Greetings!
Hope everyone is doing well. We're 2 weeks into the football season, so why is Ol' Jafronius posting another baseball pack? Well, this has been sitting is draft for almost a month; just been too busy with life to get it done sooner.
Not only have we moved into football season, but Thursday was my eldest son's 18th birthday! Time flies and "Cat's in the Cradle" guys and gals.
Anyway, I posted a retail pack a couple of months ago so this should be pretty familiar to you all. My boys gave me this pack for my birthday; let's see what I got:
#645 - Triston McKenzie
#381 - David Bednar
#548 - Porter Hodge
#544 - Framber Valdez
No rookies in the first group of cards. Triston's wearing Cleveland's 2024 City Connect jerseys. The font that's used for "CLE" are said to resemble the pylons that support the Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge.
The article also says that "Clevelanders wear the pride of their city like a badge of honor, which is why “CLE” is written across the chest." Um, OK.
#358 - Bryce Miller
#605 - DaShawn Keirsey
#366 - Josh Bell
As previously mentioned, there's 350 cards in Series 2.
#616 - Kiké Hernández
#579 - Spencer Strider
#620 - Brandon Woodruff
#552 - José Tena
#553 - New York Mets Team Card
MLB says Tena is the nephew of Juan Uribe and a cousin of Franmil Reyes.
#499 - Blaze Alexander
#500 - Mookie Betts
#402 - Yandy Díaz
#573 - Hyeseong Kim (RC)Mookie gets the Hero Number.
Yandy's wearing Tampa's City Connect uniforms, inspired by the city's skateboard culture. I hope at some point they release stats on how many of these City Connect uniforms have been purchased, because many of these inspirations are kind of a stretch (can you tell I'm not a big fan of City Connect uniforms?).
#489 - Edmundo Sosa
#699 - Hayden Birdsong (RC)
#682 - Steven Kwan
#625 - J.T. Realmuto
#635 - Bryce Teodosio (RC)
#440 - Brendan Rodgers
#456 - Randy Vásquez
#372 - Yosver Zulueta (RC)
Time for the inserts!
#90B2-2 - Mike Yastrzemski (1990 Topps)
#DD-7 - Seiya Suzuki / Shota Imanaga (Dynamic Duos)
The 1990 Topps insert came 1 in 3 packs, while the Dynamic Duos insert set came 1 in 6 packs. The boys were pleased I got a Cubs insert.
I'm surprised Yaz was traded to KC.
#SMLB-53 - Roki Sasaki (RC)
#SMLB-31 - Jacob Wilson (RC)
As usual, there's 2 Stars of MLB in every rack pack. I didn't know Jacob was the son of Jack Wilson till just before the All Star Break.
#417 - Tomoyuki Sugano (RC)
#663 - Lenyn Sosa
#506 - Luke Weaver
#490 - Jackson Jobe (RC)
It's a Sosa hot pack!
#667 - Austin Hedges
#427 - Nick Castellanos
#387 - Gustavo Campero (RC)
#567 - Pavin Smith
Not as many rookie cards as I thought I would get. Here are the backs:
Anyway, that's the pack. Enjoy the last week of the baseball season, and thanks for reading!
