Pack Sampler: 2020 Big League

With three mailings on the way, I thought I'd be reaching into the mailbag on this Canada Day Eve. Alas, Canada Post disappointed. As usual. So, here's a pack of Big League.

My first Big League card of 2020 is a pretty generic one. But the design gets the job done.

With the 'Fun Facts' being my favourite thing about the design in 2020 Score Football, it is no surprise that the Did You Know on the backs of these are my favourite things here.

No Blue Jays content among the 30 cards, but a former Blue Jay is the only Mets card in it, with it also likely being my first card of Stroman in Mets attire.

My favourite photos in this see Kiermaier's catch highlighted by a perfectly placed graphic on the outfield fence, with Javier's card giving the vibe to the multi-image cards of the past. Sorta. Kinda.

One nice thing about this over flagship is that instead of 'Moments' cards having a checklist on the back, they actually have a description of the event that just happened.

Here's my promised orange parallels. I also got the base versions of the Bogaerts and Leaders cards.

Finally, the inserts. With there only being one per team, the Caricatures give a nice vibe to the classic Diamond Kings. The odds aren't listed for the other three, but the Roll Call are one 1:4 packs. So, yay?

And there you have it. I'm still salty about the cancellation of Bark in the Park cards from a few years back, but these are a perfectly fine low-end release.

GQ Sampler

This will probably be the extent of my 2020 GQ breaking.

Pack 1:

At least it is a solid start for the Jays PC, opening with a card for it. If I tend to think that the first card I see from a set influences my feel for it, then I guess I might be breaking more of it than I first thought.

Pack 2:

Here's another pack leading off with a Jays card. Kay came to the Jays in the trade that sent Stroman to the Mets.

Pack 3:

While I didn't get a super rare pull in this retail sampler like I did with the Opening Day, I still did get a sorta rare insert with this blue parallel (1:55). Not a indigo parallel - those are something different. In addition to different shades, the indigos are /250, while the blues are /150. I guess Topps pick-a-parallel colour wheel ended up on the same spot for these.

I might as well show you the back of this one as well. At least the numbering design isn't at the microscopic level it was for the past few years.

Pack 4:

Your parallels. The blahest of the pack in terms of content.

But there you have it!

Just One Pack - 2020 Heritage

I guess I'm not really feeling this like I did last year. I can't really say why, I just don't. But I'll still try one pack. Maybe one or two more if I see retail on the shelves. But this might be it aside from singles.

While this is a card of a Met, he's still a National here.  But this is an acceptable start to a pack.

And the back.

And the rest. At least there was a legitimate Mets card in the bunch, with Justin Wilson making his debut in my collection. He did get a card in Topps Total last year, but it is nicer to pack pull one.

And there you have it.

Drugstore Cardboy

With everybody chasing Zion, I'm probably limiting much of my 19-20 basketball acquisitions to getting the Raptors in group breaks. And maybe an occasional retail purchase, like picking up a hanger of Hoops at the Shoppers Drug Mart.

First card out:

John Henson - This was one of 5 traded cards among the first half of the pack.
Stephen Curry
Rodions Kurucs

Aaron Holiday - Rocking the 'City' uniforms.
Robin Lopez
Kyle Kuzma

Jamal Murray - WOO-HOO! My 64th card of Murray.
Kent Bazemore
Draymond Green
Emmanuel Mudiay

Kyle Lowry - Raptors content.
Mo Bamba
Jabari Parker
Mikal Bridges
Karl-Anthony Towns

Andre Roberson - He's played with OKC since 13-14. Why does his card look like he's just been traded there?

Rui Hachimura - The teal explosion parallels are 1 per pack-ish, so while it isn't Zion, this is a pretty good one to get.

De'Andre Hunter - I think there are some different inserts between hobby and retail.

PJ Washington - Well, Zion is somewhere in that smaller photo.

James Harden - The smaller photo looks like a hologram, but isn't.

Brandon Clarke - An auto from a retail hanger? Mind. Blown. Clarke went 21st overall to the Grizz, but any player's auto from a retail pack won't garner any complaints from me. He does get bonus points for being Canadian as well, being from Vancouver.

RJ Barrett - Back to the base cards, with some Cancon.
Isaiah Roby
Alfonzo McKinnie

Brandon Clarke - Contrast the auto with his standard base card.
Coby White

Ja Morant - Another nice 'No Zion, but..." consolation prize.
Darius Bazley
Nassir Little
Rui Hachimura

A parallel of a top rookie, base rookies of Morant and Barrett and an auto? That's probably better than most pack breaks of this stuff.

Pack Sampler: 2019 Gallery

Because sometimes you just have to pass on the repacks at Wally World and get a fresh new product on the shelves. They obviously passed on thick material for the packaging, as the first card is very visible.

So, we move Willie Mays out of the way to see Pedro Avila.

The back of the cards are pretty much exactly what you'd expect based on previous years of the product.

Here's the remainder of the base cards. I think this year's release features the debut of horizontal base cards. The Artisans distinction on the card isn't a variation, but it does show that this card is a SP. The set is 200, with the final 50 being SP. I think I'll pass on the set build. My fave portrait in the pack among the base is the JD Hammer, because stadium background > generic background. And there's a Joey Votto for my Cancon collection.

There were two wood parallels in the pack, and they'd indicate this pack maybe should have ended up on the shelves far to the southwest of me. But, the Naylor is also a CanCon card. So, maybe not.

And definitely not when it came to the Heritage insert. A drawn card of Vlad Jr, with the always classic 1965 design! I may like this card even better than the Richard Urena auto I pulled from my one pack last year. And despite the fact he's all over every late release this year, it is still a lot of fun to pull any of his cards.

There you have it! If it were not for the SPs, I could see myself going for this set. Alas, 1/4 of the set being such kinda kills the urge.

Can I Get An Update?

After 6 days of repacks, here's some stuff that you'll have to wait to see in repack products - 2019 Update.

I grabbed a trio of hobby packs from the LCS. I won't show off all the cards, but will hit the highlights.

Pack 1:

Here's my first update card of the release. At least it wasn't one of those completely unnecessary All-Star game or Home Run Derby cards.

The only Blue Jays card in the packs, but at least it was one more than the Mets content.

While this was easily the most interesting photograph from the packs, the framing might make it one of the best photographs of the year.

Even if it is numbered all the way up to 2019, it still deserves to be highlighted as the only numbered card in the packs.

I'm going back-to-back with Diamondbacks cards in this post, since this one opened up the second of the pack.

You know I liked that Harrison card when this great photo of a throwback jersey barely registers as a contender for the best photo in the packs.

While this isn't a numbered card, this was probably the best pull in the packs, as this is one of the veteran variations. This photo can be obviously traced to the 1985 World Series, and one of the games played in Kansas City. Since that's Willie McGee sliding into third, it has to be from one of the first two games, since he was hitless in the last two. He doubled in both games, but was tagged out in the first trying to stretch it into a triple. So, this is from the 5th inning of that game.

And the reason I was so verbose about the previous card is that the final pack was really dull. Just this 150th Anniv. variation of Edwin Encarnacion stood out.

There you have it!

More Packs

A few days off does give me a chance to hit the LCS and sample a few more packs beyond the original. So, 4 different hobby packs today - Big League, Diamond Kings, Pro Debut, and some football with Legacy.

Looks like I'm starting with Big League. It is nice, it isn't too expensive, but I'm still bitter about the fact that doggy cards weren't included in last year's release.

A parallel and a drawn card. That's just fine for that portion of an inexpensive pack.

The base of Diamond Kings was a nice mix of legends and current players. Since he doesn't make a lot of appearances in modern sets, the easy winner of this group is Walter Alston. The same could be said for Hubbell, but I'll give a manager's card the nod.

Just like with Big League, there's an insert and a parallel in the pack. The Sisler is a 1919 Diamond Kings insert.

Next, some minor league cards. Here, the easy winner is the Lazardo, for the "Music City" jersey sported as a member of the Nashville Sounds.

I guess this was an Alex Kirilloff hot pack, as he appeared on both a base card and on an insert. If that uniform were any more tropical, I'd think he was a Marlins prospect, as opposed to the Twins.

Let's end with the football pack. Legacy appears to be replacing Classics this year, with a smaller 200 card set (100 current players, 50 rookies, 50 legends), and you can see all the different designs for the base cards. I'll have some Bills content from a group break show up shortly, so I'll be able to get a little more detailed then.

And the only numbered parallel of the 4 packs. Better than zero, I guess.

And there you have it!