2023 Leaf Draft Football

Here's something I must have unearthed from one of those repack boxes, as there's no chance I'd intentionally buy a modern Leaf product. This is another one of those unlicensed college football draft sets, similar to recent Sage products.

35 - Jaheim Bell Gold - It's a short and sweet pack as we open up with a gold parallel. Bell was a 7th round pick who currently plays for the Patriots.

92 - Jaren Hall Red - This one is a red parallel from a Quarterback Kings subset. It feels very Panini to me. Hall started at BYU for two seasons and made a couple of starts with the Minnesota Vikings in his first pro season.

21 - Deuce Vaughn - Vaughn was a 6th round pick out of Kansas State and has primarily been a third stringer with the Dallas Cowboys as a pro. Those teams have pretty similar looking uniforms.

29 - Stetson Bennett - Bennett is the one guy I'd heard of in this pack, which makes sense because he was a part of the Georgia Bulldogs back-to-back title runs earlier this decade. He was drafted by the Rams but hasn't gotten into a regular season game yet.

53 - Jalin Hyatt - I'm not sure what makes Hyatt a "Leaf X Rookie" or whatever that logo is trying to tell us, but he started 7 games with the Giants during his rookie season after playing college ball at Tennessee.

2025 Topps Series 2 Retail

Greetings!

Hope everyone is enjoying America's 249th birthday.  Ol' Jafronius has nothing planned except for beating the heat; The Wifey and the youngest are in Arizona visiting her sister, while the oldest is helping his grandfather clean out one of his storage sheds.  But I hope you all had some fun and relaxation today!

Topps Series 2 was released back on June 11.  I saw all the online posts pop up, but I didn't have the yearning to immediately go out and try to find some.  I did find some time a week or so ago and grabbed a couple of fat packs and this loose pack.  $3.50 for 14 cards; let's see what I got:

#451 - Kyle Tucker

#412 - Josh Rojas

Nice to start out with the Cubs' All Star Starter.  If the Cubs are going to be active towards the trade deadline, they have to be active in trying to sign Tucker to a new contract.

And why is he called "King Tuck?"  Apparently there's a rapper who goes by King Tuck, but that has nothing to do with Kyle.  It should be Friar Tuck...maybe that will be his nickname if he ever goes to the Padres.

#615 - Mike Burrows (RC)

#586 - Anthony Santander

There's 350 cards in Series 2, with the usual mix of short prints and parallels and inserts.  Here's the checklist if you need it.

#445 - Joey Estes

#371 - Edward Cabrera

#694 - Yariel Rodríguez

#634 - Grant Holman (RC)

Yariel's wearing the alternate red Blue Jays jersey, usually worn on Canada Day (but not always?).  However, Toronto did play Houston on July 1, 2024, and Rodriguez took the loss.  See, Ol' Jafronius can track down the game the photo came from with the best of them!

#540 - Brayan Bello

#356 - Harrison Bader

Time for the inserts!  USA!  USA!

#90B2-21 - Alec Bohm (1990 Topps)

#SMLB-50 - Oneil Cruz (Stars of MLB)

I believe the odds in getting the 1990 Topps card is 1 in 8 packs.  I like the 1990 set; coming after 2 consecutive average card designs, all those colors was a pleasant surprise.  It's like the 1975 Topps of my generation!

As usual, you get one Stars of MLB card in each pack.

#513 - Edgardo Henriquez (RC)

#479 - Mickey Moniak

We end on a nice Moniak slide, similar to Mike Trout's 2015 Topps card.

Here are some backs because 'Murica!

Anyway, that's the pack.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend, and thanks for reading!