Quick Rip - 2012 Topps Series Two Baseball

 Here's a quick pack of 2012 Topps Series Two, from a 24-pack retail box I picked up months ago now...

Leading off the pack is Red Sox newcomer Allen Craig.

Justin Upton back when he was still with the D-Backs.

Just a couple of years before this product hit the shelves collectors were going crazy for Stephen Strasburg. By 2012, not so much...

I detect some photo-shopping here.  I'd say this photo more than likely came from Juan's 2011 season with the White Sox.  The White Sox played just three games at Wrigley in 2011, on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  Juan only reached base in the first two games of that series, so probably one of those two.

Final Topps flagship card of the Japanese sensation who eventually ended up back in Japan.

Two inserts in this pack.  The first, this Johnny Bench die cut, was already sent off in a trade.

The other was a nice 1987 Topps mini of Felix Hernandez.  Your 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner?  You can make a strong case for him...

I like the horizontal celebration shot used for Michael Bourn's card.

Immediately following it in the pack was another great horizontal celebration shot on the card of his teammate, Dan Uggla.  What happened with Dan anyway?  I can't recall many other players falling off a cliff that steeply in my lifetime.

Carlos Pena played a handful of games with the lowly Rangers this summer, but was ultimately released.  He's currently without a team, and his playing days may be finished at age 36.

Travis Snider was dealt to the Pirates right around the time this card was released, and has been there since.

Finishing things off with a common theme in this pack, guys who just two years after this set was released may be finished.  Soriano was released by the Yankees earlier this year.

That was an entertaining pack on the whole...