First Batch of Series 2

Was in Rehoboth Beach this past weekend.  I'm not the biggest beach guy, but it was nice enough.  There is a Wal-Mart near my friend's house, so since I'm not planning on buying boxes until mid July at the earliest, I was jonesing for a taste of 2017 Series 2.  Here's the return on my blaster.

Won't delve into the base set too much, even though I hate when it's ignored completely.  Got the usual mix of stars, regular lineup guys, and guys I've never heard of.  No one of particular note, though I'm developing a knack for pulling Julio Urias cards lately.  Too bad that didn't start with Allen & Ginter last year.

Anyway, here are the inserts.

Yay! I pulled a Trout insert!  Which means now I'll get three of them after I open my boxes later.  And he's got two cards in this set, which means the other one is the pseudo-shortprint that will be the last one I need.  Also, Carl Crawford.  Thanks for coming.  There are 25 of these, which should be the largest insert set, but is actually one of the smallest.

 

New for Series 2, Memorable Moments and All-Time All-Stars (retail only).  I'm sure the MM's have been done before in some form, but OK, not bad choices, especially the Called Shot.  Jackie is a default, and the Sawx breaking their curse hasn't been overdone (yet).  There are 50 of these though, so they're going to cover every single highlight clip known to western civilization.

25 would have been enough, so I'm going to track the number of extra inserts put into this series.  Bloat is anything over 25 cards per insert set.  ATAS were 50, so we start with

 

Bloat insert count = 25 

 

I like the look of the ATAS.  Got my first Carlton Fisk for the PC, so I'll need another one of those.  He was a little too far down on the scanner.  There are so many of these that it's not about the most often All-Star guys, it's potentially EVERY All-Star guy.

There is also (another) numbering glitch with these.  According to TCDB, there is no #22, and Andre Dawson is #61 out of 50.  Uh....right.  The First Pitch inserts in Series 1 had more than one missing number.  Not sure if it's a gimmick or they just didn't bother to consolidate numbers after editing the checklist.  More on them in a minute.

Bloat insert count = 50 

 

The other inserts I pulled include Gammons MLBN, Swanson '87, Miggy Milestones, and Higgins First Pitch.  Not scanned was a JaCoby Jones '87 that stayed in the base pile until just a minute ago.  Doesn't he play football?  Oh, different guy....☺

The Network broadcasters are at least something different.  Wonder if Panini would put NFL Network peeps on their sets.  I was looking forward to the Kelly Nash card especially, but the picture isn't her best.  Expect a custom redo on that one.  At least they only did 20 of them.  Well, maybe.  The numbering on the second batch of these is really screwed up.  It goes 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 25, 27, 29, 31. 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Topps????

The '87s should just be a whole separate product.  There are another 100 of them!  Might as well have numbered them with the base set and made them Series 4!

Bloat insert count = 125

Milestones are fine at 20 and seem to be current players hitting major signposts.  Good concept, but a rather vanilla design.  Would have liked to have seen more color or artsy stuff with these.  But at least the bloat count stays put.

First Pitch comes back but still has no #18 thru #20 and now there are two sets of #21 thru #23.  Again, gimmick with later significance, or just total editorial apathetic epic fail?  Highlights are the two Angels honeys, especially Ms. Luddington.

Those are all going towards my set.  The rest are available for trade if I don't move them in my primary trading group.

Pulled both Harpers from these Salutes, which I lump together because they are just different flavors of the same insert.  But the rest are up for grabs, even Manny.  I think I'm letting go of trying for all the O's and Nats parallels and inserts this year.  Should have done it last year when they're photos were better.  There's that Urias guy again!
I do need Bo Jackson and Jim Palmer from the Salute set (200!) , and luckily nobody from the Independence Day (30) or Jackie Robinson Day (30) redundant should-be-subsets.  260 card checklist - could have also been an independent product.  How many specialty sets were there years ago with only 100 card base sets?

Bloat insert count : 125 + 175 + 60 = 360 

SURPASSING THE BASE SET TOTAL

Think about that for a second.  Instead of eight insert sets of 25 or less, there are more inserts issued with Series 2 than actual base cards.  And that's not even counting the relics and autographs or parallel inserts, or the Target exclusive inserts that I couldn't pull from my purchase.  Topps is officially out of control, as I have documented.


I leave you with this manu-relic blaster hit.  I know there are a few guys that are looking for this one.  Trade ya for the Adam Jones, Bryce Harper, or Machado version.