The most amusing release

I know, lots of people are skeptical of Update. I believe that traces to the heapin' helpins of what is most obviously straight up "filler." But in my opinion, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And other times, it routinely serves up the cards that amuse me the most — and that's something I treasure in my always treasured Baseball Cards. The ones I keep, anyway.

As for the card above, I'm not sure what to think of the decision this year to include Negro Leagues stats into MLB stats. I'm just not -that- deep into baseball history to form much of an opinion. That is a durn good Baseball Card though. It does make me wonder if there could be a few more of these in this set, but I doubt it, as this one is actually a checklist card. And it totally begs the question of why not, Topps, of truly digging into this concept with a little set of Baseball Cards to truly explore this whole concept?

I don't yet know if there might be more of these "MLB" cards in the set as I only picked up a couple "Hobby" packs of this so far - $6 a pop these days. It would cost a fair bit more than a Benjamin to assemble this, yes, base set via ripping so I know I will be instantaneously "completing" this one by simply purchasing it for a guesstimate of 40 bucks or so. The price of the lottery tickets that is a new release of Baseball Cards just continues to grow, and grow, and grow some more ... cuz did you hear - this thing has got Paul Skenes ROOKIE CARDS, c'mon down, gitchya some instant riches! My LCS in a town of 8,000 souls sold a full 12 cases of Hobby boxes already - Baseball Cards seem alive, and well, kinda. I even hit the player everyone wants in my very first pack:

So, close?

Which kinda amused me. I bet you, too, forgot that Yasmani Grandal escaped from the White Sox vortex this year and had a bit of a bounceback year in Pittsburgh, covering for the oh so slow development of 1/1 Henry Davis. Grandal is a Free Agent for 2025 so maybe he will have a new uniform on in '25 Update, the set of Back-Up Catchers and Relievers - which is a good thing. 

Because I do want to see the main contributors on my favorite teams, like this next guy. Even though I have heard the Brewers radio crew say his name a few dozen times over the last few seasons, I am still afraid to say his last name out loud, myself. Something Baseball Cards can't help me with. But now, I at least know what he looks like -

This card also amuses me because it is Sir Payamps True Rookie Card, unless you count a Panini "EEE" (Extra Elite Edition) card from a full 11 years ago. RC Logo? This is Topps Update, in a year (see: 2024 Heritage) where accuracy on Baseball Cards seems to have left the building. I have read an online acquaintance mention that small errors in Baseball Card construction are "part of the charm" which I mostly agree with though in 2024 Topps is pushing that potential boundary a wee bit. So, no RC logo for you, J. Payamps. Sorry. I have been waiting to see this particular card though, and that is something I do appreciate about Update, even without amusements.

And, how many baseball players have an 11 year gap between Baseball Cards? A record? Probably at least in this release, although I pulled a close contender from the very same pack we'll see here in a bit.

What is even more amusing to me is Payamps' route to The Show, which was a tortuous one. I would have never discovered this if I hadn't finally received a Baseball Card for him, as it left me with questions that could only be answered on https://www.baseball-reference.com. Check out this bit of his transaction history:

February 10, 2021: Selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Boston Red Sox.

February 22, 2021: Selected off waivers by the Boston Red Sox from the Toronto Blue Jays.

March 6, 2021: Selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Boston Red Sox.

I don't think Baseball Cards can quite handle this level of detail. I tried to count how many "systems" Payamps pinballed through on his way to The Show, but got a little overly confused in that there sequence.

Baseball Cards can, however, do a good job of showing off the sartorial choices in the sport. I submit these 2 pulls from one of these 2 packs for your consideration:

Not the best view of the Rockies' fantastic "City Connect" unis, something I hope to explore another night right here on this little blog, but I pulled these 2 cards sequentially and they instantly begged the question of why this team would wear any other uniform at all but those nifty new ones, full of memories for anyone who has lived in Colorado. Amusing.

Now I also know a major complaint about Update is the Rookie Debut cards. I, however, increasingly cut against the grain of disliking this concept as I like knowing that the picture on a Rookie Debut card is indeed from a player's Rookie Debut game. And sometimes, these cards then have an extra bit of gravitas that will make for an excellent entry in that player's Baseball Card oeuvre later on, should they have a long career. Sure, sometimes the RD is kinda boring. But, not always. This next card doesn't have the gravitas of the classic Mookie Betts RD card, but it does have enough that I looked up this player's stats -

I know, yawn, yawn, an extra card nobody "needs." And, actually, the opposite of amusing, but just a Baseball Card that I like. There are never many "On Deck" Baseball Cards.

So, zzzzz, didn't I hit any real "hits" in these packs? Nope. One of the packs was a dreaded "base pack" - a somewhat new thing in Topps Baseball Picture Card products, though also an old thing - a pack of Baseball Cards without any inserts, parallels, or Short Prints. I mean, a whole pack of Baseball Cards without any money in it. Can you imagine?

I can, though actually I do prefer seeing what the inserts are up to in every release. This is the only one I can show you:

This card does not amuse me in the goofy Topps way though it does interest me some in that it appears Topps did purchase a new look at Koufax' classic wind-up, and a bit of a better one than the similar image that has been used on many Koufax cards over the years. However I am not a Dodgers or Koufax collector so unless there are 8 more 50s/60s veterans in the 89 style cards this year to place together with this one, I probably won't hold this card in favor of 9 random contemporary players on a simple page of 89 style cards, a design I quite like.

There were a few more highlights in the 2 packs that also weren't amusing, but rather just solid Baseball Cards, including this true Highlight card -

Mic drop?

No, not yet, we've got yet more levitating bats to come. Just another smooth classic 2024 Topps Baseball Card. I am growing increasingly fond of road unis on Baseball Cards these days, when the team name is right there to accompany it. Particularly classic "Road Alternate" unis like Steel City's classic black uni, so much better than yer average Road Grey. 

But that's just a great Baseball Card, not an amusing one like Update often sends me. These 2 packs did deliver a pair of cards I have been waiting to see for some time. Pretty lucky from a simple purchase of 2 dozen brand new Baseball Cards.

The first of those 2 features a player that has been on some recent cards, including this year:

Which should satisfy my desire to finally receive a Baseball Card of this player, as with the Joel Payamps card. But that is Tyler Rogers' second Heritage card and yet it still doesn't supply me with what I have been looking for, even though it is technically an "action" image because it appears the photo was taken at a Major League Baseball game. (At night even, but really a neither-here-nor-there on that often delightful concept.)

All that's because Tyler Rogers deserves a true "In Action" Baseball Card, like this one -

Now that's how to Baseball Card

This is actually Tyler's second appearance in a Topps Baseball set as he first appeared on an insert rather than a base card, also quite unusual like several cards in these 2 quirky little packs. That insert in 2023 Series 2 name drops Adam Cimber, another "Submariner" who has served in various MLB bullpens for 7 seasons but has just 2 Topps Baseball cards to show for that (along with a small smattering in other products, tbh). So it goes for Relievers, who are generally only ever remembered for Losing baseball games - who wants a Baseball Card of that? I do.

So that there Tyler Rogers card fulfilled a several seasons running wish list entry, which amuses me in a good way. But not quite so much as this next card, which will go a long way towards assembling an amusing Nifty Nine of this player, who went 8 years between appearances in Topps Baseball despite being the GOAT Rookie Card (also naturally from an Update release) I never tire of being amused by:

The Ricky Williams of Major League Baseball also decided to put his athletic abilities back to use in professional sports and clawed his way back to The Show last year actually, but did not receive a Topps Baseball card for his efforts. Not even in 2024 Series One, or Two. But now, this has finally been rectified -

Mic drop, now?

Still, not yet. Singleton managed 355 AB this year and a quite respectable 103 OPS+, so perhaps there are more Baseball Cards in his future though at press time he is not signed anywhere for 2025. I do hope he generates more Baseball Picture Cards. Although Bat Flip cards amuse me and this one is the truest example of that in 3 levitating bat cards (I love these) in just 2 packs, that one wasn't quite the most memorable card in the 2 dozen examples I purchased - at 50¢ each...

That honor belongs to this next card, which I hope Nick @ Dime Boxes has seen by now. I mean I do want to get true "Sunset" cards with complete, final MLB stats for long-term players. But I have to wonder how many Sunset cards ... Never Happened ... and thus,

an Instant Classic