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

Adventures in Trading: A TCDB Trade to Maryland & A Local Transaction Taking Place Tomorrow

I like to think of myself as a patient person. 

I have waited longer than 45 minutes when going out to eat at popular restaurants, with a wife and two toddlers in tow. I will give people I communicate via email at work and wait at least a day or two for a response before sending out a second email. I have sat through two acts of dance performances before my daughter's group would appear for their lone dance of the show. My patience gets tested when dealing with patients at the pharmacy, whether in person or on the phone (I'd share stories, but HIPPA).

But when it comes to collecting baseball cards?

If there is a card or two that I need to complete a set, I must have that card..NOW!!! 

As of yesterday, I needed 56 insert cards to finish my master set for 2025 Topps Update Series. Thinking I could at least finish the 2025 Topps Update 1990 set (I just needed one card...figures it's Shohei Ohtani), I put out a couple of trade offers to people on TCDB for this one card. I padded both of the requests, believing that the number of cards I was offering for just this one would be enough. 

2025 Topps Update 1990 Shohei Ohtani #U90-33

However...

both trade requests were...

REJECTED!!!

Why??!

One person said he just traded his Ohtani card off to someone else. I understand that. It happens. I can accept this.

The other person? Said he was valuing the card higher than the 5 cards I was offering in exchange. Granted, four of those cards were Stars of MLB (which even I don't think have much monetary value, seeing that every retail pack, blaster, box, etc, have anywhere from 1-4 of these cards IN EVERY PACK!!!). But even still, I guess the quantity wasn't enough.

And that's when I snapped.

I wound up going on the Bay at lunch and bought this card, and 12 other insert cards (10 from the same seller.) Then, I went onto Sportlots and bought 31 more cards (26 from the same seller...love the site, but it is always best to buy multiple cards from one or two dealers instead of buying 1 card from more then 10 sellers...shipping charges are brutal). In one 30-minute frenzy, I bought 44 of the 56 I needed to finish the master set.

Patience is a virtue, but I guess self-control is something I need to work on as well, especially when it comes to the Hobby.

So after I recovered, I find myself down to 12 cards. I managed to finish the aforementioned 1990 Topps set, Bleacher Reachers, Most Valuable, and Night Terrors in my shopping spree. This leaves the First Pitch (2 cards to go), Mystical (2), and Topps Black Gold Sets (8) needing to be completed. (If you're wondering why I didn't mention the 50-card All-Star Game set, it's because I managed to complete the set through trades. It was done before all of this happened).

Well...

I sent one trade request earlier today through TCDB. A simple two-card-for-two-card offer. I was requesting two First Pitch cards: #FPU-4 Ethan Levine and #FPU-8 Derek Jeter, in exchange for a 1990 #U90-46 Dylan Crews and All-Star #ASG-48 Logan Webb card. He accepted the transaction. The trade information (with the member's name covered for privacy) is below:

When I came home from work today, I reached out to another TCDB member who had one of the 8 Black Gold cards I still need, #BG-20 Nick Kurtz. During the final minutes of my spending spree, I saw this card on Sportlots, prices ranging from $6.00 to $9.00. I passed on it then, and I'm thankful that I did. The gentleman who I reached out to this afternoon lives in the Chicago area, and is actually a few minutes away from the bulding where I work. We've completed about 7 trades since July, 2024. Each time, he would come to the office building I'd work at, and we'd exchange cards in the lobby. Saves on postage, and I really appreciate him making the trip. 

The last time I saw him was in December. I gave him a number of 2024-25 Topps Cubs parallel cards (he's a Cub team collector) for a couple of 2025 Topps Update insert cards. This time, I offered a couple of extra Cub cards, just to get something in the transaction. He responds very quickly and accepts the trade. Knowing I'll see him tomorrow, I'll have to make sure to bring the cards I offered. If this was a cash transaction, I definitely over-paid. But I've always been of the trading mindset of, "I will trade whatever I have on your wantlist for whatever you have on mine, even if it looks lopsided on my end." And when you see the cards involved in this trade, you may think so too. So when I meet him tomorrow, this is what we're exchanging:

After all of this, I am now down to these final 9 cards to complete the 2025 Topps Binder:

• Topps Mystical #MYS-6 Jacob Wilson (Athletics)
• Topps Mystical #MYS-9 Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-3 James Wood (Nationals)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-6 Paul Skenes (Pirates)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-14 Hyeseong Kim (Dodgers)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-18 Aaron Judge (Yankees)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-19 Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-24 Roki Sasaki (Dodgers)
• Topps Black Gold #BG-25 Jacob Wilson (Athletics)
  

If anyone has any of these cards and would like to trade or sell them to me, please reach out to me at bdj610@hotmail.com and make an offer. My trade/sell list is here. If you don't see anything you need there, just let me know what you're looking for. I'm sure I have something.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Topps' Logo for the Semisesquicentennial

75 Years of Topps Baseball...The Logo!

Semisesquicentennial: 75th Anniversary, or half-way to 150 years! The Diamond Anniversary.

Posted today on social media platforms is an image of a graphic that Topps will most likely be incorporating into the design of it's eponymous baseball set, its packaging, marketing, pretty much everything baseball card related for the 2026 campaign.

It's now one in a long line of anniversary logos Topps has used throughout the years. As this is a baseball card blog, only the baseball card logos will be presented. You want to see the logos Topps made to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of Topps Football and Basketball? Maybe at another time.

Let's start with the 40th Anniversary Logo from 1991 Topps. Whata classic. Brings back great childhood memories.

Here is the 50th Anniversary Logo from 2001 Topps (not the best image I could find). It wasn't really featured in the card's design (which looking back, was a good thing) as it would have just overtaken the images on the front of the cards:

Next up, the 60th Anniversary Logo from 2011 Topps. Also not used in the design, but prominent in all other aspects of marketing. And yes, the traditional anniversary present for 60th and 75th anniversaries are diamonds (with the 75th, gold is involved somehow):

And now the 70th Anniversary Logo from 2021 Topps. Simple, understated, now if the design of the cards themselves were just as good as the logo (not really one of my favorites...story maybe for another day).

I am so looking forward to what 2026 brings. 

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Adventures in Trading: A TCDB Trade to the Bronx

As I mentioned in my return to this humble, little blog, I have become an active trader at the Trading Card Database. I've been a member of the site since (checking my profile...) November 14, 2011. This was back when what you could call Hobby "outsiders" with enough tech savvy started making their own websites dedicated to card collecting, cataloging, and eventually, creating a virtual environment where collectors from across the country (and around the world) could trade sport cards with each other.

The TCDB doesn't claim to be solely a trading site. The word "Database" should be the first clue about it's mission statement. The main focus of the site is maintaining checklists of trading card sets, from the main 4 sports (baseball, basketball, football, hockey) and beyond (soccer, racing, non-sports). It's managed by collectors, lists populated by collectors, images provided by...you get the idea. Since about 2020, I've finally gotten more involved. I've added images, created checklists after years of emailing somebody about sets that I had that wasn't on there (like this one), and eventually dove head-first into the "trading" portion of the site.

I've built a lot of insert sets from the last few years from trades with over 300 members of the site. I've even manage to build the last two editions of the Gypsy Queen sets (with inserts) thanks to trading my extras and insert cards on the site as well (supplemented by buying cards at shows, on the Bay, Sportlots). Before, I'd just buy full sets, but that is starting to become such an expensive endeavor. Now, I'll start a set by buying a Hobby box (or two...if I can afford it), and then after building the base set (which is even more of a challenge now), begin to scour the TCDB for trading partners for cards I'm missing. This site really helps match collectors together. The "Trade Matching" feature provides lists of collectors who have cards that I have on my wantlist and have cards they need that I have in my trade/sell list. It's a great system. Not perfect, but I've found many members who've agreed to trade opportunities.

Now that I'm back, I'm going to start posting trades that were accepted, whether I reached out and made an offer or vice versa (the former happens more often than not). Today, I'll talk about the first trade the that was accepted in 2026.

At the last Chicagoland Sports Spectacular held this past November in Rosemont, IL, I purchased a 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar. For those not familiar with the concept, Advent calendars are these boxes that contain 24 numbered doors that hold a surprise behind them. Most Advent calendars are given to children to help count the number of days before Christmas by opening a door to reveal a piece of holiday-shaped chocolate or candy of some kind. For years, my wife and I bought one for each of the kids. As the years went on and the children got older, we would still buy them just for fun. Seeing one with baseball cards made me go up to the seller and say, "take my money." While Topps has done Holiday sets for years now, this is the first time I decided to buy a product with them. 

On to the point.

The 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar

The Topps Holiday Advent Calendar had 24 doors that revealed twenty five-card packs of 2025 Topps Holiday baseball cards, one three-card pack of Topps Evergreen, two one-card packs that featured "buybacks" (mine were Bowman cards for some reason), and one unopened pack of Topps cards from years past (mine was a 1991 Topps Traded pack...Yay!!!) Each five-card pack included 3 base cards, one parallel card (all of mine were Green Holiday Plaid, an Advent Calendar Exclusive) and one insert card from a set called "The Nice List." It's a 25-card insert set featuring players that did something so amazing during the 2024 MLB season that they managed to get onto Santa's nice list. See below for an example.

2025 Topps Holiday The Nice List Paul Skenes #MNL-11

Fortunately for me none of the 20 cards I got from opening the packs are duplicates. I am missing 5 cards. At this time, while I don't plan on going out of my way to buy or trade for cards to complete the 200-card base set, I thought I could find someone who had the five cards I need to complete this set. 

And I did.

On January 3, 2026, I sent a trade request to a member who had all five cards I needed, offering her five cards that I had on her wantlist. She responded today with a counter-offer which is a great feature...allowing someone to make changes to the trade request if they find a better card that they like and take out cards that they may no longer need. When people counter a trade offer I propose, I almost always accept. In this case, she found a card that she wanted and removed a card she says she just received in another trade. So I accepted and let her know I'll be mailing the cards out within the next couple of days.

Here is the transaction. I am not asking for judgment, or if it's a fair trade. That doesn't matter. My main goal is to get the cards I want in exchange for the cards she needs. Values be darned (this is a family blog...have to keep it PG). For privacy's sake (and because I didn't ask her if I could post this trade on the blog), I am blocking her member name below:

The cards will be going out tomorrow. 

I'm hoping to make this a regular feature on the blog in 2026. If you want to know what I am looking for, please click here. You don't have to be a member of the site to access the list. If you have something I need, please email me at bdj610@hotmail.com. 

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Cards I Would Like to Own, But Most Likely Never Will: 2023 & 2025 Topps The Joy of Painting Bob Ross

Okay. I'll admit it.

I love...LOVE...watching The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross.

Working from home during the mid-2010's, and during the COVID pandemic, I would have the television on for background noise. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, after Maury Povich finished his daily episodes of lie detector or paternity tests, I'd change the channel to the PBS Create channel and watch/listen/work to two episodes of Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting. 

Every 30-minute episode featured Ross teaching viewers how to make oil paintings of beautiful nature scenes (mountains, oceans, forests) in less than 30 minutes. With no more than 13 regular colors of oil paints, a set of brushes and knives that wouldn't normally be used for painting on canvas, the man encouraged viewers to use their imaginations and create a world with happy little trees, imposing mountains, flowing rivers, old cabins, and everything in between. His cadence, very calm and soothing  demeanor was part of the appeal. While similar shows had the host talking loud, fast, with technical terms that would leave most viewers who immersed in that Hobby scratching their heads, Bob Ross explained everything in an easy-to-follow way that even a non-artistic person like me can understand and appreciate. He made ME even think I can paint masterpieces (Reality: I can't). But hey, I wasn't making mistakes, just happy accidents.

My smart TV (the first television my wife and I bought in 27 years of marriage after a lifetime of hand-me-down TV's) can lead me to a 24-hour Bob Ross channel, but Saturday nights at 8:00 pm are appointment television with back-to-back episodes of Bob and masterpieces that would take normal human beings hours to paint, and he did these in under 30 minutes. 

Okay, let's try and reign this in. This is a baseball card blog after all.

In 2023, Topps introduced an online-exclusive set called Topps x Bob Ross: The Joy of Baseball. 

2023 Topps x Bob Ross: The Joy of Baseball Pack

The set combined images of MLB players against Bob's paintings. 

A pallete of parallels. Each named after a color regularly used by Bob Ross.

The 2023 Topps set consists of 100 base cards with the usual assortments of colored parallels, autographs, relics, variations. Each 8-pack collectors box even included a paintbrush-shaped pen.

But there one card stood out among the rest.

2023 Topps x Bob Ross: The Joy of Baseball Bob Ross #BR

This super short-printed card. I wanted it. But the rarity plus the inevitable demand from those outside the Hobby community made me think this would be impossible to find at a reasonable price. Actually, while looking on the Bay, there is a PSA 9 card right now starting at $249.00 (just started as of 45 minutes ago). I'm going to follow this to see how high this goes. 

After a year off, Topps brought back the Joy of Baseball, again an online-exclusive product, with a new design...

Cards from the 2025 Topps x Bob Ross: The Joy of Baseball set.

new inserts...

Come on...this is beautiful.

and of course, a new Bob Ross card.

2025 Topps x Bob Ross: The Joy of Baseball Bob Ross #BR

A complete 100-card base set of the 2025 product is on the Bay on a Buy it Now of $420.00. An auction for the Bob Ross SSP card is ending tomorrow, presently at $125.00 (and rising). There is also another, as a BIN, at $450.00. 

If you dig deeper into the history of Bob Ross, there are controversies. The documentary on Netflix was certainly eye-opening, the topic being what happened to his estate, properties, artwork after he passed away. And certainly at the time the 2023 product was announced, there were those who boycotted because they were on the side of Bob and his family, not those who are in control of his name, likeness, and images. I enjoyed the PBS special that featured his studio and it's conversion to a museum. 

But I would like to own either (or both...I have high goals), but I don't think I ever will. I think Topps blew an opportunity to include him as a subject in this year's (or 2023's...to coincide with the product of that year of course) Allen & Ginter's set. 

Maybe next year.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

RIP Ryne Sandberg 1959-2025

2025 Topps Chrome 1990 Ryne Sandberg #T90C-27

Many things happened during my almost six-year hiatus. Many things that made me think, "I should get on the blog and write something about this." But something (mostly excuses) would somehow successfully talk me out of getting on here and saying something.

July 28, 2025 was one of them. 

My wife and I had already celebrated my son's birthday over the weekend with his sister and the rest of the family the weekend prior. He got to hang out with his friends the day before. Today, his actual birthday, we had a simple dinner at Taco Bell.

In the baseball world, the Cubs were coming out of the All-Star Break, and were somehow, after leading the NL Central for most of the first half, were now suddenly tied with the eventual division champion Brewers. Worse, the Brewers were on one of the hottest streaks in MLB history while the Cubs were treading water and on a downward trend. So for me, it was painful to watch, and if I could avoid hearing bad news, I'd do it. And my son's birthday was a welcome distraction.

Sometime in January 2024, I had heard that Ryne Sandberg was battling metastatic prostate cancer. I started thinking about my dad. My father suffered six years prior with both colon and liver cancer (not the same, I know...but still very traumatic and life-altering), managed to beat it (saw the video of the bell ringing), but the complications caused his health to get worse. He eventually succumbed to it in October. Writing about my dad's passing was one of the last things I posted on this blog. I never wanted to make his death one of the reasons why I stopped posting. But I'm sure the ensuing...not depression...but sadness played a part in why I lost my motivation to write.

Back to the story. I was sad that one of my childhood heroes was suffering with this. And was able to watch games where the Cubs honored Ryno that season. Then, in August 2024. he came out and said that the treatments had worked and he had recovered. He beat it! Yes! 

During the 2024 off-season, however, I started hearing that the cancer came back. And worse, it was hitting other organs. I had a gut-wrenching feeling that this was going to be harder to recover. And all through out the first half of the 2025 MLB campaign, the Cubs would pay tribute to Ryno.

My wife, son, and I went to the aformentioned Taco Bell to have a quiet celebratory dinner. Before we turned into the restaurant, I turned on the radio, just to get an idea of how the ballgame was progressing. Of course, the Cubs, who just came off a series win against the White Sox, were now taking on the Brewers, with first place of the NL Central on the line. But when I turned on the radio, Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer were not really talking about the game, which already was a sign that the Cubs were losing. But it was WHAT they were talking about that made me pause (and fortunately not crash the car into the building). 

Ryne Sandberg had passed away.

1989 Topps Sticker Backs Ryne Sandberg #38

I turned off the radio, went into the restaurant, ordered dinner (Mexican Pizza and I think a Grilled Cheese Steak Burrito...don't judge me), and quietly shared the news with both my wife and son. We still had a good time. We've celebrated all weekend, and it was just us. Now was not the time to feel down. 

Then when we got home, I started to reminisce. The Cubs were the first team I watched when I first followed baseball in 1987. They had the eventual MVP in Andre Dawson. They had a future ace in Greg Maddux, who at the time was just trying to stay in the Majors. They also had a second baseman who never made errors, or at least it was a rare as a blue moon. 

The announcers said that this second baseman was one of the few holdovers from the first division winning team in 1984. It turned out that Sandberg was the MVP that year. Watching him play as I was learning the game, and subsequentially the Hobby of baseball card collecting, I knew I had found my favorite baseball player. He wasn't flashy. He didn't say anything that would cause controversy. He didn't really trash talk the other team. He was consistent. He was quiet. Most importantly, he was good. He had productive hits, not always trying for the home run, but got the right hit when it mattered. I mean, he hit for power, but his focus was just trying to get the inning moving, getting on base whether by walk, bunt, or a line drive. His defense was incredible. He had the record breaking streak of consecutive errorless games. He was just a great all-around player.

I was happy when he was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame. His speech was legendary. It wasn't full of "me, me, me." He talked about how he "played the game a certain way...the way it was supposed to be played." And that way...was with respect.

I look back at July 28, 2025. My son turned 23-years-old. Before he was born, my wife and I had a list of names made. At 3:31 am, we tossed that list. She gave him his first name, after her favorite drummer. I said no to Roger. But Taylor was acceptable. I got to pick his middle name. Only one name came to mind.

Ryne.

Twenty-three years later from that day, the man who wore number 23 for my favorite team, and my son's namesake, passed away. In November, one of Sandberg's sons and his wife celebrated the birth of a baby girl. 

They named her Ryne. 

The name goes on.

My condolences go out to the Sandberg family, the Cubs and Phillies organizations, Major League Baseball, and fans everywhere.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Can We Start Over??!

What is this place??! This looks to have been a blog about baseball cards...but the person running it has been missing for almost six years. His last post was in 2019. 

But what does that mean for the rest of the Hobby Blogging Community??! Is there still one??!

It appears that the Community still is strong, but the number of voices have decreased over time. I see Night Owl is still going strong. I see San Jose Fuji is still out there, same for Dayf. Others, like Stale Gum, Gellman, Marie & Sooz, et. al, are still writing, still collecting, still there, but writing for other platforms, or making their marks in other groundbreaking ways in the Hobby.

So what happened to bdj610? Did I just stop collecting? Did life just get in the way? Did I survive COVID?

Do people still care?

Well...

Life happened.

Since 2019, I've become a Certified Pharmacy Technician (so I can now add CPhT to my signature...only in professional settings though). I also still work for the food broker, now into my 8th full year. So my professional life has been hectic. Working a combined 70 hours-a-week between two high-stress jobs really hasn't allowed time to focus on writing for the blog. 

Personally, both my children are now fully grown adults. My daughter, who graduated from college in 2022, has been a kindergarten teacher for the past four years. She's also married. My son, who graduated from high school in 2020 (what a time...that COVID pandemic), and earned his Associates in 2025, is an advocate for those with Chromosome 18 conditions. 

My wife and I, now married for 27 years, are not exactly empty nesters. We have been adjusting to life as parents of adults. They will always be kids in our eyes, but this was the goal. Raise them until they become productive members of society, and still be there to support them as they spread their wings and go off on their own adventures.

But I guess the most important questions.

Do I still collect Topps Baseball Cards?

I never stopped. My collection has continued to grow through the years. For those who (still) remember, I have every Topps Baseball Card Set from 1976 (my birth year) to current. When I last wrote on the blog, I had every complete master set (that's base and basic inserts) through 2018 and I had just started on 2019. Since my hiatus, I've collected every Topps eponymous set from 2019 through 2025, and as of today (01/01/2026), I am just 56 cards away from completing the master set of 2025 Topps Update series.

I still buy on eBay, but use the platform for older sets that I may have missed, and current sets (base and inserts) that there would be no way on Earth I'd be able to build on my own. 

I've also been a more active member of The Trading Card Database. Not only have I reached enough levels there to be able to add images, checklists, etc, but I also have been more focused on trading cards on the platform. I've completed over 500 trades on the site, mostly for basic insert cards to build sets. I was actually (insane) able to build the last two Topps Gypsy Queen sets (shame that the brand has stopped) through trades. 

I (finally) was able to add almost all of the cards in my collection to the TCDB. As of today, I have 104,174 cards in my collection, and still need to add the 2024 Topps Team Sets (still need four of them) and 2025 Topps Team Sets (have them all..thankfully...story for another day). 

Over the past few years, I added pictures of 6-inch binders holding completed Topps sets, which would include all base and insert sets from that year. Well, I posted this picture last year, and it went viral (about as viral as it can get on Card Hobby Twitter)

I was contacted by a writer on Topps' blog (the new and improved Ripped) and they asked about my Hobby story and my collection. In March, the article went on their blog. It's an honor that my story is on Topps' site. It's nice to see other collector's stories on there as well. Sooz, Gellman, and Ryan Cracknell (from Trader Cracks) have articles about their collections on the site as well. 

So...what does that mean for me and the hopeful future of this blog?

I truly don't know.

What I do know is that I will try to spend more time writing. I have a lot more to say now, six years of Hobby history that I never addressed. Six years of cards and sets that I never discussed on this humble little blog. 

Will certain blog features come back? 

Maybe. There are a lot of cards that have had me shaking my head, wondering what Topps (and I guess now, Fanatics) was thinking when certain cards or products came out. The insert sets that have been added to the main product have been unique and deserve more time for analysis (if they haven't been already).

What happened to the Topps Card Randomizer?

With 6 more years of product, plus team sets, and a better way of calculating how many cards I have for each player, I would like to bring this back. But the spreadsheet was lost and to create a new one will take some work. But it can be done. So it will come back, not now, but in time.

For those of you who saw on your notifications that a long irrelevant blogger and his blog had an article posted, welcome back. To those seeing this post for the first time, welcome to my blog. The main goal of this blog was to talk about the Hobby, and more importantly, share my collection. If people read what I have to say, thank you. If nobody comes, I'm doing this more for me than anything else.

I hope 2026 is a better year for everyone. Here's to 2026 becoming a good year for the Hobby. May your collections grow to new heights. I look forward to what Topps brings in 2026. Can't wait for that eponymous design. This will be set number 51 for me. Let the fun begin.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama