So it came as a surprise when the phone rang at 5:00 a.m. The assistant superintendent called to say they were closing due to icy roads. I followed suit with my school and I had a fifth consecutive cancellation. That's the most in a row ever in my 35½ years of teaching.
The temperature finally got above zero and by noon it was in the double digits - a heat wave! I wanted to run my car since it has been sitting idle in the garage the past several days. I also wanted to get out of the house since I had been sitting idle at home the past several days. I decided to head to Walmart looking for Topps 2019.
Most years the local Walmart is weeks behind the rest of the world in stocking their cards. With the recent bad weather delaying shipments, I had low expectations. So imagine my surprise when I saw the card aisle was filled with 2019 baseball cards!
The first pack gave me one Cub card,
... the Wrigley Field card. These are the team cards for 2019, with each team's ballpark being featured.
The insert in the pack is...
.... this Superstars of Baseball card of the Nationals Trey Turner. Odd thing with this insert set: The checklist calls them "Superstars of Baseball" and the cards are numbers SSB. But the front of the card uses the title "Stars of the Game." So which is it Topps??
The second pack I opened was a hot Cub pack. It netted me three more Cubs. I can never remember getting that many in a pack as a kid. Back then I felt lucky to get one Cub in three packs.
The base cards were Albert Almora and Duane Underwood. The Almora cards must be from a late-season game. The ivy is green but he's wearing a mask. And Underwood looks to be the designated rooke for the Cubs this year.
The third Cub in the pack was...
Superstar of Baseball Stars of the Game Anthony Rizzo.
All in all, not a bad start to the season.
Very good start to the collecting season! The Almora card is simply wonderful, but I think the Baez base card beats it out ever so slightly. I think Topps upped their photography selection this year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is the first I had about the price increase. More cards is nice, but an extra dollar is not. Ugh. I was thinking about building the Opening Day set from packs, but I think I'll wait to see the prices.
Lastly, five school days in a row? Yikes. That would make me stir crazy for sure. I don't mind time like that when it's planned on the calendar, because then I can plan a vacation or something fun, but you can't do that when you're waiting to hear about the next day at five AM! Hang in there!
$2.98 for retail packs? Sheesh. I wonder how much hobby packs are gonna sell fo
ReplyDeleteP.S. Sweet Almora!