It's the End of 2017, and What Have I Done??! Well...

Other than blow off Pack Break Week and then almost forget I have a baseball card blog? Not much.

A few days into the new job, I was asked if I wanted to take home a computer. As long as I can get it working, it was mine, no strings attached. Guess what I was able to do?

So after months of spending time at the local library, I have a new-ish computer. It's from at least 2013, but it is fully loaded. I just had to get rid of a lot of stuff (you know, because it was from the office, and there were things on here that I don't need to see). I had to add a lot of stuff (like Windows Office, because I need my spreadsheets). I bought new stuff, like a printer/scanner (because my scanner, my baby, wasn't compatible with the new Windows suite) and a wi-fi expander (because my modem is in the basement and we've needed one for quite some time). I also am now responsible for making sure I have a working firewall and anti-virus software.

So now, as promised, when I have time (and there is not a lot of it honestly), I will be back posting on this humble little blog.

My 2017 Topps binder is now complete. I did wind up buying a six-inch binder to hold all of the cards within it. It's crammed to the gills with cards from the following sets:

• 700 cards from Topps Series 1 and 2
• 300 cards from Topps Update Series
• 5 micellaneous advertisement cards
• 5 Topps Rookie Variation cards (from the factory set)
• 5 Rediscover Topps cards (buybacks)
• 40 First Pitch cards
• 29 MLB Network cards
• 20 Bowman Then and Now cards
• 50 Five Tool cards
• 20 Major League Milestones cards
• 50 Memorable Moments cards
• 150 1987 Topps tribute cards from all three series
• 10 ad cards that had reprints of rookie cards on the front
• 150 Topps Salute cards
• 30 Topps Salute Jackie Robinson cards
• 30 Topps Salute Independence Day cards
• 14 2016 MLB Award Winners cards
• 18 2016 Silver Slugger Award Winner cards
• 18 2016 Gold Glove Award Winner cards
• 21 Home Run Derby Champs cards
• 25 MLB All-Star Game MVP cards
• 50 All-Time All-Stars cards
• 21 2017 Topps Archives Derek Jeter reprint cards (20 from set plus 1 red-back 2007 card)
• 30 National Baseball Card Day cards
• 30 Untouchables cards
• 50 All-Rookie Cup reprint cards
• 30 MVP Award Winner cards
• 25 Postseason Celebration cards
• 25 Storied World Series cards
• 25 Heroes of Autumn cards

That's a whopping 1,976 cards.

Think about that for a minute.

One thousand, nine hundred, seventy-six cards.

Not counting the Jeter set, the Baseball Card Day, and the Ad and buybacks, that's 915 insert cards that Topps inserted in packs and blasters in 2017.

Boy, that's a lot of cards.

I'll be honest, I'm hoping Topps tones down on the number of insert cards in 2018. When there are almost as many insert cards than base cards in a product, it might be time to re-think what goes into the eponymous set. Don't get me wrong. Some of the insert sets were great. I liked the Bowman card set, the Salute series, and Memorable Moments. I wasn't a big fan of the Five Tool set only because it was too busy of a design trying to incorporate both the Topps Fire concept and five large images of a player onto the front of the card. I like the Retail-exclusive and Walmart/Target-exclusive insert sets as well. But did we really need parallel cards of insert cards? I'm not sure it was necessary as it made it harder to build a set. Now, of course some would say that I could have just kept the parallel cards and just included them with the base set, but my collecting OCD would have had a major problem with that.

But before I get ready for work (yes, I am working New Year's Eve tonight), I'd like to get something out of the way once and for all.

Remember during National Baseball Card Day, not only did I get free packs of the Trading Card day cards, I bought random packs of 2017 Topps products. Among them were a couple of packs of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter's. Inside the pack that I had opened (saving the other for pack break week which I promise I will continue soon...with some surprises) was this card:

I had asked around, and people said to go ahead and open the card. So, as the calendar changes from 2017 to 2018, let's find out what was in the Noah Syndergaard Rip Card:

After months of waiting, here is what was inside the 2017 @topps Allen & Ginter's Noah Syndergaard Rip Card. #TheHobby pic.twitter.com/qNyAfEJE0y

— James B. Anama (@bdj610) December 31, 2017

Okay, so it wasn't a Judge Auto. But it's a mini parallel of Red Sox legend Ted Williams. Judge what you will about the tone of my voice on the video once I opened the card, but I am happy. First for even getting a Rip Card in a pack, and then pulling a parallel card of a HOF legend.

So I have to get going soon. Let's get to it:

Goodbye 2017!!!

Hello 2018!!!

Goodbye 2017 Topps Design!!!

Hello 2018 Topps Design!!!

May all your collections grow to new heights. Let's hope Topps makes it a bit easier on us insane set collectors. Thank you for letting me into your computers this past year. I hope to be able to share more of my collection with you in 2018!!!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama