2015 Topps Stadium Club

I can't believe none of the other baseball card blogs have made a post about the new Stadium Club cards. Kidding, of course. My measly, 18 follower blog is finally joining the party.

Here are the results of my $5.99 (more value?) pack from Target. It started off with 3 fantastic looking horizontal shots.

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds

Fernando Rodney, Seattle Mariners

Rougned Odor, Texas Rangers

Next up are some great vertical shots, including back-to-back Tigers.

Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates

Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers

James McCann, Detroit Tigers

Maikel Franco, Philadelphia Phillies

The only insert in this pack was this Luminous Triumvirate.

Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals

Finishing off the pack with more great photographs. 

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

Marcus Stroman, Toronto Blue Jays

Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs

The last card I pulled was this former player/manager. 

Dusty Baker, Los Angeles Dodgers

I was surprised I only got one retired player in this pack. It seemed like others were getting 2-3 per pack.
I'm a fan of the cards themselves, not so much the price, but I know I'll end up buying more of these.

2015 Topps Series Two

The Target near me finally got 2015 Topps series two packs in stock. They had them in many varieties, single packs, hanger boxes, and value packs. I went with the value pack. 36 cards for $4.99.

It ended up being a really underwhelming pack of cards.
Derek Jeter makes an appearance in series 2 on the New York Yankees team card.

 The other team card I got was of the Miami Marlins.

Five players with their new teams showed up in this pack. Dee Gordon with the Miami Marlins, Jimmy Rollins with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tyler Clippard with the Oakland A's, Brandon McCarthy with the New York Yankees, and Brennan Boesch with the Cincinnati Reds.

          

                                                                              

 

A couple of cards with the rookie card insignia appeared, Brett Bochy and Jung Ho Kang.

       

Even a future star/all-star rookie in Nick Castellanos.

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Here's current American League stolen base leader, Jose Altuve.

I did get one New York Met in this pack.

Interestingly enough, I had read about this Jon Niese card last week on the This Way to the Clubhouse blog.

Mark keenly observed that the Mets hadn't worn this particular jersey with a black cap since the 2011 season. Makes no sense for this image to show up on a 2015 baseball card.

As for the inserts in the pack, I pulled these 4 plus a game card. Comedian/actor, Kevin Hart wears the White Sox throwback while throwing out the first pitch. Topps celebrates Prince Fielder's first home run.

     

Matt Adams is acknowledged as being a Heart of the Order guy in this new subset.

As Night Owl pointed out,

Topps did an excellent job of making bats look like loaves of bread in a deli.

I think an appropriate name for this new set should be Hearth of the Order.

Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith gets a card commemorating him breaking the assists record in 1994.

Finally, I got a Call Your Shot game card. I pulled one of these in a series one pack several months ago and still haven't scratched it.

I like the look of this set a lot. Just not sure I want to buy enough of it to complete a full set.

A Trade with The Angels, in Order

Tom from The Angels, in Order sent me a nice stack of cards today.

Inside was what appeared to be a complete team set of the 2007 Tennessee Smokies, the Chicago Cubs AA affiliate. Lots of Major Leaguer's were in this set.
The manager, Pat Listach, a former American League Rookie of the Year with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Current New York Met, Jerry Blevins, whom the Mets traded for from the Washington Nationals this past spring, was also in this set.

When I got to these next 2 cards, which were back-to-back in the pile, I muttered to myself "oh, man!" and a bit louder at the second one.

In December I attended Sam Fuld's SLAM Diabetes whiffle ball tournament in Tampa, Florida. Several baseball players were involved and were all easily accessible for autographs. Unfortunately, I didn't have a card of Sam, but now I do, so if he continues his event in the Tampa Bay area, I hope to attend and have him sign this for me.
I saw Jake Fox many times throughout the spring when I'd see the Blue Jays play. Never had a card of him either.

Tom also helped with some sets that I'm trying to complete.
My 1985 Topps set is now finished as he supplied the lone missing card of Bob Boone.

I'm a bit closer to completing the 1991 Leaf series 2 set with the addition of Dave Winfield.

These three 1983 Topps cards now leave me with just one remaining before I can call this set complete.

Thanks for the cards, Tom. I will send you some cards in return very soon.

22-Card Pack of 2015 Bowman

It's been a couple of weeks since I've opened a pack of cards. Though, it's not for a lack of trying. I go to Target a lot, twice this week, and I just haven't found anything I'd like to own. Sure, they have a decent selection, but I'm so picky, it's cards I just have zero interest in.
Last night I went to Walmart and found the 22-card packs of Bowman, something that 2 different Targets didn't seem to carry in my visits this week.
I like Bowman because of their diversity with established players and prospects.
I did get several cards of players I've never had cards of, so that was nice.
Not much for highlights in this pack. I got a mini card of Blue Jays prospect, Jeff Hoffman.

However, the best part of this pack was getting 3 Mets cards.

Unfortunately, 2 of these Mets have been on the disabled list for quite a while.
David Wright was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and there's no timetable for his return.
Jhoan Urena is on the St. Lucie Mets Roster, but injured himself swinging back in May. I've seen St. Lucie play in 3 different series this season and he hasn't traveled to any of them. I already had that Bowman card and have been bringing it with me to each game, hoping he'd be activated.
Steven Matz appears to be the next big pitching prospect to emerge for the Mets. He's currently in AAA, but expected to be called up real soon.
This card was a nice surprise. A purple parallel numbered 036/250.

The cards I don't need will soon be added to my tradelist page, as well as my Zistle.

Cards from Bob Walk the Plank

Matt from Bob Walk the Plank reached out to me recently and said he had some Mets cards to send my way. Never turning my back from free cards, I quickly gave him my home address and eagerly waited for the cards to arrive.

Liked them, I did. Five Mets cards, all completely new to my collection.

I really like the Travis d'Arnaud autographed card. I just met him a couple of weeks ago while he was on a rehab assignment with the St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League. That is definitely his signature.

I'll have to dig through my collection to send something back to Matt as appreciation for these cards. Look for an envelope from me soon, Matt.

2015 Florida State League Top Prospects

This week the Florida State League released their Top Prospects Commemorative Trading Card Set. These sets are fun to look at now, and also to look back on in a few years just to see how these players eventually turned out.

Here's the entire 25 card set (24 players + 1 checklist). No numbers on the backs of the cards, but this is the order that they came in.

Alex Reyes (Palm Beach Cardinals) - #3 rated prospect by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Grayson Greiner (Lakeland Flying Tigers) - #7 rated prospect by the Detroit Tigers.
Nick Travieso (Daytona Tortugas) - #5 rated prospect by the Cincinnati Reds.
Matt Imhof (Clearwater Threshers) - #7 rated prospect by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rob Kaminsky (Palm Beach Cardinals) - #4 rated prospect by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Amed Rosario (St. Lucie Mets) - #6 rated prospect by the New York Mets. I saw St. Lucie play today and got Amed to sign this card for me after the game.

Brian Anderson (Jupiter Hammerheads) - #9 rated prospect by the Miami Marlins.

Willy Adames (Charlotte Stone Crabs) - #3 rated prospect by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Dawel Lugo (Dunedin Blue Jays) - #15 rated prospect by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ian Clarkin (Tampa Yankees) - #6 rated prospect by the New York Yankees.

Victor Roache (Brevard County Manatees) - #13 rated prospect by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Kohl Stewart (Fort Myers Miracle) - #6 rated prospect by the Minnesota Twins.

Michael Conforto (St. Lucie Mets) - #4 rated prospect by the New York Mets.

Clint Coulter (Brevard County Manatees) - #4 rated prospect by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chih-Wei Hu (Fort Myers Miracle) - #22 rated prospect by the Minnesota Twins.

Mitch Nay (Dunedin Blue Jays) - #8 rated prospect by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kevin Ziomek (Lakeland Flying Tigers) - #4 rated prospect by the Detroit Tigers.

J.P. Crawford (Clearwater Threshers) - #1 rated prospect by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Phillip Ervin (Daytona Tortugas) - #8 rated prospect by the Cincinnati Reds.

Avery Romero (Jupiter Hammerheads) - #4 rated prospect by the Miami Marlins.

Rookie Davis (Tampa Yankees) - #23 rated prospect by the New York Yankees.

Reese McGuire (Bradenton Marauders) - #5 rated prospect by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Austin Meadows (Bradenton Marauders) - #4 rated prospect by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ryne Stanek (Charlotte Stone Crabs) - #18 rated prospect by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Overall, it's a nice set with great photography. All but one seem to be live action shots.

I can't wait to revisit this set in a few years.