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.

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.

 

Eight Clubby Nights: A Stadium Club Hanukkah (and one for good luck)

Our eight-pack blaster from Hanukkah is empty and fully documented, which we've done over the last eight nights. The final candles are burned out, and as much excess wax has been cleaned off the menorah as possible. Still, the superstitious wish of "and one for good luck" is somewhat common in Jewish celebrations, at least as I've heard it. Apparently, n+1 is a lucky number. So is eighteen, or whichever multiple of eighteen you deem suitable.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to put one last post up in this series, for a couple reasons. One, this was a pretty well-received theme and I got good feedback on it. And two, I bought a value pack of 2018 Stadium Club that I never wrote about on the blog, so now is as good a time as any. I picked four cards to show, all base cards, which fits in with the final three official nights of our blaster. That will bring us to forty-four total cards, exactly the same as as the number of candles burned throughout a full Hanukkah celebration.

2018 Stadium Club #61 Anthony Rendon

Judging by how the first two packs went, I was expecting to see lots more Washington Nationals than I did. That didn't end up happening, but there were a lot of Marlins. So to retroactively validate my earlier prediction, here's Anthony Rendon preparing for a plate appearance in the on deck circle. He's at home in this shot, giving us a spectacular view of Nationals Park, a place we all saw lots of during this year's All-Star festivities. I can't quite make out who the visiting team is, but under high magnification, my guess goes to the San Francisco Giants.

Rendon, a third baseman, has been remarkably consistent the past few seasons, challenging Nolan Arenado in MVP voting, and even leading the NL in doubles in 2018. If Bryce Harper doesn't return to the Nationals, look to Rendon to become the star of their lineup.

2018 Stadium Club #268 A.J. Pollock

Like Harper, A.J. Pollock is also on the free agent market, and with the trade of Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals, it's clear that the Diamondbacks are in rebuilding mode. That will make it easier on the Rockies next year, but they have challenges of their own. 

Here's a not-often-seen angle of Pollock making contact. It looks like he's a tiny bit under this one, but only a fraction of an inch separates a sky-high popup from a home run. If you look closely, you'll see that Pollock is wearing a throwback Diamondbacks uniform, their original teal and purple color scheme. I can't quite tell who this catcher is, but there's enough red trim on his catcher's gear to make me guess the Chicago Cubs. Maybe Alex Avila, maybe Willson Contreras. Hard to say for sure.

2018 Stadium Club #9 Zack Godley

Elsewhere in Chase Field, starting pitcher Zack Godley is just a moment away from taking a dip in the pool they have out in center field. Paul Goldschmidt and many others have hit home run balls in there, and it's the closest thing the D-Backs have to a 'splash hit", something the waterfront San Francisco Giants have in abundance. With five days between starts, it's not surprising that pitchers might go have a little fun on their days off. 

Godley put up decent numbers for Arizona last year, a 15-11 record, which tied with Zack Grenike in the win-loss column. Less desirable is that he threw 17 wild pitches and hit 12 batters. That led the NL in both categories, and the former number even eclipsed Garrett Richards, which we discussed in Night 2. 

These last couple you've probably seen before, partly because they're awesome, and partly because the collation of this set is a little iffy.

2018 Stadium Club #15 Hanley Ramirez

The very last card of this theme shows another famous stadium, Fenway Park. The green monster and its namesake mascot, Wally the Green Monster, are shown on this card, along with Hanley Ramirez, an underproducing player that the Red Sox cut in early 2018. Clearly, they had the right idea, as they won the World Series without him. Allowing J.D. Martinez to DH every day was definitely a good move. We'll see if he lands anywhere in 2019. Maybe the Marlins will sign him and bring the 2006 NL Rookie of the Year's career full circle, but I wouldn't count on that.

Wally is clearly holding a flag on the left of this card, but the way this is cropped makes it look a little like a frame. I can't help but see a tiny bit of 1996 Pinnacle in this card. On the other side, there's just enough sharpness on the out-of-town scoreboard to spot a few scores. Detroit over Kansas City, 13-2. Baltimore over New York, 7-6. A quick look at the 2017 results date this card to September 5th, 2017, when the Red Sox bested the Blue Jays in a whopping 19-inning marathon that took six hours. Naturally, Hanley finally batted in the winning run, allowing Mookie Betts to score from second after Betts' leadoff double.

That explains why Hanley looks a little exhausted and relieved in this photo. Even as a DH, a 2-for-8 day at the plate ending well after 1:00 am local time is not an easy feat.

There were a few other cards in this value pack, such as a pair of Power Zone inserts and assorted rookie cards, but these four horizontal beauties really seemed like a great way to wrap things up. If they can keep finding photos like this, I'll keep buying the set.

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.

The Extra Pack comes through!

Only a few days ago, I was educating the blogosphere about the existence of Arizona's Baxter the Bobcat mascot, and lamenting the fact that I didn't own a card of Dinger.

Thanks to another $10 blaster of 2014 Topps Opening Day, I pulled exactly the card I had been looking for.

2014 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M10 Dinger

Dinger looks a bit unusual here with this black mask/beard, but he is twenty years old now and has apparently grown up a bit. The card gives us some background on Dinger, mentioning that he "specializes in distracting opposing pitchers in the late innings", can easily be spotted in the wild due to "colorful dots on his head", and that a triceratops skull was discovered during construction of Coors Field.

Though there is a grain of truth to that, further research indicates that this is a bit of an embellished urban legend. Construction at Coors Field did indeed unearth triceratops fossils, though the skull they refer to was found in Brighton, a northern suburb of Denver where Todd Helton happens to reside. In fact, triceratops fossils have been unearthed all over the Denver area, including at Heritage Golf Course not far from my home.

Another Fun Fact: Dinger's uniform number has changed through the years. He was once #94, referring to the year of his "hatching" when the Rockies were a year old, but now sports #00. Dinger remains the only "Rockie" to have worn either of those numbers.

The Rockies lost five of six on their most recent road trip. Dinger is sure to be a sight for sore eyes once they return to Coors Field on Friday.