MLB Playoff Rankings 2019

The 2019 MLB Postseason begins tomorrow night, and 10 teams have made the cut! For the past two years, I have ranked them by who I was going to root for, and offered my predictions. Last year, my predictions were perfect, and I gleefully watched the Boston Red Sox win another championship. Hopefully I'll do as well this year, even if the defending World Champions won't be participating again this time around.

Who I'll Be Rooting For

As a Red Sox fan, you can probably make an educated guess at who comes in last. Outside of my team, I usually will root for whichever team has gone the longest without a Championship. There are, of course, exceptions based on current rosters and special circumstances.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (NL West Champions - 30 year drought)

1989 Fleer - World Series #12 Dodger Blue World Champs

With 7 straight division titles, the Dodgers are the favorites to repeat as NL Champs. The reason I moved them up to my number one position is because I would hate to see them lose a third straight World Series. As someone who watched his favorite football team lose 4 straight Super Bowls, I can say honestly I wouldn't wish that kind of bad luck on anyone. It doesn't matter how much you dominate the regular season - without a title, the narrative is one of pity and sadness. The Dodgers have paid their dues. It's time for them to win one. Unfortunately, I don't think they will.
Prediction: Lose to the Houston Astros in the World Series

2. Washington Nationals (NL Wild Card - Never won in 50 years of existence)

2019 Topps #341 Nationals Park

Living in Virginia, the Nats are the closest I've got to a hometown team. They didn't skip a beat after losing Bryce Harper, with new face of the franchise Juan Soto leading the charge. This could be the surprise team of the postseason!
Prediction: Lose to the Dodgers in the NLDS

3. Milwaukee Brewers (NL Wild Card - Never won in 50 years of existence)

2019 Topps #79 Miller Park

The Brewers surprised us all last year with their postseason run, and after losing Yelich towards the end of the season, they're surprising us again. After half a decade without a title, and no World Series appearances since 1982, their fans are more than overdue. Alas, Yelich is one of those types of players that could carry a team, and losing him is going to be tough to overcome.
Prediction: Lose to the Washington Nationals in the NL Wild Card.

4. Minnesota Twins (AL Central Champions - 27 year drought)

1988 Fleer World Series #8 Kirby Puckett

There's an axiom about hitting getting you to the postseason, but you need pitching to win it. You can't slug your way to a title, so the Twins will need to find another gear to go far. That being said, the Twins/Yankees series is going to be insane! Bombs away!
Prediction: Lose to the New York Yankees in the ALDS

5. Atlanta Braves (NL East Champions - 23 year drought)

1996 Collector's Choice #395 Tom Glavine (WS)

I usually say that I'm OK with the Champions coming from any team that has gone longer than 20 years without a title. This applies to the Braves, but honestly, it doesn't feel like it, doesn't it? Their decade of dominance was really that long ago? Their run of postseasons was so huge I almost want to say it's not long enough yet. Still, I can't deny I'm excited to see what Ronald Acuna Jr could do in the spotlight this year!
Prediction: Lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS

6. Houston Astros (AL West Champions - 1 year drought)

2018 Topps Heritage
#169 Astros Celebrate Their Victory (WS)

Despite being so far down my list, they're my pick to win it all. They've assembled a team that can steamroll their way to another title. Verlander/Cole/Greinke is just flat out scary. Truth is, I like them. They have a fun team, with guys that are easy to root for. I also have a bit of a soft spot for them because I got a ball signed by a bunch of them years ago before they got good.
Prediction: Defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

7. Oakland Athletics (AL Wild Card - 29 year drought)

1990 Score #708 World Series Game 4 (WS)

I was all ready to put the Athletics at #5, right behind the Brewers in their rightful place of teams based on droughts. Truth is, the late 80's Athletics absolutely owned the Red Sox, always sweeping them in the postseason. That wound still hurts my friends. I'll make you a deal, Oakland: knock out the Yankees (if you play them), and all is forgiven.
Prediction: Lose to the Houston Astros in the ALDS.

8. St Louis Cardinals (NL Central Champions - 7 year drought)

2012 Topps Heritage
#148 St. Louis Cardinals (WS, HL)

The Cardinals remind me of the Red Sox - every few years they put together a fantastic run and show up in the World Series. If they do it again this year, they won't have to worry about facing the Red Sox again. Can Yadi lead them to one more title?
Prediction: Lose to the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS

9. Tampa Bay Rays (Never won in 21 years of existence)

2019 Topps #566 Tropicana Field

The Rays just flat out annoy me. It annoys me that they have no obvious strengths or weaknesses, but consistently complete to a point where you can't say they're playing over their heads. It annoys me that they never seem to make bad moves. The lack of fans in their ugly domed stadium annoys me. They are the mosquitoes of Major League Baseball. You swat at them and they just keep buzzing in your ear.
Prediction: Lose to the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card game

10. New York Yankees (AL East Champions - not a long enough drought)

2010 Topps - History of the World Series
#HWS25 Yankees

Did you know that if the Yankees fail to make the World Series, it will be the first time in their entire history the past century that they would have gone a whole decade (2010-2019) without playing in the Fall Classic? That should tell you everything you need to know about why people are sick of always seeing the Yankees.
Prediction: Lose to the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

So good luck to all the teams out there (except New York of course)! This is going to be a great postseason!

Wild Card
AL: Athletics over Rays
NL: Nationals over Brewers

Division Series
AL: Astros over Athletics
AL: Yankees over Twins
NL: Dodgers over Nationals
NL: Braves over Cardinals

Championship Series
AL: Astros over Yankees
NL: Dodgers over Braves

World Series
Astros over Dodgers

The Absolutely True Story Of A Contest Win

Daniel from It's Like Having My Own Card Shop celebrated 10 years of blogging over the summer. To celebrate, he held one of the most creative contests ever. To win, you had to flex your creative muscle and write on one of numerous topics. I managed to post 3 entries:

The Worst Card Ever Made

The Absolutely True Story Of Mike Perez

The Greatest Card Ever Made

My time-travel bending story about Mike Perez was one of 3 winners! (Oh, and you should seriously go check out the other two winners - they are over at Cards As I See Them and Baseball Cards Come To Life!) Daniel had 3 amazing prizes to give, and when the dust settled I received this beauty:

Another Hall of Fame player's rookie card gets added to the list! Daniel added some extra cards too. He managed to put a dent in my So Close! page:

The Baines was the last one needed for the 1990 Fleer All-Star Team insert set, and these six other cards mean I only need two more to complete the 1994 Post Cereal set (Mark Grace and Ken Griffey Jr if you were curious). Daniel also included some great Red Sox cards:

Lots of good stuff - Fleer Traditions, parallels, and even a serial numbered Mike Napoli! I also have to give a shou-tout for the Joe Hesketh card - he's a native Western New Yorker like me! Thanks Daniel!

Going back to that Eddie Murray rookie, I made a surprising realization as I was adding the card to my TCDB collection. I'm only 84 cards away from completing the 1978 Topps set! I knew I was up there, but never really realized how close I was! The Murray rookie is easily the main card from that set too, so I'm not even looking at any difficult needed cards either. I'm not ready to make this a high priority yet, but now that I know how close I am, it's definitely something I'll keep in the back of my mind with future trades and purchases. If anyone is interested, here's what's missing:

1 Lou Brock RB
9 Doug DeCinces
13 Art Howe RC
26 Richie Hebner
30 George Hendrick
38 Willie Montanez
40 Carl Yastrzemski AS
44 Toby Harrah
48 Don Baylor
58 Bob Forsch
65 Ken Singleton
67 Claudell Washington
72 Andre Dawson ASR
76 Steve Ontiveros
80 Ken Griffey Sr.
86 Dave Tomlin
108 Von Joshua
119 Denny Martinez
123 Manny Trillo
124 Dave Rozema RC, ASR
135 Ron Guidry
143 Keith Hernandez
148 Andre Thornton
150 Bobby Bonds
152 Ivan DeJesus RC
160 Jim Palmer AS
161 Bob Boone
167 Tim Foli
170 Lou Brock
171 Pat Zachry
181 Ken Forsch
191 Rodney Scott RC
226 Joe Ferguson
252 Steve Swisher
255 Jerry Reuss
262 Rudy May
267 Doug Ault ASR
283 Omar Moreno
291 Gary Ross
292 Gene Richards
298 Tony Armas
308 Jim Rooker
313 Andy Etchebarren
335 Bucky Dent
336 Steve Busby
339 Mario Guerrero
346 Larry Biittner
367 Rick Dempsey
370 Rusty Staub
375 Tommy John
380 Ted Simmons
381 Philadelphia Phillies TC, CL
403 Bud Harrelson
410 Bill Madlock
418 Tony Muser
419 Jerry Garvin RC, ASR
420 Greg Luzinski AS
427 Mario Soto RC
450 Tom Seaver
455 Bill Robinson
469 Rick Cerone
473 Bill Buckner
496 Jim Clancy RC
541 Larry Cox
550 John Mayberry
564 Mick Kelleher
570 Dave Kingman
575 Pat Dobson
585 Woodie Fryman
590 Bobby Murcer
591 George Zeber RC
605 Rick Rhoden
614 Joe Wallis
616 Pat Kelly
624 Gary Alexander ASR
627 Dave Johnson
635 Joe Rudi
660 Jason Thompson
671 Gary Lavelle
674 Ray Knight RC
680 Vida Blue
686 Gaylord Perry
688 George Mitterwald
712 Bobby Valentine

*****CONTEST PLUG*****

Next week is the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Week, and you know what that means! It's time to head over to Collecting Cutch and partake of his Save Second Base extravaganza! Check out this post now and predict who you think will hit the first double of the World Series! The prize is just awesome!

Repack Haiku #121 (Jesse Barfield)

As young child: I laughed

'Cause his name had "Barf" in it.

Now: solid respect

1987 Donruss #121 Jesse Barfield

Barfield was one of the all-time great defensive outfielders of his day. It would have been great if Statcast was around then to show exactly how powerful his arm was. He was pretty good offensively too.

Nothing More Needs To Be Said

Payday Pack - The Golden Mookie

Ever since I started doing my Payday Pack series, I've found that whenever I buy a pack, I will often create a draft with the cards I get and pick a top 3. That way if I want to use that pack as a post I have the rough skeleton in place. It also means I have drafts that just sit unfinished. This pack of Series 1 Topps has been sitting among my drafts since February. I'm actually surprised I didn't complete it and show it off considering the first place card I pulled.

Oh well, I'm showing it off now. It's always fun to look back on cards long forgotten and appreciate them anew!

3rd Place

2019 Topps - 1984 Topps
#T84-32 Robin Yount

You know you picked a good pack when you get a Hall of Fame player in a classic powder blue uniform on a design from your childhood - and it only gets 3rd place.

2nd Place

2019 Topps  #201 Marcus Semien

Marcus Semien is sneaky good. I only know this because he's one of those guys I seem to end up with on fantasy teams. He's Didi Gregorius without the "Look at me, I play for the Yankees" hype. I love card photos where the guy runs so hard his helmet flies off. Dude is just straight up flying!

1st Place

2019 Topps - Gold  #50 Mookie Betts

Like I said, I'm surprised I didn't show this off soon after pulling it from the pack! It's a serial numbered Mookie for goodness sake! What was I waiting for?

Other Contestants Not Appearing On Stage:
#206 Jaime Barria
#264 Avisail Garcia
#343 Sal Romano
#16 Charlie Blackmon
#311 Jake Bauers (RC)
#315 Duane Underwood Jr (RC)
#67 Danny Jansen (RC)
#43 Nick Burdi (RC)
#156 Luis Castillo
#306 Justus Sheffield (RC)
#341 Nationals Park
#12 Crackin' Jokes
#310 Javier Baez
#59 Zack Godley
#179 Jackie Bradley Jr
#335 Ervin Santana
#RA-25 High Five (Ronald Acuna Jr Superstar Highlights)
#TN-2 Shohei Ohtani (Topps Now insert)
#314 David Price (WS)
#6 Max Scherzer (LL)
#144 Jake Arrieta
#279 Rhys Hoskins
#199 Mike Clevinger
#158 Byron Buxton
#225 Yadier Molina
#41 Corey Seager
#152 Teoscar Hernandez
#259 Jonathan Schoop
#22 Adalberto Mondesi
#109 Michael Conforto
#224 Odubel Herrera

Repack Haiku #120 (Adrian Beltre)

Before Rangers deal,

Did anyone predict this?

Slam-dunk for the Hall

2018 Topps #254 Adrian Beltre

Time Travel Trading Update #34

"Although my goal is to get the oldest cards I can get, I reserve the right to keep a card. Who knows, I may get offered something I like too much to put back out on the trade floor. If that's the case, I may swap that card out with something comparable."

When I started this project in February of 2018, I listed a few self-imposed guidelines, including the one above. Although there have been many great cards that would have been awesome additions to my main collection, I haven't felt a strong need to pull any cards from the trade stack for my own personal benefit.

Recently, I was offered a trade on the TCDB that offered two cards that were on my want list. In return, he wanted the 1955 Topps Dick Hall and the 1968 Topps Game Steve Hargan. It was a tough choice, but ultimately I decide to do the trade. Not only will I be getting a Hall of Famer's rookie card, but I'll be completing a set as well. I'll discuss this trade in greater detail in another post.

To compensate, I decided to basically un-retire two cards that had previously been in the trade stack and pulled. In essence, I made a Time Travel trade with myself! The following cards are now available (again!) to the trade stack!

**********

 Besides these latest re-introductions, I did complete 3 more trades! I'll start with yet another trade from my own personal "Patron Saint of Time Travel Trading", Bo from Baseball Cards Come To Life! We completed our 6th Time Travel Trade and I ended up with:

**********

 
I also completed another trade on the TCDB with a guy named William. In a Time Travel Trading first, I actually got to pick the cards I got in return. He had a few vintage cards to choose from, and I narrowed in on these two:


Granted, they're not in the best shape. Still, I love the 1955 Bowman design, and the pictures are fantastic! Seriously, who wouldn't want a Minnie Minosa card?

**********

So...remember in my last update when I showed off that beautiful 1922 bird and wondered if I'll ever break the century mark? Well, the guy that traded the bird card to me took that as a personal challenge. That's right - he gave me the bird, again!


That my friends is a 1915 Church and Dwight card! I now have a 104 year old card in the trade stack! I've got to be honest with you, I don't know what I'm I'm going to do with all these old bird cards when this project ends!

You know the drill by now! Any of these fantastic cards can be yours! Just let me know in the comments or on the TCDB!

The Time Travel Trade Stack:

2018 Topps
#502 Xander Bogaerts

2017 Bowman
#12 Trea Turner

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#128 Tim Thomas

1998 Score
#68 Scott Rolen
#74 Mark McLemore

1994 Sportflics
#113 Pete Harnisch

1993 Classic Draft Picks (basketball)
#33 Will Flemons
#67 Bennie Seltzer

1992 Fleer Ultra
#594 Dave Righetti

1991 Upper Deck
#778 Dave Righetti

1990-91 Hoops (basketball)
#168 Glen Rice (RC)

1990 Upper Deck
#626 Frank Viola

1990 Pro Set - Theme Art (football)
#10 Super Bowl X Pittsburgh Steelers / Dallas Cowboys 

1989 Fleer
#29 Bob Welch

1989 Score
#495 Larry Parrish

1986 Topps
#5 Rose Special '75-'78
#6 Rose Special '79-'82
 #401 Fernando Valenzuela (Turn Back The Clock)

1985 Donruss #557
Mark Langston (RC)

1985 Topps
#694 Joe Carter

1982 Donruss
#NNO Checklist 545-653

1982 O-Pee-Chee E.T. The Extraterrestrial (non-sport)
#15 Among Elliott's Toys

1981 Topps 
#100 Rod Carew (AS) 
#210 Jim Palmer

1980 Topps
#2 Willie McCovey (HL)
#143 Bruce Bochte
#157 Willie Wilson
#290 Steve Garvey (AS)
#605 Terry Forster
#671 A's Future Stars

1979 Topps
#25 Steve Carlton
#130 Bob Watson
#214 Boston Red Sox (TC) 
#465 Reggie Smith
#680 Carlton Fisk (AS)
 
1978 Donruss KISS (2nd Series) (non-sport)
#99 Paul Stanley

1978 Topps
#295 Bill Lee
#373 Jim Willoughby
#424 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#482 Rick Miller
#706 Rookie 1st Baseman (Cage/Cox/Putnam/Revering) 

1976 Topps
#50 Fred Lynn (ASR)
#70 Roy Smalley/Roy Smalley Jr. (FS)
#78 Cecil Cooper
#118 Boston Red Sox (TC)
#193 '75 NL Home Run Leaders
#597 Rookie Pitchers (Aase/Kucek/LaCorte/Pazik)

1975 Topps
#310 '74 Victory Leaders
#378 Derrel Thomas
#402 Bob Tolan

1974 Topps
#38 Don Kessinger
#67 Tommy Helms
#107 Alex Johnson
#141 Pat Bourque
#158 Jack Billingham
#158 Jack Billingham
#227 Mike Lum 
#349 John Vukovich 
#372 Ken Reitz
#572 Enzo Hernandez
#638 Ken Sanders
#660 Larry Dierker

1974 Topps - Team Checklists
#NNO Montreal Expos

1974 Topps Traded
#458T Jim Ray
#496T Tom Murphy

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee (hockey)
#53 Richard Lemieux

1973 Topps
#18 Leroy Stanton
#29 Tony Taylor 
#30 Tug McGraw
#36 Steve Barber
#68 1972 Leading Firemen (Carroll/Lyle)
#75 Vada Pinson
#79 Jim Willoughby (RC)
#80 Tony Oliva
#85 Ted Simmons
#98 Dick Woodson
#99 Carl Taylor
#116 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#145 Bobby Bonds
#225 Albert Oliver
#230 Joe Morgan
#232 Ken Singleton
#240 Bobby Murcer
#258 Tommy John
#325 Boog Powell
#329 Ed Kranepool
#365 Rico Petrocelli
#368 Bill Buckner

1972-73 Topps (hockey)
#8 Stanley Cup Trophy

1972 Topps
#43 Rick Wise
#438 Maury Wills (IA)

1971 Topps
#16 Ken Singleton (RC)
#63 AL 1970 RBI Leaders (Howard/Conigliaro/Powell)
#71 AL 1970 Strikeout Leaders (McDowell/Lolich/Johnson)
#90 Joe Pepitone
#95 Luis Tiant
#105 Tony Conigliaro
#146 Ralph Houk (MGR)
#183 Gil Hodges (MGR)
#195 AL Playoffs Game 1 - Powell Muscles Twins!
#208 Billy Martin (MGR)
#270 Rico Carty
#328 World Series Game 2 - Bufird Goes 2-4 (WS)
#374 Clete Boyer
#374 Clete Boyer
#388 Al Oliver

1971 Topps (football)
#22 Ken Avery (RC)
#110 Floyd Little (AS)

1970 Fleer World Series
#1 1903 World Series Pirates vs Red Sox  

1970 Red Rose and Blue Ribbon North American Wildlife In Danger (non-sport)
#32 Polar Bear

1970 Topps
#47 Bob Miller
#390 Willie Davis

1969 Topps
#66 Orioles Rookies
#139 Andy Kosco
#182 Bill Rigney (MGR)

1969 Topps (football)
#73 Bennie McRae
#115 Randy Johnson
#154 Sam Baker
#175 Joe Morrison

1968 Topps
#4 1967 AL RBI Leaders (Yastrzemski/Killebrew/Robinson)
#7 1967 NL ERA Leaders (Niekro/Bunning/Short)
#44 Frank Kostro
#181 Jerry Zimmerman
#309 Ken Henderson
#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen
#449 Gene Oliver
#519 Jerry Stephenson 

1968 Topps (football)
#7 Earl Gros

1967 Philadelphia (football)
#109 New York Giants (TC)

1967 Topps
#366 Andy Kosco

1966 Topps
#154 Chuck Hiller

1966 Philadelphia (football)
#104 Rams vs. Browns

1965 Topps
#17 Johnny Romano
#27 Dick Bertell
#86 Les Narum
#87 Nelson Mathews
#108 Don Mincher
#111 Lee Thomas
#178 Dalton Jones
#307 Barry Latman

1965 Philadelphia (football)
#193 John Paluck

1964 Philadelphia (football)
#172 Ken Gray (RC)

1964 Topps
#18 Billy O'Dell
#45 Milt Pappas
#92 Steve Ridzik
#341 Jim Roland 

1964 Topps - Coins 
#7 Frank Malzone

1963 Topps
#155 Bill Stafford

1961 Topps
#32 Ray Sadecki
#38 Bob Lillis
#96 Billy O'Dell
#165 Gino Cimoli
#258 Jack Sanford
#267 Norm Siebern
#273b 4th Series Checklist
#399 Cliff Cook (RC) 

1960 Topps
#138 Art Mahaffey (RC, RS)
#186 Dave Sisler 
#289 Willie Jones

1959 Topps
#298 Tex Clevenger
#424 Ken Aspromonte
#424 Ken Aspromonte 

1959 Topps (football)
#80 Joe Perry

1958 Topps Zorro (non-sport)
#83 Rude Awakening

1957 Topps
#235 Tom Poholsky
#249 Dave Pope
#371 Bob Lennon
#406 Bob Hale

1956 Topps
#21 Joe Collins
#103 Willie Miranda (white back)
#156 Johnny Antonelli

1956 Topps Flags of the World (non-sport)
#70 Jordan

1955 Bowman
#25 Minnie Minoso
#208 Ed Fitzgerald

1954 Bowman
#16 Jim Wilson
#73 Don Mueller

1952 Bowman
#57 Clyde Vollmer

1938 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Tenth Series (J9-6) (non-sport)
#2 Black-throated Green Warbler

1922 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America Third Series (J7) (non-sport)
#7 Prothonotary Warbler

1915 Church & Dwight Useful Birds Of America First Series (J5)  (non-sport)
#1 Quail

The Time Travel Trading Project is simple in concept. I started out with a random pack of 2018 Topps Series 1 baseball cards. My aim was to trade every card in that pack for something older. Each card I receive in turn is then made available for trade, with the goal to get the oldest card I can get.

Number of trades completed: 43
Unique trading partners: 28

Number of cards mailed out: 131
Year of oldest card mailed out: 1956

Number of cards received: 294
Year of oldest card received: 1915

The Golden Sox Project (Nathan Eovaldi)

I was wasting time on the TCDB and figured I'd see if I can unload some base set doubles I had to someone that wanted them. This led me to a collector named Seth, and it turns out he happened to have a 2018 gold parallel I needed for my Golden Sox project! I put together a little package of base cards and inserts for him, which he accepted!

Eovaldi had a fantastic postseason for the Red Sox. He was the winning pitcher in both the 16-1 drubbing of the Yankees during Game 3 of the ALDS, as well as the 8-2 victory over Astros in Game 3 of the ALCS. However, he will forever live in Boston lore for his gutsy performance in Game 3 of the World Series. Scheduled to start Game 4, he instead came on in the 12 inning of the tie game and proceeded to throw 97 pitches all the way through to the 18th inning walk-off by Max Muncy. Despite taking the loss, he received a standing ovation from his teammates and was a key inspirational boost towards their World Series win. 

Seth also graciously gave me a few other cards I needed:

Thanks for the trade Seth!

My little project to collect all the gold parallels of the 2018 Red Sox is picking up a little steam! 3 down, 28 to go! If anyone has any they are willing to trade, let me know! You can check out this list on my Golden Sox Project page!

Repack Haiku #119 (Gary Gaetti)

Legendary Twin

Journeyman for later half

Hitless for Red Sox

1988 Donruss #194 Gary Gaetti

I don't like Gary Gaetti. It's probably unjustified, and after almost 20 years I'm sure I'm (to quote Roger Clemens) "misremembering" things. The last moments of Gaetti's career were spent as a member of the Red Sox. The Red Sox signed him April 2, just a few days before the season began. 5 games and 10 days later he was done. His April retirement left a bad taste in my mouth. Why sign in the first place? It just seemed like a jerk move to me, and I wish I knew who lost that last roster spot because of him. Again, I don't have any of the facts. He had his reasons, and it's not like the team was worse off because of it. I just never believed in quitting that soon without good reason.

First Impressions - 2019 Topps Archives

I've got to be honest here: When it comes to Archives, I genuinely don't care that Topps can't/won't match the cards exactly to the originals. I don't really care if the shading, color, or font is off (although I did find it fascinating that it so mind-boggling inconsistent this year!) As long as it's within the spirit of the original set, I'm cool with it.

Also, a fair warning: All my local Wally World had were the 7 packs plus 2 coins boxes. I could have just picked a couple of the packs and gone with a shorter list, but in the end I figured the inserts were all worth showing off.

#20 Duke Snider

The honor of the first card goes to the Silver Fox. This is part of the joy of Archives. Over 60 years after the move to Los Angeles, and we still get to pull Brooklyn Dodger cards!

#26 Justin Verlander
#104 Paul Goldschmidt
#197 Andrew Benintendi

First pack opened, and I get a Red Sox player! Good start!

#318 Kris Bryant (HL, SP)

This short-print threw me off a little, because it is glossy as opposed to the regular base set.

#232 Victor Robles
#242 Zack Cozart
#212 Robin Roberts

The 1993 cards are glossy too. I find that a bit weird, having one of the three tributes shinier than the rest.

#95 Hoyt Wilhelm
#64 Don Larsen
#7 Roberto Alomar

Here's a look at the back. I love the cartoons. Topps needs to bring back cartoons for the base set in the near future.

#142 Deion Sanders
#136 Ty Cobb

Here's a look at the back of the 1975 design. See? Cartoons!

#310 Mike Trout (AS, SP)

I'm thrilled that the base set's All-Star cards now reflect everyone who was chosen to play, but I miss the distinctive designs we used to get. This is one of the best Topps ever did.

#239 Willie McCovey
#231 Ralph Kiner

No cartoons for the back of the 1993 set. At least we get stat lines aplenty!

#31 Ramon Laureano (RC)
#100 Ronald Acuna Jr.
#186 George Kell
#177 Josh Donaldson
#174 George Springer (Silver parallel)

I thought this was just a normal base card at first glance, and didn't realize it was a silver parallel until I flipped it over and saw the serial number. See the slight hint of silver on the inside border? I hate it when it's not obvious. At least it's a star player!

#215 Tris Speaker
#264 Don Mattingly
#269 Bryse Wilson (RC)
#70 Jeimer Candelario
#30 Robinson Cano
#73 Andrew McCutchen
#152 Walker Buehler
#180 Manny Margot
#94FS-13 Willy Adames (1994 Topps Future Star insert)

Ah, the graphical overindulgence of 90's baseball cards! It was ugly then, it's still ugly now.

#221 Justus Sheffield (RC)
#285 David Ortiz

Big Papi! I'm surprised the story of his shooting has died down. There was some high level drama unfolding when the police were first investigating this. Was he the intended target or not?

#2 Patrick Corbin
#4 Michael Chavis (RC)
#133 Nick Senzel (RC)
#156 Blake Snell
#108 Catfish Hunter
#I-3 Ichiro (Ichiro Retrospective insert)

Has anyone other than maybe Jeter had so many insert sets dedicated purely to one player? This is at least the 3rd that I'm aware of.

#289 Sammy Sosa

Interesting choice here. Sammy as a White Sox? What's really funny is the back shows only the last 15 years of his career, which doesn't include his time in the Pale Hose!

#235 Rogers Hornsby
#67 Goose Gossage
#78 Hank Aaron

The law of card blogs compels me to show you this Hank Aaron card.

#121 Tony Gwynn
#109 Andy Pettitte
#172 Steven Duggar (RC)
#275 Joe Morgan
#299 Michael Givens
#214 Whit Merrifield
#97 Bob Gibson
#88 Chipper Jones
#56 Luis Urias (RC)
#199 Jacob deGrom
#158 Richie Ashburn
#325 Luis Urias (RC,SP)

One final SP to show off - The box netted me 3 of the 30 short prints, which isn't horrible!

#224 Gary Sanchez
#230 J.P. Crawford

Here's what I got in the Topps Coins pack:

#C-22 Michael Kopech
#C-18 Max Scherzer

I've been doing these card set reviews for awhile now, but other blogs do them better. One of the best in the blog-o-sphere is at Sports Card Collectors. His reviews are very informative! (You can read his review of 2019 Archives here!). He's running a contest where you can win a lot of cool cards, including a Bartolo Colon autograph!

The Most Radest Player Born In The 80's

Yo, another totally tubular contest is going down at Collecting Cutch!  All I gotta do is take a chill pill and write about a choice jock born in the 80's? Bitchin!

2018 Donruss Optic - Pink
#72 Dustin Pedroia

My homey has had some gnarly heinous luck these past few years, but Dustin Pedroia had legit skillz on the diamond. His hitting was dope and his fielding was fly.

Where's the beef? Check this out:

• 2007 Rookie of the Year
• 2008  AL MVP
• 2008 Silver Slugger
• 2013 Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year
• 4-time Gold Glove winner
• 4-time All-Star
• 3-time World Series Champion (You say 2018 shouldn't count? As if! Barf me out, poser!)

Borderline Hall of Famer? Word! (It could have been no-doubt if that grody spazz Machado didn't take our dude out with a harsh slide.)

Gotta motor! Later days and better days!