Random Top Loader - The Entire League! Plus 2024 Bowman!

Been a while since the last Random Top Loader story. So it's a good thing I was recently inspired to dust that concept off again.

Recent rounds of card sorting have led to an influx of new Top Loadered singles to the already swelling Top Loader boxes. So the time seems right to write about something from cards of teams I don't normally collect.

Starting in January of this year, I began combining multiple Monster Boxes of cards in various stages of sortedness. Probably 85-90% of this was new, from 2020 to 2023. Some of it was leftovers from the 1974-2004 sorting I did a few years ago. A small fraction was from 2005 to 2019, since most of that stuff is either still in albums, or another set of six Monster boxes, previously sorted from 1959-2019. 

I still have a ridiculous amount of cards. After 37 years of collecting and several serious rounds of clearing out bulk. My hopes are once I get all of it combined, from all 15 Monster Boxes and another 25 full albums, I can start making lots to try and sell. I need to get most of this stuff decreased. Problem being, it's mostly not garbage, but it's not investment material either.

These are the 9 sorted boxes I'm currently talking about (on the shelves below, the boxes on top are Twins, Rockies and Expos duplicates I'm also dealing with). After weeding out the commons from the current sorting project, I was still left with tens of thousands of stars, rookies, inserts, parallels and minor hits. All of these were broke down by team and chronologically. Stars, rookies, hall of famers, or anything of particular interest was penny sleeved. If it was an autograph, relic, lower serial numbered, or just really nice looking, it went into a Top Loader. Semistars and low level base were left as is.

Eventually, some of this will go into albums. I still plan on a big pile of card albums, filled with cards I like from all 30 teams. Some more than others. 

You know, since I'm buying relatively little new cards, I'm finally able to work on organizing what I have. Which has been needing to be done for decades.

After looking at this large quantity of new additions to the Top Loader boxes, I decided to forego the Dungeons and Dragons Dice games, and just pick one card from each team. Which will give me a chance to write about teams and players that I usually ignore. As well as a new (old) card from the teams I always write about. Still picked at random, so these are not necessarily the "best" card for each team.

So I present to you, one randomly selected new Top Loadered card for each of the 30 teams. All coming from the most recent sorting, to be added into the existing Top Loader boxes. (Happy to say I've already done that!)

(Going alphabetical by team. Because that's how they're boxed.)

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Los Angeles Angels

2021 Panini Chronicles Crusade - Mike Trout - Blue Boxey Crackley Prizm

I bought a lot of Panini Chronicles over the years at Pal's Sports Cards. (I miss that place.) If you didn't mind the lack of MLB logos and team names, Chronicles provided a good bang for the buck value. The "sets" consisted of 20+ small base sets, all of different designs and themes, mixed together and sold in pack form (such an appealing product idea to me). Each of these smaller sets also had so many possible parallels that really nice looking cards, like this Trout, were not a hard pull. Just don't ask me what all the different parallels are named. I could never keep track of them.

A box of 2020 Panini Chronicles from Pal's, once netted me an autographed 1 of 1, for a very notable player. But I can't divulge because he's not an Angel, nor is that card amongst the newly sorted.

The next team may or may not be a hint at who that is...

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Houston Astros

2020 Topps Silver Pack - Nolan Ryan

I'm not even that big of a Nolan Ryan fan. I will buy his cards if I find one I like for a decent price. I think I paid $2 for this. Which is a good price, because I just love those retro Silver Pack cards. 

And I really don't want to say nice things about the Houston Astros.

2020 Panini Chronicles Legacy - Yordan Alvarez - 1 of 1

Okay... It was Yordan...

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Oakland Athletics

2001 Bowman Chrome Draft - Anthony Recker - Gold Refractor 20/50

Filed away in my subcollection of MLB Network personality rookie cards. Where he fits right in with  Kevin Millar, Sean Casey, Al Leiter, Chris Young, Dan Plesac and an autographed Lauren Shehadi.

Recker was Oakland's 19th round draft pick in 2005, and debut with the Athletics, in August 2011. He bounced around a few teams through the 2018 season, logging backup jobs with the Cubs, Mets and Braves, plus numerous AAA clubs. Including a 17 game stint with the 2017 Rochester Red Wings, in the Twins organization. I completely didn't remember that. Recker was a throw-in on that weird Jamie Garcia trade with the Atlanta Braves in 2017. 

The Braves traded starting pitcher Jamie Garcia to the Minnesota Twins on July 24, 2017. He started for the Twins against Oakland on July 28th. Pitching decent, he made it into the 7th inning, giving up 3 runs and striking out 7. He got the win that day. Two days later, on July 30th, the Twins traded him to the New York Yankees. Picking up the remainder of his $12 million salary, to basically buy two pitching prospects. (One of whom was Zack Littell, currently one of the best pitchers on the Tampa Bay Rays.) Minnesota thought they were competitive for a Wild Card spot, but quickly changed their minds. As a result, Garcia is the first pitcher to start three consecutive games (on rotation) for three different teams, since 1895.

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Toronto Blue Jays

2013 Finest - R.A. Dickey - Refractor

There's always a Top Loader available for a knuckle ball pitcher in Refractor form. Although this one didn't scan nearly as nice as it looks in its Top Loader. Dickey came out of the bullpen for 64 innings with the 2009 Minnesota Twins, but his knuckleball was still a work in progress at that point. He signed with the Mets for the 2010 season, and figured it out that year. Dickey had a career year up to that point, and went on a pretty good run with the Mets and Blue Jays, through the 2016 season. He spent 2017 with the Atlanta Braves, and wasn't bad. But he was 42 years old by then, given the late start to the knuckleball phase of his career. 

I have his book. I need to read it.

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Atlanta Braves

2021 Panini Prizm Illumination - Freddie Freeman - Blue Mini-Donut Prizm 99/199 

I think the Blue Mini-Donuts somehow messed up my scanner, the left side of this card looks a little strange. And Blue Mini-Donut Prizm is the actual name of this parallel. It's right there on the box! Just like Panini Chronicles, my mom and I bought a lot of Prizm boxes to split, during the Pal's years. Prizm wasn't nearly as stacked as Chronicles, but still offered plenty of serial numbered colorful parallels, plus a low level rookie autograph per box. It was a fun product to open, if you didn't care about logos.

Previous Braves Random Top Loader - 1995 Select Artist Proof - Greg Maddux

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Milwaukee Brewers

2005 Topps Chrome Update - Dana Eveland - Black Refractor 76/250

Black Refractors are just so cool looking!

Eveland was your stereotypic left-handed relief pitcher. If you're decent and left-handed, you can always always find a job. Eveland pitched in major league games for the Brewers, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Rays, Mets, Pirates, Braves, Dodgers, Orioles and Blue Jays, during his 11 MLB seasons. He wasn't particularly good, but he kept showing up every now and then.

Previous Brewers Random Top Loader - 2005 Bowman Chrome - Vinnie Rottino - Red Refractor

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St. Louis Cardinals

2016 Bowman Chrome - Austin Gomber - Yellow Refractor

I've always liked the 2016 Bowman Chrome Yellow Refractors. They were a retail only parallel and are not serial numbered. But the yellow works quite well with the black and grey design. These are some of the more attractive Refractors in 2016 Bowman Chrome set. Gomber was the big name in the Nolan Arenado return. He's pitched about as well as anyone could expect for his time in Colorado. Plus, Gomber is a fun name to hear on the TV.

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Speaking of Bowman...

Baseball card spending is WAAAAY down so far in 2024. I liked Topps flagship, but I've bought enough of it. 2024 Big League is what it is and I have very little interest. 2024 Topps Heritage was a major disappointment to me. Now that there's no hobby shops in the immediate area, I'm left with whatever I find at retail stores. And it's become so easy to just ignore those now...

Despite the need to save money on buying less cards, I still have to recognize the yearly release of Bowman. Just to feed that prospector in me. To add extra interest, Minnesota Twins 2023 First Round Draft Pick, Walker Jenkins, was held out of 2023 Bowman Draft (which I didn't buy any of, for the first time in ever), so 2024 Bowman would have his first cards. And I want them.

But no hobby box this year, breaking another tradition. The last several years, prices have swelled to $300 or more, and I'm simply not doing that. It's outrageous and I don't need to play that game anymore. So I'll wait to see what shows up at the Targets and WalMarts, and be just fine with that.

A couple weeks ago, I had to stop by the Targets for a couple of things on the way home from work, and saw six 2024 Bowman Blasters in the card aisle. Okay, I'll take two of them. Likely wont get anything notable, but I'll get a good sample of the set, and hopefully some decent 1st Bowman cards. Hopefully a Walker Jenkins!

What kind of representation did the Minnesota Twins get in 2024 Bowman?

2024 Bowman - Carlos Correa

Correa is the only Twins veteran to receive a card in the base set.

However, the Twins got a larger percentage of prospect cards than many teams. Since that's what Bowman is about, I have no complaints. Would I have liked a Buxton or Lewis card? Of course. But it's absolutely understandable why they're not included.

2024 Bowman Chrome - Brooks Lee

Minnesota's number 2 ranked prospect (behind Jenkins) is shown here in Chrome parallel form. Were it not for an unfortunate back injury in Spring Training, Lee would have almost certainly been called up to the major leagues by now. Before getting hurt, he had a really good spring training, and would have been first in line to play play third base, after Royce Lewis strained his quad on Opening Day. (Jose Miranda has stepped up and played fairly well in Lewis' absence.) Both of them should be back from their injuries soon. Although Lee will back with the St. Paul Saints, until an opening in the Twins stacked infield opens up.

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Chicago Cubs

2020 Stadium Club Chrome - Kris Bryant - Refractor

Stadium Club Chrome Refractors can be stunning cards. This is a good example of that. Also ties in the with the Nolan Arenado Rockies trade that I alluded to earlier, but I don't feel like rehashing that again. Bottom line is, the Rockies signed Bryant to a contract worth roughly what they would have paid Arenado, had they not said they couldn't afford him and then had to trade him. Thank you Jeff Bridich... 

Problem being, injuries have turned Kris Bryant into a shell of what he was during his Cubs days. And the Rockies are on the hook for a huge chunk of money owed to him. In case you're unaware, Nolan Arenado continues his Hall of Fame path with the Cardinals...

But the Rockies have Gomber!

(and Kris Bryant...)

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Arizona Diamondbacks

2008 Stadium Club First Day Issue - Max Scherzer

I also found a copy of Max Scherzer's 2008 Stadium Club base card in one of the boxes as well. Topps was wired with Stadium Club for a while. It faded away in the early 2000's, came back in 2008 and went away again, then re-emerged in 2014. Like Topps didn't know what to do with it. The set has always been about good photography, and the 2008 holds up against other years. 

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Los Angeles Dodgers

2022 Gypsy Queen Chrome - Albert Pujols

Hobby boxes of Topps Gypsy Queen typically had a 3 card pack of Chrome parallel cards. These are visually striking, and I'll usually pick up any players I like if/when I find them. Despite his long time Cardinal-ness, then almost as long time Angel-ness, and shown here in rare Dodgers-ness, I've been collecting Pujols since pulling an autographed SPx rookie card out of a 2001 Upper Deck Rookie Update hobby box.

RIP Mike's Sports Cards in Englewood, CO. 

Such a great card store...

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Montreal Expos

1992 Donruss Update - Gary Carter

You don't see too many 1992 Donruss Update cards floating around these days. As opposed to  1992 Donruss, which there is still far too much of. 1992 Donruss Update is a 20 card set, inserted at a rate of 4 random cards placed in certain factory sets of 1992 Donruss. Which not a whole lot of people bought, let alone opened. Mark McGwire's highlight card is the most valuable in the set. To me, an Expos Hall of Famer, shown with his first team during his sunset season has far more value. Luckily, I'm in the minority as the price did not reflect my opinions.

I recently picked up my third copy of this card. Since I've shown off so many of my new Expos cards lately, I don't have anything flashy and new. 

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San Francisco Giants

2017 Bowman Holiday - Bryan Reynolds - Green 16/99

Forgot the current Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder's career started in the San Francisco Giants system. Today his teammate is Andrew McCutchen, whom Reynolds was traded for in January 2018. This card from the old team bins at Pal's. Not a Reynolds or Giants or Pirates collector, but finding a low numbered parallel of a current all star, in prospect form, for $1? Come on, I'd buy an Atlanta Brave or even maybe even a Houston Astro for that price!

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You know what else comes from San Francisco? (Well, kind of...)

Mr. Bungle!

A few years ago, the "legendary" band you don't want your parents to know about, reformed after a 20 year silence. Adding Scott Ian from Anthrax and Dave Lombardo from Slayer, to the lineup of Mike Patton (Faith No More and about a million other projects), Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3) and Trevor Dunn. They formed Mr. Bungle in high school, during the mid 1980's. The new weird death metal supergroup made a two night stop in Minneapolis, and both shows sold out immediately. I was able to grab tickets for me and Doktor John. I don't get out to concerts much anymore, but it's been too many years since I saw Mike Patton live, so this was one I couldn't miss...

Scott Ian looks like he's having the time of his life!

Mr. Bungle - My Ass Is On Fire - May 19, 2024, First Ave., Minneapolis, MN.

Poor quality video recorded on my cell phone, which recently celebrated its 6th birfday! If you can handle staying through the end of the song, you'll be treated to a brief cover of the Pepto Bismol jingle.

Because that's what Mr. Bungle does. 

Incredible show and I should write more about it.

And maybe I will.

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Cleveland Guardians

2020 Bowman Heritage - Nolan Jones - Black & White

Another current Rockie, who came to Colorado in one of their rare good trades. For whatever reason, the Cleveland Guardiandians have amongst the least amount of Top Loadered cards in my collection. Be it lack of stars, or lack of like for the team. Cleveland doesn't rank among the teams I absolutely can't stand (looking at you Braves, Red Sox, Astros and Dodgers), even though they are a constant thorn in the Twins side. 

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Seattle Mariners

2006 Topps Heritage Chrome - Adrian Beltre - Refractor 31/557

2006 Topps Heritage did an excellent job of replicating the 1957 Topps set, it really looks and feels like 1957 Topps. From the faded colors to the thickness of the stock. Which makes seeing all of that in Chrome Refractor form, kind of jarring. We're getting closer to Beltre's Hall of Fame induction (along with Todd Helton and Joe Mauer), for his excellent seasons with the Dodgers and Red Sox. You don't often associate Beltre with the Mariners, so that adds to the oddness of a 1957 Topps Refractor.

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Miami Marlins

2020 Panini Prizm Draft Picks - Max Meyer - Silver Prizm

Here's a Minnesota Golden Gopher on a Miami Marlins draft pick card, that's interesting enough. Woodbury, Minnesota native Max Meyer the Miami Marlin has run into health problems, including catching Tommy John Surgery (just as every pitcher does these days) in only his second major league start, and losing a season plus of development time. His brief stints with the Marlins have been promising, although the fish are hiding him in the minors to build up arm strength.

Whenever Meyer makes it back to the big leagues, we know who one of his teammates WONT be...

2024 Bowman - Luis Arraez

I've pulled at least one Luis Arraez Marlins card from each of the 2024 Topps lines, to be released at the retail level. Now I'll have to wait for the first Luis Arraez San Diego Padres cards, because the Marlins don't want to have a successful franchise. 35 years of stupid decisions look like the Miami Marlins. But that's what you get when you allow Jeff Loria to buy a team. Yeah, I know he doesn't own them anymore, but he might as well...

Well, they're better than the Rockies... And only because the Marlins managed to have both dumb lucked and overspent in winning 2 World Championships. Followed immediately by mismanagement and long stretches of losing. 

And very poor attendance. 

2024 Bowman - Byron Chourio

In addition to Pablo Lopez, the Marlins sent Chourio (and infield prospect, Jose Salas) to Minnesota for Arraez. So I'm happy to see a Bowman 1st Twins card for him. Chourio is still only 19, but has posted just a .565 OPS in low A Ft. Myers. Salas hasn't performed much better, with a .597 OPS at high A Cedar Rapids. However, Lopez has become the Twins ace that we needed. Even with his new tendency to give up home runs this season.

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New York Mets

2013 Topps Chrome - Zack Wheeler - XFractor

Wheeler has been on my collecting radar since I pulled his autographed XFractor out of a hobby box of 2009 Bowman Draft. in 2013, I pulled a non-autographed XFractor rookie card, from a retail pack purchased at the Littleton WalMart Neighborhood Market store (operating out of an abandoned Albertson's). A test concept that WalMart briefly ran in a few markets. This would be a full service grocery store. No clothes, electronics, sporting goods or household goods. Just what you would find in a grocery store. It did have a pharmacy, bakery and butcher (and baseball cards), but WalMart pulled the plug on the concept and closed all of them in 2014. 

Previous Mets Random Top Loader - 2002 Bowman Chrome Jose Reyes Gold Refractor

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Washington Nationals

2005 Topps Chrome Update - Vinny Castilla - Refractor

Another favorite Refractor in my collection. Love the color on it. And Castilla was a favorite Colorado Rockie for much of my first Colorado run (1996-2003). He missed the Expos by a year, but served as the Nationals third baseman, for their first season in Washington.

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Baltimore Orioles

2023 Bowman Mega Box - Gunnar Henderson

Something tells me this Gunnar kid might be pretty good.

And this might be a pretty good card too...

Previous Orioles Random Top Loader - 1971 Topps Baltimore Orioles team card

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San Diego Padres

2022 Panini Chronicles Contenders Optic - C.J. Abrams - Pink & Black Mini-Egg Prizm

Panini Chronicles strikes again! And I don't know what this particular parallel is called either, so I'm going with Pink & Black Mini-Egg. It king of reminds me of the blue Prizm Mini-Donuts all over Freddie Freeman. I've not seen enough different Contenders cards to know if the whole Section/Row/Seat gimmick means anything. Because I'm trying to picture what that stadium would look like. A minimum of 62 rows, with a minimum of 77 seats in that row? There's going to be a lot of annoyed fans if a family with 3 little kids happens to buy tickes for seats 35-40 of row 62.

How many times do you have to pee!

C.J. Abrams was amongst the haul of Padres prospects going to Washington for Juan Soto, back in 2022. Abrams is quickly developing into one of the better shortstops in baseball. Mackenzie Gore is becoming a decent left-handed starter, James Woods is a top outfield prospect in AAA, and Robert Hassell III isn't far behind Woods. And Juan Soto is a New York Yankee, so that tells you how this trade worked out for the Padres...

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Philadelphia Phillies

2018 Topps Chrome - Aaron Altherr - Gold Wave Refractor 21/50

Sometimes you have to drop $2 for a card that just looks cool, Even if the player is meh...

And this didn't scan nearly as nice as the card itself looks.

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Pittsburgh Pirates

2020 Stadium Club Chrome - Roberto Clemente - Gold Wave Refractor

From a late 2020 low level box break at Pal's. I was disappointed to have drawn the Pirates, but quite happy when this was pulled. The Gold Wave Refractors fell 1 per hobby box, and look incredible. They seriously should be serial numbered.

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Texas Rangers

2016 Bowman Draft - Cole Ragans

Ragans slowly climbed the Rangers system and made his debut with Texas in the 2023 season. Weeks later, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals for closer, Aroldis Chapman. Chapman definitely helped the Rangers win the 2023 World Series, so in that sense, it has to be considered a great trade. However, Ragans looks like he'll be a key starter in the Royals rotation, for years to come. 

What did my two blasters of 2024 Bowman have to offer up for the World Champion Texas Rangers?

2024 Bowman Chrome - Wyatt Langford - Lunar Glow Refractor

Not his 1st Bowman card, but my 1st Langford card. The Lunar Glow Refractors are fairly common, but they look really nice. I'm not yet sold on Langford being a solid MLB player today, but he does have a bright future.

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Tampa Bay Rays

2023 Bowman Mega Box - Junior Caminero

Another thing I really miss about Pal's is the lack of access to cheap Mega Box and Silver Pack parallels. Every visit brought a few different varieties to the team bins. Either when hobby boxes were opened for pack sale, the singles would end up sleeved for a few bucks. They were typically quick movers, so they made good cards to sell back to the store if you didn't get what you wanted.

However I can't remember if I got this Caminero card as a single off "The Farm", or if I got it from one the several 2023 Bowman Mega Boxes I opened last year.

Not a Mega Box, but the 2024 Bowman blasters had a nice bonus Ray for me...

2024 Bowman - Adrian Santana - Neon Green 78/399

An 18 year old shortstop, lots of stolen bases, decent K/BB rate, .220 batting average and virtually no power, with the low A Charleston River Dogs. He's 18, so there's plenty of room for improvement.

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Cincinnati Reds

2005 Bowman's Best - Ken Griffey Jr. - Blue Foil 486/499

For whatever reason it's hard for me to get as excited about a Ken Griffey Jr. Cincinnati Reds card, than I do for a Seattle Mariners Griffey card. Although it's not nearly as off putting as the 2008 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card, showing him with the Chicago White Sox, I found in a box the other day... This came from a hobby box of 2005 Bowman's Best I ripped when I had a ridiculous amount of extra money. All thanks to splitting the rent and expenses of living in a house with 4 other people, back in 2005-06. 

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Boston Red Sox

2022 Panini Prizm Fearless - Rafael Devers - Silver Prizm

Very little silver on it, but this would technically be a Silver Prizm. Panini likes to not make sense... However, those cheap hobby boxes of Prizm rarely disappointed.

Nonsensical parallels has spread from Panini to Topps in recent years, although it's nice to get stuff like this out of a retail blaster...

2024 Bowman Chrome - Brooks Brannon - Fuchsia Lunar Glow Refractor 93/199

Interesting prospect who has been injured a lot, since signing as a 9th round draft pick, in 2022. Brannon has put up a career .895 OPS, but it's been in about 30 total games. He just turned 20, and once he's healthy and gets out of the Florida Complex League, we'll know more about his potential.

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Colorado Rockies

2017 Topps Chrome - Jon Gray - Purple Refractor 212/299

Purple Refractors are a natural fit for the Colorado Rockies, and I'll buy any I find. Which means I'd have a lot more of them if I was actively looking. Gray was a top draft pick of the Rockies, and I predicted he was going to be a star. That didn't happen. And Jon Gray has been a slightly below average starting pitcher for much of his major league career. Although he was a member of the 2023 World Series winning Texas Rangers. So he has that going for him.

That and a glorious mane of hair!

Cool, those 2024 Bowman blasters offered up a nice Rockies insert.

2024 Bowman Chrome Top 100 - Drew Romo

The Bowman Chrome Top 100 is a fun insert set that makes sense to be included in the product. But their rankings don't seem to follow any of the more accepted Top 100 Prospect rankings. Not MLB, not Baseball America, but Bowman's own system of something that makes sense to them. 

No knock against Romo, but MLB ranks him as the Rockies 9th best prospect. Which puts him nowhere near the MLB Top 100. Despite the debate, Romo is hitting well above .300, and good power numbers with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. As a 22 year old catcher, I'd personally rank that a lot higher than 9th, in a Rockies farm system that is improving, but not elite.

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Kansas City Royals

2022 Topps Fire To The Moon - Bobby Witt Jr. 

A retail pull from the Targets before going to work a few years ago. Like Cleveland, the Royals also have a relatively low amount of Top Loadered cards in my collection. Though it has grown in recent years. Thanks mainly to Bobby Witt Jr. I want to not like him because he absolutely destroys the Twins in every game he plays against us. But I have to like him because he absolutely destroys the Twins in every game he plays against us. Because he also does it to enough other teams that it means he's a damn good player. Add in that he's signed to a massive long term contract to stay in Kansas City is even more endearing. I like teams that are able to keep their superstars, so you can associate at least one player to a team for a decade plus.

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Detroit Tigers

2021 Select - Tarik Skubal - Red, White & Blue Prizm

For a real brief period, the 2024 Detroit Tigers looked like they may come in ahead of schedule on contending. Their weak offense is their undoing, but their young pitching looks promising, with Skubal at the top of the rotation. I became a fan of Skubal in 2020, when the same box of Prism draft that brought the Max Meyer card I showed earlier, had a Tarik Skubal Silver Prism autograph, serial numbered to 17. 

I have no idea why Panini chose to go with 17 serial numbered copies of that card, but I have one.

If it hadn’t already rediscovered it, it would have made a good inclusion here.

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Minnesota Twins

2022 Topps Chrome Sonic Youthquake - Royce Lewis

Is Thurston Moore aware of this?

I didn't find this Lewis in my unsorted Monster Boxes. This was the only ebay pickup from the month of May. Laura was looking at ebay cards on her phone, and asked me if I had this one. I'd never seen it before, and it looked cool, was cheap enough, so I bought it. And it was cool. 

Hopefully he comes back from his latest injury soon. The Twins lineup needs a solid hitter to offset the streakiness this season has been...

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Chicago White Sox

2020 Topps Silver Pack - Dylan Cease

The Chicago White Sox are easily the worst team in baseball again. Which is hard to imagine when the Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics are all still showing major degrees of ineptitude. But you can’t blame Cease for that… He’s a San Diego Padre now. Pitching pretty well too. Perhaps this is the year the Padres actually do something?

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New York Yankees

2022 Mosaic Bang! - Aaron Judge - Prizm

                     

Logos or not, these are such nice looking cards. 

But I don’t (ever) want to talk about Aaron Judge.

Previous Yankees Random Top Loader - 1993 Topps Gold - Derek Jeter

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Hmmmm...

Guess I should show off the big hit from the 2024 Bowman blasters.

A hit I would have never expected.

One that I still have a hard time believing.

The third pack out of the first blaster showed a red card edge in the "hit spot", of the stack of 10 cards contained within. My first thought was it was interesting, but I wasn't familiar enough with all of the 2024 Bowman variations to cause much of a stir. I flipped through the cards in the pack, and as soon as I moved the card above red bordered mystery hit, I saw this and was shocked.

(It didn't come out of the pack in a One Touch, I keep a small stock of those on hand in cases like this...)

Wow.

A Red parallel, serial numbered out of 5.

Of arguably the top 2024 rookie in MLB. 

Who plays on a high profile team that is widely collected.

And this was in a retail blaster box, on a shelf in a Target, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

2024 Bowman - Yoshinobu Yamamoto - Red 4/5

As of now, I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'm not taking offers and am not looking to sell. That may change in the future, but for now I like the idea of having an extremely rare rookie card of  Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I could see him and Shohei Ohtani (once he recovers from his second Tommy John Surgery) forming an amazing 1-2 punch at the top of the Dodgers rotation for years to come. I'm not a Dodgers fan, at ALL, but I've enjoyed watching Yamamoto pitch. MLB Network always seems to be airing Dodgers games when I get off work, so I've seen Yamamoto throw a few games now.

I'm impressed.

I've seen no solid data on what the value of this card would be, other than what someone else is willing to pay for it. Whatever that may be, Yamamoto likely knocks my 2006 Bowman Draft Clayton Kershaw Autographed X-Fractor to second place, as my personal biggest retail pull ever. A card which also came to me via a blaster, purchased at a WalMart in Littleton, Colorado, in January 2007. 

Funny how my 2 biggest cards are both Dodgers pitchers, and both came from retail blasters. 

And I still really don't like the Dodgers.

But I can't ever stop the occasional picking up of retail blasters.

You never know what will be inside one. 

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Well, back to sorting...

Tackling all of those 2005-2019 albums now.

Don't think I'll find any more Bowman Red parallels in there...