Consider your standard 9-pocket binder page. Nine places to summarize 2019 in baseball card form. Which 9 would you choose? Which sets would you choose?
Here’s what I put together:
Spot #1 (a Topps flagship base card): Like Diamond Jesters
before me, the first spot belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and his short
print inclusion in Series 2. Whether or not it’s fashionable to be caught up in
the Rookie Card fervor, I was very happy to pull this from a retail pack. I
thought the Jays were eminently enjoyable to watch down the stretch in 2019,
and I’ve already got tickets to an April Yankees/Blue Jays game for next
season.
(Spots #2-6, a base card from any of the other five Topps
sets produced this year)
#2 Max Muncy, Stadium Club. Disclaimer: the photo above is not my own. You can probably tell by the lack of glare on the card. I'm not trying to sneak one past you, dear reader. My own copy of this card -- my favorite from a stellar 2019 set -- is out for TTM. Hopefully it returns soon.
Topps Archives is also a favorite, especially with this year’s
three designs. Spot #3 goes to Tony Gwynn. Part of the fun in rekindling
this hobby with your kids is the opportunity it gives you to talk
history/memories. Gwynn was a personal favorite. I saw him effortlessly slap four singles during a game at Shea Stadium. The 1975 design is wonderful.
A winning combination.
#4 Adam Cimber, Gypsy Queen. I've always had a mild fascination with submariners/side armers. The perspective on this card is excellent. It has me considering doing a PC of down-under hurlers. I liked this year’s GQ design; the fronts
anyways.
#5 Topps Now: HR Derby Pete Alonso/Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
I don’t often pay the Topps Now premium but for the last three years, I’ve
picked one up for the HR Derby. In 2017, I DVR’d it and watched it with my then
5-year-old. He was on the edge of his seat. When Aaron Judge won, he celebrated
like it was a World Series win. It’s become tradition, and of course this
year’s was as entertaining as a Derby gets.
Spot #6: Billy the Marlin, Topps Big League. This is an atypical selection, but a worthy inclusion for two reasons: (1) it’s representative of my TTM efforts this season, and (2) it’s a hat tip to what brought me back to this hobby in the first place: my boys. We sent to several mascots as a way to include my then 4-year-old in the fun. He doesn’t get a lot of mail, and really lit up opening this one.
(Spots #7 & 8. Inserts or parallels)
#7 Mariano Rivera, Topps Fire (gold). This is the kind of card I would have gone wild for as a kid. To a lad in the 80s/90s, shiny was cool.
#8 Aaron Judge Perennial All-Stars. I really like the
look of this insert series. Judge is a fine example.
Spot #9 (wild card): Back to Archives for another Pete Alonso rookie. 1993 was probably the height of my card collecting as a youth (I was ten). I scrimped and saved for the '93 Jeter Draft Pick card as a youngster and rode my bike home from the hobby shop like a father driving his newborn home from the hospital. I love this card for equal parts childhood nostalgia and present significance.
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