The Sixth Time is the Charm

Is this... really... @Topps Archives? 

This can't be happening! After bungling this set for five consecutive years, it seems that Topps has finally put together an Archives set worth its salt. That's my impression, at least, after seeing one card that arrived today from The Raz Card Blog. This jumped straight to the front of the Trade Post line today because I was just super excited about this single card.

The cards are actually kind of thick! This has been my whole issue with this product for years now. I liked the old Archives/Fan Favorites sets from the past decade because there was some actual substance and care put into them, and I'm hoping I'm not let down by this one. I took a glimpse at the autograph list, something I rarely do, because Archives usually has interesting (and often affordable) on card autos. Rick Ankiel? Jim Edmonds?! I neeeeeeeeed these.

Calming down now a bit, Raz also sent this duo of Blazer rookie Jake Layman, the one on the right finishing off my base team set. Pretty much everyone outside of the core (Dame, CJ, Nurkic(?)) is probably up for grabs this offseason, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Layman moved. The draft is soon, and that's when things start to get interesting (unlike in the playoffs).

Finally, here's a needed short print of a guy I tried to pick up in every fantasy league this year. His performance so far has been on par with his All-Star season last year. Not spectacular, by any means, but pretty good.