It's time for the third pack out of the world's slowest opened blaster. Will I find anything capable of convincing me to collect this set - or will I end up with more cards in the "for trade" pile? Let's see...
Pack 3:
40. Pablo Sandoval
Pablo looks like he is wearing Giants pajamas with the way that jersey fits him so loosely. I'd like to know what stadium that is in the background - I'm guessing it's Photoshopped in.
51. American League Batting Leaders
Ok, first off - this card is awesome. Not for the front (I don't care one way or the other for the floating heads in this case), but rather, it's awesome because of the back. Instead of listing the top three or even top ten players in the AL for batting, the top FIFTY players are listed - I think all leaders cards should be like that, it'll be great for reference years from now.
66. Geovany Soto
Did you know that Soto is only the sixth career Cub to hit 50 homeruns as a catcher? That seems surprising to me considering how long the Cubs have been around.
79. Jordan Zimmerman
Another empty stadium shot, and another blank stare from a ball player. This might be the most boring photo yet in a set that seems to be full of boring photos.
101. Jacoby Ellsbury
Two boring head shots in a row. It's like Topps is begging me not to collect the set.
167. Wilson Ramos
I don't know much about most Nationals players. Take Ramos, I've never even heard of the guy but here he is on a Topps Heritage card...even more impressive (in a backhanded kind of way), his card is probably the best photo so far in the pack.
291. Bobby Cramer
Another player I know nothing about - makes me wonder if I am following the sport as closely as I think I am. In defense of myself, Cramer did only pitch in seven minor league games last year. According to the card back, Cramer was released in 2005, spent some time working for an oil company and as a substitute teacher, and then eventually made his way to the big leagues for his MLB debut for the Athletics.
334. Tampa Bay Rays
I like the team cards a lot. In fact, I seem to like all the subset cards (except the Ruth cards) so far. Each has been chock full of juicy statistics, way more than you typically get on a baseball card. I like that a lot.
396. Carlos Gonzalez
Well, just when I said I like the vast majority of the subsets, I pull a boring Sporting News All-Star card. At least these are short printed this year, it's a total drag having to track down ugly cards to finish off a set!
407. Wade Davis
It's a bird. It's a plane. Nope, it just another bored ball player doing a boring pose. *yawn*
500. Rookie Parade
Hmm, here's a short print - and it features a Red! This is actually a pretty cool card, no matter what I do I believe I'll be holding on to this one... I hope Heisey becomes a great player for the Reds, but more likely he'll prove to be an adequate option (but not a stud outfielder). Even so, this is a cool card (even if it does have too many Red Sox on it)!
Well, three packs in and I'm still not sold. On the one hand, I love the level of statistics on many of the card backs. I also love the write-ups this year, for the most part I've actually learned a lot from reading them! On the other hand, this set has some of the most boring photography of any set in a long time. I don't care if the original set had boring photography or not - there's a reason why some things change (and for the better I might add).
At this point, I honestly can't decide whether or not to chase the set. Maybe if I scour eBay and find some cheap hobby boxes I'll be able to make up mind easier...
And yes, if you happened to have noticed, this pack contained eleven cards (rather than the proper 9 cards). At this point, I'm hoping that short print was one of the "extra cards" so that I get more short prints than perhaps the odds would suggest!
Pack 3:
40. Pablo Sandoval
Pablo looks like he is wearing Giants pajamas with the way that jersey fits him so loosely. I'd like to know what stadium that is in the background - I'm guessing it's Photoshopped in.
51. American League Batting Leaders
Ok, first off - this card is awesome. Not for the front (I don't care one way or the other for the floating heads in this case), but rather, it's awesome because of the back. Instead of listing the top three or even top ten players in the AL for batting, the top FIFTY players are listed - I think all leaders cards should be like that, it'll be great for reference years from now.
66. Geovany Soto
Did you know that Soto is only the sixth career Cub to hit 50 homeruns as a catcher? That seems surprising to me considering how long the Cubs have been around.
79. Jordan Zimmerman
Another empty stadium shot, and another blank stare from a ball player. This might be the most boring photo yet in a set that seems to be full of boring photos.
101. Jacoby Ellsbury
Two boring head shots in a row. It's like Topps is begging me not to collect the set.
167. Wilson Ramos
I don't know much about most Nationals players. Take Ramos, I've never even heard of the guy but here he is on a Topps Heritage card...even more impressive (in a backhanded kind of way), his card is probably the best photo so far in the pack.
291. Bobby Cramer
Another player I know nothing about - makes me wonder if I am following the sport as closely as I think I am. In defense of myself, Cramer did only pitch in seven minor league games last year. According to the card back, Cramer was released in 2005, spent some time working for an oil company and as a substitute teacher, and then eventually made his way to the big leagues for his MLB debut for the Athletics.
334. Tampa Bay Rays
I like the team cards a lot. In fact, I seem to like all the subset cards (except the Ruth cards) so far. Each has been chock full of juicy statistics, way more than you typically get on a baseball card. I like that a lot.
396. Carlos Gonzalez
Well, just when I said I like the vast majority of the subsets, I pull a boring Sporting News All-Star card. At least these are short printed this year, it's a total drag having to track down ugly cards to finish off a set!
407. Wade Davis
It's a bird. It's a plane. Nope, it just another bored ball player doing a boring pose. *yawn*
500. Rookie Parade
Hmm, here's a short print - and it features a Red! This is actually a pretty cool card, no matter what I do I believe I'll be holding on to this one... I hope Heisey becomes a great player for the Reds, but more likely he'll prove to be an adequate option (but not a stud outfielder). Even so, this is a cool card (even if it does have too many Red Sox on it)!
Well, three packs in and I'm still not sold. On the one hand, I love the level of statistics on many of the card backs. I also love the write-ups this year, for the most part I've actually learned a lot from reading them! On the other hand, this set has some of the most boring photography of any set in a long time. I don't care if the original set had boring photography or not - there's a reason why some things change (and for the better I might add).
At this point, I honestly can't decide whether or not to chase the set. Maybe if I scour eBay and find some cheap hobby boxes I'll be able to make up mind easier...
And yes, if you happened to have noticed, this pack contained eleven cards (rather than the proper 9 cards). At this point, I'm hoping that short print was one of the "extra cards" so that I get more short prints than perhaps the odds would suggest!
I'd hang on to Wilson Ramos. He could be something special.
ReplyDeleteOh, well, I suppose I've said that before about 1,000 times in the past 25 years or so. I've even been right a handful of them.
Very impressed by Topps with this one. I really feel like they nailed the photography in this set pertaining to the old school card look. Usually they just made a normal photo look really hazy and it just didn't cut it. For some reason the cards just look truer. Anybody agree?
ReplyDelete