These are a few of my favorite things - Looking back at 2020's good stuff

 Hello everybody,

I have been a complete slacker on posting this year.  Well posting things other than my contests.  Speaking of which my Super Bowl contest will open next week after the final regular season game and be open until the first wildcard game.  Ahem, but this post is an attempt to brush off the craptacular year that 2020 was and look at some of the bright spots, the good things, and stuff I like this year, at least as far as this hobby goes.

Let's start with Topps' Project 2020.  Sure it was drawn out, got a little repetitive, and was kind of expensive, but there was a lot to like about the project.  First, Topps introduced me to 20 artists I had not known about.  Not only that but I can say Topps really turned me onto quite a few I now follow on various social media platforms and who's artwork I really enjoy.  Second, I got to add some really cool new cards to my collection.  And thirdly, I'm glad to see Topps really thinking outside the box with the project and trying something new.  We can see they continued on this trend with a couple of their other offerings this year, whether it was off shoots of Project 2020 like Ben Baller Chrome baseball or the recent collaboration with Steve Aoki and Super 70s Sports.  

Second I'm grateful for all those retail hording scum bags.  No seriously you saved me a ton of money not being able to impulse buy trading cards when I went to the store.  

Thirdly, I found a cool feature over at COMC.com that's probably been there for year's but I've just now noticed it.  

When your looking at a card in for sale and it has multiple parallels COMC offers this great Parallels and & Grades side panel to show you what else is available on the site and for how much.  But the feature I really like is the little checkmark on the left that shows you what you already have in your portfolio.  Obviously this only works for stuff you still haven't shipped, but since shipping has been backed up I've got a lot!  

Next I want to thank everyone in the hobby especially those on Twitter and over at the TCDB.com.  It's just been nice to commiserate and share with each other.  I've made it a point to be exclusively positive when commenting or working with other collector's online this year (I usually do that anyways) but this year I made a special point to congratulate a collector that added or snagged a great card, complemented them on their displays, and I've helped out where I could.  

Next while I've been home bound on and off, which I'm lucky I could do with my job at least partially (and I'm also very thankful to still have a job)  I was able to work my way through boxes and boxes of decades worth of baseball and football and get them all sorted into teams.  I'll be looking to move these via trades or outright selling soon, but it was nice to take the plunge and soon the purge!!

(My wife wasn't all that happy I took over the spare bedroom)

And lastly  I'm grateful and happy both of my LCS made it through what is hopefully the worst of the pandemic.  Both of them adapted and catered to the collector as best they could and I am well aware of how lucky I am to have not one, but two awesome LCSs up here in Anchorage, Alaska.

How have you guys been doing?  Anyone have any positive hobby stories to tell this year?

Stay safe and stay tuned for my 11th Annual Super Bowl Contest!!!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner 10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web Grand Prize Winner has been crowned!!

 

We have a winner!! Not only that but we have a very decisive winner.  In the end we had 12 people correctly pick the winner of this year's World Series.  That most definitely has to be a record in the 10 year history of this contest, but I don't keep those kind of stats.  Out of those 12 we had two entries that correctly picked the match up between the Dodgers and the Ray.  But we only had one guy pick the correct games in the series and so the winner is......drum roll please...... Chris aka Nachos Grande!!.  Not only did Chris get the Winner, the opponent, the number of games in the series, he was only one off the total number of doubles in the series.  

A perfect entry would have been Dodgers over Rays in 6, 17 Doubles.  Chris came pretty damn close.  So congrats Chris who wins the lovely Mr. Cartoon Don Mattingly Project 2020 cards and also a nice stack of his Reds. 

But wait it ain't over yet.  I want to thank the 40 people who entered this year, that might also be a record for the contest.  Just for entering I also give a door prize away to one lucky random person.  If you were kind enough to promote the contest I also gave you a extra entry in the door prize drawing and thank you to those who helped promote the contest this year.  I entered all the names of everyone who entered into a list randomizer over at random.org and randomized the list 3 times.

And our Door Prize winner is....

John Sharp!!! Who writes the delightful blog John's Big League Baseball Blog and is a Tigers fan.  Congrats John! I will be contacting you for your address shortly. 

Thanks again for all those who entered.

Here were the picks going into the World Series:

Joseph Blaschke - Dodgers over Rays in 5, 9 Doubles

FiresNBeers - Dodgers over A's in 6, 15 Doubles

Ben Morris - dodgers over jays in 7. 18 doubles.

gator415 - Dodgers over White Sox in 5, 11 doubles

IfbBirdsCards - Dodgers over Twins, in 5, 14 doubles

John Sharp - Dodgers over Yankees, 7 games. 24 doubles.

Nachos Grande -  Dodgers over Rays. in 6, 16 Doubles

Matt - Rays over Padres in 6 games, 10 doubles PIMP

Dion's IP Autos only - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 Games 19 doubles. PIMP

OhioTim - Tampa Bay Rays over Atlanta Braves in six games with 17 doubles.

The Diamond King - Dodgers over Houston in 6, 14 doubles

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 games, 15 doubles

KMack - Dodgers over Yankees, 6 games. 14 doubles.

AnalogKid - Dodgers beat the Yankees in 7 games. 12 doubles.

Jeff S- Tampa over Miami in 5 games 0 doubles PIMP

Bkesler - Dodgers over Yankees, 5 games, 15 doubles

gcrl - dodgers over yankees in 6 with 15 doubles

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web League Championship Finals

 

Wow what a couple of great LCS's!! Both going to game 7 and both looked like they might be run aways.  I was rooting for a Braves - Rays match-up. But damn if the Dodgers don't look tough to beat again.  That being said the Dodgers were the favorite to win the whole thing this year, at least judging from your entries and that also means we have a ton of people still technically alive moving into the World Series.  That being said what we actually have is a five way race now.

We have three picks that chose the Rays to win the World Series, none of those have the correct opponent so we'd have to move to # of games in series and maybe even into the double total.  But if the Dodgers end up finally winning there are two picks that correctly picked the Dodgers to defeat the Rays!  

Joseph Blaschke - Dodgers over Rays in 5, 9 Doubles

FiresNBeers - Dodgers over A's in 6, 15 Doubles

Ben Morris - dodgers over jays in 7. 18 doubles.

gator415 - Dodgers over White Sox in 5, 11 doubles

IfbBirdsCards - Dodgers over Twins, in 5, 14 doubles

Johnnys Trading Spot - Braves over Rays in 6, 12 doubles.

flywheels - Braves over Rays in 7, 9 doubles

John Sharp - Dodgers over Yankees, 7 games. 24 doubles.

Nachos Grande -  Dodgers over Rays. in 6, 16 Doubles

Matt - Rays over Padres in 6 games, 10 doubles PIMP

Dion's IP Autos only - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 Games 19 doubles. PIMP

Shaw Racing  - Astro's over Dodger's in 6, 18 Doubles

OhioTim - Tampa Bay Rays over Atlanta Braves in six games with 17 doubles.

The Diamond King - Dodgers over Houston in 6, 14 doubles

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 games, 15 doubles

KMack - Dodgers over Yankees, 6 games. 14 doubles.

AnalogKid - Dodgers beat the Yankees in 7 games. 12 doubles.

Jeff S- Tampa over Miami in 5 games 0 doubles PIMP

Bkesler - Dodgers over Yankees, 5 games, 15 doubles

Lastcall77 - Braves over Rays in 7, 15 doubles.

gcrl - dodgers over yankees in 6 with 15 doubles

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Divisional Series Round-Up

 

Well I wish I had something witty to say about the Divisional Series, but I didn't get a chance to watch any of the games and only read up on a couple of the games in passing.  But let's figure out who's moving on.  If you're names in red unfortunately you won't be moving on. And it looks like the overall favorite this year is the Dodgers, I didn't pick through everything but there are still a bunch of you that may have a correct WS match-up.

Joseph Blaschke - Dodgers over Rays in 5, 9 Doubles

FiresNBeers - Dodgers over A's in 6, 15 Doubles

Jamie Mashburn - Reds over Cleveland in 6/ 7 Doubles

Ben Morris - dodgers over jays in 7. 18 doubles.

Jupiterhill - Oakland over Miami in 6 games. 18 doubles.

gator415 - Dodgers over White Sox in 5, 11 doubles

IfbBirdsCards - Dodgers over Twins, in 5, 14 doubles

Johnnys Trading Spot - Braves over Rays in 6, 12 doubles.

flywheels - Braves over Rays in 7, 9 doubles

John Sharp - Dodgers over Yankees, 7 games. 24 doubles.

Nachos Grande -  Dodgers over Rays. Let's go all chalk instead, 16 Doubles

Fuji - A's over Dodgers in 6, 9 doubles

Brett Alan - Yankees over Padres in 6, 11 doubles.

night owl - Yankees beat Padres in 5, 7 doubles.

GCA - Padres over Rays in 6, 8 doubles.

Nick- Cubs over Rays in 6, 14 doubles.

Matt - Rays over Padres in 6 games, 10 doubles PIMP

Dion's IP Autos only - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 Games 19 doubles. PIMP

Shaw Racing  - Astro's over Dodger's in 6, 18 Doubles

Robert - Padres over Athletics in 7. 13 doubles.

The Angels In Order - Padres over Yankees in 7, 28 doubles.

OhioTim - Tampa Bay Rays over Atlanta Braves in six games with 17 doubles.

Adam Kaningher - Yankees over Braves in 6. 17 Doubles

The Diamond King - Dodgers over Houston in 6, 14 doubles

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 games, 15 doubles

KMack - Dodgers over Yankees, 6 games. 14 doubles.

AnalogKid - Dodgers beat the Yankees in 7 games. 12 doubles.

Jeff S- Tampa over Miami in 5 games 0 doubles PIMP

Vrooomed Padres over Rays, 6 games, 11 doubles - PIMP

GTT - Yankees over Dodgers, 5 games,7 doubles.

Bkesler - Dodgers over Yankees, 5 games, 15 doubles

kcjays - Padres over the Rays, 6 Games, 9 Doubles

e.v.a.n - Yankees over Dodgers, 6 games, 12 doubles

The Lost Collector - Yankees over Marlins, 5 games, 10 doubles

Chris Taro - Padres over the Yankees, in 7, 12 doubles

Lastcall77 - Braves over Rays in 7, 15 doubles.

ketchupman - Marlins over Rays in 6. 18 doubles

Wilson - Athletics over Braves, in 7, 22 doubles

gcrl - dodgers over yankees in 6 with 15 doubles

purtz5979 - Yankee's over the Padres in 6. 16 Doubles.

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Official Entries Post

 

Sorry for the delay.  First I want to thank everyone who entered and all those who helped promote the contest as well.  Please look over your pick.  I've done my best to try and make sure I've gotten all the pick corrections in as well, but please  double check your entry.  If my count is correct we've got 40 entries this year, which might be a new record.  

As you know since I left the contest open through the wild card series' I let those of you who picked early amend your picks if any of the teams got a eliminated, however a few people who entered did not amend those early picks.  I figured there would be a few.  Also if you promoted the contest and don't see a PIMP by your name please let me know so I can make sure to mark your entry so you get the second Door Prize drawing entry.

Thanks again for all who entered and I'll have an update after the Divisional Series' conclude.

Joseph Blaschke - Dodgers over Rays in 5, 9 Doubles

FiresNBeers - Dodgers over A's in 6, 15 Doubles

Jamie Mashburn - Reds over Cleveland in 6/ 7 Doubles

Ben Morris - dodgers over jays in 7. 18 doubles.

Jupiterhill - Oakland over Miami in 6 games. 18 doubles.

gator415 - Dodgers over White Sox in 5, 11 doubles

IfbBirdsCards - Dodgers over Twins, in 5, 14 doubles

Johnnys Trading Spot - Braves over Rays in 6, 12 doubles.

flywheels - Braves over Rays in 7, 9 doubles

John Sharp - Dodgers over Yankees, 7 games. 24 doubles.

Nachos Grande -  Dodgers over Rays. Let's go all chalk instead, 16 Doubles

Fuji - A's over Dodgers in 6, 9 doubles

Brett Alan - Yankees over Padres in 6, 11 doubles.

night owl - Yankees beat Padres in 5, 7 doubles.

GCA - Padres over Rays in 6, 8 doubles.

Nick- Cubs over Rays in 6, 14 doubles.

Matt - Rays over Padres in 6 games, 10 doubles PIMP

Dion's IP Autos only - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 Games 19 doubles. PIMP

Shaw Racing  - Astro's over Dodger's in 6, 18 Doubles

Robert - Padres over Athletics in 7. 13 doubles.

The Angels In Order - Padres over Yankees in 7, 28 doubles.

OhioTim - Tampa Bay Rays over Atlanta Braves in six games with 17 doubles.

Adam Kaningher - Yankees over Braves in 6. 17 Doubles

The Diamond King - Dodgers over Houston in 6, 14 doubles

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Yankees in 7 games, 15 doubles

KMack - Dodgers over Yankees, 6 games. 14 doubles.

AnalogKid - Dodgers beat the Yankees in 7 games. 12 doubles.

Jeff S- Tampa over Miami in 5 games 0 doubles PIMP

Vrooomed Padres over Rays, 6 games, 11 doubles - PIMP

GTT - Yankees over Dodgers, 5 games,7 doubles.

Bkesler - Dodgers over Yankees, 5 games, 15 doubles

kcjays - Padres over the Rays, 6 Games, 9 Doubles

e.v.a.n - Yankees over Dodgers, 6 games, 12 doubles

The Lost Collector - Yankees over Marlins, 5 games, 10 doubles

Chris Taro - Padres over the Yankees, in 7, 12 doubles

Lastcall77 - Braves over Rays in 7, 15 doubles.

ketchupman - Marlins over Rays in 6. 18 doubles

Wilson - Athletics over Braves, in 7, 22 doubles

gcrl - dodgers over yankees in 6 with 15 doubles

purtz5979 - Yankee's over the Padres in 6. 16 Doubles.

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Final Reminder

Just one final reminder you have until tomorrow, Monday, Oct 5th at 12 pm Alaska time, 4 pm EST to enter the contest.  I've got a great Topps Project 2020 Don Mattingly card up for grabs and a nice stack of your favorite team if you win and don't forget the door prize.  

Again I'll remind you if you already entered and either team you picked got eliminated you can edit your pick, but commenting on your original pick on the sign up post with your new pick.

You can find the original sign up post HERE and good luck.  I'll have the official entries post up hopefully sometime tomorrow evening.

 

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Wild Card Series Aftermath - Please read if you've already signed up!!

 

Well my Brewers are out, which was not unexpected.  But as I'm typing this up I'm about to watch the last remaining game finish and the Padres eliminate that Cardinals.

So just a reminder that if you got into the contest early I'm letting you adjust your picks if one or both of your chosen teams have already been eliminated.  It's only fair, since I'm betting there are a few people who were waiting till after the Wild Card Series' were over to enter.  I'd have loved to had the contest closed before the Wild Card but that would have left me with only basically a day for people to find the contest and sign-up.  Anywho, if you've already entered the contest and would like to adjust you pick, either because one or both of the teams have been eliminated or you've just had a change of heart please pig-back your original pick on the sign-up post by commenting on it with your new entry.

Here is a link to the official sign up post.  Sign Up Here. 

Looks like the first Divisional Series game will start around noon Alaska time on Tuesday Oct. 5. so the contest will officially close right before that or around 4 pm EST.  Remember to promote the contest and leave a link or at least a note on your entry that you did it so I can give you an extra entry into the door prize drawing.

I will likely put out one more reminder before that, but thanks to all that entered already and don't forget you can change your pick.

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - 1st Friendly reminder

 

 Just a quick reminder that my 10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web is open for all.  You've got to Oct 5th, right before the first Divisional Series game starts to get you pick in.  

Go HERE to enter and don't forget to help promote the contest to get a second entry into the door prize drawing.

10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series contest on the web Official Sign Up post!

 I literally can't believe my Brewers snuck into the post season this year.  But I'm not going to complain.  I was wondering if this contest would even happen this year.  But even with a shortened season we are a go of the 10th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web!!

Like year's before I just want you to tell me who's going to win it all.  That's it. Well that's almost it.  Since the odds are good more than one of you will pick the right team we are going to need a few tie breakers. So tell me who the winners face, total games in the series, and to mix it up this year I want to know how many doubles get hit in all games played by both teams.  So your entry should look something like this.

Brewers over Athletics, in 6, 7 doubles.

If for some reason we still have a tie after all that, the winner will be randomly chosen using random.org.

Easy peesy.  Wild Card Series' start Tuesday, so not much time to get this going so I'm going to leave the contest open till the first Divisional Games start on Monday, Oct. 5th, and close the contest about an hour before the start of the first game, whenever that is.  If you're bold and pick a wild card team and they lose, I will let you amend your pick as long as you do it before the entry window closes.  

Alright do I have up this year?  Well how about a Topps 2020 card?  

This beautiful Mr. Cartoon, Don Mattingly is what's up for grabs.  On top of that I will also include a nice stack of cards of the winners favorite team.  This might include autos, relics, parallels, rookies. It all depends what I've got in stock.  

But wait that's not all.  You also have a shot at some goodies just for entering the contest.  As in year's past I'm offering a door prize, filled with the winners favorite team, similar to the grand prize.  Again what that will include just depends on what I have.  Also if you promote the contest on your blog or other social media account I'll give you a second entry into the door prize contest.

Alrighty everybody here are your choices for the 116th World Series.

American League

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

Cleveland Indians

New York Yankees

Minnesota Twins

Houston Astros

Oakland Athletics

Chicago White Sox

National League

Los Angeles Dodgers

Milwaukee Brewers

San Diego Padres

St. Louis Cardinals

Chicago Cubs

Miami Marlins

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Good luck everybody!!

Let's Talk About Topps Project 2020

Seems the sport card world has gone a little bit crazy as of late. Especially when it comes to one of Topps newest offerings. I'll be honest I was a little skeptical when Topps announced the project.  Twenty different artists doing their take on the same 20 iconic Topps cards.  It was an interesting concept. As an artist I actually really love the idea, but a few things popped into my head before Topps issued the first card. 

First, art is subjective.  What I mean by that it not everyone is going to be into every art style.  And I'll hand it to Topps they really did a great job of finding a group of artists who's styles run the gambit.  Second I worried about only doing 20 different cards.  First you narrow your market for team and player collectors and thirdly the same cards redone over and over just seemed like it would get boring.  I also thought the $20 price tag per card was a little steep.

I guess I was wrong.  Well sort of.  The project started off pretty slow.  Not surprising there was no major advertising for this other than on Topps social media.  So those of us that follow the card world knew what was coming, but I have to say the vast majority of people probably did not.  Also this project started right at the start of the pandemic lockdowns and the card companies still had new products coming out.  So the first few weeks print runs for the cards hovered between 1 and 2 thousand.  Not too bad.  Considering what other on-demand offerings sometimes sell.  Fast forward a couple months and the market for these cards has gone through the roof.  Especially the earlier cards that were issued when no one was really paying attention.

So what the hell happened??  Well it's really a perfect storm for Topps.  The printing facility in Texas that Topps uses to produce it's big brands like flaghip Topps, Bowman, Gypsy Queen, etc.  was shut down due to the Coronavirus, but Topps' on-demand printing is done in Florida and those factories were not shut down.  So when Topps had to push back their releases consumers eyes started looking elsewhere to fill the void.  I don't know if it was a combination of breakers, flippers, Gary Vee acolytes, bored housewives, art collectors branching out, or whatever, but the secondary market for the early Project 2020 cards went through the roof.  And it's still up there as I write this.  Not only has the secondary market skyrocketed, but the print run of the new issues has also picked up big time.  With print runs in the tens of thousands now.

We are only on card 88 as I write this so we have over 300 card more to be issued for this set.  So will demand continue?  Who the hell knows?  It's unlikely, but I didn't think the project would be that big of deal and seeing early print runs I was kinda right.  With Bowman finally hitting shelves and new releases getting updated release dates, society opening back up (for better or worse)  I think the big buyers scooping up these cards will start drifting on to the next big thing, but who knows?

With the uptick in popularity I can almost say with 100% certainty we are going to get another helping of Project 2020 or will it be Project 2021?

Let's Play - Who's Still Here - Topps 2020 Series 1 Edition

If you're like me, and I doubt you are, when Series 1 Topps comes out I like to play a game called Who's Still Here?  Since the Series 1 checklist is finalized long before the baseball season starts there are plenty of players that find new homes from the end of the last season to the start of the next.  I like to go through the Brewers team checklist and see who's still on the team.  Now granted Spring Training has just started so even this list might change in the next month or so, but let's see who's still on the team.  I'll do this in card order. 

First up we have card #9 Trent Grisham, the teams lone rookie card in the checklist.  Is he still here?

Nope. Back in November Trent and Zach Davies were traded to San Diego for Luis Urias and Eric Lauer.

Next up card #32 Brandon Woodruff.  Is Woody still here?  Damn right, the fellow ginger beard had a great season last year going 11-3.  I look forward to seeing what he can do this year.

Card #52 Yasmani Grandal.  Man I really like this card, it also happens to feature another former Brewer Scooter Gennett.  Is Yas still here?   

Nope. Yasmani declined his option in November and signed a 4 year deal with the White Sox.

Next on the clock is card #62 Chase Anderson.  Is Chase still here?  

That's another big NOPE.  Chase was traded to the Blue Jays last November for Chad Spanberger, who's not even on the Spring Training invite list, as far as I can tell.

Card #149 Orlando Arcia.  Is Orlando still here.

Yes sir.  Orlando had a roller coaster of a season or maybe that was last season, they all blend together sometimes.  Regardless I like Arcia and look forward to seeing him on the field again.

On to card #189 Mike Moustakas.  Is Moose still here?  Nope again.  Mike signed a 4 year $64 million contract with the Red in December.

 Card #191 Jeremy Jeffress.  Is Jeremy still here?  Alas the on again, off again relationship with Jeffress is off again.  The Brewers released Jeremy last September and he signed a one year deal with the Cubs.

Card #200 Christian Yelich.  Is Yeli still here?  Oh yeah and he will be barring the Brewers doing something stupid through the 2021 season, maybe even the 2022 season or beyond, but I doubt the Brewers will be willing to pony up for him after that.

Card #238 Freddy Peralta.  Is Freddy still here?  Yes he is.

 Card #344 Ben Gamel.  Is Benji still here?  Yep.  You may also remember Ben's brother Mat played for the Crew a few years ago.

And finally...

#347 Ryan Braun.  Is Ryan still here? Yes he is, but this may be his last year with the team, as he has an option for next year.  

So out of the 11 player cards from the Series 1 Brewers team set we had 5 players no longer on the team featured in the set or about 45%.  I didn't do any research, but I feel that's about par for the course.

TTM Success - Mark Loretta

I had a very pleasant surprise in my mailbox last week.  Way back in June I sent out four TTMs.  I got all of them back except Mark Loretta's.  But after I sent it out I also read that he had taken a position with Cubs as bench coach.  So it wasn't a big surprise that I hadn't heard from him since his PO Box was based out of Rancho Santa Fe, California.  I had pretty much forgotten about the request as depending on who I'm sending too many never get returned, but Matt had a great track record as a TTM signer so I was really happy to see this in my mail box last week.  According to the Cubs website Mark is no longer listed as Bench Coach and I haven't found any articles about him recently so I'm not sure if he's found a new position yet. But thanks to Mark Loretta for helping me complete my Brewers TTM project by filling in the 1998 spot and helping me close out the first 3 decades of the team.

TTM Stats
Address used
Mark Loretta
PO Box 9505
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067

Date Sent: 6/10/19
Date Recieved: 2/7/2020

2020 Topps Series 1 - First Taste

It's that time of year again.  I always get excited for new baseball and baseball card season.  Series 1 is always a little special as it really marks the start of both. I stopped by my LCS Bosco's trade night last night to pick up two jumbo hobby packs and one regular pack to start the set off right.  I also stopped by my Target and picked up 4 jumbo hanger packs.  Let's have a look at what I pulled from those packs.

Here are the odd for all three packs, they are slightly different and so is the NPN address if your into trying for some free cards.

Hobby pack odds

 Jumbo Hobby pack odds

 Retail Jumbo hanger pack odds

Once again the base card photos are great.  Some are definitely better than others, but overall capture the players very well.  Here are a couple of my favorites and some of the subsets.

This Austin Hedges card is great and I love the intensity with pieces of the turf flying.  I was torn with the design and while not my favorite it's not bad and allows for some great action shots, plus the players names are in order this year, that's nice.

 The backs are pretty standard from the last couple of years.  Topps is still marking the cards by series which seems unnecessary to me, but that's neither here or there.  Card number in the upper right side is well size for sorting and collating, so I'm a fan overall.

 Here's another great base card of Dansby Swanson.

 The World Series subset.

 The Future Stars subset featuring Carl's grandson Mike.

 Speaking of baseball legacy's here's a great checklist card featuring two of them.  I think the only thing that would have made this card better was...

 Having this guy on it as well.  And an example of the Rookie Cup.

 And the team cards, love my Brewers.

There are some product specific inserts this season. Lets have a look at the inserts I got.

Topps continues it's celebration of sets from 35 year's ago, for some reason, with this 85 tribute.

The overall theme of the set, is celebrating the decades so we get a bunch of decades inspired inserts. Each of the decades featured have their own design.

Next up are the Decades of Dominance die cut inserts.  I got some old timey Yankees guy. 

And lastly Topps also celebrates those players posed to dominate the next decade. Would be a fun insert to revisit in 2030 and see who actually made the cut.

This year Topps brings back it's Turkey Red homage with another insert set featuring the vintage set.  Topps put out three sets from 2005-2007 and then had two inserts sets in 2009 and 2010 Topps.  These Turkey Red inserts are a retail only exclusive and I'll say this right now, I'm all in.  I've put together the 2010 set and I'm almost done with the 2009 insert set, so I will bite and chase this down.  Each jumbo hanger pack comes with 2.  It's a big insert set with 100 cards and I'm not sure if Topps will continue it into Series 2 or Update.

While I didn't find any relics or autos in my packs I did pick up some parallels and a couple of the sp variations.  You can tell which cards are variations, but the code on the back. SPs end in 284, SSPs end in 285, and advance stat variations end in 283.  All other base cards end in 269.  It wold be nice if Topps marked this a little better maybe with a note by the card number.

Speaking of Harper I also hit his sweet Memorial Day Camo parallel #/25

I've found the parallels can be subtle at times and easy to miss if your just speeding though your cards so be alert and vigilant my friends.

I must be on a Phillies hot streak because I also hit this Independence Day team card parallel.

And lastly and very anti-climatically there are the foil parallels.  This year Topps adds a twist with an unnumbered Gold Foil parallel as well as the rainbow foil parallel that are easy to miss unless you have both right next to each other.  I just pulled regular rainbow foils, I think.

There you have it my first taste of 2020 Topps flagship.  Anyone pull anything good?  I will probably stick to retail jumbo packs trying to build my Turkey Red set, plus it's a better overall value for me.  That being said I will probably pick up at least one tin if I can find them.  I've also heard rumblings  on twitter that hobby boxes are already jumping in price so retail is a nice alternative for someone who doesn't give a crap about chasing rookies.