The final 100 cards in the 2020 Archives set use the design from 2002. The original 2002 cards were printed on a glossy type card stock. The Archives set forgot that fact, and printed them on thicker cardboard. That works for the 1955 and 1974 cards, but not the 2002s.
Six of the 100 cards are Cubs including the one I know you were dying to see...
Dawson is the lone retired player in this batch.
...here are four of the five modern Cubs and.... wait for it...
... your favorite and mine, Robel Garcia!
Yikes... I'd love to have a look into Topps' decision making process.
ReplyDeleteGarcia, who isn't even in the Cubs organization anymore, was a career 0.236 hitter in the minors with 42 homers in 372 games down on the farm. He was having trouble finding work here in the States and batted 0.278 during two seasons in Italy. He made his MLB debut with the Cubs as a 26 year old last year and hit 0.208 with 44% strikeout rate.
Nothing about that profile suggests he should be in multiple products, even with his rookie status that Topps loves to tout. Flagship and Total? Fine. But only because the checklists are big enough to substantiate his inclusion.
Sorry to go on a mini rant, but there are so many others (including veterans) who I would have loved to see included in Archives.