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. 

All-Star Rookie Cups at the 2024 All-Star Game

First off I just want to mention that there are 75 All-Stars this year YES 75. That is enough players to roster an entire third team.

2013 Topps #1 Bryce Harper

Of those 75 Twenty of them are All-Star Rookie Cup Honorees including Six from the 2019 TASR Squad. Here is a complet list of tonights TASRs:

1B: Bryce Harper (PHI)	2013
OF: Christian Yelich (MIL)	2014
INF: Carlos Correa (MIN)	2016
SS: Trea Turner (PHI)	2017
OF: Aaron Judge (NYY)	2018
INF: Rafael Devers (BOS)	2018
OF: Juan Soto (NYY)	2019
DH: Shohei Ohtani (LAD)	2019
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR)	2020
DH: Yordan Alvarez (HOU)	2020
OF: Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD)	2020
C: Will Smith (LAD)	2020
INF: Pete Alonso (NYM)	2020
OF: Bryan Reynolds (PIT)	2020
INF: Willi Castro (MIN) +	2021
3B: Alec Bohm (PHI)	2021
RHP: Emmanuel Clase (CLE)	2022
C: Adley Rutschman (BAL)	2023
OF: Steven Kwan (CLE)	2023
INF: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)	2023
SS: Gunnar Henderson (BAL)	2024

There are 3 Phillies on the List but only Alec Bohm made the squad as a member of the Phillies. 

The showing by the 2020 class is not a  surprise to TASR fans. At the time their combined WAR number was the strongest of any class ever. We will cover this in the future but 4 years later they rank 3rd - one of those more recent years, 2023, did quite well with 3 members while the other, 2024, did manage a single. 

The one year missing from the 12 year span of teams 2013-24 is 2015. The most prominent players from that team are George Springer, Xander Bogaerts, The Phillies Nick Castellanos, and the potentially retired Jose Abreu. 

It is also worth noting that a handful of players like Paul Skenes, Jackson Merrill and Shota Imanaga are rookies and could show up on this years Cup Squad (2025 Cards)

Cover Card

Turns out the elder statesmen of TASR players on the squad is Philadelphia's own Bryce Harper. Maybe it's because I saw Harper in the Minors when I was in my mid 40s but it is very disconcerting to me for him to be the eldest of anything.  To be clear he is not the oldest player on the team, without doing any real poking around one of my guesses would be Professional Frisbee Golfer Seth Lugo at 34.242. 

Enjoy the All-Star game tonight and look for your favorite TASR players who make up more than a quarter of the participants

Sources and Links

baseball_ref bullpen

PDGA

2019 ToppsNow #529 Bryce Harper/Rhys Hoskins honors July 18th Phillies Victory

I finally got to see a 2019 game that the Phillies actually won. And Topps was good enough to create a ToppsNow card for that game.

2019 ToppsNow #529 Phillies (Bryce Harper/Rhys Hoskins)

There were several key performers in the Phillies 7-6 victory over the Dodgers which featured FIVE lead changes (1-0, 1-2, 3-2, 3-4, 7-5). Topps chose to cover the days card with the Phillies big names Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins. However the hero could have also been 2017 First round pick (8th overall) Adam Haseley who tallied his first Major League Home Run.

Solid picture choices on both players. On the left we have a nice shot of Bryce Harper's emotional slide into second which I clearly remember from where I was standing. The latter photo features Rhys at the plate, anytime you can get the ball just prior to impact that's a win.

2019 ToppsNow
I would prefer that Topps go with a single image here but this was pretty much a team win and lets face it ToppsNow may not feature many Phillies this year. Otherwise this is an ok design, I would like to see the date more prominently displayed since NOW is a feature of the card. This is a two player card, but as far as I can tell the player position is not on single player cards.

There were six ToppsNow cards issued for July 18 2019. The Phillies had the largest print run for the day (464) even eclipsing the reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts and Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

2019 ToppsNow CheckList for July 18 2019
#526 Mookie Betts/Ted Williams (Print Run = 352)
#527 Brian Anderson (131)
#528 Chris Sale (182)
#529 Phillies (464)
#530 Stephen Strasburg (300)
#532 Donovan Solano (162)

Flip

2019 ToppsNow #529 Phillies (b-side)

The Text on the back of the card gives a concise two sentend summary of the Phillies 7th inning comeback. Not to self: use the word "cut" when I want to discuss a team making a comeback.

2019 ToppsNow #529 Phillies, 2019 JUL 18 Dodgers @ Phillies

And since this card is from a game that Team Phungo attended it will be going into the Phungo Games binder. Always excited to share a combined trading card/ticket photo on the blog.

Sources and Links
Bryce Harper Index
Rhys Hoskins Index
Phungo Game Dated Cards Index
baseball-ref
ToppsNow 

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Rack Pack

GQ isn't my thing, but I was in the store during it's opening week and picked up a rack pack - I am a sucker for those 3 card parallel packs. Ozzie Smith on the cover was also a selling point.

Racks contain three 6-card packs plus a 3 card framed parallel pack. The price was $9.49.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Shelby Miller

New Atlanta Brave Shelby Miller was the first card pulled in the 3 packs. He reps his new club, but I also picked up an Evan Gattis card that still has him with the Braves

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Zach Britton

I have a Rack of Opening Day that I have yet to post - it didn't have any Phillies cards :( and For the second consecutive pack opening where we didn't get any Phils,

In lieu of a Phils card we are posting a card of Zach Britton from the Team Phungo AL Squad, Baltirmore Orioles.

2015 Gypsy Queen Nomar Garciaparra

MLB Alums are part of GQ - We didn't get an HoF players but we did get this fine card of Nomar reading the signs from his 3B coach.

2015 Gypsy Queen RA Dickey

Great Shot of Knuckleballer RA Dickey. He is holding the now defunct Allan H Selig MLB Baseball that we have had under the microscope in a few recent postings.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Matt Moore

Cool Pix of Rays Pitcher Matt Moore wearing some sort of goofy uniform

#Added Value

2015 Gypsy Queen Walk off Winners Bryce Harper

This card reps a game played on August 7 2014, an extra-inning game versus the Mets that Harper won with a 13th inning Homer off of Carlos Torres. 

2015 Gypsy Queen Minis 
Salvador Perez
Josh Harrison
Phil Hughes

Each of the three packs contained a mini. Here I present them with the b-side of the Miguel Cabrera card for a size comparison

Bonus Cards

2015 Gypsy Queen Javier Baez (Base and Framed Parallel)

Each 3 Pack Rack contains a parallel pack with 3 Frame Cards which are parallels of the base set. The Frame is an actual frame and slightly raised off of the card.

2015 Gypsy Queen Ben Zobrist (White Frame)
2015 Gypsy Queen Devin Mesoraco (White Frame)

The other two Frames in the bonus pack.

And we close with the wrapper for the pack, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection

Phungo Game Report: 2015 04 12 Nationals @ Phillies

The Northeast is emerging from a long cold winter and baseball on a beautiful Sunday is a very welcome sight. Team Phungo was very excited to make it out to an Opening Week Phillies Home Game versus the World Series Favorite Washington Nationals.

2015 0412 Washington Nationals @ Philadelphia Phillies: Max Scherzer facing Cesar Hernandez

The Nats may be the World Series pick. However it was the Phillies who took the opening two games of the series and entered the day 2 games up on the Washington Squad.

Unfortunately the Phillies were unable to complete the sweep.

The Nats triumphed 4-3 n extra innings. Game Highlights included Yunel Escobar scoring on a Justing DeFratus wild pitch to take the lead in the Top of the 10th, Home Runs by Bryce Harper and Darin Ruf, and fine starts by Nats New Free Agent Acquisition Max Scherzer and Phillies Spot Starter Seaon O'Sullivan.

Snapshots

2015 MLB Opening Day Logo

It has been almost a week since Opening Day but the logo was still visible, albeit a tad faded.

2015 0412 Sean O'Sullivan

O'Sullivan was called up to make the spot start for the Phillies and will likely stay in the rotation until the Phils off-season acquisition Chad Billingsley is ready to pitch again.

2015 0412 Max Scherzer

The Nats big Free Agent signing this winter was Max Scherzer, So far he has pitched very well in both his starts but due to poor offensive support he has not been credited with a W in either start.

Scherzer appeared very upset throughout most of his pre-game bullpen session. Not sure if he was really unhappy with himself or if this is some sort of technique he uses to get himself fired up.

 

2014 0412 Bryce Harper

The biggest blemish on Sean O'Sullivan's start was giving up a first inning Home Run to Bryce Harper. 

2015 0412 Bryce Harper and Bob Davidson

We happened to capture this strange moment between Bryce Harper and Umpire Bob Davidson. Not sure what was going on here. As far as I know there was not a controversial play or other craziness that the two would be discussing.  It just seemed very odd for Bryce Harper to be putting both his hands on Bob Davidson's shoulders.  

 

 2015 0422 Darin Ruf

The sole offensive outburst for the Phillies was a Pinch Hit Homer by Darin Ruf.

 

Line Up Cards

This years Line Up cards are the same in-hous design the Phillies went with in 2014. Here we have two of the new cards for 2015, Jeff Francoeur, Odbuel Herrera, along with Cesar Hernandez. 

2015 0412 Nationals @ Phillies Game Ticket

Sources and Links
MLB Boxes
MLB Umpires

2013 Topps All-Stars Home Run Derby Cards

On Sunday Team Phungo was fortunate enough to make it to Citi Field to see the All-Star Futures Game. One of the nice things about the Futures Game is that you get to see a lot of the background of what goes into putting together game without having to shell out ASG money.

One of the items the Mets have is the Topps Lineup cards similar to the Phillies.  For Monday Night the cards are specail ASG cards of the Home Run Derby participants.  

New York Mets Citi Field 2013 Topps ASG Line Up Cards (click to enlarge) 

2013 Topps ASG Cards HR Derby Participants NL
Pedro Alvarez
Michael Cuddyer
Bryce Harper
David Wright

2013 Topps ASG Cards HR Derby Participants AL
Robinson Cano
Yoenis Cespedes
Chris Davis
Prince Fielder

Snapshots 2013 07 09 Nationals 2 @ Phillies 4

Team Phungo finally got too see a Phillies W on Tuesday night. Phils won the game 4-2 behind the strong pitching of Cole Hamels 

Taylor Jordan v Darin Ruf

It has been warm and muggy here for about a week.  Tuesday was more of the same, but we did get occasional breezes and dodged the rain.  It is to small to make out the players here, but that is Darin Ruf batting, getting a start while Ryan Howard is on the DL.  
 

Cole Hamels v Bryce Harper

These two have a bit of a history,  Hamels came out on top last night as Harper went 0-3.

 Ben Revere

After a slow start to his Phillies career Ben Revere has been much improved recently. On Tuesday he went 2-4 raising his BA to .302.

Gio Gonzalez

Gio (shutting out the Phillies as I am writing this post) showing his support of Ian Desmond who is one of the finalists for the All-Star Game Final Vote

Previous 2013 Snapshot Postings
June 12 - Angels 9 @ Orioles 5
May 18 - Reds 10 @ Phillies 0
May 15 - Indians 10 @ Phillies 4
May 5 - Marlins 14 @ Phillies 2
April 20 - Cardinals 5 @ Phillies 0


Sources
baseball-ref.com
mlb.com

Upper Dreck Fleer Fail - 2013 Jambalaya Bryce Harper - Detroit Tigers?

Last week Cardboard Connection published info on Upper Deck's return to producing baseball cards in the form of 2013 Fleer Retro Baseball.

2013 Fleer Retro Teaser Jambalaya Bryce Harper (from cardboard connection)

It was good to see UD went all out when sending out their promotional materials.  They get a big star and they got lucky as Harper bumped his Q-Rating with a noteworthy Opening Day performance.

You would think a multi-million dolar company like Upper Deck might put as much effort into returning to baseball as Bryce Harper puts into his game.  Unfortunately they do not appear to have done so.

Yes I realize this may only be a mock up for a some quick pub - but how the hell can you get the Team Wrong? Detroit!! - I was trying to figure out of Bryce Harper had some sort of Detroit on his resume.  Near as I can tell no College or High School there.

The design is based off a Basketball insert set that was issued in 1997/98 so that may have thrown off UD. But those card featured nicknames not city names, so that text had to be changed regardless.

I honestly don't get it.  Maybe I am missing something here, but it is like they put in no effort at all. Or they are leaking a gimmick to get some press.

Snapshots 2012 09 27 Nationals 7 @ Phillies 3

The 2012 Phillies home season ended with a whimper, which is pretty much how the whole season went.  The only highlight of the Phils 7-3 loss was a bases loaded double by the recenltly promoted Darin Ruf.  That happened early but the Phils pretty much left Gio Gonzalez off the hook after getting some runners on in the 1st and 2nd innings.

Snapshots (click any pix to enlarge) 

 Darin Ruf Double 

The rising streak just above the 1b foul line is the ball

Sighting

Stephen Strasburg

He may not be pitching in games but Strasburg is still getting his work in - He was doing long toss with the other pitchers and looked like he was working on keeping his mechanics sharp.

Good Guy Awards

Strasburg signing autographs

GGAs go out to Strasburg and Ian Desmond for the bad guys.  Several Phillies including Chase Utley and Kevin Frandsen were signing for fan appreciation night.

Ryan Howard 

Uneventful final home game for the big man in the Phils final home game of 2012.

Bryce Harper

Yep thats a Home Run swing.  Harper knocked this one out to right center.   He got all of it, looked like it was out the moment he swung.

2012 Phungo Cards Bryce Harper

2012 Phungo #15 Bryce Harper

I made it to two of Harper's game last season, both for AA Harrisburg.  The picture on his 2012 Phungo Card above was taken at a game he played versus the Reading Phillies.  My impressions of that game are here.

The nature of the long season of Baseball makes it hard to judge a player from a single game or series.  In  the two games I saw, Harper had one strongly hit ball a Flyout deep to the RCF alley that was caught on the track.  He was just beginning to play LF and had trouble coming in on balls.  He was fast on the basepaths and I would think that skill would translate to the OF. 

The other game I saw him play was in July for Harrisburg versus the Akron Aeroes - My game report on that game here.

Bryce Harper RC first Impression

Is it me or does this guy lead the league in eye-black? 

Scan stolen from Cardboard Connection

BryceWatch 2011 08 02 Harrisburg Senators @ Reading Phillies

Went out to Reading to catch the Phils AA affiliate as they hosted Bryce Harper and the rest of the Harrisburg Senators Last night.  This was my second stop on my Bryce Harper tour - to see a game report on my previous game click here.

For Tuesday night Reading was quite busy as a perfect storm of events helped to fill the classic ballpark.  

1) Prospect Bryce Harper was in town and folks definitely knew about him - plenty of flashbulbs for a minor league game

2) Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz Bobble Head giveaway night - one of the most annoying "Talking" bobbleheads ever.

3) Really nice weather - it was warm but really low humidity for this area in August.

The R-Phils won the contest 8-4 with the bulk of their scoring happening during a 6 run 6th highlighted by a Steve Singleton Grand Slam.  Singleton is a castoff from the Twins system who just got called up to Reading from Lakewood.  Harper was 1-4 with a well hit gap double.  Longtime Phils Minor league catcher Tuffy Gosewhich had a dinger for the good guys.  Nats Prospect (Mary) Tyler Moore hit his 25th homer for the Senators.

etc....

-Harper either stepped in a hole or tripped over his elongated pants while trying to field a single in an effort to make a throw to the plate.  In the game I saw Harper play in Harrisburg last month, he played it safe coming in on a ball that may have been catchable allowing it to drop in for a single.  He did run the bases well once again, and that definitely appears to be an asset - especially for a guy that came up as a catcher.  

-Oliver Perez (yes that Ollie Perez) got the start for the Nats.  Not only did he get a hit, but he also had a stolen base in the game.  For all of my complaints about his performance at the major league level, Perez did appear to be having fun in last nights game and did demonstrate some leadership qualities.  Perez had a decent outing giving up only 1 run over 5.  it ws the bullpen that gave up the big runs.

-Reading has done a good job updating their ballpark.  They have added a significant outdoor area w/ pre-game activities and a real clubhosue store, of course it has major league prices.

-Since the Phils promoted Freddy Galvis this week, other than Matt Rizzoti who is playing Ryan Howard's position, I am not sure that Reading had a legitimate prospect playing in the field right now.

-Tyler Moore went 3-4 last night and has homered in both games I saw the Sens play this year. 

-Apparently the Sens have a player named Stepen King.

-The Nats just picked up Erik Komatsu in return for Jerry Hairston Jr at the deadline - Komatsu busted bats in each of his first 3 at bats of the game - he is a LH bat with speed.  Little guy potential leadoff man. 

Phungo Polaroids Bryce Harper

Did a quick local Baseball Tour this past weekend.  

Orioles Loss v Indians on Friday Night.  

Baseball Card Show in York PA on Saturday.

Bryce Harper Show on Saturday Night. 

2011 PolarPhungo #3 Bryce Harper

There was a definite buzz during the Senators game, and it was exciting to see a fairly full house at an AA game hang on every pitch of his ABs.  In the end Harper who is yet to homer at the AA level had a pedestrian 1-4 night.  He did hit a ball to the track at the deepest part of the park just right of center.   His one hit led to him scoring a run - Harper looked good running the bases advancing on a fielders choice, Wild pitch and a Flyout. 

The Senators ended up losing an otherwise disaster of a game 11-5 to the Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians AA) - But like a lot of minor league parks, there was a lot of other entertainment.  The park was nice although since it is on an Island on the Susquahanna River there are a lot of bugs - Mayflies. 1B Tyler Moore had a couple of Hits including a homer for the good guys.  Beau Mills had a homer for the Aeros - I think Mills might have been player of the week for the Eastern League.