What Was I Thinking?

The last day of school before the holiday break, the average elementary school classroom teacher is bombarded with cards and gifts. Many of them these days are simply gift cards. Living in a double teacher household, there is a drawer in a kitchen that has a huge stack of them. My wife organizes them with some going towards specific days or events and others are just free to use whenever.

Earlier this week, I decided to use a Target gift card to buy a box of cards. The card aisle was completely stocked. I took a few minutes to soak in all of my choices, but decided to roll the dice on a box of Panini Capstone. It looked different and after all, I was not really paying for these cards.  

Not my actual box, but it stood out from the others. 

During that time, I could have easily taken out my phone and researched the product, but the fact that it was not one of the same five or six Topps products that have been lingering on the shelves for the past few months played a large role in my decision.  

Here is the base card.  

The scan does not show the card stock, but it's nice. That is what Capstone has going for it.  Card stock. The pictures are boring and the design is really lackluster. Is that Arial font?  

This card back is nothing special, but it might be better than the front of the card.  

So, here is the good news. I pulled an autograph and the design of that card is far superior than the rest of the cards in this product. Feels like a little throwback to the Pacific baseball cards with the crown theme in the background.  

Plus, Hoy Park is having an interesting off-season. He was on the Pirates at the end of last season. At some point he was traded to the Red Sox, who traded him to the Braves, who released him. Where will Hoy Park play next year?  Thinking I might need to see someone make a Red Sox and Braves cards of him.  

These are the "base cards" that I pulled out of my blaster.  What is the best card here?  

Personally, I like the Vidal Brujan card, because he was on the Durham Bulls the last two years. The answer is actually probably Bobby Witt.  The rest of these cards are going to get taped to the door of my classroom at school. Not even kidding. Might keep that Shane McClanahan card too. 

Blue parallels.  

No serial numbers, but the little Capstone logo is in the corner is blue. I like the Arenado, but just because it's an Arenado card. Not many other reasons to like the card.  

These are two other rarer parallels.  

The Trea Turner card has a gold Capstone logo, but again no serial number.  The Josiah Gray card is some sort of textured parallel.  You can see the raised squares in the scan.  This is actually a really nice card, not even being sarcastic. Seriously.  

I also pulled three insert cards.  

These two were decent.  Nice Wander Franco card to add to the collection.  

The last insert card is bizarre.  Here is the front.  

Let's talk. Card companies need to stop putting young, twenty-somethings on cards with Hall of Famers. These types of cards just rarely age well.  So, the front of the card is not that bad, considering Panini put Rickey Henderson on the same card as some random White Sox player. Which bring me to the back, which is a slippery slope of terrible.  

So, Rickey Henderson stole bases, but Luis Robert steals runs as a defender?

Did I read that correctly?  

Seems like a huge stretch.  

This whole box of cards was a huge stretch. I don't know what I was thinking.  

Bowman. Peanut Butter Patties. Shortbread.

During Girl Scout Cookie season, all of your family and work friends with girls in the scouts spend weeks pushing overpriced, five dollars boxes of cookies in your face telling you their daughter needs a badge. When you go to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon, because your wife forgot buy Italian parsley when she was at the store earlier in the week, you will get hounded again with $5 boxes of cookies. 

No matter how many different types of cookies are on the order sheet, or how many boxes are stacked up on the table, we all know that there are only a few Girl Scout Cookies that are worthy of the $5 sticker price. Will I pay $5 for a box of Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, or Caramel deLites? 

All day, every day. 

Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Peanut Butter Patties.  

All-time greats. 

We all know that there are some lesser Girl Scout cookie flavors. For starters, the Shortbread and Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies are dry, bland, and utterly unfit of their brand name. Why am I going to pay $5 for a peanut butter cookie that has the texture of a Triscuit cracker when I can spend the same amount of money to buy Nutter Butters, which taste better and are shaped like a peanut.  

Nobody is going to mistake Nutter Butters for Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax, but they are solid long-term player in the cookie world. Adam Wainwright, David Price, Don Newcombe, Nutter Butters. 

Bowman baseball cards are very much like Girl Scout Cookies.  

They came out recently and my social media feeds are now loaded with collectors pushing cards of 18 year-olds few have seen in person, but they swear on their best-friend's, brother's, college roommate's, nephew's, mother-in-law's grave that they found a card of a guy who is going to be a Hall of Famer within the next two decades. 

"Buy this card of the Angels A-Ball catcher! He's 18, but I know he's going to be a star! Just $200 shipped!" 

It's essentially the same sales pitch as the really mediocre Girl Scout Cookie flavors.  

As sure as there are Peanut Butter Patties, I am sure that some current Minor League baseball player will eventually go on to be a Hall of Famer. I am also certain, as a person who ate one of those Lemon Girl Scout Cookies last year because my daughter (not a girl scout) wanted to try them, that many current Minor Leaguers will amount to little as a professional baseball player.  

I recently ran into a box of Bowman baseball cards. The $30 blaster boxes at Wal-Mart, not the $400 jumbo boxes at baseball card shops. Nobody needs to read a "What I Learned Sleeping In The Wooded Lot Behind My House" post on this blog.  

I thought it would be fun to look at some of the cards I pulled. I am not making any predictions outside of saying that I typically put together a Bowman set every year.  Afterwards, I put it in a box. I put the box in a closet. I ignore the box for five or six years.    

Let me start by saying, as a person who watches and follows Minor League baseball, I am slightly disappointed that Curtis Mead is not flying under the radar this year. After quietly following him from a far last year, I think he's for sure a Peanut Butter Patty, Caramel deLite, or Thin Mint. Curtis has more pop than Wander, naturally more strikeouts, but he hits for a high average and is on-base all the time. I hate how much his cards cost and I don't want to be your friend if you have bought one of these cards off of Ebay for more than $300.  

Go away.  

Back to baseball cards. 

Cookies too.  

Bowman is geared for young players, but I am still going to mention some old guys. 

Albert and Yadi are definitely Peanut Butter Patty kind of players.  

I love that Bowman has a set of 100 veteran players taking up space in their packs. Who buys Bowman cards for the veterans? Even if they are high-end Girl Scout Cookie worthy, they are just pack filler.  

Next up, not a peanut butter patty player. If you are reading this blog and it's after 2037, feel free to make fun of me or giving me a high-five for calling any of these prospect cards correctly.  

Last year's first overall draft selection, Henry Davis. He's been very good playing down the road in Greensboro. It's not the Majors, but it is one of the best low-Minor League parks around. Henry is going to be a solid Major League player. I am going to guess he's a Caramel DeLight.  

I also pulled a rookie card of former Durham Bulls shortstop, Wander Franco.  

A lot of people think Wander is a Peanut Butter Patty kind of player.  I hope they're right. Personally, I agree with the take, but I will add that I think he's a Thin Mint or Caramel deLight at worst.  

Wander is a high basement, high ceiling player.  

Here is the back of the card.  

There is no mention of the Durham Bulls, but Wander does love Instagram.  

Although, Wander does not drive a sports car. He has a Mercedes SUV. It's in every picture on his account that features a car. He parked it in the wrong parking spot last year and the Rays players moved it onto one of the practice fields at Spring Training.  

Hazing people at work is such a Shortbread cookie sort of move.  

Next up, Juan Yepez.  

I am excited to see Juan get a new baseball card. It's been a few years since he got a Braves prospect card, so a Cardinals rookie card is a welcome site. For the love of the Cardinals offense, I hope he's at least a Thin Mint. The team's offense is on a bigger struggle bus than a table full of Boy Scout Popcorn.  

Gross.  

Spencer Torkelson.  Definitely a thin mint, maybe even a Caramel deLite.  

Former NC State catcher, Luca Tresh. He's off to a surprising start in the Minors. I would love to say that Luca Tresh would be some prime grade Girl Scout Cookie, but I am not sure. Seems like the type of player who might be destined for a role as a utility player. Maybe one of those Keebler knock-offs.  I will go with Coconut Dreams.  

Next up, Vidal Brujan.  

What is the flashiest Girl Scout Cookie that may or may not disappoint?  

Maybe one of those gluten Girl School Cookies?  

Those are hip and trendy. Some gluten-free food is good, some gluten-free food is bad. 

Is Vidal Brujan a good player? 

Maybe.  

Are the Toffee-Tastic cookies good cookies?  

Maybe.

It's Opening Day

It's Opening Day.  

I am not sure how excited I should be for the Cardinals or Durham Bulls this year, but it is always nice to have baseball to watch. To celebrate, I ventured to the local Wally World and found a pair of Opening Day boxes. After the dearth of current year cards posted on my blog over the past two years, I thought it would be fun to open a few packs for a change.    

This is the design of this year's Topps flagship set, as well as the Opening Day set. 

That little logo in the bottom corner is the only thing that separates the two sets.  

I do not want to get into the design with Opening Day too much. At some point I will post some of the cards I have pulled out of packs of Topps Series 1.  I will wait until that post to be more opinionated about the design and appearance of these cards. For this post, I am going to post some scans of the insert cards that make Opening Day unique.  

Yes, I did land a copy of Wander Franco's rookie card out of one of the packs of Opening Day.  

I had thought about doing some sort of Wander Franco rookie card count as the year went along. 

It might need some work.  

On to the Opening Day cards.  

This is the first insert, which shows the Opening Day from 2021 for each of the teams. I pulled 9 cards out of two boxes.  My favorite two cards here are the Tigers and Red Sox, which are in the bottom row.  

I like the snow on the Tigers card.  

Opening Day also has mascot cards. These are the highlight of the Opening Day set, right?  Seems like one of the bright spots that collectors frequently talk about with this product.  I pulled a total of 15 cards from my Opening Day packs.  

Orbit is easily the best mascot here.  Sorry, Fredbird, but any mascot who trolls J.P. Arenciba is quality in my book. I have a funny story about his wife, who is some famous country singer, but that's for a different post.  Here is some of Orbit's quality work with J.P. 

Here is the second set of mascot cards.  

Billy the Marlin is great, but I will go with the Pirate Parrot as the best card in this group of mascots. Can you think of another mascot who was found guilty of selling Joaquin Andujar and Keith Hernandez cocaine? 

The Pirates have updated the mascot costume over the last 30 to 40 years. That's honestly too bad.  

Are those the same legs as Big Bird?

Next up are these perforated cards. I pulled a total of six cards in two boxes. In retrospect, this was not the best way to present these cards, but I am not going to go back and rescan all of these cards.  I feel like some of these trios are a little questionable.  

The Blue Jays had the Cy Young Award winner last year in Robbie Ray, but he did not get a place on their card? 

On the Dodgers card, there are about five players that could be substituted for Bellinger.  

Verdugo deserves to be on as few baseball cards as possible. He had some questionable behavior as a Minor Leaguer. Questionable, like police investigation.  I don't boo, but I would boo Verdugo.  

The Padres card and the inclusion of Eric Hosmer was covered by Fuji over at San Jose Fuji.  He also posted cards from Opening Day.   

The last card with Acuna, Little Vlad, and Tatis is fine, although I prefer the team cards.  

Last group of cards.....

These home run themed cards are not very interesting cards.  

I am happy that Opening Day is here, not sure I can say the same thing the Opening Day baseball cards.  

I Just Want To Get Along

 Is this Wander Franco's rookie card?  

I would like to think so, but apparently it is just a Minor League card of him playing for the Durham Bulls.  In fact, none of Wander Franco's Durham Bulls cards are his rookie cards.  At least, that seems to be the consensus of many people online. The Durham Bulls Wander Franco's are just baseball cards of him playing for a really good baseball team.  

Recently, there has been some pretty intense debate around the land of baseball cards about Wander's Bowman's Best cards. By "pretty intense debate", I mean there are a bunch of grown-up, middle-aged guys fighting over what is and what is not a rookie card. If they were in the same room, there would have been punches thrown.  

What makes something a rookie card?  

Is it the player's first card?  

First card with that little RC logo?  

First card of the player in a Major League uniform? 

Anyway, I ended up with three different Wander Franco cards from the 2021 Bowman's Best set. Are these his rookie cards?  The important thing here is that they are cards of Wander Franco. 

First, this is his base card from the set. This might be his rookie card. Maybe it is not a rookie card. I just want to get along. 

Whether or not this is Wander's rookie card, this is not a very well designed baseball card. The background is incredibly busy. The Rays logo is fine, but what in the world is going on with the rest of the space here?  

There are two other better looking Wander Franco cards in the 2021 Bowman's Best set. Are these rookie cards? They cost a fraction of the base card. Leaning towards no.  

The second insert card.

That's all the Wander Franco's for today. It's nice to own a copy of his rookie card, or not.  

Don't argue in the comments.  

Wandering When This Would Happen

The Minor League Baseball season ended a month ago.  My local rooting interest, the Durham Bulls, had a successful season.  They had a talented roster full of good prospects.  There was not much in Triple A that they did not win this year.  Here is a quick recap:  

Southeast Division crown 🏆
Triple-A East title 🏆
Triple-A National champs 🏆
Final Stretch winners 🏆@MiLB's Best Team 🏆

The accolades just keep coming as we've been named the Best Team in MiLB for 2021!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) November 9, 2021

While the Bulls were successful on the field, I have felt slightly unsuccessful with collecting the cards of the players on this year's roster. Specifically, Wander Franco. All year long I have wanted just one card of Wander Franco on the Durham Bulls. That's it. One card of Wander Franco. I have sat here waiting patiently.  

After months of waiting, my wish has come true. Not only did Topps make a Wander Franco card, they ended up making a total of 5 different cards of the Rays shortstop for the Topps Heritage Minor League set. They are all really nice cards that I managed to pick up over the past two weeks.  

Let me run through the new cards starting with Wander's base card in this set.  

This is easily one of the best Durham Bulls cards that Topps has produced since they starting making the Pro Debut and Heritage Minor League sets. I love the blue and yellow border on the card along with the picture that they used.  The alternative home jerseys for the Bulls are great, but they have never been pictured on a Topps card. A great added bonus. The Bulls have been wearing them for several years.  THat Bull logo has a real vintage feel and I believe was created based on a logo the team used early in their history.  

Here is a better look at the front of the jersey with Anthony Banda.  

The back of the Wander Franco card does not mention much about the Durham Bulls, but considering this was probably written at the beginning of the baseball season, maybe even before that, I cannot really fault Topps for leaving it out the time he spent with the Bulls.  

I was curious about the 555 foot home run mentioned in the write-up.  Did a little searching around the internet.  I came up with a video, but 555 feet seems like an extraordinarily generous measurement.  Yes, it was a long home run, but 500 plus feet is pushing it.  It doesn't help that the video of slightly better quality than a UFO or Bigfoot video.  

Here are the other 4 cards with less commentary.  

This is from the Pack Cover Inserts.  The original 1972 Topps packs had the same wording at the top of the wax packs, but they had a drawing of a baseball player throwing the ball.  I like the look of this card, clean and simple.  

Next up is the Topps Venezuelan sticker.  This is actually a card that I got out of a pack at the local card shop that is now a few miles from my house.  The card shop needs its own post, but that's for a different day.  The scan is not miniature, but the card is definitely small.  Love the green border with the green scoreboard in the background.  I'd track down the specific home run here, but it's a busy Saturday morning.  

Next up is a Baseball Poster insert.  I like the borderless card with the nice close-in action shot of Wander fielding and throwing the ball.  Not sure about the text box at the bottom, but the picture more than makes up for it.  I guess for a product that is styled after a 1972 baseball card, the stylings of the name box are probably pretty spot on for that time period.  

The last card is actually in the base set.  It's my least favorite Wander Franco card in this set, but I still love the card.  Great action shot of him running while he's looking in towards home.  

Overall, I am happy that Topps finally got around to making a few cards of Wander Franco on the Durham Bulls. As a toolsy player, I also really like that Topps used photos of him hitting, fielding, and running.  I was honestly worried that they were going to skip his time with the team earlier in the year.