Finally got some '20 Donruss (and '20 Opening Day)

I'm fortunate that I work as a baker at a grocery store. My job is secure through the duration of these shutdowns. Should I run out of something like toilet paper (why are people hoarding it for craps sakes??!) or something, I can get it before the store opens. It also give some added frustrations. The amount of people that come in the store can be insane at times. I'm positive it's more crowded than normal days and closer to the amount of people that would be there during holidays at times during the day. People don't get that we can only bake a certain amount of bread at a time, and that it takes time to bake all of it. At times, I would love to be like others I've read about on blogs, who have a little extra time to devote to the hobby, yardwork, or binge-watching a show.
I tend to look at the bad side of things, and it's one of the worst points of me, and so it's hard for me to see and end to all of this. I feel like if people keep going out to places just to get out of the house and not planning their shopping to only do it 2-3 times a month, that all of these lockdowns won't ever end. My wife works at an assisted living facility as their Director of Nursing, and she had a conference call with the CDC, and they were afraid that these closings could last 12-18 months, so that doesn't help my outlook either. 

Fortunately, my wife got me some cards the other day, and cards are always good to take my mind off of tough times. I have been wanting some '20 Donruss cards for a while so I could check out some of the parallels. Before everything was shut down, we went to Target and Wal-Mart, and they were out. We have been out of some things that we normally get at Target for a few weeks now, so my wife decided to go to Target yesterday, and I asked if she would look for some '20 Donruss for me. The had it, so she got me a pack, a hanging box, and 2 packs of '20 Opening Day (are you used to seeing the current years' cards listed as '20 Topps/'20 Donruss/'20 Whatever yet?  Not me).

I wasn't thrilled with the '20 Donruss base design from what I've seen on blogs, and seeing them in person didn't really change that. The base cards almost remind me of the '91 Donruss set. The '86 set cards were nice, and overall, I loved the parallels. Here are the highlights I've got. 

I wouldn't count the Bumgarner card as a D-Back card, since he is pictured as a Giant. The 2nd Alzolay is a variation. After going through the cards a few times, I figured out that the '86 cards have a black circle with the number if it is a variation card, and the normal cards that are variations have an old-school Donruss 'D' on the back. The ballpark one is of whatever the Reds stadium is called now. I have pulled 2 of the Alvarez Opening Day card. I believe I pulled a gold version from the regular Topps set, and forgot that he was one of the hottest rookies last year until I read a COMC blog post about the hottest rookies in '20 sets. The Harper card is an actual sticker. The Bell is an alternate city name variation. I've seen the Clemente card before, and if Collecting Cutch needs it for his Clemente collection, I will set it aside. I did well with Nats, pulling a Soto sticker and National's park card from the Opening Day. The Betts is an alternate city variation, the Rice is a normal '86. The Bradley is a variation. The last ballpark is of Seattle, and I pulled a Rangers mascot from the Opening Day packs. 

A few months back, my wife got a matcing game for our 3-year old Kyler, and he has loved playing with it and has gotten pretty good at recognizing some of the MLB teams. He usually gets the Cubs, Reds, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Red Sox, White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Angels, Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays right. When he saw the cards, he recognized the Rangers logo on the mascot card, and thought the mascot was a cow. It's been fun hanging out with Kyler on my days off since his day care is closed. He's got to the point where we play the matching game a lot, he asks to watch baseball, and helps me in the garden just about every time. 

Back to the baseball cards. Here are the rookies and parallels. The Alvarez is technically a dupe, but one will go in my rookie binder, and the other in my Astros binder. The Olson parallel confused the heck out of me when I first saw it. I remember one of the Donruss sets had like donut parallels or something, and after looking at the back of the pack, I realized that it was a 'Baby Shark' parallel. Would've liked to have only seen these with Nats cards, but oh well. The first 2 Now Playing cards are Diamond parallels, and the 2nd Tatis towards the end is a Vector parallel. The next 4 cards are Orange parallels, then 3 Red ones, and the aforementioned Tatis Vector. Don't know how the Votto got in the picture. It is a double if anyone wants it.

On to my favorite pulls out of any packs I get, the Favorite Players, Tigers, and Rays. The Blyleven and Bogaerts are normal cards, the DeGrom is a varaition. The Dozier I think finally evens out the parallel/base card scale with his cards. Hicks and an Orange variation of Scherzer round out the Favorite Players. I'm not sure what the Cabrera Diamond King is. I didn't see any Blue parallels listed, but it is some kind of parallel. I picked up another Cabrera from Opening Day, as well as a Goodrum and a Paws insert. Got lucky and picked up 2 Rays from Donruss, and 2 from Opening Day.

I genuinely hope all of this craziness ends and life will get back to normal sooner than later. I know I have taken a lot of things for granted lately. Things like going to ballgames whenever, going to a card shop whenever, having a full day off by myself, playing with the band at church, going out to eat inside a restaurant with my wife, and countless other things. I guess I'll just get through these times by working at a job that I'm fortunate is still open, finishing up these missing player checklists (working on 2011 now), doing baseball stuff with Kyler on days off, trading (only with those who are comfortable doing so, I have 2-3 in the works currently), and perhaps getting some stuff done around the house. Oh yeah. And cards. Between trades and purchasing packs every now and then, there will always be new cards to sort.

Stay safe, stay in, and stay healthy. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy