Thoughts on Update

Topps Series 3 is out, and here are some cards I purchased!

I spent more money on cards last Saturday than I had the entire summer combined, and that included my first pack purchases from 2014 Topps Update. I bought 5 loose (Target) packs and a $10 hanger box (half the blaster and almost none of the mess!) I knocked a few commons off of my Cardinals want list and was left with an array of things to look at and eventually trade off.

I was honestly not expecting to find an addition to my Brendan Ryan collection in this fashion, but here it is. Ryan was basically Derek Jeter's late inning replacement this year, except that no one had the guts to ever tell Jeter to get out of the game. This left Ryan to stand awkwardly at first base and hope no one was paying attention to him, even though he's known for being a defensive wiz at short. The Yankees didn't make the playoffs this year for some reason.

This is my first ever camo parallel pull, and it actually doesn't look that bad. I guess I'm just conditioned to dislike camo jerseys (because they are generally really bad) so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the cards. If memory serves me, someone traded me a Matt Holliday camo card awhile back so this isn't technically my first look at one of these. I'd never heard of Cam, but apparently he's the son of Steve Bedrosian which makes sense.

I like what it represents and all, but this is just not a good look. Choate's frustrating usage in the playoffs by Mike Matheny put me in the always awkward position of actively rooting against a guy on my team. It's not that I wanted him to fail, of course, but I just didn't want him anywhere near the game at the times he was deployed.

Descalso has settled into the everyman utility role, so a perennial spot in Topps Update seems appropriate.

Apparently this is some sort of photo variation, as given away by the fact that it fell inside the hanger pack in between a bunch of inserts. It also has a different code # on the back from the regular base cards. It looks like there are quite a few of these on eBay for not very much money, so I probably didn't hit the jackpot here. Still, Springer looked like quite a talent in the time he was with the Astros. Big things poppin'.

The parade of 1989 style minis continues unabated. I accidentally bought a box of the 9-pocket Ultra Pro pages for minis (the kind that fit these modern insert types and the old 1975 Topps minis) and I'm trying to get rid of them. I found a few takers but would like to find more people who could use some of these.

I don't know who all is in this Fond Farewell insert set, but if it's just players who were done after last season like Todd Helton, it would have made a lot more sense to put these in Series 1.

These are bright and kind of remind me of an early '00s design.

These are classy. These, I said it. How many times has the name "World Series Heroes" been used for a set, subset or insert set, I wonder.

Gold parallels continue. These are so boring to me without the "XX Years of Collecting" banner. I don't know why, but that really made it pop for me.

Mark Ellis's impact on the Cardinals this season was negligible, but I always am happy to have a new player to add to the binders.

These again... I'm tired of them.

Here is my lone Target parallel. If I had gone with a blaster, I would have ended up with a bunch of these, a manupatch and hardly any base cards.

I'm a little worried about the Cubs next year. I'm not afraid to say it.

Randy is too tall to fit into a frame.

This year's Update branding is a glaring example of just how far ahead of time Topps must have to begin its plan and design phase. Even though Tanaka returned from a serious elbow injury in time to make a start before the season ended, I'm sure they would have preferred to use someone else as their coverguy had they known what would happen.

Tony Cruz finally gets a real baseball card! Cruz is in his 4th season as the Cardinals primary backup catcher, but aside from a Bowman Draft card from years ago he had never been on a real MLB card before. This is exciting news for me and my Cardinals binders. Okay, you can stop laughing now.

ZZzzzZzZZz.

Why is it again that they don't they just call this set Series 3?