New Release Review – Memory Preservation

Time certainly does fly by. We can call that a cliché or whatever, but the older I get, the more I realize it to be the absolute truth. I still can’t believe it when I realize I am only 2 months away from being 42 years old. It isn’t because I think that I am somehow supposed to defy time and stay the same age forever. It is just hard to wrap my head around being on this earth for 15,330 days. I’ve reached the age where instead of wondering what I will be when I grow up, the question becomes whether I will live another “X” number of years to match those that I have already lived. If I were to double my life from today, I would be almost 84 years old!

That doesn’t mean I have actually figured out what I want to be when I grow up, because I don’t know that I will ever either figure that out or actually grow up. Growing up and growing old are two different things I want to do those exclusive of each other, if at all possible. That is why this blog is so important to me at this stage of my life. It forces me to stay in touch with a younger version of myself. It forces me to remember why I am where I am today and some of the ways I’ve gotten here. It also forces me to take stock in where I am going and whether or not I want to keep going in that direction.

Is it surprising to you that these seemingly random sports card reviews actually help me take a mental inventory of who I am, where I have been, and where I am going? I say with 100% confidence that I would be writing these whether you were reading them right now or not. I am super thankful that you are; but some of my most important pieces were read by 10 people while some of the most random were read by 1,000. Writing is as much to me about self-motivation, nostalgia, and future growth as it is about what I actually think about 1989 Donruss and Nolan Ryan. I learn from myself when I write; it’s just not learning about cards for me as much as it is learning about how my brain works.

When I sit down to write, it is sort of like turning on the TV in my brain and watching old home movies from growing up. I visualize what I was doing when I focus on the subject I’m writing about. I try to recreate the full experience, even though my mind has slowly started to blur what may have actually happened. I still have the strong concrete pillars and foundation of my childhood; but the paint on the shutters are peeling and the carpet is starting to fray in the high traffic areas. And this blog is the only way I can occasionally spruce things up a bit. The blog is the toolbox that I have laying around the house that I have to pull out when screws need to be tightened and pictures need to be re-hung.

So really, that is why I write these sometimes pointless pieces. It is therapeutic, invigorating, and often just the right cure for what’s ailing me. And the older I get, the more ailments I have. You may sometimes think that my giveaways and constant sharing is all about traffic counts or exposure; and sometimes that is part of it. But the traffic and exposure part is what has put me in touch with likeminded people who share the same stories and many of the same memories along our walk through life. And while there are moments in my life that I will never actually get back, I am not eager to let go of the memories either. I need those memories; regardless of how important or trivial they can sometimes be. So it is important to write about them in an effort to create a dialog with a stranger that may have experienced the same moment as me 25 years ago, some 500 miles away.

I have to try and treat these moments all with the same amount of respect. A memory I have from high school graduation might just have the same amount of importance as a toy that I got from a cereal box when I was 10. Just this past Halloween, I found a box of Boo Berry at the grocery store and right there in the store aisle, I pictured myself sitting on the old shag carpet in front of our console TV, watching Saturday morning cartoons. It was one tiny memory that, for one fleeting second, made me forget about the bills I had to pay or the cholesterol pill I had to take or the calls from work I had to return. And that is what life has become at the age of 42; balancing a day to day life of responsibilities with occasional fleeting seconds of happy-go-lucky nonchalance. Well, it’s obviously more than that, but that is life to me at its most basic; living in the now but never forgetting my past.

That is also what cards do for me at this age. They help me remember when my biggest worry was whether or not I was going to get my neighbor to trade me one of those 1990 Kevin Maas Upper Deck Rookies, and how much it was going to cost me. Sports Cards are an immediate window into the past for me; whether a junk wax set or something newly released. And for the latter, no set has done that for me in baseball this year, quite like 2018 Topps Gallery. I do love Archives and Heritage but Gallery really made an impression on me, pun possibly intended. I picked up some last weekend when I went down to visit my parents and I didn’t realize how much of an impact the set was going to have on me.

First, I have always enjoyed Topps Gallery, but I guess the mood I was in was perfect for the rip this time around. The set itself is a beautiful, artist rendered collection of cards that has a checklist infused with current and former players. Just like 2017, its first year back on the market in a decade, it is a Wal-Mart Exclusive, which carries its own set of pro’s and con’s that I’ll save for a deeper dive into the industry as a whole one day. The border design is mostly a whitish-gray with printed brush strokes around the edges. All of the images are painted by various artists and have a super professional look to them. These are really like classy miniature works of art.

Hobby boxes have 5 cards per pack and 20 packs per box. Blasters have 4 cards per pack, 7 packs per box, plus 1 additional pack with 4 Artist Proof Parallels. Finally, Fat Packs have 12 cards per pack. 

Cards 1-150 are considered the base set with the usual influx of variations to be found. They include:

 Artist Proof (4 per blaster)
 Canvas (2 per fat pack)
 Private Issue /250 (1:13 hobby box)
 Green /99 (1:86 hobby, 1:108 blaster, 1:36 fat packs)
 Blue /50 (1:171 hobby, 1:213 blaster, 1:71 fat packs)
 Orange /25 (1:340 hobby, 1 :426 blaster, 1:142 fat packs)
 Printing Plates 1/1 (1:2,133 hobby, 1:2,661 blaster, 1:882 fat packs; each with Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow versions)
 Red 1/1 (1:8,826 hobby, 1:10,733 blaster, 1:3,616 fat packs)
 These numbers provided by Ryan Cracknell at www.beckettnews.com/news/2018-topps-gallery-baseball-cards/

Short prints are found in the checklist from 151-200 and they include a mix of current and legendary players. There are also autographs and inserts to cover, which we will later.

There aren’t many “horizontal” cards but this Mattingly makes me wish there were more!

This Victor Robles is a cool photo with the glasses on the hat to give it a blue tint.

This Big Mac is an Artist Proof. I know I’ve seen this picture before!

The other half of the Bash Brothers is here as well. My Uncle Speedy pulled an autographed version of this card last week!

There are current players in the set, trust me. But I can easily get lost in these veteran player cards! Such a great image here!

There was no chance I would leave Bo out! If he gets pulled, he gets featured on this blog!

I’m not sure why some of the cards feature a colorful background other than artist choice I suppose. But this Ortiz is pretty sweet!

It’s always nice to add a new Chipper to the collection as well. I’d love to have the autographed version of this one!

Here is the first of your MLB Rookies of the Year. Ohtani was the American League representative.

And here is the National League ROY, Ronald Acuña. What a season this guy had!

This Hammerin’ Hank is one of the SP’s in the set. Classic photo!

Another SP is Jackie Robinson. One day, I’ll add some originals of Jackie but for now, this will have to do.

These are the Fat Pack Exclusives.

I’m not completely sold on the Heritage Inserts but I do love this Albies.

Another insert is the Hall of Fame cards. Nice to have a Jackson in the Halos uniform.

Masterpiece is an insert set that includes Black and White Images. These are ok but not my favorite cards.

Here is a Green Parallel numbered to 99. These are nice with a little added color.

The Blue Parallels are also numbered to 99. Eddie Murray is such an underrated player by today’s collectors.

Orange is the lowest numbered parallel I pulled. This Correa is numbered to 25.

Gallery includes box toppers, which can be found in the form of “Original” pieces. No such luck with this one but still a cool piece.

This is the base autograph. It looks just like the base card but with the added autograph sticker, and is not numbered.

This Green Parallel is numbered to 99!

And finally, The Big Hit! I mean, The Big Hurt! This bad boy is numbered 4/5 and is one of the sweetest baseball pulls of the year for me. This is an unbelievable addition to my collection!

So there you have 2018 Topps Gallery. I love the set but I’m afraid future boxes are going to be hard to find. My local Wal-Marts are already out and they don’t usually restock exclusives. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and certainly keep an eye out at other Wal-Marts. These can be found online but they are marked up on the secondary market, as usual. I like the various options you have and the exclusives that are found in each offering. The designs are the best of any set for me in 2018, excluding designs they have recycled from previous years. I found good value in the boxes I opened and this is certainly a base set I can get behind. I give it a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and will definitely be on the lookout for more!

J-Dub

Scoring Scale

1.Let me be the sacrificial lamb so you don’t have to buy these cards.  Just read the post and thank me later.

2.There is worse but there is much better – not worth the effort though.

3.Middle of the road – I wouldn’t talk you into buying these but I certainly wouldn’t talk you out of them.

4.You should probably go out and buy a box and enjoy the rip – I did!  It has some downside but worth the ride.

5.Stop reading and find a box to buy and get to Breaking!  What are you waiting on?

 

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