CTB: 1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent

Jeff Kent was recently voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee making him the 35th All-Star Rookie Cup winner to also be honored in the Hall (Carlos Betlran & Andruw Jones bring us to 37)

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from  Lifetime Topps Project)

Jeff Kent earned the 1993 TASR for second base by posting 11 Home Runs and 50 RBI in 102 Games. His Batting Average was only .239 but it should be noted Kent had enough Walks and Power to post a 105 OPS+.

Toronto Blue Jays

However the bulk of Jeff Kent's 1992 season was played with a team that is not on the card, the Blue Jays. After debuting with Toronto April 12th Jeff played 65 games before being dealt to the Mets for David Cone. 

The deal worked for the Blue Jays who won their first Word Championship and for Cone who earned the first of his FIVE Rings. 

Andy Stankiewicz

Across Town the Yankees had their own rookie Second Baseman, Andy Stankewicz who like Jeff Kent had a decent if unspectacular rookie year: .268 AVG, 2.7 WAR. TASR authority hiflew who covers cards for Cards from the Quarry make an argument for Andy Stankewicz to win the award over Jeff Kent - check the details here. 

Of course in the end Kent had a better career than Stankiewicz whose 7 marginal seasons were not Hall worthy. 

Flip

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from TCDB)

Dave Blume is still in scouting, he is currently with the Orioles organization. Thirty years after signing Jeff Kent still cites the HOF second baseman among his highlights. 

Jeff Kent HOF Index

1993 Topps #703 (Rookie Cup)

2010 Phungo #37: 2012 Survivor Phillippines

Sources and Link
1993 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

LifeTime Topps Project

Cards from the Quarry

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref

TCDB

Baltimore Orioles

Golden Mountain California Media

2026 Topps Two-Pack Break

I picked up a pair of 36 card fat packs at my LCS on Topps Opening Day. I challenge anyone to get more Doubles than I received in these two packs. 

Pack Highlights 

Before I get to the low-lights of the dupes I want to show some of the cards I liked. First off are the commons.

2026 Topps Trevor Megill

The first card of 2026 was Brewers Closer Trevor Megill. I like this card because almost all of the pitcher cards are exactly the same. It is nice to get action shots but there is so little variety in those action shots. 

Battery 

2026 Topps Bryan Woo, Michael Wacha, Logan Webb & Sean Murphy

Fairly typical pitchers photos for recent sets. Sean Murphy is the only catcher in the two packs that was shown catching. There were at least two catchers pictured running.

Infield

2026 Topps CJ Abrams, Kristian Campbell, Ben Williamson& Vlad jr

A couple of goofy jerseys here. I think Campbell is the only FS. I do like the CJ Abrams bat flip out of frame.

Outfield 

2026 Topps Jhostoynxon Garcia, Aroldis Garcia, James Wood & Byron Buxton

Getting Password may be the highlight of non-Phils 

Speaking of Phillies, we have one of the newest Phils in Aroldis Garcia with a good celebration going.

Speaking of Phillies 

2026 Topps Jhoan Duran, Bryce Harper, Edmundo Sosa & FoilBoard Cool Crushers (Schwarber and Harper) 

I always appreciate the use of the Liberty Bell Logo.

Between the 4 cards three different home jerseys are represented. 

Kind of a Meh Harper card - unless you hate the electric blue city connect than I suppose it's worse than meh.

Team Cards

2026T team cards: Dodgers, Dodgers b-side, Blue Jays Royals

Next up Team Cards. 

one good thing about getting a boatload of dupes is you can feature a front & back in the same shot. 

but these are a bit weak.

How does the Dodgers Team Card not have  the words "World Series" on the b-side? 

And what's with the Team Leader stats not having THE STAT?

Inserts

2026 Topps Titans of the Game De La Cruz & Mike Trout

Stars Insert Devers & Roman Anthony

Each pack had a couple of what I assume are continuity inserts. 

2 different styles but basically similar. one has baseballs the other has stars. kind of lazy kids.

Retro Inserts

2026 Topps 91T Roman Anthony, Matt Shaw ASR, 91T Mickey Mantle

Closing the feature cards with the Retro Inserts and Rookie Cup Cards. 

1991 Topps is solid so this is a nice retro - I wonder how many other 1991 cards Mantle is on. 

Bit of RedSox hot pack, couple of Roman Anthony Inserts, the FS Khristian Campbell and Password. 

And The Dupes

Out of 72 card between the two packs I was cursed with 19 Duplicates! that is over 25% of the cards

19 duplicate cards in 2026 Topps

A lot of this is just bad luck. I chose two packs from different spots in the bin and probably should stick to picking back2back packs.  Still this is some pretty lousy collation. 

2026 Topps

Overall I think it is a mediocre year. Good enough to open a few packs but I doubt I will ever build the set. Getting all those dupes may have soured my already muted opinion on the set, regardless my collecting new cards is winding down and the odds of me building a new set in the future is fairly slim.