Into life a little Series 2 must fall

 

I didn't mean to duck out on you and turn what I speculated about at the end of Monday's post into something immediate.

But that's what work can do to you these days and why I wrote what I did Monday. Yesterday I drove nearly 200 miles so I could interview someone for a story. You're asking why. Well, the reasons are: 1) Our newspaper coverage area is insane for being east of the Mississippi; 2) Young people don't like to talk on the phone anymore; 3) People no longer want to get their information from professionals.

Hey, you asked.

I've been driving and writing and then interviewing some more and writing some more, and that's why I wasn't writing here. But I am now. 

On long trips I like to see if I can find some cards anywhere. I stopped by a Walmart in the sticks. And, lo, I found some blasters of Series 2, a day or two after release even!

Normally I wouldn't be that interested in Series 2 -- there are plenty of posts of me bagging on it in years past. But the design is good this year. Also I just got a look at the checklist a couple days ago and there are a bunch of Dodgers. So chances were good if I grabbed a blaster!

So let's see it. Never mind if any of the cards are lined up straight below. I barely could get everything photographed in the time allotted.

PACK 1

439 - Cleveland Guardians
657 - Luis Garcia, Nationals

467 - Vaughn Grissom, Red Sox

570 - Bryce Turang, Brewers

551 - Kyle Tucker, Astros

416 - Brandon Crawford, Giants

500 - Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
361 - Myles Straw, Guardians

566 - Andrew McCutchen, Pirates

672 - Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox, gold

SMLB-59 - Alex Bregman, Astros, Stars of MLB insert

610 - Zach Greinke, Royals, holiday parallel, apparently celebrating some Etch-a-Sketch holiday? I don't know that is.*
FF-7 - Fernando Tatis, Padres, Fantasy Favorites insert

I apologize if the list of names didn't follow with the way the cards were photographed. They came out of the package every which way -- every pack -- which muddled the presentation.

I was very pleased with getting Ohtani in the very first pack. Also managed to pull only one rookie card, but that won't turn into a streak or anything.

PACK 2

655 - Alejandro Kirk, Blue Jays

391 - Forrest Wall, Braves

595 - Austin Riley, Braves
689 - Josh Bell, Marlins

394 - Heston Kjerstad, Orioles

517 - Lyon Richardson, Reds
569 - Evan Phillips, Dodgers

525 - Kyle Isbel, Royals

407 - Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs

605 - Kenta Maeda, Tigers

SMLB-51 - Jose Ramirez, Guardians, Stars of MLB insert

CTF-9 - Bobby Witt Jr., Royals, Covering the Field insert

You guys, Evan Phillips got a card. I think it's his first base card ever.

PACK 3

600 - Max Scherzer, Rangers

637 - Blake Rutherford, Nationals

585 - Chase Silseth, Angels
355 - Lucas Sims, Reds

554 - Yoan Moncada, White Sox
630 - Lance Lynn, Cardinals

461 - Evan Pereira, Yankees

429 - Michael King, Padres

369 - Brenan Hanifee, Tigers

700 - Jose Altuve, Astros

SMLBB-48 - Ceddanne Rafaela, Red Sox, Stars of MLB insert

89ASB-5 - Albert Pujols, All-Star '89 insert

368 - Tylor Megill, Mets, Stencil Holiday parallel?

 

The '89 All-Star inserts are nifty looking. The weird stencil things are reminding me that I forgot my vow not to buy anymore blasters this year.

 

 

PACK 4

 

519 - Gavin Lux, Dodgers

411 - Ryan Pepiot, Rays

697 - Jordan Diaz, Athletics

591 - Nolan Gorman, Cardinals

503 - Jackson Rutledge, Nationals

436 - Jose Siri, Rays

539 - A.J. Minter, Braves

671 - Wade Miley, Brewers

419 - Chris Bassitt, Royals

504 - Michael Conforto, Giants

HRC-27 - Vladimir Guerrero, Blue Jays, Home Run Challenge insert

SMLB-37 - Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers, Stars of MLB insert

 

If Vlad Jr. gets traded to another team and hits a home run on the date chosen, does it count? I'm assuming it does.

 

This pack yielded two Dodgers so it's a winner. Notice Lux is holding his helmet on, I'm going to assume his head is too big to fit in customary helmets because he doesn't have big hair and why would you put up with your helmet falling off as much as it does for him?

 

 

PACK 5

 

489 - Miles Mastrobuoni, Cubs

479 - Oswaldo Cabrera, Yankees

606 - Bryan Bello, Red Sox

377 - Tanner Houck, Red Sox

484 - Chris Sale, Braves

401 - Dodgers Lineup Stays Dangerous (Freddie/Mookie)

476 - Drew Rom, Cardinals

523 - Jackson Wolf, Pirates

615 - Yoendrys Gomez, Yankees

564 - Jake Meyers, Astros

CTF-24 - Rafael Devers, Red Sox, Covering the Field insert

SMLB-44 - Manny Machado, Padres, Stars of MLB insert

614 - Cody Bellinger, Cubs, Don't Hypnotize Me Holiday parallel?

Red Sox-heavy pack

 

PACK 6

379 - Kyle Farmer, Twins

376 - Adam Duvall, Red Sox

507 - Jose Miranda, Twins

495 - Jose Caballero, Mariners

613 - Jordan Wicks, Cubs

692 - Minnesota Twins

457 - John Means, Orioles

465 - Edward Cabrera, Marlins

573 - Irving Lopez, Cardinals (OK, Topps if you say he's a real player)

385 - Touki Toussaint, White Sox

700 - Jose Altuve, Astros, rainbow foil parallel

SMLB-49 - Carlos Correa, Twins, Stars of MLB insert

Yeah, I know that was totally out of order. Sorry.

PACK 7

533 - Milwaukee Brewers

464 - Chicago White Sox

400 - Carlos Correa, Twins

395 - Riley Adams, Nationals

656 - Texas Rangers, postseason prominence (Topps spelled it wrong)

567 - Kyle Hendricks, Cubs

670 - Connor Phillips, Reds

398 - Enrique Hernandez, Dodgers

418 - Nick Lodolo, Reds

493 - Darius Vines, Braves

595 - Austin Riley, Braves, These Things Are Still Ugly Holiday parallel?

89B2-19 - Joe Musgrove, Padres, 1989 insert

 

After picking up all the opened wrappers I discovered I forgot to take a picture of one of the cards in the last pack.

 

 

There you go.

I did pretty well with Dodgers, gaining six. Other than that there is a little bit of trade bait, and for the rest, the design's still nice at least.

And it helped me take the edge off of that nearly 200 miles of driving. It's a lot better than stopping for box of chocolate chip cookies to wolf down on the way back.

P.S.: I may have done that, too.

* - these are apparently "fireworks" parallels and I completely missed that even though I've seen plenty of fireworks shows -- up close even. That is not the design that springs to mind to represent fireworks.