2018 Clubhouse: Houston Astros

51. José Altuve

52. Alex Bregman 

53. Carlos Correa

54. George Springer

55. Justin Verlander

Finally, my first perfect team set. Nobody to bump, nobody to add :)

Altuve and Springer are the auto subjects. Again, with these 5, any two picks would be solid.

I'm a sucker for orange and black so the black parallel works for me here.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 3

55. Victor Martinez

264. Craig Kimbrel

242. Danny Valencia

244. R.A. Dickey

20. Sonny Gray

206. Devon Travis

256. Ben Zobrist

180. Corey Dickerson

90. Dansby Swanson (RC)

FF3. Carlos Correa - Future Favorites

This pack brings the introduction of the Future Favorites insert. It showcases some of the youngest up-and-coming players in the league. Even though Carlos Correa has been in the league since 2015, he’s still just 22 years old. Have fun, AL West.

2016 Pennant Throwbacks

Time to throw it back to an insert from my first year of blogging, Pennant Throwbacks. Being the "retro" product of the Spirit line makes it a no-brainer.

Like the 2016 Pennant base design, these are more "modern retro" and don't call back to the reeeeeally old eras like Allen & Ginter and Gypsy Queen do. The design is simple with just a grainy solid color background and player cutouts with them in their throwback duds. The team logos are of the era captured by the uniforms. The Choo is an example of the relic parallel, here featuring the Rangers' baby blues.

The back keeps the elements from the front with a brief write-up of the throwback game depicted. I tried to replicate the toothy feel that the printed cards would have, diluting the colors a bit and making them less vibrant than a modern glossy card would show.

2015 Deluxe First Rate Rookies

The 2015 rookie class may go down as one of the strongest in MLB history. This post is probably a bit of a precursor to the 2016 Spirit All-Rookie Team or whatever. Since a player's worth/value in the hobby is probably no higher than their prospect and rookie years, seems like a good time to throw some rookie autos into a high-end product. Even at 15-deep, this is a pretty solid checklist:

1. Kris Bryant
2. Carlos Correa
3. Matt Duffy
4. Miguel Sano
5. Kyle Schwarber
6. Noah Syndergaard
7. Francisco Lindor
8. Jung Ho Kang
9. Joc Pederson
10. Robert Osuna
11. Stephen Piscotty
12. Addison Russell
13. Chris Heston
14. Andrew Heaney
15. Odubel Herrera

The design is pretty similar to the Dynamic Duos and the Deluxe base, using elements of team colors with a bit of a beam pattern, minimal text/ornaments and similar typefaces. There's a soft white fade for legible signatures along with some of the standard gold foil for the name and logo.

The back has minimal design elements. Along the top color bar, player portrait fades in from the right with the "First Rate Rookies" logotype and card number on the left. Below is the name/position/team combo from the front as well as a full-color team logo. The rest of the space is filled with the standard authenticity language and the rest of the fine print.