The Finest a Junkie Can Offer

When the chips are down, the Internet gives me Chipz.

Awhile back, I made a plea for some Topps Chipz. I really like the things, but I was bummed that I didn't have any Cardinals. I can now claim to be the proud owner of two Cardinals Chipz (Hello, David Freese!) Chipz don't make the most impressive scans, however, so I decided to focus on a few other things that The Junior Junkie sent my way earlier this month.

I think Pacific paralleled everything an unparalleled number of times in their heyday. No, we will never collect all of the colors of all of the players we want.

This just looks like a regular old Topps Gallery card, but it's actually one of those refractory thick cards.

I know I defended this year's Stadium Club a bit at one point, but here's where the set really loses me. Isn't this a set that's supposed to pride itself on its unique photography? Isn't this the exact same photo used on one of those The Future Is Now inserts? Inexcusable. I realize that there's a finite number of quality photos that can be used (since Topps apparently only uses Getty Images instead of its own photographers), but they are so lazy that it's making collecting cards seem even more pointless than usual. Also, adios to Shelby Miller. He's a good pitcher, but I never really took to him for some reason. He'll do well in Atlanta, and I'm just glad they're not in the same division as the Cards.

This was easily my favorite card that I pulled out of the package initially, but I had no idea what this was until reading Night Owl's very informative post last night. This is a Kellogg's card! And Kellogg's, for some reason, made a non-faux-3D set for one weird year before returning to their senses. It doesn't actually say "Kellogg's" anywhere on the card, but it does tell me that Torre is big into "golf" and "popular music".  I wonder if Torre was a Jim Croce man or if he was more into Tony Orlando and Dawn?

One thing that's great is that people buy Topps Finest (so I don't have to!) I could probably enter a group break or something, but I can't really afford it. It feels like this year's set does a capable job of honoring the '90s Finest days.

See, this is wild! This, maybe, not so much.