Delayed Opening Day

Every year, Topps Opening Day is my jam. I like it because it's affordable and a box will usually complete a set for me. So I get the fun of busting packs and the satisfaction of completing a set but without a big hassle. There are usually a few fun inserts, too. My yearly tradition is to pre-order a box and hold off on breaking it until MLB's Opening Day.

This year, I went a little bit different route. The hobby boxes I saw were more than I am used to paying and I was reluctant to open my wallet more, so I didn't buy a hobby box. Instead, I picked up two blasters. Two blasters cost less than one hobby and yielded 22% more cards, but there is more of a risk of duplicating cards when mixing two sources. I ordered with enough time to sit down and break some packs on Opening Day, especially since I was sitting at home all week after surgery, but some shipping snafu on the part of the seller meant that I didn't receive the cards until the following week. Major League Baseball delayed its Opening Day, and my annual "opening" day was delayed even further. One week after the season started, I finally got to open my Opening Day.

When I finally received my cards after the aforementioned shipping error, I was pleasantly surprised to see the seller had gifted me a few loose packs along with the blasters. I thought that was a nice gesture.

And I loved the sight of a fully stuffed box when I opened it up. None of these folded cardboard dividers holding six packs in place inside a mostly empty box. No sirree, this box was wall-to-wall packs!

My first 2022 baseball card was Jean Segura. It came from the loose packs because I decided to open those first. Now the question is whether or not I was able to complete the 220-card set from the 343 total cards in two blasters plus.

I've seen some 2022 Flagship on the blogs, but I haven't had any personally, so this is my first up-close look at the design. I have to admit that I like it more in person than I do on the screen. It's probably not my favorite of the last few years, but it's definitely not my least favorite. I love the Wisdom rookie cup. Max Scherzer in that all-blue Dodger alternate is jarring. But not as jarring as my first post-Cub cards of the traded trio on the bottom row.

Here are a few fun action shots from the base set. 

Mascots are the classic Opening Day insert. I don't collect mascot cards, but I always know that I'll pull some, and I can usually find someone who wants them in trade. I think I doubled up on all of these cards and Clark and the Parrot both came in both blasters and in the loose packs, so I have three each. I pulled seven mascots in each box and each box just happened to have the exact same seven.

I pulled one blue foil from each box. The Triple Play inserts are new this year. I pulled six of those over the course of two boxes. These are all the unique ones. That means that I pulled three Triple Plays in each box, and both boxes just happened to have the exact same three. I'm not going to collect the Triple Play set, but I am hanging on to one copy of the Vlad Jr. for my All-Star MVP collection and one copy of the Jose Abreu for my Rookie of the Year collection.

I always enjoy the Opening Day insert set. I like it this year, too. I like the transparent Opening Day font superimposed over the photo and the quintessential day-at-the-ballpark feel of the images. I pulled these five from each box, meaning that pulled the same five cards in each blaster and doubled up on all of them. If the collation had been better, I could have 10 of 15 cards already. As it stands, I don't know how much interest I have in tracking down the other ten of the set.

The insert set I am going to build is this Bomb Squad. My collation luck was better here, as I pulled 16 total cards and all were unique, putting me at 64% complete from the get-go. The checklist includes older legends, more recently retired players, and current sluggers.

I'd be more upset about the collation had I opened one single hobby box and had so many cards duplicated. I knew that might run into that problem by opening two separate boxes. What I didn't expect was to have two nearly identical boxes. I finished the break with 185/220 cards (84% complete). The big stat is that 96 of those 185 (52%) were doubled up. Yes, in two boxes over half of my base cards  and 45% of my inserts were duplicated. There was one major saving grace to help ease the pain of seeing doubles.

Beating the odds.

The odds of pulling a Dugout Peeks variation are 1:1,132 packs, or roughly 2 in every 3 cases. The thrill of a pull that is tougher than a case hit makes the whole break worthwhile. My past three years of Opening Day have brought a relic card, which is not guaranteed in an Opening Day box. I beat the odds again this year but did even better this time. 

With 35 base cards to go, I hope to complete the base set by the end of the year. As always, it was a fun break, even if it came a week late.

"Opening" Day 2021

My kids don't follow sports the way I do. They take a barely casual interest in it, once in a while asking me how the Jazz or D-Backs are doing, but they don't pay much attention to professional sports. They enjoy playing on their Little League teams, but that's about it. But they understand my obsession and little traditions, which led to this exchange with my oldest on April 1.

Me: "Do you know what today is?"

Son: "No. What?"

Me: "It's Opening Day!"

Son: "So are we going to go get some cards?"

My wife barely tolerates my collecting, so I have stopped trying to get the kids involved because it bothers her so much and they don't seem to care. But they do know the Opening Day tradition of cracking some baseball card packs. That is pretty much all they get of cards for the year. For me, Opening Day for baseball is "Opening" Day for a box of cards, sometimes the only box I'll get to break for the year. It certainly looks that way for this year, and I explained to my son that I didn't buy them any packs because cards are nowhere to be found right now.

But I did have my pre-ordered box of Topps Opening Day on hand for my opening.

I've seen Flagship going around on the blogs, and the consensus is that it's not Topps' best effort. I've seen pictures, but this is the first I've seen the design in hand. And I have to say that I don't hate it like expected. In fact, I kind of liked it as I sifted through the pile and sorted the set. The small name font didn't bother me like I thought it would (full disclosure: my eyesight is still nearly perfect, so you might have to give me a few more years to take issue with it). I think it's my favorite Flagship design since at least 2018, and maybe even longer. We'll see how my opinion evolves as time goes on.

There was one major beef I had with this box: for the first time in my tradition of opening Opening Day on Opening Day, the box did not yield a complete set. I'm still 13 cards away from the base set. I received only two dupes, so the reason I fell short of the base set was the number of inserts I pulled. The two dupes, for those interested in trading, are #26 (Brett Gardner) and #63 (Carlos Correa).

Even though I like the base design, I've already decided that I won't be buying any unopened packs of Flagship because I don't like the inserts. The Flagship inserts are too much of the same thing, regurgitating past designs and expecting me to chase them. Well, I won't. Inserts have typically been better in Opening Day, but this year, I was underwhelmed here too. Take this set: it's a good checklist and I considered building it, but the look of it is just "blah" to me. After sitting on the decision for a few days, I decided to keep Jackie, Willie, Ichiro, and Roger for my collection, but the rest are up for trade. Oh, and I pulled two Jackie Robinsons, so I have a copy available of that one, too.

Mascots are a yearly Opening Day staple, but I don't collect them. All of these are available, plus a few others that I didn't scan. And I have two copies of the Blue Jays' mascot, Ace.

The Opening Day insert is also a staple. Some years I chase it; some years I don't. It's a "no" this year. I also received a dupe of one of these cards (though I forget which one right now). That makes three insert doubles in the box, while I didn't even get my base set! All of these are up for trade  if anybody is interested.

Ahh, now here is the set that I want to complete. These five get me halfway there. I'd be interested in trading for the other five if you've got them available. I like the looks of this one and I like the commemoration of Opening Day achievements and not just the ballpark on that day. 

Of course, there is the annual blue foil parallel, which allegedly has a print run equal to the year, but is never serial-numbered as such. These cards look pretty good, but I'm not interested in any of these players, so all are up for trade here.

And for the third straight year, I beat the odds (1:228 this year) and pulled a relic.

So there's good and bad. I ended up liking the design way more than I expected. I pulled a non-guaranteed hit. But the inserts were somewhat uninspired and I ended up with insert dupes. Plus, the relic took up the space of three cards, so I think I would have preferred to get closer to the base set, which I didn't polish off in one box this year. But it's always a fun break and I've already received a trade offer on TCDB this morning that will net me six of the thirteen set needs. The other seven are posted on my Want List page. If you see something you want here, let me know and let's trade!

It Should Be a Holiday

Opening Day should be a national holiday.  It means ballparks, hot dogs, summer nights, and new hope.  For a Cubs fan like me, it always offers new hope.  This year, however, I don't plan on packing that hope away at the end of May.  So in honor of Opening Day, let's crack open a box of Topps Opening Day.

Full disclosure: My choice to break Opening Day wasn't influenced solely by the calendar.  Finances definitely played a part.  A funny thing happens when a new baby joins the family: budgets suddenly shrink, as if by magic.  And that is what happening to us right now.  Unfortunately, my card budget really has to be the first casualty, and that is a reality I accept.  As a result, 2016 baseball has been on the shelves for awhile now, and I have yet to buy anything.  I still wanted to put together a set for this year, but it was looking bleak.  Then I was checking out some cheapo deals at Dave and Adam's and found a box of Topps Opening Day for $25.  Based off of the number of cards in the box, I thought there was a good chance I would be able to complete this set with its abbreviated checklist.  So I pulled the trigger, and sure, enough, my set was complete, along with some inserts and trade bait--all at a price I can afford and the fun of ripping packs instead buying a hand-collated set on eBay.

This year's flagship has been slammed at length by card bloggers for its hazy borders and way-too-up-close shots.  I won't add too much critique, except for this card.

What is up with the pixelated photo?  That is the most egregious transgression with the set's design, in my opinion.  While it's not the best flagship I've seen, I certainly don't find it as agonizingly ugly as some of my fellow hobbyists.  In fact, some of the action shots are remarkable.  For example:

So for about 25 bucks I completed the base set.  Here is my Cubs team set (with one blue Opening Day parallel).  It includes my first Kyle Schwarber!  Here's hoping the Wrigley Kids can build on last year's success.

The inserts came exactly according to the odds. 

 The Superstar Celebrations set is kind of fun, but not spectacular.  Then again, none of the insert sets is spectacular.  I do like the Baltimore pie in the face, in memory of the banned celebratory practice.  I don't plan on putting this set together, so all are available except the Arrieta.

I like the idea of the Striking Distance set.  It's like a milestone set, but preemptive.  I can't decide if I would consider these cards more valuable at a future date if A)the player ends up reaching the milestone this year, or B)the player completely fails to accomplish it...ever.  The good part of me roots for all of these players to do well.  The slightly sadistic side wants a card of a milestone that never was.  All of these are available but the Pujols and the Ichiro.

 

These are probably the best-looking inserts, but again, they aren't spectacular.  Plus, these alternate uniforms are used so often that they don't seem out of the ordinary at all, making the whole concept rather blase.  The top row is not for trade.  Any of the rest are.

 

This is the insert set I've decided to chase.  It's not my favorite design.  In fact, it's barely interesting.  But I'm totally budget-collecting this, and I just happened to have pulled the guys that will probably be the most expensive.  With Trout, Harper, and Miggy out of the way, I can get those other eight and save a little dough in the process. 

The design on the Opening Day Stars is pretty good, actually.  But I was shocked at how thin the cardstock was.  I mean at 1:24 odds, I thought there would be much more to it than this.  Then I realized: these are stickers.  It makes a lot more sense now.  Both of these are up for trade.

Here are the blue Opening Day Parallels.  The honeycomb design has taken a lot of flak in the flagship, but I think these bright blue cards fare a bit better.  It's hard to see in the scan, but the date "April 4, 2016" is stamped in foil above the Opening Day logo.  These cards have a supposed print run of 2016, but there is no serial number stamped on them.  I read that Opening Day did the same thing last year.  From what I've read, the black "1/1" parallels have no serial number stamped, either.  Can anybody confirm this?  All of these are up for trade.

Bubble Trouble inserts fall one per box.  This is the "hit" of the box.  I get that this product is targeted toward kids (it will be the set I start my boys on next year), so I won't be too critical.  It does nothing for me, though.  Anybody want this one?

And last, but not least, Opening Day's iconic Mascot set.  I haven't decided what to do with these yet.  I don't especially want to hunt them all down, but my kids love mascots.  I think I'll just divvy these out to my boys and call it good.  Why don't these teams name their mascots, by the way?  I'm surprised that 4 of the 7 have no name other than "Mascot."

With 252 cards in the box, I completed the set and pulled 45 inserts and parallels. That leaves me with 7 duplicates.  They're available to whoever wants them.

For as inexpensive as this box was, I'm not complaining.  Sure, the inserts were cheap, but not much less than flagship's insert sets.  At least there are fewer superfluous sets to deal with.  I managed to complete a (smaller) set on the cheap.  My biggest beef is with the selection for the checklist.  Some major names were omitted.  Joe at the Shlabotnik Report points out:

"Here are some of the players who were left out in order to make room for Dellin Betances, Hanley Ramirez, Jacoby Ellsbury, Michael Pineda, Rick Porcello and four Yankees rookies:  Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel, MLB Home Run leader Chris Davis, Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, Nolan Arenado, Eric Hosmer, Brian Dozier, Chris Archer, Evan Longoria, Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto, Zack Greinke, Shelby Miller, Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier."

I understand that not everybody can be included.  But how does the reigning Cy Young Winner not make the grade?

Aside from the obvious imbalance in the checklist, this was a fun box with some impressive photography.  Well worth my time and money.