A few days ago, my wife was in Target. Earlier in the year I had mentioned that I wanted to buy fewer packs of base Topps and just get the complete set at the end of the year. Well they were out, and before she went she asked if I wanted her to pick one up. I trusted her judgement on which one to get, hoping that I wouldn't end up with one that gave me 5 manu-patches I would never want or use. Well, she did well and got a set that featured 5 rookie photo variations and 5 Chrome Refractor rookie reprint cards. My card room/music room is basically the middle of our garage, and I had the set and the cards I wanted photos of in it, so all of these photos I took on my piano. More on that later.
First off, the good parts about the set. The rookie image variation cards. I put the regular base card on the left and the variation on the right. I GOT AN ALONSO CARD!!!! I'M RICH!!! I GOT VLAD JR.!!! I'M RICH!!!!!
The Kopech card was a base card, and so was the McNeil. I GOT TATIS JR.!!!! I'M RICH!!!!!!!
The Rookie Reprints were nice. I think the set is like 15 cards deep, and I pulled an Aaron, Gwynn, Jeter (meh...)
Ty Cobb, and Sandy Koufax (not a Koufax rookie, why is it in the set??? Overall, pretty good.
It is nice to now have the complete Rays and Tigers team sets and cards for every guy from my
Favorite Player Collection who appeared in 2019 Topps. Now, I just have to convince my wife to let me get the Update set in a few weeks.
Now, let me fill you in on the bad, and call out Topps on yet another blunder.
Not sure if anyone caught this or not, but there is a card of Zach Greinke in Series 1 and Series 2. This isn't a case like Yasiel Puig, or Matt Kemp, who are both in Series 1 & 2, but featured on different teams. Greinke is pictured as a Diamondback on both cards.
TOPPS WASTED A CARD IN SERIES 2!!!!! I haven't followed baseball like I used to in the '90's and '00's, but I'm sure there is a guy who could've got a card in Series 2 that wasn't in either series. Give me some names,
Night Owl,
Fuji, and
Gavin!! I'm sure there is a Dodger, Athletic, or Padre who needs a 2019 Topps card. I haven't looked it up, but I'm sure Grayson Greiner has played a game or two for the Tigers in 2018 and hasn't got a card in 2019 Topps. I'm sure there are some Rays like Jose DeLeon or Anthony Banda who must've appeared with the Rays in 2018, and didn't get a card because they were injured this year. Since when has Topps been an exclusively non-yearbook style set? I guess you can make a case since they have virtually NO sunset cards. Let me read you off the names of guys who retired after 2018 who could've had a sunset 2019 Topps card but didn't: Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Adrian Beltre, and David Wright. 4 very solid names, including 1 sure-fire Hall of Famer. I guess Topps switched from having most of the set yearbook style somewhere around 1998 when they first featured cards featuring players in teams they would play for the same year the set was issued (Bobby Abreu's '98 card featured him as a Phillie. He played for the Astros in 1997, for example).
Back to the whole Greinke card. This isn't the first time Topps has done this. They have been doing crap like this since 2000. Don't believe me? Let me show you....
Mike Lowell appeared in Series 1 & 2 in 2000 Topps. It must've been the first year Topps hired non-baseball fans in their Player Selection department. I noticed, but I let it slide that year.
In 2001, I got the complete set, and noticed Michael Tucker got 2 cards.
This was starting to get annoying, and I had my freshly-minted new e-mail account primed and ready to write a nasty letter to Topps stating that if the 2002 set featured the same thing, that my 19-year-old self would quit spending all of my $100-$125 per week paychecks on their crappy baseball cards. Fortunately for them, 2002 Topps behaved, and they did so until 2007.
In the 2007 Topps set, Gary Sheffield was given 2 cards.
Almost the exact same photo. If you were to send me both of these cards in a trade batch, I wouldn't think they were 2 different cards unless I took the time to read the number on the back. But tell me, who actually reads the numbers on the back? Can you tell me the number of Bryce Harper's 2019 Topps card? (It's card #400. I only know because I looked for all of the cards with hero numbers on the checklist). I was appalled at the fact that they used the same photo on the card, and almost contacted Topps on MySpace, but I settled down, and watched them carefully for the next few years. They didn't pull the trick again until 2016, but it was a doozy, and it was enough for me to not only write them a nasty e-mail which never got a response, but for me to also make a
post about it.
I purchased some packs of 2016 Topps Series 1, and was pleasantly surprised to find my former classmate and future World Series MVP Steve Pearce's card in the set. He played for the Orioles in 2015, and signed with the Rays for the '16 season. I figured I might see a him on a Rays card in Update, but since he got traded to the Orioles midseason, it complicated things. Do the put him in Update as an Oriole since he technically was with them twice, or do they just leave him out of the set, or do they go the most illogical route and put him in Update as a Ray? Well, since Topps has geniuses working for them, they decided to give him 2 cards in Update. Both picturing him as an Oriole. Both from the same play. WTF???
I am the biggest Steve Pearce collector ever, and I don't see why he got the second card in Update. And now Grienke has 2 cards in 2019 Topps. Things like this will never end if Topps doesn't have people who know a little bit about baseball as employees. Stuff like this should be caught before it goes to press. In 10 years, if physical baseball cards are still around, you are going to see a 600 card Series 1 & 2 set with only 450 cards, because there will be 10 different base cards each of Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, and whatever hot rookie is slugging the ball that year. Add in 3 different cards for each League Leader catergory in WAR, Launch Angle at Home in the 3rd Inning, Exit Velocity against curveballs between 80 and 83 MPH and such, and a few extra cards of Jacob DeGrom or somebody, and there is your set.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have the complete set. I'm just not happy with the people who are picking players and the fact that I am essentially getting the same card. The same player, the same stats on the back. Just a little different write-up, a different photo (maybe), and a new number. I pay my hard-earned money for your products, Topps. Me and other collectors deserve better. People do collect base cards and you can't produce a base set without double checking what players are in it and if they were in a previous series. I'm keeping track, and you are on record.
To end this long post and tie in the piano thing, I don't know if many of you know, but I play the piano. It is one of the things I enjoy doing the most. I took lessons from 3rd-5th grade, learned all of the major scales and chords, and practiced them enough, that I kind of memorized them. Soon after that, I began trying to play songs I heard on the radio, and would match them up to chords that I had learned. Soon, that just took off, and I was starting to write songs a little, just putting a few chord progressions together. Some were decent. Some were crap. Around my Jr. or Sr. year of high school, I really wanted to be in a band and preform some of my songs. It never happened, and although some of my friends were in bands, they never let me join. It kind of shaped me as a person. It felt bad to be rejected, and it happened so often (with bands and the ladies), that I was kind of used to it. I was determined to get good enough to be in a band, and a few years into college, I got into a band at our church. We played worship songs for our youth group, and also some originals. Mine didn't quite make the cut, but I helped write 1 or 2 originals we did. In 2006, I moved to Montgomery, AL to start a band with my old college roommate. We recorded a song or two, he ended up moving away for a job, but I did get into an awesome band at our church. We played for our college ministry, and I learned so much there.
Ryan John led the band, and taught me to not try to play so much and just sit back sometimes. I played there for 3 years, and moved back to Florida. From there, it was 3 years of playing in a few bands, refining skills, but still nothing with the songs I wrote. In 2011, I met my wife, we got married in 2012, and music was pushed to the back burner a bit as we worked on our careers, and had a bunch of fun together. My old roommate became my brother-in-law in 2013, I started playing in our church band in 2014, and in 2016, we had our first child. This past month, an opportunity came up that might be too good to pass up. Our worship leader moved on to another job, and there are about 4 people in the current band that are able to lead (including myself). Not as good as our old leader, but we each bring different qualities to the table. While helping lead 2 weeks ago, our drummer commented that he enjoyed my piano and wanted to do a side project. I haven't been able to do music in years just because of time and having a kid, but this time, I think it has a chance to work out. If our schedules can line up, I could perhaps jam on off days. This may not even lead to a band that ever plays a show, but I have a few goals in mind. This could finally be the opportunity to record a few songs that I have written. I realize some of them need some work, but I trust our drummer, guitarist, bass player, and my wife can add what it's probably missing. It probably needs some ideas musically, and they can add them as well. The songs are just some reflections on the Christian walk, some are me venting my frustration at certain situations in life, some are songs of hope, and some are just worship songs. I realize it's not everyone's style, but that's ok. I just want to get these songs finished, hopefully be able to record a few, and get them in people's ears. I have always felt that they were meant to uplift others, and it has always been frustrating that only a few people have heard them (and cruddy recorded versions at that). Many of the songs were written 15 or so years ago as a niave 20-year old, and now many of them talk about someone who I never wanted to be, but somehow have almost become. I am not the best Christian by any stretch of the imagination, and I am embarrased at how I act at work much of the time. I stil want to try to do better each day, and want to try to reach people with these songs, even if it is only a few people. Who knows, maybe I will share some lyrics on here or make a site with one or two of the songs on it. I really hope this works out and these songs can finally be finished and recorded and in people's ears. I am going to go all-out with this, follow God's guidance, and hope for the best. If you are the praying kind of person, please keep me uplifted. Sorry for the long post.
Thanks for checking out my blog.
-Jeremy
