2015 Topps Update MegaBox Break

I let myself get suckered into picking up one of those 5+2 megaboxes of Updated/Chrome Update. Between the 7 packs I came up empty for Phillies - and really no former Phillies either :(

There are some minor highlights - pix below

Dallas Keuchel

Starting out with a couple of the Update cards. Keuchel is  the man who became the ace of the Astros. I am much happier with the shot selection for the 2015 All-Star cards. A year ago I think Topps was restricted to Practice Day photos, and there didn't appear to be enough selection.

Yoenis Cespedes

Before we spent the entire postseason hearing about Daniel Murphy, we spent the duration of the stretch run hearing about Yoenis Cespedes. The Cuban outfielder is a Free Agent and this may be one of the few cards issued of Cespedes as a Met.

Stephen Vogt

Another All-Star card, this is an interesting shot of A's catcher Stephen Vogt with I assume his child. The two of them are holding a placard for MLBs Stand Up 2 Cancer campaign.

Chrome

Joey Gallo
Francisco Lindor
Jason Heyward

These are this years special Chrome Cards. One advantage of photographing over scanning for these is you can capture the sparkles at a variety of angles. Three Pictures of the same card could have quite different results.

Eduardo Rodriguez
Delino DeShields
Eddie Butler

The filled in "Future Stars" tag, shown here on the Eddie Butler Card, looks a bit better on the Chrome Cards than on flagship - You can actually read the tag on the Chrome Card.

Inserts/Notables

Joe Ross
Craig Biggio
Dwight Gooden
Josh Donaldson

The Ross card is a parallel out of one of the base packs. Whatever Works for Craig Biggio is his dirty helment.

No-Hitter

The Bob Feller card above will likely get covered in a future No-Hitters posting.

Joey Butler
Danny Valencia

Gold Cards from flagship - both numbered to 2015.

Rookies

Jason Garcia/Scott Copeland

Apparently Dual RCs are in Update. I don't recall seeing these in the first 2 series of 2015T.

Joc Pederson

This is one of the Gold Versions of Chrome Update - numbered to /250.

Rookie Sensations Jose Abreu

I believe Rookie Sensations is the common insert for Chrome Update.

I pick up a couple of packs of Update each year, adding these few packs from the MegaBox along with the 8 ChroUp cards will probably conclude my new pack purchases for the year.

Sources and Links
Cardboard Connection

Sunday Night Baseball Nats @ Mets and Blaster Break of 2015 Allen & Ginter

Picked up a single blaster of 2015 A&G and only got one Phils card.

And it was a card of a player that just got traded. That is ok - 1) Paps really was never loved in PhilaPa 2) Since he got moved to DC I can make this posting as part of our Sunday Night Baseball Series.

Papelbon will be closing for the Nats and if the game between the two division rivals is tight tonight, I will not know who to root against. 

I have one additional quibble with the Papelbon A&G card

Double Vision

Yes Topps used the same image for A&G as they did for the 66T homage 2015 Heritage. I disapprove, but I am sure Topps Sees these sets as Low end, while I see them as premium so we know we really aren't on the same page anyway.

I will display the highlights of the pack in All-Star fashion

Battery

Zach Britton
Edinson Volquez
Matt Barnes
Brian McCann

Pretty week class of pitchers - have to admit Volquez looks pretty nasty here. Overall I am not a fan of the dotting used for shading on the players faces. I am sure there is a artsy name for this technique, I don't know the term, I just know that I think it looks freaky. 

Infield

Ian Desmond 
David Wright
Danny Santana
Jon Singleton

David Wright beat out Manny Machado for the Blaster All-Stars strictly because he is a member of the teams playing tonight (even if he is on the DL). This squad has two shortstops as I did not draw a second baseman from the packs.

Jon Singleton gets the nod at first base strictly because of his one time Phillies Farmhand status.

 Outfield

Billy Hamilton
Mookie Betts
Michael Bourn
Yoneis Cespedes

We have another former Phil in Michael Bourn, while newest Met Yoenis Cespedes appears here representing the Tigers.  

The Bench (Inserts and Extras)

Starting Points Mike Moustakas
Starting Points Dee Gordon (b-side)

I like the 2015 A&G common insert, Starting Points. As a fan of game dated cards this one is aimed at me. At 100 cards I doubt I will seriously look to build the set unless I found a boatload in a dime box one day. There are 5 Phillies on the checker (Rollins, Utley, Howard, Hamels, Maikel Franco) Plus Jayson Werth (Blue Jays) and Cliff Lee.  

The two cards presented above represent games that occurred within days of each other. Moustakas debuted in a 4-2 victory over the Angels, He singled in the 6th off of Ervin Santana for his first career Major League hit.

The Latter card marks the debut of Dee Gordon whose first game occurred in Philadelphia where his father Tom Gordon pitched for several years. Dee pinch ran in the 9th inning of a tight game that the Dodgers lost 3-1.

One of the features of these cards that I like is that in addition to the A-side Player the text mentions other baseball events of the day. Dee Gordon's first game was shared with a Career Milestone for Tim Lincecum and the Pirates Draft of Gerrit Cole.

Val Kilmer
Jeremy Roenick

Topps of the non-baseball base cards are Val Kilmer and Jeremy Roenick. Considering my distaste for Jonathan Papelbon I would have to say that the Flyers related Roenick card is my favorite in the pack. 

Mini Mike Moustakas A&G back
Mini Javier Baez (rc)
Mini Jean Segura 
Mini Kendall Graveman A&G Back
Mini First Ladies Abigail Adams
Mini Black Border Berlin Wall
Mini Black Border Appomattox Court House
Mini Hoist the Flag Mary Read

Turned out to be a Moustakas hot pack as we picked up a pair of inserts of the Royals 3rd Baseman.

The Berlin Wall card is from the short print portion of the minis and is probably the rarest card that was drawn from the blaster. Beyond that we have some pedestrian minis other than the Baez RC Mini.

Keys to the City - Willis Tower Chicago
Ancient Armory - Dane Axe
Menagerie of the Mind - Mermaind

Couple of the full size inserts.  Of the three sets here Keys to the City is the most interesting to me.

Sources and Links
Cardboard Connection
baseball-ref

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

2013 Topps Heritage 3-Pack Black Border Cards

Picked up one of those 2013 Topps Heritage 3 Packs yesterday to see what the parallels look like.  Topps has been doing this for a few years now, As far back as 2011 at least. The 3-Packs run $9.49 or $10.06 when you factor in PA Sales Tax.  That is a savings of 50 cents over picking up 3 loose packs plus you get the 3 bonus cards.

2013 Topps Heritage Black #479 Ian Kinsler

2013 Topps Heritage Black #350 Matt Cain

2013 Topps Heritage Black #477 Yadier Molina

The black border treatment for 2013 is much better then 2012 Heritage, where only the top 2/3 of the card could be black bordered.  It just looked awkward. The Black Border 2013 Topps Heritage do echo 1971 Topps.

Either I got a bit lucky with my bonus pack or the SPs are not an issue for the black borders, because both Kinsler and Molina are both among the High Numbered shorts.

Other Inserts

2013 Topps Heritage Memorable Moments - Teddy Wins First Presidential Races

2013 Topps Heritage Refracter #HC61 Yoennis Cespedes (#d/564)

The Teddy card is up for card of the year for me, and I am happy to pack draw him.  Not sure that 2012 memorable moments really belong in Heritage.  The Cespedes is a Refractor Parallel.  My other insert was the Then/Now of Whitey Ford/Felix Hernandez.  The Stat was shutouts - although in 1964 Whitey Ford did not lead the league in shutouts - that honor went to Dean Chance.

Base

The 24 base cards yielded a grand total of ZERO Phillies cards so team Phungo is still seeking our first 2013 Topps Heritage Phillies card. The other thing we noted is some of the caps look huge when they spill over the border. This to me is the defining characteristic for 1964 Topps. It's a set I didn't love at first put the beyond the border does help the headshot pop a little.  Since profile pix are the norm across Heritage it is a design element that works for the retro set. 

  

  

1986 Topps Yoenis Cespedes Card Surfaces

As part of their Fantasy preview MLB.coms 1986ish Topps Cards includes this one of Yoenis Cespedes. 

Faux 1986 Topps Yoenis Cespedes

For the earlier Phungo post on Yoenis click here.   Note that the spelling change on the first name.