Pages

▼

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Big League Hits & Want List

To fuel my quest in building the 2020 Topps Big League set I took a different approach this year by purchasing five blasters. Yes, I'm aware I could have gone with two hobby boxes and come out, with any luck, a dozen or so cards away from a full set.

Yet, hobby boxes don't have purple parallels on the side of them that one can cut out.

Behold!
Is it me or is Topps really pushing Aquino this collecting season? Did you see the Reds have assigned him to the minor league facility for Spring Training 2.0?

While I'm on it, Aquino reminds A LOT of another hot rookie during the junk wax era who also hit a bunch of home runs in a short period. Here are the stat lines for comparison.

Maybe you can remember who I am referring to? Bonus if you can!

Back to Big League . . . Orange parallels come at a rate of one per pack, but five blue parallels, which are so eye-catching, accompany each blaster. Just another reason to go with blasters for the set build.
The Trout highlight card was probably my second best blue parallel. You may see the Mookie I pulled on a Dodger card blog in the future, but I would consider that to be the best of the 25 blues.

Let's take a break from the parallels so I can show off my favorite base card from this year's set.
I really enjoy cards showing a player getting doused with Gatorade or pied in the face during a post game interview. Sunflower seeds is one I haven't seen before!

Okay, back on the parallel train. Only one of the five blasters didn't contain a numbered card, so I'm call that a win in my book.
 The Bryant card is the big card out of this group. Oddly enough, I didn't pull a Kris Bryant base card though!
 Is there a Jesus Aguilar super collector out there?
 Perhaps a Red Sox fan would be interested in this one?
Again, this one is up for trade, too.

The foil parallels are serial numbered to 100. For what it's worth, the last one came from a hanger pack and not a blaster.

I was fortunate to pull a black and white parallel as well, which are numbered to 50.
Zack Greinke is a good dude, but this one doesn't really fit in my collection either. Any one up for a trade?

The blaster that had the Greinke black and white card also had an auto. It's not numbered, although it is a parallel. I wasn't expecting an auto as the odds are long on finding one.
I'm not sure what to do with this one either. I know a Tigers fan who also fancies catchers in gear. Hmm...

That's the end of the "hits" portion, but I have one more which I was more excited about than anything you've seen above. You can probably guess who it is. I am fairly predictable after all.
The Superstar Caricature inserts fall at a rate of one per every four packs and the checklist for this insert set is 30 players deep. I feel pretty lucky to have pulled this one for the player collection, but I still need another for my set build.

Speaking of which, my want list for everything Big League is located at the top of the blog as one of the tabs, but I've also linked it here so it's easy to access if you're on a mobile device.

If you have anything I need please send me an email to mrcoach00 at yahoo dot com and I'll see what I can do about sending you something back of equal value. Thanks in advance for the set help!

Have a great Independence Day weekend!
at

19 comments:

  1. acrackedbatJuly 2, 2020 at 5:33 PM

    Yes you do ;) I would love to trade for the auto! I like the purple until I spied the blue parallels. Those are sharp! You had some great luck too! Nice pull on the Bryant! Once I venture out, Big League will be on my Target shopping list. Thank you for thinking of me. I did pick up a small handful of packs while traveling last week. These were overpriced at $2.50 each but I wanted something for ride. I'll go through those this evening and see what I have for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gcrlJuly 2, 2020 at 5:35 PM

    That's got to be Kevin maas's line. The hr to rbi ratio of less than 1:2 is crazy. You are right about the blue borders - they look great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. acrackedbatJuly 2, 2020 at 5:49 PM

    me again. why wait? I have 12 base and 5 inserts. I'll email.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jeremya1umJuly 2, 2020 at 6:25 PM

    Those foil cards are nice looking. I haven’t found anything at Target or Wal-Mart and I don’t really want to make special trips to keep looking for cards. Maybe I’ll get some online.
    I kind of thought Topps was pushing that Yordan Alvarez guy from the Astros, but I have got a few cards of Aquino.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Swing And A Pop-upJuly 2, 2020 at 6:26 PM

    Without looking it up or looking at anybody else's comments I'm going to guess Kevin Maas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. John SharpJuly 2, 2020 at 6:27 PM

    My wife bought me a pack and I got the Verlander Cy Young Award card and the Orange variation. If there's another variation Of love to find it.

    Good Job!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jeff B - Wax Pack Wonders July 2, 2020 at 6:31 PM

    Agree with others on Kevin Maas. Sunflower seed celebration is a new one to me too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Lost CollectorJuly 2, 2020 at 8:02 PM

    The bryant base is already in the mail to you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nick VossbrinkJuly 2, 2020 at 11:03 PM

    Nicely done completing the blaster box card set. I'm a bit annoyed that the blaster prices doubled (yes the card counts doubled too) because it meant I can't justify getting 4 blasters anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  10. EmilyJuly 2, 2020 at 11:48 PM

    My first thought prior to getting to the statline (which made it obvious) was that it was going to be a reference to Kevin Maas. Really amazing how much staying power his half-season has had for people who grew up around that era, as I see him mentioned in this fashion several times per year (being near NYC certainly contributes to the dynamic, too).

    I would love to trade for the Zack Greinke card if it remains available. I have been meaning to send something your way for the cool card that you passed along prior to the pandemic, but, like so many things, it got lost in the shuffle due to the past few months being quite tough. I definitely have a few cards set aside that I think you would like if you did want to make a swap, though. I hope that you are doing well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P-town TomJuly 3, 2020 at 5:32 PM

      Yep, I'd be happy to send the Greinke your way. :)

      Delete
  11. FujiJuly 3, 2020 at 9:43 AM

    Of course I remember Maas. We had plastic boxes filled with his rookie cards in our display case at the card shop I worked at. He's a painful reminder of the downside to investing in rookie cards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P-town TomJuly 3, 2020 at 5:31 PM

      Paging Ty Griffin, Earl Cunningham and Gary Scott. (Cubs fans know what I'm talking about.)
      I feel your pan, Fuji.

      Delete
  12. NickJuly 3, 2020 at 3:02 PM

    I collect Jesus Aguilar for some reason, so if you still need a home for that foil parallel, I'd be glad to take it! As usual, I love the cutout cards, and glad you got all four! Still need the Harper and Trout out of the quartet myself.

    My dad picked up another Big League blaster for me, but I checked it against your want lists and came up with exactly ZERO cards you need, sadly. (The ones we emailed about went in the mail today, by the way!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P-town TomJuly 3, 2020 at 5:30 PM

      The Aguilar is yours! I'll set it aside for the next PWE I send your way.

      Delete
  13. Peter K SteinbergJuly 4, 2020 at 5:19 PM

    Awesome cards, Tom. Nice that you got so many good players. And getting the Vogelmonster caricature is sweeter than sweet. Congrats! Who is the player you referred to from 1990? I thought it was Hensley M but apparently not. I could (should) go look it up.

    ReplyDelete