OD-8

I'm really not the type to go out and bust packs of products right when they hit the shelves. I usually buy the Topps factory set in July or so (or wait until Christmas), and I pretty much entirely ignore Update and Bowman at retail. For things like Heritage, A&G, Gypsy Queen, Archives, etc... I'll wait until they start showing up via trades. And I won't touch ultra-expensive stuff like Finest, Triple Threads, or Museum Collection until I see them at card shows in half-off toploaders. Even for sets I really like, such as Stadium Club or Chrome, I might just buy a pack or two at the store. Sometimes Topps Series 1 when it's been a long winter and I'm itching for some baseball.

But the one thing I do get pretty near its release date is Topps Opening Day. By then, most of spring training has elapsed, and even a few players are preparing to start the year on the disabled list. My fantasy baseball draft is usually just days away. Add in the low $10 price at Target, and you've got yourself a sale!

2016 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations #SC-20 Justin Bour

That also means that the Cardsphere has usually moved on by the time I get around to writing about something. It's rare that I lend my voice to the new release cycle, which also means it's pretty rare for me to be pulling the same cards as everyone else at the same time. But with a release date about ten days ago, it keeps popping up in the cardsphere, often with some of the same cards in this post.

Part of what keeps me coming back to Opening Day are the inserts. The Justin Bour Superstar Celebrations insert card was actually right behind Bour's base card in one of the middle packs, which I featured in my previous post. Didn't really know much about him before, but I won't forget his name now! And I doubt he'll forget getting doused in Gatorade by fellow Marlin Dee Gordon, who will make another appearance in this post.

2016 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations #SC-8 Justin Bour

Bryant must have done something extra special to drive the Cubs to empty two Gatorade containers on him. You'd think these guys were multi-millionaires or something. That's gotta be, like, fifty bucks worth of Gatorade in there. And whatever's coming out of the clear one looks a lot more like a small iceberg than just some chilled liquid.

Even though Topps is fully paid up with MLB (and Getty Images, I'd assume), they still refer to the Gatorade shower as a "sports drink bath". Careful not to use trademarks! And Topps breaks the "no foil" rule on these insert cards by adding it to the Topps logo.

I could go on, but between these two and Johnny Giavotella, I'll stop depicting all that Gatorade carnage.

2016 Topps Opening Day Alternate Reality #AR-6 Kris Bryant

This is a new insert set called Alternate Reality, showing players in their secondary uniforms. Kris Bryant, the darling of baseball card prospectors everywhere, is showing off lots of Cubbie Blue right down to his elbow guard and batting gloves. Other bloggers have suggested that this would be a great set to examine some actual alternate histories, like if Jackie Robinson was called out at the plate in 1955, just like Yogi Berra insisted all those years. Or if Jose Tabata didn't stick his elbow out while facing Max Scherzer last year. Or if the Rangers got Just One More Strike back in 2011. Or any number of blown calls that have affected games and records over the years.

What might be more entertaining is if they show players who suit up in the wrong uniform. Not sure how often that happens, but Junior Lake did that once in a road game a few years back. With all the alternates and throwbacks they use these days, it's bound to happen once in a while.

That's two Kris Bryant inserts, in addition to his base card. This has been a great blaster so far.

2016 Topps Opening Day Foil #OD-1 Mike Trout

And for one of the foil parallels, I pulled Mr. Card #1 himself, Mike Trout. This, of course, is from when Trout scaled the center field wall to rob Jesus Montero of a 3-run home run. Between this and the Bat Flip card, Topps picked some great photos from last season! Like Opening Day parallels in years past, this one lists the actual date that (most) games begin—there are a few games on April 3rd.

But all indications suggest that this is supposed to have a serial number. The print run is claimed at 2016, but unlike in past years, the serial number is nowhere to be found, front or back. Beckett, Topps, and even the fine print on the pack wrapper say it should be there, but they must have dropped it for 2016. Come to think of it, I think Topps did the same thing in 2015. Which is fine; it's their product. But they ought to double check the sell sheets. At least they put the date back.

2016 Topps Opening Day Heavy Hitters #HH-12 Paul Goldschmidt

Moving on from that slight disappointment, here's another fresh insert set, Heavy Hitters. As you might imagine, this is filled with power hitters that can mash a baseball into the waiting glove of a fan in the cheap seats. Jose Bautista is in that 15-card set, as is Nolan Arenado. But I pulled this one of Paul Goldschmidt. While I'm far from a Diamondbacks fan, I'm pretty sure this is a Coors Field card, judging from the purple banner at the top of the dugout, and the purple-shirted spectator in the upper right, who is probably an usher. That banner helps me pick out plenty of cards shot in Denver, and the Diamondbacks and other NL West teams are prime candidates to end up on one.

2016 Topps Opening Day Striking Distance #SD-14 Mark Teixeira

Teixeira, whose surname is even harder to spell than LeMahieu, is just six homers shy of 400. He's easily within "Striking Distance" of that milestone, as yet one more novel insert set tells us. 400 is quite a mark, but as the back points out, he'd be up there with Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, and Chipper Jones as the only switch hitters to eclipse that number. Ichiro's in the set too (twice, actually), though of course not for home runs. He's nearing 3,000 MLB hits (not even counting the thousand-plus he racked up in Japan), as well as 500 steals.

I really like the concept of this insert set; it helps focus your attention around the league as the season progresses and each of these players makes their run at the milestone. And with services like MLB.TV, it's as easy as ever (and $20 cheaper this year!) to keep an eye on them.

I didn't get paid to say that.

Even with all these new insert sets, there's still room for some of the old classics. The Gatorade-heavy Superstar Celebrations set is an Opening Day veteran, as is everyone's favorite.

2016 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-4 Wally the Green Monster

Mascots!

I didn't unearth Dinger this year (pun shamelessly intended), but I did get this very Muppet-like mascot of the Boston Red Sox. The Green Monster...get it? I can't quite tell if that orange stuff is supposed to be his hair or his eyebrows, but with the left field wall they have in Fenway (and visible on this card, no less), how could they have any other mascot than this?

One classic insert set I didn't pull anything from was Opening Day Stars, but Topps ditched the lenticular surface this year, which marks the end of an era. Even though they don't appear to move the same way that Sportflics cards do, they're still fun to run your fingernail across. I know that's not great for their condition, but I can't help it.

So far this has been a pretty awesome blaster. Lots of postgame celebrations, pretty darn good photography, inserts and parallels of some of the game's hottest young players, and that legendary bat flip.

How could I top all that?

Well, remember I mentioned Dee Gordon would be making another appearance?

2016 Topps Opening Day Printing Plates Black #OD-129 Dee Gordon /1

That, dear readers, is a printing plate.

Out of a $10 blaster of Opening Day.

Yes, I was pretty shocked. On average, I'd need to open over 3,000 of these 7-card blaster packs to pull one. I guess that one must have been the bonus pack.

I've had good luck with Opening Day before, including that David Wright autograph, but this is definitely above and beyond. It's only the second one I've ever found, and the first was in the already-scarce 2014 Topps Mini. My jaw definitely dropped. I'm sure supercollectors run across these all the time, but this sort of stuff doesn't find its way into my collection very often. Seeing one gives you a whole new appreciation for the detail and design work that goes into these, and it is pretty cool to know that every copy of Dee Gordon's card came from this.

Well, indirectly. They use offset printing, which is why the image isn't reversed. But still. I like it even more than a true 1/1. While it is a unique collectible itself, it's one that had a hand in creating all the rest of them. And even then, you still need three other colors to get the whole picture. It has to have some help from others to get the job done.

That may be a bit too sappy and philosophical for a hobby blog, but it's good to take a step back once in a while and look at the bigger picture to see all the interconnectedness in something as simple as a little rectangular baseball card.

OD-10

Though that is Felix Hernandez's card number in 2016 Topps Opening Day, more importantly it's NASA-speak for the number of days remaining to MLB's opening day! A few games start up on Sunday, April 3rd, though most teams begin play the following day, which is what the foil parallels have listed.

Now that we survived our seemingly annual giant March blizzard in Denver, we can start digging out, waiting for a foot and a half of snow to melt and drain from our roofs, backyards, and baseball diamonds. But "snow series" have become more common in Denver, so we're not out of the woods yet.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-92 Jean Segura

Digging into my annual blaster of Topps Opening Day from my local SuperTarget, there's your first look at a 2016 card on Infield Fly Rule. Jean Segura is laying down a bunt with pretty good form. And like them or not, 2016 Topps finally got rid of borders for the base set for the first time, well, ever. There is that cloudy area behind the player, which does serve to frame the photo, but it's quite a departure from what we've seen since the 1950s.

But there's plenty more you can do with a bat than just bunt.

Like, oh, I don't know. Maybe belt an epic go-ahead home run with it in a deciding playoff game, then fling the thing one-handed right at the visitor's dugout and into the history books.

That would make a great baseball card.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-187 Jose Bautista

Yep.

This was the second card from the second pack in the blaster, and though I haven't seen one from 2016 Topps base, this is just about the same thing, though zoomed in a little bit. Along with that Dinger mascot card from 2014, these $10 Opening Day blasters tend to give me just what I'm after.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-17 Kris Bryant

Kris Bryant is one of the most promising young prospects in baseball, and he's certainly the most sought-after player in baseball cards these days. I'm sure I could flip this lowly base card on eBay for a buck or two. But I'd rather hang on to it, and I'm interested to see what he and the Cubbies will do this year. It's always hit or miss with "Future Stars" cards, but I think this one's a pretty safe bet.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-181 Justin Bour

Justin Bour maybe less so. Although he finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting behind the winning Kris Bryant, he still mashed 23 home runs last season. Yet he's far from a household name (maybe because he's a Marlin), but that could change at any moment.

I haven't said much about the design yet, and I do like this 2016 set. The banner in the corner reminds me of a blown-up 1993 Topps, and the layout is effective. No vertical names or distracting cluster of information. The team logo is pretty large, though not quite as imposing as 2010, but I'm not so sure I like how it's partially obscured behind the banner. The banner can slant either left or right, and it's pretty much dependent on the team logo which way looks best. The actual Marlin in the logo is almost entirely obscured here, but the Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Mets look pretty good with this banner orientation. The White Sox, Rockies, Cubs, and most others look better the other way.

This is also kind of a busy card, even without foil. The key elements are pretty clean, but add in the Opening Day seal, the Future Stars lettering, and the Topps Rookie Cup, it starts to look pretty cluttered.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-123 Johnny Giavotella

You might think this is one of the Superstar Celebration insert cards that Opening Day is known for. But no, just a base card. Baseball players have taken the Gatorate shower way further than the NFL, who still pretty much reserves that for clinching a playoff spot. In baseball, pretty much any game-winning hit can earn it. I've noticed that camera crews are getting pretty good at stepping out of the way in time. The photographer also used a really fast shutter speed here, as the water droplets are frozen in midair, cascading around Giavotella's neck.

You need a fast lens to do that, especially at the end of a night game. That means a wide aperture to grab enough light in the slightest fraction of a second. Which equals a shallow depth of field, thus causing all those blurry backgrounds people have been noticing in this year's set. That's been the case for quite some time, but there just must be something about this design that makes it more noticeable. Maybe the edge fading they're using instead of a true border. Regardless, I'll take some blurry backgrounds to get shots like this. Do we really want to return to all those posed shots Topps gave us in the late '60s where the left field facade of Yankee Stadium was clearly visible on almost every card? In my opinion, all these pin-sharp photos are just fine with me. These horizontal ones especially are like holding tiny HDTVs.

And we haven't seen one straining pitcher's face yet. But don't worry, that's coming.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-188 Troy Tulowitzki

No big deal here, just a Rockies franchise player batting for the Blue Jays.

As a Rockies fan, this is just weird. It's taking a long time to get used to this trade. I'm sure this is old hat to all you Dodgers and Tigers and Yankees fans who trade and sign and release players of this caliber on a regular basis. But our transactions are more along the lines of Daniel Descalso, Brandon Barnes, Brett Anderson, etc.... Yes, once in a while there's a Holliday-for-Gonzalez type of trade, and Jose Reyes did come over in the Tulo trade with all the pitching prospects, but more often than not, a casual fan has no idea who's coming or going.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-155 Jake Odorizzi

Jake Odorizzi, a guy who's been on my Fantasy squad once or twice, led off three straight Rays starting pitchers at the tail end of one pack. I think Odorizzi's been in the league a little too long to be labeled a Future Star. He'll be hitting that all-important 27th birthday in about a year, and I really don't see this guy becoming a late bloomer like Randy Johnson, who took a long time to develop control.

But even a middle-of-the-rotation guy like Odorizzi could be a game changer if he somehow ended up on the Rockies.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-113 Alex Cobb

The Rays have a pretty good rotation, though with Alex Cobb out until late in the season rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery, their success in the always-tough AL East is far from certain. Though if they do manage to win the division, it will be the first time in the Wild Card era that five different teams win their division in five consecutive years.

Thanks, reddit.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-49 Erasmo Ramirez

With Cobb Out, Erasmo Ramirez will have a more solid spot in the Rays rotation. He looks dwarfed by the pitcher's mound from this high angle, and it may be a Shadow Shots candidate for Johnny's Trading Post, even with the banner and the fade-out in the way.

I'm really not kidding that I pulled these three cards in a row. Three Rays righties, all with straining mid-pitch faces.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-39 DJ LeMahieu

Finally, it just wouldn't be right to leave out the Rockies. This is a great double-play shot of second baseman DJ LeMahieu, continuing the great tradition of Rockies middle infielders with difficult-to-spell last names. Looks like this is from Chase Field, as Jake Lamb is wearing a throwback Diamondbacks jersey, their original pinstriped design with purple and teal. Also don't forget that Pepsi ad on the outfield wall.

Speaking of Pepsi, the last time I had one was in 2009 at Angel Stadium with my dad. Not the last time at a ballgame, the last time period. Soda just isn't my thing.

Potato chips, on the other hand? Well, let's just say that the expiration date on a bag of chips is one of the most useless pieces of information in my day-to-day life.

I'll wrap up the base cards here, but I'll have another entire post devoted just to inserts and parallels. You already know I love Opening Day inserts, and this blaster was a pretty lucky one in the parallel department.

Stop by as the countdown continues!