20 years in the present-day hobby

 

All these years doing this blog thing and the hobby still hasn't figured out how to work around my schedule.

 

I've got a couple of items to catch up to because I was too busy earlier in the week (doesn't Topps know I'm running a giveaway contest?).

 

First, NOC was named "Favorite Blog" during TCDB's site awards Sunday.

 

It's the sixth straight year at the top for NOC and the seventh time in eight years. Maybe it's time to retire me out of the category? But I won't say no to continued winnings. I'm still a sucker for awards.

 

Second, Topps revealed the design for 2026 flagship on Monday.

 

 

I wasn't going to mention anything on the blog about it until it was time to open packs, mostly because it's not that inspiring to me. But I've pondered it a little more and I think this is a design that will look better in hand.

 

That was somewhat the case with 2025 Topps but I think this one will fare better. Let's go quickly through likes and dislikes:

 

Likes:

 

1. The fabric stitching theme. This is easy Define the Design fodder, something having to do with athletic wear, breathable fabric, the underwear set!!

 

2. The lack of foil. 2025 made me nervous that foil was going to return for another 20 years but the only foil I see is the 75th anniversary logo.

 

3. The team wordmark logos. These are better than the hat logos.

 

Dislikes:

 

1. The imbalance of the design. The stitching is on only one half of the card. Maybe it'd be too dominant over the whole card, but I'm sick of the gradient stuff.

 

2. The "LAD" isn't necessary. You've got the logo there already.

 

3. The overall "Big League" or '90s "Bazooka" vibe. This is in reference to the player/position lettering. The stitching balanced things out a little, but it feels like a cheap Big League set.

 

4. This is Dodgers specific, but stop with the gray.

 

The Brewers get a nice splash of color with the yellow and the blue frame. But the Dodgers (and the Yankees) get boring gray with the blue border. The Dodgers have another uniform color. Make the border red and the fabric strip blue. Liven things up, like we did in the '70s!

 

Now, some of those dislikes will be alleviated when I see the cards in person. That always happens. Overall the design looks OK to me, I certainly won't try to complete it even though it's an "anniversary set" for me.

 

It's officially been 20 years this year since I returned to modern cards and completing (mostly) modern Topps sets. In that time I've completed Topps flagship from 2006, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2024 (and have complete factory sets for a couple other years).

 

I first returned to that mission with 2006 Topps, exactly 20 years ago. I don't remember when or what was in the first rack pack that I bought that year. But I know it was a rack pack and I know I got it at Walmart. That's where I obtained all my cards in 2006. I'd go there just about weekly to find the rack packs with the "3 vintage cards" in each pack. That's what hooked me.

 

The cards were there just about every time I went. That's how long ago it was. Nobody was hoarding every pack. No company was withholding product to increase profits. You went to the store, the packs were there. 

 

I bought a 2006 rack pack a couple of months ago in preparation for the anniversary. I was considering not opening it and leaving it as a momento to my hobby return. But I also know that it's impossible for me to leave packs unopened -- even for sets I've already completed.

 

I wasn't very careful with my selection either because I was looking for something just like what I opened when I was first going to Walmart, which were Series 1 retail packs. You can see this is a Series 2 hobby pack. Oops.

 

So I got another one (none of these were expensive). It was a Series 1 pack this time, even without the wording I'd know that by looking at the cards. However, in opening it -- again, zero willpower -- I noticed that the vintage cards were seeded through the pack, one for each packet.

 

That's not what I knew. All the rack packs I bought, the vintage cards were always in the middle pocket and wrapped in cellophane. So was this pack opened and resealed for sale? I got suspicious and more importantly, it wasn't like the experience I had in 2006!

 

 

So I got a third one -- don't worry, this one was super cheap. But it was more of the same, the "vintage" cards were seeded through the pack. Also, apparently the rack pack had been folded so long that the middle cards were all warped.

 

Ugh, you really can't go home again. Lesson learned.

 

Anyway, here are the cards in each of those packs:

 

 Series 2 pack

 

 

First Series 1 pack

 

 

 Second Series 1 pack (you can see the warping on some of the cards).

 

The only cards new to my collection are the Barry Bonds HR cards (because I traded away most of my original ones) and the Declaration of Independence card -- I had completely forgotten about those, I had no interest in them at the time.

 

 

These are the "vintage" cards that came out of the three packs. Nothing exciting. I have all of them and since they're just about all from the '80s, there aren't even any upgrading opportunities (I do need to see which card back variation of have for the '90 Traded Hesketh).

 

Although I needed a lot more older cards in 2006 than I do now, I think most of these would be a disappointment then, too. When I was pulling out those Walmart cards back then, I would often pull early '80s cards or even something from the '70s a time or two -- you know, actual vintage cards.

 

But still, it was an opportunity to recognize an anniversary. Twenty years ago I didn't know what was ahead of me. I could never envision staying in this hobby -- and still looking forward to the new Topps cards -- 20 years later. Maybe I'm not as enthusiastic about them as I was then, but 2006 marked a moment.

 

It led to creating a blog and expanding my collection beyond expectations and connecting with collectors all over the globe. 

 

Pretty good for a 2006 rack pack.