2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 22

252. Dexter Fowler

140. Kolten Wong

229. Joc Pederson

136. John Jaso

98. Christian Yelich

122. Jerad Eickhoff

1. Jose Altuve

190. Masahiro Tanaka

113. Sam Dyson

TI10. Justin Verlander - The Incumbents

Welp, that Incumbents card is pretty wrong now. It sitting next to the Sam Dyson card really highlights how behind schedule I’ve been with this box. Maybe I should cut Topps some slack. (Nah.)

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 18

266. Neil Walker

200. Brett Gardner

47. Ian Desmond

100. Billy Hamilton

125. Miguel Cabrera

102. Cameron Maybin

73. Joe Mauer

233. Corey Kluber

176. Wade Davis

TI24S. Kevin Quackenbush - The Incumbents (shimmer parallel)

The obvious card to discuss here is the Kevin Quackenbush insert. It’s basically the Pennant version of a Topps Chrome Refractor. It’s hard to show the difference between “chrome” and regular stock with just digital cards like this, but I figured the rainbow gif thing would do the trick.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 16

212. Steven Matz

11. Edwin Encarnacion

160. Christian Friedrich

178. Alex Colome

82. David Price

292. Francisco Lindor

223. Aaron Judge RC

203. Ryon Healy RC

34. Robinson Chirinos

TI14. Clayton Kershaw - The Incumbents

A bit of a rebound from the last pack. The Judge RC is probably the best pull though the Kershaw insert is pretty nice, too. Lots of red and blue in these cards.

2017 PENNANT BOX BREAK - PACK 8

177. Brad Miller

282. Jose Quintana

191. Jose Bautista

188. Dallas Keuchel

84. Jason Kipnis

19. Felix Hernandez

46. Starling Marte

68. Zach Davies

290. Alex Bregman

TI7. Joey Votto - The Incumbents

Pretty colorful pack here. I know Quintana isn’t with the White Sox anymore but in theory this product would have been released well before the trade deadline. I actually put the checklist together back in June sometime. Luckily Joey Votto is still with the Reds and, therefore, their longest-tenured player, so the Incumbents card can stay.

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…