The Favorites of 2017

About five weeks ago I challenged the card collecting portion of the blogosphere to a contest where they write a post unveiling their favorite card of 2017. Details of the contest can be found here. We went through the same exercise in 2016 and saw thirty-four blog posts in all. Last year the big winners were Topps Now and the Red Sox who each were selected five times. David Ortiz had his name called more than any player with three cards in all. What brand, team and player will come out on top in 2017?  

Read on to find out! 

To start things off, Tony Burbs, from Wrigley Roster Jenga, gives us a Top 10 Countdown, with the Sports Illustrated Ben Zobrist card coming in at #1. I love a good Top 10 Countdown!

 John’s Big League Baseball Blog’s favorite is the Justin Verlander SP variation from Stadium Club.

Everyone's choice for tastiest blog, Nachos Grande, pulled a Frank Thomas Archives Originals Certified Autograph card of Frank Thomas. Nice pull, Chris!

Gavin, from the always entertaining Baseball Card Breakdown, gives us our second Stadium Club entry: Billy Hamilton. Billy's so fast the camera couldn't keep up!

Paul, a fisherman and author of the newly named Scribbled Ink, gives a Ted Williams SP variation from Topps Update. What wonderful photo selection!

Rekindling the Cardboard Flame checks in with a superb Corey Kluber auto patch card from the Heritage High Series. Ketchupman36 pulled this from a retail hanger bought at Fred Meyer. Wow!

Matt, from Diamond Jesters, gives us our second SP variation from Stadium Club. I love that Hanley Ramirez is photobombing on this card. LOL

More Stadium Club from "the dean" of the baseball card collecting blogs, Greg. Most know him as Night Owl though and he chose this epic card of Tim Raines. 

Billy, the author of Cardboard History, gives us a sticker, but we'll count it! This "card" is from Panini's '17-'18 NBA set and is thought to be the first card highlighting the NBA's championship trophy.

Matt, the guy who may or may not be in a cardboard war with Wes, gives us our first Topps NOW card. Knowing Bob Walk the Plank, as we all do, it wasn't a surprise it was of a Pirate, but I was really pleased to find his card is of a former Peoria Chief also. Nice!

I really enjoy when we get something a little bit off the beaten path. Dave, the author of Japanese Baseball Cards, can usually be relied upon for such a card. 

This is card #18 of BBM's "Successful Achievement" box set, which highlights a sayonara home run from Tsubasa Aizawa, of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, to defeat the Baystars. I love the reactions of his teammates!

KBO Collections checks in with a card celebrating one of the more memorable moments of Lee Seung-yeop's career: a 3-run homer in 2002 to tie game six of the Korean Championship Series.

What's even cooler is that this card was a promotional giveaway at a game he attended in September of this year. Awesome!

Rob, from 1988 Topps, gives us three cards in a row which depict a baseball player not in a MLB uniform. I wish one of the card companies would have made a World Baseball Classic set, but the closest thing we got in 2017 were some random players in Bowman and some highlights from Topps NOW. Rob's card is this sensational catch from Adam Jones for the USA team.

If you have a second, then I would highly suggest clicking on the link above and reading Rob's description of the catch. It's magnificent!

Jason, the proprietor of Hoarding Cardboard, brings us back to Major League Baseball with a pink Topps Chrome refractor of Buster Posey. 

This next card was mentioned in a handful of posts around the blogs as being under consideration for their favorite card of the year. Tom, from Angels in Order, selected it as his. 

This Andrelton Simmons card is one of those rare flagship photos that really makes you go, "Wow!"

Roy-Z, the author of plain gray swatch, chosen a beautiful PNC ballpark  and skyline shot from Stadium Club. Oh, yeah, Jameson Taillon is in the photo as well. 

Collecting Cutch, gives a relic card x6. Yes, six! Panini's National Treasures cards are magnificent. 

Oh, and it is a one-of-one and is autographed. Crazy!

Peter, from Baseball Every Night, has chosen Michael Taylor's inside-the-park grand slam Topps NOW card. 

Peter's sister was at the game and they were texting back an forth throughout the contest. I love those personal moments that tie us to cardboard. 

Bru, from Remember the Astromdome, traded me my favorite card of 2017 and in his post he gives a Top 5 Countdown with some honorable mentions. 

His #1 card is George Springer's Topps NOW catch from the ALCS. 

Kin, from I Feel Like A Collector Again, gives us an Upper Deck Parkhurst and a pack-pulled Alex DeBrincat card. Meow.

A Saskatchewan-born baseball player? That's enough of a reason for Rosenort, a Saskatchewanian (?) and author of Condition Sensitive, to choose this Andrew Albers card from Heritage as his favorite of 2017.

Angus, from Dawg Day Cards, picks a running back the Dawg Pound surely adored. 

The above card is a press proof Donruss red parallel of Cleveland legend back Jim Brown. Very nice!

The hot stove this winter has been about as cold as the weather outside of all the Shohei Otani noise early in December. Laurens, the author of Card Buzz, busted a Bowman Mega Box and found this card waiting for him inside. 

Otani's career is going to be a fun follow!

Another Cubs card! Woo-Hoo! Trevor, from Bump and Run, gives us the Cubs' parade card from the Topps flagship Postseason Celebrations insert set.  

Next up we have Matt, from the very active Sport Card Collectors blog, and his favorite is this In The Name Letter Relics Patch from Topps flagship product, which is a 1-of-1 card of Edwin Encarnacion's All-Star Game workout jersey.

Douglas, another one of our blogging brethren from up north and author of Sportscards From The Dollar Store, has chosen P.K. Subban's card from Upper Deck Series 1. It features a non-game emotional moment from Subban's return to Montreal. Very nice!

I believe with this card Wrigley Wax puts the Cubs out in front as the most common team within our list of favorites so far. Paul is the longest tenured Cubs baseball card blogger I know of, so it's no surprise he would choose a card to highlight the end of the longest championship drought in sports history.

Henry just started his blog this past August and I'm hopeful this post will bring more followers to his corner of the blogosphere: Cardboard Greats. He's averaged a little over twenty posts a month and has some interesting posts covering his top five Trammel & Morris cards, 1981 Scratch Offs and his favorite releases of 2017. Speaking of which, his favorite card of 2017 is another one from Stadium Club, Brooks Robinson. 

Look at all of that glorious orange!

I'm in my third day of writing this post, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think Chris, from The Collector, has given us our first female on cardboard. 

This card is from the MLB Network insert set which Topps placed in its flagship product. Heidi Watney. Nice. 

If you're a fan of Aaron Judge, then you need to hit up this post by The Lost Collector. AJ tossed in every Topps NOW card he's acquired, including his favorite card of 2017.

More Cubs! Matt, the author of Once A Cub, has found his writing mojo once more and offered up this Jose Quintana card from Topps Update.

Turns out Matt was at this game with his sons, which was Quintana's Cubs debut. Love the personal connection!

Dime Boxes are Nick's forte and he comes across more great cardboard in one card show than what I'll see in a calendar year. So, I was really pleased when he tossed his hat in the ring. His post gives a look at his Top 10 Countdown. You should take a look if you haven't already. 

I'm glad this SP variation of Sandy Koufax from Topps got some love. It's a beautiful photograph and could look better on vintage. 

Huh. We've come across our first duplicate... and since I'm listing these by the time stamps in the comments of the contest post I find it very peculiar it's the exact same Koufax card we just saw. Crazy. cards as i see them is gcrl's new-ish blog and this was also his favorite card of 2017:

I still want to know if that's a camera in the front row of the bleachers or if that's a person. Either way, it's a card so nice it was chosen twice!

I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning. Great blog name. Tim found this SSP variation of Kris Bryant in a pack and then turned it into something even more phenomenal. 

You'll have to click on the above link to see for yourself!

Our next one comes From a 1980s Baseball Card Collector. DMA is another collector who also just started blogging back in August, and he has been posting nearly on a daily basis since then. According to the post, he only has 17 cards in his collection printed after 1994. Yep, I think he chose his blog name wisely! DMA has selected this Paul Goldschmidt Donruss card as his favorite of the year. 

The Chronicles of Fuji gives us an A&G mini framed auto of super-fan Krazy George. 

Krazy George, the self-proclaimed father of "The Wave",  is a Bay Area legend and one of Fuji's favorite memories from attending A's games in the early 1980's. More cardboard with personal connections!

Adam, from Infield Fly Rule, has chosen German Marquez' Topps NOW card. Adam, a Rockies fan, bought the card to commemorate the birth of his nephew. Again, another personal connection to card. Cool!

Dion's IP Autos only, gives an In Person autograph of his favorite Baltimore Raven, Justin Tucker, on a Panini Football card. I wouldn't expect anything less from Dion. Well done. 

SumoMenkoMan, the author of Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko, treats us to a card from one of the best mini insert sets from A&G ever... The Dudes.  Behold, the Japanese Sumo Dude!

I don't know if there is another card out there which matches a blogger more perfectly.  

Greg, from The Collective Mind, gives us another variation. Variations seem to be all over the place on this list. This one is of Bryce Harper and is an SP variation from Topps' Opening Day.

Lastly, Judson, the author of My Cardboard Habit, gives us a mini framed autograph card of ESPN anchor Sage Steele. Wow!

And just for good measure, here's my favorite card of the year from Topps Fire one more time. 

How about a quick summary of the cards chosen this year? We had thirty-four entries last year (thirty-five if you count my card) and we topped that by seven this year. Well done, folks!

For the record, of the ten Flagship cards and Inserts, there were only three inserts and three regular base cards. Four of the ten cards were variations. Wow, it was a big year for variations!

Now, on to the contest portion of this post.

Three times through the randomizer and we have:

Congratulations to Night Owl and Roy-Z on your first and last place victories, respectively.  Greg, I'll send you a blaster of 2018 Topps Series 1 when retail reaches my area. Roy, you'll be rewarded for your hard earned last place finish, as well. Not sure what I'll send you yet, but something is better than nothing. Right?

Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in this year's second annual Favorite Card Contest. I love having new blogging material to read and I also found a few new blogs to visit. It was a win-win for me as well!

Thanks again! We'll do it all again in December!