2019 Topps Pro Debut

Here's a pack from the annual Hobby-exclusive Topps Pro Debut set, which features a slew of prospects in their minor league uniforms. This was a free bonus pack from a group break I was recently in.

24 - Cristian Santana - Santana is a Dodgers prospect from the Dominican Republic who played at AA last season.

97 - Chris Paddack - Here's the most recognizable name in the pack (at least to me) as Paddack spent the entire season with the big league Padres after skipping AAA entirely.

29 - Alek Thomas - Here's a look at the card backs. Pretty standard stuff, again using the same basic design as the big league Topps set.

78 - Forrest Whitley - Whitley was a first round pick in 2016 and spent time at nearly every level in the Astros system last year.

38 - Rylan Bannon - Sometimes these guys just seem like they're made up to me. According to the back of his card, Bannon was a former Dodgers prospect who was traded to Baltimore.

159 - Carlos Cortes - This guy has the "Pro Debut" label meaning that (2018?) was his first year in pro ball. Or maybe that this is his first card as a pro?

182 - Elehuris Montero - A Cardinals prospect who has shown some promise in the past but had an injury-plagued 2019.

149 - Grant Little - We end it with another Pro Debut. The Tri-City Dust Devils is one of the better team names in the minors.

2019 Topps Chrome Update Exclusive Pink Refractor Pack

 I shared what was  my best pack out of a 3 pack retail hanger pack of 2019 Topps Chrome Update.  Each of those also has one of these Exclusive 2 card Pink Refractor packs included.  Here are the cards from that pack.

Not to shabby pulling two rookies, especially that Senzel.

2019 Topps Chrome Update Series

 I had to pick some stuff up just before Christmas and also picked up a three pack of Topps Chrome Update to try it out.  If you remember Topps started putting out the Chrome update as an exclusive bonus to the retail mega boxes.  I guess those were popular enough that Topps decided just make it a larger release.  Nothing to write home to mom about in any of the packs, this was in my opinion the best of the bunch.

 I do find it interesting that decided not to put a prefix on these cards or use the label under the card number to denote that this is the update series.  I'm sure that won't lead to confusion in the future.

 Both my base cards were All-Star sub set cards.  I also pulled to inserts in the pack.

While a little color would have been nice, pulling the Hank and Tony were a  nice surprise and the 150th cards and Family Business look great chromed out.

2016 Panini Absolute Football

Well, here we go. It's Week 17. Teams are fighting for their playoff lives today. I don't typically buy football cards at all, but I'll occasionally pick up an odd pack at a card show or shop if it's cheap enough for posting on the blog, which is what we have here. I definitely didn't pay $2.49 for this and I'm not sure what a Bartell Drugs is.

11 - Khalil Mack Xtreme Team - Right off the bat we have an insert card. I can't say I understand them, but I have admire the contingent of Raiders fans who continue to follow the team despite their migrations throughout the large state of California.

92 - Sam Bradford - Here's a guy from my team, although he's probably not remembered all that fondly. I was on board with the Eagles picking up this guy, but it didn't really work out in the end. Maybe someone could point to how this and the Chip Kelly days laid the groundwork for the team's eventually Super Bowl win, but I don't really go that deep with the NFL.

50 - Sammy Watkins - It's a typical Panini set with a very basic card back.

8 - Andrew Luck - He retired a (presumably) rich man at age 29. I mean, that's the dream, right?

56 - Brandin Cooks - Really good wide receiver from Oregon State.

14 - J.J. Watt - One of the rare defensive players who became a true superstar of the game.

71 - Matthew Stafford - I guess my uneducated take on Stafford is that he's one of the best QB's to play for nothing but mediocre to downright horrible teams.

28 - Melvin Gordon - We end with a guy who is probably moving on from a disaster of a franchise that moved to LA for no real reason. I would be interested in talking to someone who is still a Chargers fan at this point, but I'm not sure if anyone would cop to it.

2019 Topps Heritage High Number Blast Pack

I received a box for Christmas each pack contained 9 cards box has a total of 72 cards.  Inserts to look for in this product includes a number of errors, short prints and variations along with Award Winners, Combo Cards, Then and Now , Rookie Performers Chromes, Mini's.........
Here is the best pack of the box I got.

 Unopened Pack:

 Base card fronts including 3 RC:

Base Back of cards:

Now for the hit of the box says it 1:700 pack hit for these Topps Heritage Chrome Blacks #'d /69 this one is a Byron Buxton # 31/69.

Back of the Chrome with numbering which is hard to read since it's stamped in the blue ink in the upper right corner.

2019 Donruss Football Blaster

Today I got a blaster box for Xmas here is 1 of the 11 8 card packs, lots of potential in each pack with Press proofs, Rookies, Rated Rookies, The Rookies, Legends of the Fall, Rookie Gridiron Kings ETC.  Base set includes 350 cards 250 Base with 50 Rookies & 50 Rated Rookies.  Now for the pack which included the blaster Exclusive Memorabilia Card.

Wrapper/Unopened pack.

Base Fronts:

 Base Fronts Rookie & Kid Reporter contest:

 Base Back & Exclusive Memorabilia Card.

2019 Topps Heritage Retail Hanger Pack

Merry Christmas!

Hope all our readers are enjoying the holiday season.  Things are slow at work (the world is kinda behaving) so I'm actually finishing up this post during my overnight shift.  Shh...don't tell anyone!

Anyway, during a recent Christmas shopping run at the blue big box store (blasphemy!) I came across a pack of 2019 Heritage in the discount box.  Since I don't usually buy Heritage - other than a sample pack or two - I decided why not and drop the 4 bucks for the pack.

Usually the Wally World by me just has football fat packs in their clearance box, with the occasional basketball and flagship baseball pack tossed in.  I decided a while ago to just scratch my football pack buying itch via the clearance box, so you'll eventually see those packs here.  But enough rambling, here's the Heritage I got in my stocking:

#108 - Alex Gordon
#65 - NL Home Run Leaders

Sorry if anyone is confused by the background; I took pics of the cards in my car while waiting for the boys to finish Sunday School.

This year's Heritage honors the 1970 design.  I don't remember reading much love for the 1970 design from bloggers, so maybe Topps is going through the motions for this release.

#34 - Cody Bellinger
#245 - Wade Davis

Got the NL MVP at least.

#47 - Zack Godley
#109 - Blue Jay Rookies

Not the Blue Jay rookies everyone's looking for.

#136 - Carlos Carrasco
#161 - Joey Wendle

Carrasco was named the 2019 Comeback Player of the Year.  He had a good year on and off the field.

#20 - Alex Cobb
#257 - Brad Hand

Here's the link to the checklist for those still interested in tracking down the set.

#BF-WM - Baseball Flashbacks (Willie McCovey)
#197 - 2018 NLCS Game 5

The Baseball Flashbacks come 1 in 20 packs.

#384 - Keone Kela
#117 - Kyle Schwarber

Cool, got a Cubs player...this pack's a success!

#275 - Yoshihisa Hirano
#16 - Jake Junis

I'm out of witty things to type.  Here are the rest of the cards:

#359 - J.D. Martinez (All-Star)
#190 - Luke Weaver

#61 - NL Batting Leaders
#110 - Kyle Crick

And here are the backs because Holly Jolly:

I enjoyed the player's full name and cartoons on the back.

Anyway, that's the pack.  Once again, Merry Christmas to all!  I hope everyone gets something good in their stocking this year.

Thanks for reading!