2018 Clubhouse: Houston Astros

51. José Altuve

52. Alex Bregman 

53. Carlos Correa

54. George Springer

55. Justin Verlander

Finally, my first perfect team set. Nobody to bump, nobody to add :)

Altuve and Springer are the auto subjects. Again, with these 5, any two picks would be solid.

I'm a sucker for orange and black so the black parallel works for me here.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 24

40. Daniel Murphy

205. Jason Castro

43. Adrian Beltre

53. Brandon Finnegan

149. Trea Turner

297. Justin Verlander

117. Matt Duffy

228. Raisel Iglesias

250. Matt Harvey

DT3. Jose Altuve - Dream Team

And here’s the final pack of our 2017 Pennant box. Seems pretty fitting for the final card of 2017 to be Jose Altuve considering it was his year. 

I’m trying to look at the designs objectively but it’s really hard for me not to be sick of seeing them after all this time. I know I was definitely more excited about the base design way back when than I am now. The lack of a team logo really sticks out to me. But overall I think it was successful enough calling back to the era.

I don’t know what 2018 has in store for me as far as fake card designing goes. I’ve actually put together a few cards for the Spirit base set but I’m not sure if I have the energy to do a full box break like I did this year. I’m sure I won’t just abandon everything, but I can’t really foresee what the future holds. Whatever it may be, I hope you stay interested.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 22

252. Dexter Fowler

140. Kolten Wong

229. Joc Pederson

136. John Jaso

98. Christian Yelich

122. Jerad Eickhoff

1. Jose Altuve

190. Masahiro Tanaka

113. Sam Dyson

TI10. Justin Verlander - The Incumbents

Welp, that Incumbents card is pretty wrong now. It sitting next to the Sam Dyson card really highlights how behind schedule I’ve been with this box. Maybe I should cut Topps some slack. (Nah.)

2017 SPIRIT BOX BREAK - PACK 6

127. Todd Frazier

102. Justin Verlander

210. Andrew Heaney

10. Alex Colome

38. Ender Inciarte

251. J.T. Realmuto

51. Jacoby Ellsbury

49. Curtis Granderson

258. Andrew Benintendi (RC)

G207. Jurickson Profar

N13. Hanley/Jose Ramirez - Namesakes

New insert here. I did a “Namesakes” insert way back in 2012, my first year blogging. Like then, this year’s version features 20 cards highlighting MLB combos sharing the same surname.  Here’s the checklist:

N1. Bradley - Jackie, Archie

N2. Cabrera - Miguel, MelkyN3. Davis - Wade, ChrisN4. Diaz - Almedys, EdwinN5. Gonzalez - Carlos, AdrianN6. Hernandez - Felix, CesarN7. Herrera - Kelvin, OdubelN8. Marte - Starling, KetelN9. Martinez - J.D., CarlosN10. Miller - Andrew, ShelbyN11. Murphy - Daniel, John RyanN12. Perez - Salvador, RobertoN13. Ramirez - Hanley, JoseN14. Ramos - Wilson, A.J.N15. Sanchez - Aaron, GaryN16. Santana - Carlos, DannyN17. Seager - Corey, KyleN18. Turner - Trea, JustinN19. Upton - Justin, MelvinN20. Wright - Steven, David

Some of them are siblings but for the most part it’s just random coincidence. I can’t wait until Rougned Odor’s younger brother Rougned gets called up. It’ll be even better than a Chris/Khris Davis card (which I opted against since Wade is more noteworthy than Khris.)

2014 Spirit Base: 451-460

#451 - Randall Delgado
Not a fan of Arizona's black jerseys or hats.

#452 - Craig Kimbrel
Since Delgado got the leaning forward/hanging arm pose that's Kimbrel's signature, here's a subdued post-save fist pump.

#453 - Matt Wieters
Since you won't find him on any Topps cards I figured it would be good to show a clear shot of his face. Maybe collectors outside of Baltimore will be able to remember what he looks like.

#454 - Craig Breslow
If you squint just right, his forearm looks like he has a huge chin.

#455 - Emilio Bonifacio
One of the most fun names to pronounce.

#456 - Jose Abreu
Well I guess he lived up to the hype.

#457 - Chris Heisey
Great shot with the hand-operated scoreboard in the background.

#458 - Danny Salazar
Salazar's had a decent 2014. Corey Kluber's emergence has probably tempered expectations for him a bit.

#459 - Drew Stubbs
Stubbs is having a bit of a comeback season, posting an OPS over .800 for the first time in his career.

#460 - Justin Verlander
Conversely, this is Verlander's worst season since he became an elite pitcher. Who would've thought he'd be the 4th- or 5th-best starter on the Tigers before this season started?

Won Hundred

After I published my previous post, I noticed it was entry number 99. Which meant the following post would be my 100th of the blog. So instead of passing the milestone with another 2014 Spirit Base entry (which I'm sure you're all tired of by now), I decided to commemorate it with some relevant content. After searching for  a subject that revolved around the number 100, I saw the list of active pitchers with 100 career wins was right around the 20-player mark, which is right in the sweet spot for insert if you ask me. Then once I came up with the punny name, it was a no-brainer.

Even though pitcher wins as a stat is losing its relevance, it's still a nice sign of a pitcher's longevity and effectiveness to be able to stick around the league long enough to pile up Ws. And taking a look at the checklist, you'll see a mix of top-of-line aces as well as some guys that probably don't get their due as effective starting pitchers.

1. Tim Hudson
2. CC Sabathia
3. Mark Buehrle
4. Bartolo Colon
5. A.J. Burnett
6. Cliff Lee
7. John Lackey
8. Bronson Arroyo
9. Justin Verlander
10. Josh Beckett
11. Dan Haren
12. Kyle Lohse
13. Jake Peavy
14. Jered Weaver
15. Aaron Harang
16. Felix Hernandez
17. Zack Greinke
18. Ervin Santana
19. Jon Lester
20. Adam Wainwright
21. James Shields

For the front of the design, the big elements are 100 stacked above a big W, which works as a frame for the player cutout. The title 'Won Hundred' is wedged between them but since the players make it pretty unreadable, I have it tiled in the upper left corner. There's a circle in the bottom right corner for the team logo. Below that is the player name stamped in gold foil. Keeping with the '100' theme, each card is serial numbered to 100, stamped vertically in the left corner.

On the backside, there's an action photo filling the exaggerated W frame with the full 'Won Hundred' title and 100 unobscured to the right. With the name at an angle below, there's a brief write-up on the right along with a big bold wins total on the left.

Overall, the design is simple but with enough little details to keep it interested. I like the subdued color-palette as well as the asymmetry on both sides.

Thanks for taking the time to read any of the 100 posts I've made in the last 2+ years. Hopefully somewhere along the line I've done something to inspire you and whomever else may be out there in the card collecting/designing world. Let's see how the next 100 posts go.

No-Hit Club

I may be a few weeks late here, but since Matt Cain's perfect game, this insert has been kicking around in my mind. (Plus, how can I resist the opportunity to brag up a Giants milestone?) With the influx of no-nos the last few years, I think there's finally enough members of the No-Hit Club to warrant a full insert set. There are currently 22 active MLB pitchers who have tossed no-hitters (excluding the combined efforts by the Mariners this season and the Astros in 2003.)

The list includes some marquee guys like Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander (below) and Johan Santana, but it's mostly comprised of some second-to-even-lower-tier guys. I kinda like the idea of guys like Anibal Sanchez and Dallas Braden showing up in something other than base. Through their performance, I think they've earned it.

Design-wise, the front is team-colored with the full-color cut out, along with a "No-Hit Club" logo straight out of Ghostbusters. There's little bit of silver foil here just to keep them from looking low-grade. The back side has a brief write-up along with a celebration photo. The design is pretty clean and uncluttered and fits in very well with the rest of the Spirit line.

2012 Spirit - Artistry

Time for another insert! This round focuses on the elite pitchers of MLB, nine each from the NL and AL. Pitchers are often referred to as being 'artists' on the mound so I figured they'd be a great subject for a painting-like design. I know we've had UD Masterpieces and various iterations of Diamond Kings and National Chicle, but these seem to be a little bit different.

They're strictly digital 'paintings' so they retain a portion of photographic clarity. Through various blending modes, filters, image adjustments and plain old 'painting' in Photoshop, I arrived at what you see up there. I'm pretty happy with the results but mostly because I stopped at two. The card stock would be a matte-like feel, maybe even similar to UD Masterpieces but without the canvas texture. Player name and Spirit Artistry logo have a gold foil stamp.

For the backside of the card, the painting theme is applied via a picture frame border. Above some weathered-looking canvas is brief write-up about each player and their 'artistry,' I'm not much of a writer, so the copy is pretty standard stuff.

Here's the checklist for all 18 cards in the set:
1    Matt Cain
2    Chris Carpenter
3    Roy Hallady
4    Cole Hamels
5    Tim Hudson
6    Ian Kennedy
7    Clayton Kershaw
8    Cliff Lee
9    Tim Lincecum
10    Josh Beckett
11    Mark Buerhle
12    Felix Hernandez
13    Mariano Rivera
14    CC Sabathia
15    James Shields
16    Jose Valverde
17    Justin Verlander
18    Jered Weaver

Quite a few teams doubled-up (or even tripled-up) but I think it's pretty unavoidable when looking at the league's pitching staffs.