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. 

2016 Topps Blaster Break

Since I struck out looking for 2016 Heritage tonight you are getting an unenthusiastic posting on a Blaster of 2016 Topps.  The first pack of the blaster can be found here.

Blaster All-Stars - Battery

2016 Topps
#50 Salvador Perez
#300 Buster Posey
#237 Carlos Ruiz
#4 Sonny Gray

I am protesting 2016 Topps tight shots epidemic by feature mainly catcher's in our Battery part of the lineup. The position and the gear give the photographer more opportunities to create interesting shots. Here we have the Catchers for the two most recent World Series champs and the Phillies own 2008 WSC catcher. We featured the Ruiz card a few weeks back in our First Phillie of 2016T posting.

Sonny Gray won the battle for the only Pitcher card to Make the Blaster All-Star because I don't think he gets enough press, and I like the high socks.


Blaster All-Star Infield 

#241 Freddie Freeman
#137 Joe Panik
#310 David Wright
#225 Scooter Gennett

The David Wright is just another tight shot on a batter. I do like how we can see his number not only oh his jersey but also on the sweatband. Freddie Freeman celebrating a Homer is a nice highlight in the box. Scooter Gennett gets a 5 number Freddie does not.

Blaster All-Star Outfield

#272 Denard Span
#312 Curtis Granderson
#227 David Murphy
#8 Michael Brantley

Granderson wins the interesting shot here.  I realize Span and Murphy look virtually the same, but still like them.

Inserts 
Just some Quick Comments here, Would like to return to these individually in the future.

2016 Topps #BB-60 Berger's Best Mike Trout
2001 Topps Update #US-175 Mike Trout

Once again Topps has a set featuring cards that are basically re-issues. This is one of the relatively recent 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout. I think the one on the Left is the 2016T version, with the original on the right - The foil is in Gold this year as opposed to Silver on the original. Not sure if this was an accident of by design.

I have seen a couple of the Berger cards now and I like them more than I thought I would.

 2016 Topps #MLBD-35 MLB Debut Mike Trout

My first blaster of 2016 Turned out to be a Mike Trout Hot box, with a pair of his insert cards (although we did not pull the #1 Base card)

MLB Debut is basically This years version of 2015 Topps Retail Only First Home Run cards - which I think may be the Topps common insert. Ok idea for an insert set.

2016 Topps #FP-15 First Pitch Bill Withers

Bill Withers is the 2015 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame musician responsible for "Lean On Me".

I don't care if this set doesn't showcase baseball players, I think the FP insert is fun. My only issue is that I don't believe that Topps has featured one from Philadelphia.

2016 Topps #WOW-15 Henry Urrutia

Walk of Wins is a nice idea for a Insert. I believe these are new for 2016 and replace last year's similar but defensive minded Robbed Insert Set. Both sets are retail only.

2016 Topps #MLBW-6 Wacky Packages

Advertising for another product. I don't know whether I should be happy or bothered that only six of the 30 teams are represented by this set.

2016 Topps #AM-03 Amazing Milestones Carl Yastrzemski

This is the Target only insert. I believe that WalMart got an Insert involving "Greatest Streaks" A set I would probably find more interesting even if it omit's Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio.

2016 Topps #PIS1 Pressed Into Service Mitch Moreland

Lots to like about this set including that the Acronym is Three-Quarters of PISS.

2016 Topps #B2B-5 Back to Back Reds

I was sick of lineage, but I am not sure this is an improvement

Obligatory Blaster "Hit"

2016 Topps #MDM-NR Major LEague Debut Medallions Nolan Ryan

The Medallion was the last thing we opened out of the box and I told Mrs Phungo we want a Ryan Howard card here, after we saw the card she quickly quipped "Well you got a Ryan"

By The Numbers

81 Cards
72 Base (roughly)
1 Phillies card (Chooch)
10 Inserts
1 Fake Relic (Ryan)
2 Hero Numbers (Posey, Harper)
I think there were also a couple of foil cards.

There you have it, I think I may have snuck in an extra insert or two from looseys I picked up w/ the Blaster coupon, but basically it's a blaster. Sorry, I try and be accurate in my counting numbers, but it has been a busy couple of weeks. 

Sources and Links
Phungo 2016 Topps index
BillWithers.com
Cardboard Connection

2016 Topps First Pack!

Earlier this week I got a Text from Lady Phungo – and it was one that I was excited to get.

Of course I meant “On the Box”. Regardless, that is how I FINALLY got my first cards of 2016.  She picked up a Blaster – Note the boxes don’t say “Bryce Harper” anywhere on the packaging. But as she noted the guy on the box “had a Nationals Cap on and looks like a Jerk” so she figured that was close enough.

And The first card of the year is….

2016 Topps #51 Dustin Garneau

I now know a lot more about Dustin than I did 24 hours ago. Last year he debuted as a 27 year old rookie catcher. Played 22 games and hit a pair of home runs including a 3 run shot in the 7th inning of a 0-0 game versus Seattle, September 11 2015. The Rockies held on to win the contest 4-2.

Other than that I can tell you Mr Garneau went to Baseball Powerhouse Cal-State Fullerton and is from Torrance – anytime I hear that somebody is from Torrance I think of Burt Reynolds greeting Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights.

I like the look of 2016 Topps a little better than I do on-line. I had concerns about to many tight shots and a lack of variety in the Photos. After opening a blaster full of cards I have less reservations about 2016 Topps. There are some fun pictures and not all the pitcher cards look alike etc. Take the Dustin Garneau Shot above. I mean, it would be stretching it to call this an action shot by 2016 standards, but I do feel as though we are dealing with a picture that may not tell a story, but speaks at a minimum. It captures one of those thousands of moments where you see a catcher acting as a field captain despite the fact that he is only a rookie who didn’t make it to the bigs until he was 27.

It also makes me smile to see that a catcher is on Card #51. The number worn by the Phillies own catcher on their 2008 World Series squad. 

2016 Topps # Twins Team
2016 Topps # Coco Crisp

For those of you that track collation I drew the Coco Crisp card prior to the Twins Team card but reversed the cards here because I like to position cards with the action moving towards the center.

When Topps first went the highlight direction on Team Cards a few years ago I wasn’t excited about it, but this year had turned me around. The Twins card shows an exciting walk off moment that looks like it could have been part of the Perspectives Insert if there was a bigger star involved.

The most important think I can say about the Coco Crisp is that this card isn’t as memorable as Topps 2014T offering.

2016 Topps # Twins Team
2016 Topps # Coco Crisp

That 2014T Crisp is Cardboard HOF worthy. If you have a chance to check out 2014 Topps take a peek at the A's cards, there are a couple of fun photos in that team set, However there is a LOT of YELLOW.

Inserts

2016 Topps Pressed Into Service Garrett Jones
2016 Topps MLB Debut Matt Harvey

Once again for the collation purists the Jones card preceded the Harvey Debut in 2016T Pack 1.

MLB Debut is the retail only insert for 2016 Topps. Only complaint on this specific card is that it is of a Met.

Mixed feelings on Pressed Into Service. I like the idea, however, Three of the cards are Yankees, two Rangers – this means half the sets cards are devoted to two teams.

Josh Hamilton
John Lamb
Denard Span
Jaff Marisnick

I am kind of tired of hearing stuff about Josh Hamilton.

Apparently John Lamb had some sort of off-season surgery (is getting a Tattoo considered Surgery?) that the Reds were keeping hush-hush. Other than that this is another RC logo card of a player I know nothing about.

I believe that Denard Span is the only base card in the pack where the team is misrepresented – Span is on the San Francisco Giants roster now.

Good to see the Astros getting cards after a few years in baseball purgatory. They even have exciting semi-stars like Marisnick that are making contributions. Maybe it is just me but I find a lot of Bright orange on a card garish when the team stinks. Now that the Astros are on the upswing I find that same brightness exciting.

These four cards are all fine photos, but they do sort of fall under the standard shot for hitters and pitchers umbrella that I fear, although I do like the Span shot.

Last Card First Pack

Heartbreaking Cards posted a video of Keith Olbermann opening his first pack of 2016 and he mentioned that other the top card of the pack the 2nd most important card is the bottom card. I suspect that this is because you get a glimpse of that card when you rip open the pack anyway. Well that card in my Pack 1 happened to be Former Oriole and current brave Nick Markakis.

2016 Topps Nick Markakis

Well that is a step up from card one from the pack. Markakis is coming off a down year, but I am pretty sure that is still the best card in the pack. 

Here are links to past years first cards/packs. 

2015 Bryce Brent

2014 Matt Davidson

2013 Brian McCann

2012 Mariano Rivera

Sources and Links

2016 Topps Index

Cardboard Connection

San Francisco Giants 

Baseball-ref

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

Just the Hits: 3 Packs o 2013 Topps Series 2 Hobby - including Case HIts?

 Busy week at Phungo HQ so cliff notes and pix only - will try and elaborate later. If this was Bucket or Chuck-It these 3 Packs would get a surprise BUCKET LIST IT!

3 Packs of 2013 Topps Series 2, $2/Pack $6 total. Purchased at a card show so no sales tax.

2013 Topps S2 Jonathan Papelbon

I am sick of closers being overzealous upon getting saves.  Papelbon is the Phillies guy, so I guess I am ok with this one.

 Case Hits?

2013 Topps S2 Camo Mike Baxter

 I get a Camo Parallel and it is a stinkin Met.

2013 Topps S2 Black Alberto Cabrera

Cabrera was a middle reliever for the Cubs in 2012. I think he is back to starting in their minor league system now.  Cool to get a black parallel, even if it is a minor player and looks closer to charcoal in color.

Apparently the Black cand Camo Parallels are 1 or 2/ case so those are pretty rare.  Team Phungo wins the lottery - well winning in the way that you win when you get 2 of the 6 numbers and you basically get back the cost of ticket. 

 

2013 Topps S2 Emerald Parallel Salvador Perez


Base Cards

2013 Topps Series 2

Some Additional Cards that will bear comment at some future time. Posting now for folks that want to see them.

There was one other Insert that I picked up - it wasn't anything major but wanted to save it for its own posting.

Bucket List
Only one Phillies card but I consider the 3 packs a win just for the rarity of the two parallels that popped up. 

From Russia with Stickers

Here are the contents from a couple of packs of Panini Futbol Stickers I picked up while in Russia last fall.

I honestly don't know much about soccer but wanted to pick these up just to check them out.

For more information on these packs check out my posting over at A Pack to be Named Later.

SuperSomething of Russia (Shiny Foily sticker)

Mashir Chukarov
Sergei Skoblakov
Valery Klemov
Renat Yebaev

Names are translated to the best of my meager ability

Boris Rotenberg
Tomas Vehodl
Alexander Salugen
Chede Odea
Alexander Ryzantsev 


Over at APTBNL I also had a pack break for some stickers from Munich's FC Bayern Muchen team.

Phungo Challenge: What Kind of Garbage will we find in this Pack?

Found this at the local 5 below recently:


They are from Cards One and I imagine are really similar to a pack opened recently on A Pack to be Named Later.

Here are the Odds (click to enlarge):


Sounds pretty similar to the Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out giveaway. Although each pack will contain a "Historic Star Card". For those of you that can't read the small print there is 1:5 for 20+ Year Old Card, 1:10 for 30 and 1:100 for 40. For those of you actually interested in this product the cost is $1.06 (incl PA tax). Packs contain 15 cards.

I have 3 packs of this stuff and I am entertaining guesses on the Most Historic, Most Vintage, and Most Collectible cards I pull from "Historic Vintage Collection".

You have 24 hours to get your guesses in - or 48 or 60 hours - basically till I get around to posting the packs.

Best guesses will be honored in the Phungo Challenge Hall of Fame.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

oh and if you want some actual useful information - stop reading this and go and watch "Modern Family".