Top-Out Party

In the construction industry on building projects -- especially large ones over $20 million -- the project participants often hold top out parties. These parties are held usually when the contractor has the roof deck in place. Sometimes, the party is held on the roof deck itself once that level is ready to bear a decent amount of weight.

In baseball cards, I think it should be appropriate to hold a top-out party at times as well. For products that include box topper packages -- I'm thinking Archives, Heritage, and Allen & Ginter in particular -- a top-out party/giveaway would be a fun idea when you pull a box topper of your favorite player/team or when you make a trade to get one.

For me, it would appear time for a top-out party. Back in September, Matt over at Bob Walk was on vacation and had his buddy Micah write a guest-post for him. That guest post featured a Ryan Braun box topper from the 2013 Topps Archives set serial numbered 97 of 99. I commented about 40 minutes after the post went live that I would love to get the card from Micah.

Eventually, Matt liberated the Braun box topper from Micah and sent it to me recently in a great little package:

Not only did Matt send the box topper, but he also sent along two autographed cards that I had not seen before. First off, there was a 2014 Topps Triple Threads relic autograph of Jimmy Nelson serial numbered 24 of 75.

A former Alabama Crimson Tide pitcher, Nelson came up last year as a highly touted prospect and pitched very well in limited action. His season in 2014 was not as successful, and he ended up the season in the bullpen while Mike Fiers remained in the rotation.  With Marco Estrada out of the way in the Adam Lind trade, Nelson and Fiers are the likely candidates to fight it out for the 5th spot in the rotation in spring, though with Matt Garza's injury history over the past two years (missing time with muscle pull issues in his ribcage) both will certainly see time in the rotation.

And then, there was this card of the new manager of the Minnesota Twins:

Coming from the Panini Hall of Fame 75th Anniversary set, this card of Paul Molitor is a great addition to my Paul Molitor player collection, which now numbers 272 items.

As always, Matt really knows how to sprinkle great cards and hits around the blogosphere. The good news for him is that I picked up some cool Pirates cards at my local card show this weekend that will be on their way to him shortly!

Thanks again, Matt!