The MLB playoffs are upon us and the Atlanta Braves find themselves right in the thick of the action. They won their 19th Division Title this year. And while it never gets old, I always harken back to the first one I remember in 1991. They won a couple before that, in 1969 and 1982, but I can’t really talk about either of those from experience.
The division title from 1991, which oddly enough was when the Braves were in the Western Division, was the capper of a worst to first turnaround that almost nobody was expecting. I was 14 years old and had spent most of my baseball youth watching the Braves lose 80+ games every year. I loved the game and loved the team. But I didn’t live and die with every game back then. I didn’t know any better because I didn’t expect to compete with the Darryl Strawberry’s, Ozzie Smith’s, Jose Canseco’s, and George Brett’s of the world.
For many years during my childhood, we only had one legitimate superstar in Dale Murphy. Murph was a fan favorite in Atlanta but was well liked throughout most of the league. A Dale Murphy poster in those baby blue uniforms was a kid from the south’s dream possession! Murphy was the big bat, the player on all the media material, the cover player for 1988 Donruss, and even a star in a milk commercial. He was also the player that we all pretended to be in the front yard in South Georgia.
But beyond Murphy, we relied on players like Gerald Perry, Bob Horner, Glenn Hubbard, Rafael Ramirez, and Bruce Benedict. And while I had my favorites among those players too, they weren’t perennial all-stars. Bob Horner hit four home runs in a game in 1986. Gerald Perry hit .300 and was an all-star in 1988. And Glenn Hubbard has one of the coolest baseball cards ever in 1984. But Dale Murphy was the only consistent star in Atlanta during the 80’s.
Then, things started to slowly change in the late 80’s. We had a couple of players coming up in the farm system that were about to change the course of history. We had a pitcher named Tom Glavine that chose baseball over hockey. There was a second baseman named Ron Gant that had a unique combination of speed and power. There was a left handed slugger named David Justice. And then there was a left handed pitcher drafted in 1988 named Steve Avery.
While our farm system was a big part of the surge that started in 1991, we also made some key trades and free agent signings along the way. We traded Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers in 1987 for a minor leaguer with a 5-10 record named John Smoltz. We signed veterans Terry Pendleton and Sid Bream in December of 1990. We signed Deion Sanders in January of 1991. And we traded for Otis Nixon in April of 1991. It was these moves that would turn a 65-97 team in 1990 into a 94-68 team in 1991. That record was good enough to win the West by 1 game.
That year was full of exciting and memorable moments. Deion Sanders played for both the Braves and Falcons during the season. Otis Nixon stole 72 bases. Ron Gant was a member of the 30/30 club. Tom Glavine won 20 games. Terry Pendleton was the 1991 NL MVP. And three Braves pitchers combined for a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in a 1-0 game.
But none of those highlights could prepare us for what would happen in the playoffs. First, we faced off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had the best record in the National League. The Pirates had three All-Stars in the outfield with Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, and Barry Bonds. Their lineup was scary. The series went 7 games and included three games that finished with scores of 1-0. The Braves won Games 6 and 7 to take the series and send Atlanta to their first World Series appearance. Steve Avery won the NLCS MVP and John Smoltz pitched a shutout in Game 7, capping off a 22 consecutive scoreless inning streak for the Pirates in the series. 1-0 games will even give a 14 year old gray hair! I still remember my mom wearing the shirt with Greg Olson jumping in Smoltz’s arms for years after that.
Of course, we all know what happened in the World Series that year. I’ve written about it here before. That World Series went 7 games and featured FIVE 1 run games and 3 extra inning games. Life was an absolute roller coaster for a a couple weeks at my house. We had 10-15 people over for every game and it was my indoctrination into sports tension. I still believe it is the greatest 7 game series in the history of baseball. It’s too painful to dredge up game by game again; but it still marks the beginning of one of the most epic playoff runs by one team in history.
We had several more unforgettable moments over that stretch of 14 consecutive division titles. The very next year was one of the most memorable moments in Braves history with the Sid Bream slide in Game 7 of the NLCS against those same pesky Pirates from the year before. We finally won our World Series in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians and their tremendous offensive lineup. We welcomed players like Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Javy López, Fred McGriff, Andres Gallaraga, and Andruw Jones over the years. We enjoyed the greatest announcers of my youth; Skip Carey and Pete Van Wieren. We sent Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Chipper, and Manager Bobby Cox to the Hall of Fame. It was truly an amazing time to be a Braves fan.
And here we are in 2019, about to embark on another playoff appearance. Though the players aren’t the same as they were when I was 14, the excitement from this season reminded me a lot of those glory days. Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies are exciting youngsters. Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson are the cagey veterans. Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Dallas Kuechel, and Mike Foltynewicz lock down the rotation. Austin Riley provides some rookie pop. Nick Markakis is the calming force. Brian McCann is the fiery catcher. Dansby Swanson is the slick shortstop. Then the bench reminds me of the depth we had with Lonnie Smith, Vinny Castilla, Francisco Cabrera, and Deion Sanders. And lastly, Brian Snitker is channeling his inner Bobby Cox.
I’m hoping for a deep run to the World Series, as is the rest of Braves Country. We have our work cut out for us with a hot St. Louis Cardinals team in the NLDS. If we make it past them, we will either run into the best record in the National League with the Dodgers, Milwaukee, or possibly our old division nemesis, the Washington Nationals. The American League is stacked with the Astros, Yankees, Rays, Athletics, and….wait for it….those old Minnesota Twins that we faced way back in 1991. In a dream scenario, we would get another crack at them and slay the dragon of the past. I could fully heal and move on from one of the biggest heartbreaks of my childhood. And I could finally get @junkwaxtwins off my back!
Let’s Go Braves! Chop On!
J-Dub
Here is an old tiny softball field. This is actually still in use, though it looks pretty worn. This is the first softball field I ever played on. This is where I played 2nd base and my friend “Buggy” played SS. I haven’t seen Buggy since about 8th grade but that is the one player I always remember when I think of this field. Our high school played football just beyond left field and I always wanted to hit a softball onto that field. I never did but it’s weird when I go back now to see just how small a feat it would’ve been. I could probably hit a brick over that fence at this point in my life. It really puts a lot of things in perspective when I think about my kids and what they can’t do for themselves just yet. Yeah, this little softball field makes me think of how precious my kids are.
Here is a unique one. This looks like a green space that has some various decorations on it. But in reality, that fence used to be the front gate to my great grandmothers front porch. She had a big house that sat right behind that fence and we spent every Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas there with extended family. We played football, hunted Easter eggs, and took what seems like a million pictures in front of her big fancy bushes in our church duds. The house was moved several years ago after she passed away but when I ride by, I can still see it sitting there. I’d love to walk through that gate onto her screened in porch and swing one more time on her bench swing.
When you look at this one, you are probably thinking I’ve gone too far. How can this possibly be a photo that has any relevance? Well, this is the end of the paved road in front of my paternal grandparents home. They had a dirt driveway that went all the way around their house and you can see where it hit the road just in the left of this photo. We raced bicycles around the house every day of every summer and that transition from dirt to pavement was the start/finish line. My Uncle Greg usually won but he was about 10 years older than the rest of us. My little brother rode his bike as fast as he could toward the trees one time and slammed on his brakes to skid sideways. Only when he went into his skid, he fell off and cracked his head on the pavement. It was the second worst head injury that ever happened at that house, but I’ve written about the worst one before.
If this card doesn’t make you smile, then I don’t know what to do for you. Nolan Ryan in the old Astros uni!
We can talk more about modern cards of value at some point but for those returning to the hobby after a hiatus; I think the subject of “Junk Wax” is where we need to start. If you ever check the responses or mentions when Gary Vee posts about sports cards, many of them are along the lines of, “Are the cards from when I was a kid worth anything?” As collectors, we get this question quite regularly in our day to day lives. I am pretty sure that the entire world collected sports cards in the 80’s and 90’s, so when people find out that some of us still do it in 2019, the question presents itself in some form or fashion. A lot of people still have a box of cards from when they were a kid or a binder that has been sitting in a closet at their parents for 30 years. And trust me, most of us LOVE looking through those cards with you to see if you have something cool. So with the pumping up of the industry happening all around us, these questions deserve some examination.
First, let me offer an explanation of one of the terms that will be used here regularly. Most collectors know this already but as this might reach somebody new, the term “Junk Wax” refers to the cards we collected during the big boom of the industry from around 1986-1995. The time frame varies from collector to collector but it is referred to as “Junk” because it was so massively overproduced. There are still cases and cases of 1987 Topps sitting in a warehouse somewhere. I prefer to view “Junk Wax” as more of an endearing term that represents cards from my youth. It is sort of like “Dad Bod” being somewhat derogatory but also embraced by society, both men and women alike, as a positive or cool thing.
With this in mind, when someone asks me if their cards from when they were a kid are worth anything, the answer is generally, “not likely”, but we now know that it is a little more complex than that. The ‘90 Donruss, ’88 Topps, ’91 Fleer, and ’92 Leaf sets of the world really have no tangible monetary value. But long time collectors aren’t just throwing those cards in the garbage either. That 1989 Gregg Jefferies Future Star was once a retirement piece that was set aside by the masses. It is now a .50 cent card that provides more nostalgic value than 90% of the cards on the market. When someone in the hobby mentions Gregg Jefferies, it is synonymous with “cards I collected as a kid.” If I pull one, it still goes in a toploader.
The truth, as it relates to monetary value, is that there are very few cards from that era that carry anything more than a $5 price tag. There are certainly exceptions but the advent of social media, eBay, and other selling sites, combined with what we know now about production numbers from that era, has transformed the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco, 1985 Topps Mark McGwire, 1990 Pro Set Emmitt Smith, and 1989 Hoops David Robinson cards into collection pieces that can be bought all day long for a few bucks. I won’t even get into an explanation of grading because the odds are; if you are finding the box in your childhood closet, those cards aren’t graded. We’ll save that discussion for another day.
We will touch on condition, however. What makes the vintage cards from the 50’s and 60’s so valuable is tied to scarcity and condition. So many of those cards were tossed away or used as play toys, the basic number of cards still in reasonable condition make those somewhat rare. In any collection, rare is good. By the late ‘80’s, we had learned to keep our cards in better condition because they could be worth something in the future. We used toploaders, binders, and screw-down holders to keep the highly sought after cards in “pretty good” condition. But “pretty good” condition isn’t good enough anymore. And 90% of our collections went into big cardboard boxes for posterity so “pretty good” might be generous.
That fact, combined with the printing errors (miscuts, off-center photos and borders) that are rather commonplace in sets from those days, there is still somewhat of a premium for cards that are in mint or pristine condition. For example, the Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck rookie from 1989 sells on eBay for about $30 if you still have it in a toploader or binder. If it is graded by one of the major companies, and certified as mint condition, it sells for about $450. Whatever your understanding of value is, that is a pretty self-explanatory comparison without having to go into the ins and outs of grading.
The average “big box of cards” sitting around the house collecting dust from your childhood likely won’t have the ’89 Upper Deck Griffey or ’86 Donruss Canseco in there. These were the cards we put aside for safekeeping and either sold when we were getting out of the hobby or traded them for other cards we thought were going to be valuable and ultimately wound up in the big box when the players didn’t pan out. I am envisioning those trades that involved the likes of Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Maas, and Phil Plantier. But who knows, you might get lucky and stumble on something you forgot was there.
Draft Pick Cards
1989 Upper Deck
Oddballs
Unique Photos
Pro Vision
Leaf Gold
Topps Gold
Gallery of Stars
All-Star Rookies
Errors
Mid-Late 80’s Fleer
1992 Bowman
1987 Topps
1989 Fleer Billy Ripken
Ken Griffey Jr.
Frank Thomas
When you ask the question, “Are my cards from my childhood worth anything”, the short answer is “no”, so long as you were a kid from 1980 to 2000. The longer and more accurate answer will take some sorting, research, and time. And what that really means is that there might be a few specific cards in a box of 5,000 that may be worth a few bucks. But that is only taking monetary value into consideration. When considering social and nostalgic value, you really can’t put a price on “Junk Wax”. There is still a great feeling that comes with finding a Gary Sheffield RC or a Juan Gonzalez Reverse Negative or a Nolan Ryan Triple Exposure card. This is where the value lies for cards in that era. When someone tells you they would take the cards but won’t pay a whole lot for them, they likely aren’t lying. The cards have value; they just aren’t worth a lot of money, if that makes sense.
One thing that I have most definitely learned over the last few years is that you can never have enough food in your house. This grocery cart represents the standard, “Daddy, we don’t have anything to eat” trip. G loves her Mac-n-Cheese, Juice, Goldfish, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Bug loves her Totino’s Pizza, Lunchables, Chips, and Mountain Dew. The Oatmeal Pies are Daddy’s treat. This cart of high quality sustenance will last about 3 days. Then I’ll be back for more. This doesn’t even count as part of the trips I make to actually buy legit meal food. I now understand what me and my brother put my parents though; we were boys and I ate everything you could put in front of me that wasn’t a green bean!
This wonderful place is like a fantasy land for me. I live about a half a mile from here and I can take off at a moments notice and my food problems at home are solved. I would estimate that in any given 30 day month, I spend 20 days here. In fact, I spend so much time here, I recently met a parent in FFA and the first thing she said was, “oh yeah, I see you at Publix all the time! Nice to formally meet you.” The cashiers know me by name, some have friended me on FaceBook, and the deli clerks know what I want before I ever order. The meat manager always gives me “the finger guns” when I walk by and the produce manager stops to catch up with me when I’m grazing the Granny Smith apples. I’m flattered at times, but sometimes embarrassed because I spend way too much time there.
Food has always been a very important part of my life. Unfortunately, I’m not as active as I once was, so my body has paid the price for my love of chicken-n-waffles. But while I battle occasionally with being unhappy with my waistline, I enjoy food far too much to turn my back on it and try to live off of salad or some sort of bread free diet. I’m certain that my poor diet choices will take me one day but I think I’d rather live 55 good years than 70 bad ones. I cut where I can but if I’m being honest, there are just some things I’ll never be able to cut; Oreos, Apple Pie, Reese’s, Pizza, to name a few.
A recent topic on Twitter has been the general pulse on non-licensed sports cards. This conversation led to an era in which I was able to enjoy two of my very favorite things together in the form of the Food Issue Baseball Card. During the 80’s and early part of the 90’s, the timeframe wasn’t dubbed “Junk Wax Era” just because of production numbers from Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Compounding the glut of cards on the market, everybody and their brother was producing them; from Kellogg’s to Purina to KMart to Pepsi. Some of these “oddball sets” were licensed and some weren’t. I don’t remember it being as big of a deal back then but the lack of logos is more than obvious today.
While there are some companies that are wading back into the oddball releases, they are much less common than back in the 80’s. Hanes just released a set of Michael Jordan Fleer cards to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of his partnership with the company. A pack of 5 cards could be found within a package of t-shirts or boxers at participating Wal-Mart’s and a few other big box stores. These cards don’t even feature Jordan in a sporting event and collectors were immediately clamoring for them on eBay; nobody more so than Ivan (
When I was a kid, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars were a huge afternoon snack for kids. They were easy to handle, tasted pretty decent, and didn’t have to be cooked. As was the case with many other products aimed at kids, they added a new dimension to their desirability when they released a 33 Card Baseball Set in 1986! They weren’t the first on the market but they were certainly my first. I still have a few of these in a binder but I recently picked up the whole set on eBay for a smooth $10.
The design is pretty memorable for a food issue and they had backing from one of the several licensed card manufacturers at the time, Topps, so we got the MLB Logos. It was very different from the flagship design so it had added collectibility with it also looking like a completely separate set. That Quaker Oats Yellow and Red remain very memorable to me. The set featured the collectible stars from that year and even doubled up on a couple of teams.
The backs aren’t too bad either. The red and blue are easy on the eyes and the back of the card has a basic grey stock. I wish there were more seasons outlined but that is the only complaint I have.
Doc was fresh on the scene and would be as dominant as anyone over the late 80’s. This guy was fun to watch!
Tony Gwynn was always one of my favorites but I’m not really in the minority on that. The Pads uniforms were not known as “good looking” but I do miss these old gems.
For many years, Murph was the only reason to tune in to the hapless Braves. I sure wish he had been around in the early 90’s to enjoy the good times.
The exact opposite of the Padres uniforms were those of the Expos. I can’t think of any reason you wouldn’t love these beauties. Raines was a legend on those teams!
Speaking of legends, there are two in this photo; Nolan Ryan and the Astros Jersey! I know he spent a good portion of his career with the Rangers but when it comes to cards, this is how I remember The Express.
The Wizard really was one of my favorites during this time. I’ve told the story many times about his rookie card being the first card I remember owning. I should’ve PC’d Ozzie!
The other Met I really liked was Strawberry. I’m conditioned to dislike the Mets but I made exceptions for Straw and Doc.
Donnie Baseball without the stache is always odd to me.
Speaking of Stache, “Chicken Man” always had a strong one in Boston!
No facial hair could compete with Eddie Murray though. After all these years, THIS is the card that I still vividly remember from this set. I loved this card when I was a kid.
Finally, the other Oriole on the checklist was the Iron Man himself. I’ve never met a Ripken card I didn’t like!
This was a pretty easy score for me. I love this set because it has a good design with fun colors, and the checklist is as solid as green oak. This is what oddball sets were meant to look like and the good folks at Quaker nailed it. I still think of this set when I pick up a box of Apple/Cinnamon Oatmeal or a Granola Bar. This set earns a strong “5”! What say you on the 1986 Quaker Set?
A running theme when I sit to watch my own film is one of chaos. An image I see over and over is me walking through a scene towards the camera in slow motion. But the action all around me is moving in real time or, in some cases, almost sped up a tick, making my movements even more sluggish. Sometimes I don’t care; I’m just moving along at what feels like a comfortable pace and everything else is detached from me and independent from my decisions. But sometimes I want to catch up with what’s happening around me but I just can’t seem to move fast enough. It can be a little exasperating.
Then there are moments when the chaos disappears and it looks almost as if I’m walking in space with stars and neon colored nebula around me. It’s very peaceful. It’s almost too peaceful; lonely and quiet. It is clear that the scene is being played out in my mind. It is the place I go to when the chaos has oppressed my thoughts and my vision. It’s a necessity but it doesn’t advance the main storyline, if that makes sense. None of this makes the same sense when I see it in word form as when I am watching the film, but maybe this is the part that was influenced by Guillermo del Toro, who knows. But this interstellar moment always comes when it feels like the bedlam from the previous scene has just about sapped the life out of me.
When I emerge from the galaxy segment, I’m back on the same road as before. But the chaos is gone; replaced now by ashes and rubble. It’s not a scene of despair as much as it feels almost like starting over. But I’m not starting with a blank slate; I’m starting with the remnants of what was destroyed before. I guess the imagery does seem a bit despondent or sorrowful but that’s just the natural order of the events that take place. I want to stay in this moment and breathe but I don’t like the feeling of my surroundings. I need to try and rebuild.
And that is where the chaos slowly begins to appear again, during the rebuild. I add things that are unnecessary because I hope to be this well-rounded and versatile person that can not just be a good person in general. I want to be the best husband, always giving my full attention to providing for my wife. I want to be the best father, being there for every moment of my children’s lives, and guiding them along their path. I want to give all I can to each of them, realizing that my best moments lay in the lives they create for themselves. I want to be a good friend to those who have been good to me. I want to be a good employee that goes to all of the extra-curricular activities and leaves blood, sweat, and tears at the office everyday.
There are a lot of things I want for my life. Some are selfless and some are selfish. I struggle to balance the two. How much do I do for myself, knowing that it sacrifices what I could be doing for someone else? It becomes an either/or very quickly and the consequences of any specific choice result in the previous chaos that led to the desolate road I am walking on now. If I’m selfish, I disregard the people in my life that are important to me. I feel anguish and disappointment in my decisions if they aren’t for “the greater good”. On the other hand, if I am selfless, I carry around bitter feelings because I think that I don’t matter to anyone. I carry around self doubt and emotions about my own worth.
This is when my life slows way down again and everything around me starts to speed up. I can see it and feel it but I think I’ll be able to handle it every time it starts again. I think I’ve learned something from the past and I’ll be able to prioritize and manage. But it’s always a trap. It always leaves me gasping for air and looking for a life raft. The scene that closes the movie is always the same. It’s very similar to the scene from “Shawshank Redemption” when Tim Robbins finally reaches freedom. The imagery is the same but the meaning is different. This is more about me reaching out and grasping for that next scene where things are peaceful and quiet. Because next time, I’ll surely get it right. Won’t I?
I remember the Nolan Ryan and Joe Montana triple exposure cards getting a lot of publicity. I really don’t remember too many people being excited about this Dean Biasucci double exposure.
I bought a box of Series 2 so it isn’t LOADED with all the stars but it has enough to make it worthwhile. I bought Series 2 for a specific reason, which will be revealed at the end. But this box did include 3 Super Bowl Champion Quarterbacks!
Bo and Barry were in Series 1 but I’ll take any box that produces a Herschel Walker and Rodney Hampton!
Jerry Rice headlines the wide receivers. A young Michael Irvin was coming off of a 20 catch rookie season but was about to explode!
Solid tight ends were hard to come by in the early 90’s in the sports card world but these 3 were very solid on the field.
Reggie White and Richard Dent! What more is there to say?
I was thrilled that LT was in Series 2 and Junior Seau was an added bonus!
Deion Sanders and Darrell Green were two of the fastest players in the league while Rod Woodson and Brian Jordan were two of the hardest hitters.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Emmitt Smith in a #25 jersey. I wonder who #22 was that year in the Pro Bowl? And how about a Marcus Dupree Card? Remember him from the 30 for 30, “The Best That Never Was”?
The Hall of Fame Inserts were not as appreciated when I was a kid as they are now. Big Earl makes an appearance!
I had totally forgotten about this insert set until ripping this box. I loved these back in the day! David Fulcher may have been the best defender on TSB. I also have Joey Browner as one of the most underrated NFL players in history.
The sackmasters got their own insert called Sack Attack. All of these guys were studs but look at that top row!!
The artist cards were big back in ’91. These were the NFL Leaders in various categories. Some of these were obvious, like Thurman Thomas with the most all-purpose yards and Barry Sanders most rushing. But I was stumped by Steve DeBerg so I had to read the back. He lead the league in QB Rating, if you can believe that!
Dream Team was one of my absolute favorite inserts in the baseball set because they were black and white. I did like these too but not quite as much. This is one of my favorite André Rison cards though.
More Art Cards! These were the Team MVP’s and I pulled the whole set in the box I ripped. Another Rison for the PC and the addition of Bo is always welcome. These are some great cards!
Here are the highly touted rookies from the ’91 class. Russell Maryland was the #1 overall pick in the draft. Ricky Waters May have had the best career of these players but I remember each of them for various reasons. Todd Marinovich was the Todd Van Poppel of the group.
Here is the reason I bought Series 2! The Brett Favre RC is the most valuable card in the set, though not very valuable on a monetary scale. I often think about what would have happened if the Falcons had kept him. Is Favre why we are cursed? Is it like The Bambino and the Sox or the Goat and the Cubs? Is it Favre for the Falcons?
I really enjoyed revisiting 1991 Score and there were some things I had forgotten about over the years. The Favre RC is a good pull but the inserts like Team MVP, League Leaders, and Dream Team make this set what it is. The base design is very much “Early 90’s” but the inserts were so much fun back then. At $10 or less, the price is so reasonable on these boxes, you really can’t pass them up! The only knock I have about the set is one I could have with the whole era. But when you study this checklist, it seems to stick out more than normal. The sets that were broken up into Series 1 and 2 completely eliminated your chances of pulling certain stars like Bo Jackson AND Jerry Rice in the same box. I don’t understand how the Series’ were truly split up when it comes to the veterans but I like the opportunity to pull anybody in the league when I open these boxes. For that reason, I have to give 1991 Score a “4” on the Dub-O-Meter. What say you?
There aren’t many “horizontal” cards but this Mattingly makes me wish there were more!
This Victor Robles is a cool photo with the glasses on the hat to give it a blue tint.
This Big Mac is an Artist Proof. I know I’ve seen this picture before!
The other half of the Bash Brothers is here as well. My Uncle Speedy pulled an autographed version of this card last week!
There are current players in the set, trust me. But I can easily get lost in these veteran player cards! Such a great image here!
There was no chance I would leave Bo out! If he gets pulled, he gets featured on this blog!
I’m not sure why some of the cards feature a colorful background other than artist choice I suppose. But this Ortiz is pretty sweet!
It’s always nice to add a new Chipper to the collection as well. I’d love to have the autographed version of this one!
Here is the first of your MLB Rookies of the Year. Ohtani was the American League representative.
And here is the National League ROY, Ronald Acuña. What a season this guy had!
This Hammerin’ Hank is one of the SP’s in the set. Classic photo!
Another SP is Jackie Robinson. One day, I’ll add some originals of Jackie but for now, this will have to do.
These are the Fat Pack Exclusives.
I’m not completely sold on the Heritage Inserts but I do love this Albies.
Another insert is the Hall of Fame cards. Nice to have a Jackson in the Halos uniform.
Masterpiece is an insert set that includes Black and White Images. These are ok but not my favorite cards.
Here is a Green Parallel numbered to 99. These are nice with a little added color.
The Blue Parallels are also numbered to 99. Eddie Murray is such an underrated player by today’s collectors.
Orange is the lowest numbered parallel I pulled. This Correa is numbered to 25.
Gallery includes box toppers, which can be found in the form of “Original” pieces. No such luck with this one but still a cool piece.
This is the base autograph. It looks just like the base card but with the added autograph sticker, and is not numbered.
This Green Parallel is numbered to 99!
And finally, The Big Hit! I mean, The Big Hurt! This bad boy is numbered 4/5 and is one of the sweetest baseball pulls of the year for me. This is an unbelievable addition to my collection!
So there you have 2018 Topps Gallery. I love the set but I’m afraid future boxes are going to be hard to find. My local Wal-Marts are already out and they don’t usually restock exclusives. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and certainly keep an eye out at other Wal-Marts. These can be found online but they are marked up on the secondary market, as usual. I like the various options you have and the exclusives that are found in each offering. The designs are the best of any set for me in 2018, excluding designs they have recycled from previous years. I found good value in the boxes I opened and this is certainly a base set I can get behind. I give it a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and will definitely be on the lookout for more!