2018 Clubhouse: Boston Red Sox

#16. Andrew Benintendi

#17. Mookie Betts

#18. Xander Bogaerts

#19. Rafael Devers (RC)

#20. Craig Kimbrel

This is where the "5 cards per team" rule hurts in the complete opposite way the Orioles did. Having to leave out J.D. Martinez and Chris Sale is a tough look. Kimbrel probably could've gotten the axe since closers aren't super collectable. 

The autograph options were Bogaerts and Mr. Devers here. I included him since he was "the" hot rookie before the season began. He's not having a spectacular year by any means but it's still early enough for this auto to not be a bummer.

The parallel this time around is chrome-esque. Since that's probably a proprietary thing for Topps, I'll have to come up with a different term. Is "luster" still available? If so, here's the Mookie Betts luster parallel. These are numbered to 10 so they're a little more "special".

2018 Spirit: AL East

I may be a little late getting it onto the blog here, but unveiling the 2018 Spirit base design division-by-division. First up is the AL East:

#205: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles

  #55: Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox

#52: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees 

#20: Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay Rays

#112: Russell Martin, Toronto Blue Jays

Taking a look at the design, it's once again borderless with full bleed photos. Since I've never done parallels for the Spirit base sets, I feel like the lack of borders is completely normal and cool and acceptable. All the player/team info is on a diagonal banner with a "fold" separating space for the team logo and text. If I'm being honest, it's pretty reminiscent of the 2013 base design. This time around, it's a little cleaner and less busy, mostly due to the lack of foil and font selection. I brought back the 'accolades' line for applicable players like Judge there. Personally, I think it's a cool way to easily show the real standout players from the previous year.

I also did backs for all but I'm just gonna show one example in this post for space's sake.

The angles and colors are here as well. The stat line is pretty basic stuff but with a few more "modern" inclusions like OPS+ and WAR (which is the Baseball Reference variety here). Benny here only has a couple of seasons under his belt so there's a small bit of text added in there. For longer tenured players, the stat box fills all the white space but I refrain from squeezing full career numbers on there because it's 2018 and the internet exists.

Gonna plow through the other divisions here since they're already all made up and ready to post. If I do any inserts this year, they will be very sporadic (especially since this is my first 2018 post and it's basically September). Once again, the pace catches up with me and kinda derails my big plans I have at the beginning of each year. So I'm gonna set my sights low for the rest of the year so I can not come up as short as normal. Stick around if ya want.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 1

260. George Springer

59. Russell Martin

101. Trevor Story

29. David Dahl (RC)

214. Yulieski Gurriel (RC)

276. Andrew Benintendi (RC)

71. Jacob deGrom

35. Garrett Richards

169. Todd Frazier

TI13. Mike Trout - The Incumbents

Here’s pack one with the unveiling of the base design. As I’ve designed the Pennant brand through the years, I’ve tried to make it “retro” without being tied down to a specific era. That keeps me from having to find a way to put a new coat of paint on the same basic design, a la Topps’ Allen & Ginter. 

This year’s design has a few elements that callback to some classic card designs without outright aping a specific set. Homages to the 1960 and 1963 Topps designs are the most apparent. There are also some nods to the 1983 and 1984 sets as well. Mashing together those two decades creates something distinct from those particular areas.

I added a bit of grain along with a dull gray to mimic the pre-90s cardboard most of us grew up with. The Trout insert is a brilliant white, though, with a nicer paper stock used to make the insert cards a bit more “premium.”

It’s funny that I’ve been doing The Incumbents insert sets long enough that Mike Trout is now the longest-tenured member of the Angels. That’s pretty crazy. Almost as crazy as pulling three rookie cards in the first pack. I’m sure that won’t be the norm going forward. There will be some other surprises, though…

2017 SPIRIT BOX BREAK - PACK 6

127. Todd Frazier

102. Justin Verlander

210. Andrew Heaney

10. Alex Colome

38. Ender Inciarte

251. J.T. Realmuto

51. Jacoby Ellsbury

49. Curtis Granderson

258. Andrew Benintendi (RC)

G207. Jurickson Profar

N13. Hanley/Jose Ramirez - Namesakes

New insert here. I did a “Namesakes” insert way back in 2012, my first year blogging. Like then, this year’s version features 20 cards highlighting MLB combos sharing the same surname.  Here’s the checklist:

N1. Bradley - Jackie, Archie

N2. Cabrera - Miguel, MelkyN3. Davis - Wade, ChrisN4. Diaz - Almedys, EdwinN5. Gonzalez - Carlos, AdrianN6. Hernandez - Felix, CesarN7. Herrera - Kelvin, OdubelN8. Marte - Starling, KetelN9. Martinez - J.D., CarlosN10. Miller - Andrew, ShelbyN11. Murphy - Daniel, John RyanN12. Perez - Salvador, RobertoN13. Ramirez - Hanley, JoseN14. Ramos - Wilson, A.J.N15. Sanchez - Aaron, GaryN16. Santana - Carlos, DannyN17. Seager - Corey, KyleN18. Turner - Trea, JustinN19. Upton - Justin, MelvinN20. Wright - Steven, David

Some of them are siblings but for the most part it’s just random coincidence. I can’t wait until Rougned Odor’s younger brother Rougned gets called up. It’ll be even better than a Chris/Khris Davis card (which I opted against since Wade is more noteworthy than Khris.)