Adventures in Trading: Tuesday Transactions Before Texas

I said I was going to hold off on trade requests because I am going to be out of town for a week. But because two people on the TCDB reached out last week with quick trade requests, and I saw that they were small requests, and I am still in town, I thought I'd agree to them. Envelopes were mailed yesterday morning. A total of six cards sent to two traders with six cards coming back, including 5 cards that will help put a small dent into the biggest insert set (in number of cards) in Series 2, Glove Work.

The first trade request came on the first of July, a simple two-for-two card trade, for the retail exclusive Titans and Stars of MLB. However, because I pulled all of those during my retail breaks (I promise, I will let you know the results of the Hobby break and if I managed to complete the base Series 2 set), I didn't need what she was offering. A quick view of the updated trade matching showed that she had 1 card that I still needed. I would have rejected the trade otherwise, but seeing that we've had a transaction previously, I thought, I could manage a quick counter-offer. She accepted it and sent the card out right away. The card actually arrived last night.

I still need three cards to complete the Stars of MLB set. I could keep on buying retail packs, but probably will wait until after the trip to do it.

The second trade was originally for more cards than what was eventually agreed upon. It would have been a 7-for-7 trade, including a 1991 Topps Blake Snell card he was offering. However, I pulled that card during the Hobby box break on the 4th of July. So I had to counter and remove it from my want list and adjust what he was requesting to make it relatively fair (I'm not greedy, I swear). But when I redid the trade matching, it appeared that he already had, or may have already agreed to other trades for, four of the cards he had originally requested. He was down to four cards needed from the original 7. So I countered, offering four cards, including a 2022 Topps Gypsy Queen Aaron Judge, for 5 of the Glove Work inserts. He agreed. These might arrive in the mail long after we leave for the trip. I've already tasked my daughter, who is staying home this time around, to check the mail while we're gone.

Trade requests are now on hold until I get back.

Oh, and then, the National is at the end of the month. Have to plan accordingly.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Insert Sets Not Talked About Enough: 2022 Topps Fresh Faces

In 2022, Topps issued a product to Hobby shops with the hope of providing a bit of nostalgia to those who remember the purpose of the product: Vending Boxes.

A 2022 Topps Baseball Vending Box.

Younger collectors may be asking: What are vending boxes? A long time ago, Topps sold 500-card boxes of random, unsearched baseball cards from a specific year for entrepreneurs who service vending machines, or for Hobby shops who just wanted quantities of cards for inventory without having to open packs (and dealing with sticks of gum). The vending boxes were not collated, and it was wholly possible to get multiple copies of a card in one box. And because the gum wasn't included in the boxes, the cards were devoid of the gum-stains that plagued cards that the confection would have touched. Topps' vending boxes have been around since the late 1950's, and were manufactured by the company through 1990 (I have not seen any boxes from 1991 and beyond).

A Vending Box from 1987

Each 2022 Topps Vnding Box contained 165 cards from the series 2 set plus five insert cards that could only be found within. The set, called Fresh Faces, featured 25 players who qualified for RC logo status, including a number of players who made their MLB debut in 2022. Three years later, many of these players have become established veterans, with multiple All-Stars among the 25-player checklist.

 2022 Topps Fresh Faces Julio Rodriguez FF-3

Because of the limited availability of this product, not too many collectors may have known the existence of these insert cards. I certainly didn't. I only stumbled upon the product when searching the Bay mindlessly. Someone managed to get all the cards together and put the complete set up for a BIN. I can't remember what the asking price for the cards, but I do remember who bought it.

2022 Topps Fresh Faces Bobby Witt Jr. FF-2

Yeah, if it wasn't already obvious...It was ME!!!

Okay, I'll stop talking.

The cards themselves feature a rainbow-foil background with a grayscale media-day image of the player, a colored action shot up front, with the RC Logo fits right in-between the words Fresh and Faces above the nameplate. The reverse has a quick blurb about the player's performance in 2021, whether they be minor league highlights, or how the player performed during a cup-of-coffee in the majors.

2022 Topps Fresh Faces Edward Cabrera FF-15 Reverse

The checklist:

2022 Topps Fresh Faces, The Full Set

• FF-1 Wander Franco (Rays)
• FF-2 Bobby Witt Jr (Royals)
• FF-3 Julio Rodriguez (Mariners)
• FF-4 Brandon Marsh (Angels)
• FF-5 Shane Baz (Rays)
• FF-6 Vidal Brujan (Rays)
• FF-7 Jarren Duran (Red Sox)
• FF-8 Oneil Cruz (Pirates)
• FF-9 Reid Detmers (Angels)
• FF-10 Hunter Green (Reds)
• FF-11 MacKenzie Gore (Padres)
• FF-12 Nick Lodolo (Reds)
  
• FF-13 Spencer Torkelson (Tigers)
• FF-14 CJ Abrams (Padres)
• FF-15 Edward Cabrera (Marlins)
• FF-16 Gavon Sheets (White Sox)
• FF-17 Heliot Ramos (Giants)
• FF-18 Joe Ryan (Twins)
• FF-19 Seth Beer (Diamondbacks)
• FF-20 Josh Lowe (Rays)
• FF-21 Matt Brash (Mariners)
• FF-22 Roansy Contreras (Pirates)
• FF-23 Bryson Stott (Phillies)
  
• FF-24 Steven Kwan (Guardians)
• FF-25 Jeremy Pena (Astros)

As has been the trend with insert cards in recent years, this set also came in Blue (#'d to 199), Black (#'d to 75), Purple (#'d to 25), Red (#'d to 10), and Gold (1 of 1) parallels.

While sales may not have been enough to warrant Topps (and probably Fanatics) to continue producing vending boxes, its brief run in 2022 gave collectors a chance to chase a set seen in regular packs of Series 2. If you're a player collector or a team collector, these are truly worth pursuing. If you're a set collector who has a lot more patience than certain Hobby bloggers (cough, cough), building this set card-by-card would make for a good challenge.

2022 Topps Fresh Faces Steven Kwan FF-24

And that's what makes this set something worth talking about.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama