Christmas jackpot

 

I feel sorry for early readers of Night Owl Cards.

Back then, I'd get to Christmas and all I had to show for it as far as gifts was socks. And then they'd have to read me whine about socks. How about that for content? No wonder the views were so low.

Over the years, the holiday gifts have gradually become more card-like. And the last couple of years the card-gifting has gone into hyperdrive. Last year I received an entire complete set from the year, a common Christmas gift for young collectors going back to leafing through the Sears Wish Book. But 2021 was the first time I ever experienced that.

Now we're at 2022.

Jackpot.

 

Between my wife and her sister, I landed three different blasters of current cards and what, I guess, is now a Christmas tradition of a complete set for the year! Note to self: do not open too many 2023 packs.

 

The key part of this is 2022 Topps is actually a set I like, unlike last year's.

 

Also, I specified what kind of 2022 cards I might like and everyone came through, although Gallery was a surprise. (My sister-in-law observed that it's not exactly easy to find cards at her Target -- tell me about it -- but she is as persistent as anyone I know. She was probably there a dozen different times looking for those blasters).

 

The three blasters were most convenient. I spent Christmas afternoon and evening opening a blaster, waiting a few hours with anxious anticipation, opening another one, etc. It was a lot better than staring vacantly at an NBA game.

 

I'm not going to give the blow-by-blow of all three. I've already opened an Archives blaster recently and the Gallery and Update ones aren't worth the rundown. Gallery was a bit more interesting than I thought it would be, probably because I pulled a fair amount of Dodgers. Update was kind of abysmal. I'm not going to go into all the issues -- we all know there's plenty to gripe about on modern cards -- but this is ridiculous:

 

Am I opening Upper Deck in 1991? Why are there four dupes in my blaster???? These things cost $24.98 now, you think all the cards could be unique. Very glad I rarely buy these with my own money now.

 

Just one other minor observation and then I'll post a top 10 of the best pulls from my blasters.

 

 I knew right away where Topps Archives got that Nolan Ryan photo.

OK, top 10:

10. Topps Update - Bryce Harper, Black Gold insert

I do like the '93-themed Black Gold inserts from the last couple of years. It's a nice effect to make them shinier than the originals. Also I like how Topps swapped the black and gold parts in the design from 2021.

9. Topps Archives, Gallery, Update, Various Rookies

I am lumping them all together because that's what they did when I was a kid. The Rodriguez came out of the pack dinged, which is really annoying.

8. Topps Archives, Rickey Henderson

Pulling a Rickey Henderson card on Christmas, which is also Rickey Henderson's birthday, means I officially won Christmas this year.

 

7. Topps Update, Manny Pina, retro parallel

I completely missed the relevance of this card when opening the blaster. It wasn't until moving the cards back into the box did I catch a little shine on the card back.

It's one of those retro-cardboard parallels. The cardboard is very slight, not like the retro parallels used to be even five years ago, that's why I missed it. This'll be going in Johnny's stack.

6. Topps Gallery, Freddie Freeman, rainbow foil parallel

Get ready for a series of Freddie Freeman pulls. This is the least interesting because rainbow foil parallels have always been lame and now that Topps is using them in every last set, they've made them even lamer, which didn't seem possible. I pulled 3 or 4 of these in Gallery alone. But it's a Dodger card I didn't have!

5. Topps Gallery, Freddie Freeman, Modern Artists insert

This reminds me of something Panini Diamond Kings would do except with logos, which makes them a 100 times better. The vitals on the front, written sideways, are weird though.

4. Topps Update, "New Tests For The West"

The last Dodger card I needed to finish the Update set! This card did not show up in the team set that I bought online, so I had pined for it all through the Christmas season. And then it came to me on that very joyous day. Thanks Santa!

 

3. Topps Gallery, Ken Griffey Jr., Printer Proof parallel

Printer Proof parallels are even lamer than rainbow foil parallels. But a card like this automatically makes me think, does Junior Junkie have it?

2. Topps Archives, Adrian Beltre, 1988 Baseball Big insert

I did not know that Adrian Beltre was on the '88 Baseball Big checklist as a Dodger until the moment I pulled this card. Butterflies everywhere.

1. Topps Archives, George Foster, Fan Favorites autograph (silver border)

I've said many times that my sister-in-law has the magic touch when selecting blasters. Here is one of the best examples.

There are many cool Fan Favorites autographs in Archives every year, but I looked through the checklist this year and wasn't too impressed. Foster was one of the few that interested me, because I like those guys from my childhood.

I could go on about Foster for hours and there was almost no one bigger in baseball between 1977 and 1982, which was prime baseball following for young night owl.

That's it for the blasters.

I haven't opened the complete set, I'll get there. Not sure if there's a post in that. But I'm happy to say I also received a binder, some pages (which were desperately needed) and -- what's this? -- another Target gift card.

Glad to see the family has come around.