Opening Day Heritage.

        The title of this post would seem slightly contradictory since it is the name of two different Topps products.  And since it actually is opening day, it would make more sense if I was opening packs of said product, but no, seeing how my local Target seems to be restocking will all the efficiency of a dry goods store in Cheyenne, Wyoming circa 1850, my last trip (finally) brought me some value packs of 2015 Heritage three weeks after its release (no Opening Day was to be found).  So before the Mets/Nats game starts at 4pm, let's tear in and see what the pack gods wrought.

Last year saw Topps do one of my absolute favorite sets of all time, 1965.  This year finds us moving on to the next year, 1966, which is one of the more blasé designs of the 60's, second only to the absolute yawn-inducing 1961 design.

I wonder if anyone actually pays attention that Topps Heritage makes the point of making the modern packs the same style of the vintage ones.  I wonder if anyone outside of the blogosphere actually cares?

Out of my three packs, I got two all star rookie trophy cards, this is the absolute highlight of these base cards for me.  I also got one other Mets player, who is now a former Mets player.

One thing I do enjoy is some of the little things Topps does, like include manager cards.  Also making combo cards that somewhat reflect the ones in the original set.  I (and others) have screamed ad nauseum about the superfluous copyright information on the fronts, so I am just going to (try to) ignore that for now.  I also noticed that the team cards are not the normal posed team photos that have been used forever on such cards, both modern and vintage, but are field action shots, mostly of celebrations.  This switch up in Heritage mirrors the team cards in the base set.  I am not 100% sure I like this twist since they do the team cards in the base sets the same way; it would be reasonable to use the classic posed shots for Heritage.  Maybe teams don't pose for such pictures anymore?  I am torn. 

Topps did the multi-player rookie and leader cards in similar style to the 1966 set as well.  I had to look up if they all used black borders and low and behold, they do.  Good on you Topps, for getting that element correct.  One thing they did not do back in the day was put two team names on the front of the rookie star cards, they lumped them into league banners.  I am okay with this slight stylistic change.

They are doing the usual action photo variations, along with some other good (trade lines on back) and bad (color swaps on front) variations as well.  I commend their photo selection overall, it reflects the mostly posed and sideline candid style that the mid-60's cards always had.  They also did a lot of them at spring training, which is also a nice touch.  You get a lot of palm trees and minor league looking advertising backgrounds, which is fun. 

After looking over the 60 cards I got in my packs, this is the page I came up with:

Why these nine cards?  They captured the essence of the vintage set while having some nice modern touches.  Plus, there are some cool things going on in most of the pictures, like light towers, trees,, missing afros, and teams that didn't exist in 1966.  Not to mention they all have beards to tie it all together (and match my glorious facial hair).

While we are talking about the photos and their overall aesthetic, let's look deeper at a few of the quirks and minutae.  I have 20 minutes to kill here.

I like how it is pretty obvious that some teams just lined up at spring training and got their photos taken.  That's how you get the same light stanchions, chain link fences, and blue skies in the background. 

Oh, those blue skies. 

Is the White Sox spring training facility near a park?  This is the second year in a row I have noticed that pretty tree line on their cards. 

If I was a baseball player, I would be very self conscious of photographers because it seems that no other sport lends itself to more goofy candid faces than the grand old game. 

Seems that dude in the Angels dugout was working overtime.  And the Cabrera card looks like the photog snuck up on him and said "hey Miggy!" *click*

Alright, it seems I have scanned just about all the cards I pulled, a rarity, so let's pull the Gilligan's Island Theme trick and do the rest. 

I did get a couple of high number short print cards but it seems that any inserts or variations were lacking, that is until I got to the last pack, when I pulled a rare two-fer.  Seems those two Then and Now cards were stuck together, literally.  There was some kind of goo on the back of the Koufax/Price card, giving me Killebrew/Santana one as well and a grand total of 61 cards in three 20 card value packs.  Too bad this couldn't have happened with the low numbered autographs. 

Okay, they are singing the national anthem in DC, so at last it is time to Play Ball!

The Dark Knight (and this blogger) Returns.

       So the other day, while slogging through yet another long terrible winter day, something magical happened.  I turned on the TV and there was blue skies and green grass.  Even better, Matt Harvey was on the mound in a spring training game throwing pitches for the first time in 18 months.  I have had an awful go of it the last few months between the weather and health and death and car crashes and a dozen other things that seem to get to me this time of year every single year.  I haven't been in the mood to get out of bed much less focus on my hobby (and my complete lack of writing the last 8 weeks can attest to this) but like magic, the Mets show up in Florida and my brain suddenly snaps back into shape.  Sure, it doesn't solve all my problems or issues, but it sure as hell makes me feel better and look forward to spring.  Harvey was brilliant in 2 short innings and my mood improved ten fold, to the point where while I did some shopping, some new cards found their way into my basket.

So while I am a little late, lets take a look at the new 2015 Topps.

My blaster came with ten 10-card packs and a little manu-patch pack as well.  I had seen some previews and reviews of the new flagship offering, but I like to wait until I have them in my hands to formulate an opinion.

Well, they certainly are colorful.  But even with all those bursts of color in the borders, there is a cleanness to the design.  No extra waves or flourishes like last year, just name, position, logo.  Sure, the little graphics in the color splashes looks like something out of Upper Deck circa 2002, but hey, what can you do?  It's not too boring and not too busy; Goldilocks would eat this design.

There was some parallels in there, of course, and I like them. They jazzed up the obligatory gold parallel a little for a change and though you can't see it from the scan, the one in the middle is called Snow Camo, certainly more than a little different.  The one on the right is a rainbow foil, sort of a discount refractor but reminiscent of the 1995 Cyberstat parallels that I am so fond of.  I'll need to put together a page of those shiny badboys.  They also seem to have eliminated the store-based rainbow of parallels, a most welcome addition by subtraction.

The inserts are a predictable range, one with yearly highlights, creatively named Highlights of the Year, a then-and-now type set called Inspired Play, and some current and past stars mixed together in a set called archetypes. I am keeping the Frank Thomas/Jose Abreu card, but any of the others here are available for trade.

Let's go a little deeper into the base...

I think this design actually works better horizontally.  It allows the texture in the color border to breath and opens it up a little. 

They expanded the base set to 350 cards, giving Topps more room to add players and concepts, and yet they seem to have stuck to the template they have used for a while in terms of subsets. 

The leader cards are top-three across, the checklists have stars' seasonal highlights or milestones.  Plus, since I am picking nits here, I can see squeezing another last Jeter card into the set, but is 2500 hits something that deserves mentioning?  Garrett Anderson and Steve Finley didn't get cards when they recently reached the big 25-0-0.  Topps is weird.

Topps thankfully didn't include a theme as they have the last couple years, but they continued and seemingly expanded the Future Star designations from last year.  I noticed the All Star Rookie Cup cards all have the Future Stars logo on top and it clutters up the works, in my opinion.  I think the handsome little cup deserves the spotlight all to itself.

The rookie logo celebrates it's 10th year on the flagship and Topps continues to release Bowman every year, making that logo completely useless.

Okay, one last thing before I go.  With all the color flying around on these, you would think Topps would mix up the photos a little...

...and you would be wrong.  One thing I have noticed, at least from the 100 cards I got, is a bland sameness to the photography...lots of pitchers mid-motion from the waist up...

...and lots of hitters in their follow through from the waist up. 

Lots and lots of them. It almost makes me long for a few goofy "candid" portraits with the cap off, or maybe I am just getting old and jaded.  Plus I can't tell if there is too much photoshop going on in the quality of the pictures or if the border just makes some of the presentation look too busy.  It's not quite the cropping and quality nightmare of the 2008 set, but this is definitely a step down from the last couple of years, picture wise.

Oh, and I got this thing.

My manu-patch card, which is actually a manu-coin card, is a big bust.  It holds no appeal to me, and since Heyward was traded from the Braves late in the off season, it will probably garner little attraction to either Braves or Cardinals fans.  *sigh* some kid in Atlanta no doubt opened his blaster and got a David Wright and is just as pissed off as I am.

Last but not least, Topps is running one of their epic contests and I got a card for it.

I haven't scratched this thing as I am not interested in such nonsense, but it anyone wants it, drop me a line and I'll send it along.  I think I can see enough of a chance of spring that I might even answer your email. 

Fuck You Topps.

Reason #7561:

This could easily become an overwhelming feature, so I will just leave this here and grumble. 

Quirks: The Toss.

       We all have certain quirks to our collection and some of them are of the pictures on the cards.  Hell, there are blogs related to and/or named after such photographic peculiarities.  Let's see if you can figure out which one this post is about...

Got it yet?  Good. 

Did you ever back into a collection?  I don't mean just accumulating cards of a failed prospect or a favorite star but did you ever just suddenly realize you have dozens of a certain kind of card and you wonder, hey, how did that happen?  I noticed on many of my 9 pocket pages of players and sets, I had a bunch of players doing "the toss" - a time tested pose.  I decided a few months ago to gather them together rather than let them breed in the wild. 

Sure, we all have a fondness for plays at the plate, vertical action shots, players leaping at second base during a double play, catchers in gear, etc.  Some folks might like posed shots with bats pointing at the viewer or specific position poses.  But for me, there is something so enjoyably goofy and childlike about The Toss, be it posed or candid. 

I am sure there are dozens more out there that I don't have in my collection - heck just looking at these pages I realize I don't have one of the more iconic Toss photos, the 1989 Topps Steve Avery draft pick card.  This is my first foray into photographically specific oddball collections and I hope to expand on the theme.  If you have any or come across any that you don't see here, feel free to send them or offer to trade them to me.  For now, I am going to go find a low grade 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente. 

Zapped!

       I am a little behind on posting (what else is new) but I would be remiss if I didn't point out the awesome altruism of the quickly-becoming-immortal Zippy Zappy of Cervin' Up Cards.  I went to my mailbox recently to find a mystery package.  I was not expecting a 9x12 manilla envelope, but oddly. there one was.  What was inside?  Free stuff, my favorite kind of stuff. 

There were some premo Mets cards featuring Matt Harvey and current minor league sensation Brandon Nimmo. 

Also, some awesome 8x10s from the New York Times that never reached my collection and consciousness.   Look at these things:

While we had already completed an awesome trade, these were sent unsolicited...

If you look on the note he left with the cards, he referred to this as being Zippy Zapped...

This is the best way to get Zapped since Scott Baio and Willie Aames (and if you are old enough to get that reference, I apologize).  Thanks Kenny!  When I get my hands on some Yankees prospects and oddballs, I will be sure to return the electricity.

Dear Topps,

       I am a big fan of retro vintage reprints in all shapes and forms.  Be they retro reprints or vintage players on modern cards or what have you, these cards have added tremendously to my collection and to the collectability of cards.   My real issue I am trying to address in this letter is the consistency of these cards, specifically the photos.  I am, as most collectors are, aware that you have a vast archive of photos.  Why then do I see you use the same photos over and over again?  Is this purposeful laziness or organizational sloth?  The cards that have me particularly worried it might be both are the following:

The sixth card here is the 2012 Gypsy Queen Gary Carter.  Great photo.  And whatever computer program you use to make it look all painting-y is wonderful.  These cards are not my favorite because of the kooky borders, but the pictures involved look great. 

Now let's look at these:

Particularly the 5th and 6th card on this page.  The photo on the Blockbusters insert from 2012 Update looks very familiar, doesn't it?  And then the final straw came when I saw the 2013 Gypsy Queen card.  It's the same exact picture!  Sloth? Laziness? The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?  It looks bad.  It's bad company policy.  Even if it is a great picture, you have a bunch of them, right?  How much time and/or effort could possibly take to check on these things? 

I am going to leave you with one more example:

See a pattern?  Donruss used the same picture over and over (Upper Deck liked it too) and you know what happened to them. Is that what you want...do you want to be bought out by an Italian sticker company? Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.  So please, make yourselves a database of what pictures you use when and where so you can give us better product.  Of all the things that you need to do to improve your production, this is one of the easiest. 

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

(signed)

Max Meyer

aka jacobmrley

Cleaning.

       It's been raining the last couple of days.  While I am not exactly Rain Man when it comes to the rain, I tend to mope around the house hoping my sinuses will stop throbbing when the spring showers come.  The rain plus insomnia led me to do a little spring cleaning.  I tackled some of the boxes I have previously shown awful pictures of; I delved specifically into some of the oddball memorabilia boxes, the stuff that is not strictly baseball cards, but more baseball card related. I will just randomly grab a few things and write about them, since I am sick of trying to figure out why I bought most of them in the first place or what the hell I am going to do with them.


OOOOoooo.... off to a good start, a couple of old school Mets pictures.  These are photographs, not cards or post cards.  I have no earthly clue where or when I got them.

The names of the players are written on the back (Al Jackson and Wayne Garrett) in different inks and handwriting.  I recognized the players, I do not recognize the handwriting (it is not mine, anyway).  These are still kind of neat and I will find a spot for them in my Mets books.  I need to catalog my stuff better, I'd like to know where these came from.

These are pretty cool too.  Some of you may have seen these before - they are from the late 70's - they are patches that are 2½" x 3½", so they are baseball card size. 

I do actually know where I got these from...a local card shop had about 1000 of each of these in a box in the back, so I bought a couple of them a while ago.  I am puzzled as to what to do with them and this is obviously not the first time I have been puzzed by them since they ended up in one of these boxes.  Should I put them in top loaders and treat them like cards, or should I find a garment and treat them like textiles?  I guess this conundrum is why there haven't been more issues like these.

OK, crazy food issue time.  It is a promo sheet of Ritz Cracker Don Mattingly cards from 1989...

...in fact, there are two of them...

...and I would be lying if I told you I didn't just look these up on ebay to find out what the hell they are.  My love of wacky food issues would usually be trumped by the subject being a Yankee, but since these aren't licensed, perhaps I made an exception seeing as the interlocked NY is nowhere to be seen.  I also found this in an envelope with these:

A Don Mattingly autograph from a 3x5 signature book.  It is not an index card but a page from one of those little scrapbooks (how odd is it to have this of a living recent ballplayer?).  Somehow, I imagine I was going to combine this bizarre cut signature with the Ritz Cracker sheet to make some kind of framed Mattingly collectable .  Or something like that.  Maybe, I dunno.  I really have no idea where I got either of these things.  Maybe I will now shift gears and make my own Donnie Baseball custom card with the cut signature, perhaps when a streak of arts and craftiness strikes me.  Sounds like a fun project to me.

Oh boy!  A box...a flat box with no identifying marks whatsoever...



It's a collector's plate.  Um, OK.  It 's all gold a shiny, even through the wrapping.  Let's see who it is...

Why, it's Nolan Ryan.  This is from Topps and it is from 1993.  I recognized the photo of Ryan from that card, but...

...the back of the plate clinched that notion as that is the back of his 1993 Topps card.  This thing fit perfectly on my scanner, which should give you some idea of the size.  I would love to eat my breakfast, lunch, and dinner off the all time strikeout king's face everyday from now until the end of time, but alas, that little blurb there on the bottom of the back says that this is a display piece and not suitable for food use.  Sad.  Yet it also says to hand wash the plate, so in a way, maybe they are daring me to eat off of it.  I just hope I didn't actually spend real money on this thing.

Let's go out on a better note than that.  I found these oddball oversized cards:

Well, I don't think they are cards, per se, it says on the front that they are pictures.  I don't remember these at all much less where I procured them.  I only have three of the packs and it says there are five.  I can't see if there is anything on the back of them.  Since they are career leaders, I assume there are some all-time greats inside.  Listings on eBay show that they are from 1983 and that they actually fold out, accordion style, just like on the front icon.  How freaking weird are these things?  I am torn, do I open them?  Tear them apart?  Sell them on eBay?  Does anybody really really want these things and has something to trade me for them?  I might keep the pitching leaders, though, no matter what, seeing as there is no doubt a Tom Seaver in there.  I just wish I could remember where I got them from.  See what happens when you don't organize and write things down?  Maybe I'll just throw all this stuff back in the box and wonder about them all over again 5-6 years from now.  Sigh.