2019 Topps Series 2 was feeling a lot like the flagship felt in 2018 for me. By that I mean that it felt like it took forever to by a blaster. I found some individual packs and some fat packs here and there but it seemed to take forever to get a blaster into Target. I know, I know, plenty of people rail against retail, but it’s what fits my pocketbook so…
Since this is Series 2 there really isn’t a need to go over the design again. If you are interest in that you can check out my two posts about my Series 1 blaster and then my general thoughts on this years flagship. They carry over into Series 2 for the most part, although I haven’t seen the quality issue so far in series 2 which is good.
Let’s see what’s in this blaster!
2019 Topps Series 2
This might sound obvious, but there just isn’t as much excitement for Series 2 am I right? Yeah, I’m interested in seeing it but it is generally more of the same aside from some of the inserts. I guess the biggest thing is who will get a card in the flagship set. I don’t think I’ve really even checked a set list so I’m not going to get into that.
I picked these cards because I love these pictures. The Benintendi and the Moncado are pretty great actions shots for a variety of different reasons. For one, is Benintendi even going to make the play? Kind of feels like no. And is Moncada throwing off his helmet (which I kind of hate)? Sure looks like it.
But for me, and it’s so simple so maybe that’s why, the Jarrod Dyson card is killer. If their uniforms weren’t so terrible it would probably make their whole branding better. I just love the logo behind him. I’m not a fan of his or the D-Backs, but I do love that card.
Rookies and Future Stars
I didn’t get too many rookies that were blowing up my skirt (there is one in the next section though). So Eloy Jimenez might be the biggest name I got. I follow a lot of baseball but I don’t recognize all the names I see.
And I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot since I’ve been doing these posts, but I hate that I have to post so many Braves, Phillies, and Nats stars as a Met fan. The Albies card is great – another awesome action shot. It seems to me the mid-slide shots have been increasing in recent years. Maybe we have a lot of good sliders in the game… who knows.
Meet the Mets
Something I’ve been loving this year, aside from just Pete Alonso’s season, is how he and Dom Smith have been in the dugout with each other. You would think that was going to be this first base competition going into the year because Dom had the D and Pete had the O. Well, the O (and what an O it’s been) won out. But then they can’t really keep Dom out of the lineup. Then they get into the dugout and they seem to be best friends. It’s really great to see.
As for Zack, I have a feeling he isn’t long for being a Met. It’s almost bittersweet to post it because he has seemed to be really coming into his own over the the last year or two. And back in 2015, he really didn’t want to leave the team. I like the guy so whatever happens, I hope he’s successful wherever he goes but I kind of hope he keeps doing his thing for the Mets.
150 Years
Topps continued the 150 years inserts and the patch inserts in blasters. The difference in Series 2, and I have no idea why is that the cards are labeled differently. In Series 1 they are labeled as “150-1” and now in Series to they are labeled as “GM-1”, “GP-1”, and “GS-1”. Those stand for “Great Moments”, “Great Players”, and “Great Seasons.” I don’t get why they didn’t just keep numbering after where they left off from Series 1.
The Reggie is a little more special than your average manufactured patch. This one is gold and is numbered to 50. To be honest, it’s not that special other than the numbering on the back and it’s a slightly different color than the standard. I don’t feel like I normally get stuff like that out of those packs so it was still nice to see.
Insertables
Topps is sticking with these throwback cards for ’84. They are really pushing the old cards at this point. I’ve talked about this before but I think we are starting to get burnt out on these, Heritage and Archives. Can we pump the brakes on this a little Topps?
I like the Franchise Feats cards. That’s just a classic insert topic to me.
More Inserts… and Judge
Geez, can we get ANOTHER Judge insert. As a Met fan, I know the Yankees rule the world (and I don’t care). Why oh why do we need more Judge/Yankees inserts like this. There’s been to many. I think these are specific to blasters but I don’t want them no matter what they are specific to.
The Significant Statistics insert is another classic topic for an insert that I like. It’s not super special though.
Parallels
Pretty standard Gold and Rainbow parallels. I don’t think I have much to add here.
Overall a fun box to open, but not as exciting as Series 1. I know that it’s because it’s more of the same. Plus when it comes out we are a good way into the season and we are on to other sets and things. But hey, I like cards, so… cards.