2016 Topps Now: Adonis Garcia #442 (273 print run)

My how a lot has changed at 3rd base since Adonis Garcia hit a walk off single in the 10th on Sept. 10, 2016. Not only is Adonis not at 3rd base anymore, his time with the Braves is definately limited. With the team having two young guns platooning at 3rd since Adonis went on the injured list, now the Braves are making preparations at bring Freddie Freeman off the DL and putting him at 3rd base. 

Amazing, all the changes at 3rd base in less than a year.

Sunday Verse

Philippians 4:6-7

New International Version Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2016 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson #429 (646 print run)

Dansby Swanson's historic night of September 6, 2016 at Turner Field was recently celebrated that the Braves new home of SunTrust Park with a bobble head given away to fans. I would have loved to be at that game last week as it was a pretty cool looking bobblehead. 

Just in case you missed it last season, Dansby's first career major league home run was an inside the park HR. Not only that, he made it all the way around the bases in 14.97 seconds with a dramatic slide across home plate. The Topps photographer was in the right spot and snapped the photo at the right time. Look at the dirt flying. Look at the emotion in Dansby's face. This is a great reason why I love the idea of Topps Now and I continue to support the brand. Surprisingly, this card only sold 646 copies, less than half of what his two previous Topps Now cards.

Pack Break: 2017 Topps The Walking Dead Season 6

I found myself looking for a pack of cards recently at a Target store. I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy more Archives (still need to collate what I've bought and put toether a want list), but I did grab some flagship series 2. Then I saw a gravity feeder that I hadn't see before...the new Topps The Walking Dead!

I'm a huge fan of the show (and zombies in general) so this was a no brainer for me. I didn't buy any of the previous Walking Dead sets because of their high price tag, so I was glad to read that Topps was getting the license and was going to release a set. Plus a friend of mine was hired by Topps to sketch several of the one of a kind sketch cards, however with those seeded 1:1,733 packs I don't think I'll being seeing one of those any time soon.

These retail packs will run you a buck ninety nine for 6 cards. There are tons of serially numbered parallels such as Mud, Mold, Sepia and Blood. Character cards are inserted 1:3 packs and those too have serially numbered parallels. Other inserts include Locations (1:4), Walkers (1:4), Chop (1:6) and In Memoriam (1:2)...all with parallels. Inserts fall 1:688 packs and also come in double and triple versions. Relics fall 1:867 packs. Negan has his own relic card seeded 1:1,732 packs.

The base cards all appear to be horizontal and feature scenes from Season 6 of the show. The back of each card (thankfully) has a little write up about the scene featured on the other side. I hated how Topps got cheap w/ their Star Wars: Rogue One cards and just put a logo on the back.

The card of Carol is one of the Character inserts. The back reads:

Carol may have begun the apocalypse as an abused housewive, but she has transformed into a true survivor who is capable of cloaking herself in whatever personality the situation deems necessary. She knows she has the ability to kill anyone who threatens her or her loved ones, and over time the amount of death she has inflicted is wearing her down.

If you want the show then you know how spot on this is true of Carol's journey through 6 seasons of the show. I really look forward to seeing what the rest of the cards in the set look like and how they read.

I did get one parallel in the pack, but it's not numbered so I'm not sure what parallel set it falls in. All the parallels listed on the back of the pack contain a star which means it's serially numbered. Anyone have an idea?

Everyonce in awhile it's nice when a new non-sports card set comes along that really draws my attention. This Walking Dead set is one of those and I look forward to finding more undead surprises Topps included in the set.

Back to the sketch cards for a moment. A friend of mine, James Michael Smith, contributed several sketch cards for this release. The funny thing is though is that when Topps hired him, he had never watched a single episode of the show! I believe he has some friends suggest where to start binge watching so he could get caught up and the results of his artwork are stunning to say the least. Check out a few of the images he originally posted on his Instagram account.

James Michael has also contributed sketch cards for a multitude of other Topps products such as UFC, Museum baseball and Star Wars. You an check out his eBay store as he does post some of his sketch cards Topps allows him to keep.