My brother and his family gave me a check for my birthday and Christmas with the caveat that the money must be spent on something fun. Twist my arm why don't ya!? So I bought four 2010 Topps hobby boxes.
I'll just show some of my favorite cards, inserts, and the hits.
I have to lead with this card for two reasons. First, Bumgarner has pitched two seasons in the minors and accumulated some of the best stats in the history of minor league baseball (1.65 era, 27-5, 273 innings pitched). And he was just a teenager. I hope the Giants have him in the rotation all season. I'm very curious to see what becomes of Bumgarner. Having Lincecum around will no doubt help him learn even faster.
The second reason I chose this as the first 2010 card to appear on my blog is that this picture of Bumgarner could fit into almost any era. It could be 1958, 1968, or 1978. Also, he looks closer to age 35 than age 19 in this shot. Add to all this a very suspicious looking microphone and we have card perfection.
What a great photo! Little Ichiro winning a game with a home run, presumably.
Fielder hit a walk-off home run against the Giants. He jumped on home plate and pretended to "explode". The force of the "bomb" knocked his teammates down. This has the feel of football showboating (a bad thing). It is also a reason purists could point at Fielder and say they dislike him. The Giants certainly were not happy with the Brewers' behavior.
My feeling is although I generally hate showboating, I found this to be so alarming, original, and shocking, that I laughed like mad. As they said on MLB Network that night, it was a clever and hysterical thing....once. Two times or more and this funny moment becomes a terrible trend. They never did it again. They knew. And from it we have one of the best cards ever.
This was the day Henderson eclipsed Ty Cobb in career stolen bases. When he passed Brock, Rickey proclaimed himself the greatest player of all time (or that's how everyone took it). Nolan Ryan threw a no hitter that day, stealing much of Rickey's thunder. Rickey gave us a thousand goofy quotes.
Like others, I really enjoy the Tales of the Game inserts. They picked out some unusual moments. You get about six a box.
Wow. I had no idea. Pretty amazing.
Boggs ate chicken before every game.
The Legendary Lineage insert set design doesn't really do much for me. It manages to be both plain and busy at the same time.
Although the lineage info on the back of the Robinson/Guerrero card is lame (apparently both hit home runs and that scares pitchers), for the most part the ties prove interesting. For example, on the Cobb/Granderson card, the back notes Granderson's 23 triples in 2007 were the most since Cobb's 24 in 1917.
Nine per box.
The Franchise History cards really capture the romance of stadiums.
Doesn't Honus Wagner look five feet wide here?
Hmmm...I guess I didn't scan a single of the Peak Performance cards. The mix ranges from today's stars like Sizemore and Utley, to legends of the past (even Dizzy Dean). You get nine PP per box.
The backs of these have some pretty cool information too. I think Topps really put a lot of care and heart into what they wrote about this year. I am impressed. Also, the back of the Mize card uses the word penultimate, which is one of my favorite words. Win.
Turkey Reds never leave me. Never. I pulled nine per box.
When I was a kid (35) you used to be able to buy entire boxes of Turkey Reds. Every card in the pack was a Turkey Red! The Salad Days (2007).
You get about six History of the Game cards per box. Who is that giant guy on the top left? This is two pictures combined, I assume. The Ruth shot is sublime. The catcher and the giant man aren't needed.
The Athletics had first pick in the first MLB Draft in 1965. "Hmmmm, we'll take...let's see...Johnny Benc---wait. No, no. We'll take Rick Monday."
The Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert set is super. I like reproductions of old cards. The only problem I have is I hate the name of the insert. It works fine for this Yaz and other old card remakes, but the set also includes newer cards such as Longoria from 2009 Topps. Topps is either saying "Our cards are so worthless moms throw these out a year after their kids buy them," or they are saying moms are really dumb.
The original backs like this Yaz come about one per box. The standard back cards come nine per box.
These are the other three original backs I pulled. Ripken and Murray! Pretty lucky for an Orioles' fan.
Some of my favorites of the standard backs.
What a card! The gold works perfectly with the Giants' colors (these are serially numbered to 2010).
The Giants sure have a handful of exciting players. All very young too.
Six gold cards per box. Click images for a larger look.
Black serially numbered to 59. Utley!
Not bad.
Better.
Better still.
Ah ha! The big hit. S/N to 99. A sweet card for sure.
I am a bit disappointed that four boxes yielded no autos, but that is my only complaint.
I think 2010 Topps is one of their best sets in years. I love the base design and there's some excellent photography along with interesting inserts (and lots of them). The packs are a lot of fun to open considering the cost ($45-50). I'm also kind of excited to redeem my 24 'Million Dollar Card Giveaway' cards. It adds another layer of intrigue.
Mr. Topps Company, I approve. Brother and family, thanks!
