2022 Topps Garbage Pail Kids x MLB Series 1

                                   

One of the casualties of 2022's on demand products was this crossover of Garbage Pail Kids and MLB. I forget which month I ordered this, but the pack/box finally came at the end of February 2023. This set features exclusive art by Keith Shore, however I wasn't sure what to think as I didn't care for his take on previous on demand products like Project 2020. I'm glad I didn't try to cancel the order because once the pack/box came I was fairly happy with the cards in hand. Let's take a look.

All of these cards are based off original GPK designs, just "touched" up by Keith. My favorite of this lot by far is the card of Albert Pujols. This is based off the card Roy Bot...

I don't recall what the odds were on pulling a numbered parallel, but this Braves fan got lucky!

Bronze "Rinsed Off Ronald" 01/50!

I am a fan of most of the Garbage Pail Kids releases and this one is no different. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the price. Packs I believe were $20 when they first went on sale, which was already expensive, but now they go for about x2 to x3 times that...if you can find them. Series 2 I believe is coming, but I'm not sure I'm going to bother. While these are cool, my money can go further with other GPK sets like the current Vacation series.

2023 Topps Series 1 Retail

Greetings...

Hope everyone is doing well.  After many, many, many, many posts in the blogosphere from folks obtaining their first cards of the Fanatics era, I was finally able to come across some packs at the Target closest to my work last week.  Sure I could have gone to the Target website and picked up a blaster box, but that wouldn't be fun.

Plus, it appears that the general consensus from the blogosphere is hanger boxes and rack packs are the way to go.  I'm in that boat as well, mainly since Topps started using patches and not-relics as their "bonus" pack.  Anyway, I picked up 2 hanger boxes and 2 loose packs.

16 cards per pack, still $3.50 per pack (still $12 for the hanger boxes).  Let's see what I got:

#65 - Triston McKenzie

#196 - Jordan Romano

My first 2023 card is Triston McKenzie.  Several bloggers seemed to always chronicle their first cards for a given year, something I haven't done consistently and regretted not doing so.  I would have loved to remember what my very first baseball card was.

#228 - Ryan Pressly

#59 - Eduardo Rodriguez

There's the usual 330 cards in the checklist.

#321 - Garrett Cooper 

#181 - Yordan Alvarez

The bloggers appear to approve of this year's design, and I'm with them, although I'm not a fan of the tiny team names, since the enlarged logo should be enough for the buyer to know what team the guy's playing for.  

I think Topps should have also used baseballs instead of stars on the bottom corners, and then used stars as a subtle recognition for All-Stars or those (now rarer) gold parallels.

#202 - Tony Gonsolin

#200 - Freddie Freeman

Night Owl picked up Alvarez / Gonsolin / Freeman / Toro in one of his hanger boxes so this appears to be a regular collation of cards.

#297 - Abraham Toro 

#T88-64 Julio Rodríguez

Topps is sticking with the odd-sounding 35th anniversary inserts.  At least they got the 3-D effect correct.

#SMLB-2 Mike Trout 

#162 Isiah Kiner-Falefa

A Stars of MLB insert is found in every pack.  I love Isiah's profile picture.  It seems all of the others are straight-ahead, his is kinda cartoonish.

#76 - Josh Winckowski (RC)

#105 - Seth Beer

It took this long for me to get to a rookie card.  There are 56 rookies in Series 1 (2022 Topps Series 1 had 49 rookies).

Seth Beer needs to be traded to Milwaukee.  Then Nick Bierbrodt needs to come out of retirement (holy crap, he retired in 2011?) and sign a one-day contract with the Brewers or something so they can play together.  Think of the marketing opportunities!

#75 - JT Brubaker

#97 - Brandon Hughes (RC)

We end the pack with rookie Brandon Hughes from the Field of Dreams game.

Here are the backs.  I went with Triston's back not because he's my first card of 2023, but to show that apparently Topps can't use Indians anymore?

Anyway, that's the pack.  Not bad...like everyone else I plan to get more.  Opening Day is just around the corner!

Enjoy the week, and thanks for reading!

2020 Historic Autographs POTUS The First 36

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  I'm doing great with the timing of posts, doing a baseball pack around the Super Bowl and now this around the NBA All-Star Game.  Yes, my plan was to post this on President's Day (and it would have had extra emphasis since it was reported that Jimmy Carter entered hospice care the day before), but life happens.

I heard about this set but never thought I'd get to sample it.  Modern card collecting consists of sports cards at retail and then basically hoping the LCS has it.  I'm not the type to go online looking for packs to buy.  Anyway, when I went to my LCS back in 2021, I grabbed the last 2 packs they had.  I think they charged 4 bucks per pack...yep, kinda pricey. 

8 cards per pack, and you all get to see both packs!  My gift to you all.

#50 - Adams Onis Treaty

There are 110 cards in the base set.  If you assumed that the first 36 cards in the set are reserved for the Presidents, then you are correct!  The rest of the set are reserved for events, accomplishments, and oddities that occurred during each President's term.

Pack 1 starts with the Adams Onis Treaty.  It was signed in 1819, and in the Treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States.  I have never seen the eagle (?) drawing over the then-new boundary of the U.S.

#59 - Annexation of Texas

#73 - Purchase of Alaska

Two more examples of American expansion.

The cardstock and size is like any standard baseball card.  The company that produced the set has been around for a while, but I never heard of it.

#20 - James Garfield

#110 - Almost Shot by Secret Service

I finally get a President, and here's the last card of the set, matching up to the last President profiled in the release, Lyndon Johnson (the 36th President).

#70 - Patent #6469

If you can't tell from the picture, this is the patent from Abraham Lincoln regarding a system to basically lift boats over rocks in a river.

#25 - William McKinley

#89 - Nobel Peace Prize

We get one more President (smile, William!) and card commemorating the first Nobel Peace Prize given to a Commander-in-Chief, Teddy Roosevelt.

Here are the backs for Pack 1:

The fonts used are a little strange, but it's large enough to read.  They could have put more info about the President on their backs, but not too bad overall.

Ready for Pack 2?

#13 - Millard Fillmore

#42 - Uncivil Presidential Race

Leading off the pack with the 13th President, and a card detailing the race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

#97 - Nan Britton

#33 - Harry Truman

Finally got an actual big name President, as well as a card summarizing Warren Harding's love child.  It appears the set covers more than just treaties and accomplishments.

#8 - Martin Van Buren

#39 - Washington's Political Party

Make sure you know the sign to flash if you ever run into the Van Buren Boys!

#78 - First Civil Rights President

#92 - Removal of the White House Stables

The last two cards detail the activities of Presidents Garfield and Taft.

Don't believe me?  Here are the backs of Pack 2:

There are inserts for the set, but I didn't get any.  Fortunately they avoided the Panini route and refrained from making a thousand parallels.  How about a Millard Fillmore Blue Velocity #'ed out of 30!

Anyway, those were the packs.  These are pretty cool; my only issue is the set is too small.  This could easily be a 200+ card set.  I haven't seen a release date for a follow up, but if they do, I hope to pick up a pack or two of that as well.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

2022 Topps Heritage High Number Blaster Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Yes, it's Super Bowl time, but I'm behind and meant to post this a while back.

Santa gifted a blaster box of Heritage High Number to my eldest and I, each of us getting 4 packs.  

As an aside, I didn't realize my kids telling me of their doubts in the existence of the Man With The Bag would affect me the way it did.  For all I know this was years in the making and they just didn't say anything until this past year.  I told them it's their loss and made them promise that even if they are no longer believers they had better not mess it up for their younger cousins.  At least I no longer have to deal with those Elves on the Shelves, (in their case) Bingie and Bongo.

Anyway, my kid gave me the best pack of his share:

There's 4 pack designs.  Let's see what he got:

#629 - Jeremy Pena (RC)

#668 - Bryan Lavastida (RC)

Hey, it's World Series MVP Jeremy Pena!  The kid enjoyed pulling this card.  

Lavastida gets the RC treatment as well, but he appeared in only 6 games.  Former Cub outfielder Michael Hermosillo played in 31 games last year...no card issued for him in 2022.

#561 - J.J. Matijevic (RC)

#501 - CJ Abrams (RC)

The kid was also happy to get Abrams.  I wonder why J.J. uses dots and CJ doesn't.

#RP-13 - Seiya Suzuki (Rooke Performers) 

There's 15 cards in the Rookie Performers set, and he was pumped to pull Seiya, just like Seiya was to get pulled.

#559 - Joey Bart

#515 - Royce Lewis (RC)

There's 225 cards in the checklist, with the last 25 being short-printed.  Several players even have 1 to 5 variations to chase.  Both Bart and Lewis have 1 variation, while CJ Abrams has 5 to look for.

#606 - Jack Lopez (RC)

#575 - Whit Merrifield

Lopez gets a RC for playing in 6 games with Boston in 2021.  He signed with Detroit for the 2022 season but didn't play in a game.  He's a Free Agent again.  Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. appeared in 35 games last year...yup, no card issued for him in 2022.

Here are some backs because The Big Game:

Anyway, that's the pack.  7 out of 9 are Rookie Cards and most are not even Hott Rookiez, so take that as you will.  I'd rather see more journeymen and veterans in my sets.  Enjoy the Super Bowl, and thanks for reading!

2022 NFL P.A. Sport Stamps Collection Book Starter Pack

Super Bowl is coming this Sunday. How about waiting for the big game with a starter pack of this. It's not really stamps. It's more of peel and stick them on the pages of the booklet. A mini-size Panini sticker book is best to call it. Here's the book.

Here's the checklist. Not shown is the back.

These stamps you can use and stick anywhere you like.

Then to the stickers

351 - Welcome to Seattle; 64 - Devin White; 144 - Cowboys; 17 - Joe Burrow jersey

39 - Broncos; 11 - Staley da Bear; 324 - Mark Andrew - it even got team mascots

389 - Vikings; 89 - Khalil Mack jersey; 272 - Jeremy Chinn

297 - Davante Adams jersey; 354 - Devin Bush; 375 - Welcome to Houston; 210 - Andrew Thomas

208 - George Kittle. Got 1:24 sticker.

159 - Eagles; 35 - Billy Buffalo; 309 - Cooper Kupp - got Eagles logo. Must be a sign. They are winning it this year.

Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday along with festivities days before. Who you got winning?