A Very Late Opening Day

For as long as I've been watching Major League Baseball, Opening Day happens in early spring. Topps built a whole set around it, and they helpfully list the date right on the Blue Foil parallels. 

2020 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #168 A.J. Puk

March 26th, 2020. That's when the season was supposed to begin.

Earth had other plans.

It ended up happening four months late, kicking off in late July 2020. I could be cheeky and call this A.J. Puk card an uncorrected error (along with all the rest in this parallel set), but really it's just disappointing and tragic.

I suppose it's fitting that I'm just now getting around to blogging about this hanger box of 2020 Topps Opening Day, after a year and a half of it sitting on my card shelf. They got the season started on time this year, but a springtime Opening Day isn't something that's carved in granite, and isn't something you can always rely on, even though you always thought you could.

And now, so it goes with Topps as a whole. Ever since the early 1950s, collectors could count on having Topps baseball cards available for purchase. Over the years they've been for sale for as cheap as a nickel or as much as hundreds of dollars a box, and everything in between. But there was a seismic event in the baseball card world a few days ago.

On Thursday, it was announced that Fanatics, a sports apparel and memorabilia company with a less-than-stellar reputation, will have the exclusive license to print MLB trading cards starting in 2026. Even more shocking is that Topps will lose their MLBPA license to use player names and likenesses after 2022. 

There has been much speculation in recent days since this news hit the wire, not to mention the sudden implosion of the deal Topps had with a SPAC to go public at a valuation of over $1 billion. That's off the table now, replaced by a gaping void of uncertainty.

Using their MLBPA agreement, Fanatics can step in as soon as 2023 with unlicensed player-only cards like we've seen from Panini for most of the past decade. But as I understand it, that's an exclusive license, leaving Topps in the awkward position of being able to use MLB team names and logos but no players. 

I can't imagine the powers that be will allow airbrushed cards from Fanatics to coexist for three years with, I don't know, Topps cards of nothing but batting helmets and stadiums and mascots. As it stands now, I believe that scenario would be contractually possible, but that certainly isn't what anyone has in mind.

My prediction is that either Fanatics will buy the rights to the existing MLB license from Topps, kicking off this transition even earlier than we had expected and leaving Topps to fend for themselves with little more than their various soccer and pro wrestling products, or my preferred option at this point, they'll just buy Topps and their vast stable of brands outright, albeit at a far lower valuation than Topps was supposedly worth just a few days ago.

Business is war. 

And monopolies are double-edged swords. Surely we all wouldn't be so concerned about the future of card collecting if Upper Deck had been able to compete with Topps since 2010.

In any case, here's how I feel about it:

2020 Topps Opening Day #122 Jorge Alfaro

Just add this whole saga to the ever-growing list of Things We Can't Count On Anymore.

Let's also not forget that the prospect of another labor dispute is clouding the waters. But regardless of what will happen in the future, Topps has quite a history, and it kept going all throughout 2020.

2020 Topps Opening Day #89 José Altuve

"'José's the heart and soul of what we do,' says Astros manager A.J. Hinch", or so says the card back of José Altuve's 2020 Opening Day card. It would turn out that Altuve and other Astros were at the heart of the cheating scandal from 2017 and beyond, something that got shoved to the back burner by the pandemic, along with everything else. As you might imagine, there remains some pretty bad blood between the Astros and Dodgers, but all in all, it didn't really make the waves it might have during a normal season. A bunch of the players involved have since moved on to other teams by now anyway.

2020 Topps Opening Day #14 Alex Verdugo

Alex Verdugo wasn't on the 2017 Postseason roster, so he didn't get to see the Astros cheating scandal firsthand, but he did suit up for L.A. that year, and traditionally, that's enough to earn a ring. Despite being on some extremely talented teams, he has yet to appear in an actual Postseason game. That might change this year depending on where the Red Sox finish in the standings, which is where Verdugo plays now.

2020 Topps Opening Day #28 Mookie Betts

In fact, he was part of the trade that sent Mookie Betts to Los Angeles. Consequently, as a Rockies fan, I've been seeing a lot more of Betts than Verdugo these days. It always surprises me how well I find myself knowing the Dodgers lineup. They play the Rockies a lot, they're often on the nationally-televised games, and they make the Postseason constantly. Like it or not, they're a force to be reckoned with.

And they have become the New York Yankees of baseball, according to A-Rod.

2020 Topps Opening Day #48 Francisco Lindor

Those Yankees are not to be confused with the crosstown New York Mets, which is where Francisco Lindor is now playing. His career has taken a significant downturn, much to the chagrin of the new Mets owner.

The card back mentions that Lindor was an All-Star in four consecutive seasons, but that's a streak that was snapped this year. In future years, we'll have to remember that there was no All-Star Game in 2020, so seeing a gap in the list of All-Star seasons isn't necessarily indicative of a broken streak. Notice that Lindor is wearing the official Indians All-Star patch on his left sleeve, the one with the Rock & Roll-themed guitar.

This would be a good place to mention the new Cleveland team name, the Guardians. That will go into effect next season. I like the name, I understand why they're changing it, and the detail-oriented side of me appreciates that they'll keep their place in line on an alphabetical list of team names. I'm sure that was the lowest of priorities when choosing their new name, but maybe keeping the last four letters in place was intentional to maintain a degree of connection to their history.

Here's the Tom Hanks-narrated video of their new identity, named for the Art Deco-style Guardians of Traffic statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland.

2020 Topps Opening Day #162 Max Kepler

I found some nice horizontal photos in this box, such as this one of Max Kepler's home run trot. I haven't said much about the 2020 design, and didn't really even post about the 2020 Topps base set until last month, but I have to say it works better in horizontal orientation than it did in 2017, when the design covered up a lot more of the photo.

It's worth mentioning here that Topps has already released images of the 2022 set design, and while it's certainly more readable than this year's set, I don't know how well I'll be able to differentiate it from most of the Bowman sets we've seen in the past decade.

Anyway, I like how the Twins are clearly making the most of all their scoreboard graphics. It leaves little doubt as to what just happened on the field. Kepler hit a career-high 36 dingers in 2019, so I'm not even going to try pinpointing this photo.

2020 Topps Opening Day #131 Eddie Rosario

During what was definitely a different play, Eddie Rosario slid into home to put another run up on the board for the Twins. I can't tell who the blurry third baseman is in the background; if I had to guess I'd say a Kansas City Royal. If that's correct, you're looking at the only two active teams I haven't seen in person. 

Eddie Rosario has since switched leagues, joining the Braves in return for Pablo Sandoval. It was a weird trade, because Rosario is currently on the IL, and the Indians promptly released the Kung Fu Panda the same day they acquired him. Really all Cleveland was trying to do was offload Rosario's contract. 

Incidentally, Eddie Rosario was involved in one of my all-time favorite heads-up plays, where he scored from first on a single to short left field. That isn't the play pictured here, but the clip did feature current Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron at the plate.

2020 Topps Opening Day #127 Kirby Yates

I used to go to a lot of games. Eight or ten a season was common. I haven't been to a regular season game since the pandemic hit. Yes, there was the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, and I do have tickets for one game in September, but that has been a serious adjustment. 

I used to even fly to other cities to see games once in a great while. That also has not been happening, nor do I have any idea when it will again, but I did see Kirby Yates pitch for the Padres in San Diego in July 2019. He was asked to come in and get a six-out save, which he was unable to do. The game went to extra innings, and even though the Padres loaded the bases down two runs in the 10th inning, they had no choice but to send a pitcher in to pinch-hit with two outs. That ended the four-hour evening in predictable fashion, at which point I began hunting all over the Gaslamp Quarter for a late-night bite to eat.

I also used to eat in restaurants. It was nice.

As far as Kirby Yates, he's recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, and is out for at least the 2021 season.

2020 Topps Opening Day #33 Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.

Holding all else equal, which is a bold assumption these days, Yates will be teammates with Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. once he returns to the mound. Those Blue Jays are an exciting young team, currently sitting in fourth place in the AL East despite having a solid winning record. Vlad shares the infield with Bo Bichette, who sings his praises on this card back. 

On the card front, the design is graced with the Opening Day logo, the well-deserved Topps Rookie Cup, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wearing a monogrammed elbow guard. That's when you know you've arrived.

2020 Topps Opening Day Opening Day #OD-14 Toronto Blue Jays

On to the inserts. I found four in this hanger box, plus the blue parallel shown at the top of this post. This one is from the redundantly named Opening Day insert set, documenting the actual outcomes of the first day of the 2019 season. The Blue Jays hosted the Detroit Tigers at the Rogers Centre on March 28th, 2019, losing 2-0 in 10 innings.

Speaking of the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera, who went 0-4 that day, was right back in Toronto today and hit his 500th career home run.

2020 Topps Opening Day Opening Day #OD-15 Washington Nationals

Fresh off their improbable World Series championship in 2019, Topps gave us a look at how that historic season began for the Washington Nationals. They opened at home, facing off against Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets. The Mets took game 1 of 162, part of what led to the Nationals starting off with a frequently-cited 19-31 record. As we know by now, they turned things around dramatically to win the first World Series in franchise history.

2020 Topps Opening Day Spring Has Sprung #SHS-20 Rafael Devers

Opening Day is obviously preceded by Spring Training, and Topps gave us a look at that portion of the baseball season with this Spring Has Sprung insert set. 

Spring usually springs a bit later than March in most parts of the country, hence why teams fly south to Arizona and Florida to shake the rust off. The set describes how certain players approach the preseason, such as Rafael Devers of the Red Sox joking around with teammates in between heavy training sessions. We're told he hired a personal trainer during the offseason, and he "showed up ready to dominate".

2020 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-8 Bernie Brewer

I'll close this Topps Opening Day post as I usually do, with a Mascot card. I didn't find Dinger, or even the Mariner Moose, but I did at least get one Mascot card, a mustachioed Bernie Brewer, nowhere near his yellow slide in left field.

I was shut out of the other insert sets, including Team Traditions and Celebrations, Sticker Collection Previews, and a few others that have depressingly long odds to pull.

I read in Joe Posnanski's column recently that "The very best version of baseball is how the game was played when you were 10 years old." I think the same is true for baseball card collecting. 1994 Topps Black Gold, for example, ranks up there as one of my favorite insert sets of all-time. It was rare but possible to actually finish. There weren't a zillion of this, a zillion of that, 1/1s, things you'd never have any hope of seeing, especially as a 10-year old. On the other hand, collectors older than me might look at 1994 and cringe at how many sets there were, how some cards looked like a multicolored windbreaker got caught in the printing press, foil, and how even then there were parallel sets like Stadium Club First Day Issues that no one had any hope of completing.

Of course, there are no guarantees that Fanatics won't take everything we dislike about the current hobby right now and make it even worse. Availability issues, high pricing, short prints, far too many variations and sets to collect, excessive focus on rookies, quality control, and so on.

Sometimes it feels like we'll be lucky to have cards at all in 2026. Not that I really have room for more anyway, and even if Topps collapsed tomorrow, I'll still have enough cards to keep this blog going for a lifetime, and I think that's true for all of us.

The Trading Post #147: Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary

I learned a new term yesterday, the "last at-bat win". It's the away team's equivalent of a walk-off win. It refers to a team taking the lead in their final inning at the plate, then holding the lead for three more outs. The Rockies had just such a win yesterday against the Dodgers, thanks to key 9th inning hits by cousins Nolan Arenado and Josh Fuentes, followed by a Save courtesy of Daniel Bard.

The Angels had a win of each type yesterday against the Astros, both in Angel Stadium. Anaheim was the home team in Game 1 of a doubleheader, winning on a Jo Adell walkoff. They played as the away team in Game 2, a make-up game from a couple weeks ago that was postponed due to Hurricane Laura. The Angels won that one too in "last at-bat" fashion, as Anthony Rendon hit a three-run shot in the top of the 7th that ended up being the difference.

"I hate this doubleheader visiting stuff!", exclaimed Victor Rojas, the Angels announcer, after he mistakenly thought it was the second walk-off of the day.

All this happened in the span of just fourteen innings. Doubleheaders are seven innings this year. It was also 109°F at first pitch of Game 1.

Before 2020 shaped up to be such a wild ride, I claimed a couple free Opening Day cards from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. There's been an Angel atop this stack ever since it arrived, so their heroics yesterday made for a great occasion to write a blog post.

2018 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #33 Zack Cozart

Despite what you see here, Zack Cozart is no longer an Angel. He was traded to the Giants over the offseason, who released him in January. He isn't on anyone's roster currently, and is getting to witness the 2020 season from the outside. He wasn't even an Angel yet when this card was printed shortly before the 2018 season. The card back has five years of his stats with the Reds, including his 2017 All-Star season. There's also mention of Joey Votto gifting Cozart a donkey thanks to that All-Star selection.

Yes, really.

I have no idea how to make a clean transition into this paragraph, so I'll just state the obvious and say that is one of the un-serialed Blue Foil parallels that appear year after year in Topps Opening Day. This isn't the parallel set's first appearance around here, as I found Byron Buxton's card a couple years ago. Incidentally, he beat out an infield single yesterday for his own walkoff.

Speed never has a bad day, they say.

2016 Topps Opening Day Striking Distance #SD-2 Robinson Canó

I also claimed this insert from 2016 Opening Day's Striking Distance set. I showed Mark Teixeira's card from this set back then, and Teixeira did indeed exceed the 400 homer milestone before calling it quits after 2016. Robinson Canó (named after Jackie) remains an active player, and has blown far beyond the 1,000 runs milestone, currently standing at 1,249.

On the topic of milestones and Angels, Mike Trout hit his 300th home run in Game 1 yesterday, passing Tim Salmon's 299 to take the all-time Angels lead. MLB marked the occasion with a 60-second montage of all 300, which is astonishing, mesmerizing, and slightly dizzying. And across town, Clayton Kershaw recently became the third-youngest pitcher to reach the 2,500 strikeout mark.

2019 Stadium Club Warp Speed #WS-7 Trevor Story

Those were the only two cards I actually claimed, but Brian kindly added in numerous extra Rockies cards he had been saving up for me. He must know I love Stadium Club, and this insert card of Trevor Story made its way into the envelope, complete with retro TSC logo.

As I recall, that phrase "Speed never has a bad day" was last uttered by Drew Goodman, the Rockies play-by-play TV announcer regarding none other than Trevor Story. He runs extremely well and has led the Rockies in stolen bases since 2018. While not truly capable of Faster-Than-Light travel as implied by the set's name of Warp Speed, he's in very good company in this 15-card insert set. He's joined by players like Trea Turner, who had an inside-the-park home run a few days ago, Whit Merrifield, who led the AL in stolen bases in both 2017 and 2018, the aforementioned Byron Buxton, and Mike Trout, who is, well, Mike Trout.

It's fun to see how card companies come up with designs to illustrate speed. Frequently it involves shapes like you see here, spirals and vortices and so forth. There's also a little Photoshop motion blur being added around his legs and wrist. That's easy enough to do in-camera with a slow shutter speed, but with the latest fast lenses and ultra-high ISO cameras, sports photographers are able to freeze action and keep it sharp and focused basically every time.

We're quite familiar with Topps Heritage and how they try to reproduce the look and feel of an old set. Reenacting portraits and poses, matching up teams to the old card number, and so on. In the coming years, we'll finally be arriving at the point when Topps started including action photos on their cards. Are they going to look like they do now, with a cleanly-blurred background and tack-sharp subjects? Or are they going to have an older look and feel, where more of the background is in focus, less motion is perfectly frozen, subjects aren't framed quite so tightly? Typeface and color shade nitpicks aside, the Heritage versions of early-'70s sets aren't going to look quite right to my eye if the action photos lack a certain retro look.

2013 Bowman Prospects Purple #BP102 Jayson Aquino

Brian was also on the lookout for purple-colored borders for me. 2013 Bowman and its Prospects offshoots were color-coded sets, but usually the colored borders are applied to every card equally. It's just an excellent conjunction when the checklist of a purple parallel set happens to land on a Rockies card.

This is another variant of Jayson Aquino's card that Julie sent my way. This one doesn't have a serial number and is much less shiny, but it still earns a place in my 2013 binder along with at least five other varieties. When I last wrote about him, he wasn't more than several months removed from his most recent MLB appearance. By now, that door seems to have closed for good for this Bowman Prospect.

2018 Topps Archives Purple #124 Nolan Arenado /175

Nolan Arenado appears on this parallel from 2018 Archives, which has an ever-so-slightly darker shade of purple on the border. When I looked at this set a few months ago, I lamented that DJ LeMahieu's card lacked purple. This certainly makes up for it, but the white-on-yellow text in the pennant is still completely illegible.

Fortunately, every fan knows just where Nolan Arenado plays. He's one of the true masters at the hot corner, a "human highlight reel" as the broadcast team likes to call him. The card back calls him "a genius gloveman", along with plenty of batting accolades and clutch hits. Also on the card back is a serial number, noting a print run of just 175 copies.

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Missing Blackplate #252a Nolan Arenado

In that same post (#143) as LeMahieu, I received a certain variant of 2018 Gypsy Queen that didn't use the black printing plate during production. Apparently, Topps also created that same variant in the 2017 set. Compare this slightly blue-tinted card with the normal example, just a few cards down from Aquino in that post on Julie's trade, #112.

I continue to remain in awe not only at how many parallels there are these days, but also that numerous bloggers all over the country continue to find them for me.

The only thing that's really changed since the last time I wrote about a variant of this card is that I've now been to Petco Park, where this photo was taken.

2018 Donruss Out of this World Crystals #OW10 Nolan Arenado

We'll conclude with a short trip over to the unlicensed side of things. Panini can make shiny cards, too, and there's so much going on here that I barely noticed there were no logos on this one. Both Panini and Topps have used this broken glass shard pattern, which I've likened to Topps Atomic Refractors from 2011. I'm again surprised at how well it scans.

The set itself is a space-themed insert set called Out of this World, featuring Nolan Arenado standing on the moon. It contains twelve cards of some major power hitters, guys like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, and Joey Gallo, who has more career home runs than singles. Mickey Mantle is even in it, right there at card #7.

Curiously, Mickey Mantle's career ended in 1968, one year before the actual moon landing. But he put 536 into orbit from both sides of the plate, and all these guys, even Trout, have a long way to go before they can catch him.

There is no serial number on this card, which, according to Beckett, means it's the Crystals parallel. That could be, but what's weird is that the so-called base card is serial numbered to 999, yet this parallel is presumably more common.

I already put a Bowman card in this post, which is confusing enough. I won't dare try to figure Panini's methods out here.

This card especially stood out because of this photo I took last night, a waning gibbous moon with Mars appearing quite nearby. It won't look quite that close tonight, but celestial objects are always worth a look, especially if you have the luxury of dark skies. If you're unable to stargaze tonight, I'll simply note that the card back keeps the space theme going by mentioning Arenado's stellar 2017 season.

Thanks to Brian for the freebies and the unexpected Rockies bonuses!

Nearing Closing Day (Part 3: Inserts)

2019's baseball season could be over as soon as tomorrow. Before that happens, I want to wrap up my blaster of 2019 Topps Opening Day. You've seen Part 1, with loads of Coors Field cards. Then Part 2, with a crop of solid base cards. Part 3 brings us to the thing that keeps me coming back to Opening Day, the insert cards.

They did not disappoint.

2019 Topps Opening Day Team Traditions and Celebrations #TTC-CS California Spectacular

This home run display at Angel Stadium wouldn't be out of place at a rock concert. I guess you could say it's in elemental opposition to the water feature at Coors Field. The one time I attended a game there, no Angel hit a home run, so I didn't get to see this feature activated. That was a day game anyway, so it wouldn't have had the same effect as shown on this quasi-Mike Trout card.

The card is from the Team Traditions and Celebrations insert set, which describes what's known as the California Spectacular. It's more than just flames, including "rocky knotholes, waterfalls, and geysers." It would fit right in at a theme park, and Topps points out that various Disney properties aren't far away.

Obviously, Mike Trout has been making the most of this feature, with infielder David Fletcher there to greet him at the plate. There's also a White Sox catcher tucked away in the corner, admiring the pyrotechnics, which allows us to date this card to July 25th, 2018, likely in the 6th inning when Trout went deep off of Chris Volstad with both Fletcher and Kole Calhoun aboard.

By the way, the Denver Broncos have a flame display similar to this, and it was most welcome on a cold Saturday night last year, even from quite a few sections away. The speed with which that radiant heat arrived was astonishing.

2019 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-21 Phillie Phanatic

For the second year in a row, I pulled a Mascots card of the Phillie Phanatic, clearly dressed for drier weather this year. He's been entertaining fans for decades, and wreaks havoc inside broadcast booths on both sides.

Orbit doesn't get the appreciation I think s/he should, but it's hard to top how awesome a mascot the Phanatic is, which Topps describes as a "fuzzy green bird". I never really saw a bird in that costume, but it really could be anything.

Trevor already made sure I had this year's Dinger card for my collection. I pulled a couple others from this set, including the Mariner Moose once again. You know how some collectors always seem to pull cards of one particular player that isn't especially related to their collection, maybe Jorge Soler or Eric Hosmer or someone? The Mariner Moose seems to fit that bill for me, at least when it comes to Opening Day.

2019 Topps Opening Day Opening Day #ODB-SM Seattle Mariners

It's very difficult to find detail on such a wide shot like this, but I'm sure the Mariner Moose is down there somewhere in Safeco Field, which is not called Safeco Field anymore. T-Mobile acquired naming rights for 2019, but the old name is still visible above left field. Not far beyond that, you can see the dangerously loud CenturyLink Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.

Simply called Opening Day, this redundantly named insert set shows the spring festivities in ballparks across the league. The Rockies, who usually open on the road, weren't included in this 15-card insert set. As a Rockies fan, it's disappointing to have to wait a few extra days to see baseball spring to life in Denver, but that home opener is always a fantastic Friday afternoon party in LoDo.

2019 Topps Opening Day 150 Years of Fun #YOF-23 Francisco Lindor

It will start appearing on cards next year, but by now you've surely seen the "MLB 150" patch everyone's been wearing. That marks the 150th anniversary of pro baseball, not to be confused with the 150th anniversary of college football, which is also being celebrated this year. Topps took the opportunity to make a "150 Years of Fun" insert set. It's 25 cards, but has the feel of one of the much larger insert sets often found in the Topps flagship set.

Topps found a photo of Francisco Lindor wearing a Cleveland Buckeyes throwback jersey, the city's franchise of the Negro American League. The Buckeyes won that league's World Series in 1945, just a few years before the Cleveland Indians last won their league's top prize.

Even with this million-dollar smile, "Frankie" has to be a bit disappointed to be sitting this postseason out. The Indians won 93 games this year, exactly as many wins as the pennant-winning Nationals. Even with the addition of the winner-take-all Wild Card game, there is still a chance for a very talented team to miss the playoffs entirely.

2019 Topps Opening Day 150 Years of Fun #YOF15 Reggie Jackson

Appropriately for a set that's meant to span a century and a half, there are plenty of retired stars in this set. Reggie Jackson also popped up in this blaster, pictured during his time with the Yankees. As a Yankee, he used the heckling that's endemic to Fenway Park as fuel. For example, Jason Kipnis has an amusing story about playing in Boston, which I'll let you find on your own, as it's just a bit beyond PG-13 and my mom reads this blog. I personally wouldn't find it fun to be unwelcome in an away park, but I'd certainly feel a sense of satisfaction if I were able to prove them wrong.

As an aside, if Gerardo Parra isn't in a set like this next year with his Baby Shark walk-up song or his dugout hug-fests, Topps is doing it wrong.

2019 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #97 Brad Boxberger /2019

There were a few other intriguing insert sets to be found, like Dugout Peeks, Rally Time, and Sock it to Me, but unfortunately I didn't find any of those. That just leaves some colored parallels, starting with the familiar Blue parallels. Topps advertises a print run of 2019 copies for the Blues, but these haven't included serial numbers for quite a few years. The deep blue is a pretty backdrop for the silver foil date of March 28th, 2019, the earliest-ever Opening Day in MLB history.

The short paragraph on the card back makes a nod to Players Weekend, the annual event where baseball allows players to display a little more personal flair than usual. The most visible element of that is the nicknames that players can choose for the back of their uniforms, and Brad Boxberger, who played for the Royals in 2019, made the most of the world of emoji, selecting the cardboard box emoji and the hamburger emoji as his nickname.

Not to get too into the weeds on emoji, but there was a fierce debate two years ago about which major tech company designed the best hamburger emoji. The Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit that seeks to standardize how computers deal with characters in a multilingual world, also manages the ever-growing list of accepted emojis. When they say there is a "hamburger" emoji, they leave it open to interpretation. Most major tech companies designed a cheeseburger for that particular emoji, although Google came up with an odd design, placing the cheese below the patty.

It has since been fixed to better match the layout of every cheeseburger you've ever eaten.

2019 Topps Opening Day Red Foil #33 Mookie Betts

Topps added a Target-exclusive colored parallel this year, the Red Foil, which looks excellent when paired with a Red Sox player. Mookie Betts made the Inserts portion of last year's Opening Day post, which showed him playing table tennis. Betts and his bowling prowess came up in conversation last night at a company event at the local lanes, and when I say "came up", I mean I told people who didn't know Betts plays baseball that Betts also bowls.

Conversation isn't always my strong suit. That's why I write.

Anyway, this year's Opening Day gave me a card of Betts practicing his primary craft. He didn't repeat as MVP in 2019, but he did lead the league in hits, keeping up the "barrage" that Topps describes on the back.

These colored parallels go a long way in making Opening Day look a bit more upscale, while maintaining the soul of the brand with lots of fun insert sets.

I'll definitely be back for more Opening Day next year.

Opening Day is Here!

As I begin this post, the first pitch of the 2015 season is imminent! The Cubs are hosting the Cardinals at a recently renovated Wrigley Field in an NL Central showdown. In fact, the pennant race could be beginning already, if the buzz about the Cubs holds true this year.

As spring training was getting underway a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the 2013 Opening Day set, so the first game of the regular season is the perfect occasion to show off some cards from a $10 blaster of 2015 Opening Day that I picked up at Target just 24 hours ago.

2015 Topps Opening Day #25 Jorge Soler (RC)

One of the Cubs' most promising young stars is Jorge Soler, who also happens to be a member of my fantasy baseball team, the Lucky Numbers. I got a look at Soler last August when the Cubbies visited Denver, and he is an exciting player to watch, especially at the plate. If this finally is the year, Soler is certain to be a reason for it.

2015 Topps Opening Day #66 Andrew McCutchen

The Cubs won't be the only team in the hunt for first place in the NL Central. McCutchen, one of baseball's elite hitters, will seek to lead the Pirates to another playoff spot. As the anchor hitter of my fantasy team, I'll be hoping for another MVP year like he had in 2013.

2015 Topps has earned much praise, and the same ripple and stucco design carries over to Opening Day, along with a good deal of interesting photography. The only differences are a printed Topps logo instead of foil, plus the patriotic-looking Opening Day banner. Most of the photos are the same as in the base set, although I have seen a few cards with different images, or at least different crops.

I haven't seen much of the 2015 base set in person this year other than the value pack I bought during release week, so lots of these photographs are new to me. I did recognize Tulowitzki's card in this blaster, as well as Hunter Pence's, and a few others from the blogs.

2015 Topps Opening Day #35 Travis d'Arnaud

2015 Topps Opening Day #2 Curtis Granderson

These two Mets were back-to-back in one of the eleven packs. I don't know how often the Mets wear these desert digital camo uniforms, but they appear to be in different stadiums, so these must be from different games. d'Arnaud had a pretty good rookie year last season, and he was awarded the Topps Rookie Cup on his 2015 card, a logo which has been a mainstay of Topps sets for decades with only brief gaps.

2015 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #23 Greg Holland

I did pull a few Blue Foil parallels, which are a bit different this year. First of all, they aren't serial numbered anymore, which is a bit of a disappointment, and the actual date of Opening Day isn't listed in silver foil. That's too bad, as it would be cool to have a few cards with my dad's birthday printed on them. Holland's base card also made an appearance in this blaster, so other than the /1 parallels, I have the rainbow of Greg Holland's 2015 Opening Day cards!

That's a relief.

Pun not intended.

As I've stated many times, my favorite aspect of the Opening Day brand is the inserts, and this year's crop did not disappoint. Many of my longtime favorites made a reappearance, and Topps gave us a few pretty solid new insert sets.

2015 Topps Opening Day Stars #ODS-20 Joe Mauer

"Opening Day Stars" returns with the 3D effect from its lenticular printing, and this Joe Mauer card was the only one in the 77-card stack (including an undifferentiated bonus pack!). I've kept an eye on Mauer in recent years, as the Rockies seem to have an interest in Aging Twins Stars. They've brought over Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau, so it seems like Mauer can't be far behind.

2015 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations #SC-07 Jordan Zimmermann

"Superstar Celebrations" makes a comeback in 2015 as well. Commemorating Zimmermann's no-hitter at the end of the 2014 season, this card wouldn't be out of place in the "Ballpark Fun" insert set of 2013. There were lots of post-game antics in that one.

2015 Topps Opening Day Hit the Dirt #HTD-03 Billy Hamilton

In addition to the old veteran sets, there are plenty of new ones this year, such as "Hit The Dirt", which features lots of gutsy baserunning. It's a lot like the "Sliding Stars" set from Gypsy Queen, and is a good showcase of speed, which again has become a more important aspect of baseball now that the steroid era has passed. A guy like Dee Gordon can be a lot more valuable if all the guys surrounding him in the lineup aren't hitting 40+ home runs per season.

2015 Topps Opening Day Stadium Scenes #STA-CP Cameron Payne

Topps has been embracing social media quite a bit recently. and that's reflected in the "Stadium Scenes" set. All its photos were shot by fans and then submitted online to Topps. This allows a real fan's perspective to appear on cards, which is unusual. I like the concept; it's a chance for a fan to be immortalized on cardboard, and documents how a fan actually sees the game, rather than someone with a press pass.

Angel Stadium of Anaheim, home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, is the only Major League park I've been to outside of Denver. You can't see them on this card, but flanking this entrance are two giant metal baseball caps. I snapped a picture or two myself when I was there to see the Angels host the Yankees (in Anaheim, yes), and here's what those caps look like.

2015 Topps Opening Day Franchise Flashbacks #FF-08 Julio Teheran

"Franchise Flashbacks" might be the best new insert set for 2015, especially if you're a fan of throwback uniforms. There aren't many Rockies to be found in any of these sets, but the Rockies have done minimal changes to their logo and uniforms in their 22-year history (has it really been that long?).

Braves pitcher Julio Teheran appears on this card in an Atlanta Black Crackers uniform, a team that played in various Negro Leagues for a few decades in the first half of the 20th century. Nick at Dime Boxes is such a fan of this 20-card set that he bought the whole thing in one fell swoop, dubbing it the "Insert Set of the Year". I am not at all surprised that such an appellation would be awarded to an Opening Day release.

I've written this whole post without a single mention of my favorite insert set from Opening Day, which means that it's time for...

2015 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-02 Atlanta Braves

Mascots!

I think the Braves could do way better than this. Their unnamed mascot is a blatant rip-off of Mr. Met, as the back of this card fully acknowledges. Short of calling him "Mr. Brave," I'm not sure what else can be done with a mascot wearing a Braves uniform and a baseball for a head. It's Georgia; at least make it a peach or something.

2015 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-12 Billy the Marlin

Miami does a better job, as their mascot is simply a marlin. It's a type of billfish, which is where Billy the Marlin gets its name. With those wild eyes and gaping mouth, this mascot looks really excited to be cheering for the Marlins. I can't quite tell for sure, but that might be a Rockies catcher behind the plate in that photo. Colorado visited Miami for their first four games last year, so if this was actually taken on Opening Day, then that's Wilin Rosario with a cameo appearance in the Mascots set.

It seems like the Rockies begin most of their seasons on the road, and that'll hold true this year as well. At noon tomorrow (mountain time), they'll send a man to the plate in Miller Park, home of the Brewers. By then, the Brewers will know who they're chasing for the division lead. Unless the Cubs step it way up tonight (they're down 3-0 as I write this), then St. Louis will be the first team to 1-0 atop the NL Central.