Now here is a little project I've been looking forward to for a while. Time is the enemy of such projects of course, and Father Time is always undefeated, as the saying goes in the sports world.
But I have been winning a few battles lately...
The Card That Started It All
2013 Topps Opening Day Ballpark Fun insert
2013 Topps Heritage
If you own a copy of this one, or the corresponding card in 2013 Topps Baseball, I suggest you "set it aside" / put it in some plastic, if it is just floating around loose, still, for some reason. This card likely depicts 3 Hall of Famers simultaneously, so it has more traction than most equally printed base cards in those 2 sets, and ultimately probably more than any of those cards outside of perhaps the Manny Machado Rookies on the same checklist. That's not to say this is even a double-digit card, but it is also a long ways from a 20¢ card like the vast majority of its checklist mates.
I have faith that the 2013 Heritage card miner did their level best to find a 2012 picture of Beltre with an actual smile and it was just a bit of misfortune that one couldn't be found to match the basic happiness of Cabrera and Trout here. Smiling Beltre cards are not unusual. One could -probably- assemble 9 cards of Mike Trout cracking a smile, since there are surely well > 1,000 different images of Mike Trout on a Baseball Card. But I expect that would take more legwork than you might expect, once you start gazing upon Mike Trout Baseball Cards, particularly the newer ones.
2014 Topps Archives
2015 Topps Gallery of Greats insert
This card confused me for a long time as it kicked around, waiting for enough page mates to hang out with. That's because in 2013 Topps, 2 checklists of very similar inserts in Hobby boxes only were called "The Greats" and another was "The Elite" but I kept thinking somehow this card was part of those small sets.
Anyhow this was still a little before the time when Topps would routinely anoint the current favored Rookie as right up there with the All-Timers as it creates a checklist. Overall a classy card, and a classy checklist. Posed Miggy is not usually this happy; that's something that generally comes out on the actual ball field.
2019 Big League
2020 Stadium Club
I always like the Logoman, even upside down.
2022 Topps STARS OF MLB insert
2022 Topps All-Star Game insert
This was the inaugural year of adding two "Honorary" All-Stars; I believe Albert Pujols was the NL selection. The only downside about that is a personal one - I already forgot who the 2 players were in 2023, and 2024. Doh! (Or was this concept already forgotten? Exhibition games are just so forgettable.)
I do like it when the All-Star Game uses never otherwise seen variations of actual team uniforms like this.
2022 Stadium Club Chrome Beam Team insert
I have never, ever, understood what the conceptual is behind the long-running "Beam Team" inserts in Stadium Club. Laser Beams? But at least I finally recently found the perfect card to anchor down this happy page of Baseball Cards. Now I can go back to not understanding these inserts again. Wave goodbye, Miggy.
The Result
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