2018 Clubhouse: Chicago Cubs

#21. Javier Baez

#22. Kris Bryant 

#23. Yu Darvish

#24. Anthony Rizzo

#25. Kyle Schwarber

Another team stuffed with too many players. That makes it even harder to swallow Darvish having a card here. Turns out it's hard to predict who will have a great or horrible season. Who knew? Contreras, Zobrist and Lester all probably stake a claim to that spot on the list.

Schwarb and Rizzo are the signing players for the Cubs. I never noticed how nice Schwarber's signature is. While you can't really make out much more than the K and S (and maybe a lowercase h or b?), it's got a really nice rhythm to it that looks fun to sign.

I also thought the Cubs would be a good team to introduce the blue parallels with. These are numbered to 75. The blue isn't quite Cubbie blue but it still pops.

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.

2016 Clubhouse All-Stars

Voting for the 2016 All-Star is in full swing with early results pouring in. To nobody's surprise, there are lots of Cubs towards the top of tally on the NL side. Conversely, the Royals are either in first or second at every position on the AL ballot, despite some of those names being Omar Infante and Kendrys Morales. (Good job, Royals fans.) Luckily the squads will end up numbering 30+ so hopefully there won't be many snubs for next year's Clubhouse All-Stars set. But first, lets look at 2016.

I decided to keep the red/blue divide a little more ambiguous this year instead of overtly assigning one color or the other to a particular squad. Blue outer space/red metal on one and red outer space/blue metal on the other. Incorporating the star shape into the design elements was a good way for me to call back to the 2016 Clubhouse base design. Plus, having the players busting out of the shapes is kinda fun and fits the Clubhouse brand.

The back incorporates the same elements with some slight rearranging. Adding the team logos and a small (jibberish) write-up finishes things off.

Design On Deck

2014 Spirit Base: 421-430

#421 - Mark Trumbo
This dugout shot is kinda unique so I figured I'd go with it to stave off redundancy.

#422 - Aaron Harang
He's basically Bartolo Colon minus the comical at-bats. Who had him penciled in for double-digit wins before the season started?

#423 - Delmon Young
Believe it or not, he's actually played some games in the outfield this season. Even on an AL team!

#424 - Edward Mujica
He didn't quite pan out this season like I'm sure the Red Sox were hoping he would. Much like the rest of the club I guess.

#425 - Anthony Rizzo
Rizzo kind of looks like an adult-sized baby in this pic. I think it's the chubby cheeks and thunder thighs.

#426 - Chris Sale
Man, I have such a hard time finding Chris Sale photos to use. Not because there aren't plenty of options but because each one looks so friggin' awkward and painful. It's hell trying to fit all of his limbs into frame without shrinking down the whole photo. Here's a suitable alternative.

#427 - Brandon Phillips
I hear Cardinals' fans aren't too crazy about dat dude.

#428 - Corey Kluber
Kluber's a dark house Cy Young candidate this season. Leading the AL in FIP, second in WAR for pitchers and strikeouts, top 5 in wins, ERA, innings pitched and shutouts.

#429 - Brandon Barnes
The Rockies should wear more purple. If nothing else, ditch the black hats for purple every game.

#430 - Joe Nathan
Better than Valverde I guess.

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.