both Braves in this insert set are paired up with Mike Trout. GRE-8 features Hank Aaron and Trout, and GRE-10 features Ronald Acuna and Trout. Why not just pair up Aaron and Acuna, or at least have it as another card in the set?

Here's the full contents of the six chrome packs plus the pink refractors:

Base-

19 Alex Bregman Astros

22 Gary Sanchez Yankees

29 Lorenzo Cain Brewers

39 Kyle Tucker RC Astros

91 David Dahl Rockies

93 Trevor Richards RC Marlins

97 Heath Fillmyer RC Royals

113 Ian Desmond Rockies

116 Jake Lamb Diamondbacks

125 Brandon Belt Giants

144 Blake Treinen A's

145 Nick Markakis Braves

155 Juan Soto Nationals

176 Aaron Nola Phillies

187 Ryan Borucki RC Blue Jays

196 Dee Gordon Mariners

Pink Refractors-
26 Nomar Mazara Rangers
42 George Springer Astros
63 Jeimer Candelario Tigers
136 Sean Reid-Foley RC Blue Jays
152 Jeff McNeil RC Mets
174 Eric Hosmer Padres

Regular Refractors-
79 Dean Deetz RC Astros
181 David Fletcher Angels

1984 Topps-
84TC-1 Juan Soto Nationals
84TC-2 Aaron Judge Yankees

Freshman Flash-
FF-14 Michael Kopech White Sox

Future Stars-
FS-16 Brian Anderson Marlins

Greatness Returns-
GRE-6 Derek Jeter/Aaron Judge Yankees

So you be the judge, which card wins from this set of packs? What are the odds of hitting two inserts of Judge out of 6 packs.

My Son Likes 'Stuff'

Since my son was born in late 2016, my posting on this blog, and card collecting altogether, has been minimal. He's now getting to the age where he likes 'stuff'. What kind of stuff does not matter much. He likes rocks from the yard the same as a bouncy ball, the same as his dinosaurs, the same as... baseball cards. He likes to port his 'stuff' around in a backpack or in the basket on the back of his bicycle. So when we went to the store the other day, I was able to get him excited about opening a pack of baseball cards, just as if I was offering him a sucker or chocolate milk.

I chose a 2019 set that is generally one of my favorites each year, but also one that had more than a handful of cards to make the fun last a little longer. To scratch my own pack busting itch, we opened a 20 card pack of 2019 Topps Heritage together, the first pack of cards I'd opened in over a year.

These were the cards that stuck out to me in this 20 card pack. The Carpenter was the lone SP in the pack. Nelson Cruz and the Twins just finished up a series against the Braves, and he's still slugging away at age 38. 32 Home runs in 86 games in 2019, can that be right?? And J.P. Crawford was the other player of note for me in this pack. Last I checked, he was on the Phillies, but looks like the former 1st round pick was traded in December to the Mariners. Still just 24 years old.

And this was the highlight of the pack for me. Anytime a former member of the Greenville Drive over the past few years shows up on a card, it's fun to see, especially when it's highlights from big playoff games. 

And now that I know I can use a pack of baseball cards as a reward, maybe this blog will become more active again, who knows.

Here's the full contents of the pack:

56 De Los Santos, Suarez, Phillies
60 Josh Reddick, Astros
72 Verlander, Cole, Sale
90 J.P. Crawford, Mariners
128 Robinson Chirinos, Rangers
134 Nelson Cruz, Twins
143 Chasen Shreve, Cardinals
191 David Price, Red Sox
201 Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox (ALCS Game 4)
238 Brandon Drury, Blue Jays
260 German Marquez, Rockies
268 Brad Boxberger, Diamondbacks
288 Cesar Hernandez, Phillies
307 Max Muncy, Dodgers (World Series Game 3)
309 David Price, Red Sox (Word Series Game 5)
313 Michael Fullmer
322 Ivan Nova, White Sox
336 Ervin Santana
376 Ryan Borucki/Sean Reid-Foley/Danny Jensen, Blue Jays
438 Matt Carpenter, Cardinals (SP)