I was actually on the train heading home when I came across Topps' post on Twitter saying they were in Old Fulton Plaza--not far from where I was. So I decided to take a detour and check out the Topps truck in person.
There were a handful of Topps employees hanging around handing out baseball cards and encouraging folks to enter their raffle: correctly guess how many cards are plastered on the truck and win a prize. I guessed 2020, which is probably too high, but they still haven't officially announced the winner. Any guesses as to how many cards on on this truck?
I dropped by with the hopes of grabbing some free cards and maybe winning one of their giveaways. They weren't doing any giveaways or trivia when I got there, but I did snag two of the packs they were handing out. Each pack had four cards from Series 1, and they were some of the most uneventful packs I've ever opened. Jedd Gyorko was the biggest name I pulled, and he doesn't even play with the team he's pictured with anymore. It seems like the cards showing on the tops of these packs were pretty representiative of what was inside.
Oh well. Free cards are free cards. And I can't complain about views like this either. Too bad I didn't have cash, or I would have picked up an ice cream cone, too.
Those two packs weren't enough to get me through the day, so I followed this trip up with a trip into Target and picked up a pair of Stadium club packs.
Couldn’t resist picking up some more @Topps at Target after dropping by the truck. My first Stadium Club of the year. #ToppsBaseballCardDay pic.twitter.com/TXt16fIAZz— Alex Markle (@chavezravining) August 9, 2019
They were the first Stadium Club packs on 2019 for me, and I managed a pair of Dodgers among the 10 cards. Not half bad.
That Duke will fit nicely into my growing Dodgers Legends binder. I love finding that Brooklyn 'B" on cardboard.
All in all, I think it was a pretty successful day, especially considering I had no idea National Baseball Card Day was an actual thing heading into the day. Maybe I'll plan a fun celebration next year. Is anyone celebrating today?
Based on my experience, National Baseball Card Day was barely an actual thing. I’m usually out of the country in August, so I was excited about it. Topps listed four participating shops within 40 minutes or so of me, so I grabbed the list and my GOS and was off.
ReplyDeleteOnly one of the four was actually giving out cards! The first one hadn’t received anything, but they were nice enough to give me some other freebies. The second was ready. The third knew nothing about it—they were a book store with comics and some card stuff. I actually bought some things there—for one thing, they were selling loose 8 pocket pages, which I was thrilled with—but no giveaways.
And the last one on the list was a private home! I didn’t even try to ring the bell, but when I got home later I did some online searching and found a note on their Facebook from LAST year saying they were an online seller and didn’t have cards for last year’s NBCD. How does Topps put them on their list for THIS year?
Terrible job by Topps. And from what I saw, there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest out there.
Er, grabbed my GPS.
DeleteReviving National Baseball Card Day is one of the better recent developments in the hobby, I think. It's gotten me up and out to the local LCSes the last few years, and from what the shop owners tell me they do good business on NBCD. I saw fathers and sons in both stores I went to today, which I think says a lot.
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