Well, “Compulsive Fool” might be a little harsh. I like bits of Opening Day, just not enough to justify going into a nearby Target for three straight days looking for packs.
But there I was…. and I found some packs on Friday. Given that they’re a buck a pack, I bought three. I’m not sure I will buy more, but I’m not sure I won’t.
So anyway, it’s the same deal it’s been for a while. The base set is largely a parallel of the flagship set, but it’s the inserts and the base cards which differ from flagship which interest me.
I’ll tell you up front that, much to my disappointment, I didn’t get any mascot inserts. Those are among my favorite Opening Day inserts, and I rarely get mascots… and I NEVER get Mr. Met.
So we’ll start off the festivities with a Matt Kemp card (Update: I had said that this card was photoshopped, but I was reminded in the comments that he was traded last July in a deadline deal.)
I like the way they incorporated the Opening Day logo into the design…
…but not so much on the horizontal cards.
Hanley Ramirez is another player who’s in Series 2; I’m guessing the card will look like this one.
In the first pack, I got a Jose Altuve Opening Day Stars insert.
Not a bad card, but I long for the day when the “Opening Day Stars” inserts were 3-D.
Adam Eaton Superstar Celebrations… You can just barely see Eaton in the mob.
Here’s a fairly interesting card….
Not only is Cameron Maybin photoshopped into an Angels uni… it’s a different photo than the Series 1 Maybin card. Most excellent.
Second pack… Another photoshop! Adam Eaton (again!) with the Nationals…
And once again, a different photo.
Here we have an “Incredible Eats” insert, a foot-long hot dog from Coors Field.
Um, yeah. Can’t say I “get” this insert set. I can’t even get interested in watching cooking shows, I’m certainly not going to chase down cards of food.
Moving on to the third pack, we’ve got another Superstar Celebrations!
di
OK, I know which one is Giancarlo Stanton… but do I want to know what’s going on here?
So those are the highlights of my three packs. Yay.
…But I was at least happy to pull a few photoshop jobs, so I got some value for my $3.
I’ll wrap up with a list that someone will hopefully find useful… I bumped the Opening Day checklist against the Series 1 checklist and made a list of players who are listed with different teams in the two sets, plus those players who aren’t in Series 1 but have changed teams over the winter, indicating that the Opening Day cards might be different from the flagship equivalent:
| # | name | team | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Reynaldo Lopez | Chicago White Sox | Diff. team from S1 |
| 7 | Drew Smyly | Seattle Mariners | Diff. team from S1 |
| 22 | Lucas Giolito | Chicago White Sox | Probably photoshopped |
| 25 | Adam Eaton | Washington Nationals | Different Photo and photoshopped |
| 29 | Wilson Ramos | Tampa Bay Rays | Diff. team from S1 |
| 46 | Kendrys Morales | Toronto Blue Jays | Diff. team from S1 |
| 74 | Yoan Moncada | Chicago White Sox | Diff. team from S1 |
| 81 | Jean Segura | Seattle Mariners | Diff. team from S1 |
| 116 | Chris Sale | Boston Red Sox | Diff. team from S1 |
| 119 | Cameron Maybin | Angels | Different Photo and photoshopped |
| 161 | Brian McCann | Houston Astros | Diff. team from S1 |
| 173 | Edwin Encarnacion | Cleveland Indians | Diff. team from S1 |
I too couldn’t help myself from buying a pack of Opening Day – of course, I didn’t get any cool inserts at all, like that Altuve. However, that price point is an effective temptation.
At least your buyer’s remorse can’t be too bad with just $3 spent. I’m with you, it’s a shame the Opening Day Stars aren’t 3D anymore.
I like the design for the Stars inserts. I get the food thing. It’s part of the ballpark experience– “buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack…”
I really need to track down a copy of that Stanton.
So is that Jar-Jar Binks’ first appearance on a baseball card?
We can only hope. :-)
I’m betting that Topps is going to get an angry letter from Disney/Lucasfilm’s lawyers….
Are you sure the Kemp is Photoshopped? He played 56 games with Atlanta last season.. should be easy for Topps to find a Braves photo of him.
Does anyone know how I can go about getting an intern to proofread my posts?
(Sigh). Thanks, Gavin. You’re right, of course. I’ll fix the post.
While the Opening Day 3-D Stars rocked, I must say, I do really like the looks of this year’s Stars. Also, I wouldn’t chase the Incredible Eats insert set, but I do like the design. Fun stuff. Flagship needs more of this.