Going to the WalMarts for some 2025 Topps!

2025 Topps Series One was (officially) released on Wednesday, February 12. 

MLB Network made a big deal out of it, complete with live pack openings on the morning show. Which was also doing their season premier. All of it tying in with the opening of Spring Training camps. For those of us who pay attention to stuff like that, we appreciate the effort MLB is putting in. It's been a long off season, so make the start of Spring Training some sort of an event. 

I'd stopped buying my usual hobby jumbo box of each Topps series, a few years ago. Escalating price and escalating disappointment in the product, made up both ends of nope. I wasn't even all that interested in buying 2025 Topps, going into the year. But as the release date grew closer, I started to get more interested in taking a look. Days leading up to tonight, saw people posting images of 2025 Topps cards they'd found before the official release date. Further psyching myself up by looking at the checklists, on the Becketts web site. 

A nice feature on the free side, is the checklist sorted by team. There are three Twins rookie cards I'm anticipating, so I wanted to see if any of them are included in Series One base. Good news for me, Brooks Lee, David Festa and Zebby Matthews, all made the cut. Had the three of them been held off until Series Two, I would have a lot less interest in looking for some 2025 Topps tonight. It's really cold out. I should just go home.

Obviously, Topps will have printed a national forest worth of inserts and parallels. I know that I'm going to get a decent amount of them, regardless of how much or little I buy. I'm not likely to find anything tremendously special from retail packs, so I'm pretty indifferent to the inserts. And with a lot of them, I'd almost rather have additional base cards.

My weekend shopping list has a few items that I could justify picking up tonight. Odds aren't that great any 2025 Topps would even be available, but I wont know until I check... That means I'm going to tap the sphincter and drop by the WalMarts, on the way home from work.

Here's something NOT on that shopping list...

Laura brought these back from her November trip to England. While there may be something similar, Cadbury does not market "Sticky Puds" in America. Probably because of the laughter the name induces. Laura said it had something to do with regulations on how chocolate is made, between the two counties. Whatever that may be, these are delicious. Take the foil off the top, flip it upside-down, microwave for 30 seconds and it's a small drippy pile of awesome. There is a noticeable difference in the taste of the chocolate, and they win my full seal of approval. But I could never ask for these by name, with a straight face. 

Still, it was my lucky night!

Quickly scanning the card aisle revealed no 2025 Topps Blasters, Hanger Boxes or Mega Boxes. Cards were fully (and recently) stocked, but faced baseball product included only 2024 Topps Series 2 and Update, a few Blasters of Stadium Club and a bunch of 2024 Topps Archives. Not giving up without a fight, I found a Jumbo pack of 2025 Topps Series 1, mixed in with a mess of Panini Contenders NFL. Then I saw one 2025 Topps Hanger Box, hidden amongst the 2024 Topps Update Hangers. At that point, I decided I should check through all the everything, just in case there's more hidden. That search yielded one more Jumbo pack, stashed under a bunch of Panini Score NFL packs. 

2025 Topps Day One results from the only WalMarts I tried: 2 jumbo packs @ $7 each, plus one Hanger box at $13. As far as my hopes for a decent representation of the set, this amount of cards should serve well. The math (36 + 36 + 59 = 131 cards) checks out. Sure, I had to dig through a second national forest worth of Panini football products, just to find them. I can't speak for the bulk of the Twin Cities metro area, but in the parts of town I shop, football cards do not sell as well as baseball does.

To mark the occasion, I feel a little Whatever is in order. So I gathered up my winnings and pulled out a weighted selection of cards I wanted to scan for this story. Not going too nuts, because it's still just flagship Topps. This will be more than enough to share my thoughts on the first of the 2025 cards that Fanatics is going to price gouge the crap out of.

Without further stalling tactics, here's the...

Top 39 2025 Topps Series One cards from the Fridley, MN, WalMarts!

#39 - 2025 Topps - Josh Naylor

Former Guardians first baseman, Josh Naylor, was my first card 2025 Topps card, pulled from the first pack. Guess you couldn't top last year's first card being Lars Nootbaar... Naylor's a D-Bag now. Nothing personal, I'm sure Naylor is a decent guy. I just really don't like Arizona's MLB team. Not that I was a fan of Cleveland's MLB team either. 

Here's the reverse side of 2025 Topps. Please note this does not indicate Clayton Kershaw's placement in the Whatever. I chose his card given the volume of statistics on the back. Which is more interesting than Naylor's. Topps did another good job with laying out out the elements on the card back. Most important, the card number is very easy to read. Large enough to recognize quickly when sorting. Not sure why I care, I'm not trying to build the set. But if I was, numbers like this make set building a whole lot easier. Especially as my aging eyeballs age more every day.

#38 - 2025 Topps - Michael McGreevy

As far as the design on the front of the card?

I really like it.

The team colored foil used in last year's set, makes a surprising return. The design keeps the elements away from the photo, and they don't overwhelm the photo either. The design is simple, yet appealing to the eye. There's no nonsensical shapes or random unnecessary distractions interfering. Reminds me of last year's design, as in Topps took that theme and evolved it some. Without going way off and making something horrible.

(Like 2021 Topps... Wow, that design SUCKED!)

#37 - 2025 Topps Greatest Hits - Rece Hinds

Probably just that stupid Nike City Connect uniform that ruins it form me, but I didn't care for this design. I like the premise, but this picture doesn't work with the layout. Too much black. And this is coming from someone who still wears almost exclusively black. 

But I like the information the card offers up.

I don't remember hearing about Rece Hinds, but this is pretty cool accomplishment.

#36 - 2025 Topps - Ty France

Hinds former teammate is now the Minnesota Twins starting first baseman. Manager Rocco Baldelli named him as such just a couple days after signing him to a free agent contract worth only about $200,000 above the league minimum. Not sure what that means to some of our younger players that seemed to have a chance at the first base job... Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien are suddenly squeezed for playing time. Hopefully France looks more like the Seattle Mariners All Star from a few years ago, than the injured part-timer he was in 2024. You may want to hold off on anointing a player the other 29 teams seemingly had no interest in, as your starter, before spring training games have even started.

#35 - 2025 Topps - Tarik Skubal

Nike's City Connect ruins another card!

Skubal strikes me as someone that doesn't play easy-listening music on his earbuds...

Sirius XM plays a commercial for a new women's theme station called "Mom Jeans", all the time now. Mom Jeans is a satellite radio station dedicated to playing all sorts of horribly bland, soft rock hits of the 1980's and 1990's. Inoffensive music that generally appeals to middle-aged women. Featuring artists like Celine Dion, Cher, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, Dan Hartman and Celine Dion.  It's hosted by Lori Loughlin. Wife of Uncle Jesse on Full House, and a convicted criminal. Serving 2 months in prison for college admission bribery, in late 2020. A very rich mom crime..

I heard the Mom Jeans commercial on my drive to work, on my way to WalMarts, and again on my drive home, today. 

#34 - 2025 Topps First Pitch - Lauren Alaina

So when this card was in my first pack, Mom Jeans immediately popped into my head.

I am glad that Topps brought back the First Pitch insert set. Always interesting to see cards of celebrities commemorating their ceremonial first pitch. I've never heard of most of them, and Lauren Alaina is no different.

#33 - 2025 Topps - Gunner Henderson

Do like photos of fielders suspended in mid-air... Which is usually a middle infielder type thing. 

Perhaps a shortstop?

A detail that's not particularly clear on a 2025 Topps card... Instead of simply printing "SS" (or 3B, 2B, P, OF or whatever) somewhere by his name, Topps made up a position diamond. Every card has a baseball diamond, with a dot representing the position they play. (If your position is Designated Hitter, your dot isn't allowed on the diamond.) I'm not a fan of this. Player position is some of the most basic and important information to include on the front of a card. This position diamond thing is a space wasting gimmick that doesn't work.

#32 - 2025 Topps - Jake Bloss

Earlier in the day, I read an interview with the guy who designed the 2025 Topps card layout. It was interesting as he gave some background on the whole process. He stated that Topps chooses the flagship design from 20-30 staff submitted ideas. This design was inspired by the artist seeing a subway route map. (I can see it.) He compared it to the design of 1982 Topps, with the curved lines on the left side of the card. 

Like I said earlier, it reminds me of 2024 Topps. If you removed the white to black gradient from last year's set, you have a lot of similar elements. Which isn't a bad thing. I like that this years design feels like and evolution of last year's set.

#31 - 2025 Topps - Aaron Schunk

Schunk was a second round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, in 2019. He didn't make the Major Leagues until 2024. Which is kind of strange since he'd been a pretty good hitter in AA and AAA. He'd been at the upper levels of Colorado's farm system since the start of the 2022 season, and hit well. Not sure why the Rockies didn't call him up sooner. Not like they had a lot of All Stars scattered around their position diamond. Because they're the Rockies, there's no clear position for Schunk to try and establish himself. And he turns 28 in July, so time isn't on his side.

And just as I finish writing this, the Rockies designated Schunk for assignment, giving his roster spot to left-handed reliever, Scott Alexander. Who was no longer good enough to pitch for the Sacramento A's. Schunk cleared waivers and was outrighted to AAA Albuquerque.

Oh well... Let's go to WalMarts!

In order to minimize my time actually spent inside of a WalMarts, I have a plan to hit each zone once, in order, ending at the registers. Either clockwise or counter-clockwise, dependent on that store's layout. In and out, under 20 minutes at most. And never before 10pm. I cannot stomach WalMarts in the daylight.

The following "Shopping at WalMarts" pictures were taken on August 1, 2024.

Not the night I'm writing about. Which was February 12, 2025.

Sometimes when I'm walking through places like this, I'll snap a few pictures as I go. Only if there’s not a lot of people around. I don’t want random people included, just in case I end up writing a story like this and need some background/filler... I always start with the grocery section. Grabbing the things that WalMarts sells that I don't buy at other places. 

Which mainly includes WalMarts brand Great Value generics. Like all those pre-cooked frozen sausage patties I love so much... Unfortunately, I've yet to find a pre-cooked frozen sausage patty that compares to WalMarts Great Value brand. That means I have to go to a WalMarts at least once every three weeks to pick up another bag. You can't make a tasty breakfast bagel sammich without them.

Although pre-cooked microwave bacon works well in a pinch.

Today, I didn't need any WalMarts pre-cooked frozen sausage patties, but I did feel like I wanted one of  their delicious Italian Hero sammiches, to enjoy at work tomorrow. Their combination of Uncured Ham, Uncured Capicola, Hard Salami and Pepperoni, with Provolone Cheese, is a fantastic dinner option to enjoy at my desk at work. But that Hot Pepper Relish is Hot Garbage. So that stays in the sealed packet. Thank for not making the choice for me, and leaving it off the sammich. 

Unfortunately, like nearly every other post-pandemic food option, the portion of food that makes up the sammich has shrank, while the price has increased. But it's all worth it because the greedy billionaires that own WalMarts, get to make even more money as they put the screws to their poor ass customers!

Just... A... Little... Tighter...

And that's really what America is all about!

Baseball is pretty American...

#30 - 2025 Topps - Paul Blackburn

Horizontal shots are back. Which are cool if they show something interesting in the background. This particular image could have just been a vertical card, zoomed out a little, and it wouldn't have lost anything.

#29 - 2025 Topps - American League Home Run Leaders

The League Leaders cards look nice this year. Not too busy... Already looking forward to Series Two, Santander will be a Blue Jay and I forget which team signed Juan Soto. Think it was Sacramento...

Card back is well done too.

#28 - 2025 Topps - Joe Ryan

God I hate the Smurf Jerseys... Damn you Nike...

#27 - 2025 Topps - Michael Toglia

Toglia was the Rockies first round draft pick in 2019. (Aaron Schunk was their second round pick that year. But I said that already.) With Kris Bryant scheduled to the Rockies first baseman, and not up to the task, Toglia was called to fill in. He's hit for power, with 31 home runs in 192 career games. But he's hit for only a .206 career average. Hopefully he's able to kick that up a notch in 2025. I doubt Kris Bryant is going to take up too much of Toglia's playing time. 

#26 - 2025 Topps - Nick Gordon

Former Twin and former Marlin, signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles. Strictly a depth piece now, I doubt he sees much time in the major leagues in 2025. 

#25 - 2025 Topps 1990 Anniversary - Kyle Schwarber

I didn't like 1990 Topps when it came out, but it's grown on me as the Junk Wax Era gets farther away. Which breeds nostalgia. I'll pick up players I like as singles, which really isn't Schwarber. Do look forward to picking up some of the Chrome Silver Pack singles. Really like the ones I've seen online. Even Schwarber!

#24 - 2025 Topps - Jose Berrios

Here's an extreme hot take that I've thought about over the offseason...

What if the Toronto Blue Jays fall out of contention early, and start a rebuild. What if the rumors and speculation are true, and the sale of the Twins franchise to the Ishbia brothers is official and complete by the July trading deadline. What if they immediately tell Twins General Manager What's His Name; "Here's $25 million in additional payroll. Go get us what we need to win." And that same Twins General Manager, whose name I don't remember right now, calls up Toronto and arranges a trade to bring Jose Berrios back to Minnesota. Oh hell, let's throw Vladimir Guerrero Jr. into the trade! We'll need a first base upgrade over Ty France. We can offer to take on Berrios contract and a package of prospects not named Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez or Luke Keaschall.

Yeah... I don't see all this happening... 

And I think I'd rather we traded for a left-handed starting pitcher...

What if the Detroit Tigers fall out of contention and they start to shop Tarik Skubal...

Come on Ishbia brothers... Save us from decades of Pohlad-ball!

#23 - 2025 Topps - Drew Thorpe

Topps should have used a thicker font for the player last names. Some of the cards have nearly unreadable (and definitely unscannable) last names, knocked out of the team colored foil. Thorpe was hard to read on this card itself. I didn't get a whole lot of White Sox from my packs (oh, drat...), but it seemed to be a problem with their cards.

#22 - 2025 Topps - Ceddanne Rafaela

Got his autograph from a pack of 2023 Bowman Platinum. Coincidently, from a Blaster purchased at WalMarts. A different one than I went to tonight. Seems like there's not going to be a 2024 Bowman Platinum release. That kind of sucks. I liked that set for a cheap retail option. Anyways, since I pulled that Rafaela auto, I nominated him as the one Red Sox player I'm going to care about.

Certainly wont be Alex Bregman.

Who solidified his position as the MLB player I like the least. Going from the Astros to the Red Sox will do just that.

#21 - 2025 Topps Stars of MLB - Aaron Judge

The Stars of MLB insert returns for 2025 Topps. Likely to spread across the three series again. I prefer the last two year's designs to this one. You tend to get a bunch of these in retail packs. I think I got something like 10 of them between the three packs I bought tonight. Stars of MLB consists of only 30 cards per series. So it's very easy to get multiples of them. I'd like Topps to bump the checklist up significantly, if they're going to throw a few in every pack. Make it 50 cards per series. Topps is going to repeat the biggest stars anyways. Not like there isn't going to be an Aaron Judge card in all three series...

Meanwhile, back at the WalMarts...

No significant sales in the pop aisle, which I don't need today. Nor do I need any Packaged Deli. But something I do need is...

WalMarts Great Value branded Movie Theater Popcorn!

For years, I was loyal to Popcorn Indiana's Movie Theater Popcorn. But their "butter" taste has downgraded lately. Strangely enough, WalMarts Great Value branded Movie Theater Popcorn has a much better "butter" taste. And is $1 less per bag. Sorry Popcorn Indiana, as much as it pains me to say it, you've been beaten by WalMarts.

Was really strange the store was so empty on August 1st, 2024. In my mind, I was in an abandoned WalMarts, that was left with the electricity on, and all the shelves fully stoked. And the taggers, looters and vandals, had yet to show up.

Actually, I was just walking away from the grocery section.

Actually, it's time to talk about 2025 Topps again...

#20 - 2025 Topps - Seattle Mariners

Team cards are back, and the Mariners got a particularly nice one. Buckets of gum and candy are tossed in the air, as Big Dumper gets ready to cross home plate. Assuming this was the result of a walk-off home run. But Dumper could be scoring from a ground ball double play, and the Mariners were just a little too excited by it. 

Quick gripe about the back. Why doesn't the list of team leaders include the statistic? Good for Julio Rodriguez for leading the team in batting average. But what was his batting average? I didn't get a Julio Rodriguez card in my series one packs, so I can't cross-reference. There's plenty of room to print those numbers, so it' pretty annoying they didn't.

#19 - 2025 Topps - Edwin Diaz - Rainbow Foil

Rainbow Foil parallels are back of course. I was lucky enough to get a guy Hulking Up...

Brother.

#18 - 2025 Topps - Dylan Cease

Nice cup, Cease...

Yeesh...

#17 - 2025 Topps - Davis Schneider

The mustache gets a rare two position dots on the position diamond.

He warrants an extra dot for his performative dance, while trying to tap the baseball off the edge of the card.

#16 - 2025 Topps - Adolis Garcia

The Texas Rangers have a real mess of a Nike City Connect outfit. Just a bunch of non-Rangers colors, with dueling wacky fonts. Not a good look. I don't know where I'd place this against the blurry blue disasters Nike dresses the Twins up in. But this is pretty awful.

There's one team that was allowed to say Just Don't Do It to Nike, regarding City Connect uniforms...

#15 - 2025 Topps 1990 Anniversary - Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Could you imagine the abomination Nike would paint on the Yankees?

Wish more teams would/could have stood up to Nike on these.

Yeah, but money...

Topps did a very good job in recreating a 1990 Topps card back. The only thing missing is the dingy grey of the cheaper card stock, that it was printed on. So maybe these should be named 1990 Topps Tiffany 35th Anniversary? Or if they stuck with an ugly red/green pattern for every card, a 1990 Topps Traded 35th Anniversary?

#14 - 2025 Topps - Royce Lewis

Royce Lewis has a habit of pointing into the Twins dugout, on his way to first base, after he does something good. Nice to see that moment dedicated to a Topps base card. Too bad he's dressed like a juiced Violet Beauregarde...

#13 - 2025 Topps - Clayton Kershaw

Longtime readers will remember Kershaw from his card back, a whole buncha paragraphs ago, when I wrote about it. So here's where he placed in the Whatever. Fun Fact (that I just made up): This is Kershaw's second Topps card (2019) where he's photographed with his fly open. However this year, Topps Photoshopped his glove to cover it up. What a joker....

None of that is true.

Except for his 2019 Topps card, which is still kind of funny.

#12 - 2025 Topps - Adrian Del Castillo

Not that I got any hits of his, but I remember cards of Adrian Del Castillo from 2021 Bowman Draft. For whatever reason, this card made me think of that. One of the first non-stars in the set, to have a Topps Rookie Card. I'm sure there's been plenty of others that I'm not thinking of, but Del Castillo immediately stood out.

#11 - 2025 Topps - Ryan Helsley - Sparkle Foil

I do like the Sparkle Foil parallels. The St. Louis Cardinals had a really stupid offseason. They wanted to cut payroll. Fine. But they couldn't find a trade partner that worked for Nolan Arenado. Sonny Gray refused to waive his no-trade contract clause. And the one piece they could have traded for something of value, Helsley, they kept. With no other additions. It's a good idea to re-tool with younger players, but they accomplished none of their offseason goals. It could be a terrible season in St. Louis. 

Not that it would bother me a whole lot...

But here's something that does...

The WalMarts DVD section. Changing times have all but killed physical media. 20 years ago, the WalMarts DVD shelves were several aisles long. Today, they barely make up half of one aisle. Knowing there isn't much of a market for current media, WalMarts inventory skews heavily toward nostalgia. Some of the most bland nostalgia you can find. I'll still pick up DVD sets of old TV shows, but almost none of this is appealing to me. I see only two box sets that I would have any interest in watching the full series. We already own The Office, so that leaves the original G.I. Joe cartoons from the 1980's and Cheers. Syndicated reruns after the 10 o'clock news, was a TV tradition in the 80's.

These are all reasonably priced, because they pretty much have to be. Only old people have DVD players anymore. At some point after I took this picture, and before I walked through here in February, WalMarts locked all the DVD's up in cages. Apparently they'd been getting loose. Which sucks because I can no longer pick them up and read the backs. Still wasn't going to buy them, but now I have less incentive to stop by the DVD section.

Targets has stopped selling DVD's altogether.

Best Buy stopped as well. Seeing that marked the end of a retail era...

At least I can always depend on the WalMarts toy aisle for a little shot of nostalgia!

The Transformers The Movie toyline are exceptional figures. And they're expensive. Sludge retailed for $50 upon release. Cool toy and box art, but no. Back in August, they had one on the shelf, with a pretty mangled box, for $9 less. I'd like it, but still too much.

"I'm not the shark... I'm not a fish... I'm not an avalanche... I'm a man! A 400 pound man!"

Well, how about a John Tenta action figure, based on the old Mattel Masters of the Universe toy line?

Again, cool... But severely overpriced. 

Less than severely overpriced, but still overpriced, nonetheless...

We've reached the 2025 Topps Series One Whatever Top Ten!

#10 - 2025 Topps - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Future Minnesota Twins first baseman has slimmed down considerably since his baby fat filled first few seasons. He's also lost about 15 pounds of dreds as well. The new and improved son of Expos legend Vladimir Guerrero Sr., wasn't able to agree to a new contract with the Blue Jays, so what happens next is anyone's guess... Just don't sign with the Angels... I would hate that so much...

#9 - 2025 Topps - Bailey Ober

Ober is one of the most underrated pitchers in the American League, I'm expecting a big season from him in 2025.

#8 - 2025 Topps - Trevor Larnach

Really like this photo, just because of the look on Larnach's face.

Sliding into third base? How boring...

#7 - 2025 Topps - Dylan Crews

Haven't paid a whole lot of attention, but I think Crews is the big rookie card of Series One. So cool then. I got two in my three packs. What's worse, there were 4 cards that repeated in all three packs. Actually, Topps is getting better with that. Early 20-teen retail Topps provided lots of repeat packs next to each other on the shelves.

#6 - 2025 Topps Stars of MLB - Dylan Crews

If Crews is the big rookie card of Series One, this was a good one to get in a pack.

No duplicates of this one however.

Yeah, I'm interested to see what he does in Washington. The Nationals need some more pitching, but they've put together some impressive young position players.

But they've got nothing on me completing my WalMarts shopping list! All I have to do is navigate the health and beauty section for a couple more items.

A two pack of toofpaste, is a much better value than a one pack!

With a brief visit to the rubbers, held captive behind glass at the WalMarts sex supply zoo...

And two one packs of WalMarts store brand, Equate Orange Cream Antacid. Which isn't sold in two packs, but the one pack multiplied by two is still the best value in Antacid tablets. And I'm talking ANY flavor! Funny these are branded Equate, while the popcorn and sausage patties are Great Value. Is WalMarts so special they get two dedicated lines of generics?

Whatever...

We're in Top Five territory now!

#5 - 2025 Topps 1990 Anniversary - Jordan Lawlar - Jersey

The first pack I opened had a jersey card hit. I seem to get Lawlar hits these days. A trend that was set off with a 2022 Topps Chrome ProDebut autographed Red Refractor, pulled from a pack in early 2023. Serial numbered to 5, I became an instant Jordan Lawlar fan.

#4 - 2025 Topps - Say Cheese

At first, I thought this was the Twins team card. Instead it’s just the photo chosen for the front of one other checklist cards in the set. We’ll see if the Twins team card has a better photo, once Series Two comes out (probably in mid-July). Likely not, as this on field “team selfie” was to commemorate the Twins 11th win in a row. (According to the scoreboard). Hard to believe they were on such a hot tear for the first half of 2024, then choked on injuries and lack of production, to miss the playoffs completely.

#3 - 2025 Topps - Justyn-Henry Malloy - Diamante Foil

Diamante Foils are a new retail parallel, and I really like them.

#2 - 2025 Topps - Sonny Gray - True Photo

Hadn’t pulled a “True Photo” card before, which was a little strange seeing it come from the pack. They appear to be fairly rare, so I was pretty surprised to see one show up in my three retail packs.

Honorable Mention - 2025 Topps - Sonny Gray

For comparison, here is the “False Photo” variation. Otherwise known as a common…

Before we get to number one, we’ll finish up our visit to WalMarts with a scheduled stop at the card aisle. Back in August, there was a lot of 2024 Topps Chrome on the shelf. I probably bought some that night. I don’t remember. There were no blasters of Topps Chrome left by February. Even those Select and Chronicles were gone by then. But Panini replaced them with a ton of football and basketball, that no one is buying..

We’ll see what they have next time I stop there.

Just behind the cards is the self checkout. So I’ll pay for my crap and get out of here.

And the number one card on my 2025 Topps Series One Whatever is..

#1 - 2025 Topps - Brooks Lee

Yup, one of the big three base cards that I wanted from the set. Still haven't found a Zebby or Festa (I also haven't bought any more 2025 Topps since February 12th), but I'm sure I'll run into cards of Minnesota's 6th and 7th ranked starters on the current depth charts, soon enough. And thank you Topps, for choosing a photo of the Twins uniform I hate the least, for Lee's official Topps rookie card.

Looking at his minor league numbers, you'd have to say his 50 game audition with the Twins didn't go so well. Of course he battled injuries throughout the season, but you'd hope for a much better OPS than .585. He's listed as a shortstop, which is his best position. But Carlos Correa... He's also a really good third baseman. But Royce Lewis... So either Brooks needs to win the second base job (with Willi Castro and Edouard Julien as his competition) or he needs to start 2025 in St. Paul. Let him destroy AAA pitching for a few weeks, before one of our other superstars gets hurt. Hopefully Lee comes back to the majors ready to take a big step beyond his 2024 numbers.

So that's that...

I like what I saw of 2025 Topps. I'll buy more, but I'm not going nuts over it. One of these days I'll dig through the ebays and pick up the singles I want, but I'm not all that interested in buying a whole lot of unopened product. Not at 2025 prices...

Time to go find something else to write about.

Dood! Futurama stole Leg With Face!