Ah, Topps Now.
Looking back on it, my mistake was buying the first one. I should have known with my OCD/completist personality that if I picked up one of these I'd be chasing them all. At this point though, I'm officially sick of Topps Now. When I last left off with these, I'd shown off the
two Mookie Betts cards from May 31st/June 1st. At that point there had been 9 total Red Sox Topps Now cards released.
Soon after that though, things started to spiral out of control for a Red Sox collector like myself. Sure, some of them are totally legit, like this one that commemorates David Ortiz moving into a tie with McCovey, Williams and Frank Thomas on the all-time home run list.
Others, like this one, feel like a cheap excuse to get fans to cough up some more dough. I guess I can't knock this particular card too much given the subject matter though. This is the only card since early on that I actually paid the full $10 for on topps.com, since the proceeds went to directly to charity. Sadly, only 431 copies were sold. If nothing else I got 1/3 of a new Mookie Betts card out of the transaction.
Nice to see Xander Bogaerts make the cut for a card in June. A fairly low print run as the Red Sox cards go too, just 355 copies of this one floating around out there.
Hey look,
another David Ortiz card.
Of course Topps Now got involved with the mid-summer All-Star festivities. With the solid season the Red Sox have been enjoying they had four players selected to the team. Bogaerts was a starter at shortstop...
...and Mookie Betts...
...and Jackie Bradley Jr. started in the outfield.
Finally, David Ortiz served as DH for the AL team in his final season.
Just in case four new cards in a matter of a week wasn't enough, fans were treated to a Yoan Moncada Futures Game card. While this isn't a Red Sox card per se, it's close enough (and I'm enough of a sucker) that I bit on it.
Finally, Topps wasn't going to let Sox fans off the hook without one last All-Star card. If I'm being fair about it though I have to reluctantly admit that this is one of my favorite images to appear on a Topps Now card to date.
On July 20th, Topps was nice enough to "treat" Red Sox fans to not one...
...but two Topps Now cards in the same day.
Well, 1 and 1/6 anyway.
When you're the Red Sox, all it takes is a 9th inning come-from-behind win to get another Topps Now card.
Hell, a couple of
singles might even get you a card!
Or a shutout.
Jackie Bradley Jr. got to share a card with Daniel Murphy as Players of the Month for May, Mookie Betts gets the honor for July.
For card 355, Topps gave collectors the privilege of spending even
more money, as they offered some relic cards as an option on this one. I have to draw a line somewhere, and the regular cards are sucking up more than enough of my hobby funds as it is, thank you very much.
We'll close it out here for today, approaching the end of August with yet another David Ortiz card. If you're keeping count, that's 27 Red Sox Topps Now cards through August 20th, 28 if you count the Moncada like I do.
It's gotten to the point where I check my daily Topps Now email hoping that there won't be any more Red Sox to chase. I've come far enough that I plan to finish out the year here, but I can assure you this is a program I'll be staying clear of if it returns in 2017...
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11 comments:
Now, that's a lot of Red Sox cards! I apologize, bad puns will only build up more frustration. The Cubs aren't much better off; although, it does seem like Ortiz gets a card anytime he ties his shoe in a unique manner.
Ouch.
The Pirates were on a crazy pace when they kept debuting high end rookies, but it has slowed down to the point where we've only had a couple since the All Star break. The amount of Red Sox cards is crazy.
Times like this I'm glad I'm a poor Jays fan.. Never had money when a Jay got a card, and almost choked when I priced one out.. With shipping I'd be paying $50-60 US.... NOPE!!
Collecting is fun!
I'm with ya Shane, I shouldn't have started.
Just curious....why not just stop buying them? Or redefine your collecting parameters? If buying a card makes you physically cringe...don't do it. It's supposed to be fun.
What am I missing here?
I think I came across wrong, meant to be more sarcastic about it than anything. Obviously didn't do a great job of that, as much as I'm complaining the cards themselves don't actually make me cringe. Of course I buy them because I enjoy them, just not as enthused about them as I was at first but still want to see the series through since I'm this close to the end of the season. Next year I'll give it a rest.
Sorry...I didn't catch the sarcasm completely. By the end I was thinking that "yeah...maybe it is too overwhelming".
Glad to hear that you've been enjoying them and that you've grabbed a few (ok...more than a few). :)
I've really enjoyed hearing numerous (and various) opinions on this recent wave of evolution in the hobby. I'm curious, albeit cautious, as to where it will lead in the future.
Keep having fun. Enjoying the blog as always.
Cheers!
Just wait Shane, once the Sox clinch, they'll do that 15-card team set at Topps Now as they've done with other teams.
Glad I resisted, bought the first Ortiz and that was that. Almost bought a couple of others but just too many other Sox items I'd rather have. Just no way to collect EVERYTHING.
I stopped buying every single one. I still buy them when it is a moment or player I am particularly interested in. But I don't buy them all any more, just way too many. I will buy the 15 card set when they clinch though.
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