Topps 2014 Turkey Red

Underwhelmed.

I wanted to like the Turkey Red set.  I really did.  I suppose I was expecting the design to be different -- truer to the original Turkey Reds, which I suppose has been done by Topps already and therefore, in their minds, they needed to update the look.  So, seeing these for the first time (I avoided spoilers...) was a let down.

My "problem" with the 2014 Topps Turkey Reds is that they do not give me the feel of being "old time" baseball cards.  Yes, the colors are flatter and the photos are perhaps less three dimensional than you get from any of the usual base set photograph but this set could easily have a Stadium Club logo from the early 1990s on it and it would have fit.

I was sucked into the moment and bought six of these boxes.  In 6 boxes (and a total of 66 cards), I ended up getting duplicates of 8 cards.  I guess the random insertion factor comes into play with the base set boxes -- where I have gone entire boxes of 24 packs without getting a duplicate -- but that too was disappointing when you're paying $20 a box from Topps for these cards.

If you're interested, I got duplicates of Chris Davis, Justin Verlander, Jose Segura, Wil Myers, Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes (yup, two duplicate Blue Jays), and Matt Cain.  At least I got a Brewer duplicate in Segura, I suppose.

There were a few highlights in these boxes, to be fair.  Each box comes with an autograph.  Yup, they are the sticker autographs -- sorry all you guys who hate those.  My autographs:

Michael Wacha, 250/299

Nate Eovaldi, 78/99

Onelki Garcia, 461/699

Taylor Jordan, 279/499

Joe Kelly, 185/253

 The nicest of the autographs was the green variation for Danny Salazar.  It's serial number 7 of 10.

I'm not enthused by this set, to be fair.  I'm pretty much thinking I will use these cards other than one Jose Segura and my favorite PED user (Ryan Braun) as trade bait.  The downside: no Rockies, no Braves, and no Padres, among other teams.  

I'll post a list of the cards I do have on my Trade Bait tab -- comment or e-mail me and let me know if you think we can work out a deal that involves any of these cards.  

Repacks and Inserts that Make Me Feel Weird

My Target trip yesterday yielded a lot of good stuff.  One of the more interesting items (to me) that I found in one of my repack purchases was a 1992 Topps Gold Winners card.  Why I found it interesting was that it featured noted "winner" Dave Otto.

I don't mean any disrespect to Dave Otto by this post -- I mean, he's an excellent baseball player by the mere fact that he made it to the major leagues and, in fact, he has been inducted into the University of Missouri's Sports Hall of Fame. But, the idea of labeling every single player in a set as a winner -- which is what Topps did -- is ridiculous.  For instance, in 1991 (the season before this card), Otto went 2-8 with a 4.23 ERA (nearly league average) but with just 4.2 K/9 and allowing 9.7 H/9...and, to be clear, this was probably his best Major League Season.

Labeling Otto as a winner after that season is like giving every kid in a league a trophy for participating.

Speaking of giving kids trophies for participation, I present the following insert from the 2013 Panini Elite Extra Edition from a blaster I bought at Target.

Relic inserts for guys who played major league baseball is okay.  I'm not a huge fan -- I'd rather have the entire jersey if I'm going to collect something like that -- but they don't offend me too much.

But this relic creeps me out.

Did Panini really get the jersey from a 14-year-old kid, cut it up, insert it into cards, print them up, and think "I bet the collectors will really love these cards"?

Seriously?

I suppose it is only a matter of time before some entrepreneurial sort starts releasing releasing cards for highly recruited high school football players.

What's that you say?

UGH.

eBay Comes Through

Today is one of those days where I feel like an old man trying to get back into a young man's hobby.  I won an eBay auction for what I know to be a good card -- a 2005 Upper Deck Hall of Fame - Hall Worthy Robin Yount card with a serial number of 02/50.  Not bad -- one of 50 cards made, supposedly.

Then I go to my checklist to try to cross it off my list and update it.  I may have mentioned this before, but there are eighteen *$)@*)#$ pages of cards from 2005 of Robin Yount.  That's 18 pages in 11 point Arial font, single-spaced.  Egad.

It took me going to both TradingCarddb.com (which was entirely not useful for this one) and then to Zistle (which was very helpful) to find it as the 2005 Upper Deck Hall of Fame Hall Worthy Gold RY2 Fielding variation serial numbered to 50.  It's not a bad card in the end -- the photo is too small for my tastes, but I recognize that concern goes away when you get a relic/autograph included.

I just may have to refuse to buy/trade for those 2005 cards.