2023 Heroes and Prospects

 

OK, it is actually Donruss 2023, but given that the set consists of retired greats and minor leaguers, it perfectly gives the vibe of the old ITG hockey release. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

First card out is the former for that category. Nice colour on the design, although there is way too much border for my tastes. Oakland's colours are so unique, they actually adapt quite nicely to a logoless photo.

Card #2 is a player I'd never seen before in any release. That's probably because he hasn't had a base card since Conlon Collection release back in 1993. 

That's worthy of showing a card back off!

I'll scan everything else in a group the rest of the way home. Alvarez has probably been one of a few things enjoyable about this Mets season. Alex Ramirez provides the second Mets card of the pack, and Druw Jones is probably the biggest name among the prospect pool in the pack. I do wish they'd gone all-red for the 1990 salute, or team colours like 2016 football.

We've reached the legends portion of the pack. Nice to see Shawn Green with Toronto, as he provided the only Jays content in the pack. He's been a Dodger in a lot of releases recently, although a 30/30 Club Jays card of his showed up in Series 1 this season. Still, the Stargell is probably my favourite in this bunch - I give full credit to the yellow batting helmet.

Bring on the inserts and parallels! It seems off to get an insert and then just have a base card right afterwards, but I don't put the packs together. Also, note the pair of Dodgers cards of Duke Snider. What did I do right before heading into Walmart where I added this pack to my cart? Mail off a package to Night Owl. Because of course I did.  While I got the three advertised Holo Orange parallels, I also got a Carolina Blue and a numbered Stat Line parallel of Rickey Henderson. /401 goes to his career OBP. 

3rd Oakland card, and I'd just be repeating myself by saying how nicely Oakland's classic colours work with the lack of logos. The parallels continue here - the Walker is a reversed image error card. Elly de la Cruz is the most solid name among guys who've reached the majors at this point, giving me another really solid prospect name in this.

Despite a dearth of active, non-rookie major leaguers, I actually really liked this. Enough that I'd probably pull another pack of these off the shelves without hesitation.

There you have it!