But once the sun sets a second time, and you start increasing the number of candles in the menorah, you can start doing fun things with all the different colors. My personal favorite is to save up all the blue and white ones until the final night and alternate their colors, and there's usually a night in there where you burn through your less favorite colors all in one go. You especially have to watch out for the red ones, because they have a tendency to drip like crazy.
You're still just getting started by the second night, and our second pack from this festive blaster of 2018 Topps Stadium Club represents just cards 6-10 of this theme. There is plenty yet to come.
2018 Stadium Club #135 Chance Sisco (RC) |
There are usually some orange candles in your standard box of Hanukkah candles, so it's appropriate that we have a nice mix of color so far in these packs. Green is a rarity, but there's plenty of it behind Sisco as he holds his catcher's gear on a sunny day.
I'm always a fan of commemorative patches, and the one on Sisco's right sleeve marks the 25th year of Camden Yards, celebrated in 2017. It kicked off a flurry of construction of retro-classic ballparks around the league, including my beloved Coors Field.
2018 Stadium Club #19 Garrett Richards |
In little league, I was generally a middle infielder, that is, during the innings I wasn't way out in right field. I was definitely not a pitcher, and a knowledge of pitch grips and pitch paths remains one of the weaker areas of my baseball fandom. Richards, who will likely miss the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, shows us his version of the four-seam fastball.
This card has it right. He pitches at an ace level when healthy. Unfortunately, a healthy pitching arm has been elusive for Richards, as has command. Even when he went 13-4 in 2014, he led the AL in wild pitches, something he's done twice since then, including in an injury-shortened 2018. Still, the San Diego Padres have enough faith in him to sign him to a two-year deal, looking forward to 2020.
2018 Stadium Club Special Forces #SF-KB Kris Bryant |
Kris Bryant, who was 2015's NL Rookie of the Year and 2016's NL MVP, appears exceptionally sharp on this photo. Printing technology has come a long way. It's more or less the difference between SD and HD video, and has progressed about as quickly. We even get to see Bryant's monogrammed blue and red batting gloves. There are Hanukkah colors all up and down this card. The back is pretty plain, and replaces the usual paragraph with a series of bullet points. "Serious quickness for a 6-foot-5 man", Topps opines.
Inserts are inserts, but it's definitely not as awesome as the Instavision parallel I pulled of Bryant last year.
2018 Stadium Club #163 Ryan Zimmerman |
Things were a little confusing when Jordan Zimmermann pitched for the Nats, but his ancestors did Ryan the courtesy of adding an extra "N" to the family name to avoid needing first initials. Ryan went by "Zim" on his Player's Weekend jersey, matching that sign in the stands, but he just as easily could have gone with "Mr. Walk Off", as he's commonly known in the D.C. area, and rightly so. He's closing in on Jim Thome's all-time record of 13.
2018 Stadium Club #20 Stephen Strasburg |
I agree with one criticism of this set, that the team name is too faint. It's still pretty easy to tell, because Topps is more than happy to show off team logos. Still, with as much as players move around, it might be nice to have that outline just be a little bit thicker.
The obvious National missing so far is Bryce Harper, who won the 2018 Home Run Derby in front of his home crowd, but he's nearly certain to play for another team next year.
I haven't managed to pull any Rockies yet, but fortunately I have several already, thanks to a group break that Trevor ran over the summer, including an extremely rare Jon Gray parallel.
Each night it gets just a little brighter, so we'll see what tomorrow's pack yields soon enough. Harper can't be far behind, given the way this blaster has gone so far.
Awesome writing. Very cohesive. If Topps' quickness note is in reference to Bryant's base running they're correct. One of his biggest assets. He looks like he's taking a jog in his Fortress of Solitude.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteOne of these days I've really got to try some of those potato latkes! Also, you're completely right about the Zimmerman, that is how a horizontal card should be done.
ReplyDeleteThey're so delicious. More or less like hash browns, but a little bit different. They're usually served with sour cream and/or applesauce.
DeleteLearning more about Hanukkah this year then the previous 45 years combined. Great stuff. Just like that Zimmerman photo.
ReplyDeleteThere's plenty more where that came from!
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