I swear it just feels like the beginning of the baseball season was here and I was tearing through packs of Series One 2015 Topps...but here we are at the cusp of the All-Star break and Topps has released Series Two. In my need to open some packs to get my fix, I went a little overboard earlier this year and bought a Hobby box of Series One...which I still haven't even collated. I decided before the start of the 2015 baseball card "season" that I wasn't going to build the flagship brand of Topps, opting to stick with just Allen & Ginter. Well it turns out that hasn't been the case as I've ended up with chasing Gypsy Queen and to some degree Archives and Stadium Club.
Eventually I'll get those lists updated (or created in the case of Archives and TSC), but for now I'll satisfy my baseball urge with a retail pack of 2015 Series Two I picked up from Target a few weeks ago. While I've discarded the idea of building the entire set, I had to check out at least one pack of the newest set of Topps, right?
Most of the pack was filled with more basic base cards...although the photography on the Garcia card is quite nice. I don't hate this year's design, but the more I handle these cards the more I'm starting to dislike the "fingerprint" design. I guess now I'm spoiled by some of Topps' other designs...or lack there of such as Stadium Club!
Easily my favorite card of the back is this awesome card of Andrelton Simmons, stretching out at Short Stop to rob someone from a base hit. The first half of the 2015 season for the Braves has been better than what I expected after GM John Hart essentially gutted the team, sending away a lot of last year's team including fan favorites such as Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Craig Kimbrel. However the team still finds itself hovering at .500 and only a few games out of first place. Andrelton's glove has been one of the few consistent things so far this season and I'll never get tired of watching him make those spectacular plays in the field w/ the leather.
I ended up with one more Braves player, but Alberto is no longer on the team. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Juan Uribe. Even though his card has him at 2nd Base, he played the majority of his time at 3rd Base. The trade has been good for the Braves as Juan has really been a good fit. So good a fit that he has made Chris Johnson expendable to the point the Braves have been shopping him around. As far as Callaspo, I'll have to reach out to Night Owl or Greg Z to see how the trade has faired for the Dodgers.
Speaking of the Dodgers, my one insert per pack ended up being this Hot Streak card of Clayton Kershaw. The card looks much better in hand versus this scan. I'm guessing these cards come in sticker autograph variations as there seems to be some "empty" space. I don't search out Kershaw cards, but when I pull them from packs they end up in my keep pile.
Overall Series 2 is more of what you've come to expect. I think I have one more pack laying around here somewhere, but for the most part I'm done with the flagship brand. Now I just need to get my lazy butt moving and update my GQ Want List and decide whether or not I'm really going to go after 2015 Archives and or Stadium Club.
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