Happy Topps Day!

I am a couple of days late as the official release date was on Wednesday.  On Wednesday night I hit up 2 Targets and a Walmart with no luck.  I was able to track down some 2019 Topps yesterday but didn't get a chance to post.  I picked up one retail pack, 1 fat pack, 1 hanger box and 1 blaster.   I decided to share some of my firsts then I will give overall impressions about the release.

Here is my first card.  Not too bad, Blackmon is a really good player.

Here is my first Giant.  Cueto came in my first pack.  I am a little surprised to see him in the set since he pitched so sparingly last year and will be out for most of 2019 after Tommy John surgery.

Here are my first inserts.  These are the inserts from all but the blaster.

Here are my first parallels.  The rainbow Hoskins is solid and the 150th stamp is a new parallel this year with the gold stamp.

Here is my first "hit", the manurelic out of the blaster box.  I would have preferred the Rickey Henderson but Eck isn't bad.  I am a little surprised there are no Giants in this 50 card set.  Buster usually makes an appearance in sets like this.

I am very excited about this card, my first 2019 Willie McCovey card.  He has a few appearances on insert cards and I look forward to tracking them down.

From a design perspective, I am okay with this year's cards.  Not my favorite but I don't hate it.  The stripes are reminiscent of 1982 Topps and act as half a border on the cards.  I think it is a little odd to have the last name above the first but my eyes seem to read them just fine.    I have seen some complaints that the team name is squeezed into one of the stripes, I don't have a problem there but the position is a little tough to see depending on the color of the font.  I didn't scan any card backs but do like the career stats being back.

Over the past few years, I have been buying master sets of cards, basically the base set and all the hobby inserts, off of eBay.  Then I decided which of the retail insert sets to go after.  This year the inventory of master sets was scarce and the few out there were much more expensive that previous years.  After opening some packs and doing some research, the reason for this is because the inserts are not as plentiful.  It also appears there are more inserts that prior releases.  Hobby boxes have gone from 36 packs to 24 packs.  Some of the packs I opened had only 1 insert or parallel, others had up to 3.  The fat pack only had 2 inserts, it is crazy that a fat pack has fewer non-base cards that some single packs.

So here is my plan for 2019, at least Series 1.  I plan on picking up some more retail packs (although no fat packs) and try to build the base set the old fashion way, through packs and trades with perhaps a few purchases.  I am going to also try and build my desired insert sets through the packs I buy, picking up lots on eBay, buying low priced singles on Sportlots and hopefully some trades.  I made a checklist of the insert sets I am chasing and posted it on my want list, if you have some from for trade, please reach out.

For a point of reference, I am chasing 530 insert cards this year:

150 Years of Baseball – 150 cards

’84 Topps Throwbacks – 100 cards

Stars of the Game – 100 cards

Iconic Card Reprints – 50 cards

Cactus League Greats – 30 cards

Grapefruit Leage Greats – 30 cards

Evolution – 25 cards

Greatness Returns – 25 cards

Revolution of the Game – 10 cards

’18 Topps Now Review – 10 cards

Wow, that is a pretty daunting task, feel free to help a guy out!

Hope you have been able to track down some 2019 Topps and Happy Topps Day!