A new set from @Topps is all about value, and I like it.
I don't frequently have great things to say about Topps these days, so I feel like it's only fair to point out how much I like the new Big League product. It's affordable and fun, and reminds me a bit of some of the mid-'00s Bazooka and Fleer sets. I won't collect the set, but I am sure that I will pick up more of this stuff if it stays available at the current prices. (In fact, I have two more blasters on the way from Prime.)
I bought a loose pack, whose first card was the water feature out in Kansas City.
Gold(ish?) parallels fall at one per pack, or three per fat pack. I'm not a big fan of the color. It's sort of in between yellow mustard and brown mustard.
The loose pack contained a numbered (to 100) Adam Duvall parallel, which was a nice surprise. Some Reds fan will probably appreciate this.
I also bought a fat pack and a blaster. In the fat pack, recently traded reliever Zach Britton was one of the parallels.
An auto in something that cost me $4.99? Not bad. It's a sticker auto, of course, but I'm sure Pirates fans wouldn't spit on this.
I originally assumed these were some sort of nickname insert, but I can see now that this is supposed to be a Player's Weekend parallel. It's weird when a parallel has a completely different design.
Tyler O'Neill's first official Topps rookie card ended up being my only Cardinal pull of the purchase, which is frustrating. I think my Cardinals luck died after I pulled the Harrison Bader /25 auto out of a Bowman Megabox.
In the blaster box, there's a 4-card "bonus pack" of blue parallels. This a nicer color, and is very Bazooka-like.
Is this Photoshopped? I haven't done one of these in awhile.
Embed from Getty Images
Why yes... yes it is.
There are caricature cards in this set, both the original artwork (rare) and reproductions (not so much). This is one of the reproductions. It still congratulates me on the back, for some reason. (Side note: not a caricature fan.)
This is really hard to read, at least for me. Red and blue together usually makes my eyes want to reboot. It's a Ministers of Mash insert, although I would have preferred Monsters or something like that.
This color looks a bit better on an Astros card.
Finally, here's another Player's Weekend parallel. What is up with that nickname? Is it his gamer name or something?
I am building the set and if you're up for a trade check out my want list. Thanks! https://tilnextyear-tom.blogspot.com/p/2018-topps-big-league.html
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued, and did some Googling. Tokki 2 is a reference to his friendship with Choo Shin-Soo. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2017/08/09/reds-notes-why-joey-votto-tokki-2/554050001/
ReplyDeleteAuto out of a loose pack? You should buy a lottery ticket. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThat Harrison is nice. How do you research the card to see if it's photoshopped?
ReplyDeleteAt some point after I started blogging, Topps started using Getty for all of their photos. It's probably been a long time since they've actually employed photographers. You can just go to gettyimages.com and search for the player and the year you suspect the photo was taken (usually the previous season.)
ReplyDeleteSweet Harrison auto! I like the Players Weekend variations, and was thinking about at least putting a page (and possibly the whole set) of them together until I found out Topps made the indefensible decision of omitting Corey's Brother from the set.
ReplyDelete