Batting Pitchers: 2016 Topps Now Adam Wainwright

It's been a really long time since I've found another card to add to my small themed subset collection I have of batting pitchers. This 2016 Topps Now card beautiful captures the Cardinals pitcher smacking a double in the top of the 12th inning on June 10, 2016, scoring runners on first and second. The Cardinals would go on to win the game 9-3.

I don't normally buy Topps Now cards of players other than Braves, but for me this was an easy decision despite the $9.99 price tag. 1) the card meets all the guidelines for my batting pitchers collection and 2) he's yet another outspoken athlete that isn't afraid to share his faith with his fellow team members and the fans. Great all around guy (who ironically enough was drafted/traded by the Braves) and a great card commemorating him helping w/ his bat win a game.

2016 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson #367 (1450 print run)

Nearly one year ago, Dansby was called up by the Braves from AA. There was a lot of fan fare made about him when the Braves orchastrated a trade w/ the Arizona Diamondbacks before the start of the 2016 season. I'm still in awe of this lopsided trade that eventually led to the firing of the Diamondback's General Manager.

When Dansby was sent down to AAA Gwinnett many thought it would be for the rest of the season, but on August 17, 2016 he would go 2-4 in his big league debut. While he does seem rejunvenized since returning from AAA, I'm really looking forward to the 2018 season as the Braves have a lot of great young talent that is just waiting to show the rest of major league baseball what they can do.

2016 Topps Now: Freddie Freeman #513 (print run 221)

Most people think of Freddie's power when hear his name, but last summer (September 28th) Freddie was channeling his inner Joe DiMaggio and found himself with a 30 game hitting streak. The franchise record was 33 games, set by Dan Uggla. Sadly Freddie's streak came to an end on the evening of September 28th, 2016.

2016 Topps Now: Ender Inciarte #489 (print run 273)

Ender was part of the Dansby Swanson trade that took place at the beginning of the 2016 season. It almost seems as he was just "thrown" into the deal to make things even between the clubs. So far however I believe Ender has been the consisent bright spot of that deal.

Braves fans are used to seeing fast guys patrolling center field, whether it was at Fulton County Stadium, Turner Field or now SunTrust Park. Ender has joined the ranks of some great Braves centerfielders and hasn't disappointed. He was the club's lone All-Star reprensentative at the 2017 festitivities held in Miami this year...and the guy deserved it. He has some great speed and is oh so fun to watch in the field. I don't know how he covers so much ground. In July my wife and I had front row seats in centerfield, pretty much right behind Inciarte. Watching him in person cover the outfield was so cool. He's not all about his defensive abilities though, he can get on base with his speed and he's been known to steal a base or two as well.

For this particular Topps Now card it spotlights a game saving catch where he robs the Mets' Yoenis Cespedes of a HR.

2016 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson / Alex Bregman #366 (923 print run)

Last summer two young talents were promoted by their respective ball clubs to the majors. Dansby Swanson by the Braves and Alex Bregman by the Astros. Not being a fan of the latter, I can't really comment on Alex. However for Dansby, what some forget is that he was promoted on August 17th, 2016 from AA ball. He skipped over the AAA level completely.

While it is a little disappointing that Dansby is no longer on the Braves roster as of today, he is getting some much needed time in AAA. While he came into the league roaring like a lion, I believe his demotion to AAA Gwinnett is much needed.

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.

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.

2016 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson #367 (1,450 print run)

Dansby Swanson, the highly coveted shortstop (and 1st pick of the 2015 MLB Draft) was traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to his hometown team of the Atlanta Braves prior to the start of the 2016 season. On August 17th he finally got his chance to show the majors what he is capable of, and boy did he! His first career hit was to right field for a sold single in the bottom of the fourth inning. He ended up going 2-4 at the plate in his big league debut.

Braves fans were happy to see the kid in the majors and everyone had high hopes for him. While he struggled at the plate from time to time, he always showed his poise and skill with the glove while in the field. He would later go on to dazzle everyone as the season progressed.

2016 Topps Now: Dansby Swanson #366 (923 print run)

The first snowfall of the new year has left me awake most of the night, monitoring the weather in more of a work capacity than for pleasure. Deciding to make the most of my time awake I finally got started scanning that pesky stack of cards that has been sitting on my desk for the past several months. In this stack are a lot of Topps Now cards I bought last year so expect to see several of those type posts as I work on getting myself caught up.

August 17, 2016, this kid I've heard so much about made his MLB debut. I was traveling that night for work, but thankfully the hotel I was staying at carried Fox Sports South and I was able to watch his debut game. Dansby flashed his leather in the outfield and went 2 for 4 at the plate. 

I think the last young Braves prospect I was this eager watching play was Jason Heyward and before that Andruw Jones. Not surprisingly this Topps Now card quickly followed Dansby's big day in the majors. Not surprisingly the card sold pretty well with a print run of 923 cards.

Merry Christmas from Topps

When it comes to sending out Christmas cards to friends and family, I'm horrible. I never remember to do so and when I do it's usually out of guilt because I'm already receiving cards from my family and such. 

Since the end of the baseball season I guess you could say I've been on haitus. I've been working behind the scenes sparingly on a few things and still opening my share of packs (I love the Holiday set Topps did for Walmart), however until I can reclaim my collection and get some organization it's hard for me to do much. Needless to say I've been a little out of the loop so I hadn't heard of Topps sending (I assuming their Topps Now customers) a Christmas card with a little cardboard gift inside. Coincidentially enough, the night I was scanning these cards I saw that my buddy over at Collating Cards was doing the same type of post!

Since I had already got this ball rolling, I found it no use to scrap the post and decided to move forward. In what I believe was an unprecidented move, Topps sent their customers a little Christmas card thanking them for their business in 2016 along with a little gift.

I guess you could say this is the final Topps Now card in the set? Wonder if they'll list the print run on their website like they did all the other cards? I betcha it has the highest print run! I ended up with two of these cards and as it is I've been looking for Kris Bryant cards to send to a guy that is putting a little package together for a young kid.

This is a very classy move by Topps that this collector very much appreciates. I enjoyed coming back to the Topps Now website just about every day during the baseball season...especially after a Braves player had a good day at the plate or made a spectacular play in the field. I look forward to what Topps has planned for this Now brand in 2017. It'd be nice if they borrowed the move from Panani Instant and actually print the print run on the back of the card (not serially numbered, but 1 of 246).

2016 Topps Now: Ender Inciarte #489 (273 print run)

The Braves will have trouble this off season trying to figure out who will be roaming the outfield in 2017. Thanks to a killer trade with the Diamondbacks that brought Dansy Swanson over, one of other players that some may tend to overlook is center fielder, Ender Inciarte.

On September 21st, Ender scaled the outfield wall to rob a certain home run from the Mets' Yoenis Cespedes. Too bad Topps didn't capture the moment of him actually making the awesome catch, but none the less the moment represents yet another Braves card in the Topps Now set that I was more than happy to pick up.

2016 Topps Now: Chase d'Arnaud #257 (180 print run)

As bad of a season as the Braves are having, I am surprised that this makes the 4th player to receive a card in Topps Now (5th for the team if you count the card for the game played at Fort Bragg earlier in July). Having cards of Freddie or Julio weren't all that surprising I guess, but the latest player to get the Topps Now treatment. I never would have seen this one coming.

After a home game on July 16th, Chase d'Arnaud took the stage at Turner Field and "sung" with his band in a post-game concert. I watched the game on the 16th and left the television on so I saw some of Chase's performance. Well let's just say I'm glad he gets a decent paycheck as a baseball player because his music career probably won't be going anywhere soon!

The next day, July 17th, the Braves hosted the Colorado Rockies again at home. I watched the entire game and the innings went by quickly as neither team could muster any real offensive attack. In the bottom of the 9th however, Chase hit a single to left centerfield and Ender Inciarte made home for the game winning run. It was great seeing this utility guy get the game winning hit and to see him mobbed by his teammates on the base paths. 

When I checked Topps' site the next day sure enough he had a card and I plopped down the $10 to add it to my Braves collection. Once the initial 24 hour window had closed, only 180 cards were printed. As of today, 07/27/16, this card still has the lowest print run of all 287 cards that have been made thus far. I don't know if it'll end up having the lowest print run by the end of the season, but none the less I'm glad to have another great Braves Topps Now card to add to my team collection.

2016 Topps Now: Julio Teheran #163 (291 print run)

Wow, with the season the Atlanta Braves are having who would've thought they would already have their 2nd player represented in 2016 Topps Now? This Braves fan didn't think it would happen! I felt it appropriate to share this card today since it was announced last night that Julio Teheran would be chosen for the 2016 All-Star game this weekend. While his W-L record may not be the best, he's had a low ERA for most of the season. The problem for Teheran and other Braves pitchers is the lack of run support. This team just can't score runs on a consistent basis and that is hurting the chances of so many of their pitchers.

However on June 19th, Father's Day and my 39th birthday, Julio pitched a fantastic game against the Mets. He went the stretch for the complete game and limited the Mets to just one hit in a shut out. All this on a road game too.

I'm really enjoying this new program by Topps and I've already got my 3rd Braves Topps Now card (another Freddie Freemen), but I am bummed I forgot to check over the 4th weekend to grab the card of the Braves/Marlins game played at Fort Bragg...even if the actual performance of the Braves in that game was lackluster. If anyone bought multiples of that card and can hook me up please let me know!

2016 Topps Now: Freddie Freeman #117 (310 print run)

I was behind Topps and their eTopps program from years ago, but I haven't felt the need to buy into their newest program, Topps Now. At first I thought the program offered oversized cards, but when I realized that wasn't the case and they were regular sized cards I became a little more intrigued. After all, I like the idea of producing a small print run of cards based on a player's performance in a single game. However the problem with all of this is that I'm a Braves fan and the 2016 Braves...well basically they suck.

A few weeks ago I was telling my wife about the program (for some odd reason) and how cool it would be if a Braves player got their own card, but seeing how poorly they've been playing I didn't see that happening. Then the next day Freddie Freeman goes yard with a walk off HR to win the game on June 1st...my wife's birthday no less!

The next day I eagerly signed on to Topps' website to purchase the card. Then the wait begun. I had no idea how long it was take for the card to arrive and finally the other day I received this big white cardboard shipping envelope in the mail from Topps. Was it my Topps Now card or one of the two redemption cards I've been waiting on for some time now? (see the Redemption! section on the side bar) Well I'm happy to report that it was in fact the Now card.

Freddie's card only had a print run of 310 and skimming through the website it appears this is one of the lowest print runs thus far. I also happened to be watching this game against the Giants so it was cool watching Freddie hit the homer and immediately thinking, "Yes! Freddie will now appear in Topps Now!".

And wouldn't you know it, last night Freddie hits for the Cycle so I expect to see another Topps Now card of him offered later today...and yes, I will be buying it!