2017 Topps Series 2 Rack Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed their holidays.  Who's ready for 2018?  I sure am.  We here at APTBNL hope all our loyal readers have a wonderful 2018.

Before we close the book on 2017, how about one more post to break the tie and edge the 2017 total above last year?  We've got a ways to go before reaching the post total of the glory years of the site, but with a bunch of new posters making their debut this year, things are looking up.

For the first time in 4 years, here's a post on the last day of the year...it's a 2017 Topps Series 2 Rack Pack!

You all know the drill and have your opinions on the design, inserts, etc.  Since there's things to do this evening, I'm just going to show you the pretty pictures.  Here we go:

#552 – Tom Koehler

#506 – Jose Peraza

#352 – Cameron Rupp

#490 – Joc Pederson

#585 – Collin McHugh

#371 – Chad Bettis

#385 – D.J. LeMahieu

#386 – Michael Lorenzen 

#617 – A.J. Pollock

#419 – Roberto Perez

#535 – Lonnie Chisenhall

#631 – Zack Wheeler 

#353 – Felipe Rivero

#666 – Rougned Odor

#557 – Milwaukee Brewers Team Card

#378 – Checklist

Nice Brew Crew throwback team card.  I'd rather see season highlights for the checklists. 

#S-109 – Dave Winfield Legends (Topps Salute)

#650 – Andrew McCutchen (#699/2017)

#MLM-12 – Jake Arrieta (Major League Milestones)

#HRD-2 – Ryne Sandberg (Home Run Derby Champs) 

Ah, the good old days of the Home Derby, where 3 dingers wins you the title.

#ATAS-37 – Greg Maddux (All-Time All-Stars)

#454 – Andrew Toles (RC)

#401 – Manny Margot (RC)

#645 – Trea Turner

I apologize for the non-cropped images; I resolve to do better with the card images in 2018! 

#591 – Matt Bush

#588 – Kirk Nieuwenhuis

#351 – German Marquez (RC)

#422 – Andrew Miller 

#505 – Seung-Hwan Oh

#441 – Jose Iglesias

#376 – Chase Anderson

#620 – Sam Dyson

#383 – Adam Frazier

#567 – Devon Travis

#530 – Jabari Blash

#429 - Mark Melancon

And of course, here are some backs for you:

Anyway, that's the pack.  Once again, thanks for reading and have a great New Year!

1990 Donruss Baseball

Time for pack of those lovely red border cards. Instead gum Donruss gave you puzzles cards. Carl Yastrezemski was that year's puzzle. On to the cards....

I got piece 28, 29, and 30 of Yaz puzzle

657 - Paul Gibson

312 - Mike Maddux

494 - Ken Oberkfell

503 - Jerry Kutzler - 1990 became his only MLB season pitching 7 games before spending rest of his career in the minors.

510 - Tim Drummond

BC-10 - Ryne Sandberg - got a Hall of Famer

700 - Checklist

463 - Greg Briley

468 - Scott Bailes

239 - Tommy Gregg

706 - Greg Myers

369 - Jeff Parrett

663 - Rick Reuschel - difference between Topss and Donruss All-Star card is Donruss have game and career All-Star stats. He gave up 2 runs in his only inning he pitched at the game.

317 - Ron Oester

501 - Gary Sheffield

509 - Rich Yett

Here's the inside of the pack featuring a game piece

1992 Pro Set Series II

I have to confess that I actually have a huge soft spot for Pro Set football cards. Even though I still have a bunch of them occupying a larger than necessary space in my closet from my very brief foray into football cards, and even though they were worthless even by early '90s standards, there's something about them that actually makes me miss a time where I didn't have any negative things to say about the NFL. The excellent photography from the NFL archives stood out beyond anything anyone else did in football cards at the time. It's just unfortunate that they messed so many other things up along the way, leading apparently to their quick demise. I also stopped collecting football cards about as quickly as I started. This new series, new design concept for 1992 probably signaled the end of things to come. I was probably too busy playing Tecmo Super Bowl to notice.

526 - Anthony Johnson - I think it's a risky move when you completely redesign your set in the middle of the run, but these are still nice looking cards.

471 - The O.G. Browns, back when they were just an underappreciated bunch and not the absolute travesty that the "new" Browns are today.

667 - Ron Hall - This is my least favorite thing about these cards. They went a bit lighter on the stats and tried to make these things a little more reader friendly, I guess?

446 - Troy Auzenne

648 - Amp Lee - Lee has no stats on the back, so he's a rookie, apparently? There's no real "rookie" designation on this card, which might mean he already had a proper RC in Series I.

531 - Dave Krieg - The long time Seahawks quarterback was also the all-time leader in fumbles for a time, but was eventually surpassed by Warren Moon and, later, Brett Favre.

474 - Kenneth Gant - Boo, Cowboys, boo.

601 - Terance Mathis - This is another great photo, as Mathis looks like he left a trail of broken defensive backs in his wake.

541 - Napoleon McCallum - I had to Google McCallum, as I remembered the name from somewhere (he's a College Football HOFer). He had an incredibly strange pro career.

436 - Jessie Tuggle - One of the top linebackers of the '90s here.

679 - Mark Schlereth - The man they call 'Stink'.

689 - AFC-Spirit of the Game - Hmm, maybe giving cards to NFL vice presidents was the real downfall of Pro Set? I have no idea.

566 - Rich Gannon - Gannon would spend most of the '90s as a backup, only to become a full force with the Raiders ten years deep in his career. That might be even crazier than Napoleon McCallum's career.
 

650 - Tom Rathman - Pro Set doesn't make the distinction, but Rathman was a fullback. Football positions are sort of weirdly defined.

561 - Troy Vincent - If I had any beef with these cards, it's that they're all a bit too closely cropped -- Vincent's card, especially.

So... anyone want some Pro Set cards? I have a ton and I don't really need any of them.

2017-18 Parkhurst Hockey Blaster Pack

I was excited to see a Beckett post this week that 2017-18 Parkhurst hockey was trickling into stores.  There was no immediate word on distribution information but by Friday we found out that it is a Walmart only release, available in both the United States and Canada. 

Beckett.com - 2017-18 Parkhurst Hockey Arrives at Walmart

The good news is that I was able to find a blaster at one store Friday evening.  The bad news is that I've visited three locations and only found the one blaster.  I want more, but I have enough to give you a look at the product. 

If you do the research and understand what Parkhurst is, you won't be disappointed in the product.  If you ARE disappointed, it's your failure as a consumer.  Each pack I opened contained one parallel or insert, just like last season.  I won't post the box, but I present to you one pack from my blaster.

2017-18 Parkhurst #42 Victor Rask (front)

2017-18 Parkhurst #42 Victor Rask (back)

2017-18 Parkhurst #123 Shea Weber

2017-18 Parkhurst #194 Tomas Hertl

2017-18 Parkhurst #180 Sidney Crosby

2017-18 Parkhurst #222 Henrik Sedin

2017-18 Parkhurst Black #275 Clayton Keller

My non-base card from this pack was a very good one.  The black parallels are the more scarce of the two at one per blaster.  Clayton Keller is one of the top rookies from the set and I couldn't be more thrilled (unless I'd pulled an Alex DeBrincat). 

2017-18 Parkhurst #172 Shane Gostisbehere

2017-18 Parkhurst #261 J.T. Compher

2017-18 Parkhurst #231 James Neal

Game-action shots of Golden Knights players will excite some.  I honestly have Golden Knights fatigue already, as the NHL Network and most media outlets are shoving them down our throats.  I also listen to the "Puck Podcast" weekly and it seems like they spend at least 15 minutes a show talking about them.  If I didn't plan to work on the set, I might have set this card ablaze.  James Neal is complete garbage. 

2017-18 Parkhurst #297 Logan Brown

There you have it.  Nothing shiny or autographed in the pack but if that's what you're after, Parkhurst hockey isn't for you.  It's a low-end, set-builder's set.  My only criticism is the set size going from 400 cards last season to 300 this season.  I liked the bigger set that gave us cards of more players.  What I would love to see Upper Deck do is a FULL set, like Topps Total or Upper Deck 40-Man from years past. 

If you've made it this far and are interested in Parkhurst, I'll have a full blaster review on my personal blog I Feel Like A Collector Again in the next few days.  You can follow APTBNL on twitter at @namedlater and me at @beansbcardblog.  Happy collecting!