Gint-A-Cuffs V: Packs 9-16

Let's get round 2 started. To recap, after the first 8 packs yielded 2 of my hits, my running total is +91.

PACK 9
247 Ryan Howard (FP) +2
ATY Anthony Rizzo +2
A&G Mini: 253 Mark Trumbo +2

PACK TOTAL +6
RUNNING TOTAL +97

PACK 10
336 Chase Headley (SP) +2
One Little Corner: Sedna +3

PACK TOTAL +5
ROLLING TOTAL +102

The One Little Corner cards feature 'one little corner' of universe, depicting either a particular planet, star or other celestial object. The design is nice and all but it's hard to get excited about these drawings of homogenous spheres. I think maybe constellations would be a bit more interesting. Maybe next year...

PACK 11
324 Justin Morneau (SP) +2
One Little Corner: Mercury +3

PACK TOTAL +5
ROLLING TOTAL +107

PACK 12
282 Tim Lincecum (MFP) +4
ATY David Ortiz +2
First Americans: Sioux +3

PACK TOTAL +9
ROLLING TOTAL +116

Hello, Timmy. Even after the ups and downs of his last season and a half, I still get excited when I pull a Timmy from a pack. Even a base card like this. I also got my first look at the First Americans minis. I really like these cards. The design is clean and solemn yet still has an organic feel. Living in Oklahoma, this might be a set I try putting together.

PACK 13
ATY Ryan Howard (FP) +4
A&G NNO: Bob Lemon +11

PACK TOTAL +15
ROLLING TOTAL +131

I wonder how many people have these no-numbers in their possession but have no clue.

PACK 14
332 Cole Hamels (SP) +2
One Little Corner: Eris +3
Black Mini: 291 Edwin Encarnacion +3

PACK TOTAL +8
ROLLING TOTAL +139

PACK 15
ATY Jayson Werth +2

PACK TOTAL +2
ROLLING TOTAL +141

And now we're feeling the affects of pulling 2 hits in the first 8 packs...

PACK 16
59 Joey Votto (FP) +2
325 Johan Santana (SP) +2
Civilizations: Mayans +3

PACK TOTAL +7
ROLLING TOTAL +148

After 16 packs, I'm 8 points off my pace from last year's contest. Who knows what's in store? (I do)

Gint-A-Cuffs V: Packs 1-8

Now's the time, the time is now. Time for Gint-A-Cuffs! As you may recall, I participated for the first time last year and somehow won the durn thing. I'm still amazed at my good fortune. And since it's a no-brainer that I have to defend my title, here's my first post for Gint-A-Cuffs V. I've decided to split the box into 3 posts rather than 4 to help keep you all from growing weary. Let's get going.

BOXTOPPER
OBBH: Bryce Harper (FP) +18

PACK 1
119 Adam Richman -1
217 Pope Francis +1
244 Nick Saban -1
ATY Chris Sale +2
A&G Mini: 259 Matthias Blonski +2

PACK TOTAL +3
RUNNING TOTAL +21

I got off to hot start with last year's boxtopper. This year's didn't quite match it but pulling Harper from the Favorite Player list is a nice bonus. These are nicer than the N43s from 2012 though the checklist is a bit small.

I was definitely a bigger fan of last year's Art Deco look than 2013's medieval bigtop feel. The Allen & Ginter's logo is a tad too large and all the light, scroll-y borders take a up a little too much focus. The two combined scream 'college-town head shop' to me. The pictures and paint daubs look the same as ever but don't really fit in with the rest of the elements.

PACK 2
122 John Jay (FP) +2
333 John Kruk (SP) +2
A&G Mini: 239 Craig Kimbrel +2
Civilizations: Olmecs +3

PACK TOTAL +9
RUNNING TOTAL +30

The Civilizations of Ages Past really sticks out here around the rest of set. If the cobbled border were a lot lighter and the typeface was a bit more subtle, I'd probably really dig the cards. As is, those elements really jump out and not in a good way.

PACK 3
341 Ozzie Smith (SP) +2
307 Darwin Barney (SP) +2
Palaces: Mysore +3
A&G Mini: 129 Miguel Montero +2

PACK TOTAL +9
RUNNING TOTAL +39

Huh, can't say I've ever pulled 2 SPs in the same pack before. Hopefully they behaved themselves in the wrapper.

PACK 4
99 Barry Zito (FT) +1
Black Mini: 18 Matt Harrison +3
ATY: Robinson Cano +2 / -1 NYY = +1 total

PACK TOTAL +5
RUNNING TOTAL +44

I do like the black-bordered mini's this year. 2012's didn't really stand out as much so it's nice to see Topps return to more ink coverage. The expansive insert set this year is Across the Year's which features some historical trivia as it relates to the players' birthdays. I really like the concept here since so much of A&G is about history. One complaint, though, is the numbering system. I understand when they throw the players' initials onto relic and auto numbers but I really don't get the reasoning here. They always have a 100-card insert set. What's wrong with ATY1-100? Or even a chronological numbering system since each card has its own unique date? As far as the design goes, it's definitely bold and the shield looks like something Topps would love to die-cut. All the text at the bottom gets a little muddled, especially the blue A&G logo on that gold color.

PACK 5
319 Matt Kemp (FP/SP) +4
Black Mini: 217 Pope Francis +4
Palaces: Taj Mahal +3

PACK TOTAL +11
RUNNING TOTAL +55

Hey look, Black Francis!  The Palaces & Strongholds design matches the base design much better. The asymmetry is really nice.

PACK 6
241 Matt Cain (FT) +1
ATY Jurickson Profar +2
Full-Size Relic: J.P. Arencibia +10

PACK TOTAL +13
RUNNING TOTAL +68

Okay, here's my first hit of the box. New this year are full-size relic cards. You get a little more 'relic' size-wise but I think the penalty is a card that doesn't look as good. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not a different design than the base design is necessary. The elements are pretty similar between the two. In fact, if you remove the relic portion, I could see this as the runner-up design from their brainstorming sessions.

PACK 7
ATY Jason Kipnis +2
SP Mini: 345 Melky Cabrera +3
Mini Relic: Albert Belle +10

PACK TOTAL +15
RUNNING TOTAL +83

And the hits keep coming. This Albert Belle bat relic is in the traditional A&G mini format with the big honkin' frame. The frames this year aren't the kaleidoscopic wonders from years past but I do think they're nicer than the black borders from last year. I would've been soooo excited to pull this card 20 years ago. 

PACK 8
347 Steven Strasburg (SP) +2
Palaces: Forbidden City +3
Inquiring Minds Mini: Sun Tzu +3

PACK TOTAL +8
RUNNING TOTAL +91

My first mini insert comes from the Inquiring Minds collection. The ionic columns and olive leaves work for Greek thinkers but look off for Sun Tzu here. I guess if you have to represent a singular age of great thinking from history, the Greeks probably have the most recognizable imagery. All in all, I like the design just fine.

A third of the way through the box and I'm ahead of last year's pace. Unfortunately, I've pulled 2 of my 3 hits so I anticipate these numbers to trend down a bit. Also, I forgot to track my non-scoring cards from each pack so I hope I don't get docked for that. *SPOILER ALERT: it won't matter*

Parallel Universe: 2014 Topps Flagship Designs

A little over a week ago, Topps released preview images for the 2014 flagship set.

I'll save my detailed review for next year when they hit the shelves but I'll just briefly state here that I'm not a fan. Luckily, though, it presents me the opportunity to share some work of mine from before I started the blog here. My first foray into designing custom cards was actually doing hypothetical Topps flagship designs. You may have seen some of them online in random places but this is the first time I've posted them here. So, let's open the flood gates.

These are all a couple years old and while getting them all formatted for this post here, I noticed a lot of things that I'd probably change up now but I decided to show them warts-and-all for the sake of convenience. I did update some of the players/logos since a lot of them were out of date. Each design has a lot of the same elements Topps has been using for the past 5 years or so: white borders (for parallels, natch), gold or silver foil, team colors and team logos. I made sure to add the player positions even though Topps isn't always consistent with those.

I'll write briefly about each design. The color fading in here would probably be better as a texture instead of a solid color. I like that the names are the most prominent element and very easy to read.

Again, the color fade here would probably be better if it had a simulated felt pennant texture to match the pennant shape. I think the diagonals across the bottom are pretty sharp. The foil names on top of the photos may be problematic but I guess not any worse than foil on white or anything else.

These are probably the simplest cards of the batch. The positions in the bottom left corner definitely need to be beefed up and the amount of color bleeding over the photo could probably stand to shrink a bit. I do like the beveled corners of the colored photo frame, though.

Trading those sharp angles for curves, these cards are a little more 'friendly.' But that negative space in the bottom corners is waaaay to big. I tried to fit the position and team name both on here but they don't really work with this symmetrical design. Look how crowded it is to the right side of the logo on the Cody Ross card.

This design is basically the inverse of the previous one. The logo is still centered on the bottom but the names are below in a team color shaped. I went with the same idea for the position/team name usage on this one, too. It looks nice when it works, like on the King Felix there but I can't imagine how unbalanced Chris Ianetta's would look with 'catcher' on the left and 'L.A. Angels of Anaheim' on the right.

Next up is probably my second-favorite design. These have a bit of a modern retro feel to them with the half-tone fading up under the logo and the teardrop-esque shapes to house the player name and position. Topps has been riding the 'futuristic' look a lot lately so I think this here is a bit refreshing.

I had designed these before the 2013 design was released. Looking that them now, these cards look to be the love child of Topps' 2013 and 1982 sets. The gold foil names spilling over from the photo into the color swoosh is a big problem area for me now. I'd probably thicken that up at the bottom and put the names inside the bar. This design is also the first one that called for the hat logos instead of the primary logos.

This design here is one of the sleekest of the post. The little team-color tabs come up from the bottom to hold all of the player/team information and is topped off by an oversize team logo. Having the part of the image show through the top part of the tab adds a bit of depth.

The nickname of this set would probably be the 'batter's box set.' The team logo sits in an inverted and squished home plate shape with a thin color line inset around the photo. Looking at them now, I'd probably inset that line a bit and have parts of the player overlap it, like Cano's helmet and elbows.

For some reason, these look a little too 'high-end' for Topps' flagship. That reason is probably their similarities to the 1995 Upper Deck SP set. Moving the shape to the bottom keeps the photos from getting too squished and also leaves plenty of room for the name and position.

Finishing up, this design incorporates some old school marble action albeit a little more subtly. Again, the position/team name line at the bottom needs to be beefed up here. I do like the alternating sides of the logo panel from card to card.

Below are the horizontal versions of each design. I figured this would be the best way to present them so they're still big enough to see everything.

Well, there's a look into some of my pre-blog custom work. As I've pointed out, there are some flaws here and there (and typos) but I think a lot of these designs stand a better chance of holding up years down the road than Topps' 2014 design.

REVIEW: 2013 Bowman Platinum

I've been kind of partial to Bowman Platinum the last few years of my collecting resurgence. It does a much better job of balancing prospects and veterans than the standard Bowman set. Design-wise, it's a pretty good entry as something that's not really high-end but much nicer than the cheaper standard Bowman.

There are some similarities though when it comes to the 2013 product. Much like this year's Bowman comes across as 2012 v.2, Bowman Platinum dances on similar ground as last year's. The foilboard is back, along with the player cutouts over rainbow-y backgrounds, though this year it looks like they've screened those back a bit so they're lighter and less busy. Then there's the BP pendant in the middle on top of some abstract, swooshy shapes. Last year was more about straight lines with curved corners. This year we get the Gateway Arch. Throw in some team-color slivers and the player & team names spelled out and it, once again, looks like a leftover from last year's design brainstorming session.

I do like that there's more room devoted to the player image and the name being smaller seems to keep things a little tighter. Added points for having both team colors in there as well. And the fake mesh texture at the bottom is definitely an upgrade from 2012's candy stripes.

I am pretty happy with the color parallels this year. We have the gold and ruby pictured here along with a blue sapphire which seems to have replaced the green emerald from years past. The main difference here is they've added the atomic/ice/diamond-like texture to the colors so they are easily distinguishable from the base cards.

Since it's pretty much standard procedure for all Bowman products the last couple years, the prospect card design is very very similar to the veteran cards. Stick the BP monogram in circle, tear down the arch, flip the player/team names and stick them on top of an overstuffed metal hamburger and we've got ourselves a 'new' design. My other big complaint with the prospect cards is the refractor situation. Can you tell which of the two above is the refractor? I sure as hell couldn't until bending my neck down lower and lower until I caught the glossy sheen on the Puig. If you're going to make every card appear refractor-y and still include a standard 'refractor' parallel, do a little extra work to differentiate them so collectors don't have to. Last year's concrete block worked great. No need to abandon it when you're so keen on repeating elements year after year.

Oh yeah, there are also a lot of prospect parallels that I didn't get in either of my 2 blasters so I'll just add they are the same as above, only colorified.

Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to pull any autographs from said blasters so we're finishing up here with the inserts. The Top Prospects design is actually pretty different from 2012's and the rest of the 2013 cards. I don't have a problem with too much here other than the wispy white curves behind the player cutout. It's waaaay too much. It looks like they're sinking in a really loose hammock. The rounded inverted corner in the top are a little too big for my tastes but far from the biggest eyesore.

Last and certainly least is the Cutting Edge Stars diecut. I've mentioned before how I'm not a fan of Topps' over-the-top, random die-cutting they've employed excessively over the last 2 years. Most of my distaste is aesthetically motivated, which still applies here. I don't understand what all of these design elements are supposed to be. Some torture device from Michael Bay's next Transformers movie? But my biggest problem with this particular die-cut is the little barbed teeth in the center at the bottom. I can't remember the last time I had so much trouble sliding a card into a penny sleeve. Honestly, it was a torturous test of my will and patience. If I happen to get my hands on any more of these, hopefully they'll already be toploaded for me.

I know this may have come across as mostly negative, but since Bowman Platinum starts off pretty high in my mind, most of these little dings I put on the set don't really bring it down that much. Really, if this was the 2012 design and last year's was coming out now, I'm not sure if the 2 reviews would be that much different. Hopefully the 2014 edition will have a few more differences while keeping up the Bowman Platinum brand.

Base cards: 8/10
Parallels: 8/10
Prospects: 6.5/10
Inserts: 6/10
OVERALL: 7/10

2013 Pennant Throwdown

Just like a most trends, I'm finally "down" with something just as it seems to be fizzling out. I'm talking, of course, about Puigmania. Even though we all knew his first month or so in the majors was pretty unsustainable for a whole season, the rest of the league does seem to be "figuring him out" of late. I'm sure he'll make the adjustments and stuff, but probably not late enough to help the Giants out. I imagine Topps' second half products will have no trouble selling.

With what would be the most highly sought-after card of 2013 up there, let's take a look at Pennant's next insert — Throwdown. These feature a pair of players on rival clubs. I know this is a lot like Topps' Legendary Lineage and Diamond Duos from a few years ago, but with only 15 subjects (all of which are actual rival teams), the connection is a lot less tenuous. Here's the checklist:

1. NYY v BOS: Rivera/Ortiz

2. NYY v NYM: Jeter/Wright

3. NYM v PHI: Harvey/Lee

4. STL v CHC: Beltran/Rizzo

5. SF v LAD: Cain/Kershaw

6. SF v OAK: Posey/Cespedes

7. LAD v LAA: Puig/Trout

8. TEX v HOU: Kinsler/Altuve

9. BAL v WAS: Machado/Harper

10. CLE v CIN: Jimenez/Votto

11. STL v KC: Wainwright/Butler

12. CHC v CHW: Castro/Sale

13. STL v CIN: Carpenter/Phillips

14. PIT v PHI: McCutchen/Howard

15. ATL v PHI: Hudson/Utley

A few teams have a couple of cards here but they're represented by different players. It would be nice to have all 30 squads featured but as you can tell from MLB's interleague scheduling, you can't force rivalries.

Design-wise, the front of the cards have a little vintage flavor to them like the rest of the Pennant cards but still look clean and modern. Embellishments like the rounded inset corners and the classic typography help add some age, along with the less-than-bright cardstock. The space is split down the middle with grainy team-color boxes housing single-color team logos behind player cut-outs. There's a faint white gradient billowing up over the photos to make room for the team name. It can also fade up a little farther to make room for the signatures on the autograph cards.

For the back, I kept it black & white while recreating similar design elements from the front. Black & white photos on the opposite edges leaves plenty of room in the middle for a brief history of the players' and teams' rivalry stories. The lines of stars can be removed for the authenticity statements on the auto versions.

I tend to shy away from horizontal cards due to format issues for the blog but I'm really pleased with these. They're bright but not too bright, retro but not too retro. It's always nice to feature more than one team on a card so you can have 2 fanbases chasing after them. And it helps take the sting out of pulling a Dodgers card if it features Matt Cain or Mike Trout. (Okay, I'll stop with the Dodgers jokes.)

2013 Spirit Team MVPs

Just like with Award Winners, every year will see a return of the Spirit Team MVP insert. To me, it's a no-brainer. A 30-card set with every team represented by their best player. Why Topps hasn't embraced this idea is beyond me. Maybe since it was Donruss' thing they want to keep their distance.

Let's start off with the checklist.

MVP1: Mike Trout (Angels)
MVP2: Jose Altuve (Astros)
MVP3: Yoennis Cespedes (A's)
MVP4: Jose Bautista (Blue Jays)
MVP5: Brian McCann (Braves)
MVP6: Ryan Braun (Brewers)
MVP7: Yadier Molina (Cardinals)
MVP8: Starlin Castro (Cubs)
MVP9: Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks)
MVP10: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers)
MVP11: Buster Posey (Giants)
MVP12: Asdrubal Cabrera (Indians)
MVP13: Felix Hernandex (Mariners)
MVP14: Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins)
MVP15: David Wright (Mets)
MVP16: Bryce Harper (Nationals)
MVP17: Chris Davis (Orioles)
MVP18: Chase Headley (Padres)
MVP19: Cliff Lee (Phillies)
MVP20: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates)
MVP21: Adrian Beltre (Rangers)
MVP22: Evan Longoria (Rays)
MVP23: David Ortiz (Red Sox)
MVP24: Joey Votto (Reds)
MVP25: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies)
MVP26: Billy Butler (Royals)
MVP27: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers)
MVP28: Joe Mauer (Twins)
MVP29: Chris Sale (White Sox)
MVP30: Derek Jeter (Yankees)

Some of these selections were tough. The Braves have a handful of guys that are good but none that really rise above the rest. I went with McCann because he's been there the longest. Castro has had a down year so Anthony Rizzo could possibly replace him. The Rays' pick could've been David Price or even Ben Zobrist. Carlos Gonzalez has a good case for the Rockies since Tulo is always hurt. The Royals guy could easily be Alex Gordon or James Shields. And since Jeter has been out all year, it would probably make sense to put Cano in there, too.

Anyway, onto the design.

Like last year, the biggest feature here is the MVP relic windows. I figured the easiest way to differentiate from 2012 would be to make them vertical instead of horizontal. So the M-V-P letters are stacked on the right side leaving a vertical window for a player photo. To add some depth, I had part of the guys overlap into the team color section. Below is a the secondary team color section to house the player name along with the cap logo. The square-ish space for the logo helps balance things along with keeping it from looking to symmetrical (which I have a habit of doing.) There's some silver foil along the relic windows and all the text, minus the "Spirit Certified Game-Used Relic" small print below the P.

The elements make a 90° turn for the back side while the secondary bar moves to the top. Below a horizontal player photo is a brief bit of text. To the left is a block of copy about the relic authentication along with a code to enter online for more info about this particular swatch. And I'm looking out for everyone with having the numbers in the upper right corner so they're easy to see when stored in a cardboard box.

Keepin' It Clean

One of my personal favorite designs from Spirit in 2012 was the Clubhouse Moonshots insert. Homerun hitters, die-cut, big ol' moon. What's not to love? This time around, I kept the subject the same but changed the name to Clean-Up Crew. The die-cut is also back again though in a much different shape.

The arrows are a play on the 'up' part of 'clean-up' and helped me get the design rolling. The one on the right leaves a nice tidy space for the team logo or a memorabilia swatch. I wanted to make sure all arrows pointed up so the upper left corner was the natural choice for the other die-cut location. Having some part of the player cut into the arrow keeps things from getting stale.

As the arrows take care of the latter half of the insert name, the bright neon green/yellow color on the bottom handles the 'clean' half. Something about the color makes me think of a super-intense household cleaner that would almost scrub the skin off your finger. I imagine the ink would be almost plastic-like on the finished product.

On the back side, we have the reverse die-cut shape to deal with but luckily plenty of space is left for another big player portrait. The neon is turned down a bit with black being the most prominent color. Below a brief write-up is the 2012 stat line with categories relevant to clean-up hitters (HR, RBI, total bases, slugging % and OPS.)

All in all, the bright colors, special shape and big batters seem to fit right in with the Clubhouse line.

2013 Spirit Artistry

One of the earlier inserts from last year was Artistry, which focused on some of the top pitchers in the majors. I decided to revisit it this year with a different technique. Where the previous design was basically a filter-y and layered photo composite, I spent quite a bit more time this go 'round.


I did begin with a photo once again, only this time it was mostly for reference and not manipulation. I spent hours in Photoshop, layering different brushes to build up colors into objects. Basically, it was just like I was creating an oil painting, only with a mouse instead of actual brushes and paint. Different grungy and abstract brushes helped keep things looking organic and a bit impressionistic. You can tell it more on the Bumgarner below than the Rivera above.

Once I had the painting where I liked it, I took the original photo and laid it over the painting. Using some of those artistic brushes, I masked out parts of the photo to let the underpainting show through. Overall, it gives it that half photo/half paint look. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. That's why the gold foil text is so minimal and unimposing.

On the back, I kind of replicated last year's picture frame idea but went with a more ornate frame that you'd likely see on some 19th century Impressionist paintings.

This is by far the most labor-intensive concept I've done to this point. It was pretty fun to click back and  forth between the photo and painting and bask in my progress. I do wish I had gone with a non-pinstriped player in Rivera's place. THAT was a pain, let me tell ya.

2013 Spirit Rookie Round-Up

It's been a while since I posted anything for the Spirit flagship series. Time for a new insert. This one features 20 rookies that have gotten off to a good start in 2013. I figured it would be nice to have some MLB inserts of these guys instead of so many minor league cards.

The design is a bit 'in your face,' a little reminiscent of some of the early 90s inserts with player cutouts on top of a busy background. I enjoy grunging things up so I went with that for the look. Big, bold letters roughed up and running across the background set on top of vintage team colors. The idea is that if you had all 20 cards lined up left-to-right, the 'ROOKIE' and 'ROUND-UP' text would stretch across multiple times. As it is now, each card has a slightly different cut of those letters. At the bottom, we find the player name along with position and the weathered team logo in the corner.

The back has a solid team-color background instead of the two-tone from the front. On the left is another player photo with some soft, grungy edges. To the right is the N/P/T along with a little tidbit of his MLB debut. Some may be more impressive than others (note Noonan's 0 for 1, pinch hit debut.) In the middle is a block for a brief write-up (greeked text here since I was too lazy to "write.")

This is one of the few cards I've done without any shiny foil or die-cut or other bells and whistles. The finish would be matte to fit the design rather than glossy. The edginess fits with the subject of rookies so I thought I'd let it stand on its own.

2013 Spirit Deluxe Duos

With Deluxe being Spirit's "high-end" product, I figured the dual-autograph Deluxe Duos would be a good place to start with 2013's inserts. These wouldn't be as prevalent as the auto and relic parallels from the base set, maybe about a 1:20 hit.

Like last year's version, the design is right in step with the base cards. We have the pointed tabs shooting in from the edges, filled with a team-color twill texture. All of the text (minus the certification small-print) is in shiny silver foil to jump off the glossy finish. It's bisected horizontally with each half of the duo on the top or bottom. A small cutout of the players sits in the left corners on top of another team-color twill texture that fades to white moving to the right, leaving room for the player signatures.

On the back, the tabs are inverted and filled with some bigger action shots. The team-color twill makes an appearance again as a background for the small print and authentication copy. The team logo also finds its way into the mix.

While not every club may have a duo on the level of Kemp/Kershaw here, most would have at least one player of note get excited about. Especially at the SRP of $10-$15 a pack.