Opening Day Jays

 Courtesy of the TMV box.

Cards from a box deserve a box topper, or at least an oversized card as their opener.

Here's a whole pile of Archives-intensive base cards. The Chris Baker is one of those numbered prospect base cards. He never made it above AAA with Toronto. Kirby Yates didn't get too many cards during his Toronto stint, so his appearance is nice. Seeing Roger Clemens get post-career Toronto cards just seems like an odd choice, considering there may have been more to his 'revived his career there' than just a new location.

Some colourful, and not so colourful parallels. 

Inserts! Naturally, the Bazooka Joe-esque comic strip of Bichette wins this battle.

Kevin Smith was definitely a mainstay of 2022 releases, either with Toronto or with Oakland, who he was traded to as part of the Matt Chapman deal. Smith has already moved on from there, and is now in the Yankees system as of the spring.

At least Tucker Toman is still around with the Jays farm system, and at 20 years old, still has plenty of time to develop. At least the early version of his signature is pretty legible, even on the sliding scale of modern penmanship.

 

Start with Vladdy! End with Vladdy! Even if the end is a cheesy manufactured item hit. It's still a Vladdy!

There you have it. Excepting a few stragglers, I did manage to get through the box just in time to send a return package to Michigan this morning. Watch your mailbox, Dennis and thanks for all these additions!