Cutting the flagship out of my life.
This is the time of the year that I'm supposed to be excited about brand new cards, but I'm trying something different here. I'm just not excited about it anymore, and buying new packs of Topps Series Whatever over the years has come to feel like more of an obligation than anything intriguing. I am just really tired of the thin white UV coated base set that Topps produces every year, where the card stock more or less hasn't changed since... I don't know... 1994? After going through seven consecutive years of boring white bordered cards, with two years (2010 and 2013) nearly indistinguishable from each other, I was actually looking forward to last year's set. The design was daring, and at least, didn't have plain white borders. But it wasn't enough to get me to collect it, and with this year's design looking more and more like it was inspired by Topps BUNT than something you'd want to show your grandkids in fifty years, I just can't do it anymore. At least, I'm going to try not to. I snagged a goodly amount of Cardinals through a group break and am solemnly swearing to not buy a single pack or box of the stuff all year.
There are other things Topps does that I am actually interested in, and one of those sets is last year's Stadium Club set. I only bought a couple of packs last year but am hoping to collect this one on the side and maybe pick up a discounted blaster or two if I'm lucky. I know parallels like this Gold Chris Davis are at best rather unnecessary and at worst a serious annoyance to team and player collectors, but this design is just so good that I don't mind that these things exist.
This is a fitting card for Cespedes, traveling, with bat in tow. He's made quite a few stops already since coming over from Cuba a few years back.
This is one of the rarer Black parallels, and the typography shows up a little better here.
As far as I know, Topps did not set aside a chunk of this set to be short printed, something that's even more of an irritant to a set collector these days. I like this.
I know this card made the rounds quite a bit last year, but it cracks me up too much not to show it off here.
I'm in the same boat. No flagship Topps for me.
ReplyDeleteI've had my heart set on collecting Stadium Club in 2016, but you made an excellent point about being able to pick up blasters and what not on the cheap. Maybe I'll try picking up 2015 at a discounted rate?
It's a great design and I'm still seeing some cards for the first time, like the DiMaggio.
I like flagship, but my purchases of new products are dependent on checklists. This years installment was very light on new Pirates and the hits were pretty much the same guys from the last 3 years.
ReplyDeleteAfter spending the last couple years bemoaning the collation of Topps, I'm in the same boat. I bought one rack pack and I'm done. Think I'll just buy the set at some point. I'll waste my money on Heritage I think.
ReplyDelete