2020 Topps Baseball Blaster

2020 Topps Baseball:  This is my first chance at picking up the 2020 Topps flagship.  I like where they are going with this design.  The vertical name still throws me off but overall I like it.  A good sized logo and lots of room for the photo.  When you open your first packs of the year you are always hoping to pull "the guy" and there was Mike Trout to kick things off right for me.

Clayton Kershaw had another great year but his ERA topped 3 for first time since his rookie year in 2008.  Wow!  And it was still only 3.03 last season.  This guy definitely isn't the Cy Young of years past but he can still deal.

Plenty of good and fun photos across the set.  Man the look on Kingery's face - intense.

Can't wait to see if Shohei Ohtani gets back to the mound this year and see what he can do.

Topps revisited 1985 with some of their inserts and I'm a fan.  That Clemons is a Rookie Retrospective RC Logo Medallion Card exclusive to blasters.  They are on a very thick card stock.  I like them but I need to track down sleeves and holders for something that big.  That is a different photo from Brett's original '85 card.  Again these are wins for me.

  Some inserts and subsets.  I always forget to use the Homerun Challenge cards but I'm making it a priority to use that Freeman card.  This Master & Apprentice card is a checklist card and is gold foil parallel.  I like the League Leaders cards but almost missed that that is what this Yelich is.  Love that Brewers classic uni.

The youngsters of course get their due with three different offerings here.  When I first saw that Aquino card I swore I had pulled an Eric Davis. I know they don't look that much alike but the uni and jersey number had me doing a double take.

  I do like the Decade's Best design.  Just a bit different and I dig it.  Those Turkey Red on the other hand don't do anything for me.  The one on the left is the standard card while the one on the right is the chrome variety.  I'm all about retro but these just aren't appealing to me and kind of boring.

The great Nick Markakis people.  Probably the most unassuming man ever with 2,355 hits in his career.  That's good enough for 136th all-time.  Glad he is still a Brave and I can't help but root for that guy.  Hopefully he'll retire with the team.  This was a fun start to the baseball collecting season.  I like the design and hopefully I can get used to the vertical design thing.  The inserts are hit and miss for me so far but overall I like the cards.  There will of course be much more of these throughout the year.

BREAKDOWN:

99 – Total Cards
7 – Turkey Red 2020
5 – RC
4 – Team Cards
4 – Future Stars
2 – Rookie Cup
2 – Decade’s Best
1 – League Leaders
1 – Homerun Challenge
1 – Gold Foil Parallel
2 - 1985 Topps 35th Anniversary Set
1 - Chrome Turkey Red 2020
1 - Rookie Retrospective RC Logo Medallion Card