If you’re going to get the Triple-A version of this set, you might as well get the Double-A. That means if you read my post on the Triple-A version, you probably know all my feelings about this design and why I picked up these boxes.
The only differences with this version and the Triple-A version is that this is Double-A and the design is based on blue rather than red. Other than that it has the same bright and colorful feeling, the same sharp design, and the same company logo in the same place on the card.
This was fun to open too, but the big names are a notch below from a volume perspective than the Triple-A. You’ll definitely find names you recognize, but most probably had a shorter time in the bigs or no time at all. But the thing that I did notice about these cards was that there were names of all different types: Big names, less big names, interesting names and unpronounceable names.
Let’s see what we can find.
This Big Names
I felt like Tim Salmon was the biggest fish in this box…. OK, know that you’ve slapped your knee we can continue.
Tim Salmon, Robb Nen, and Eric Young are pretty good. But I think Salmon is definitely the one that I was most interested in seeing here. I’ve gotten Young to sign TTM via teams he’s coached for in the past so I might put that in my TTM stack to try. Robb Nen was almost a guy I had forgotten about, but how could I forget a guy with two “b’s” in his name?
More Names
Oh snap! I got a Patrick Mahomes card!
One thing I noticed after I started taking pictures and writing for this post was that I certainly pulled a lot of Braves cards with me being a Mets fan. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. These aren’t the biggest names in baseball, but you would definitely recognize them.
Apparently the Braves had a special photo shoot for this set.
The Interesting Names
Popeye, Kinnis, Spin, and Scootie… those are some fun names! For some reason they weren’t just fun, but they seemed like classic “minor league” names to me. Doesn’t every franchise need a guy like Popeye or Scootie that you hear about in the minor leagues? Don’t you want to be saying, “do you think Scootie will get a September call-up?”
Kinnis Pledger was the best overall name of the box that I had. Spin Williams is a coach card and also seems like the perfect name for a minor league coach.
The Unpronounceable Names
Not all of these are truly unpronounceable, but they are probably begging for a nickname. One of the things I find funny is that they all have pretty short and standard first names, but their last names are so crazy.
Now, I’m from the east end of Long Island and there were plenty of Polish folks out there. Heck, the town of Riverhead has a part called Polish Town. There’s even some great Polish names in my family. But even these had me doing a double take. Maybe not Shotkoski, but I still liked that one.
Of Course, TTMs and Packs
As always I set aside some packs and TTM cards. The stack of TTMs wasn’t quite as high as the Triple-A variety, but there was still some pretty good stuff in there.
I think if you dig the Triple-A version you’d probably dig the Double-A version. And you might be able to find both offered together out there for a pretty good price like I did.