2011 Topps Firsts

The long standoff is over. As of about 8:00 PM last night, I am finally in possession of some honest to goodness 2011 Topps cards. I grabbed myself a grand total of 10 packs from Target for this initial venture. The store had rack packs (no blasters), but much like last year, the single packs ensure a greater number and variety of inserts.

First Pack of 2011

First Card of 2011

8 - Julio Borbon (Borbon's card has a slightly dinged corner, which is fitting. I guess I'm supposed to say something about the design here. It hasn't really grown on me. I think it's better than 2010, however.)

55 - Matt Joyce

30 - Gio Gonzalez

330 - Derek Jeter (Not pictured here, but it's somewhat "fun" that each card has a brief mention of a corresponding card in the Topps vaults that shares the same number.)

309 - Chicago Cubs

59 - Gaby Sanchez Rookie Cup (I discovered later, much to my amazement, that there are two Gaby Sanchez "base" cards. There's another one that has a different photo and card number with no rookie cup. I don't remember this ever happening before.)

First Horizontal Card of 2011

279 - Nick Swisher

First Diamond Parallel Madness Card

34 - Rick Ankiel (Okay, so... first impressions? I have seen the love expressed in various circles, but these cards seriously look like some sticker-like something that you could pull out of a hand-operated vending machine for two quarters at the local grocery store. Dragons, fairies, bling... all of these things depicted on a shiny metallic surface built to adhere to anything... your locker, your Trapper Keeper, your backpack.) Others received: Hong-Chih Kuo, Carl Pavano, Brian Bogusevic

First Unwanted ToppsTown Insert Taking Up 1 of the Promised 12 Cards

TT-28 - David Ortiz (These cards seem to very gradually improve over time. I thought Topps totally gave up last year when they went to the Attax code cards for Series 2. These are more like the "foil board" cards from the late '90s/early '00s.) Others received: Carlos Santana x2, Jose Reyes, Dustin Pedroia, Mat Latos, Chris "Diamondbacks" Young, Justin Verlander, Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer

256 - Tyler Colvin

58 - Edgar Renteria

66 - R.A. Dickey

So now that the first pack is out of the way, let's take a look at what else I learned in this initial 10 pack grab.

First Ichiro Suzuki Card (It had to happen. It only took until pack 2.)

First Multi-Player Subset Card (Yeah, these pretty much look the same as previous years. This is the only one of its like that I got, though.)

First Kimball Champions Insert (I was shocked at how flimsy these minis are. I guess I was expecting something more like the Allen & Ginter minis in terms of card stock. These are pretty nice, nonetheless, although I haven't decided if I'm collecting them.) Others Received: Derek Jeter

First 60 Years of Topps Insert (This is just the 'Your Mom' insert set, part two. Very uninteresting to me.) Others Received: Nolan Ryan 1971 Topps, Robin Yount 1976 Topps

First Diamond Duos Insert (These are the new Legendary Lineage, I guess. They don't really add much to anything except for, presumably, provide space for jersey swatched to be spliced into the design as needed.) Others Received: Tommy Hanson/Mike Minor, Joey Votto/Adrian Gonzalez

First Cardinal card (Oddly enough, it had to be an insert card. Along with the 60 Years of Topps reprint-style cards, Topps decided on a special spinoff insert concept consisting of "what if" scenarios with some of their contracted legendary players and their classic designs.) Others ("The Lost Cards") Received: Duke Snider 1953

First Target Exclusive (I'm not very impressed by these, but they exist nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, after pulling a base Ichiro card, the insert versions started pouring in.) Others Received: (another) Ichiro, Babe Ruth

First Card to Make Me Thirsty (I don't care if it's RC... it sounds delicious right now.)

First Extremely Wild Catcher's Helmet

First Extremely Boring Insert Card (This is from the History of Topps insert set. No one really needs to see this.) Others Received: Michael Eisner and Disney Buy Topps or something

First Topps 60 Insert Thing (I suppose he's pretty good at the baseball game.)

First Albert Pujols Card

First Loss Prevention Device (Only one of these was inserted into a pack that I bought. Out of 10... that's pretty strange.)

First Vintage Reproduction (This is pretty well done. I don't know anything about this insert set, however. I do find it rather strange how much vintage designs and sets based on something like this ends up playing into the Topps "60th Anniversary" party when it originally had nothing to do with Topps at all.)

First Bogus!

Well, give me awhile to sleep on this set...