Some Quick Notes on 2019 Heritage

Heritage has always been a hit-or-miss type of set for me, largely dependant on how I view the original set. I've enjoyed the last few years of Heritage and those designs from the late-60s, but I've never really been a fan of the 1970 set which really makes 2019 Heritage a bit lackluster for me. Despite this, I still wanted to join in on the fun and picked up a couple of packs from my local LCS. 

I've always felt the 1970 set was one of the most boring ever created, which is particularly frustrating as it fell right in the middle of a string of tremendous Topps designs. There's just something about that drab gray border and lack of color that turns me off from this set. 

Of course, that's not to say that it's not a quality product with some fantastic cards. Just take a look at that Pat Neshek card below. It pays tribute the Lowell Palmer card from the 1970 set and seems to be an early favorite for Card of the Year for many collectors. 

It's pretty fitting that Neshek is the one to pay tribute. After all, the guy is a huge collector himself. It makes me wonder whose idea this was: did Neshek come up with the tribute idea and pitch it to the photographer? Did Topps plan this and ask Neshek to recreate the Palmer? Either way, it's a sweet card. 

Though this year's Heritage isn't in my collecting plans, I do appreciate the variety in photos. With the exception of Stadium Club, the photos in most other products have been a bit stale and a tad over-filtered for the past few years. Of course, photos in Heritage are exclusively posed (with the exception of variations and inserts), and I doubt we'll see many posed photos slip their way into Flagship anytime soon. But that won't stop me from appreciating a great close-up of Strasburg and his huge grin (and beard) or a great shot of Piscotty in one of the quintessential poses for a dude playing baseball.  

Despite a strong showing from this year's Heritage, I don't plan on chasing the complete set. I'm still hoping to track down the Dodgers, none of which I found in my two packs, though it's not at the top of my to-do list. 

Nope. 2019 Heritage isn't quite for me. But it does mean we're finally approaching 2020 Heritage: the set I might be most excited about. 

2015 Topps Is Here, Am I Late To The Party?

Well, it's that time of the year again. 2015 Flagship is out, and if you are lucky a Target near you has it. Dikran and I picked up a pair of blasters earlier this week, so let's take a look. 

Eww. This was my first card of 2015. (Hint: It's a sign of things to come...for me at least)

The box may have started with a Giant, but I was lucky enough to pull a pair of Dodgers a couple packs later. Overall, I enjoy the look of the set. I'm digging the colorful borders, especially considering we get the team color treatment. So much beautiful blue. 

Let's take a look at another shade of blue: Rangers blue. I pulled this sweet card just moments after Dikran pulled it from his blaster. Typically I'm not upset with a pair of cards for my PC, but the collation on these cards was horrific. Two blasters comes to around 200 cards and they yielded 26 dupes. Not Topps' best day. 

I did, however, enjoy the return of the team card. They've been absent the past few years, but they are back in 2015 and I'm digging the look. This happens to be one of those rainbow foil variations (another great idea). It's currently set aside to go to Bob Walk The Plank, but I have an inkling to keep it for myself. 

On second thought, I'll just keep this one. It features three players (Denard Span, a former Dodger, and a future Dodger) and, it is destined for my Harper binder. 

Inserts are pretty dull (again), but I did manage to nab a Harper from one of my packs. Dull or not, I'll take any cards from my PC guys. 

Now here are some decent looking inserts. They're not the greatest looking cards you'll ever find, but the idea is pretty cool. I'm always down to add new Robinson cards to the collection, so I'm excited to go after this subset. 

I'm getting pretty tired of these to be honest. They just seem too cramped. Also, it would have nice to see a different A-Gon photo considering we see the same one on his base card. But hey, a new Kershaw!

Other than that gold foil Pirates card, this was the only other parallel in either blaster box. I'm digging the look of these parallels so far, so I'd like to get my hands on some Dodgers. This is headed to Tony L. 

That was pretty much all of the excitement as far as the base cards go. Each blaster did promise a relic though, so let's take a look.

Dikran managed to pull that aptly colored Goldschmidt, whereas I pulled that awkward Cespedes card. Topps must have produced these a while back because Cespedes has now been on two different teams since he was last on the A's. But, I guess these are commemorating the player's first homer, so it make a bit of sense. 

Both of these are on eBay for the time being. I'd typically trade these away, but the good ol' bank account could use a gift right about now. 

Overall, I liked the set. Definitely the best of the past ten years or so. The design is great. The inserts are dull. Collation is still a problem. Lack of Dodgers always stinks. Excited to see what parallels look like, especially when Chrome comes out.The good definitely outweighed the bad, and I am excited to get my hands on more. Especially the last Matt Kemp card as a Dodger. 

Dodger Game in Review: Autographs, a Bobble Head, and a Win!

I'm finally back from my trip, and I can honestly say I had a great time. Dikran and I took the 4 hour trip to Los Angeles, leaving around 9am on Saturday morning. After a quick pit stop at Denny's, we finished our drive and arrived at our hotel. We got checked in, checked out the local Target to see if we could unearth some cheap cards to bust, but nothing was to be found.

We then took off to Dodger Stadium and met up with Matthew (Dodger Penguin) and his wife around 4pm, then drove in to the stadium together. This was the first time Matthew and I have met in person, and I have nothing but nice things to say about him. We then walked into the stadium and headed straight for the baseline. Most fans were unable to enter the stadium until five, but thanks to Matthew we were able to get in early for batting practice and autographs.

Matthew got a couple of Drew Butera autos earlier in the day, and added to his loot with a J.P Howell auto. Unfortunately, getting autos is hit and miss, and me and Dikran came up empty. However, even without autos, it was a surreal experience getting that close to the field and the players.

You can see where we were posted up. Dan Haren and Hyun-Jin Ryu decided to come and toss directly in front of us. Thankfully Haren was able to catch everything thrown at him, or I may have taken one to the face. I was hoping he would turn around and sign after tossing, but he took off in the opposite direction.

Here is a bearded Chris Perez. Kenley Jansen is to the left of him and one of them is tossing with J.P Howell. I cannot remember which one.

 Dikran was able to snap this pic of Matt Kemp warming up. I really wish he came over to sign.

Fortunately, two former Dodgers were signing behind the left and right field pavilions, so I was able to head over there and get some guaranteed autos.

I visited Lee Lacy first. Lacy was a fantastic guy, and very chatty. I approached him with his 1973 Topps rookie card, which I was lucky to have, and he was more than happy to sign it. I think I may have caught him off guard with it, as he surprisingly exclaimed, "You got my rookie card!"

He also signed, and personalized, a postcard of himself. 

After a brief conversation about the first-place Dodgers, I started off only to find Dikran was following without stopping to get an autograph. Fortunately, Lacy also noticed this and called out for Dikran to come back. We both headed back to the booth and Lacy signed a postcard for Dikran and joked with him for a minute. Dikran later told me he didn't realize that we were both able to get autographs, but I suspect he was a little intimidated by the former Dodger.

We then took the trek around the stadium to the left field pavilion in search of Derrel Thomas, the other signer. After finding it, we noticed the line was about the same length as Lacy's was. Lacy's line took about 30 mins to get through, but we were out of Thomas' line in 10 mins. Thomas spoke very little and did not look to really be enjoying himself. I approached him with a copy of his 1984 Topps card and he signed it, but didn't even respond when I asked how he was doing. I was hoping he would also sign one of the several hundred postcards he had stacked up, but he didn't. Dikran was standing right next to me, but Thomas never even acknowledged him and signaled for the next person in line to come up after signing my card. Long story short, Dikran did not get an autograph of Mr. Thomas. 

It had been a long day up to that point, so we grabbed a couple of Dodger Dogs and headed back to our seats without any further exploration.

Here is the beautiful view from our seats. Dikran snapped both of these pics, one prior to the game, and the other in the middle innings. The stadium filled up quite nicely.

Shorty after the game started, Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle and I met up for our first in person meeting. Like Matthew, Greg is an awesome guy and we ended up talking about the Dodgers, Archer, and life for about 2 innings. We didn't miss much, as the bats were quiet for both teams throughout most of the game.

Both Matthew and Greg brought cards for trades we made, but I mistakenly forgot the bag with their cards in it at home. I didn't realize it until we were headed to the game, so I was disappointed with myself. In the same bag was an 8X10 of Matt Kemp that I was hoping to get signed, so that obviously did not come to the game with me either. I packed that bag a few days in advance so I would not forget to do so before we left, yet I forgot it anyways. Arghhh.

It was bobble head night at the stadium, featuring this magnificent bobble head of Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella. Campanella was famously paralyzed from the shoulders down after an auto accident in 1958. On May 7th, 1959, the Dodgers hosted Roy Campanella night in which Campy was pushed onto the field by former teammate, Pee Wee Reese. The bobble head perfectly encapsulates that fantastic moment in Dodger history. 

The Dodgers ended up winning the game on a walk-off sacrifice fly by A.J Ellis, after a double from Adrian Gonzalez and a pair of walks in the inning. It was the first time I've ever attended a night game at Dodger Stadium, and the first time I've ever attended a walk-off win. The walk-off perfectly capped off the wonderful night. 

Because we parked outside of the stadium, Dikran and I had a nice stroll around the stadium before we took off. We visited the retired numbers at the Top of the Stadium. 

I am posted up next to Jackie's infamous number, but I don't look too happy. This was taken about 30 mins after the game, but there was still a decent sized crown roaming around. We asked the same group of people to move three times so we could get a picture, but they made it seem like a big inconvenience. We took five other photos that didn't come out, so I was a bit annoyed. Rather than try and capture another one with a happier expression, we moved on to other numbers, but those pictures did not come out either. So I was left with one photo off me at the stadium to show off. 

I'll finish off this post with some other various pictures from our day. Enjoy!

Opening Up Some Series Two

My trunk has been full of empty cans and bottles I picked up from my grandma's house for about a month. Recycling for the win! Anyways, I decided today would be the day to take the time to head down to the recycling center and trade them in for some cash. $11.76 later, I headed off to Target to pick up a blaster box of the newly released 2014 Topps Series 2.

I have been shying away from blaster boxes ever since Nick of Dime Boxes noted that rack packs were the much better deal, but I had a $5.00 off coupon from a blaster I bought from Series 1. Let's take a look at what I managed to pull.

Every blaster box comes with one of these fake patch things, and I happened to get the reigning NL MVP. I noticed that blaster boxes don't denote the odds of pulling autos or relics, so I guess they throw these in instead. I guess it is a fair trade off, as these things can generally be sold for a few bucks on eBay. That is where this one is right now. 

I also managed to pull a Nolan Arrenado Future Stars photo variation. Other than the #'d parallels, these seem to be the most valuable things to come out of blaster boxes. Contrary to many of the SP's Topps has been putting out lately, I do enjoy the photo variations for the Future Stars. This card joins McCutchen on eBay, as I try to recoup some of my money. 

I only pulled two Dodgers from the blaster, but this one is fantastic. As I was opening the packs I was getting bored looking at the same close-up action shots that we've already seen in Opening Day. However, this card definitely stood out and is in the early running for the best card from Series Two. But then again, I have a ton of cards I still need to get my hands on. 

The fact that I am only showing off four cards goes to show how lackluster the box I bought was. This red Brian Wilson was a pretty cool pull though. The embattled reliever is having a tough go at it in 2014, but I have hope he can get back to being an effective piece out of the Dodgers pen. I am over going for the numerous parallels that come out, but I would add more colorful variations of this card without hesitation. 

I have only had a small taste of Series Two so far, but it is really just more of the same. There are a few cards that stand out, but for the most part there is nothing very exciting. I have seen a few of the other Dodger cards on other blogs, so those leave me with hope. 

I will post the red parallels, as well as the inserts I have for trade sometime in the next few days. You can reach out to me earlier if you are looking for something specific.

As usual, I will try and complete the base set, as well as the mini subset, and my want list should be up soon. I am working on it now, so it may be live by the time I post this in the morning. *Yawnnnnnnnn......maybe not*