Opening Day Is Upon Us (Part 2: Inserts)

Voting for the All-Star Game is well underway. If you haven't voted in the first round, you have about a week left to do that. I did submit a few ballots during the first couple days, and it's so much easier now than when I was a kid. I remember the old paper ballots, and I used to vote so many of them at once that the kitchen table would be blanketed in tiny white paper dots. Things are a bit more environmentally friendly now.

Meanwhile, as the season approaches its halfway point, I'm still over here writing about Opening Day. Specifically, the inserts and other goodies from a blaster of 2022 Opening Day that I got shipped from Target. 

I'll never be caught up again, will I?

And I'm sure I'll hold the record for the last post in the community about Nick's 10th Anniversary giveaway. Sorry, Nick.

2022 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-19 Mariner Moose

As promised in Part 1, and as longtime readers probably predicted, I did pull a card of a very patriotic-looking Mariner Moose. I've still yet to see one of these gigantic animals in the wild, but that chance is ever-present in the great state of Colorado. I hope that my repeated luck in pulling Mariner Moose cards isn't negatively impacting my luck of seeing a real one, because I'd love to someday.

In the meantime, I'll rely on Topps to keep me in a steady supply of Mascot cards.

2022 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-7 Dinger

It goes without saying that I've never seen a triceratops in the wild, either. But Dinger makes plenty of appearances on my mascot cards and in person at Coors Field, too. Here's a shot of him all dressed up to host the Purple Carpet show prior to the 2021 All-Star Game at Coors Field. I'm not sure exactly, but this is probably in front of the new McGregor Square building, just across 20th Street from Coors Field.

Hard to believe that was almost a year ago.

2022 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-9 Orbit

The 2022 All-Star Game is being held in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. It was supposed to be there during 2020, but that of course was cancelled due to the pandemic.

There were lots of mascots on the concourse at Coors Field during the All-Star Game. I remember seeing Fredbird, the Phillie Phanatic, and of course Orbit. Though I'm not sure Orbit will be particularly welcome at Dodger Stadium considering the cheating scandal that happened during the 2017 World Series. As pictured on this card, maybe he's limbering up with squats to be able to escape angry fans.

And where's the 2023 game going to be held? That would be Seattle, giving our friend the Mariner Moose a real opportunity to shine.

2022 Topps Opening Day Opening Day #OD-2 Detroit Tigers

The other insert sets found in Opening Day are never as fun as Mascots, but they're still worth a look. Here's the redundantly named Opening Day set, a fifteen-card set featuring half of the MLB teams and their performance on Opening Day 2021. 

The Tigers, in particular, won their season opener in Detroit thanks to a home run from Miguel Cabrera. His turn at the plate began rather normally, but a sudden snow flurry rapidly picked up over the course of his at-bat, ending with the ball just clearing the right field fence.

The future Hall-of-Famer gave fans at Comerica Park memorable moments in two consecutive Aprils, as he got his 3,000th hit two months ago against the Rockies.

2022 Topps Opening Day Opening Day #OD-9 Kansas City Royals

I don't recall the Royals making the highlight reel that day, but they won their 2021 home opener in a 14-10 slugfest against the Rangers. The card back tells us that fan favorite Alex Gordon threw out the first pitch that day, all the way from his longtime station in left field.

I saw the Royals visit Coors Field in May, the 29th team I've seen play. I missed my chance at the Expos, but only the Minnesota Twins remain to be checked off.

2022 Topps Opening Day Bomb Squad #BS-10 Giancarlo Stanton

Nearly as plentiful as Mascots in this blaster were cards from the Bomb Squad insert set. This 25-card set features some of the game's best home run hitters, new and old. Giancarlo Stanton, one of many slugging Yankees, is frequently on the highlight reel for launching baseballs deep into the Bronx night. He is far off his league-leading pace of 59 from his 2017 season, his final as a Marlin, but he still has a respectable 14 so far in 2022. 

The #16 patch on his pinstriped sleeve honors Whitey Ford, who died in 2020.

2022 Topps Opening Day Bomb Squad #BS-7 Babe Ruth

Stanton traces his lineage as a slugging Yankee all the way back to the granddaddy of them all, George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Not much needs to be said about the Sultan of Swat, perhaps the greatest-known player to ever take the field. Nevertheless, the card back gives us plenty of unique statistics, starting off with his career total of 714. The Bambino also led the AL in homers twelve times, and two of those seasons were 35 ahead of the second-place finisher.

They didn't really call home runs "bombs" back in those days, but Ruth's colorful and alliterative nicknames like "The Colossus of Clout" more than make up for it.

2022 Topps Opening Day Bomb Squad #BS-16 Jim Thome

He might not be on the Mount Rushmore of baseball players like Ruth, but Jim Thome is in the Hall of Fame, and he has 612 home runs to thank for it, good for eighth all time. He's pictured here as a Phillie, but he spent most of his career with Cleveland. He was the first Phillie to compete in a Home Run Derby, and the card back also tells us that 17 of his homers came on a 3-0 count.

I seem to remember the baseball world getting into quite a kerfuffle last year when young stars like Fernando Tatís, Jr. and Yermín Mercedes took pitchers deep on 3-0 counts, apparently violating the sacred unwritten rules. I don't remember hearing much about that during any of Thome's 17 blasts.

2022 Topps Opening Day Triple Play #TPC-1A Mike Trout / B Shohei Ohtani / C Anthony Rendon

A trio of Angels (though not the Russian ones from 1993 Topps #633) make up this odd-looking insert card from the Triple Play subset. Mike Trout (who possesses a Ruth-esque nickname of "The Millville Meteor"), Shohei Ohtani, and Anthony Rendon all make appearances, and the card includes a perforation between each player. If you were to separate these, they would be slightly smaller than an Allen & Ginter tobacco-sized Mini. This design also includes the same divot on the top border we saw in 2008 Topps, which everyone disliked for encroaching on the photo.

There isn't much room on these card backs, but somehow Topps still left a ton of white space. Mike Trout's storied career is boiled down to eight All-Star Game selections, more than any other Angel.

Sadly, Anthony Rendon's season came to an end last week due to wrist surgery, but the Angels have added an exciting breakout star to their lineup in Taylor Ward, a five-season veteran who is finally finding his stride.

2022 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #72 Gavin Sheets /2022

I didn't pull any cards from the exceptionally rare Walk This Way, Luck of the Irish, or Dugout Peeks insert sets, so we'll close with the only Blue Foil parallel I found, a Rookie Card of Gavin Sheets. No relation to former Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets, but he is the son of former Orioles outfielder Larry Sheets. I haven't heard much about him, as he only has 98 games under his belt, but he fits right in on a young White Sox team playing for the oldest manager in the game.

As is usual with Blue Foil parallels, their stated print run is equal to the calendar year, but there is no serial number to be found.

That about wraps up Opening Day, just in time for summer.

Making It to the Big Leagues (Part 1: Base)

Now that I'm caught up on trade posts, my next project is going through all the blasters that have been accumulating on the same shelf. Most of those have been from 2020, but I have a stack of Topps Big League going back to the brand's inception in 2018 that has just been sitting there.

It would be more accurate to say that Topps Big League replaced Topps BUNT, the physical manifestation of their digital app. An app, by the way, that I spent way too much time on this weekend. Regardless of what they call it, this is the low-priced, youth-focused set that occupies the market segment that Triple Play and UD Fun Pack held back when I was a kid. 

That means affordability, small-ish set sizes, entertaining photographs, and fun facts on the back that may or may not be tangentially related to the actual sport of baseball.

2018 Topps Big League #281 Ketel Marte

Even when I'm not leading off with a Rockies card, the NL West is well-represented. This is Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks, doing some pre-game warmups with Orbit, the lovable mascot of the Houston Astros. Usually you have to find Opening Day to add mascot cards to your collection, but Big League put it right in the base set. There is one Topps flagship card with a mascot that comes to mind, but it's quite rare. This photo is not going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but it sets a lighthearted tone nonetheless.

Marte's card back calls him "a high-energy performer with good speed." It also mentions that he had two triples in the 2017 NL Wild Card game, part of what ended the 2017 Rockies season earlier than I would have liked. There were two additional triples that game, one by pitcher Archie Bradley, and another by A.J. Pollock.

Yes, yes, I know. COORS. That game was played in Arizona.

Regardless, Marte kept right on going in the 2018 season, leading the Big Leagues with twelve triples. Warming up with Orbit is always a good decision. Just look at those little baseballs on the end of the antennae.

2018 Topps Big League #226 Ichiro

Ichiro is one of those guys that never has a bad card. Not that there are many bad cards out there in this day and age, but he never even has mediocre ones. If they don't show a great action shot, then it's an awesome landscape or wide-angle shot like this. Or this. Everywhere he went, he had mobs of adoring fans from all walks of life and fandoms. Here, I see fans with apparel from the Mariners, Nationals, Royals, Dodgers, Red Sox, Twins, and even the Chicago Bears. I particularly like the giant photo a fan is holding out toward him with two big blue arrows directing him where to sign, as though he hasn't been doing this kind of thing for decades.

2018 Topps Big League #195 Yolmer Sánchez

With or without a pitch clock, baseball does involve waiting around. Of course, for that patience, you're occasionally rewarded with a roller coaster of a game like we saw Saturday in Game 4 of the World Series. But it's a strategic game with time to plan your moves, so no matter what rule changes come at us over the next few years, you can be sure players will still be chewing bubble gum out there on the diamond.

And as long as that happens, I hope baseball card companies aren't afraid to give us cards of players blowing bubbles. It's certainly less problematic than showing players with a big wad of chewing tobacco, especially for a youth-oriented set. And based on what the back tells us about Yolmer Sánchez, who is described on the back as a "fun-loving prankster", this is a perfect card.

2018 Topps Big League #370 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (RC)

This one is more of a typical card photo, but the memorial patch on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s left sleeve caught my eye. The Blue Jays wore that #32 patch in 2018 for Roy Halladay, who passed away in November 2017. Some might remember him as a Phillie, since that's the only team he saw Postseason action with, but he spent most of his career as a Toronto Blue Jay.

You still get to see the Rookie Card logo from time to time in a brand like this, although most collectors will probably consider his true Rookie Card to be #US110 from 2018 Topps Update. Even with a Topps monopoly, the RC logo isn't completely reliable.

Overall, 2018 Big League is a simple but effective design. There are color-coded border accents that don't intrude on the photo. The player's name, team, and position are all in the same small area, and they're a bit on the small side but still easily legible. Again, youth-oriented. The team logo is perhaps bordering on a bit too large, but nothing obnoxiously out of hand like 2010 Topps. And it's foil-free at this price point, which leads to a surprisingly detailed Big League logo in the upper right.

Gurriel's fun fact tells us about his whole baseball family in Cuba, as well as his brother Yuli who plays with Orbit for the Astros. That got me thinking about Cuban players in general, and how many players never got their shot in the MLB due to the geopolitical tensions between the USA and Cuba. As with Japanese players, there were one or two that debuted back in the 1960s, but you didn't see players of either nationality get a shot in the MLB until the mid-'90s.

Just add it to the list of the many what-ifs that are peppered throughout baseball history.

2018 Topps Big League #293 Carlos González

That hasn't been quite as much the case with Venezuelan players. The first Venezuelan Big Leaguer played in 1939, and you'll certainly know the name Luis Aparicio, the country's first Hall of Famer who debuted in 1956.

Similarly, Carlos González and Yolmer Sánchez are fellow countrymen, but only one of them is likely to enter my Coors Field frankenset. Sánchez could up his chances significantly if he joined an NL West team. Actually, he did sign with the Giants for 2020, but the shortened season meant he never got playing time there and just signed right back with the White Sox.

As I scan these, I'm noticing how CarGo's bat peeks out of the frame all the way to the top of the card, always a nice design touch. Gurriel's card didn't do that, so there's a little inconsistency on the design front in that regard.

As this is a rather common set, I've seen it arrive in trades several times. Mostly I've just mixed them in to the blaster pile, so if you sent me cards from this set, they may have been intermingled into this stack over the past couple years. Entropy and all, you know. I don't catalog my cards nearly as accurately as some of you do, so this CarGo card could have been from the blaster, or from one of my many trading partners. 

The trade posts are the catalog, I suppose.

2018 Topps Big League #210 Billy Hamilton

Billy Hamilton, then with the Reds, is the first USA-born player to appear in today's post, and he looks somewhat humbled to be playing in Yankee Stadium. The recognizable upper facade has appeared on many, many cards throughout the years, and I'm glad to see Topps keep the tradition going, even though it's technically a new stadium now. 

His hitting leaves a bit to be desired, but Hamilton is known throughout the league for his speed. Near the end of the 2020 regular season, he stole home, something that Manuel Margot just unsuccessfully tried in Game 5.

Gutsy play, though.

2018 Topps Big League #145 Carlos Carrasco

Cleveland did make it to the Postseason this year, although they were dispatched in short order by the Yankees. Carlos Carrasco started their second game, but things fell apart for the Indians late that day. He'll surely be back for another season in 2021, hurling two-seam fastballs as pictured on this horizontal card.

"Cookie", another Venezuelan, has been with the Indians for his whole 11-year career, although he lost a lot of time in 2019 fighting leukemia. In fact, in looking through this stack of cards, I was pretty surprised at how many of these guys have had to deal with cancer.

2018 Topps Big League #44 Trey Mancini

Trey Mancini has had his own battle to fight. Shortly before turning 28 during this year's dicey spring training, he was diagnosed with stage-III colon cancer. That's a scary thing to happen, especially at such a young age, and he wrote all about his experience in The Player's Tribune.

The 2020 season, in whatever form it was going to take, passed him by, but I hope to see him and Carrasco facing off against each other next season.

2018 Topps Big League #4 Jon Lester

Cancer is further in the past of a few players, such as Jon Lester. It depends on a lot of factors, but treatments for many forms of the disease are becoming more effective. Lester's battle involved a fight with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma back in his rookie year. He's had a long and successful career since then, and pitched Game 4 of the 2007 World Series, the day after I had my own chance to witness such a historic game. 

Incidentally, I recently found out that Game 3 in 2007 marked the first time that two Japanese-born players appeared on opposing teams in a single World Series. Boston's Game 3 starter was Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the Rockies had Kaz Matsui on their roster.

2018 Topps Big League #59 Jameson Taillon

Even with the havoc that coronavirus has wrought on the 2020 season, Jameson Taillon wasn't going to pitch in 2020 anyway. He's recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in 2019. But before that, he suffered from testicular cancer in 2017, and fortunately recovered from it in remarkably quick fashion. This 2018 card doesn't mention it, but his Did You Know fun fact is that he is "a proponent of proper nutrition, [and] often prepares his own healthy food."

For a kid-focused set, that's probably a good way to handle it.

That was four players in a normal-sized blaster, and I didn't even find Chad Bettis or Anthony Rizzo, both of whom are in the checklist. It's a scary thing, but I'm glad that all these guys are still alive, and other than Bettis, are still playing, miraculously. It's a general fear I think we all have, and the age of COVID-19 certainly doesn't help relax me.

But writing about cards does. I know my audience is pretty tiny, but I appreciate all of you who take the time to visit and comment.

Part 2 of this series on 2018 Topps Big League will have a few inserts, parallels, and league leader cards. I'm not sure whether I'll write it before the World Series ends, but it will come.

 

Opening Day is Nigh!

It's technically baseball season.

No, there aren't any games, home runs, defensive highlights, or pennant races happening yet, but pitchers and catchers have reported to their spring training camps for all but a few teams, so what better time to do a post about a box of 2013 Opening Day I bought from Dave & Adam's almost six months ago?

2013 Topps Opening Day Blue #113 Carlos Gonzalez /2013

Look familiar? It should, as Carlos Gonzalez does a lot of sliding into home plate here on Infield Fly Rule. I haven't shown this particular card yet, and these blue parallels are easily the shiniest things to be found in any box of Opening Day. Judging by that dirt stain on his jersey, CarGo clearly doesn't leave anything on the field when it comes to that oft-overlooked "fourth fundamental" of baserunning.
 
Though we're in the very early stages of the technical baseball season, as I write this, the Denver area is experiencing what's probably been the biggest snowstorm of this winter. Rather than venture outside, I spent a lot of time with my card collection today, as I sorted through my giant (but shrinking) boxes of duplicates for a new trading partnership with Brian from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary.

2013 Topps Opening Day #78 Hisashi Iwakuma

Brian's has a mini-collection of commemorative patches (though not memorial patches) and I found a ton, especially on recent cards. I'm not sure whether I found a duplicate (or Topps Base version) of the above Iwakuma card, but that 35th-anniversary patch on the right sleeve is right up Brian's alley.

Lots of other collectors go for the throwback uniforms, and 2013 Topps (and thus, 2013 Opening Day) didn't disappoint in that area.

2013 Topps Opening Day #77 Mark Trumbo

Mark Trumbo was traded to the Diamondbacks for the 2014 season, but he got his start as an Angel, appearing here in an early-'70s throwback uniform, way before all that "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" nonsense. This card is even a two-for-one bonus, as there's a Texas Ranger, also in throwback gear, possibly beating the throw to first.

But Topps didn't stop there.

2013 Topps Opening Day #164 Jose Altuve

The Astros had some of the more memorable uniforms during the 1970s, and the color scheme sort of makes sense. When I see all those oranges, yellows, and reds, I think of some sort of sunrise in the Western desert. Frankly, Houston is pretty far from a Western desert, and Houston is definitely an oil town, so maybe it's meant to remind us of the Shell Oil logo.

The uniform number on the pant leg of the diminutive Jose Altuve is pretty distracting. The White Sox and possibly a couple other teams tried this, and I'm glad it didn't catch on.

If you're a fan of all these old uniforms, then be sure to visit A Cracked Bat. She's giving away some Kellogg's 3D cards on one of her recent posts. Though I claimed one of the Astros that she had available, there are a few still up for grabs.

Anyway, the base cards are really pretty solid (and foil-free!), but before I move on, I'd like to show one of the best "hits" I've managed to pull from a box of low-end cards.

2013 Topps Opening Day Autographs #ODA-DW David Wright (AU)

An autograph card of David Wright, the star third baseman of the Mets! I've seen his autograph before, and I really appreciate its legibility, which gives me something to aspire to. I also like that he signs his uniform number, a welcome bonus. That's the only way my friend knew that it was Edwin Jackson who signed his ticket stub when the Cubs visited Denver last summer.

Yes, it's a sticker autograph, which I don't mind nearly as much as some other collectors do, but we've all heard of David Wright, and the photo even has one of those patches that Brian likes so much, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Mets franchise.

But this isn't the reason why I keep coming back to Opening Day. It's not the $10/blaster price. It's not the base cards, which are more or less the same as the flagship set. For 2015, even those won't differentiate themselves with a lack of foil, as the base set finally uses it sparingly. And again, it's not the occasional autograph, although pulling a big name like David Wright is somehow more satisfying when it comes from a low-end product. Anyone with money to burn can spend a stupid amount on a box of Museum Collection and end up with an autograph of a high-caliber player, but it feels like such a bargain when it's from a $20-something retail box.

2013 Topps Opening Day Play Hard #PH-20 Yadier Molina

It's the inserts.

The inserts that pop out of almost every pack of Opening Day never fail to put a smile on my face. They usually have a few new sets that only exist for a year, like the "Play Hard" set above, and "Fired Up" last year, as well as others that make recurring appearances.

Play Hard cards are a sure-fire favorite for any collector who likes those plays at the plate or double plays. In fact, how awesome is that card? Yadier Molina, one of the most charismatic and driven players in the league, isn't even behind the plate on his own card. This could easily be Carlos Ruiz's card, or Yadi could be defending the plate against any baserunner. Instead, Molina himself is elbows up for a collision, consequences be damned.

Of course, plays at the plate changed quite a bit with the 2014 rule change, something this next player is in favor of.

2013 Topps Opening Day Stars #ODS-4 Buster Posey

Buster Posey lost most of his 2011 season following a knee injury and broken leg that he suffered while defending the plate. That didn't stop him from winning the NL MVP award and his second of three (and counting) World Series rings the following year, but I'm sure he's in no hurry to go through all that again.

The "Opening Day Stars" cards are 3D, and though they scan terribly, they have appeared in numerous Opening Day sets over the years, and they'll be making another appearance in 2015, which will be released next month.

Like "Play Hard", "Ballpark Fun" was another set that was unique to 2013.

2013 Topps Opening Day Ballpark Fun #BF-2 Josh Reddick

And it had a lot of post-game shaving cream pies in the face. Not only is Josh Reddick the beneficiary of baseball's equivalent of a Gatorade shower, but he's wearing an Oakland Oaks uniform, the minor-league team (who then became the Vancouver Mounties) that played in Oakland for the first half of the 20th century. This card has it all, especially for those who have a mini-collection of interview cards.

Why Josh Reddick, when I could have used a half-dozen others from this insert set? Well, that's my way of wishing my buddy Nick at Dime Boxes a happy birthday, who shares February 19th with the Oakland outfielder.

Anyone who's collected Opening Day has to know how I'll end this post. Right? What's everyone's favorite insert set from this brand?

2013 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-16 Orbit

Mascots!

Come on, look at that card and tell me you don't want to bust some packs of Opening Day.

Orbit, who returned to Earth (sorry) prior to the Astros' 2013 move to the AL West, was their mascot during the 1990s and the final years of the Astrodome. Orbit was replaced by Junction Jack when the Astros moved to Enron Field, which became Minute Maid Park following the implosion of the Houston-based company.

Junction Jack was a train engineer rabbit that was only somewhat less terrifying than the Donnie Darko rabbit (click at your own risk). But happy times have returned to Houston again, with Orbit the Space Alien taking over the "00" uniform number and his rightful place in the Astros' locker room.

And with that, and as the snow continues to fall, we tick ever closer to Opening Day 2015, and a whole new set of mascot cards to smile at.