2018 Topps Heritage High Number Hanger Box

I'll be honest, I'm not looking forward to Heritage as much this year as I was the last few years. The past two years, Topps has done well with both the 1968 design (2017) and the 1969 design (2018) and those happen to be two of my favorite 60s sets as well. So when I opened the package that Ryan from the Sumo Cards blog sent over and pulled this out, I was pretty excited. I won't show every card, but here are some highlights.

Todd Frazier was a great third baseman for the Reds and him winning the 2015 Home Run Derby when the Reds hosted the All-Star Game that year. Despite the Reds having to trade him off, I still enjoy watching him play when the Mets are on MLB Network so therefore I still get his cards. Speaking of fun players, you can't forget about Bartolo Colon, who is pretty much ageless. To my knowledge, he hasn't signed a contract with anyone for 2019 but is the last active major leaguer to have both played for the Expos and to have played in the 1990s.

Here are a couple interesting specimens. Miles Mikolas came from out of nowhere last season to lead the lead the NL with 18 wins and a .818 winning percentage. This was after he was out of the majors for four years and had appeared in 37 games total with the Padres and Rangers from 2012-2014. He finished 6th in Cy Young voting and made the All-Star Team last year. Gift Ngoepe is the first major leaguer from South Africa and made it into 13 games with the Blue Jays last year. He's currently in camp with the Phillies as a non-roster invitee.

I found it interesting that the photos in both of these Giants cards were taken at sunset. 

There were also a few cool inserts starting with this Ichiro. I'm glad to see he was featured as a member of the Mariners.

Also, there's this Freddie Freeman deckle edge style insert. This I really dig with the black and white photo. I always hear about insert sets like this and the Topps Super style inserts in Archives a few years back but I never pull any. I'm pretty happy to have this.

All in all, a pretty standard hanger box of cards but still it's Topps Heritage and I'm not going to complain too much.

Around the Horn: Seattle Mariners

It's time for another entry in my "Around the Horn" series, this time the Seattle Mariners are up! The Mariners debuted in 1977 but it wasn't Seattle's first foray into the world of MLB. The first go-round was in 1969 with the infamous "one and done" Seattle Pilots. More on them another time once I get to the Milwaukee Brewers entry in this series.

When thinking of the Mariners, the first person that comes to mind, at least for me, is Ken Griffey Jr. Now, normally I would show only a few cards of player collections but with Griffey, I decided to show all the Mariners cards I have, aside from the two 1989 Bowman rookies. One day I would like to own a 1989 Upper Deck Griffey. I guess I could consider that one of those "white whale" type deals but for now, I'll settle with what I've got. 

During his time in Seattle, there were also four baseball video games that were put out with Griffey's name on them during his time in Seattle, "Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball" and "Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run" for the Super Nintendo and "Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr" and "Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest" for the N64. At some point next year, I might do an article about those games as they were by far my favorites of any baseball video game.

I see no reason why Edgar Martinez shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame to be honest. He was a 7-time All-Star, finished in the Top 20 of MVP voting five times (including twice in the top ten), won five Silver Slugger awards, won the AL Batting Title twice, and is the Mariners all-time leader in doubles, total bases, and RBIs.

My grandpa used to call Randy Johnson "big ugly" because of the long hair and bushy mustache he always sported. I always enjoyed watching Johnson pitch. Occasionally, I'd get to see a Mariners game if it was on ESPN or on national TV but mostly I'd only know what was happening by the clips from SportsCenter. That being said, I really enjoy going back now and collecting his cards

Another young star of those 90s Mariners teams was A-Rod. While I'm not really a big fan of him with the Yankees or Rangers, I tend to keep an eye out for cheap A-Rod Seattle cards. These are the four favorites of mine that I have that chronicle his stay in the Pacific Northwest.

The Tino Martinez card I have here probably has to be my favorite one I have of him with the M's. It's just a flat out cool looking card with the teal jersey, gold foil on the bottom, and great picture of him finishing his swing.

For more modern fans, Ichiro is probably one of the other names people think about when someone mentions the Mariners (well, there's also Felix Hernandez). He debuted in 2001 as part of that legendary team that won 116 games and made it to the ALCS for the second year in a row. I really need to invest in more Ichiro cards as I've only got a handful but that card from this years Topps Big League set is probably one of the best ones I've got.

Going back to the beginning now, this 1978 Topps team card is showing what I'm guessing to be the inaugural Mariners team. There weren't many star players on that team but there were players such as Ray Fosse, Julio Cruz, Skip Jutze, Rick Honeycutt, and Doc Medich. One interesting player on that team was Diego Segui, who I believe was the only person to play for both the Pilots in 1969 and the inaugural Mariners team in 1977.

The Mariners in the early years had an interesting mix of players both young and old, including a number of players that I'm sure most had ever forgotten had played for Seattle. Larry Andersen spent two seasons in Mariner blue, going 3-3 with a 4.46 ERA in 81 games, mostly as a reliever. Tom Paciorek's only All-Star season came as a Mariner in 1981 but I best remember him calling White Sox games with Hawk Harrelson on WGN Superstation in the 90s. Former Reds manager Jerry Narron was a back-up catcher in 1980 and 1981 and then returned for four games in 1987. Jeff Burroughs was one of the early "short term stops" of the Mariners, having appeared in 89 games with the 1981 squad.

Gaylord Perry spent the waning years of his career up in Seattle as well. He spent the entire 1982 season and then the first part of the 1983 season before being released mid-season. He latched on with the Royals to close out his career. These are the only two cards I have that chronicle Perry's stint with the M's.

I showed these last summer when I found them in a yard sale haul my stepmom picked up but I wanted to show them here as well for mere curiosity sake. These are some 1984 O-Pee-Chee cards. While these aren't the most notable names, I still find early 80s O-Pee-Chee cards pretty cool.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Julio Cruz was probably the Mariners first homegrown "star". He was plucked from the Angels in the expansion draft and was promptly installed as the second baseman (and occasional SS and DH). He spent 7 seasons in Seattle and actually finished in the top 25 of MVP voting in 1983. I don't remember where I found this card but I think it's pretty neat to have an oddball card of a player withe the old school "trident logo" on their hat.

I can't go without showing some 1986 Topps cards (I swear one day I'm going to put that set together). But also the Danny Tartabull and Mark Langston cards can't be forgotten about. Both guys had some pretty decent careers. I don't know what it is but there's something about all four of these cards together that just makes me smile.

I should probably add Dave Burba to the list of players I collect. He was one of the Reds top pitchers in the mid-90s and I remember going to a game that he was pitching once where he lost a no-hitter with five outs to go.

Bret Boone debuted as a rookie for the Mariners in 1992 and played more as a backup until he was traded to the Reds along with Erik Hanson for Bobby Ayala and Dan Wilson. The trade worked out well for all, Boone and Hanson were key parts of the Reds success in the mid-90s, including a trip to the NLCS in 1995. Wilson became the longtime catcher for the Mariners and Ayala teamed up with another former Red in Norm Charlton in the Seattle bullpen.

Kevin Mitchell goes into the lore of Mariners "short term stops" as he spent the 1993 season in the Pacific Northwest before being traded to the Reds for the aforementioned Norm Charlton. What is it with all these Reds/Mariners trades in the 90s? The Mariners even got Lou Piniella as the manager after he left the Reds.

I forgot the recently retired Adrian Beltre was with the Mariners until I saw this card. I figured it was probably for only a year or two, but no, he stuck with them for five years and won two Gold Gloves there. 

Carl Everett though did only spend one season in Seattle, that being his final season in the bigs. He appeared in 92 games for a 2006 Mariners squad that finished 4th in the AL West.

I'd forgotten that John Olerud also had a tour of duty up north. This card is interesting as in has a box score of a random game in the bottom right. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it to be honest. I know it's the only card I have like that.

Hey look! It's a card of new Reds manager David Bell (again the Mariners/Reds connection is mind blowing). While the Reds haven't signed any players, they've completely started from scratch with a new manager and a whole new coaching staff. That's another story for another day though.

I'll round this out with a few more recent cards. By the time this posts, Robinson Cano may or may not still be a Mariner (there were rumors swirling about him being traded to the Mets as I'm writing this). Of the 2018 cards, I thought Archives was a bust this year but I really enjoyed the flagship cards and Heritage.

That puts the bow on this edition of "Around the Horn". Next up ... the Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns.

2018 Topps Big League Box Break - Part 1

Before I dive into this, I want to take just a quick moment to thank everyone for congratulatory comments and kind words on the Year 3 post I put up over the weekend. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read my ramblings on cards. Now, on with the show ....

Recently, my aunt was in town doing her yearly summer visit from Tulsa and as is tradition, I tend to get some cards as a late Father's Day present. I went for a box of the new Topps Big League and I also opted for a box of Series 2.

Since Big League is new, I opted to bust into it first. I had intended on doing six packs at a time but my five year old and I went a little crazy the other day and tore open 11 packs, which is more than I intended. So, I'll show off the highlights of those 11 packs here and the remainder here shortly.

Here's the first card from the first pack I opened. Remember back in the spring I said I was going to show the first card of a product I opened? Well, I'm continuing that trend here.

Here's a sampling of random base cards I liked. I really like the design on these. It's got a tiny bit of an old school feel with some really great photography and a big team logo at the bottom left. Also, I tried to not show cards of the major stars, I went for cards that I thought stood out to me in general. Probably my favorite of these is Clayton Richard with the 90s throwback Padres uniform on.

These black and white parallels are pretty cool and they're numbered out of 50. 

Legends cards are always fun. I really like the Hank Aaron card as the uniform looks like it's from the 70s.

Some Reds cards, including my favorite Reds player right now, Scooter Gennett!

Really cool horizontal cards but that Ichiro card ... just wow. That's gotta be in the running for my favorite cards of the year so far.

These may look like inserts but they're part of the base set actually. Can't say I'm a big fan of the caricature cards. The players weekend cards look like an insert set that could be in flagship or something, I really like them though. 

My favorite cards from the set by far are these ballpark landmark cards. These cards just scream fun and cool and unique. They're the Topps Big League version of the mascot cards in Opening Day.

In every pack you get a gold parallel card. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. I think it's good because you're guaranteed a unique card per pack. On the flip side, getting one in every pack comes across as too much of a good thing, maybe every other pack would be a happy medium? My favorite of these is the Zack Cozart card since it's my first card of him in an Angels uniform (I don't count the Cozart card from Donruss as he's in a Reds uniform but is listed as with the Angels).

Anyway, that's about half the box. So far, I've enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the box includes.

A Steal of a Retail Deal (Part 1)

I told myself I was going to stop buying stuff just to review on the blog. Well, that kind of went out the window with this purchase. Over the Easter weekend, Target had a whale of a deal on cards. Blaster were on sale for $16.99 each and hanger boxes were on sale for $8.49 each. Also, on the Cartwheel app there was a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon and there was a free pack coupon on each blaster of Heritage. To go along with this, my mom got me a $75 Target gift card as an Easter gift.

Naturally, I had to take advantage of this rare sale. I had come in search of some Gypsy Queen but they were well stocked with Heritage. I settled for eight packs of Gypsy Queen (four of which came out to be free thanks to the $10 off coupon and the free pack coupon on the blaster), one Heritage blaster, and two Heritage hanger boxes. Grand total for all this? About $48.

I'll focus on the Heritage cards here and share the Gypsy Queen cards in a follow-up post. I can't remember which cards came out of the blaster or the hangers so I've just sort of mixed and matched here.

First off, before I get to the cards, I wanted to take a moment and comment on the Heritage pack design itself. Since I'd yet to open any actual packs of Heritage this year, this was my first glimpse at what the pack itself looks like. I have to say, I kind of dig it.

I'm going to try and show cards of players I don't think I showed on my initial round of Heritage. I can't guarantee though there won't be repeats. 

Yay! Rookie Cup cards! It may just be me but I kind of think the Rookie Cups fit better on Heritage than on flagship.

Nice to see that the Mariners finally signed Ichiro. 

When Strasburg was a rookie, I had club seat tickets for a Reds game to see him against Johnny Cueto. That was quite the game.

Between the hangers and the blaster, I got four short prints (including two Lonnie Chisenhall cards). I'd forgotten completely about Brandon Phillips' stint with the Angels last year. 

The lone Reds card I got that wasn't already a duplicate and it's one of the baseball flashbacks insert. 

And here are the Target exclusive inserts. I think that Rhys Hoskins might be a duplicate but I'll have to go through my Phillies cards to make sure.

While these weren't the best boxes and I didn't get any variations, it was still a fun rip. I think I'm good on Heritage now probably until High Numbers comes out this fall. If I want any more singles or inserts, I'll probably dig for them at card shows or the like.