Random Wax: 2020 Topps Gallery

2020 Gallery:  Perfect pack for today as Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres are battling Philadelphia to see who goes to the World Series out of the National League.  I'm pulling for the Padres now that the Braves are out.  I'd love to see the Padres win their first championship.

I picked up this pack of two years ago and just now posting!  That's how it can work around Nothing If Not Random.  Perfect timing in posting it with this with the Machado and Hoskins cards.  The art sometimes works and sometimes doesn't in this set. Jury is still out on these two.

Nice insert and I think we can say the apprentice has learned a thing or two from the master.  He's 46-16 with a 3.02 ERA in his Dodger career.

Sean Murphy had a good year (.250, 18 HR/66 RBI) while Yamaguchi hasn't made it back to the majors after a brief rough stint in 2020.

Dustin May may have struggled this year but it's the first sub par year for the youngster.  And who doesn't root for that hair to come running out of the bullpen every night.  I really like this one.  Not sure about that art on the Syndegaard card.  Just off to me.

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
5 – RC
2 – Wood Parallel
1 – Master & Apprentice

2022 Topps Gallery Blaster

2022 Topps Gallery:  Divisional round baseball starts today and this guy and the Braves take on the Phillies.  Can't wait.  Acuna was injured and missed the playoffs last season.  Hoping he can help propel the Braves to the next round.  It'll depend as much on pitching as anything but the Braves' offense can definitely score runs.  This is a Masterstrokes insert found 1:18 packs.

I like this year's design and some of the photos used.  The Bogaerts photo is probably my favorite.  That Lindor is one of the four Printer Proof parallels found in blasters.  Other than printing Printer Proof on the card I don't know what it gets you.

Plenty of rookies cards in these boxes as well.  Had to share Aaron Ashby and those glasses.  Good look.  He's the nephew of Andy Ashby.

A couple of Next Wave inserts and that Kershaw is a Rainbow Foil parallel.  I like the Next Wave look.

Another fun photo.  Abreu looking like he could step off the field in the 70s and right on to a dance floor.

Love retired greats in these and I'm a big Kirby fan so it is a nice pull.

The backs are a bit different from the norm on cards but I'm okay with that as it adds to the old school feel of these.

McClanahan and the Rays were eliminated from the playoffs in a fun series this weekend.  McClanahan took the loss in his only appearance going seven innings and giving up two earned runs.  You'll normally take that in any game but the Guardians won the game on a walk off homerun.

Fun box of cards.  I probably won't pick any more up except for singles I come across.  Pretty good design and good photos.  Let's go Braves!

BREAKDOWN:

28 – Total Cards

11 – RC

4 – Printer Proof

2 – Next Wave

2 – Rainbow Foil

2 – Retired Greats

1 - Masterstrokes

Random Wax: 2020 Topps Gallery

2020 Topps Gallery:  Topps Gallery is always fun. Never quite know what you'll get art wise but that's part of the charm.  This is a sharp looking card of Vlad Guerrero Jr. who had a monster season in his breakout year - .311/.401/48 HR

My pull from this pack wasn't the best overall and I didn't pull any retired greats.  I don't always know the player's faces so I'm not sure how accurate it is.  Other things like features might stick out one way or another.

Bought this pack in late 2020 actually but finally getting around to posting.  I'm pretty indifferent on most of art in this pack

For a single pack this was pretty good with Vlad making it a hit for me.  The Bieber card is also a good pull.

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
5 – RC
2 – Wood Parallel
1 – Gallery Heritage

2021 Topps Gallery Blaster

 2021 Gallery Baseball: I always like picking these up and they were on the shelve this morning so here we go.  Normally billed as an art release this year's set seems to have a lot more regular photos included in it.  We'll kick it off with the reigning A.L. MVP on a good looking card.

The design is one I like but why we don't have a team logo I don't know.  They could fit nicely in a corner. Maybe no color to keep them in the tone of the card.

Love seeing retired greats and there were some good ones.  The Big Unit and that hair is hard to beat. 

The back of the card highlights some of the things Paul Goldschmidt does to "Master his Craft". 

About a third of the cards are rookies.  The backs are okay.  Due to the delay on these coming out it took me a bit to wrap my head around there only being three months of stats.  I was like "what..oh yeah..."

Four Printer Proof parallels come in each blaster.

That blue parallel Ichiro is numbered to 75. The Babe Ruth is a MLB Originals insert while the Eric Hosmer is a Rainbow Foil Parallel.

Fun box of cards.  The variety and retired greats are pluses for me.  I wish there were more art as opposed to photos but I know the art in past releases were hit and miss.  I can't call myself a Gehrig guy per se but I love his cards.  He looks like a guy you want in your lineup.  

BREAKDOWN:
28 – Total Cards
9 – Retired Greats
4 – RC
4 – Printer Proof
2 – Rainbow Foil Parallel
1 – MLB Originals
1 – Blue Parallel #/75
1 – Masters of the Craft

Random Wax: 2020 Topps Gallery

 2020 Topps Gallery: Happy 4th of July!  I was able to pick up a few of these back in November.  This pack may be my favorite of the four I grabbed if for no other reason than this sweet Ichiro.  You never know with the art on these cards but I thought this was a nice looking card.  

That Lindor is a Heritage insert.  The back of it is below which I think really is the highlight of the card. 

More card backs need to look like this.

Nice pack.  Not a spectacular pull but still fun.  Have a safe and fun 4th!

   BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
4 – RC
2 – Wood Parallel
1 – Retired Great
1 – Gallery Heritage

2020 Topps Gallery

 2020 Topps Gallery:  This is my first in hand look at this year's offering.  I enjoy this brand but the art can be hit and miss.  Still it's fun when it's right.  I wish there were more retired greats in this set as it has a bit of an old school feel to it.  We'll lead off with Nolan Ryan for this pack.  

I like the design this year.  Here you see the wood parallel as well as a base design with the standard white borders.  I think I like the wood parallel better which I think I've said for past sets.  Those names are in foil but scan darker than they really appear.

These are kind of cool but it seems like the apprentice to a pitcher would be another pitcher.  But I get what they are doing pairing a veteran with a younger player.

The backs are pretty straight forward but I like the different take on stats.  Still prefer career stats by year but this isn't too bad.  I like the beard on that Moran card combined with the retro uni - that's a win.  

My green parallel #/99.  This was a fun pack.  I was able to grab a few more which I'll share over time.  Overall the art was good and my pull was decent.

 BREAKDOWN: 

12 – Total Cards

2 – Wood Parallel

1 – Hall of Fame

1 – Rainbow Foil

1 – Retired Great

1 – Green Parallel #/99

1 – Master & Apprentice

Random Wax: 2019 Topps Gallery Baseball

2019 Topps Gallery:  We'll kick it off with a Christian Yelich wood parallel.  I like these borders better than the base silver.  Plenty of star power in this pack though it doesn't hold up to my first Gallery pack that featured a Mike Trout base card and Ronald Acuna Masterpiece insert.  I also loved the Josh Donaldson card in that pack.  

Overall I liked the art better in my first pack of these.  This was still a good pack.  I think the art on this Arenado is my favorite here.

I like that you can find retired greats in this set.  The checklist for this 20 card Hall of Fame insert set is pretty nice.  I will have to look for some of these singles.

This is probably my favorite of the pack.  Classic look for Dustin Pedroia and I like how they captured it on a horizontal card.  Overall a good pack with plenty of stars.  I can see me picking up more of these.

BREAKDOWN:

12 – Total Cards
4 – RC
2 – Wood Border
1 – Retired Great
1 – Hall of Fame

2019 Topps Gallery Baseball

2019 Topps Gallery:  This year's Gallery offering has art I really like.  The fact that they aren't all head and shoulder takes is a plus in my books as well.  The '17 Gallery base cards seemed to consist mostly of those types of cards and got boring pretty quickly.  The silver borders aren't spectacular and I think I like the wood border parallels more.  Again the art is good and probably my favorite of the last three years.  Mike Trout seemed like a great way to start off this post.

  Pulling an Acuna Jr. insert is a win here.  The art on his Masterpiece card looks nice though the border is a bit bland.  I'd expect the border to stand out a bit more.  The Molina and Rizzo cards added to a really nice pull in this pack.

The backs are fine though not spectacular.  The backs from the last two years were definitely better. with either more style or color or both.  Again the wood borders work well on these cards.  

  I like this horizontal wood border parallel but Taylor Ward's face looks a bit off.  Overall I'm very happy with this pack.  The art is good and I was happy with my pull which provided me some star power, personal collection guys and I snagged three Braves to boot. 

I can see me picking up more of these if I get the chance.  The price point isn't great but I like what I've seen so far.  This Donaldson is a good looking card and maybe my favorite from the pack.

BREAKDOWN:

12 – Total Cards
7 – RC
2 – Wood Border
1 – Masterpiece