2018 Clubhouse: Los Angeles Angels

61. Zack Cozart

62. Ian Kinsler

63. Shohei Ohtani (RC)

64. Andrelton Simmons

65. Mike Trout

Cozart and Kinsler are kinda iffy here but I thought they'd be good since they were new offseason acquisitions. I'd probably swap  Cozart out for Justin Upton if doing it at this point.

Mike Trout and Cozart are the auto subjects here. I figured adding Ohtani into the mix with Trout would be totally unfair

Here's the purple Ohtani as a consolation.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 11

202. Giancarlo Stanton

257. Adrian Gonzalez

221. Mike Trout

259. Archie Bradley

287. Ender Inciarte

238. Nomar Mazara

152. Paul Goldschmidt

262. Jaime Garcia

263. Adam Duvall

TI27. Evan Longoria - The Incumbents

This is a pretty solid pack as far as base cards go with three legitimate MVP candidates. Lots of red and blue, too.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 1

260. George Springer

59. Russell Martin

101. Trevor Story

29. David Dahl (RC)

214. Yulieski Gurriel (RC)

276. Andrew Benintendi (RC)

71. Jacob deGrom

35. Garrett Richards

169. Todd Frazier

TI13. Mike Trout - The Incumbents

Here’s pack one with the unveiling of the base design. As I’ve designed the Pennant brand through the years, I’ve tried to make it “retro” without being tied down to a specific era. That keeps me from having to find a way to put a new coat of paint on the same basic design, a la Topps’ Allen & Ginter. 

This year’s design has a few elements that callback to some classic card designs without outright aping a specific set. Homages to the 1960 and 1963 Topps designs are the most apparent. There are also some nods to the 1983 and 1984 sets as well. Mashing together those two decades creates something distinct from those particular areas.

I added a bit of grain along with a dull gray to mimic the pre-90s cardboard most of us grew up with. The Trout insert is a brilliant white, though, with a nicer paper stock used to make the insert cards a bit more “premium.”

It’s funny that I’ve been doing The Incumbents insert sets long enough that Mike Trout is now the longest-tenured member of the Angels. That’s pretty crazy. Almost as crazy as pulling three rookie cards in the first pack. I’m sure that won’t be the norm going forward. There will be some other surprises, though…

2017 Pennant Box Break

Coming soon— our next box break. 2017 Pennant, the retro set from Spirit Trading Cards. The wrapper design here gives you a bit of a preview of the base card design. Stay tuned…